Best Agrolife: Multi pronged strategy to unlock the maximum potential

Could you please briefly introduce the main business model and the major business regions of Best Agro Group and its Group Companies, such as Best Agrolife Ltd. and Best Agrochem Ltd.?

Vimal: Rising crop protection costs and declining crop productivities have underscored the importance of crop protection, especially in mounting pressure to increase Agricultural Productivity. We aim to provide indigenous, high quality, effective, and economical farm solutions to the Farmer community at affordable prices. 

Best Agrochem Pvt. Ltd. has been merged with Best Agrolife Ltd. which is a PAN India operating company now and has deep penetration through strategic alliances with leading companies in this space. 

Best Agrolife is one of the top agrochemical companies, and provides a diverse range of products to its customers by sourcing Technical from Its In-house Technical Manufacturing Unit - Best Crop Science. 

Best Agro group is also working aggressively on registration dossiers for its key molecules to launch itself in the global market very soon. We strive to be a global player in agrochemicals and emerge as an icon for growth, technology, and innovation. We believe in putting the farmers first by coming up with new chemistry with economical reach to the farmers. 

What is your company's core competitiveness, in your opinion?

Vimal: Company's core values are our ability to resolve the technical and scientific challenges for our consumers and to meet the demanding timelines. Our approach is to progress through customer-focused innovation. We attempt novel and more effective techniques to use resources, create more reliable products and services for farmers, and create value for our stakeholders. We believe in developing innovative and competitive manufacturing processes and disseminate new technology to the end user by taking the leverage of synergistic alliances. Executing quality work within the stipulated span has always been a challenge that Best Agrolife has successfully met and surpassed our valued customer's expectations. 

As one of the fastest-growing agrochemical companies in India, with a record growth rate of 39% in FY 2019-20, what actions have you done to keep your business running during this challenging time?

Vimal: We are happy to witness the percentage growth of 39%. Our market cap has also increased manifold to around Rs. 1400 crores within a short time. Over the years in BALL, this outstanding performance is due to our strong belief in pursuing all potential crop solutions to the 'needs' confronted by our valuable customer- Farmer! We have also taken advantage of being the First post-patent player in India and sharing the gains with all stakeholders in the distribution channel. 

Could you tell us about your company's product line of active ingredients & special strengths? What's the current capacity of total technicals and formulations annually? 

Vimal: Due to environmental, health  & safety issues, many generic products are discontinuing globally, resulting in a vacuum in the supplies of broad-spectrum & cost-effective products. The situation is further aggravated due to the post-expiration of patents of new molecules. The life span of such products is limited because of resistance management issues or value eradication. Consequently, there is a need for sustainable growth, and one has to take advantage of being the first company to crack off-patent products and secondly develop innovative and synergistic premixtures of proprietary nature.  

In this series, we have recently introduced solo products like Dinotefuran, Pymetrozine, Pyraclostrobin, Penoxsulam, and premixtures of Diafenthiuron + Pyriproxyfen, Tebuconazole + Captan. 

Our current capacity for technicals - 8000MT/annum, whereas for formulations, it is 35000 MT. We have plans to expand it further in the near future. 

We heard Best Agro Group has been working on increasing the Formulation plant capacity. Can you share more details about it?

Vimal: We are expanding with a SINGLE POINT AGENDA to emerge as an icon for growth, technology, innovation and envision becoming a significant player in the Indian Agro-Chemical Industry in terms of turnover and value creation.

The company is preparing to increase its Formulation plant capacity to 50,000 MTPA. Also, regarding international footprints, we are in the process of obtaining registration of products in Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Middle East and Latin America. This entire initiative is backed by innovative products based on a new chemistry, as we are also planning to increase the share of value-added products in our brand basket.  

Best Agro being a responsible manufacturer, always thrives on providing effective end products with consistent, safe, and environmentally friendly formulations of in-house manufactured technicals (AI). We are enhancing our formulation capacities to double in SG/SC/SE/ZC/ WDG and FS formulations.

Your brand has been showing robust growth in the last several years. How do you see the opportunities in India’s brand business?

Vimal: We believe in sharing the benefits of our growth initiatives with the farmer community directly in PAN India by offering the innovative & quality products at affordable prices. In the process, Best Agro brands are being established by winning the loyalty of the ultimate customers supported by the most satisfied channel partners. We foresee to double our Brand business within the next two years.

Best Agrolife Ltd. had previously announced that it became the first in India to have granted license/registration for manufacturing DIRON(DINOTEFURAN 20 percent SG). Could you share with us the details about this and the future development plans of your company in the field of the export market of your interest and enriching products into existing markets?

Vimal: Another key development has been that our company is the first in India to be granted a license/registration for the indigenous manufacturing of an AI - DINOTEFURAN to formulate & offer Dinotefuran 20 SG with Brand Name Diron in the market. In the same way, we have launched another Blasticide for Paddy, which is based on new chemistry & innovation – Pyraclostrobin 100 g/l CS with the brand name of Param. Both the mentioned products are import substitutes. 

Dividend of long drawn R&D initiatives supported by Development & Registration activities has made it possible to achieve the coveted position of being the first Indian manufacturer of Dinotefuran, with the same leverage we foresee in a near future many such initiatives. This also highlights the commitment of Best Agro Group to invest in R&D as a strategy of differentiation. 

Owing to the launch of these new products, the company has gained more confidence in the market, thereby increasing the chances of higher revenue and profitability. We believe the company revenue for the current financial year would increase by approximately Rs—100 crores with the help of these two products alone. We are continually seeking growth from innovative solutions providing an approach to the most challenging farming issues worldwide. 

We've noticed Best Agro Group has been focused on investing heavily in R&D, data generation on generic, and new de-patent products from recognized GLP labs. Tell us about these strategic initiatives.

Vimal: Being committed to Government of India initiative of ‘Make in India’ & focused on import substituted off patented products, Best Agro group has a lay out of sizeable capital investment in generating the GLP registration dossiers to ensure the seamless entry in major global markets.  

According to a recent survey, the estimated size of the Indian agrochemical market is USD 3 Billion, which is positive for companies like Best Agrolife. The boost to the agro sector by the current government will increase the demand for agrochemicals and insecticides. What do you think Indian enterprises need to do to seize the opportunity and move forward to become the leading role in the supply chains?

Vimal: The excellent platform provided by Government of IndiaI to encourage the indigenous manufacturing of Agrochemicals, Best Agrolife has multi pronged strategy to unlock the maximum potential;

R&D to ensure reverse chemistry of the molecules which are at the verge of going off patented.

We are pioneering to establish the manufacturing process with the raw materials indigenously manufactured or through our backward integrated set ups to reduce the dependence on the imports of raw materials.

Robust Registration initiatives wins the team to launch the product early to harvest the benefits of being the First in India.  

Sharing benefits of newer initiatives with synergistic alliances ensured horizontal and vertical penetrations resulting in winning faster and enviable market share.

We look forward to ploughing back the gains in enhancing the R&D supported manufacturing capabilities. We believe in putting the farmers first by coming up with new chemistry with economical reach to the farmers. 

The article is from 2020 INDIA PESTICIDE SUPPLIERS GUIDE magazine.