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On February 14, 2006, Indian pesticide company United Phosphorus Limited (UPL), one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of generic pesticides in the world, announced that its subsidiary, Biowin Corporation Limited based in Mauritius, had acquired Advanta Netherlands Holdings BV, one of the world's top ten seed companies.

Until then, UPL was a small seed player, with only one seed operation focused on India, Uniphos Seeds and Biogenetics. With this purchase, it followed in the steps of the other leading pesticide companies, like Monsanto and Syngenta, banking on synergies between pesticide and seed sales, especially by way of increasing opportunities for GM and hybrid crops.

UPL has a network of over 36 pesticide subsidiaries and its international sales to over 100 countries account for around three quarters of its revenues. The purchase of Advanta gave it a global network of seed subsidiaries to match, mainly Pacific Seeds in Australia and Thailand and Advanta Seeds in India and Argentina.

But the Managing Director of Advanta India, VR Kaundinya, was clear that the company wants to make India its global "production hub". "We will be looking at leveraging India’s low cost advantages in both products and research," he said.

Along these lines, a few weeks ago, UPL boosted its Indian base by buying-up Golden Seeds, a US$ 7M per year vegetable seed company operating out of Bangalore and Delhi.

And vegetables aren't the only crops on UPL's mind. Through the Advanta acquisition UPL also took over as one of the leading players in the hybrid rice seed industry. Kaundinya says they have about a 10% share of the market in India and that they're looking to expand hybrid rice seed sales abroad. "Southeast Asia and China are the key growth drivers for us," he said. "Similarly in South America, we are looking at Brazil as a key driver for us."

Transgenics are also on the company's agenda, starting with Bt cotton. Its subsidiary Uniphos Seeds and Biogenetics has a licensing arrangement with the Chinese company Biocentury for its Bt cotton transgene. It may interest readers of this blog to know that Origen Agritech, a leading Chinese-US hybrid rice seed company that we've followed on this blog, has a 34% ownership of Biocentury's Bt transgene.

India's leading pesticide company, a player in hybrid rice too