Riding on the success of Nano technology but simultaneously challenged by the growing prospects of Artificial Intelligence in the world what he calls “Agriculture 2.0”, IFFCO MD Dr U S Awasthi has written an inspiring piece not only for IFFCO’s employees but also for those who are connected to IFFCO in any way.
His optimism draws mostly from two major developments that IFFCO witnessed in this financial year under his leadership— IFFCO’s expected Profit Before Tax (PBT) being more than Rs 4000 crore which is the highest ever profit and two, IFFCO’s Nano technology being held as a game changer not only by the farmers but also by the govt including Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
We reproduce excerpts from the MD’s piece:
Dear Friends,
Wishing you all good Health & Happiness !!!
Financial Year 2022-23 has been a historic year for all of us as Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji Digitally Inaugurated World’s first IFFCO Nano Urea Plant at Kalol and dedicated it to the Nation. Union Minister of Home & Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah Ji inaugurated & performed the foundation stone laying ceremony for IFFCO Nano Urea Plant at Deoghar. Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare & Minister of Chemicals and Fertiliser Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Ji inaugurated IFFCO Nano Urea Plants in Phulpur and Aonla , calling it the best Green Technology which can curb pollution.
IFFCO’s advancement in the field of agriculture in form of Nanotechnology has been a front-runner for the Fertilizer sector this past year. FCO approval was also granted to IFFCO Nano DAP which is an historic move and was appreciated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji.
Technological Innovations like Nano Urea Liquid & Nano DAP are shaping the future of Agri-Food Sector by minimizing problems of environment & human health, also reducing the input cost thus improving food security & securing productivity. Friends, IFFCO Nano Urea has received a tremendous response from the Farmers and Stakeholders across the country.
We were able to accomplish a sale of more than 3.26 crore bottles of our IFFCO Nano Urea Liquid in the FY 2022-23. IFFCO’s step towards Sustainable Agriculture in form of Nanotechnology has been a game changer for the Fertilizer sector this past year. We have also produced 21.60 Lakh MT equivalent of Urea in form of 4.80 Crore IFFCO Nano Urea Bottles. A Total of 4 Lakh bottles of IFFCO Nano DAP were dispatched to retail outlets/field godown’s. We now have a dedicated web site for IFFCO Nano Urea and IFFCO Nano DAP which is available in 11 Regional language & 7 foreign languages.
With collective efforts and dedication of our Team, we were able to achieve efficient operations resulting in production of 95.62 Lakh MT of fertilizers, which includes 48.80 Lakh MT Urea, 30 lakh MT DAP and 46.75 Lakh MT NP/NPK/DAP/WSFs & Specialty Fertilizers during FY 2022-23 from IFFCO Plants. It’s appreciable that IFFCO’s WSF/Specialty/ Sagarika Granule Fertilisers have achieved a remarkable sales of 2.38 Lakh tonne & Sagarika liquid is 12 Lakh Litre. Correspondingly, we were able to sell 126.25 Lakh MT of Fertilisers. We were able to achieve dispatches of 129.07 Lakh MT of Urea / NP / NPK / DAP / WSFs & Specialty Fertilizers across the country. Friends, I am glad to share that our Profit Before Tax (PBT) is expected to be more than `4000 crores which is the highest ever profit for IFFCO. The expertise of Strategic Management Group has ensured profitable operations & higher financial returns from overseas ventures. During the FY 2022-23, the valuation of IFFCO group has been estimated to be over `1.05 lakh crore.
I’m delighted to announce that IFFCO Pradeep Plant not only achieved World’s highest Annual Phosphoric Acid Production of 8.4 lakh MT of 100% P2O5 from a single stream phosphoric acid plant but also crossed the 2 million MT fertilizer production milestone for the first time since its inspection and achieved 114% capacity utilization. In the year 2022-23 Phulpur-II unit produced & dispatched more than 12.20 Lakh MT Urea which is all time highest with all-time minimum energy consumption of 5.14 Gcal /MT for Urea. Also, we achieved the lowest ever composite energy consumption of 5.25 GCal per MT Ammonia Urea units of Urea.
In Kalol Plant we achieved the highest ever yearly Ammonia & Urea Production of 4 Lakh MT & 6.61 Lakh MT respectively during the FY 2022-23. I’m happy to share that this past FY Kandla Unit has been awarded the Certificate of Merit for outstanding performance as second highest customs duty payer for the year 2022-23 by Customs Department under Importers Category.
Human Resource / Industrial Relations and Legal Services of IFFCO deserve appreciation for the outstanding work done during the year. Integration of hiring process with Artificial Intelligence has reduced human interventions and brought transparency and objectivity to hiring process leading to induction of 450 personnel during the year 2022-2023. Human Resource Department has reoriented its L&D strategy by adopting out of the box, state of the art techniques, and organized more than fifty programs in the current financial year for fostering a culture that promotes up-skilling, re-skilling, multi-skilling & creativity & growth. Legal section has also done a commendable job in effectively defending the IFFCO from various motivated actions and getting favourable arbitration awards and getting restraint orders from various courts against several entities who have been duping General Public in the name of giving IFFCO dealership / franchises. I would like to make a special mention to the Registration of Patent for our innovative Nano products and appreciate legal team for their good work.
“Sportsmanship for me is when a person walks off the ground and you really can’t tell whether he won or lost because he carries himself with pride either way.” Friends, the same spirit I saw in the Crivolley-2023 Tournament organized at Aonla Unit where teams from HO, Kalol, Kandla, Phulpur, Pradeep & Aonla participated and displayed great enthusiasm & sportsman spirit.
Our growth over the years has been a cumulative effort of every individual associated with us. With the excellent coordination, synergy and the combined efforts of our highly competent & hardworking employees in Plants & Marketing team across the country we are able to achieve these results. On this note, I would like to congratulate everyone at Plants, Marketing, Finance, Commercial, CR, IT, HR & Legal, PR, Hindi & Sahitaya, Safety & Security, Real Estate & Civil, Vigilance and other teams for their perseverance and hard work. I take this opportunity to congratulate the managements of all our Joint Ventures, Subsidiaries and Associates for their outstanding performance & whole-hearted support. I’m glad to share that IFFCO Tokio has achieved its highest ever Gross Written premium (GWP) of `10,000 Crore for the FY 2022-23.
IFFCO was ranked 1st among the top 300 cooperatives of the world by World Cooperative Monitor, ICA this year. We have moved our conventional Data Centre to a highly advanced & secured, scalable oracle based cloud infrastructure hence we have now enhanced our IT Security.
We are heading towards Agriculture 2.0, an era of use of Advanced Technologies & Artificial Intelligence in the field of Agriculture. Advanced Agri-Technology and precision farming have taken Agro-economy to new heights. New Age farming is technologically friendly and attracting more and more young generation thus creating more employment opportunities in the rural areas. We aim to develop more such New Age, Environment friendly Agricultural technologies which will contribute to Stronger Food ecosystem & will ensure food security for our Nation. This is all possible due to the commitment and hard work of IFFCO’s R&D team at IFFCO Nano Biotechnology Research Centre (NBRC) at our Kalol plant, Scientists/Agro-Scientists, Engineers and the Marketing.
IFFCO has been continuously working towards serving the Cooperatives & Farmers with an aim of doubling farmer’s income and is committed to the PM’s vision of “Sahkar se Samriddhi, Atmanirbhar Bharat & Atmanirbhar Krishi.” Our Hon’ble Union Minister of Home & Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah Ji is always very helpful & cooperative. Under his able leadership in cooperatives and guidance we became the promoter member of ‘National Export Cooperative Society’ and ‘National Seed Cooperative Limited’.
Our Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare and Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Ji has been a constant source of inspiration for us to promote and to help reach Nano Urea and Nano DAP to the farmers of the country.
I would like to thank our Chairman Sh. Dileep Sanghani, Vice- Chairman Sh. Balvir Singh and all the Directors on the Board of IFFCO for their continued support and guidance. I would also thank all the employees of IFFCO, IFFCO Employees Union and IFFCO Officers Association for their constant support to the management. I express my gratitude to the Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Cooperation , Ministry of Agriculture, and Farmers Welfare along with Indian and International Media for their valuable support and assistance from time to time.
Building on the our Strength ,Technical capabilities and your support, let us step into the New Financial Year 2023-24 with New Aspirations & Goals.
Stay Safe, Stay Healthy !!!
Dr. U. S. Awasthi
Managing Director
IFFCO Sadan, New Delhi