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Cost of destroying endosulfan puts government in a quandary

The Supreme Court's notice to the central government asking to come out with measures to dispose the banned pesticide endosulfan by June 23 has put state government in a quandary.

• Indian agrochemical industry expected to grow to 1.7bn by 2012
• Supreme Court permits export of endosulfan formulation
• India plans to launch new national seed mission
• India DRI uncovers illegal import of pesticides from China
• India predicted to go from soybean exporter to imported by 2015

More>>Companies

Rallis India Q4 profit halved due to lower spending by farmers

Rallis India, an Indian crop protection company of the Tata Group, has reported that its net profit was halved in the March quarter.

• Coromandel International raises stake in Sabero Organics
• Monsanto opened new seed facility in India
• Willowood Crop Sciences launched in India
• Insecticides India nine-month sales up 16%
• Arysta LifeScience acquired Devidayal Sales Limited

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More>>Regulations

• Rallis eyes EBITDA margins at 15-20% for FY13 [Interviews]

  V Shankar, MD & CEO of Rallis India says the profitability of the company was hit by lower use of crop protection products by farmers and erratic rainfall.

• India: Reduction in insecticide use due to Bt cotton farming [Biotech]

  Ministry of Agriculture informed that with the use of high quality hybrid cotton seeds Indian farmers experienced the biggest gain in form of reduced insecticide usage from 46% in 2001 to less than 26% after 2006 and 21% during the last two years 2009 and 2010.

• India stops support of developing Bt cotton for export markets [Biotech]

  To give priority to foodgrain production, the Union ministry of agriculture has decided to discontinue the technological missions for cotton and jute in the 12th five-year plan, to commence from April 1.

• Astec sets up herbicide plant; expects 30% growth in FY13 [Interviews]

  Ashok Hiramat, chairman of Astec Lifesciences spoke to CNBC-TV18 about the outlook for his company in the new year.

• Mahyco asked to repeat trials on new Bt cotton variety [Biotech]

  Mahyco will have to wait for one more year to launch Bt cottonseeds with Roundup Ready Flex (RRF) technology as Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) asked the firm to repeat trials.