Rallis to invest Rs 200cr

Rallis India, a Tata Group company, plans to set up a manufacturing plant for agrochemicals and intermediary product under a special economic zone at Dahej in Gujarat, and a pesticide formulation unit at Jammu, with a total investment of Rs 200 crore within the next one or two years.

"Apart from agrochemicals and pesticide, we are looking at adjacent areas like speciality chemicals and seeds for growth. We would also like to build our international business, which at present constitutes 22 per cent of our portfolio. For some Indian companies, it is up to 45 per cent. If that is taken as a benchmark, we would like to reach that level," said V Shankar, chief executive officer and executive director, Rallis India Ltd, on the sidelines of a press conference for the launch an insecticide brand, Takumi.

The funding for the new units would be from internal accruals, he said. Recently, the company had sold a part of its surplus land at a profit of Rs 87.38 crore.

Rallis, which has have five plants in India, had a turnover of close to Rs 700 crore last fiscal, with 55 per cent of its revenue coming for the insecticide division. This apart, the company is also open to overseas acquisitions.

"We are open to both organic and inorganic growth," he said. Rallis would also introduce more hybrid seed varieties for wheat, paddy and mustard in the coming years, said Shankar.

Recently, it had launched BT cotton seeds in collaboration with Nuziveedu Seeds.

Takumi has been invented by a Japanese company, namely, Nihon Nohyaku, and co-developed by Rallis its plant at Ankleshwar.

"Our ambition is high. This (Takumi) may become one of the largest selling product in the Rallis portfolio," said R Gopalakrishna, executive director, Tata Sons.

Currently, Applaud, another insecticide sourced from Nihon Nohyaku, is the largest-selling product of Rallis.