Rallis profit up 132%

Rallis India, a Tata Group company, today reported a 132 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 101.88 crore in the second quarter ended 30 September 2007 as compared with Rs 43.85 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Profits for Rallis, the second largest manufacturer or agri inputs after Bayer India, got a boost from a fairly well-distributed monsoon and the Rs 87.38 crore it received for the sale of part of its surplus land in Hyderabad.

"The company's income from operations jumped 19 per cent to Rs 274.87 crore as compared with Rs 231.92 crore in the corresponding quarter last year," CEO and Executive Director V Shanker said.

"We have registered a healthy revenue growth driven by increase in sales volumes of our key products. Our new products 'Applaud' and 'Taqat' in particular have done well."

Rallis net interest cost was down to its lowest ever at Rs 97 lakh in the quarter.

Rallis also registered one of its key products, a herbicide, for sale in the US and it has received the first order, he said.

Rallis plans to set up a new unit in Jammu with an investment of Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore and it was waiting for clearance for the transfer of land on which the state-of-the-art formulations development facility is to come up.