July 12, 2021

We are taking up a lot of initiatives on hydrogen. We are recognised as one of the most active players in the Middle East. Nuberg sees a lot of enquiries coming up from chemical and hydrogen peroxides and chlorine derivatives.  

June 23, 2021

Indian agrochemical sector is growing at a rapid pace. Many investments are coming in the Indian agrochemical industry. We have already proposed plans to the government for backward integration of our plants. We also have a JV with UPL Ltd and National Fertilizers Ltd. We have come up with an insecticidal mosquito net.  

June 22, 2021

The state is looking to build self-sufficiency in petrochemical products and drive economies of scale for downstream chemical industries

June 16, 2021

Azmathullah Mohammed, Director, Customer Solution Experience, India, Dassault Systemes talks exclusively to Pravin Prashant, Editor, Indian Chemical News on solutions offerings, clients in Chemical, Oil & Gas, Agrochemicals, and Pharmaceuticals, strategy for driving growth, accelerating sustainability and digital transformation, ‘ONE Lab’ industry solution,  Drug Discovery hackathon, innovations planned, and incubating startups. Excerpts of the interview: 

Clients in chemicals, oil & gas, agrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals who have deployed 3DEXPERIENCE in India and how are they utilizing this platform?

India is a key market for us and we work with different customers across these sectors to help them address various challenges related to business, innovation, and impact.

The key challenges faced by the chemical and oil & gas sector includes - environmental concerns and increasing public scrutiny, which is fuelling a shift in preference for alternative solutions that disrupt traditional business models. Various complexities arise from aging infrastructure and new, technically demanding assets. Our solutions can help the sector to address these challenges through digitalization and collaboration with an integrated approach that connects people, information, and processes across organizations, ecosystems, and value streams.

In agrochemicals, challenges range from finding new active ingredients to optimizing formulations to regulatory issues in connection with environmental fate or toxicology. Our simulation products aid development stages from finding a new active to generating additional thermodynamic data.

Pharmaceutical companies are under significant pressure to lower costs and to deliver therapies to smaller populations. Leading companies are investing in more flexible infrastructure, leveraging disposable and modular equipment in order to be more adaptive, mainly driven by the acceleration of biologics. Dassault Systemes has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by these companies and is committed to help them advance the pace of discovery of new drugs and medicines.

While attempting to resolve these challenges, many organisations have created cacophony of siloed digital softwares. This often leads to duplication of data, delay in timely notification of hazards leading to huge productivity as well as business loss resulting out of penalties. 3DEXPERIENCE Platform provides an open and an integrated platform approach to our customers to streamline their business processes, while fully understanding and including the legacy deployed solutions that are statutory or specific. 

We have been working with several companies in power, oil and gas, chemicals, mining and metals in India. They boarded looking at the depth of our brand applications and industry solution experience offerings, which is seamlessly integrated on our 3DEXPERIENCE Platform. 

Our solutions based on 3DEXPERIENCE Platform are adopted by industry innovation leaders such as 3M, DOW Chemicals, BASF, Akzo Nobel, Shell, BP, Chevron, Yeochun NCC, and many more. 

What solutions does the 3DEXPERIENCE platform offer to the clients to help push boundaries of innovation, learning, and production? How can India's chemicals, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals industries benefit from 3DEXPERIENCE platform?

At Dassault Systemes, we have created solutions specific to the industry segments. These solutions are called Industry Solution Experiences. These solutions are based on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform that combine application, content and services, to enable unique and disruptive innovations in these sectors. 

The key Industry Solution Experiences include: Capital Facilities Information Excellence (CFIE) Solution pan across the chemical, petrochemical, agrochemical, and pharma industry. The main deliverable of the CFIE is to provide a unified, platform based approach to integrated siloed information and siloed technologies to provide a Single Source of Truth for real-time monitoring and decision making. 

Further, we also have specific solutions, which can augment targeted needs of the industry segments. 

Chemical and petrochemical: Materials Excellence connects people, processes and data by removing barriers to data silos and democratizing advanced machine learning and in silico molecular modeling and simulation techniques to guide R&D in the identification and characterization of high performance materials. 

Laboratory excellence supports laboratory organizations in Energy & Materials industries with an environment that facilitates and optimizes collaboration, experiment execution, documentation, and data management from R&D through manufacturing to commercialization. It helps to streamline laboratory operations, reformulate and improve product performance, and speed time to market. 

Pharmaceutical: The License to Cure for BioPharma Industry Solution experience provides the ability to accelerate therapeutic development, approval, manufacturing, and supply, in a global landscape by leveraging an extensive, connected and comprehensive regulatory and quality platform. 

Made to Cure for BioPharma provides deep digital capabilities and visibility across the enterprise and facilitates data-driven decision making for therapeutics supply. 

Unique strategy developed by the company to drive growth of Dassault's customer base in India especially in the chemicals, petrochemicals, and pharmaceutical industry?

At Dassault Systemes, our growth strategy has these key pillars - Build on Value with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, industry focus and cloud/mobile apps; Domain leadership through brand value creation; and improve efficiency by leveraging our sales channel coverage. 

We have over 3,000 people working in sales & marketing, R&D, and global services. Furthermore, to select large and mid size customers in the energy and materials (E&M) industry we rope in global tech sales and support teams that are well abreast with the nature of the challenges in the sector. The E&M sector is such that the challenges are fairly similar globally and it is only the local policies, workforce capabilities and technical knowhow and digitalization in organisations that differentiates a global player to a player doing business in India.

Additionally, the specific challenge in these segments is adoption of digital technologies. While we have good domain knowledge specialists, it is difficult to find trained manpower on digital tools. One of the key initiatives at Dassault Systemes to drive growth is Workforce of the Future enabled through the Centre of Excellences for specific industry segments. We have many premier institutes on-board with us such as IITs, CIPET, and APSSDC to facilitate eligible and trained workforce. 

How is the company accelerating sustainability and digital transformation in the chemicals, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors?

The Indian chemicals industry stood at US $178 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach US $304 billion by 2025 registering a CAGR of 9.3%. The demand for chemicals is expected to expand by 9% per annum by 2025. The chemical industry is expected to contribute US $300 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. Similarly according to the Indian Economic Survey 2021, the domestic market is expected to grow 3x in the next decade. India’s domestic pharmaceutical market is estimated at US $41 billion in 2021 and likely to reach US $65 billion by 2024 and further expand to reach around US $120-130 billion by 2030. 

With the ambitious growth projections, sustainability is a key concern. UN Sustainable Development Goals 3, 6, 12, and 13 are the ones directly impacted through the processes of chemicals, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals industries. 

At Dassault Systemes, we think of progress and innovation in terms of balance and impact. As we create value, what are we taking from our planet? As a part of our sustainability mission, we have initiated 12 actions to achieve our ambition to re-invent the sustainable economy. Further Dassault Systemes is today part of European Green Digital Coalition and Global Enabling Sustainable Initiative. 

At Dassault Systemes, we strongly believe that virtual twins will be a key enabler for our customers – and the world – to imagine, design, and test the radically new products, materials, and manufacturing processes needed in tomorrow’s more sustainable economy. As part of our purpose to harmonize product, nature and life, we have a strategic ambition to become the world’s leading partner for reinventing a sustainable economy. Sustainable innovation can only be achieved by leveraging virtual worlds to imagine radically new materials, products and processes that reduce industry’s carbon footprint, and advance the circular economy. 

Virtual worlds will enable industry to play its part in achieving the SDGs and in cutting GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions in half by 2030. New approaches to innovation, processes, and production will enable the manufacturing sector to focus on reducing waste, the life sciences sector to focus on new methods behind more targeted treatments, and the infrastructure and cities sector to focus on more sustainable ways to operate. 

Virtual worlds with Dassault Systemes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform and applications have already helped innovators pioneer new medical treatments, improve service deliveries in cities, and design a sculpture that absorbs pollution, confirming their role as a catalyst and enabler in a real world that is hyper vigilant about the availability of its resources and the well-being of future generations. 

How has ‘ONE Lab’ industry solution of Dassault Systemes helped pharmaceutical companies to improve overall laboratory operational excellence and also support its digitalization journey?

Dassault Systemes ONE Lab Industry Solution Experience provides a standard foundation for the understanding and use of laboratory equipment, materials, and procedure steps, as well as a unified role-based user experience for the lab. 

It helps pharmaceutical companies to design, develop, characterize, and release therapeutics more effectively at reduced costs with data-driven processes. It improves collaboration, innovation, and decision-making through an easier exchange of more consistent data and information. Further, it increased “Right First Time” through standardization and improved compliance with procedures and policies supporting the Quality and Regulatory initiative. 

It provides a better understanding of the processes and data, providing knowledge to be used empirically or to build and refine models that can be used for future laboratory experimentation and testing. By integrating laboratory capabilities and applications through a laboratory-aware foundation, the solutions further help the companies improve operational excellence, support collaboration, and help enable faster time-to-market. 

Dassault Systemes has partnered with Drug Discovery Hackathon (DDH2020), a joint initiative of AICTE, CSIR, CDAC, PSA, NIC and MyGov. How will this initiative help India?

In August last year, we partnered in the Drug Discovery Hackathon 2020 (DDH2020). Under this partnership, we offered the academic researchers, faculty, and participants of the hackathon access to our BIOVIA Discovery Studio, powered by 3DEXPERIENCE platform to assist in the search for rapid, safe, and effective therapeutic drugs against COVID-19. 

Our solution provided the researchers with a complete toolset for use i.e. from target identification through lead optimization including tools for biologics design and analysis, classical simulations, structure- and fragment-based design, virtual ligand screening, as well as ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion) and toxicity prediction. This will help deal with designing/optimizing new tools and algorithms which will have an immense impact on expediting the process of in silico drug discovery. 

This partnership aligned with our commitment to empowering the Life Sciences industry and the broader healthcare ecosystem, from those working in research and clinical development to manufacturing and patient care, at the forefront of the race to contain and fight COVID-19 in the country. 

The 3DEXPERIENCE Lab in India is based out of Dassault Systemes’ R&D premises in Hinjewadi, Pune. What are the new innovations planned in 2021?

The 3DEXPERIENCE Lab offers entrepreneurs, makers, and start-ups unique resources to work on disruptive innovations, leverage collective intelligence, and nurture projects by continuing the trend in India and helping Indian start-ups grow and bring their projects to transform society. The start-ups will have access to Dassault Systemes’ cloud-based 3DEXPERIENCE platform and worldwide ecosystem to accelerate their product development process for two years with technical mentoring, marketing, and business development. 

Some of the successful innovative startups that have signed with the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab in Pune are Brainsight.Ai, Padcare Lab, Inali and Lucid Implants. We have several other startups in the pipeline and coming from participants from 3DEXPERIENCE Pitch. Furthermore during COVID we have been working with students to foster frugal innovation. We worked with Nihaal to create the ventilation system in the PPE kit which has been in the news. We have also worked with students to design and develop bike ambulances. We continue to work on some stellar as well as frugal innovation from the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab in Pune. 

What are your plans to incubate start-ups at the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab in India and technologies which they can collaborate with Dassault Systemes?

We drive various initiatives through the year to identify start-ups who can be incubated at the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab. During October- November 2020, we hosted a virtual hackathon, Drone-a-thon: Propelling Sustainability, aimed at inspiring students, start-ups, budding entrepreneurs and industrial companies to drive UAV and drone innovations powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The hackathon comprises a 10 days Design-Simulate-Experience challenge, in collaboration with 3DEXPERIENCE Lab. The hackathon provided a platform to inspire young minds to ideate, create futuristic drones and UAVs in India that can be manufactured locally to help farming and agriculture, city planning and surveillance, provide healthcare facilities and medical supplies in remote areas and help defence establishments in the country. 

Further, we host 3DEXPERIENCE Lab pitches every year where startups can propose their idea to the jury and be offered mentorship, the cloud licence of 3DEXPERIENCE platform and brand applications to develop their product into a prototype in the next 2-3 years. We also work with Atal Incubation Center-SNU as Technology/Knowledge Partners to provide winners of their ‘Venture Challenge’ contest an extended support from the conceptual stage to actualization of their business concepts. We will help the chosen start-ups to scale their ideas, provide technical support, market guidance and access to their networks of key contacts for growth. Additionally, the best start-ups with breakthrough/disruptive innovation, collective intelligence, or those that aim to positively impact the society will get the chance to participate in the global pitch of 3DEXPERIENCE Lab.

June 14, 2021

What are the key milestones achieved by Dekra (India) in 2020 what's the plan for Dekra (India) in 2021?

The biggest achievement of Dekra in 2020 is to have kept all its employees’ safe through the Corona pandemic. Our plan for 2021 emphasizes on the safety of our colleagues and clients through these difficult times. Dekra identified the need of supporting the clients online in various studies, thus keeping its own employees safe while delivering the values.

How big is the TIC (Testing, Inspection, and Certification) market globally? What are the industry trends?

The global TIC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% from US $204.2 billion in 2020 to US $243.7 billion in 2025. The primary reasons for this rise in demand is the increasing need for safety, surge in the illicit trade of counterfeit and pirated goods, advancements in networking and communication technologies, and inclination toward outsourced TIC services.

What are Dekra India’s solutions to clients in chemical and pharmaceutical industry?

Dekra India provides technical services and solutions in the field of safety namely: Risk Management, Health & Safety Management, Process Safety Engineering, Reliability & Maintainability, Organizational Behavioral Safety – Human Factor, Process Safety Testing, Process Safety Instruments, Process Safety Equipment for chemical, pharma and various industries/sector across PAN India.

In specific field of product testing, we provide Connectivity Testing, Medical Device Services, Product Certification – Global Market Access, Automotive Testing, Cybersecurity, EMC & RF Testing, and Product Safety Testing. In the specific field of cybersecurity, we have launched CyberSafePS, a solution to assess vulnerability of plants fully compliant with IEC62443 and OG0086.

In specific field of industrial inspection, we provide Shop Inspection, Site Inspection, Plant Safety Inspections, Expediting, Vendor Assessment Services, Mechanized & Advance NDT Inspections, Asset Integrity Management, Lifting Equipment, Cranes, Machinery, Construction Control & Site Safety, Predictive Maintenance Inspections, Statutory Certification – PED, and TRCU.

Which key clients you signed in 2020 and 2021?

Key clients signed in 2020 are FMC Cheminova India Limited, Aarti Industries, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Pidilite Industries Limited, L'Oreal India Pvt. Limited, Asian Paints Limited, Aurobindo Pharma Limited, PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Limited, and IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Key clients signed in 2021 are QAPCO, Sohar International Urea Oman, Total, Gulbransen, Aurigene Pharmaceuticals Services Limited, Asian Paints Limited, Shreas Industries, Sajjan India, and Orion Pharma.

How is Dekra India addressing the challenges faced by the oil & gas industry and solutions offered? Key clients signed in India?

With digitalization coming up as a key trend in various sectors (including Oil & Gas), we have been able to continuously support our clients, creating new solutions and revamping existing ones to adapt them to the changing conditions in different regions. Key clients signed in 2020 are Cairn Oil & Gas (Vedanta Limited), Godavari Biorefineries Limited, IG Petrochemicals Limited, and Dubai Natural Gas Co. Limited. Key clients signed in 2021 are Torrent Gas, HAL Offshore, Tata Projects, and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

The company is developing and launching the safety concept behind the new Hydrogen powered HYRAZE league? The solutions provided by Dekra India?

Yes, our colleagues from the automotive division are heavily involved in the HYRAZE project. In relation with the current hydrogen hype, and in an industrial environment, Dekra India supporting a very diverse range of clients in different projects, including hydrogen production, distribution and consumption.

How has Dekra India performed during FY 2020-21 and what is the forecast in FY 2021-22?

Dekra India’s turnover for FY 2020-21 was 1.6 million EURO and forecast for FY 2021-22 is 2.3 million EURO.

The vision for the company in 2025 is to see DEKRA as the global partner for a safe world. How do you plan to achieve this feat?

I would like to mention the internal reorganization started in 2020 and codenamed TOM2020. It is helping us to understand better the needs of our clients, and to provide them with more transversal support.

June 10, 2021

How has Granules India responded to the COVID-19 pandemic challenge?

We tried to be as proactive as we could with handling of COVID-19 situation. While running the facilities without disruptions was a priority, ensuring employee safety while following the government restrictions was a bigger priority. We did a lot of contract tracing, ensured any sign of illness was caught at the right time and right remediation measures were in place for the employees and their families. We had a lot of sanitization measures in place and ensured social distancing was in play. We also had a lot of the staff work from home. Most importantly, we ensured that the right medical amenities were made available to the employees and the families. 

What are the major R&D initiatives and investments made on key projects at Granules? Areas of focus and outcomes so far?

Over the last few years, we have been constantly investing in R&D, expanding our product portfolio to address the prospective demand across global markets and meeting global regulatory standards. Our focus areas have been diversifying the portfolio by development of large volume products with unparalleled process efficiencies, moving from simple IR products to complex ER dosage forms, and being integrated to the extent feasible on key molecules. 

As on 31 Mar 2021, we have filed 24 DMFs in the US market and 26 DMFs in the European market. In finished dosage form, we filed 51 ANDAs with the USFDA of which 40 ANDAs have been approved and 11 are under review. We also filed two dossiers in European region and 3 ANDAs filings in Canada. We have over 50 dossiers under development. All of this is made possible by constant efforts by our R&D team. We will continue to strengthen our R&D by investing in new capabilities and expanding capacity. 

How do you view the govt's PLI scheme to boost domestic pharma API manufacturing India? Is it lucrative enough for industry?

India is dependent upon China and other countries for a lot of Key Starting Materials (KSM) for their bulk drug needs. To have self-sufficiency for our bulk drug industry, the government has come out with a PLI scheme for certain API and KSM to be made out of a greenfield facility set up specifically for this purpose. We feel that the quantitative restriction on certain KSM would be a bit of a dampener to utilize the same. We do have certain technologies which we are working with some of our partners who would be investing for certain of the KSM. We might not participate but will subscribe for the quantities produced by our partners. 

What was the revenue and PAT achieved by the company during the FY 2020-21? Your expectations for revenue in FY 2021-22 and growth drivers?

During FY 20-21, the company had a top line of Rs. 3,237 crores with a bottom line of Rs. 549 crores. In FY 21-22, we are estimating a PAT growth of 20% assuming the Covid situation doesn’t dampen our efforts further. The major growth drivers would be the increased volumes and geographies of our legacy business and new product launches in the US while increasing our product penetration in the new geographies. 

What are the company's major plans in terms of technology adoption and digitalization across various business verticals?

The company has been on the latest SAP HANA platform for the last 4 years and generally works on the cutting edge technologies. We are implementing digital quality management systems across our facilities to improve quality compliance and process efficiency. To move out of technological obsolescence, we started leasing IT assets, which would get renewed every 3 years. Due to the pandemic, we moved all our banking operations online to avoid usage of cheques. The company also uses various technological solutions to be on the forefront in various manufacturing operations too. 

Capex investment made by a company to set up a new manufacturing plant or expansion into new territories?

The company is planning its next round of Capex cycle and would be investing around Rs. 1,000 crores in the next 3 to 4 years. We are looking at a greenfield formulations’ facility in Genome valley for around Rs. 450 crores, around Rs. 300 crores would be spent on API expansions in Vizag, remaining on other Capex activities in the US, and maintenance Capex. We believe that this additional Capex will not only strengthen our position in existing areas of focus; provide fixed depositcapacities to launch new R&D products, manufacture larger volumes of the existing and new APIs and add to our packaging capabilities in the US but will also position us to take on manufacturing requirements for the business development activities that are being evaluated. 

Major CSR initiatives undertaken in the recent past? Any initiatives to address humanitarian crisis and medical emergencies during the ongoing pandemic?

The company works in CSR areas in and around its plants to strive for the upliftment of the people in these regions. We along with Swarna Bharat Trust work for the welfare of students who have passed class XII and are given basic training about pharmaceutical operations and are absorbed as trainees in various Granules factories. While doing their training they also earn a degree and become a full-fledged pharma professional after 3 years. Recently, the company has donated Rs. 16 crore Paracetamol tablets to the government of Telangana for their drive against COVID-19. 

Future business outlook of Granules India in 2021?

At this point, the only outlook we have is to ensure that we are able to run the facilities without any disruptions so our customers and patients across the world have an uninterrupted access to medication.

May 12, 2021

May 12, 2021

April 13, 2021

What are the global trends in Performance Chemicals in 2021 and how will it impact India?

In 2021, Performance Chemicals will increase by 5-10 per cent globally. The impact of COVID-19 will continue in 2021 and as a result travel restriction would reduce travel. There will be fewer one-to-one interactions, digital meeting and wearing a mask is the new normal. In 2021, the raw material price trend shows that this year, the market will be more volatile because of the uncertainty of availability and new norms laid out by the government. It will impact India in the second half of 2021. The increase in raw material prices will impact the price of finished goods and this will lead to inflation. Presently, there is huge volatility in crude oil and hence the crude oil-based raw material price will increase. The focus is on being more sustainable and how it creates more value from every rupee spent on speciality chemicals, in short, we are talking about Chemistry 5.0.

How would you explain the trends in Textile Specialty Chemicals in 2021 and how will it impact India?

The global textile chemicals market size valued at US $ 23.62 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth rate (CAGR) of 4.5 per cent from 2019 to 2025. Environmental concerns associated with textile chemicals have shifted the focus of major manufacturing companies toward green (bio-based) chemicals that are eco-friendly. Companies involved in the manufacture of bio-based chemicals offer cost competitiveness owing to the availability of low-cost feedstock.
There is an increasing demand for sports and activewear on account of the use of antimicrobial finishes for manufacturing such products. Textile chemicals help prevent odour and bacterial infection caused by the sweat trapped in clothing such as undergarments, socks, T-shirts, and other sports apparel. The rising demand for customized solutions is expected to significantly boost the overall product application.
In the Indian context, the fluctuating raw material prices of phenols and surfactants are expected to pose a challenge for the market players to achieve profitability and economies of scale. The majority of manufacturers in India have shifted their focus towards investing in product innovation supported by the Make in India scheme of the government.

Key milestones achieved by Rossari Biotech in FY 2020-21 and plans for FY 2021-22?

Few of the major key milestones achieved in the FY 2020-21 include setting up a Centre of Excellence at IIT, Bombay at Powai, commissioning of the Dahej project, tie-up with CSIA, Mumbai Airport, branded dispensers, and supply sanitisers for the use of passengers, foray into E-commerce by listing HPPC products on the Amazon platform.
Our key priority and strategic aim are to grow across all the areas of application in all our four core chemistry areas that we excel in. As we move ahead, we will continue seeding new businesses with the existing assets. We are working intensely on attaining more and more capabilities and building relevant infrastructure to foray into newer areas where we foresee sizable growth. We reaffirm our commitment to sustainable growth and enhanced value creation and remain resolute to work towards building the ‘Rossari’ of tomorrow. This, in popular parlance, is termed as “Ross-Era 2.0” within our organization.

For the HPPC division in 2020-21, we are very much in control of COVID-19 and hence if we can sustain our business then it is the biggest milestone we have achieved. In the case of Rossari, we retain our customers, sustain the ups and downs due to COVID-19, and last but not least grow by approximately 20 per cent as compared to FY 2019-20. We have started our new plant at Dahej and successfully delivered goods from there. For FY2020-21 we have big plans. Apart from the soaps and detergent business this year we will focus more on paints and coatings; pulp and paper; cement and industry; water and wastewater treatment.
This year we plan to grow over 50 per cent this financial year compared to the last and give more time to new developments.
In the textile business, we manufacture over 1,500 products that find applications across the entire textile value chain. The target plan for FY2021 is to enhance focus on Health, Hygiene & Wellness products resonating with the current situation and increase in profitability. Another target is to add more product lines in Dyeing Auxiliary & Weaving Preparatory segments, such as Sizing and Yarn Lubricants. We also aim to expand the existing portfolio of sustainable and green products.

What are your expectations in terms of revenue and profit during FY 2020-21 and FY 2021-22?

Our revenue and gross profit till the period ended in December 2020 were Rs. 491.12 crore and Rs. 179.54 crore respectively. We are projecting 12-15 per cent growth for FY 2020-21. There is an uptick in our TSC and AHN division from Q2 and has started regaining pre-COVID levels. The HPPC segment has been our major growth driver. The revenue from HPPC business for 9 months is 59 per cent which we expect to grow considering the potential in this segment.
How has the export revenue been for Rossari Biotech and what are your plans concerning exports?
Our total export revenue forms 10-12 per cent of our total revenue which we expect to continue. The domestic markets for the businesses we are in are very huge and it gives us tremendous opportunities to increase our share therefore the focus would be developing domestic markets by continuing the same levels of exports.

What are the key R&D initiatives that the company is focusing on in 2021?

Our new state-of-the-art certified R&D laboratory at Rossari Centre of Excellence at IIT, Bombay is fully equipped with advanced testing and research equipment. Engaged in innovative and developmental research, our R&D lab will become a game-changer in innovation, optimal efficacy, and indigenous technical prowess. It offers numerous benefits such as fruitful partnership and beneficial projects; facilitating alliances with leaders engaged in sustainability, new materials, and performance chemicals; and leveraging PhD projects to tackle long-term problems. These benefits will help us understand the ever-changing needs in the speciality chemical industry and help us in our long-term strategies.
With the new R&D lab, we aim to set-up a new ecosystem that boosts innovation with new technologies and sharper focus. This will help us in creating both sustainable and commercially viable solutions for our customers. The new infrastructure facilities will help us catalyse the faster commercialisation of innovations.

What is your capex plan?

Our budgeted Capex for the Dahej facility is Rs. 108 crores of which we have already spent approximately 80 per cent to date. Instead of project Capex, there will be only maintenance Capex in FY 2021-22.

How is the company striking a balance between environment-friendly policies and sustainable growth?

With regards to scalable and sustainable growth, we have grown our business sustainably – even in the face of formidable odds – and today we are reputed as a stable, sustainable, and robust organization. In addition to our rigid focus on sustainable chemistry, our enduring business is helping us build a sustainable future and deliver continuous value to all our stakeholders. Our customers, vendors, and employees have been equal participants in the journey we have embarked upon. Our strategy, execution, and agility speak for themselves. As the demand for sustainability rises and contributes to our competitive advantage, we continue to realize the value of our sustainability-minded investments. We move ahead with a clear strategic ambition of focusing on the main value to be generated from sustainability and a commitment to drive change.

How will the digital transformation projects initiated by the company be beneficial in the long run?

We at Rossari, thoroughly believe that the future is digital and we have already taken the steps in this direction. Our presence on prominent social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter can be seen with a good number of followers. This is backed by strong and relevant content which keeps the viewer’s interest high.

What are the key CSR initiatives being undertaken by the company and plans for 2021?

In Surat and Silvassa, we granted rented scholarships for higher education, promoted girl child education, and contributed to educational institutions for the distribution of books and education equipment. We also contributed to the establishment of medical health centres. For relief and rehabilitation in Karnataka, the company contributed towards the rehabilitation of disaster-affected areas. Under community empowerment through pan-India activities, we contributed towards community empowerment projects, like setting up homes and hostels for women and orphans, shelter homes, and educational institutes. As India battled the COVID-19 crisis, we pledged our support to help the nation fight against the virus. To make people adopt stricter COVID protocols like wearing a face mask or washing hands, our Healthcare Heroes went above their call of duty.
We partnered with Lepra Society to deliver sanitisers to Bihar and Andhra Pradesh for leprosy patients. We are also associated with an NGO Salute2doctors to assist the medical personnel fighting the Coronavirus by distributing sanitisers and disinfectants to Tier 2 cities in southern India, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Coimbatore, among others. We distributed sanitisers to various sections with our partner Bhilwara-based Prakash Dyechem. We also reached out to underprivileged children in 40 orphanages, childcare facilities, and observation homes in Mumbai, and supplied them with sanitisers and hand washes.

What is the future business outlook for the company in FY 2021-22?

We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead of us. Our key priority and strategic aim are to grow across all the areas of application in all our four core chemistry areas that we excel in. Further, as the Dahej plant gets commissioned by the end of the year, our short-term goal will continue to attain higher capacity utilisation. As we move ahead, we will continue seeding new businesses with the existing assets. We are working on attaining additional capabilities and building relevant infrastructure to foray into newer areas as we see a lot of promise.

April 08, 2021

Mayank Singhal, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, PI Industries Limited shared his views on global trends on crop protection chemicals, R&D plans, production capacity, key milestones, company’s performance, Capex plans, CSR activities, outlook and much more. Excerpts of the interview: 

What are the global trends in the Crop Protection Chemicals industry in 2021 and how will this impact India?

This year we expect the global crop protection chemicals industry to grow at 2-3 per cent. LATAM and Asia markets will be the growth regions and the same will be the case in India. COVID-19 may have distorted the global supply chains but overall there is minimal impact. Stringent regulations causing some products to go off the market and diversification of the global supply chain will be the major trend.

How do you look at R&D Services, CSM Services and Distribution Services concerning Crop Protection Chemicals?

Although historically there has been a limited opportunity in R&D services, this has considerably changed. Global majors find space (Field trials, toxicology studies, etc.) to outsource to Indian CROs and we expect this will grow. Growth in CSM Services is a major success story and for PI in particular. Major factors including geopolitical tensions, cost advantage, respect for IP, and accumulated expertise will make select Indian players continue to grow in this space, provided safety and sustainable practices are stringently followed.

With a large Indian agriculture space and a limited number of registered agro chem products, we see plenty of opportunity in distribution services in India. COVID-19 accelerated the move to online marketing and reaching out to farmers directly but there is still a long way to go.

What is the company’s production capacity? How is it spread across the world? How do you plan to increase the market share?

Overall, we have 15 multi-purpose plants across various locations in West India. We have invested in Capex over the years and continue to invest to meet the growing demand from customers. Domestically, PI operates in a limited set of products and enjoys a significant market share and leadership position in those products. PI also figures amongst the top 5 players globally in the agro chem CSM space, particularly in the early stage molecules.

Please take us through key R&D initiatives in 2021?

PI is known for its R&D capabilities across the globe. We continue to make significant investments in our Process R&D and various technologies to cut down costs. This year, we are focusing more on scaling up products through sustainable green initiatives.

Key milestones achieved by PI Industries in FY 2020-21 and what are the plans for FY 2021-22? New products where you are focusing and how will it impact PI Industries?

Key milestones during FY 2020-21 include integrating Isagro with PI thereby maximizing synergies and capacity utilization. We created a differentiated focused strategy on horticulture crops through Jivagro and integrating the manufacturing operations with that of PI’s CSM business. We commissioned four molecules at the Isagro site. We successfully scaled up Awkira, launched Londax powder, and completed recertification audit for ISO 17025 at PNL & JMB and (QMS) IMS audit. We raised Rs. 2,000 crore via QIP route (which generated 6x interest) to pursue inorganic growth opportunities (diversification into adjacencies, including pharma).

For FY 2021-22, we have 5-6 molecules at various stages of development and ready to be commercialized. Another is that MPP to be made ready besides high visibility of sustainable growth. We are actively evaluating pharma assets and continue building a strategic roadmap of diversification, leveraging on existing strengths. We are looking at new IP for deepening our technological capabilities, de-risking current operations, and opening up newer opportunities We aim to demerge the B2C business of Isagro to Jivagro and merge Isagro’s manufacturing business with PI CSM.

Company's performance expected in terms of revenue and profit during FY 2020-21 and what is the forecast in FY 2021-22? What are the growth drivers?

For our 9M FY21, our top line has grown by around 35 per cent YoY and PAT has grown by around 61per cent YoY and we expect to exceed our original guidance to grow by around 20 per cent on a YoY basis. For FY 21-22, while our business plans are still in the process of finalization, we aim to maintain the growth momentum and achieve PAT growth of around 20 per cent.

The demand for key commercialized molecules remained strong. There has also been an additional contribution from Isagro and robust momentum in PI’s leading brands. We have also managed to have strong control on overhead costs accompanied by healthy collections.

Capex invested in FY 2020-21 and what is the plan for FY 2021-22? What are the plans related to automation and digitisation across all its operational facilities?

In FY20-21, we have invested Capex of more than Rs. 600 crore. In FY21-22, we will continue to invest in new MPP, technologies, and pharmaceuticals.

To give you examples of our digitisation initiatives, during this year, we have deployed sales order applications across all zones, allowing mobile and web-based order placement by sales force and channel partners. The automated Fleet Management of Application Spraying services and ARIBA sourcing platform are being planned as well.

How is the company striking a balance between environment-friendly policies and sustainable growth? Are key CSR initiatives being undertaken by the company?

With a firm conviction in the business case of sustainable development, we have been steadily imbibing it with increasing investments in social and environmental aspects. We undertake various initiatives on clean technology, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation to address global environmental issues such as climate change and global warming. Our manufacturing facilities are also equipped with the amenities that help recover, recycle and preserve and reduce water consumption, which in turn, contribute to our Green Initiatives.

Empowering local communities is the foremost constituent of PI’s sustainability policy. The company has been bestowed with various prestigious awards for its manufacturing excellence and corporate social responsibility (CSR) from time to time. Our efforts at water conservation through community programs won us CII’s National Award for Excellence in Water Management 2020.

Our CSR strategy consists of the integrated and all-around development of the communities in which we operate. Over the years we have worked on propagated Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) technology amongst rice farmers; mobile Healthcare Vans around our plant location, facilitated through PI’s Swasthya Seva initiative and Blood Bank services; PI’s women empowerment programs; PI’s learning enhancement programs for providing quality education to school children; and 1,800+ youth gained employment post completion of, free of cost, employability linked skill training and market initiatives at our skill development centre in Bharuch.