“We will never sell a commodity. We will never do what others in our Industry are already doing”. This has been the singular guiding force for Aries Agro and Dr Rahul Mirchandani’s team of 1200 agribusiness professionals, spread across 26 states of India and UAE, where the Aries Group operates. Maintaining consistency as a focussed specialty fertilizer manufacturer and marketer, creating a Culture of Innovation in all areas of the organisation, building trust and credibility amongst the rural farming community across India, and having razor sharp focus on attaining cost leadership have been the cornerstones for Aries Agro’s growth.

Experiences in the field have taught me some of my most memorable lessons over the two and a half decades leading the Aries Family. Some that stand out particularly in ensuring our organisation’s success include:

1. Farmers may not understand the language of science. But each of them can teach us a thing or two about commerce. The best way to get a farmer to try out a new product is to speak about possible return on investment, backed up with solid data points.

2. Farmers will pay a premium for a brand, if they see value and return on their investment. Innovation is valued and rewarded, as long as one can explain it in a simple, non-judgemental manner. Never talk down to a farmer. His field speaks volumes to him and he will listen to voices of reason to help improve his harvests.

3. Always meet a farmer after knowing everything about the agronomic needs and crop management practices, native to the respective area. Farmers expect you to know and value local habits, traditional practices and weave in world class products into their existing practices.

4. Touch, feel, smell and know your own product thoroughly. Each of Aries’ 120+ products are unique and like children, they need thoughtful nurturing and a position in the family of brands

5. Automation and Digitization have enabled massive scale-up in production capacity, customization capabilities and deep rural market outreach. Farmers in the fields and workers on shop floors have surprised us on the speed with which they have embraced voice and video enabled digital platforms. 100% of Aries annual bookings and payments are now digitally enabled, paperless and cash less.

Environmental Sustainability is not just a CSR project – it must form the core of everything we do. With all Aries products being water soluble and Chelated (inert) nutrients (including 18 Certified Organic products), our entire product portfolio is built for sustainable farming practices. Moving away from fossil fuels by adopting solar power and natural gas as well as using 100% certified recyclable packaging has further demonstrated our firm resolve to preserve the environment in all areas where we operate.

Retaining human resources and a vibrant talent pool, with over 120 staff having spent more than 25 years at Aries and ensuring very low employee turnover is essential to create a strong performance-based culture. Variable pay across all levels from the junior-most front liner to the C-suite heads of functions creates a culture of merit pay and ensures growth of incomes in line with the growth of the organisation.

Women leaders leading several key departments like Banking, Research & Development, Quality Control, Purchase and Logistics and more than half the staff being women at the head office and on the factory floor at two of our largest factories had led to a positive gender balance. Having been founded by a strong brilliant woman, Aries believes that women leading key functions ensures organisational success.

Open and frequent Communication is the key to ensuring every manager understands the organisation’s priorities and their role to achieve it. A core team including the top managers from operations, finance, marketing and human resources has been empowered to function independently. I measure my success in training this C-suite of top managers by what remains undone in my absence. If nothing is kept waiting for the Chairman, then the organisation is in the safest hands.

Involve everyone in vision and goal setting exercises. Transparency and inclusiveness was the basis of a year-long deep dive exercise to create the Aries 2030 vision document that was created as an assimilation of the voices and aspirations of the entire Aries family. When the team owns their own goals, they deliver consistent results.

Aries leadership and dominance in areas where we operate necessitates that we are recognized as a voice of the Industry at large, and a unifying constructive force in the agriculture sector. As President of the Indian Micro-Fertilizers Manufacturers Association, member of the CII National Council of Agriculture, Founding Chairman of the CII Industry Farmer Alliance, National Chairman (2009-10) of CII’s Young Indians, having a seat at the table of the Bureau of Indian Standards (as IMMA President), State and Central Fertilizer Committees, Government of India’s Champions of Change at NITI Aayog’s Double Farm Income mission, we ensure that Aries presents a collective voice to create change, build global and domestic partnerships and be a ‘Shaan Se Swadesi’ brand - proudly ‘Made In India, Ready for the World’

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Rahul Mirchandani

Aries Agro: Staying Unique, In the Pursuit of Excellence