Karuturi Global Ltd., the Indian farm conglomerate that has been active in Ethiopia for the past seven years after acquiring more than 100,000 ha to produce food for foreign markets halted its investment activity and left country, the CEO Ramakrishna Karuturi told the Reporter.
The company, that was accused by the Ethiopian government for its slowness in delivering its promises, decided to leave country, because of “disappointment,” the CEO said in a statement that sent to the Reporter. “There will be an announcement soon,” Ramakrishna was quoted as saying.
On January 2016, the Bloomberg reported that Karuturi was on the process of challenging the termination of its project, claiming the Ethiopian government broke the terms of its agreement with the company. The agriculture ministry’s cancellation of the company’s 2010 lease was “invalid as it didn’t follow procedure, contravened an investment agreement between India and Ethiopia, and wrongly accused the company of inadequate progress,” Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi was quoted as saying.
The then communications minister Getachew Reda told Bloomberg news that the government made the decision to cancel the contract because of a lack of progress.
The Reporter then also wrote that Karuturi was almost foreclosed after failing to repay a 65 million birr (a little over USD 3 million) loan extended via overdraft facility from the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. Even after the company settled the minimum, 25 percent of the debt, the government said it had no longer confidence in the company.