When Alagappan took charge, Coromandel was importing 65% of its sulphuric acid requirement. He, along with his team, decided to explore how the company could add more value and bolster margins by reducing imports.<\/p>
The company looked at each process and zeroed in on mining. It could either own a mine or enter into long-term contracts with those who did, says Alagappan. Towards the end of 2022, Coromandel picked up a 45% stake in Baobab Mining and Chemicals Corporation, a Senegal-based rock phosphate mining company and last July upped that to 71.5%. This has given the company \u201cmining-linked capability.\u201d<\/p>
Another key decision related to securing critical raw material. \u201cIt moved from just being an advantage to a hygiene factor. We invested time and leadership bandwidth to derisk sourcing, deepen vendor partnerships and build flexibility across our inbound supply chain to make sure we could serve the farm sector without disruption,\u201d says Alagappan.<\/p>
Coromandel also increased captive capacity for key inputs. \u201cWe reduced import dependence for key raw materials from around 65% to 40%. This has improved resilience, reduced volatility and given us better continuity of supply,\u201d says Alagappan.<\/p>
The company also decided to make manufacturing excellence a priority. It drove disciplined process innovation and removed bottlenecks across plants. \u201cThat led to meaningful output improvement with minimal incremental capex. For instance, we have been able to lift production volumes by around 20% in some facilities primarily through process and operating discipline,\u201d Alagappan says.<\/p> Apart from de-risking its supply chain, Coromandel increased the breadth of offerings and strengthened the integrated agri-solutions platform. \u201cWe are strong in manufacturing and market access. That includes making nutrients at a large scale, leadership in complex fertilisers and having a pan-India distribution engine, with a deep last-mile presence through our rural retail network,\u201d says Alagappan.<\/p> The other factor that differentiates Coromandel is a portfolio-led model. This allows it to have a play across nutrients, crop protection, bio-products and tech-led solutions. \u201cIt lets us solve a broader crop outcome problem rather than selling inputs in silos.\u201d Finally, he lays emphasis on the scale accruing from real assets and capability depth.<\/p> \u201cIndia has high agro-chemical diversity and sensitive farmer economics. In such a scenario, the ability to adapt formulations, improve efficacy and bring differentiated products quickly is a strategic advantage,\u201d he says.<\/p> Each effort is an attempt to challenge the status quo and do different things. \u201cWe did not understand rock mining but got into it. We added capacities in sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid, which helped in creating the entire value chain and addressed the raw material need,\u201d says Alagappan.<\/p> Together, those efforts have shifted the approach at the company. Take the case of the plant in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, which has transformed from one that was largely into mixing to becoming integrated. \u201cWith sulfuric and phosphoric acid, we are making complex fertilisers. Next year, it will become the single largest site for making phosphatic fertilisers in India,\u201d says Alagappan.<\/p> On the retail side, its brand Gromor is opening a store a day and expanding reach. \u201cAs a company, we are highly entrenched in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and touching the border markets of Karnataka and Maharashtra,\u201d he says.<\/p> Plus, last March, Coromandel acquired a 53% stake in NACL, a crop protection company with a strong branded formulation business, for Rs 820 crore. \u201cWe have got 14 new formulations plus fungicides. These are difficult businesses to build,\u201d says Alagappan.<\/p> Those tracking the company seem to like the shift in the way the company operates. A Motilal Oswal report released in February after third quarter earnings said it is well-positioned to sustain the growth momentum in FY27 on the back of \u201cfavourable market dynamics, increasing shift towards NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) fertilisers for balanced nutrition and strong growth in crop protection led by synergy benefits of the NACL consolidation.\u201d<\/p> The medium-term outlook remains strong on account of five factors\u2014expanding into new geographies, developing new molecules across fertilisers and crop protection segments, backward integration for the fertiliser business, purchase of NACL and scale-up of Senegal-based Baobab Mining and Chemicals Corporation.<\/p> Crisil Ratings says the NACL purchase was funded via internal cash accrual and Coromandel\u2019s net liquidity after the acquisition stood around Rs 450 crore as on August 31, 2025. \u201cGiven strong expected accrual and no significant debt-funded acquisitions, Coromandel\u2019s financial risk profile is expected to remain strong. This acquisition augments the crop protection business, strengthening its presence in the domestic formulations business, expanding existing product portfolio and helping in securing contract manufacturing relationships with NACL\u2019s established customers,\u201d it said.<\/p> Alagappan stresses that Coromandel thinks like a tech company. \u201cWith predictive AI models, we are trying to see what kind of pests are present in an area,\u201d he says. That is a reflection of the changing nature of the Indian economy. \u201cToday\u2019s farmer is younger and tech-savvy. I have seen some of them leaving IT and coming to farming.\u201d That makes it vital for Coromandel to adapt to those for whom WhatsApp comes easily and technology is readily accessible. \u201cThese are not things that are nice to have. Rather, they are must-haves. Farmers are very advanced and do their research. Plus, they all use ChatGPT,\u201d he adds with a smile.<\/p> For Alagappan, technology ties in neatly with his emphasis on making the firm stronger and more efficient. @krishnagopalan<\/p> <\/div> Arun Alagappan, Coromandel International, coromandel, bt india's best ceos, india's best ceos, best ceos,#Arun #Alagappan #turned #Coromandel #International #integrated #force1775448166<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arun Alagappan\u2019s\u00a0passion for agriculture comes through clearly in how he breaks down each issue succinctly. After all, the Executive Chairman of Coromandel International is as close to the farmer as anyone in India Inc can get; offerings include fertilisers, specialty nutrients, crop protection, retail presence and a play in technology. Sitting in his spacious but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[20150,20149,20145,22250,20144,22248,22247,4789,22249,22251,4492,2263],"class_list":["post-5930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-alagappan","tag-arun","tag-arun-alagappan","tag-best-ceos","tag-bt-indias-best-ceos","tag-coromandel","tag-coromandel-international","tag-force","tag-indias-best-ceos","tag-integrated","tag-international","tag-turned"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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