Atul Ltd is an integrated chemical company founded by Kasturbhai Lalbhai on September 5, 1947 in India.[1][2] The company manufactures 900 products and 400 formulations[3] and owns 140 retail brands.[1] It serves 4,000 customers belonging to 30 diverse industries[4] and has established subsidiary companies in the US, the UK, the UAE, China and Brazil[5] to serve its customers.
The first manufacturing site of the company in Atul, Gujarat is spread over 1,250 acres.[6] The company has its registered office in Ahmedabad and head office at Atul, both in Gujarat, India.
1947: Incorporated by Kasturbhai Lalbhai as the first private sector company of independent India to be inaugurated by its first Prime Minister[1]
1947: Established a joint venture (JV) with American Cyanamid Company of the US, Cyanamid India Ltd, to produce crop protection chemicals and pharmaceuticals[1]
1955: Established a JV with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) plc of the UK, Atic Industries Ltd (Atic), to produce textile dyestuffs[1]
1960: Established a JV with Ciba-Geigy Ltd (Ciba-Geigy)[6] of Switzerland, Cibatul Ltd (Cibatul), to produce epoxy resins and curing agents.[1]
1967: Started to manufacture phenoxy herbicides and in subsequent years added more products to the range[8]
1978: Set-up Atul Rural Development Fund to formalize programs undertaken since inception related to serving society.[6]
1985: Acquired controlling interest in Piramal Rasayan Ltd engaged in the production of dye-intermediates and renamed Amal Ltd.[1]
1988: Acquired loss-making Gujarat Aromatics Ltd through a reverse merger and got its second production site in Ankleshwar.[1]
1996: Merged Atic after the JV partner ICI PLC exited.[9]
1997: Established a wholly owned subsidiary company, Atul Bioscience Ltd, to produce Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and their intermediates.[9]
1999: Merged Cibatul after the JV partner Ciba-Geigy exited. [4]
2009: Established a JV with the Government of Rajasthan, Atul Rajasthan Date Palms Ltd, to produce tissue culture raised date palms for the first time in India.[4]
2010: Acquired Anchor Adhesives Pvt Ltd which owned Polygrip, a leading Rubber and Polyurethane based adhesive brand in India.[10]
2011: Acquired DPD Ltd in the UK engaged in the production of tissue culture raised date palms.[11]
2011: Established a JV with Rudolf GmbH of Germany, Rudolf Atul Chemicals Ltd, to produce textile chemicals.[2]
2017: Established a JV with Nouryon of the Netherlands, Anaven LLP, to produce MCA.[12]
2019: Acquired a manufacturing site for Atul Bioscience Ltd at Ambernath, Maharashtra.[13]
Products
Atul manufactures 900 products and 400 formulations. It also owns around 140 brands. The prominent products manufactured by Atul include:
API intermediates - Phenyl chloroformate and CBZ-L-valine
3,3’ and 4,4’ Diaminodiphenyl sulphone
Multi-functional resins (tri-functional and tetra functional), epoxy systems for infusion, hand layup and adhesives for wind turbine blades, epoxy phenol novolac resins
Reactive diluents (aliphatic, aromatic, mono, di and tri functional) [1]
Operations
Atul is headquartered at Atul in Valsad district in Gujarat, India. It has its registered office in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It also has offices in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Thane and other parts of India. It has manufacturing facilities in Ankleshwar, Atul and Panoli in Gujarat and Tarapur in Maharashtra in India. The Group companies have production facilities in Ambernath, Ankleshwar and Atul in Gujarat, India and Bristol in the United Kingdom.[6] The joint venture companies have production facilities in Atul in Gujarat and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India.
The company has presence in 90 countries and wholly owned subsidiary companies in Brazil (São Paulo), China (Shanghai), the UAE (Dubai), the UK (Wilmslow) and the USA (Charlotte).[14]
Philanthropy
Atul is engaged in serving society particularly in the fields of national priorities like education, empowerment and health, amongst others, which are carried out with the support of its companies and trusts. Atul Foundation was set up in 2011 as an umbrella trust.
Education
Kalyani Shala was set up in 1953 for providing quality and affordable education to children living in Atul and surrounding towns and villages. It offers classes from kindergarten to 12 and the medium of instruction is Gujarati. It has 1,800 students.[6]
Atul Vidyalaya was set up in 1991. It is providing quality education to children living in Atul and surrounding towns and villages. It offers classes from kindergarten to 12 and the medium of instruction is English. It has 1,200 students.[6]
Atul Vidyamandir, a residential school for tribal students, was set up in 2009 based on the public-private partnership model with the Government of Gujarat. It offers classes from 6 to 12 and the medium of instruction is Gujarati. It has 380 students.[6]
Empowerment
Urmi Stree Sanstha was established in 1953 to empower women from nearby villages. It is engaged in production and supply of pure and traditionally prepared spices.[6]
Atul Institute of Vocational Excellence, a residential institute to impart skills to tribal youth, was set up in 2011 based on the PPP model with the Government of Gujarat. It offers 11 courses and the medium of instruction is Gujarati. It trains 1,000 students per year.[6]
Atul has adopted four industrial training institutes (ITI) for upgradation – ITI Khergam, ITI Sagbara, ITI Ankleshwar and ITI Biliomora based on the PPP model with the Government of Gujarat.[6]
Atul Foundation through its implementing agencies undertakes various training programs to train ~300 women every year from nearby villages in beauty and styling, garment making, handicraft and soft toy making and beauty. Women are also trained as teachers of village schools.[6]
Health
Atul organises various health camps, which benefit 5,000 less privileged people every year. Atul has so far constructed 5,500 household toilets.[6]
Atul Foundation takes up relief measures and reaches out to disaster affected people | communities. It also tries to improve rural infrastructure by renovating | building better amenities such as roads, streetlights, water facilities, schools and anganwadi structures.[6]
Employees
As of March 31, 2020, the company has 5,370 employees, 2,463 of whom are temporary, contractual or casual employees. The company has 2,907 permanent employees, of which 115 are women (4%) and six are differently abled (0.2%).[6]
₹5,083 crore (US$ 683 million) (2022)
₹807 crore (US$ 108 million) (2022)