India's Top 500 Companies 2016   Preface | Foreword | Executive summary | Methodology | Definitions and Calculations |Economy Update| Insights |Corporate Awards 2016 | Expert's Views Company Listing | Launch Event| D&B Editorial Team | Sponsors Banks NBFCs & FIs Securities Market Mutual Funds Insurance Changing Face of Top 500 Companies Overview of Top 500 Companies Quarterly Updates Project-based Award Winners Company Performance Award Winners ABM Knowledgeware Limited Altran India Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt Ltd. Flexituff International Limited IBS Business School International Paper APPM Limited Karnataka Bank Pincon Spirit Limited Rimjhim Ispat Limited Schindler India Skipper Limited UPL Limited Alphabetical Listing Total Income Listing Net Profit Listing Net Worth Listing

Please give us a brief profile of your company and the business it is engaged in:

M/s. UPL Ltd. is one of the largest generic pesticide manufacturers. We are engaged in all the inputs for agriculture. We are suppliers of seeds and pesticides. We are engaged in the business of helping farmers improve the productivity of their crops. We train farmers on how to protect their crops. We have also established a system of spraying fields and our Company is the largest in after-harvest protection of all the crops including fruits, vegetables and grains.

What was the thought and motivation for inception of the Company?

When we started UPL in 1969, we wanted to manufacture chemicals which people in India believed that it could not be done in India. We did process innovation and successfully made Red Phosphorus for which technology was considered very difficult in those days. Within 2 years of starting of our Plant, our Company got President?s Gold Seal Award for Indigenous Development of Technology and savings of huge Foreign Exchange.

What specific strategies did your Company follow to reach today?s pinnacle?

We had a good R&D Team and in the earlier days we selected products mostly phosphorus based pesticides for which technology was considered very difficult. We constantly employed innovation and improvements for whatever chemicals we produced, to keep ahead of competition.

What are the unique differentiating factors that made it possible for the Company to manoeuvre through challenging conditions?

In the earlier days there were different types of problems like water and power-shortage; we had shortage of raw material supply, etc. We used all the innovative ideas to successfully overcome these challenges. The most important thing is that the Company had very good Team Work. In difficult times, from our Senior Executives to the lowest level staff all worked as one team. They believed that it was their duty to make the Company successful. R&D and Team Work played a very important role. We produced chemicals which was considered to be very difficult to produce without technical know-how from abroad.

What Opportunities do you see for your sector in the next five years? How is your Company planning to tap those opportunities?

Most of the people in India do not know about India?s advantage over others in the field of agriculture. Our small farms have mixed agriculture of food grains, horticulture, poultry and aqua culture, which is prevalent only in India. Most Indians do not even know that we are the second largest producers of agriculture. We now have unlimited opportunities to increase the farm income in India after the Government?s policy of Farmers Welfare looking at the actual situation of our farmers.

Farmers need fertilizers, seeds, crop protection chemicals and also after-harvest storage and protection of food. Ours is the only company which has all these things. We have noticed that with proper education and training our farmers in India are able to achieve very good production and we are very confident that in the next 5 years we will be able to double our Sales from Rs.13000 crores to Rs.26000 crores. With our excellent team, we are planning to introduce new and better products at competitive price which gives us unlimited opportunities to grow.

The emerging trend is to be environmental friendly and aware along with taking on more social responsibility. How does your company plan to keep up with these trends? What possible impact do you see on your company?

We can prove that a Company like ours making crop protection chemicals can be most environmental friendly. All our plants are very well designed to get maximum yield and minimum bye-products. Our Manufacturing Units have no air pollution because of welldesigned plants. The waste coming out of the Plant are scientifically destroyed without causing any harm to the environment. Our Company has built one of the best Landfill sites for handling chemical wastes and also has Asia?s best Incinerator for destroying toxic waste and this has been built by our associate company. International experts have visited these sites and have praised our system.

How has digitization and e-commerce supported your growth and expansion? How will it play a part in future growth endeavours?

We have a very strong IT Team which is in close contact with all our Plants in different parts of the world. Our Teams are in constant touch with each other through video conferencing from Europe to Argentina and from Africa to Australia. We have regular conferencing and monitoring of our activities.

Which are the most important changes that India?s leading corporates need to make today in order to be effective contributors to the process of country?s economic and social development?

We believe that if India has to change; if you want to remove hunger and poverty from the villages of India ? it can only be done with proper Agriculture Extension Work. No amount of industrial investment can remove poverty from rural areas.

We strongly believe that if we concentrate and improve agriculture productivity, there will be more prosperity and more jobs in rural areas. So, leading corporates should concentrate on rural prosperity.

Today most of the respectable companies are concentrating on Corporate Social Responsibility, by spending money on educational activities and medical activities and companies like ours are concentrating very much on training and educating of farmers.