Tata Chemicals Stock

Tata Chemicals Limited manufactures inorganic chemicals. The company manufactures fertilisers and food additives. TCL manufactures a range of products, including soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, salt, caustic soda and urea. The company’s product applications include glass, detergents, paper, textiles, agriculture, photography, pharmaceuticals, food, tanning, rayon, pulp, paints, building and construction, and chemicals. The company exports to various markets including South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Segments

The company's business is divided into two segments namely Inorganic Chemicals and Fertilisers.

The Inorganic Chemicals Segment comprises soda ash, salt, cement, sodium tripolyphosphates, sodium bicarbonate and other marine chemicals.

The Fertilisers Segment comprises principally of urea, diammonium phosphate and complex fertilisers, both manufactured and traded.

Products

The Chemicals SBU comprises:

Soda ash: This chemical is used in various industries, such as in the manufacture of glass, where it reduces the melting temperature of the sand used in glass formation and helps in the 'workability', or shaping, of glass articles. Soda ash is also an ingredient in the making of soaps and detergents. It is employed as a builder, or filler, to give a smoother surface in formulations of soaps, detergents and other cleaning compounds. This resourceful alkali is used in the production of other chemicals. Soda ash is used in mineral processing in mining, pulp and paper manufacture, the making of sodium compounds, water treatment, metal refining, textile processing, cleaning preparations, petroleum and metallurgical refining, iron and steel, aluminum, and drugs.

Cement: The cement plant at Mithapur was set up to consume the solid waste generated during the manufacture of soda ash. The plant has an installed capacity of 1,500 tonnes per day and it manufactures three varieties of cement: Ordinary Portland Cement (grades 43 and 53) and Pozzolana Portland Cement (under the Shudh Cement brand name).

Caustic soda: The company delivers low-cost caustic soda to the market. Caustic soda is used in various industries: rayon, cellophane, soap, pulp and paper. Apart from caustic soda, the company also produces hydrochloric acid and liquid chlorine.

Bromine: The company manufactures variants of bromine and bromine-based compounds, such as liquid bromine technical, potassium bromide PQ, sodium bromide PQ, methyl bromide, ethyl bromide and hydrobromic acid. Bromine is used primarily in the manufacture of organic and inorganic bromides. It is also used as a crucial reagent in preparing several organic compounds requiring bromination. Other variants are used in the preparation of photographic emulsions, for processing photographic films and paper, in lithography, as an analytical reagent, as a soil fumigant and much more.

Gypsum: Gypsum, formed in crystalline lumps or powder form, is the other product from the Tata Chemicals stable. It is used as an ingredient in Portland cement, for soil treatment, and to stabilise volatile compounds and dissolve nitrogenous ones. It also finds use as an inert filler in paints, paper, pharmaceuticals, and insecticide dusts.

Fertilizers

Tata Chemicals manufactures Urea, which is a nitrogenous fertilizer. The company makes urea at its fertiliser complex in Babrala. The complex has an installed capacity of 8,64,000 tonnes per year. This fertiliser plant uses dual feedstock: natural gas or naphtha, or a combination of both.

Food Additives

The Chemicals’ food additives strategic business unit has two of the company's major product groups under its wing: branded salt and sodium bicarbonate.

Salt: The company makes 3,50,000 tonnes of vacuum-evaporated iodised salt annually at its Mithapur complex. The company manufactures four varieties of salt: iodised salt, crystalline salt, vacuum salt and pure salt.

Crystalline salt: Samunder Crystal Salt is a refined, iodised, white crystal salt. It offers customers an alternative to the unbranded crystalline salt available in Indian markets.

Sodium bicarbonate: The company’s sodium bicarbonate plant has a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum. It produces three varieties of sodium bicarbonate: sodium bicarbonate technical, sodium bicarbonate refined and sodium bicarbonate granular. The company markets its sodium bicarbonate products in India, the Middle East, Africa and Bangladesh.

Cooking soda: The company offers branded cooking soda in small, single-use sachets under the brand name Tata Samunder Cooking Soda. Tata Samunder refined food grade soda bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is an alternative to the unbranded products available in the market.

Some of the other chemical products Tata Chemicals produces are: Caustic soda technical; Ethyl bromide; Gypsum; Hydrobromic acid; Hydrochloric acid; Liquid bromine; Liquid chlorine; and Sodium bromide (photographic grade).

Services

TKK services

Tata Kisan Sansars (TKSs) serve as a one-stop platform for farmers by offering holistic solutions: from the seed-sowing stage to post-harvest management and marketing of agricultural produce.

TKSs provide a host of services to farmers, including farm-related information and guidance, while supplying agricultural inputs specific to the needs of each area.

The categories of the various services provided by TKS are Agro-input supplies, Agronomy services, Bulk blending, Training and information dissemination, and Warehousing and storage.

Agro-input Supplies: TKSs offer fertilisers (urea, DAP, MOP, and superphos), micronutrients (iron, zinc, etc.), secondary nutrients (calcium, magnesium, and sulphur), seeds, and pesticides. They also lease out farm equipment and machinery, including tractors.

Agronomy Services: TKSs utilise computer technology to assist farmers. They help farmers in soil- and fertiliser-testing and crop selection. Farmers are guided on how to map and continuously upgrade their soil and also on determining the appropriateness of high-yield seeds. Additionally, they offer plant protection services.

Bulk Blending: This service includes providing fertiliser and secondary nutrients and offering assistance in blending through a bulk-blending facility that is offered to farmers.

Training and Information: TKS agronomists assist farmers with crop- and time-specific training. It also periodically organise programmes on recommended farm practices and screen films on topical and educational interest and also maintains a library of farming magazines and journals.

Other Services: It offers other services that include Diagnostic services, such as soil, water and plant-testing; Facilitating access to farm credit and insurance; Post-harvest management services, such as locating a proper market for farm produce; Extension education programmes, including training of farmers and rural women; and Organizing farmers' meetings.

The TKS network has commissioned a project to digitise the maps of nearly 12,000 villages. To motivate and encourage farmers, TKSs regularly organise crop competitions, with awards being presented to farmers who are able to extract the best yields. Farmers are often taken on tours to agricultural universities and research stations to make them aware of the latest scientific techniques. To encourage education, awards are presented to deserving students in the command areas.

Tata Krishi Vikas Kendras (TKVK) and TKS network

The command area of the TKS covers the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The network of farmer centres is divided into Tata Krishi Vikas Kendras (TKVK) and franchisee TKS. The TKVK serves as a resource centre for both the TKS (franchisee) and the farmer. Each TKVK spans a radius of around 60 km and 20 TKS. Each TKS spans a radius of around 8 km and 60 villages. The company’s 40 TKVKs and approximately 800 TKS are in operation, catering to the needs of the 14,000 villages that fall in the command area.

Each TKVK contains infrastructure necessary to work as a resource centre to fulfil the needs of the TKS network. Every Sansar is equipped with an administrative office, a training hall, a crop clinic, a soil-testing laboratory, a research and development farm, a storage godown, an exhibition hall and a TKS retail outlet, all under one roof.

Significant Events

The company has formed a joint venture with Total Produce Ireland, Ltd. The joint venture company - Khetse Agriproduce India would set up 50 cash-and-carry distribution centers.

Tata Chemicals, Ltd. has entered into an agreement with Total Produce plc to foray into the fresh foods business with the intention of sourcing and supplying edibles to supermarkets and wholesalers. The joint venture company would also do business with Reliance Fresh, the fresh food stores of Reliance Retail.

The company has formed a joint venture with Total Produce plc in its initial phase to set up distribution centers for fresh fruits and vegetables in northern and eastern India.

In May 2005, the company executed definitive agreements for a 1/3rd equity stake in Indo Maroc Phosphore S. A. (IMACID), Morocco.

In May 2005, a Wholly Owned Subsidiary in the name of Homefield International PVT LTD. was incorporated by the company in Mauritius, to make investments globally and acquire shares abroad, as and when the business opportunities arise.

The company and Total Produce plc are forming a 50:50 joint venture company to procure fresh fruits and vegetables and sell them directly to wholesalers in India.

On May 13, 2008, Tata Chemicals, Ltd. and Khet-Se Agriproduce India Pvt Limited have launched their wholesale business for fresh fruits and vegetables sourcing, packaging and distribution in Punjab. The company has opened a new procurement and distribution facility in Malerkotla, Punjab, as a part of the B2B initiative, for catering to requirements of Ludhiana and Patiala.

History

Tata Chemicals Limited was incorporated in 1939.