Pedigree Matters

Rallis India has come a long way from buying jute bales from press owners in Kolkata, which was its first line of business. Today, it is one of India's leading agrochemical companies, with a comprehensive portfolio of crop protection chemicals, seed varieties and specialty plant nutrients. It has an extensive nationwide distribution system supported by an efficient marketing and sales team. Agri inputs makes the company the country's second largest agrichemical company, which has the widest product portfolio in the country and boasts a brand recall higher than its competition. The company has marketing alliances with several multinational agro-chemical companies, including FMC, Nihon Nohyaku, DuPont, Syngenta and Makhteshim Agan. Thanks to the huge outsourcing opportunities overseas, the company has a significant overseas business. Strengths Rallis has a strong distribution, a wide product portfolio and a strong pipeline of new launches. The company reaches out to over 40,000 retailers and is present in over 80 per cent of the country's districts. This gives Rallis a matchless network to sell its products. Strong brands: Rallis has one of the strongest portfolios among agrichemical companies and 7 out of Top 10 pesticide brands are from the Rallis stable. The company also has a wide range of products such as seeds, organic manure, pesticides and agricultural implements, which gives it multiple points to reach out to farmers. In recent years, the company has been registering 5-6 products and launching between 3-4 products every year. Farmer connect: Rallis has developed strong on-ground ties with farmers with initiatives like Kisan Kutumbha, a farmer outreach programme that helps the company look into the requirements of farmers. At the same time, this initiative provides a window where it can showcase its offerings that meet farmer needs. The Kisan Kutumbha has now given Rallis a database of more than 10 lakh farmers which details farmer's crops and agri-input preference. Such a detailed map of the country's farm requirements helps the company match farmer requirements to products. Rallis also organises the Samrudh Krishi for grapes, cumin and chili farmers and the Grow More Pulses programme that covers close to 10 lakh acres that connects with 1.6 lakh farmers to promote marketing of pulses. Frequent focused group discussions with farmers are organised to understand farmer's needs and requirements. In the seven years up to FY12, the company has held discussions with over 4000 farmers in more than 20,000 villages. Growth drivers Seeds: India's seeds industry is the sixth largest in the world and growing at 12 per cent annually. Rallis acquired a majority stake in a seeds research and manufacturing company Metahelix Life Sciences (December 2010). The domestic seeds industry is estimated to be close to ₹10,000 crore, which is too vital for any serious player to ignore. The opportunity goes well with the company's stated objective of increasing the share of non-pesticide revenues from 15 per cent levels (FY13) to 40 per cent over the next few years. Rallis' distribution network and strong brand recal

This article was originally published on June 09, 2014.