The growth in volumes (up 3%) failed to offset the impact of lower prices, leading to a decline in revenues.

The Crop Care segment witnessed a 7% YoY drop in revenue to Rs 566 crore. However, domestic crop care division defied the trend with a 6% increase in revenue, driven by positive volume growth. Exports, however, declined 26% primarily due to lower prices.

Seeds segment demonstrated strong growth, with revenue jumping 33% YoY to Rs 32 crore. Rallis' calibrated placement and demand generation activities fueled this performance.

EBITDA improved by 16% to Rs 62 crore in Q3 FY24 from Rs 53 crore in Q3 FY23. Gross margin benefited from a superior product mix and dynamic pricing strategies in domestic crop care. The company managed to keep its overheads in check through continuous cost optimization initiatives.

Sanjiv Lal, managing director & CEO, Rallis India, said, “During the quarter, our Domestic business maintained its momentum despite challenging external conditions, recording volume growth of 7%.

However, challenges continued on the export front due to steep price drop and weak demand on account of continuing inventory overhang at industry level. Our focus on optimizing working capital and margin improvement continues.

We are closely monitoring Global market demand recovery and remain cautious about El Nino conditions. Global agro-chemical demand is still soft and is expected to recover only next financial year.”

Rallis, a part of the Tata group, is one of the leading players in the domestic crop protection sector and manufactures pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides at its factories in multipleocations. The company’s product portfolio of seeds and crop care solutions is available across India. It has marketing alliances with several multinational agrochemical companies and is also considered as a preferred partner for contract manufacturing by leading global corporations.

The scrip fell 0.14% to currently trade at Rs 252.70 on the BSE.