Across the world, the arable lands are lacking fertility and nutrients. Many fertilizer providers are coming up with new initiatives and products to help farmers in refilling their barren farms with fertility. One of such fertilizer players is Coromandel International Limited. Coromandel is one of India's largest phosphatic fertilizer players and has a wide range of agri-products to fulfill the needs of the farmers. With the increasing use of complex fertilizers, the company is marking its enormous presence in the field of agriculture.
Satish Tiwari, who earlier used to be Coromandel's Senior General Manager - Crop Protection, has recently been promoted as National Head - Marketing. Krishi Jagran had the pleasure to interact with Mr. Satish Tiwari to find out his upcoming strategies to take Coromandel to greater heights.
You are now promoted as the National Head - Marketing of Coromandel. What are your plans for the company as a marketing head?
In my opinion, sales and marketing both go hand-in-hand. From the past 20 years, I am engaged in both sales and marketing activities at our divisional level. Now, as the company has promoted me as National Marketing Head , I will be taking the responsibility from April onwards. In the meantime, I will be heading both the roles.
Our company is devoted to the farmers with a wide range of agri-inputs. We are working towards services and products, which aim to please the farmer community. This would be my priority as a marketing head.
You are one of India's largest players in fertilizers. How do you maintain this achievement?
Coromandel is the leader in the field of complex fertilizers and agrochemicals. We are bringing new, customized complex fertilizers for our partners, and are planning to bring new technologies to upgrade our company so that we could maintain our leadership in market.
What are the major areas you are targeting in terms of your products?
We are focusing on certain products that have new chemistry. We have come up 'Astra' in insecticides and 'Prospell' in fungicides. We have already brought in some new herbicides. We are planning to come up with certain new chemistry molecule. We are also working on major crops like paddy, cotton and other fruit and vegetables.
How are you going to play your role for different segments?
I will be heading crop protection - Marketing , under which we have four segments, namely, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and Plant Growth Regulator (PGR). Coromandel has been very strong in insecticide portfolio. We have recently launched revolutionary insecticide called 'Astra'. we are the company which is indigenously producing this product. Our focus will be more on this segment. 'Astra' is a product for BPH in paddy and it's market size is more than Rs 500 crores in India. We will try to promote this product aggressively. We are also coming up with other products and launches next year 2020. These products might be our own or in association with MNCs or in exclusive marketing with other foreign companies. So, this would be my plan as a marketing head with respect to marketing.
Which Segment is bringing maximum business to your company?
We have a strong portfolio in insecticide. They are bringing more than 60% contribution to our business. We are focusing on other segments too. We are having a strong presence in fungicides too. Talking about weedicides, we are comparatively weaker, but we are making sure to add more products to retain maximum business in the segment.
In which states do you have a strong presence?
We are operating pan India when it comes to agrochemicals. But our core markets are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal , and Gujarat. We are focusing on the states that are having huge potential in the coming years. These states are Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. We are planning to have an wider reach in these areas.
What are your plans to make your marketing more effective?
In the past few years, we have mostly spent on manpower. 60-70 percent of our revenue is spent on increasing manpower. But keeping in mind the changing scenario, we are planning to work harder on digital space. Our plan is to spend 50 percent on our manpower and 50 percent on print media, digital space and mass media stuff. With this, we can reach a wider target audience. You will see a new aggressive Coromandel in years to come.