The Hindu Business Line : Off-patent generic pesticides dominate agrochem market

THE fact that the country's agrochemicals market continues to be dominated by generic pesticides has possibly come as a positive signal for the industry in the patents regime.

Generic pesticides account for bulk of domestic sales of pesticides, industry and agrochem company officials said. Pesticides, which are off patents, are more popular with Indian farmers, though industry estimates vary varies from 70 per cent to 90 per cent.

One reason why generic pesticides are more popular is possibly the easy availability of these products, said industry officials.

"Bulk of the business comes from off-patented products,'' said Mr Dipesh Shroff, Managing Director, Excel Crop Care.

Much of the export market is also into generic products, said Mr Pradeep Dave, President, Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India. At least 70 per cent of the pesticides used in the US are off patents, he said. The US is a large export market for Indian pesticide companies.

"Unlike in the pharmaceutical industry, the end users of the agrochem industry are more comfortable using tried and tested products as farmers are wont to be cautious,'' Mr Dave said.

Indian manufacturers, however, might not be in a position to export products that are on the patented list, though they could be able to market them in India, industry officials said.

While domestic agrochem companies are able to ride through the patents regime without any major impact on their top line growth, there are worries that multinational agrochem companies may insist on the use of patented products.

Currently, there are six patented products marketed in India. These are Indoxacarb (Dupont); Thiomethoxam (Syngenta); Spinosad (Denosil); Imidacloprid (Bayer); Sulpho Sulphonyl Urea (Monsanta) and Clodinofop Propargyl (Syngenta).

Indian companies also manufacture some of these products. However, as they have been manufacturing and marketing these products prior to January 2005 they are allowed to continue, Mr Dave said. "But Indian manufacturers now cannot market these in other parts of the world where the patents are valid for the product,'' he said.

According to him, the industry is waiting for a few molecules to go off patents. Some of them are close to patent expiry.

The domestic industry could find itself in a quandary if patented molecules are brought into India and marketed.

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