More than a decade ago, Indian-born Australian entrepreneur Dhruv Deepak Saxena, commonly known as DD, observed the rapid global trend towards cooking oils derived from crops like canola.

Oils such as tallow and palm were in decline, so the food industry veteran and former chief executive — who once ran a billion-dollar food company in Indonesia — hatched plans to build an oil extraction plant in Australia.

Mr Saxena settled on Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales. The proposed site, smack in the middle of the state's grains belt and well serviced by major freight routes, would employ the latest technology to extract every golden drop of oil from the tiny black canola seeds.

Trouble was, despite his impressive business proposal, no Australian bank would back it.

So, Mr Saxena went to India and gained finance from banks there. His personal friends, scattered around the globe, stumped up the remaining funds which amounted to several million dollars.

"I must confess that it has been a great challenge for us to convince both the Australian banks and the Australian bureaucracy," he reflected.

Back in Wagga Wagga, locals were still sceptical this bold plan to turn a commodity into a valuable food product would succeed.

"Most people probably thought he was crazy, investing this type of money in an industry where we've started to see more and more products commoditised and sent offshore as commodities," grains buyer Lachy Hunter recalled.

"Whereas he really looks at the value-add."

Riverina Oils & BioEnergy's plant at Wagga Wagga crushes half of the annual NSW canola crop. ( Landline: Tim Lee )

Construction of the plant hit some serious, near unassailable, obstacles before it began.

In 2007, it was nearly derailed by the global financial crisis.

Getting planning approvals took far longer than expected. Ultimately, construction delays saw the cost of the project double from $75 million to $150 million.

But Mr Saxena, feeling the heat from the banks and his investors, pushed on.

"I've never seen anyone with so much resilience," said Scott Whiteman, now chief financial officer for Mr Saxena's company Riverina Oil & BioEnergy.

"He was never going to let it fail."

Initial plans included a bioenergy plant, which would generate electricity from crushed grain residue.

That venture has since been shelved because seed residue is sold as a highly nutritious stockfeed.

"We had the courage to dream big. We had the courage of conviction. We had the courage to take risks," Mr Saxena told a gathering late in 2017, at a celebration to mark the milestone of the plant reaching full capacity.

"And we had the courage to make many sacrifices."

Riverina Oil & BioEnergy now annually crushes half of the NSW' canola crop.

Mr Saxena predicted the plant would double its capacity within a few years.

Indian-born Australian entrepreneur Dhruv Deepak Saxena ( Landline: Tim Lee )

Half of the canola oil is consumed domestically — about a quarter of every Australian processed food item uses Wagga Wagga oil.

But the fastest growing market is India, where rising affluence in a population of 1.3 billion, has the distinctive "Wagga Wagga" brand canola oil flying off the shelves.

China is a more recent and similarly fast-growing export destination.

"It is truly inspiring and I think it'll take the brand Wagga Wagga to millions and millions of households," said NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the plant's recent gala day.

Sheba Nandkeolyar of the Australia-India Business Council said she believed Riverina Oil was a milestone development in the growing trade between the two countries.

"India should be on the top of the list in agribusiness really, and if Australia wants to build a relationship and wants to grow its markets in agribusiness, India has to be there," Ms Nandkeolyar said.

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Non-GMO food market providing another opportunity

Riverina Oilseed's canola oil has another quality that is making it highly sought after in health food supermarkets.

Because most Australian canola is GM free, the plant's GM-free oil attracts a premium, especially in the United States, where the non-GM market for foods such as mayonnaise and potato chips is growing rapidly.

Mr Saxena said he believed Australian agribusiness had enormous, and as yet, untapped potential.

But the sector has to do much more than merely export commodities.

"I think we have to start thinking of adding value, which is where entrepreneurship is required," Mr Saxena said.

"And a fresh mindset is required, not at the government level alone, but at every level."

Mr Saxena has further grand ambitions for his burgeoning company.

"So my ambition is to see if we can take this company to $500 million and probably a $1 billion market cap and make it among the top five food ASX [Australian Stock Exchange] companies."

Watch the full story on Landline at the new time of 12:30pm Sunday.