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Touching lives across geographies
Chemicals business | Consumer
products business | Crop nutrition and
agri-business | New business
Tata Chemicals' sustainable approach to business has led
it to work towards optimising the use of raw materials, resources
and technology and creating a portfolio of products that find
application across industries and consumers.
Its foray into consumer products started with an idea –
using iodised salt to resolve health issues arising out of
iodine deficiency in India. Tata Chemicals has launched a
range of iodised salts in India and today is considered a
business superbrand in Indian industry.
Concern for the environment is top of mind at TCL. By instituting
a more efficient filtration process, TCL has worked towards
capturing by-products and effluents of the soda ash manufacturing
process. The thousands of tonnes of effluent, thus diverted
from negatively loading the environment, have been converted
into a usable commodity – cement – that is used
for high quality construction in western India.
The company sees its role in agribusiness going beyond production
and sale of fertilisers to enhancing soil health and working
to improve the conditions of Indian agriculture and the farmer
community. TCL is also exploring new developments in biofuels
and nanomaterials to focus on innovative and sustainable products
for the future.
Chemicals
business
Soda ash finds
use in several industries, including the manufacturing of glass,
pulp and paper, detergents and industrial chemicals. Tata Chemicals'
journey started as a synthetic soda ash manufacturer at Mithapur,
Gujarat. The salt works spread across 60sqkm can produce over
2 million tonnes of solar salt, the base raw material for almost
all the 27 basic chemicals that the company produces. The Mithapur
plant is the largest integrated salt works and inorganic chemicals
complex in this part of the world. It has an installed capacity
of 8,75,000 tpa -- about 34 per cent of the country's capacity
-- making it one of the largest producers of synthetic soda
ash in the world.
The company's soda ash capacity took a significant leap in
early 2006 when it completed the acquisition of the UK-based
Brunner Mond Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturer
and supplier of associated alkaline products, and added manufacturing
plants in Northwich in the UK, Delfzijl in The Netherlands
and Lake Magadi in Kenya. Lake Magadi is a major alkaline
evaporate deposit in Africa’s Great Rift Valley.
In early 2008 TCL successfully completed the acquisition
of US-based General Chemical Industrial Products (GCIP), providing
access to some of the world’s largest and most economically
recoverable trona ore deposits that are then converted to
soda ash, and to manufacturing facilities located at Green
River Basin in Wyoming.
The acquisition of GCIP takes TCL’s global soda ash
capacity to around 5.5 million tonnes per annum, out of which
60 per cent capacity is from natural soda ash, from Wyoming
and Lake Magadi. Apart from Mithapur, soda ash is also produced
synthetically at Cheshire in the UK and Delfzijl in the Netherlands.
Along with soda ash, TCL also produces sodium
bicarbonate, bulk chemicals such as sulphuric acid, phosphoric
acid, sodium
tripoly phosphate (STPP), caustic soda, bromine-based
products, chlorine based products, gypsum and cement.
TCL's cement business grew out of a sustainability and environment
activity; the cement plant at Mithapur was set up to consume
the solid waste generated during the manufacture of soda ash.
Consumer
products business
The primary product in the consumer products business
is salt. Tata Salt, launched
in 1983, was India's first iodised salt and a solution that
tackled health problems arising out of iodine deficiency.
The company has also launched a new refined salt called I-Shakti;
Tata Salt Lite, a low sodium salt aimed at health conscious
users; and Topp Salt, aimed at the export market. The company
also makes and sells Tata Samunder, a brand of cooking soda
for the food industry.
Crop nutrition
and agri-business
Tata Chemicals sees its role in agribusiness going
beyond production and sale of fertilisers to enhancing soil
health, which today has assumed great importance because of
the national need to boost agricultural productivity. Accordingly,
its fertiliser business has been renamed as crop nutrition
business. The company has a large presence in this sector,
through three distinct components – the production and
sale of fertilisers, the Tata Kisan Sansar network and the
recently started joint venture in fresh
produce, Khet-Se Agriproduce India.
Tata Chemicals' fertiliser
business consists of three major nutrient groups: nitrogen-based,
phosphorus-based and potassium-based products – urea,
DAP, NPK and SSP – manufactured at Babrala (in Uttar
Pradesh, India) and Haldia (in West Bengal, India). Additionally,
the company also imports and sells MOP and DAP and supplies
organic materials and other specialty fertilisers such as
calcium nitrate and zinc sulphate.
Tata Chemicals works directly with farmers in India to help
solve crop problems and enhance yields. The company has set
up a network of Tata Kisan Sansars (farmer centres) in the
Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana,
Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar. The network services around
20,000 villages, with access to over 2 million farmers. The
centres are one-stop resource centres – they stock seeds,
pesticides and fertilisers, lease out farm equipment and implements,
and provide services such as soil testing and mapping, fertiliser
mapping, credit finance, crop insurance, etc.
Another new venture in the agri-business segment is the 50:50
joint venture company, Khet-Se Agri Produce India, with Total
Produce Plc Ireland, for creating procurement, sorting, packing
and distribution chain for fresh fruits and vegetables.
New business
Biofuels | Fresh
produce | TCL Innovation Centre | Centre
for Agricultre and Techonology (CAT)
Tata Chemicals is leveraging its expertise in chemicals
and agri-businesses together to develop strengths in new sustainable
technologies in the nanotechnology and biotechnology space.
The company is actively working to build a significant presence
in the biofuels sector. Its Innovation Centre is working on
technologies that can mitigate climate change through “green
chemistry” and product offerings that will make a difference.
Biofuels
In 2007, Tata Chemicals decided to enter the biofuels
business in India. A 30KL per day bioethanol facility, using
sweet sorghum as feedstock, is being set up at Nanded, Maharashtra.
Arrangements are being made with farmers in districts in and
around Nanded, for growing sweet sorghum. Trial cultivation
has so far been very successful. The company has also undertaken
field research on Jatropha, a non-edible tree crop for biodiesel
production. The company has set up a research farm in Aurangabad
and has started varietal trials for developing a package of
practice. The company has also set up multi location trials
for Jatropha in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh.
Fresh produce
Tata Chemicals, through its new business venture Khet-Se,
has set up state-of-the-art facilities for fresh fruit
and vegetables sourcing, packaging and distribution. The
first centre has already opened in Punjab; the next will come
up in Maharashtra. Khet-Se will source fruits and vegetables
for the fruit and vegetable retailer through its conveniently
located wholesale stores.
Khet-Se will cater to customers such as small retailers,
organised retailers, and the institutional segments comprising
of hotels, restaurants and caterers. The company offers hygienically
handled, high quality produce, which is delivered absolutely
fresh to its customers.
TCL Innovation Centre
Tata Chemicals Innovation
Centre was set up with the objective of developing world-class
R&D facility working on more than 20 projects in the areas
of nanotechnology and biotechnology. It has now moved from
being TCL-centric to a having a much wider base of clients,
from the Tata group as well as external companies.
The team of scientists at the centre is working in the following
areas:
Centre for Agriculture and Techonology
(CAT)
The CAT has been set up in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh to provide
advice to farmers on farming and crop nutrition practices
and solutions. This centre is staffed with experienced scientists
who are working in various areas of agri-technology. Specific
projects have been undertaken on determining area and crop
specific nutrition products and combinations, soil health
tracking through indexing etc.
The CAT is expected to provide TCL a competitive advantage
in the future and will provide a very strong base for the
growth of the company in its customised fertiliser business,
specialty crop nutrients business and agribusiness.
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