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Parry Agro is in the business of tea and coffee plantations and is one of the leading producers of tea in the country. Its tea plantations across the country produce 17 million kilogrammes of tea. It also operates a coffee estate in which it has a 98 per cent partnership, producing 400 tons of coffee. The company grows and processes dunaliella salina algae, from which it extracts natural mixed carotenoids. Like many old businesses this company, too, has a history of colonial ownership. Originally held by the Cooperative Wholesale Society Limited (CWS) of the UK, its shares were held entirely by non-residents. This was transferred to an Indian concern and, in 1981, the Murugappa Group joined the management of the company. After two progressive divestments in 1987 and 1992, CWS relinquished its entire holding to the group. After the second divestment, its name was changed to Parry Agro Industries Limited, in December 1992. The company owns and operates six tea estates in south India and one in north India, covering 4,000 hectares and employing 7,500 people. Tea is its major product line and accounts for over 95 per cent of the sales. But the company has interests in other plantations too. Sheikalmudi, Murugalli, Paralai, and Iyerpadi are located in the Anamallai region of Tamil Nadu. Two other estates, at Attikunna and Carolyn, are in the Nilgiri-Wyanad region of Tamil Nadu. The estate outside Tamil Nadu is situated in Assam, at Deckiajulie. Coffee is cultivated over 1,400 acres in the Chikmagalur region of Karnataka. The annual production of cured coffee from these estates is 400 tonnes.
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