In a significant step toward enhancing India’s self-reliance in edible oil production, Patanjali Group has received 1.5 million high-yield palm oil seeds from Malaysia’s Sawit Kinabalu Group under a five-year supply agreement. This marks the first such collaboration between a Malaysian state agency and an Indian company for palm oil seed procurement.
The contract, which runs through 2027, was signed with Sawit Kinabalu’s seed subsidiary, which can process 10 million seeds annually. The agreement includes not just seed supply but also technical advice, agronomist site visits, and seedling performance monitoring.
“We’ve committed to supplying four million seeds to Patanjali over five years and have already delivered 1.5 million,” said Zurainy, General Manager of the seeds division. According to Nazlan Muhammad, Chief Sustainability Officer at Sawit Kinabalu, seeds planted in India—especially in the Northeast—are yielding better-than-expected results.
Patanjali also plans to set up a palm oil mill in Northeast India by 2026, bolstering the local processing ecosystem.
India currently has 3.75 lakh hectares under palm oil cultivation, of which 1.8 lakh hectares are in the fruiting stage. The central government, under the National Mission on Edible Oils–Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), aims to expand cultivation to 1 million hectares by 2025-26 and to 6.6 million hectares by 2030. Key production states include Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Kerala, which together contribute 98% of India’s palm oil output.
This strategic import of seeds aligns with India’s larger goal of reducing its dependency on edible oil imports, particularly as palm oil accounts for the bulk of India’s vegetable oil consumption.