Amid the spectre of Corona Virus looming large, there is good news coming from the largest fertilizer cooperative IFFCO. The co-op titan has produced and sold the highest amount of fertilizer ever in the country, beating its own previous records.
“In the Financial Year 2019-20 we were able to register a profit of more than 1000 Crore (PBT). We managed to achieve the highest ever production of 91.42 Lakh Metric”, announced a jubilant MD Dr U S Awasthi.
Listing the new initiatives like Nano fertilizer, Sikkim IFFCO Organics and IFFCO Bazar, the MD goes on cheering his team while thanking his Board of Directors including Chairman B S Nakai and Vice-Chairman Dileep Sanghani for their continual support and guidance.
Starting the new financial year, the MD pens this letter listing IFFCO’s achievements, challenges and what the future has in store for the co-op behemoth.
Excerpts
Dear Friends,
These are extraordinary times. I want to take this moment to assure all of you that we are committed to the safety and well-being of the entire IFFCO family. Let me also assure you that we are working overtime to deal with this extraordinary situation.
I would also like to thank all of you who are still working from home, on the ground and in the plants to ensure that the farmers get fertilisers in time. We should all be proud of ourselves as we are all contributing towards a national cause of helping the farmers grow food for the entire nation during this national crisis.
In addition, we have donated an amount of Rs. 25 Crores to the PM-CARES fund to help the Government of India in its fight against this pandemic. The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Sh. Narendra Modi Ji has acknowledged the efforts and thanked IFFCO by mentioning the same in a tweet “Great Gesture, Thank you IFFCO”. To further help the farmers and villagers we have launched on-the ground efforts to donate necessary supplies. IFFCO is contributing at ground zero by distributing masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectant soaps, Vitamin-C tablets and essential food kits to the farmers and villagers at various places across the country.
In the Financial Year 2019 – 20 we were able to register profit of more than 1000 Crore (PBT). We managed to achieve the highest ever production of 91.42 Lakh Metric
Tonnes of fertilisers which includes highest ever production of Urea at 48.75 Lakh Metric Tonnes, highest ever production of DAP at 20.93 Lakh Metric Tonnes and also the highest ever production of NP/NPK/DAP/WSFS at 42.67 Lakh Metric Tonnes. Paradeep unit achieved its highest ever production of NP/DAP. Our three Urea plants Kalol, Phulpur & Aonla achieved the lowest composite energy consumption of 5.285 GCal/MT of Urea. Kalol, Phulpur, and Aonla units also achieved the highest ever production of Urea.
IFFCO has achieved highest ever yearly record despatch of 133.24 lakh MT of Urea/NP/NPK/DAP/WSF and other Speciality fertilizers, in the year 2019-20 from IFFCO’s Plants at Kalol, Phulpur, Aonla, Kandla, Paradeep and Ports.
Correspondingly, we were able to sell 133.30 Lakh Metric Tonnes of fertilisers, the highest sales figures in history of IFFCO. I congratulate both the production and marketing teams for their stellar performance and encourage them to keep up the good work.
Apart from this, our novel project of nanotechnology based products is on the right track. The marketing, R&D and the IT teams are working with excellent synergy on this project. We have commenced over 11,000 trials of these fertilisers across India. The results of these trails are promising and motivating. Farmers are able to see a visible change in the quality and quantity of their output. This will be a game changer in the field of nutrient application.
In FY 2019-20 we also launched two exciting initiatives:
One being, Sikkim IFFCO Organics Pvt. Ltd., to promote and market the organic produce from the State of Sikkim and other North-Eastern states of India. The other one being www.iffcobazar.in, our unique e-commerce portal to sell non subsidized IFFCO’s agri related inputs online.
Both these initiatives are unique and have promising prospects. I wish the respective teams all the best.
All of our joint venture and associates have performed brilliantly in the financial year 2019-20.
Our IT, HR, Finance, Commercial and various other departments and teams across different locations also did their best. FY 2019-20 was successful largely due to their teamwork and coordination.
While FY 2019-20 was good we have our work cut out for the future. I am confident that this hiatus will prove to be a temporary bump in our journey ahead and IFFCO will emerge stronger than ever before. The outbreak of COVID-19 has taught us that we need to be prepared for any eventuality and to slowly move towards a virtually connected, digitally led and a paperless office. Though this might sound difficult for a manufacturing oriented organisation like ours but this is need of the hour.
We also aim to ramp up our R&D facilities to develop quality non-subsidized plant nutrition solutions that are environment friendly and cost effective. Our experience tells us that the farmers of India are receptive to our innovative plant nutrition solutions and I am happy we are also ready to add more innovative products like Sagarika, WSF and Bio Pesticides into our product portfolio.
On this note, I would like to wish all of you the very best for the new Financial Year 2020-21 and would also like to thank our Chairman Sh.B.S Nakai, our Vice- Chairman Sh. Dileep Sanghani and all the Directors on the board of IFFCO for their continual support and direction. I would also thank all the employees of IFFCO, IFFCO Employees Union and IFFCO Officers Association for their continuous support
I am thankful to all our Joint Venture, Associates & their management for their outstanding performance, Department of Fertilisers, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation along with Indian and International Media for their valuable support and assistance from time to time.
I am sure that we all will overcome this situation also.
“So Stay Strong, Stay Healthy and Stay Safe!”
With Best Compliments
Dr U S Awasthi
MD
IFFCO