The Indian government should increase import duty on finished products in the pesticides says Pradip Dave, President, Pesticides Manufacturers & Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) speaking on CNBC TV 18 debate.
Indian pesticide industry is at No. 4 in the world after the US, Japan and China and presently the pesticide industry in India is estimated to be around Rs. 40,000 crore.
"India and China are very good in manufacturing generic pesticides for which the global market is Rs. 30,000 crore. Indian industries are dependent on Chinese raw materials, intermediates and technical materials to the tune of 40% but we are better than the pharmaceutical industry which is 60-70% dependent on China," said Dave.
Talking about manufacturing of intermediates in India, Dave said, "India is capable of manufacturing technical and intermediates in India, provided the government gives some incentive which they are offering to other sectors. If Indian pesticide industry is supported by the government, we will definitely Make in India and there would be less dependency on Chinese imports but it will only happen when the government gives protection to local manufacturing by imposing a reasonable import duty. As of today, the import duty on raw materials and intermediates is 7.5 percent whereas finished products have an import duty of 10 percent. For a fraction of 2.5 percent who will set up a plant unless and until the government gives an assurance that they will protect the industry by imposing import duty."
Lot of intermediates are still coming from China and if the government gives a push, then we will manufacture intermediates in India and we can also increase exports. Manufacturing of intermediates should be encouraged by the government, says Rajendra V Gogri, Chairman & Managing Director, Aarti Industries.
India is making some intermediates and exporting to China and India is a big exporter to China but very soon the Chinese plants come up within three months and they put up anti-dumping duty on Indian products. Chinese are very fast whereas in India, the protection is only for a year or two, said Rajnikant Shroff, Chairman & Managing Director, UPL.
The world market of pesticide is $65 billion and our export is only $3.4 billion and whatever we are doing our quality is superior and price is competitive and the only thing we need is a little bit of protection added Shroff.
India is quite capable and we would suggest our government put some duty immediately so that Indian companies will start manufacturing, the plant would be more competitive and we would be able to become self-sufficient, commented Shroff.
India is an agricultural superpower and India will make much more pesticides which would be helpful to the farmers.
Speaking about environment clearances, Rajnikant Shroff said, "Future of agrochemicals is very bright. For making new products, our environment ministry takes three years in India but anywhere in the world it takes 6 months to start a plant. I think there is some improvement in the environment ministry but it needs to be resolved so that Indian chemical industry has a very bright future."
