India today is the fourth largest manufacturer of agrochemicals with 75% of Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) member companies having invested huge amounts, are involved in direct manufacturing of Technical grades and intermediates. Over the years the growth has been such that India is not only meeting domestic demand but exporting over Rs 30,000 crore worth of pesticides to over 130 countries matching global standards, said Dr Ajit Kumar, Head, Technical committee of CCFI during INAE Engineers Conclave 2021.

He informed that the situation in China is worsening as many raw material suppliers have been stopped. Also, many provinces have introduced power curtailment resulting into limited production. All power consuming plants to operate on very low capacity to contain CO2 in the environment. “This is the opportune time to attract major investments in India,” Kumar added.  

Kumar also expressed serious concern on certain impediments faced by the indigenous manufacturers. Imports have grown exponentially now to Rs 12410 crore (2020-21) from Rs 9090 crore (2019-20), reflecting an increase of whooping 37% mostly from China.

Since major MNCs have plants in China, the import of readymade formulations is also on the increase now constituting 53% of total imports, rest being Technical and intermediates.

World over genetics have not only over 65% of market share, the cost of manufacturing similar molecules is just 30-35% of the original supplier which is a great benefit for the Indian farming community.

Apprehension is also expressed on the quality- Technical so used could be of date expired material which is neither sampled or tested during import. Traders are managing to bring in large quantities for resale though it is mandated that imports are only for own captive consumption! Therefore, the import of formulations without registering Technical or otherwise should be stopped to encourage Indian manufacturers.

The proposal of banning 27 pesticides is a major impediment for the Indian agrochemical industry. Of these 17 molecules are being defended by Indian Companies as these pesticides have been in use for decades, found efficacious and manufactured indigenously matching all quality parameters. The ban would deprive the farmers of over 130 formulations which are tried and tested and accepted by the farming community. The rationale of ban by other countries is illogical and incomparable, as we have different agro climatic conditions. This would discourage further investment in this Champion sector.

Lastly another aspect plaguing the Indian industry is the implementation of Pesticides Management Bill 2020 (PMB2020) which primarily seeks to criminalise business operations ever for a minor offence contrary to the government’s policy of Ease of doing business. The financial compensation clause proposed would be an unnecessary harassment of genuine players in their industry. “We are confident that the Standing Committee on Agriculture would review all these aspects before being passed by the both the Houses of Parliament.” said Kumar

“We the CCFI members sincerely appreciate the vital initiative taken by the Prime Minister towards nation building by emphatically focusing on achieving self-reliance through Make in India policy. Our members are fundamentally involved in manufacturing Technical grade and formulations for crop protection and see investments to the tune of ₹10,000 Cr in the coming 5 years provided Govt is supportive of our move. This industry today has reached a turnover of Rs 55000 crore. We can certainly compete with China and gain manufacturing leadership in agrochemicals once this industry establishes critical manufacturing capacities through inclusion in the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme,” Harish Mehta, Senior Advisor, CCFI