COROMANDEL INT'L: ON FERTILE GROUND

Cash rich and debt free, the fertilizer producer has thrived in a sector that is highly regulated

- N. Madhavan

The first thing you notice as you enter Coromandel International's phosphatic fertilizer plant at Kakinada in North Eastern Andhra Pradesh is not a smoke stack but a bird sanctuary. Spread across 25 acres, it has a large pond, over 200,000 trees and very bushy flora. Every year, 97 different types of birds, including Grey Heron, Painted Storks, Northern Pintails, Eurasian Wigeons, and Indian Darters, some from as far away as Siberia, visit the sanctuary, which is now recognized by the United Nations Development Programme. The tall trees and bushes make for ideal nesting grounds for the birds. About 20,000 fishes are added to the pond every November to provide the birds with food when they start visiting from mid-June.

The bird sanctuary has become the pride of the company and all expansions over the last 10 years have religiously maintained its sanctity. This apparent focus on ecological preservation is perhaps one of the reasons why Coromandel, a part of the ₹177,800 crore Murugappa Group, is ranked among the top 7% of the global chemical companies in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

Aditya Birla Group sold Indo Gulf Fertilizers to Indorama Corporation. Two years earlier, Tata Chemicals had sold its phosphatic fertilizer business to a subsidiary of Indorama Corporation. Coromandel, however, is going strong.

In 2024-25, it posted a standalone revenue of ₹24,428 crore and profit after tax (PAT) of ₹1,941 crore. Fertilizers accounted for 89% of its sales and crop protection chemicals the rest. The company's EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin was at 12% and PAT margin at 8%.