Bayer CropScience Limited announced today its unaudited results for the first quarter of financial year 2020-21. For Q1 ended June 30, 2020, the company registered revenue from operations of Rs.12,278 million, as compared to Rs.9,504 million in the corresponding period of FY 2019-20. Profit Before Exceptional Items and Tax for the period stood at Rs.3,138 million, compared to Rs.2,035 million in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

 

Commenting on the Q1 results, D. Narain, CEO & Managing Director of Bayer CropScience Limited, said, "Preparations for Kharif season started earlier this year due to COVID-19 related uncertainties. Consequently, we advanced our production schedule to enable early product availability and shifted to digital training & advisory for our farmer customers. On-time arrival of monsoon and uninterrupted availability of agri-inputs helped farmers procure seeds and crop protection products for timely Kharif sowing. This led to a strong demand in Q1, compared to previous years. New routes such as e-commerce sale of our brands helped us leverage our existing value chain partnerships and deliver greater value to farmers."

 

In the first quarter of FY 2020-21, Bayer CropScience Limited undertook various activities to support farmers and essential agricultural operations, while prioritizing the health & safety of its employees, customers and channel partners. One of the key initiatives included the distribution of commercial sampling kits containing Bayer's hybrid seeds and crop protection products to 400,000 smallholder farmers across 17 states in India. Another focus area the company is starting to focus on, is providing mechanized spraying and harvesting services to farmers, along with market linkages for sale of their produce.

 

Sharing an outlook for the future, D. Narain, said, "COVID-19 has significantly disrupted Indian agriculture and forced players across the agri value chain to remodel their day-to-day operations and supply chains. It has also highlighted the importance of agriculture for food security, advancing rural livelihoods and the Indian economy. The government's transformational agri-reforms will provide farmers wider access to sell their produce beyond their local marketplaces and achieve better price realization. Bayer will continue to support Indian farmers through access to seeds & crop protection inputs, product innovation and crop advisory. Our focus will be on new business models and value chain collaborations to expand the reach of our agri-solutions, support scale-up of FPOs and digital farming solutions."