📅 At a Glance
Once hailed as India’s agrochemical champion, UPL Ltd has had a turbulent five years. Sales have been steady, but profit has collapsed. Mounting debt, bloated interest costs, and a global slowdown in crop protection have turned a high-growth story into a margin horror show. Yet, UPL is still among the top 5 global agrochem players.
📊 The Big Picture
Let’s start with the brutal truth:
| Metric | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (Cr) | 35,756 | 38,694 | 46,240 | 53,576 | 43,098 | 46,637 |
| Net Profit (Cr) | 2,178 | 3,495 | 4,437 | 4,414 | -1,878 | 820 |
| OPM (%) | 19% | 22% | 21% | 19% | 10% | 15% |
| ROCE (%) | 10% | 13% | 14% | 14% | 3% | 8% |
| Debt (Cr) | 29,388 | 24,519 | 26,746 | 23,939 | 29,754 | 25,099 |
- Top line? Holding steady.
- Bottom line? Through the floor.
- Free cash flows? Surprisingly solid in FY25 (over ₹10,000 Cr), but driven by working capital normalization, not core profit.
🌾 What Business Is
This Anyway?
UPL makes everything from:
- ⚡ Insecticides, Herbicides, Fungicides
- 🌱 Seeds (Advanta), Biosolutions
- 🌼 Chemical intermediates
It has:
- 43 manufacturing sites
- 140+ country presence
- 14,000+ product registrations
- Supplies 90% of the world’s food basket
If that sounds like a monopoly board for agri dominance, it was.But…
❌ What Went Wrong?
- Commodity Hangover:
- FY23-FY24 saw a global destocking in agrochem.
- Prices crashed, input costs stayed elevated.
- Debt Still a Burden:
- Though improved from FY20 levels, interest cost in FY25 was a monster: ₹3,627 Cr
- That’s nearly4.4xFY25 PAT.
- Brazilian Blunder?
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