Rallis Dahej unit to start commercial production by June 2010

Tata group company Rallis India's additional manufacturing facility at Dahej in Gujarat is expected to start commercial production by June 2010.

"The company's plans to set up additional manufacturing facility at Dahej in Gujarat are on track with work progressing satisfactorily. A Rs 150-crore investment in Phase-I will go towards creating a state-of-the-art facility," Rallis India Chairman R Gopalakrishnan said in his statement.      

The capacity of the plant will be 5,000 MT/KL per year with a Rs 500-crore revenue potential over a three-year period. The commercial production is expected to start by June 2010, Gopalakrishnan said.      

The focus on innovation and introduction of new products continues to be one of the key strategic pillars for the company.      

The company's products like Applaud and Takumi got good response from growers of key crops and the company also launched a new blasticide in paddy segment under the brand name Mantis.      

The company's initiative of new product development process had identified several new products to be developed during the next 5-8-years. 

Improvement plans for existing products are also underway with an objective of cost reduction and being competitive in the market. Two more new products Ergon and Balwan are ready for launch in the coming year, Gopalakrishnan said.      

The company's international business achieved record sales of Rs 288 crore in FY'09, a growth of about 79 per cent over last year's sales. This was inspite of the downturn in the international markets. The company's focus on supply contract and registration based sales has helped in increasing revenues across geographies, he said.      

Gopalakrishnan pointed out that the crop care industry is a very big industry globally estimated at $40 billion. On this large base, the global crop care industry has grown at a CAGR of 8 per cent over the last five years.      

The domestic crop care industry is estimated at $1 billion (Rs 5,000 crore) and witnessed a growth of around 10 per cent during the year.

Commenting on the company's performance, Gopalakrishnan said, that while the first-half of FY 09 was relatively favourable for the domestic industry, the environment turned challenging during the second half of the year.         

 

Industry grappled with the issues like declining product prices, high cost inventory carried over from first-half, adverse impact of volatility in foreign exchange and liquidity crisis along with poor credit availability.         

The company's profit from operations on a consolidated basis, increased to Rs 119.53-crore during FY 09 as compared to Rs 65.43-crore in the previous year, a growth of 83 per cent. The company earned a net profit of Rs 72.02-crore as against a net profit of Rs 125.31-crore in the previous year on consolidated basis.         

The previous year's net profit included profit after tax of Rs 67.58-crore from sale of land.