Summer Project on

PLC: Understanding and Strategy Implementation in Growing Market for the Lasso.
Submitted to: Mr. Munish Anand Regional Business Manager
(Project Guide) SINOCHEM INDIA COMPANY PVT. LTD. NEW-DELHI.

Submitted by: Mr. SUSHIL RAMAN KAMBLEMBA-AB (2010-2012)

Symbiosis Institute of International Business PUNE, MAHARASHTRA.

DECLARATION

This is to declare that I, SUSHIL RAMAN KAMBLEstudent of MBA Programme in Agriculture Business Management (2010-2012), from Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune, Maharashtrahave given original information, methodology of work to the best of my knowledge in the summer project report titled PLC: Understanding and Strategy Implementation in Growing Market for the Lasso and that, no part of this information has been used for any other assignment but for the partial fulfilment of the requirement towards the completion of the said course. I also agree in principle not to share the vital information with any other person outside the organization.

SUSHIL RAMAN KAMBLE, PRN- 10020242035. MBA-AB (2010-2012) SIIB, PUNE.

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. SUSHIL RAMAN KAMBLE is a bonafide student of MBA Programme in Agri- Business Management (2010-2012), Symbiosis Institute of International Business, PUNE and participated as summer trainee in our company Sinochem India Company Pvt. Ltd. for the period April15-June15, 2011 in Kathua, Jammu. He has successfully completed his summer project titled PLC: Understanding and Strategy Implementation in Growing Market for the Lasso , towards the partial fulfilment of his requirements for the course.

Dated:

Mr .Munish Anand (Project Guide) Regional Business Manager Sinochem India Company Pvt. Ltd New Delhi.

INDEX

1. Introduction5 2. Objectives...8 3. Work Methodology8 4. Competitors9 5. Problems Faced by Farmers10 6. Analysis 11 7. Suggestions12

INTRODUCTION TO PROJECT

Sinochem India Pvt. Ltd recruited me for the summer project. The title of project is PLC: Understanding and Strategy Implementation in Growing Market for the Lasso in Kathua (Jammu). Sinochem is the MNC which operates in many developed and developing countries. It mostly deals in herbicides, insecticides.Creating Value, Pursuing Excellence is the tag line of this company.

My mentor for this project is Mr.Hardeep Singh (Territory Manager, Kathua). He told me to have more and more farmer contacts in different villages as possible. So I have visited villages and triedto have more farmers contact and aware them about our product Lasso. The major aim of this project is to make farmer contact and make them aware about new product called LASSO- a selective herbicide.

About Sinochem International:

Creating Value, Pursuing Excellence is the basic principle of this multi national company. It is state owned multinational corporation of China And the first national import and export corporation of China, founded in 1950. It is listed in Global Fortune 500 for 17 times, ranked No. 248 in 2008. Their core businesses are Petroleum, Fertilizers, Chemicals, Real estate, Finance. Sinochem International established in 1998 is listed at Shanghai Stock Exchange. It has extensive customer network from more than 100 countries. It has more than 4,000 employees from different regions worldwide.

Sinochem India Company Pvt. Ltd:

Vision: To be a leading player in Top Molecules in Branded & Trading Businesses. Mr. Pran Arora is the country head. All functional heads are from leading MNCs with good experience and highly qualified. There is healthy mixture of Agriculture and Non agriculture industry employees. All are dedicated to establish a strong Marketing & Trading group in India. Sinochem India Company is operational in Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Rajasthan and recently entering into Maharashtra. It deals with Herbicides, Insecticides Chemicals which are playing key role in Agri Input sector currently. Depending upon need of farmers organization has designed some Chemicals which will prove to be boon to the farmers.

About LASSO (A Selective Herbicide)

Lasso is also such selective herbicide which is the product of Sinochem India Company Pvt. Ltd. Lasso is herbicide which is specially designed for controlling weeds in Vegetables (peas, onion, potato, tomato) Maize, Sugarcane, Groundnut, Soya bean. These are some of the major Cash crops grown in different parts of India. Onion, Maize, Sugarcane. The molecule content of Lasso is Alachlor 50% EC. This molecule has been patented by organization. So no other organisation can duplicate it. Functions: y The main thing which Lasso plays is that it reduces growth of both Grassy leaved and broad leaved weeds from field. y It is not harmful to land. y After spraying, it makes a thick layer on the land surface and notallowsgrowing weeds any more. y It does not have any kind of side effect on the crop.

About Summer Trainee:

I am Sushil Raman Kamble. My native place is panvel, New Mumbai in Maharashtra state. I have completed my Graduation in B.Sc. (Agriculture) from Dr.B.S.K.K.V. Dapoli, Ratnagiri. Currently I am pursuing my MBA in Agri business from Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune which is under Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune.

OBJECTIVES:y To study the status of market size of Lasso and its competitors. y Planning the promotional activities for the Lasso for the entire region. y Evaluation of all the individual activities and study the customers(farmers) response/ feedback on them. y To suggest suitable brand promotional mix for increasing the adaptability of Lasso.

WORK METHODOLOGY:-

1. Personal Contacts
Personal contacting is also most important part in Promotional activities of our brand. The main idea behind contacting farmers individually is to build good personal Relations.

2. To have relations with the Dealers and distributer

This is also one of the most important factors for selling of the product.

3. Distribution of Literature:
Literature is the reading material provided by company to the farmers giving all detail information in small content. During the meeting we distributed pamplets i.e. literature of LASSO to each farmer. Literature is prepared in regional language like Punjabi
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Hindi, Marathi. This pamplets contain all information like content of LASSO. This literature will be helpful in advertising the product in villages

Major Competitors for Lasso in Kathua:-

Competitors in the market The major competitor of lasso in Kathua is atrazine.

Because, y y y y y It is cheapest as compared to lasso It is in powder form so no need to have sprayer or to mix with the water. It can be also used in small quantity for small lands. It has already captured the market. Farmers are using it since 10 years so they have more faith in the product.

Atrazine Product name Mass stuff Attack Tofa Strike Ruszine Attratack Attratack Vikral Company name Pioneer pesticides Devidayal Bharat Insecticides Insecticides India Jayashree Rasayan TATA Champal Fertilizers Cropgrowth

Problems faced by farmer for having lasso:-

y The water availability is less. y They need to mix lasso with water +atrazine 250 gm. (120-130 Rs.) y Farming is totally dependent on the rain water y Land of the the farmers is on an average 0.5 km away from their house. y They need to have a knapsack sprayer which costs around Rs.600/y LASSO is new product in the market so; farmers are scare to use it. y In this region, there is mostly small land holding farmers. (1canal i.e. 1/8acre) y It also depends on the dealers to sell the product because when farmers comes to any pesticide shop they ask which is cheapest weedicide for maize so at that time dealer or shopkeeper should tell them about the product. y The product has higher price (350 Rs. /litre.) as compared to other products.

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ANALYSIS IN PROJECT:Response of Farmers on LASSO: For any new agri input product, farmers are in dual state of mind. Weather should he use new product or he should stick to his traditional way of practice. During promotion for Lasso I saw that most of the farmers in Kathua area were ready to try Lasso atleast for one time. They wanted to have trial of product before using it throughout his field. Those who have already used the product have good results, but who dont use they are saying the product is costly, its better to use atrazine. Some were even confused to use or not to use. Following is general survey done by me on response of farmers on Lasso.

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SUGGESTIONS:In this project. I have contacted farmers1879 from 83 villages in Kathua, Jammu. I even contacted 15 dealers. There are many key points which I learned from this project. In Rural marketing, it has to be done from grass root level to make our customers aware. In this project I learned many important points to be considered in Marketing of Agri Input sector. Contacting farmers is major issue in Rural Agri marketing and thats what I did in my summer project. Due to high temperature of 45-46 degree it was quit hard to get farmers. So instead of Quantity of farmers I have worked on good Quality of farmers, who will help in spreading importance of our product. But there are few suggestions which I think Sinochem India should implement in Kathua, Jammu. These suggestions I came to know after working and experiencing other things. Following are few suggestions:

1.Advertisement in Local News-Paper

Newspapers are the cheapest mode of advertisement and also most effective one. So company should concentrate on giving Advertisement in these local newspapers. Local newspapers in Kathua are Amar Ujala, Jammu Kesri which is read mostly by farmers. It will helpful in creating brand value of company among farmers and promotion of the product.

2. It will be the good idea to have Promotion of the product through Television Agricultural programmes and local Radio.

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3. Hoardings,Banners and Roadside Boards

Hoardings are effective for publicity and should be placed in important public locations like bus stand, Mandis, roadsides etc. The products displayed on the Hoarding or banners attracks the minds of the farmers. It should be short but eye catching and people should remember it.In advertisement roadside boards play most important role. Such informative boards should be set up along roadsides by our company. Important routes should be targeted. Location of board must be eye catching so that farmer can remember it. This will help farmer to get information of new product in short time and he would be eager to know more about it.

4. Increase the number of Marketing Development Officer (MDO):

Increasing the number of MDO is most important thingMDOs are helpful as they are mostly local people. They know all things at local level, so it proves helpful for us to change strategy according to local conditions for promotion.So I would like to suggest Territory Manager to increase the number of MDOs in this area as there is huge area to be covered in Kathua area.

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THANK YOU.

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