AAVPL: “STAR EXPORT HOUSE” of 2,4-D series and new molecules

Q: Could you please give us a short introduction to the Agrow Allied Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (AAVPL)? Also please share the history of development, main business, business model, main products and the major business regions.

Agrow Allied Ventures Pvt. Ltd. (AAVPL), as the names determines (AGROW) the company has been established to contribute growth in the field of agriculture. Agriculture sector which is the basic need and income contributor to all global economies hold utmost value.

Under the leadership of its Chairman Mr. Kewal Sehgal and Managing Director Mr. Rakshit Sehgal, AAVPL today is a leading technical manufacturing company in India with a diversified product portfolio for Indian and global market. AAVPL has a state of art technical plant with a wide product portfolio in herbicide, insecticide and fungicide.

The foundation of AAVPL is inspired with a vision to contribute to this sector in best possible way. Since its inception, company has supported its customers with high quality products at the most competitive prices possible.

Q: As one of the fastest-growing agrochemical companies in India, with an average annual growth rate of 35% in recent years, how have you been able to maintain such healthy growth rate since last few years?

AAVPL has been able to maintain a healthy growth rate since last few years mainly because of following reasons：
1.    Capacity Increase of our existing Technical manufactured Products.
2.    Addition of New technical products in last few years.
3.    Global registration received which has given entry in many new markets.
4.    Manufacturing of competitive technical for Indian markets in comparison to Tech imports from China.
5.    Contract Manufacturing for multinationals.

AAVPL is an export-oriented company today exporting to nearly 60 countries worldwide. We have strong presence in Central and South American / African / Middle East and Asian countries. (Revenue wise contribution shown in table). Exports contributed nearly 30% of total revenue in last financial year which is expected to grow to 50% in current financial year.

Our company has also been recognized as a “STAR EXPORT HOUSE” by government of India. With growing cost advantage and production issues faced by China economy, our company is very optimistic for growth in coming years.

Q:  What is your company’s core competitiveness in your opinion?

Our company’s core competitiveness lies mainly in two areas:

Firstly, its strongest product 2,4-D series and thiamethoxam for which we have been recognised as a global player exporting to more than 40 countries today. Our company is focusing on producing best quality products with least impurity profile in our state of art technical plant. With growing capacities, our company is achieving economies of scale to help and provide cheapest and best quality products to our customers. 

Secondly the company expertise in registration of technical and formulated products in regulated markets. As registration requires huge investment, our company is focused on investing heavily on data generation on generic and new de-patent products from recognized GLP labs. As India is coming up as a strong global supplier of agrochemicals, we foresee a huge potential in many markets by securing our presence through registration.

Q: According to the news released, AAVPL is one of the strongest manufacturers of 2,4-D Series (with complete range of Acid / Salts / Amines and Esters), what’s the current capacity of 2,4-D Series and total technical annually?

Our flagship product is 2,4-D series which was the foundation to enter agrochemical business in 2005. Today AAVPL is the leading manufacturer of 2,4-D series with a current capacity of 10000 mts which include Acid Technical / Amines / Salts / Esters and many combination products with 2,4-D.

AAVPL is further planning to expand its capacity of 2,4-D to 14,000 tons by 2020, and to 18000 tons by 2021. Today we are making strong backward integration and most efficient and cost-effective manufacturer of this molecule globally.

Q: And what future plans have you set for yourself in terms of other strong technical products (including Herbicides, Insecticides and Fungicides), specialized formulations and combination products?

With our expertise in 2,4-D, AAVPL further expanded its product portfolio by manufacturing other strong technicals as well. Today the technical portfolio consists of following products:

AAVPL is strongly competing China in most of the technical manufactured products. Apart from technical manufacturing, AAVPL also formulates more than 150 products for domestic and international markets.

Today we are competent to manufacture any kind of formulation including combination products required by our customers which includes liquids (EC, SC, SL, ZC, ULV, FS), powders (WP, WS, SP, EW) and granuels (WDG, WG). Our company holds capacity to formulate 50 KLD liquid and 25 TPD powder and 10 TPD granules per day. AAVPL expertise in manufacturing combination products and meeting specific needs of customers in various global markets.

Q: We’ve noticed AAVPL has been focused on investing heavily on R&D, data generation on generic and new de-patent products from recognized GLP labs. Tell us about these strategic initiatives.

Company has continuously invested in technical plant and R&D facility located in Rajasthan and also installed a state of art pilot plant to ensure process improvements and new product development.

AAVPL is in the process of developing new de-patented molecules and start their commercial production in near future. Some of the products in pipeline are Dinotefuron, Clethodim, Penoxsulam, Quizalafop Ethyl and Pyraclostrobin.

To support further, AAVPL has continuously invested in GLP data generation to register products in highly regulated markets. The company hold more than 12 tech products complete GLP data including 5 batch / Phychem / 6 pack Acute and SubAcute / Ecotox data and 50 formulation products data.

With the expertise in manufacturing and data support, today company hold more than 150 global registration of various technical and formulation products and have more than 400 registrations in pipeline.

With a wide range of technical / formulation products and data support package available, AAVPL has become a preferred supplier to many renowned companies globally. Company is also actively participating in many exhibitions in India and international markets to reach its customers in best possible manner.

Q: At present, the fluctuations in the Chinese agrochemical industry provides Indian agrochemical manufacturers chances for revitalization. Existing buyers have to turn to India, where the surge in demand has stimulated rises in prices. What do you think Indian enterprises need to do to seize the opportunity and move forward to return to their leading roles in the supply chains?

Indian Technical manufacturer should focus on investing in R & D to develop products from basic route rather than depending on intermediates from China.

The environmental issue in China has provided a huge opportunity for India to stand in global markets. We see many North and South American, and Europeans and African companies, approaching us to become a second source of supply for them, after China. Indian companies should be focused on investing heavily on data generation on generic and new de-patent products, and this will ensure the development in the global market.

Q: Indian agrochemical industry is likely to progress to the Indian Agrochemical 2.0 in ten years, as backed up by growing consumption in India, stronger pricing power, ever-increasing capacities, production in compliance and buyers’ trust, as well as the “Make in India” initiative of the Indian government. What is your vision for the growth of the AAVPL over the next two or three fiscal years?

As for the development strategy in the future, the company plans to expand the capacity of 2,4-D to 14,000 tons by 2020. It is estimated that its total capacity of technical will reach almost 20,000 tons by 2021. With growing capacities, our company is achieving economies of scale to help and provide the least expensive and best quality products to our customers.

In Indian market we also observed continuous growth. As there are only handful of technical manufacturing companies in India in comparison to more than 2500 formulation companies, we are well placed to meet growing demand of technical in India. As pesticide consumption per hectare is far less in India in comparison to other developed countries, the change of this consumption trend and continuous increase in population and food requirement, the growth in India is eminent.

In last few years many technical products being manufactured in India have become more competitive than direct technical imports from China. As China is struggling with many internal issues and support of MAKE IN INDIA vision by our honorable prime minister, we look forward for continuously expanding our technical capacity for our existing and new products.

In next 2-3 years we will also observe addition of substantial technical manufacturing capacity in India to serve domestic and International markets.

The article is from 2019 INDIA PESTICIDE SUPPLIERS GUIDE magazine.