The making of a fully integrated Agrochemical plant

Who would chuck $100,000 jobs in the super efficient hitech ambiance of the US and opt for India - an industrialist's nightmare- to put up an agrochemicals company and make a success out of it - all in a matter of a few years?! Sumit and Mohit Chuganee, of course, the enterprising sons of Hero Chuganee- Chief Executive of Indofil Chemicals Co for 14 years. Both Sumit and Mohit worked for Rohm and Haas, USA; Sumit as Design Engineer and Mohit in process control and maintenance. While Sumit had a stint as a Management Consultant at Sigma Design Inc. USA; Mohit had also served as International product Manager at Echosphere Corporation, Netherlands. But the urge to return to India and to do something of their own was overpowering. And to help them in their entrepreneurial ambitions there could have been no better than their father, Hero Chuganee.

Hero's long innings in the chemical industry, 35 years plus, both as Chief Executive and now as Director of Modi Global Enterprise - Indofil Chemicals and also as the earlier President of the influential Indian Chemicals Manufacturers Association, proved to be very useful in the industrial venture. With these inherent advantages the obvious choice was to go in for Chemicals manufacture, which finally zeroed down to pesticide intermediates. Since it was the sons venture, naming the new company as a fusion of the names of their mother (Sabita )and Father ( Hero ) - "Sabero" seemed as apt as the biological evolution.

The Begining

So in 1991 Sabero Organics Gujarat Ltd. was set up a CIDC Industrial Estate at Sarigam, near Vapi in Gujarat about 170 Kms from Mumbai to manufacture 2150 tpa of trimethyl phosphite (TMP), 1730 tpa of diethly/dimethyl thiophosphoryl chloride (DETC/DMTC), 5115 tpa of phosphorus trichloride- the basic raw material and ammonium chloride . Sumit Chuganee (30 years), the younger of the two brothers, is the managing Director of the company. Mohit (31 years) - Director on Board and Hero Chuganee (60 years) is the chairman. Talking to chemical Industry Digest, when we met him at their corporate office at Lower Parel in Mumbai, Hero Chuganee emphasised that "Sabero is a totally professionally managed company". Both Sumit and Mohit have Bachelors' Degree in engineering from Virginia Tech, USA. Additionally, Sumit has an MBA ( Finance ) from Duke University USA and Mohit , a mater in International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management . As for Hero, he is a chemical engineer from London who has done the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard Business School, USA.

Other senior managers are also professionals from industry. No wonder the company speaks of a combination of " Rich Experience and Youthful Dynamism."

Sabero, co-promoted by Gujarat Industrial Investment Corporation came up with a public issue in January 94 and went into production by mid 1994. The process to manufacture TMP acquired from Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad was modified and upgraded and the plant was commissioned on their own with the engineering done by RJ Associates. Despite the time overrun of 10 months Sabero attained a turnover of Rs 7 crores in 1994-95 and in 1995-96, the first full year's operation they surpassed ICCI estimates and notched Rs 48.31 crores. The company also declared has now nearly doubled with an incredible performance in 1996-97 grossing Rs 72.52 crores.

Though it may seem that the company was having an easy ride, the fact is that it had to compete aggressively in a field which was the playground of a few well entrenched players who tried to give them a rough time initially. But now with quick consolidation Sabero has sent home the message that it is " here to stay". World wide there are only four Manufactures of TMP : Sabero, ULP, Ciba-Geigy of Switzerland ( only for captive consumption ) and Albright Wilson in the US. For DETC/DMTC, apart from Sabero the other manufactures include Excel, Cheminova in Europe and Zeneca.

As of now the company is marketing these organophosphorus chemicals manufactured by them to large pesticide companies in India and aboard, as well as through distributors to smaller consumers. Their blue-clip list of clients includes such big names as Bayer, Hoechst, DE-Nocil, Lupin, Novartis, and Rallies etc. The company's philosophy of providing high quality products at competitive prices has helped Sabero garner significant market shares.

As a prelude to the manufacture of pesticides as part of their expansion plans, the company is gearing up its marketing strategy and creating an extensive dealer network to server farmers. In this well laid out plan Sabero has entered into the business of pesticides formulation in 1997-98 namely Acephate, Methyl Parathion, Fenvelarate, Ethephon and Monocrotophos, all of which are being sold under the company's own brand names.