KOLKATA, Apr 19: Kolkata-based Nipha Group has launched a brand OneHorn, as part of a push to expand its agriculture machinery business in at least 20 states and 10 countries, including the US and European markets, company officials said on Sunday.
Its chairman Mahesh Chandra Shah said the Indian agricultural ecosystem was at an inflection point where mechanisation and entrepreneurship must come together.
“With our brand, we are building a structured, partner-first platform that enables our channel associates to grow as agripreneurs – stronger, more profitable, and future-ready,” he said.
The company, which began its agri-business journey in 1988 with spare part supplies before graduating to components and then full machines, claimed that OneHorn is the first brand in eastern India to offer a diversified range of agri equipment with a make-in-India focus.
Executive Director Aakash Shah said the brand is designed to give partners “the right products, systems, and support to scale their business with confidence”.
Managing Director Rakesh Shah said, “We started with spare part supplies, added components, went to machines, and now this is a launch of our own brand,” he said.
He said agricultural equipment is a form of forward integration and accounts for about 10 per cent of the company’s overall business, with the agri segment currently clocking around Rs 60 crore in annual sales against the group’s overall turnover of around Rs 500 crore.
“We’ll go to Rs 100 crore very soon,” he said, adding that the B2C (business-to-consumer) push through the brand could add another Rs 50 crore from this segment in a year.
Shah said the company has invested around Rs 60 crore in its agri equipment business over eight to nine years and continues to invest Rs 50-60 crore annually across all operations.
“At the moment we are a zero-debt company, but if need be, banks are more than willing,” he said.
In West Bengal, he said, mechanisation levels remain among the lowest in the country due to fragmented landholdings, and OneHorn’s range includes smaller equipment suited to such plots.
The agricultural equipment range covers harvesting machines and land preparation tools.
Around 352 channel partners attended the launch, including representatives from Bangladesh and Nepal.
Rakesh Shah said the company is targeting 20,000 channel partners across 20 states and 10 countries by the end of FY’27, with the US, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and select European markets in focus for exports. (PTI)
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