Pesticide firms call for simpler export norms

India can emerge as a major exporter of pesticides if the domestic procedures and regulations applicable to agro-chemicals are rationalised, pesticide industry representatives feel.

At present, Indian pesticide export is worth only about Rs 2,800 crore a year in an estimated global trade of around Rs 150,000 crore.

"This level can be easily doubled though the potential is much higher," said Rajju Shroff, chairman and managing director of United Phosphorus Ltd, one of the largest exporters of pesticides in India.

India is one of the most dynamic and largest manufacturers of generic agro-chemicals among the South Asian countries. There are about 75 technical grade agro-chemical manufacturers and over 1,000 formulators in the country.

Nearly 40 per cent of the domestic output of pesticides and intermediates is exported to over 100 countries, including the US, Australia and European countries, according to the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), an apex body of the pesticides industry.

"There is no pesticide in the world that India cannot produce at lower than international costs," Shroff told Business Standard. But the exporters had to cross various hurdles at the domestic level in selling the produce abroad, he added.

Elaborating his point, he said an exporter had, at times, to wait for over a year after getting the export order to complete the domestic formalities and get necessary approvals.

Red-tapism is rampant in this system, putting unnecessary expenditure burden on the exporters. Even if a product is manufactured exclusively for export to a country which approved it, local approval is necessary to manufacture it. Besides, the labelling provisions are also cumbersome.

"If a product manufactured in Gujarat passes through Maharashtra in transit to the port, the Maharashtra authorities would insist that the labels should be in Marathi," he pointed out.

Besides, if any export-bound consignment had to be stored, even temporarily, in Maharashtra prior to shipment, the exporter had to get licence for that purpose.

Regarding the new law which allowed patenting of product rather than process, Shroff said Indian export industry was not affected by it.

The norms of the trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPs), too, did not bother the Indian pesticide exporters. Of course, Indian manufacturers were not engaged in discovering new molecules, but many export-oriented companies were spending on research for finding new formulations and combinations.

"United Phosphorus alone has patented several of its formulations in the US and other countries, besides India," he said.