• Boosts the prospects of India's Mango exports to World Market
• RGIA plans to come up with a dedicated perishables handling facility at the Airport

Envisioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to increase income of Indian farmers, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL) which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), Hyderabad today announced it has started exporting Mangoes to South Korea. It has exported an initial commercial consignment of 2.5 tons of Indian mangoes for the first time to South Korea through its Cargo Terminal, which is operated by Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd (HMACPL).

In this regard, GHIAL & HMACPL Teams has worked with the Farmer community at Vizianagaram facility for developing a pack-house, creating markets, commissioning this project with requisite approvals from Government and exporting Suvarnarekha variety of mangoes to South Korea. With this, RGIA becomes the first airport in India to facilitate export of mangoes to South Korea directly from a farm-based infrastructure. Mangoes being a seasonal fruit of high demand, export volume to South Korea is expected to grow up to 10 tons per day for the rest of the season.

As exports enable farmers to receive higher remuneration for their produce, there has been a strong focus by the Indian Government to increase exports of agricultural produce. RGIA & HMACPL teams have put in sustained efforts to develop requisite infrastructure at its cargo terminal, to facilitate exports to potential markets such as South Korea. To comply with the international norms to export perishable products, especially fruits & vegetables to developed countries, processing through Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA), approved pack house is mandatory. HMACPL team has been a core member in the coordination committee comprising of APEDA, National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO), Korean Delegation and Plant Quarantine to mentor and guide the farmers to compete with international export norms. Meanwhile, GHIAL & HMACPL are in the process of identifying and enabling similar infrastructure across the catchment areas in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Northern Karnataka and Eastern Maharashtra among others, that can provide the requisite processing facility.

Commenting on the development, Mr. SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL said, “Hyderabad being India’s Pharma capital, Pharmaceuticals have had the lion’s share of exports out of RGIA over the years. We have been on a constant lookout for increasing our Perishables export base. The initiative of Mango exports to South Korea will go a long way not only in expanding our perishable exports base but also in strengthening our global footprint. With the current demand and regular feedback from the traders, we are planning to come up with a dedicated perishables handling facility at the Airport soon."

India being the largest producer of mangoes has been exporting mangoes to several countries in West Asia, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

In order to boost the prospects of India’s Mango exports to South Korea, GHIAL & HMACPL has been working closely with APEDA and NPPO. Mr. Sudhakar, DGM APEDA, welcoming the first shipment at RGIA highlighted “Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are the largest producers of mangoes in India with 25% share; of which Banganapalli, Suvarnarekha, Cherukurasam and Neelum are the most famous varieties. Export opportunities provide attractive rates giving better returns to producers & farmers”.

RGIA has been collaborating with various exporters and regulatory bodies to make this feat possible. Soon Indian mangoes would compete in Mango Festival happening at Seoul with varieties from Pakistan, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines.

About GHIAL:

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) is a joint venture company promoted by the GMR Group (63%) in partnership with Government of India (13%), Government of Telangana (13%) and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (11%). The Company was incorporated to design, finance, build, operate and maintain a world class Greenfield airport at Shamshabad, Hyderabad. Hyderabad airport was commissioned in a record time of 31 months in March 2008, with an initial capacity of 12 million passengers per annum (MPPA) and 1,50,000 MT of cargo handling capacity per annum. The Project has the flexibility to increase capacity to accommodate over 40 MPPA and shall be developed in a phased manner. For further information about GHIAL, visit www.hyderabad.aero

For Further Information, please contact:

Anindita Sinha
Head - Corporate Communications, GHIAL
E mail: Anindita.Sinha@gmrgroup.in

Prashant Kumar
Corporate Communications
E mail: prashant.kumar@gmrgroup.in