Rallis India to focus on agrochemicals

Mumbai: The Tata group''s Rallis India, as part of its restructuring exercise, has decided to focus on its core business of agrochemicals. The company is planning to strengthen the balance sheet by selling its non-core activities.

Dr V.S. Sohoni, managing director, Rallis India Ltd said: "Our core focus is now the agrochemical business. We are evaluating all the options to restructure our non-core activities. The funds generated from the exit of non-core activities will mainly be used to reduced the debt portfolio of the company."

To reduce its Rs 350 crores odd debts, Rallis India is in the process of issuing 90 lakh cumulative redeemable preference shares of Rs 10 each, aggregating Rs 90 crore through a private placement. It also sold its gelatin business to Sterling Biotech for Rs 47 crore last week. The recent sale of surplus land to Tata Sons will also bring in around Rs 56 crores in cash to the company. All these transactions are expected to bring down the debt burden considerably and thereby sharply reduce the debt equity ratio from a high of 8.1:1 from around 2.1

Rallis''s agrochemical products include, pesticides, chemical by-products, seeds and fertilises. Besides these, the company has a presence in bulk drugs, animal feed supplement, vegetable-tanning, powder, granules, injectables and oral pharmaceuticals.