Deepak fertilisers seeks technical help from global players

With customised fertilisers gradually becoming a major factor in Indian agriculture, Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers is firming up its plans for a foray into the sector. The company is in the last stages of technology tie-up for quality control with a global player in customised fertilisers and plans to close the deal by year end. “In customised fertlisers, what we have learnt is that the control mechanism for quality has to be top class, so before foraying into the segment, we plan to rope in the technology for it,” said Shaiesh Mehta, managing director, Deepak Fertilisers adding that it is at the last leg of technology selection and will finalise the same by Decemeber 2010. Customised fertiliser essentially stands for a special type of fertiliser custom made for a particular region. The first step involves a study of the soil content and its nutrient mix wherein a team of agriculturists from the corporate sector and academicians from agriculture universities determine what is the region’s soil best suited to grow crops and what are the nutrients that are actually missing in the soil. Based on the study, the company manufactures fertilisers with those nutrients which are required in the soil and yield improvements can be done independently of other regions. “We have been working on this for the last three years in collaboration with some agriculture universities and now we are ready to launch,” Mehta said. Due to the customised nature, the size of the plants are small but they require very high standard of quality and this is what the foreign partners will bring in to the company, he said. The company is planning to set up units in phases with the first phase to be completed in the next two to three years. “It will take 18 to 24 months to set up one customised fertiliser facility and we will finalise plans for the first phase by the end of this calendar year,” Mehta said. Salil Garg, fertiliser researcher with Fitch Ratings, said that sooner or later almost all big players in the fertiliser industry will get into customised fertilisers as the current subsidy regime encourages nutrient-based subsidy.