- FMC Corporation has agreed to sell its India business to Crystal Crop Protection Limited for $252 million as part of a broader strategic shift in the Indian market.
- FMC will continue to support Crystal through a supply agreement and will maintain global R&D and manufacturing operations in India.
- The decision to divest was made after a thorough evaluation of multiple options, concluding that exiting commercial operations would best support FMC’s future strategy.
FMC announced on May 7 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell FMC India Private Limited to Crystal Crop Protection Limited, a crop solutions company in India for consideration of USD252m.
“Crystal Crop Protection Limited is well-positioned to serve Indian farmers with FMC’s portfolio of innovative technologies, and we look forward to supporting their growth through our supply agreement,” said Pierre Brondeau, FMC chairman, chief executive officer and president.
“FMC remains committed to India and will continue to conduct global R&D activities and maintain global manufacturing operations in the country.”
Under the agreement, Crystal Crop Protection will acquire FMC India’s crop protection commercial operations, including the rights to market FMC’s brands in India.
The transaction also included a preferred supply arrangement for selected FMC active ingredients and formulated products, as well as preferred access to FMC’s crop protection active ingredient pipeline for the Indian market.
“We are excited on signing this definitive agreement to acquire this business of FMC in India,” said Ankur Aggarwal, chairman and managing director, Crystal Crop Protection.
“We look forward to welcoming a talented workforce into the Crystal group and aim at accelerating innovation across both chemical and biological domains of crop protection. FMC’s innovative portfolio, blockbuster brands and future pipeline give us an opportunity to provide Indian farmers access to innovative products. We look forward to further enhancing and building on our relationship with FMC.”
FMC first announced its decision to divest the company’s crop protection commercial business in India in July last year.
This was part of the decision to move away from owning and operating a full commercial organisation in India while maintaining a presence in the market.
“We believe that for FMC, there is a much stronger way to operate in this country,” said Brondeau during its 2025 second quarter earnings conference.
“The execution of the India plan will complete the turnaround of the company,” he added.
A challenging market
The company has been grappling with challenges operating in India.
“India has always been a difficult market to operate in. It is characterised by a fragmented distribution channel serving tens of millions of growers, intense generic competition, and a complex six regulatory environment. This market requires a high level of working capital in a challenging price environment,” said Brondeau.
He highlighted the challenges the company had with copycat products that hampered the performances of its main insecticide product, Rynaxypy after its core patent expired.
“Between 2021 and 2023, we anticipated strong growth of Rynaxypyr as we expected continued process patent protection post the expiration of the composition of matter patent. However, generics penetrated much faster than expected when, unlike in almost all other countries, we were unable to enforce our process patents,” said Brondeau.
This impeded sales of the product and ultimately undermined its strategy, leading to a significant increase in already elevated working capital.
Eventually, the company concluded that it was best to exit the commercial side of the business.
“Given that India generates very limited EBITDA and has substantial working capital, we have made the decision to change how we operate in this market. After a thorough process that considered multiple options, management and the board made the decision to initiate the divestment of our commercial business in India,” said Brondeau.
