Bayer CropScience Ltd

History of Bayer CropScience Ltd

Bayer CropScience Limited, formerly known as Bayer (India) Limited was incorporated in 1958, which subsequently changed the name to Bayer CropScience Limited w.e.f. February 24, 2004. The Company is a key player in the Indian agriculture industry. The Company's operations include four key business areas: Crop Protection, Seeds & Traits and Digital Farming. At present, it is engaged in Agri Care' business which primarily includes manufacture, sale and distribution of insecticides, fungicides, herbicide and various other agrochemical products and corn seeds. Apart from this, it is also involved in sale and distribution of hybrid seeds. It has own manufacturing site for agrochemical production at Himatnagar and Silvassa, drying and processing station at Hyderabad and breeding stations at Bengaluru and Udaipur. Out of the total paid-up share capital of the Company, 71.43% is held by its promoters. The ultimate parent company is Bayer AG, Germany. The company is the Indian subsidiary of Bayer Germany which is a diversified international chemical and healthcare company. They diversified into inorganic-chemistry-related fields like hard metals, engineering ceramics, etc, after acquiring Hermann C Starck of Berlin, Germany. The company was converted into public limited company on December 28, 1996. In 1993, the company entered into a strategic alliance with Herdillia Chemicals to manufacture diphyl heat transfer medium. During 1998-99, Jagat Chemicals, a 100% subsidiary wa ...s amalgamated with the company with effect from January 1, 1999. Sales and marketing operations of the Pharma Business Group were discontinued during the month of August 2000 and are now being handled by a new subsidiary of Bayer AG in India. The Trademark License Agreement between Bayer AG and Bayer (India) Limited in respect of Business group Pharma has been terminated with effect from 27th July,2000. The Company will continue to manufacture the existing products at Thane on Toll basis for the new subsidiary. Bayer CropScience India Ltd was amalgamated with the company with effect from April 1, 2003. The company sold the assets of the Household Insecticide Business of the Consumer Care Division of the company to S C Johnson Products Ltd. The company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary named Bayer Polychem (India) Ltd on September 15, 2003. The non-cropscience businesses of the company comprising of Healthcare, Polymers and Chemicals were transferred to the Bayer Polychem (India) Ltd with effect from November 1, 2003. In the year 2004, the company had entered into an agreement with BASF India Ltd for the transfer of the Fipronil activities to BASF India. The chemical business and part of the polymers business of Bayer Polychem (India) Ltd has been transferred to Lanxess India Pvt Ltd during the year in the a strategic realignment of the Bayer Group, worldwide. Also, the Material Science business of the company has been transferred to Bayer MaterialScience Pvt Ltd. During the year 2006, the company successfully launched two products namely Admire 70WG, an Insecticide for sucking pests in various crops and Dadeci, an Insecticide for brown plant hopper control in Rice. In June 2007, the company sold the shares of their subsidiary company Bayer Polychem India Ltd to Bayer MaterialScience Pvt Ltd for the consideration of Rs 3.90 crore. On 29 November 2012, Bayer CropScience announced that it has entered into two separate agreements and executed all other incidental documents for the sale of the company's Land and Building situated at Thane near Mumbai to Agile Real Estate Private Limited (Agile) for total consideration of Rs 1250 crore. The execution of the deed of conveyance in favour of Agile shall be undertaken subsequently. The Board of Directors of the company at its meeting held on 22 July 2013 unanimously approved a buyback proposal for purchase by the company of upto 28.79 lakh equity shares (representing 7.29% of the total equity capital), from all the shareholders of the company on a proportionate basis through the Tender Offer route at a price of Rs 1,580 per equity share, aggregating to approximately Rs 455 crore. The Board noted the intention of the Promoter Group of the Company to participate in the proposed Buyback. On 13 September 2013, Bayer CropScience announced that it has entered into a business transfer agreement with Deccan Fine Chemicals (India) Private Limited to sell, convey, assign and transfer its chemical manufacturing facility located at GIDC Industrial Estate, Ankleshwar, Gujarat as a going concern on a slump sale basis for a total consideration of Rs 127.18 crore. On 30 September 2013, Bayer CropScience signed as asset transfer agreement with Bayer MaterialScience Pvt. Ltd. to sell and transfer all ITS assets related to manufacturing activity of Poly-isocyanate products at its unit located at Ankleshwar, Gujarat for a total consideration of Rs 22.94 crore to Bayer MaterialScience Pvt. Ltd. In FY 2019, the Mumbai Bench of NCLT approved Scheme of Amalgamation for merger of Monsanto India Limited (MIL) with Bayer CropScience Limited (BCSL) and their respective Shareholders vide its order dated September 13, 2019. The certified Copy of the Order, along with Scheme, was filed with Registrar of Companies, Mumbai, on September 16, 2019, when the merger came into effect. In FY 2019-20, the Company launched 1 new product in Crop Protection segment, 4 in Hybrid Seeds and 1 in Environmental Science. In 2020-21, the Company implemented new projects such as Food Chain Partnerships' and Better Life Farming', to support smallholder farmers with access to innovative agri-inputs, modern technologies, training and capacity building. In FY 2021-22, the Company launched DKC 9208, a high-yielding hybrid spring season corn seed for corn farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It launched Vayego in January 2022. During the year 2022-23, the Company's Environmental Science Professional business along with the assets and liabilities was sold to 2022 ES Discovery India Private Limited, as a going concern, on a slump sale basis, for a consideration of Rs 111 Crores. As a result, 2022 ES Discovery India Private Limited, was incorporated as a special purpose legal entity by Bayer and the said legal entity was acquired by the entities controlled by Cinven. During the year 2022-23, Bayer introduced a second Corn Brand 'Xellano' and launched 4 new products under this Brand; it launched the novel product Reatis' 480 FS for the management of insect pests in Rice and Maize. It launched the new products in High-yielding Kharif and Rabi hybrid seeds in Corn: Dekalb 9210 and Dekalb 8225. In 2023-24, Company launched new products & hybrid seeds in Corn and Rice comprising of Curbix Pro, Acerbo, DEKALB 9233, Arize 6585ST; Arize 6741 & Arize 8433D. The Company's Breeding team crossed another milestone in kicking off Abacus-Bio Project for gathering customer insights and feedback for building Bio-economic indices in FY 2025. The Company has put in additional efforts in the area of plant health, considering uncertain weather and growing agro-climatic challenges faced by Indian farmers, to protect yield and to enhance resistance to pest and diseases in Corn germplasm. Plant health team developed and established: Corn Fusarium Stalk Rot (FSR) Seedling assay screening protocol under greenhouse conditions, which increased efficiency and quality data generation. Molecular diagnostics and mapping of stalk rots pathogens across India to monitor disease spread across India. In 2025, Company added a greater number of Corn products to its 2nd Brand 'Xellano' in order to help many smallholder farmers reap the benefits of Technology and Innovation at affordable price. Under this Brand, Bayer deployed DKC8174, 9222C & 9243C for Kharif Corn markets. DKC8211 was launched under Xellano brand, and it was appreciated by the farmers across North and Eastern Kharif corn markets.