Deepak Shah Honored with Hurun Stars of Mumbai Awards 2023 for Outstanding Contribution in Agrochemical Industry

The Sulphur man of India, Deepak Shah, Chairman, SML Ltd., was honored with the 'Hurun Stars of Mumbai Awards 2023' for outstanding contribution to the agrochemical industry. Shah is an eminent corporate leader who has devoted 50+ years of hard service to the agriculture industry. He is a role model for entrepreneurs and is known for his outstanding contribution to agriculture.

Hurun Stars of Mumbai Awards 2023

The Hurun Stars of Mumbai Awards 2023 beheld a special evening dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the outstanding contributions of visionary business leaders who have played a pivotal role in propelling Mumbai's remarkable economic advancement.

The event also commemorated a number of renowned personalities, proficient in their fields. A few of them included:

• Vijay Nair, Visen Industries

• Unnathan Shekhar, Galaxy Surfactants

• Sushil Shah, Metropolis Healthcare

• Surendrakumar Mohatta, Benzo Chem Industries

• Atul Bhatia, Atul Sons Logistics

• Ashok Goyal, BLR Logistiks

• Naghma Mulla, EdelGive Foundation

In an interaction with Krishi Jagran's Editor-in-Chief, MC Dominic, the Chairman of SML Ltd, Deepak Shah shared his journey to becoming the 'Sulphur man of India.'

• After observing one of Shah's close relatives importing sulphur dust, he came up with the idea to manufacture it, which would make him the first to do that

• With proper research, he started sulphur production in India. He began his business on a very small scale with only 7-8, that made a yearly turnover of about Rs 10 lakhs

• Gradually, he understood the importance of sulphur in agriculture fields. The application of sulphur was not only effective in the control the fungal diseases but also produced better quality yield

• However, he realised that while using the dust formulations of sulphur, a lot of it was getting wasted and was also a health hazard. So, they started the ‘wettable powder formulation’ which was much safer and the wastage was also comparatively less.

In 1977, Sulphur Mills Ltd. put up a jet mill for agrochemicals that could grind the particles up to 5-10 microns. The interesting part was that the mill was ‘Made in India’; they self-designed the mill as the imports of such mills were very difficult.

Deepak Shah thereafter, started a revolution in the agrochemical industry. One thing led to the other and Sulphur Mills Ltd. became one of the prominent industries in the country.