Bayer to set up active ingredients plant for agrochemicals in Vapi

German chemicals company Bayer is setting up a new plant for manufacturing active ingredients (or precursors), which are used for making agrochemicals formulation, in Vapi (Gujarat) with an investment of Euro 30 million (about Rs 220 crore). Bayer, the marketeer of painkiller brand Aspirin, is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and agriculture.

“The new plant in Vapi, entailing investment of Euro 30 million, will focus of manufacturing active ingredients for agrochemicals. It will cater to Indian as well as overseas markets,” disclosed Richard van der Merwe, senior Bayer representative (South Asia) and VC & MD of Bayer CropScience Ltd, while inaugurating the company’s global science exhibition – titled ‘Making Science Make Sense’ – in Mumbai on Thursday. The new plant in Vapi is expected to go on-stream by June 2017.

New plant follows the opening of a global formulation technology laboratory at Vapi in September this year involving investment of Euro 2 million. Vapi facility, which is a core production site for the German agrochemicals company globally, is engaged in the manufacturing of active ingredients for use in a wide array of products for modern sustainable agriculture, professional pest management and animal health.

In the last few years, Bayer has made strategic investments in various research & development, production, and infrastructure projects in the country to bolster growth. “We have spent over Euro 200 million in the last couple of years in India for acquisitions, capital investment, capacity enhancement and R&D,” stated Merwe.

Speaking about the intellectual property rights (IPRs) issue in India, he said, “If you do not protect IP, you will not get any new innovation. Companies invest only in those countries where their intellectual property is protected. We stand firmly for the protection of IP. We have not faced any IP related issues in India in the recent past. From a policy perspective, we are seeing a very positive approach being adopted by the present government towards IPR.”

The company has identified India, where it registered a turnover of about Euro 489 million in 2015, as one of the key growth markets. “We always aim to grow faster than the market. This year’s good monsoon is expect to have a very positive impact on the sales of crop protection products in the country,” said Merwe.