AgroPages-Insecticides India bullish on new rice herbicide-Agricultural news

Insecticides India is pushing its new product - a herbicide for rice weed control named Green Label - in the market and the response has been very encouraging, according to Managing Director Rajesh Aggarwal.

He said here on Tuesday that it was a different kind of a product from the traditional ones as it worked on the weeds in the post-germination phase and it also reduced water usage in rice cultivation. “It used to be imported from Japan at a high premium. We are now manufacturing it through reverse engineering, as it had gone off patent,” he said.

He said the company had tied up with the Japanese company, OAT Agrio, to set up a modern research and development centre. "We have seven plants in the country, including one in Uttar Pradesh for biologicals. We also have a network of 5,000 distributors and 60,000 retailers," he said.

Aggarwal said the company was not merely focusing on reverse engineering, but also product innovation through its R&D centre. "We have also started exports to the Gulf countries and some Asian countries. We will also tap the European markets," he said.

He said the company had a capacity of more than 3 lakh tonnes per annum and "Andhra Pradesh is a very important market for us. We may even set up a plant here in future, even though there are no immediate plans," he said.

He said the turnover of the company amounted to roughly Rs. 1,000 crore and nine main brands - called Navaratnas - accounted for half of the turnover. On the impact of demonetisation on the market, he said initially there was some shock. "But now the market is adjusting well and even though there may be some stress in the short run, we are quite hopeful it will only be for a few months and it will all end well." His company had not felt the impact much, he added.