Agri-sciences company PI Industries estimates estimate a Capex of around Rs. 500 crore for the forthcoming year, informs Manikantan Viswanathan, Chief Financial Officer, PI Industries Ltd.

Elaborating more on the capex, Rajnish Sarna, Joint Managing Director, PI Industries Ltd. said, "There are different categories of Capex, there is maintenance Capex, there is Capex towards some of the research side and capital efficiently and process improvement side."

"For example, there is Capex for maintenance, there is Capex in our research and development center, there is Capex in all these new technologies we are developing for the future. So, it is not that all Capex is going for building a multiproduct plant or capacity. The capacity to the tune of one to one and a half multiproduct plants will certainly be there and this is what we're building as part of Capex," Sarna comments.

In terms of investment in greenfield, frankly at this point there is no such plan, because we still have scope for expansion at our existing sites. So, therefore, we are considering some brownfield projects in the current year, next year, and because there is scope for expansion at a couple of our existing sites. So, as and when we will need some additional area or greenfield, yes, we will surely evaluate at that point in time. But at this point, there's no such plan, Sarna adds.

Close to 40-plus kinds of projects at this point in time in R&D and a significant number of projects, inquiries and projects which have progressed in R&D are from the non-agchem segment, adds Sarna.

"We are building a state of the art and accordingly the R&D infrastructure is also being aligned and created to start having a right kind of focus on the non-agchem molecules," said Dr. Atul Gupta, CEO - CSM Exports, PI Industries.   

The total capex for PI Industries Ltd. for FY22 stood at Rs. 320.4 crore.