Aries Agro in JV with UAE firm

Aries Agro-vet Industries, the Mumbai-based plant nutrition solutions manufacturer, has formed a joint venture with UAE-based Mapco Fertilisers to set up a plant at the Airport Free Zone in Sharjah.

The 25-crore worth JV has been formed in the ratio of 60:40. The plant is expected to be commissioned by next year.

Speaking to Business Standard, executive director Rahul Mirchandani said as part of its expansion drive, the company would be setting up three plants each at Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

"While all these plants will be manufacturing primary, secondary and micro-nutrients, we have entered into a joint venture with Mapco Fertilisers to set up our plant for primary nutrients in Sharjah," he added.

The company currently has four plants each at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. He said Aries had always pioneered in micro-nutrients like zinc, iron, copper, manganese, silicon, and molybdenum.

The company has a product base of 35. Primary nutrients consist of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, commonly known as NPKs. "Mapco is a leading manufacturer of water-soluble pure NPKs while we specialise in micro-nutrients. Hence, we want to tap West Asia through them. The JV will also open overseas market for our micro-nutrients," added Mirchandani.

Explaining the importance of micro-nutrients, Mirchandani said not only was the land availability decreasing but also the farmers were using heavy chemicals and fertilisers to protect their crops.

"But the crops are not getting equal nutrition to cope with the fertilisers? stress, which is why many crops are failing nowadays. These micro-nutrients will help give better yield for an average dose of 1-2 kg per acre."

The 38-year-old company is one of the four organised players in the plant nutrition solutions business and Mirchandani claims its 'Chelation Technology' to be unique.

"The chelation technology allows the nutrients to be protected by a claw-shaped water-soluble organic material, which is mixed with the nutrient at our specially fabricated plants. Once inside the plant through water, these organic materials release the micro-nutrients and instead get hold of toxins. The toxins are not soluble in water and hence get washed away with the water," he said.

According to Mirchandani, the cost benefits by using these micro-nutrients goes up to as high as 1:6 ratio.

Aries, which boasts of reaching nearly 8-10 million farmers, registered a growth of 40 per cent in the last three years. He said the micro-nutrient industry itself was growing at 15-20 percent.