Godrej Opens $30 Million Insecticide Plant in Indonesia’s Kendal SEZ

FTZ News: Godrej Consumer Products Indonesia opened a factory on Tuesday in the Kendal Special Economic Zone, inside Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java. The company put the investment at Rp 500 billion. The site covers 5.5 hectares. The first phase, 2.5 hectares, will make household insecticides for Indonesia and for export.

According to The Jakarta Post, in an Oct. 9 report, the inauguration was held on Oct. 6. Rajesh Sethuraman, who heads the Indonesia business and is also the group’s global head of business transformation and digital, attended. So did Aasif Malbari, managing director and chief executive, and Sandeep Chakravorty, India’s ambassador. Representatives of the Central Java governor, the Kendal regent and the Investment and Downstreaming Ministry were among the guests. Malbari planted a Kendal tree, a local species, at the ceremony.

Sethuraman said Kendal was chosen because it sits on Java, one of the country’s largest pools of demand, and because it is close to a port. Godrej sells in about 85 countries, he said, and shipments follow the orders. Demand for everyday goods, he added, tends to hold up when the economy turns. Malbari said the company does not shy away from investing in Indonesia. Chakravorty called the plant a sign of the business tie between India and Indonesia, and said he hoped more firms from both countries would put money in.

Godrej has been in Indonesia since an acquisition in 2010. The company says the business has grown about 4.5 times since then. The older plant is in Bogor. The brands named are HIT, Stella, Mitu and NYU, which the company says are in one of every four Indonesian households.

About 120 people will start the Kendal lines. The aim is about 500 as output rises. Vaibhav Ram, global head of human resources, said the target is a workforce that is half women, with jobs also open to people with disabilities. The company also described work on energy monitoring, waste and local hiring./.