How an Ordinary Person, Deepak Shah, became the Sulphur Man of India? Read his story

Deepak Shah, Chairman of Sulphur Mills Ltd received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 3^rd PMFAI SML Annual Agchem Awards 2022. Shah is a big corporate leader who has devoted 50+ years of hard service to Agriculture Industry and has been a savior of the farmers.

The 3^rd PMFAI SML Annual Agchem Awards were held on 14^th February 2022. These awards were given to honour the outstanding achievements in Indian agrochemical industry & remarkable contributions, which helps in sustainable growth of agriculture

Krishi Jagran’s Editor in Chief, MC Dominic interacted with Lifetime Achievement Awardee Deepak Shah also known as the Sulphur Man of India in a short interview and we got to know about his journey.

Deepak Shah was working in USA when he had to come back to India as his father was not well. At that time, he was as amateur in the Sulphur Industry as me and you. All he knew was that sulphur is extensively used in the rubber & tyre manufacturing for vulcanization.

SML- The Initial Turnover was only about Rs 10 Lakhs

One of his close relatives used to import sulphur dust and that is when he came up with an idea to manufacture it himself as nobody was doing it at that time. After a lot of research he finally imported a German Plant and started the sulphur production in India. He started his business on a very small scale with only 7-8 people and made a yearly turnover of about Rs 10 lakhs.

Gradually, he understood the importance of sulphur in agriculture fields. 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 if it gets into someone’s eyes or mouth etc. so they started the ‘wettable powder formulation’ which were much safer and the wastage was also comparatively less.

Deepak Shah – A Proud Endorser of Make in India

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

That is how, he started a revolution in the Agro chemical industry. One thing led to the other and today, Sulphur Mills Ltd rules this industry!

COSAVET- Water Dispersible Granules Of Sulphur

In 1982, a dealer came to him and he showed him a brown coloured sample of sulphur which was completely soluble in water. This inspired him to research about it; and finally in 1988, he started producing a similar product and exporting it to different countries with the ‘COSAVET’ brand name.