IIL, Otsuka to invest Rs 500 crore to develop agrochemicals

Agrochemical manufacturing company Insecticides India Ltd (IIL) and Japan-based Otsuka AgriTechno (OAT) are expected to invest about Rs 500 crore to develop new agrochemicals over the next five years.

Both the companies have recently entered into a joint venture to set up a modern R&D centre in Rajasthan.

IIL Managing Director Rajesh Aggarwal said that the centre is expected to start its operations from April, 2013.

"...$20 million (about Rs 100 crore) is required to develop a single molecule (for an agrochemical)," OAT Board Member Tetsuya Imai told PTI.

The centre aims to invent five new molecules over the next five years, he added.

The Japanese firm would provide the technology and research know-how to invent new agrochemicals.

Imai also said India's growing agro-chemicals market has attracted the Japanese firm to enter the country.

"This is the OAT's first R&D centre outside Japan. India has a huge market. Agriculture sector is growing at a rapid pace here. We see lot of opportunities in India," he added.

The market size of Indian agrochemicals industry is expected to more than double to $5 billion by 2017 on rising agriculture production and increasing awareness among farmers.

Currently, the market size of the sector stood at about $2 billion.

Per capita pesticide consumption of less than 500 gm of per hectare in India is far below the world average of about 3 kg per hectare. "The figure reflects that huge potential exists here," Aggarwal said.