India’s Top 500 Companies 2022

INDIA’S TOP 500 COMPANIES 2022 39 Experts’ View How would you summarize your company’s journey since its inception? What are some of the key products and services provided by the company? Our company UPL has grown from a small- scale chemical industry manufacturing Red Phosphorus to largest agrochemical company in India. We are 5th largest crop protection company in the world. UPL was awarded the President Gold Shield for indigenous development of technology. With forward integration we started manufacturing products like Aluminum Phosphide and Zinc Phosphide which had very good market in India and in the world. Many organophosphorus pesticides like Dichlorvos, Monocrotophos, Phosphamidon & others based on phosphorus compounds had goodmarket. Indian engineers and scientists are equal to the best in the world, with proper R&D we are able to manufacture many pesticides of superior quality at competitive prices. Our farmers are hard working if proper training is given they learn fast & improve productivity in the yield. Advanta India ltd, make sure our farmers use quality seeds. Instead of selling pesticides to our farmers we are giving total package. We have Unimart centers all over India who answer farmers’ questions about production. The latest techniques in agriculture are given to the farmers and these farmers have been able to get record breaking yields. With our expertise and technological knowledge we are able to turn around many loss-making pesticides companies in the world. We got more expertise in the international market. We have factories in Europe, USA, Latin America, South-East Asia and China and Japan. What are some of the key ESG initiatives taken by your company in recent years? What impact did it have on the society? Our OpenAg strategy reflects our purpose to create deeper impact on society and strengthen food security. World top international sustainability rating agency DJSI, FTSE & Sustainalitics has rated UPL No 1 among agrochemical companies globally. Reduction of Environmental Footprints o We have reduced our specific CO 2 emissions by 21% compared to our base line year of 2019-20. o We have reduced our specific water consumption by 31% compared to our base line year of 2019-20. o We have reduced our specific waste by 43% compared to our base line year of 2019-20. • Product Stewardship o Zeba is our climate-smart technology, a sustainable tool to reduce the requirement of water for irrigation. To create sustainable ecosystems, nurture.farm is encouraging regenerative agriculture practices and driving numerous programs, including stubble burning avoidance programs. • Avoid Stubble Burning to Reduce Air Pollution We have developed special decomposer which can avoid stubble burning in agricultural field. This initiative will have a major impact on air pollution as it is expected to reduce the P2.5 and PM10 particulate matter. Your company recently announced the acquisition of OptiCHOS. How will this acquisition help your company? What is the company’s growth strategy over the next 3-5 years? OptiCHOS is a very unique bio fungicide which was discovered after years of research in university in Norway. This bio fungicide is developed from crab shell extract. Test results showed this fungicide will give good results. We have a large number of very important pesticides in our pipeline. To be more competitive we are going for basic compounds which will make our final product superior in quality and competitive in price and we expect to growmore than 50% in the next 3-5 years. UPL LIMITED Rajju Shroff Chairman Dun & Bradstreet