In a big push towards making its R&D future-ready, Best Agrolife Ltd. (BAL) (BSE: BESTAGRO 539660), one of the leading agrochemical companies in India, has roped in a team of highly experienced R&D experts for its wholly owned subsidiary Best Crop Science Pvt. Ltd.
Dr Rajendra Kharul
The team includes Dr Rajendra Kharul, Dr Uday Gokhale, Dr Rajendra Jagdhane and Dr Mahadev Patil. All four hired R&D experts are highly experienced PhDs and post-doctorates from reputable foreign and Indian institutes in Synthesis Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
Dr Uday Gokhale
A PhD in Organic Chemistry from NCL, Pune and a Post-doctorate from the University of Canada, Mr Kharul has worked with Zydus Cadila for over 20 years. He will be designated as the General Manager of the R&D department of the company. Mr Kharul has published four patents and over 20 publications in international journals. Besides successfully leading internal and collaborative projects, Mr Kharul has also guided candidates for PhD and masters. He has extensive experience in patent-bursting, design, synthesis of NCEs, building SAR relationships and progressing these NCEs through various stages of Drug discovery, especially till pre-clinical development.
Dr Uday Gokhale is a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Alberta, Canada and a Post Graduate in the same subject from Poona University. He has published 10 patents and over 20 publications in leading scientific journals. Mr Gokhale has 35 years of experience in companies like Ciba Geigy, Glaxo, Sharda Crop and Sajjan India. He provides his consultancy on Pharma API / Agrochemical TGAI off-patent and patented product development in the areas of R&D, DMF / registration, manufacturing process, troubleshooting, intellectual property and patent mining. He has in-depth regulatory knowledge of patents and strategies for avoiding patent infringement in the agrochemical industry, with particular emphasis on EU regulation. He will be associated as Director-Analytical Chemistry with BAL.
Dr Rajendra Jagdhane is a PhD in Organic Chemistry from NCL, Pune and a Post-doctorate from the University of Canada, whereas Dr Mahadev Patil has done his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Bangalore University and Post-doctorate from the University of Finland. Dr Jagdhane has over 10 years of experience with Glenmark Pharma, whereas Dr Patil holds a total experience of 10 years with Redox Scientific. Mr Patil has published 3 patents and over 16 publications in international journals. He will be recruited as Assistant Manager R&D.
Commenting on the appointments, Mr Pramod Narayan Karlekar, MD, Best Crop Science Pvt. Ltd., said, “BAL is focused on building a team of highly experienced and passionate R&D experts for robust chemical synthesis R&D and large-scale manufacturing of agrochemical intermediates. The company believes that the strength of the R&D is the combined experience and passion of the team driven by the objective of creating new chemistries not done so far in India. This way, the company is committed to helping the noble objective of ‘Make In India‘ in a major way. All four hired R&D experts are accomplished leaders and highly regarded researchers with an extraordinary track record of published patents. I am confident their experience and leadership will strengthen our team and accelerate our R&D efforts further.”
It is noteworthy that BAL recently appointed Mr Lalit Kumar Sharma as the Head – Quality Control and R&D of its another wholly owned subsidiary, Seedlings India Pvt Ltd.
About BAL
Best Agrolife Limited is listed among the top 15 agrochemical companies in India. It is a research-based company focused on bringing world-class and cost-effective crop solutions in the form of novel agrochemical formulations to the agricultural industry to improve crop productivity. BAL has 7,000 MTPA and 30,000 MTPA technicals and formulation manufacturing capacity, respectively, through its three manufacturing plants in Gajraula, Greater Noida, and Jammu & Kashmir. BAL currently has more than 5200 distributors in India. It retains an impressive portfolio of 400+ formulations and more than 100+ technical manufacturing licences. A recipient of the ‘Outstanding Innovation In Crop Solution‘ award at PMFAI-SML Annual Agchem Awards 2023, BAL recently received a patent for the term of 20 years for its in-house developed novel sugarcane herbicidal combination of Ametryn+2, 4-D+Halosulfuron methyl.
