Atul Ltd 2010-11

Management Discussion & Analysis The Company has made reassessment of the risks and returns of its product groups, the nature of its businesses, the class of its customers, etc, and accordingly reclassified its product groups into two segments, namely, Life Science Chemicals and Performance & Other Chemicals. Generally, products used in Agriculture and Pharmaceutical industries are now a part of Life Science Chemicals segment and other products are a part of Performance & Other Chemicals segment. 22% of the total. Export sales increased by 22% to ` 152 crores and formed 49% of the total. World market for crop protection chemicals is estimated at US$ 44 bn and is growing at about 2%. Indian market for such chemicals is estimated at US$ 1 bn and is growing at about 5%. There are about 60 major companies which dominate the world marketplace, and there are about 10 companies in India having sales of more than US$ 111 mn. The main user industry, namely, Agriculture, is growing well because of the increasing population on the one hand and improving standard of living on the other. The Company will participate in this growth by i) debottlenecking capacities, ii) introducing new products and new formulations, iii) significantly improving efficiencies, iv)promotingownbrandsandv) enhancingthepresence inother countries,particularlyinAfricaandSouthAmerica.Itwillalsoform long-term alliances with other companies. Floods or famines will adversely affect the demand. Registration costs are high in certain countries. Fluctuations in foreign exchange will impact sales realizations. Given that some of these chemicals can be toxic, it is essential to take utmost care in their manufacture and use. Crop Protection Products Fungicides, Herbicides, Others Crop Protection product group mainly comprises Herbicides and Fungicides and are used by Agriculture industry for protection of crops. The group comprises 9 products and 54 formulations. Atul is not currently into Seeds product group which is now becoming an important input for Agriculture industry. During the year, sales of the product group increased by 25% to ` 308 crores. Brand sales which is currently only in India increased by 10% to ` 69 crores and accounted for Segment: Life Science Chemicals 2010-11 2009-10 % change Sales ( ` crores) 492 384 28 Share in total sales (%) 33 33 - The performance and other details of the product groups are given below: 24 | 25