Avesthagen has developed technologies that make crops resistant to drought and saline conditions. ”I’d not call these genetically engineered crops; they are ’environmentally adjusted’ crops,” said Villoo Morawala Patell, founder and managing director of Avesthagen, sidestepping controversies related to genetically modified seeds. Atash will start rolling out drought and salinity-tolerant cereal (maize, millet and sorghum) and vegetable seeds from 2008-09.