Page 112 - Tata_Chemicals_yearly-reports-2019-20

policy revision and enhanced channel reach led to superior growth the Seeds division delivered a satisfactory growth of 8.3% in
in the segment during the year. FY 2019-20, backed by strong volume growth witnessed in
bajra (pearl millet) and superior price realisation for paddy and
Crop Care millets. during the year, rallis witnessed a significant jump in
its seed procurement prices due to increased MSp for rice and
the Crop protection business of rallis registered a growth of 16% increased commodity prices of maize, millet and cotton. despite
in FY 2019-20 with both domestic and international business the price increases, rallis was able to maintain its gross margins. It
delivering encouraging results. under the Crop protection continues to undertake product development initiatives to further
business, Insecticides business performed well at 21% revenue diversify into rabi season products such as fruits and vegetables.
growth during the year, primarily driven by the good performance Besides, it is leveraging strong r&d capabilities to develop and
of new products, Zygant and Cameo, along with the scale-up launch innovative products.
of existing products such as rilon, takumi and Summit. the
Fungicides business revenue grew by 9% during the year owing Pandemic Impact on Agri Sciences Business
to good traction in the new launches, ayaan and Sarthak as the Covid-19 outbreak had a disrupting impact on the supply chain,
well as the scale-up in existing products, Master, taqat, Contaf resulting in delays and cancellations in key raw material supply. the
plus and ergon. the Herbicides business registered a growth of Indian agro-chemical production depends heavily on the import
16%, exhibiting a mixed performance. there was lower offtake of key intermediates, particularly from China. the uncertain supply,
in sugarcane, soybean and wheat on account of the flood-like expensive raw material prices, inventory overhang and extended
situation and untimely rainfall. the buoyant rabi season boosted lockdown impacted rallis’ manufacturing, production, processing
sales of paddy herbicides in South India.
and logistics operations and exerted pressures on the margins.
the International business continued to perform positively Nutritional Sciences
amid certain headwinds and grew by 11% in FY 2019-20. It the nutritional Sciences business of tCl, under the brand tata
witnessed price erosion and margin pressure in key products nQ, offers solutions for human and animal health. the flagship
such as Metribuzin and pendimethalin on account of increased products are FoSSenCe® and goSSenCe®, prebiotic dietary fibres
competition and higher input prices. For greater geographical for better gut health, digestion and immunity.
diversification in South-east asian countries and africa, dossier
submission efforts have been taken up.
the Company’s partnership with Indian and global academic
institutions and research bodies, in order to further understand
rallis’ Crop nutrition division delivered a satisfactory performance the gut microbiota and their health effects, is helping tCl build
in FY 2019-20 with both geogreen and plant growth nutrition a leadership position in this space. It is gathering deep insights
(pgn) segments exhibiting strong revenue and profit growth by using bio-informatics in gut microbiota, with development
during the year. the Company’s Soil Conditioner business of accurate proprietary predictive (patent applied) models of
outperformed the industry growth in FY 2019-20 with revenue microbiome response to interventions. the Company’s expertise
growth of 13%, which was primarily led by 10% volume growth. in fermentation technology, enabling production using whole cell
rallis’ pgn segment exhibited strong performance on the back of route, is also opening up opportunities in other human nutrition
new product launches, good market presence and channel and segments, using the biosynthesis route. Strong application support,
sales-team incentivisation. which enables close co-ordination with the customer on new
product development projects, provides a deep understanding of
rallis is also planning to launch Foliar nutrition and Fertigation a customer’s requirements.
products in Kharif 2020. the Foliar nutrition portfolio includes
products catering to vegetables, onion, potato and apple, whereas the Company commenced operations at its state-of-the-art
the Fertigation portfolio consists of products primarily catering to greenfield facility in nellore, marking an increase of 17 times in
grape production. production capacity, significantly enhancing its ability to serve
customers across the globe. there was wide acceptance of the
Seeds product quality from the new plant and as a result, revenue grew
during the year, Metahelix life Sciences limited (wholly-owned by 59% to ` 65.15 crore over the past year, while the customer base
subsidiary of rallis) merged with rallis and was classified as Seeds grew to more than 250 customers.
division of rallis. Inherent strengths of Metahelix, such as product
portfolio breadth, emerging and popular dhaanya seed brand, the business had earlier established a global distribution
established supply chain and demand-generating abilities will network and initiated customer engagement in South-east
enable rallis to strengthen its Seeds business. asia, China and the uS. this engagement started to bear fruits,

110 I Integrated annual report 2019-20