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Insecticides India Ltd (IIL) Managing Director Rajesh Aggarwal on Sunday said the company will invest Rs 150 crore in the next two years on capacity expansion in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and also launch new herbicide and insecticide products before 'Navratri'.
Speaking to PTI, Aggarwal said the company will invest about Rs 100 crore for setting up of a new plant at Sotanala in Behror district of Rajasthan, in the next two years.
"Last week, we acquired 15-acre plant at Sotanala in Behror district. Lot of sheds are already there and we plan to manufacture agro-chemicals. We will invest about Rs 100 crore investment here in the next two years," he said.
The plant will be implemented in phases and the work might commence by year-end, he said adding this is a second plant in Rajasthan and the other one is located at Chopanki which is up and functioning.
Aggarwal further said the company will invest Rs 25 crore in the next fiscal for expansion of its SEZ plant located in Dahej, Gujarat and the land for the same will be acquired by Diwali.
Another Rs 25 crore will be invested for consolidation of its technical plants in Chopanki and Dahej, in order to manufacture 8-9 Active Ingredients by next year, he said.
"In total, we will invest Rs 150 crore in the next two years," he said and added that the investment will be from internal accruals and a loan of small amount.
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The company also has two plants in Jammu and Kashmir and an R&D centre and a biological plant in Uttar Pradesh.
Talking about the new products, Aggarwal said the company will move out of old generic products and add new ones with value addition.
"Our new pipeline is very strong in most crops. We will introduce three herbicide and insecticide products in Q2," he said.
Already, one herbicide 'Green Expert' was launched in the current month. In the current quarter, the company will launch another herbicide 'Opaque' for onion, while 'Nakshatra' for sugarcane. A new insecticide 'Supremo' for paddy, sugarcane and vegetables will also be launched.
The company posted 24 per cent drop in its consolidated net profit at Rs 29.14 crore for the first quarter of 2023-24.
Aggarwal cited that high inventory cost owing to a sharp rise in global prices of key raw materials led to a decline in profits in the last two quarters. However, the company expects to perform better as international prices have started cooling down lately.
"In the Q2, we will come out of this. We will achieve double-digit growth in topline and bottom line. Our performance will be better," he added.
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