Indian Bodal Chemicals forays into agrochemicals space

Bodal Chemicals Ltd, one of the leading basic chemicals, dyes and dyes intermediate manufacturers in the country, announced its entry into agrochemicals sector by floating a wholly owned subsidiary called Bodal AgroTech. The newly formed company will also set up a single super phosphate (SSP) plant involving an investment of 31 crore.

The proposed SSP plant with a planned production capacity of 3.5 lakh tonnes per annum will be ready within 18 months. The new SSP facility is planned to be set up near Bodal’s existing manufacturing plant at Padra near Vadodara.

Bodal AgroTech will also produce NPK mixed fertilizers (nitrogen–phosphorous –potassium), used in different concentrations for various crops. Since SSP is not a standalone fertilizer, it can be used to provide various micro nutrients useful for the growth of different crops. The company will manufacture SSP in both powder and granulated form.

"India is the second largest producer of agrochemicals in Asia. The domestic agrochemicals and fertilizers is growing at the rate of 10 per cent. Bodal AgroTech’s SSP plant is a perfect forward integration as its main raw material is spent sulphuric acid, which is readily available in house in large quantities," said Suresh Patel, chairman and managing director, Bodal Chemicals.

By setting up the SSP plant, the company will save substantially on purification and raw material costs of the sulphuric acid. It is expected to have 20-25 per cent operating profitability margin. "The SSP plant when fully operational is expected to generate a 240 crore per year turnover," he added.

Bodal Chemicals turnover stood at Rs 467 crore in 2009-10, which it expects to rise to Rs 650 crore by the fiscal 2010-11. Bodal Chemicals currently produces 2000 metric tonne per month of major dye intermediates (like Vinyl Sulphone Esater, DASA, F C Acid) that generates 150 metric tonnes per day of spent sulphuric acid. This will be consumed as raw material in the SSP plant.

The company initially focus on Gujarat and Rajasthan for marketing SSP and later on it plans to cover other states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh.

"The newly launched Bodal AgroTech may also venture in to high tech farming and food processing sectors," said Ramesh Patel, director, Bodal Chemicals Ltd.