Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (DFPCL) will demerge its fertilizer and mining chemicals business in a move described as a strategic shift from commodity to specialty.
Smartchem Technologies Ltd (STL), a wholly owned subsidiary of DFPCL, will become the crop nutrition arm of DFPCL, with Deepak Mining Services Private Ltd (DMSPL) becoming the arm for mining chemicals.
Based in India, DFPCL is a major producer of technical ammonium nitrate (TAN) used as an explosive in the mining industry. The TAN business will transfer from STL to DMSPL as part of the restructuring. The company is also a major producer of water-soluble fertilizers.
"The proposed corporate restructuring shall considerably help create strong independent business platforms within the larger DFPCL brand umbrella, hence enhancing stakeholders' value over time," said Mr. Sailesh C. Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director.
DFPCL Group’s previous strategy was primarily focused on production, cost optimization, capacity utilisations and efficiency improvement, explained Mehta.
The focus of the ‘Transformation Strategy’ will be customised specialty in place of commodity; the move from volume focus to value/premium end-user focus; and a shift from competition pricing to value pricing.
This radical shift in strategy was deemed necessary to significantly improve customer experience, enhance market share, and build a sustainable brand, said Mehta.
In May 2022, Australian company Incitec Pivot Limited announced that it was separating its explosives business Dyno Nobel from its fertilizer business Incitec Pivot Fertilisers. Read here.
For more on water-soluble fertilizers, see the New AG International e-book here.
Explore our coverage of water-soluble fertilizers in previous issues of the New AG International quarterly journal, here.