Golchha Organisation's Him Electronics has forayed into the bio-technology sector in partnership with Indian company Hester Bioscience Ltd, reports Himalayan Times. The company plans to produce vaccines for cattle and poultry needs.

Shekhar Golchha, managing director of Him electronics and Rajiv Gandhi, chief executive officer (CEO) of Hester Bioscience, today signed an agreement to set up a production centre for biotechnology products in Nepal.

The project worth 250 million rupees (NPR) will provide direct employment to 200 local people. The plant that will be located at Panchkhal will start production before the end of 2012.

Hester Bioscience is an Indian company based in Ahmedabad and established in 1997. Hester is currently the market leader in poultry vaccines in India. Hester achieved a turnover of 375 million rupees (INR) in the last fiscal year.

The company specialises in the production of 39 different kinds of proven animal vaccines for poultry, sheep, cattle, pigs and camels. The Nepali plant will also produce these vaccines and the most of the products will be exported to Europe, Africa and South America.

"This is a first of its kind joint venture in Nepal and has opened up formerly uncharted territory," said Shekhar Golchha, managing director of Him Electronics.

"As we will be exporting majority of the products, this project will contribute to the export industry," he added.

He also expressed his confidence that the project being an export-oriented one will in many ways help earn foreign exchange.

"We are convinced that this project will be successful," said Rajiv Gandhi, CEO of Hester Bioscience. “We will be able to expand this business in Nepal," he told Himalayan Times, adding that Nepal being a nation full of resources has a lot of investment-viable sectors. Bio-tech is just one of them.

Golchha organisation is one of the leading business groups in Nepal, with a turnover of over NPR15,000 million, and provides employment to over 15,000 people in the country. It has interests in steel, sugar, electronics, jute, paper and other trading and service businesses.