Smartchem Climate-Smart High-Efficiency Crop Nutrition Project (ADB-56137-001)

Regions
  • South Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • India
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
New Delhi
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Jun 17, 2022
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Smartchem Technologies Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Advisory Services, Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 32.53 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 30.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Grant Amount (USD)
$ 2.53 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 32.53 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Jul 27, 2022

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to ADB, the project will support farmers to adopt enhanced efficiency speciality fertilizers (EESF), such as slow and controlled release fertilizers and water soluble fertilizers, which will in-turn aid increased food production towards increased farmer income and food security in India. Higher efficiency in nutrient delivery will result in increased agricultural productivity, reduced water and soil contamination, and improved resilience to climate change. The project will also support energy efficiency capex and gender inclusion. The project is fully aligned with the Government of India's goals to enhance agricultural productivity and increase farmers' incomes. The TA will focus on building the climate resilient soil management skills and financial literacy of 1,800 farmers.

The project will (i) finance capex at one of STL's EESF manufacturing plants to increase production efficiency and enable 100% production of EESFs, (ii) finance energy efficiency and health and safety-related capex for STL's fertilizer business, and (iii) support R&D toward new product development and digital initiatives to increase uptake of these fertilizers.

The project was processed with the South Asia Department employing the One ADB approach, and will also complement ADB's Maharashtra Agribusiness Network Project, whose beneficiaries will also benefit from access to these better quality inputs.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The ADB assistance consists of a senior debt facility of up to $30 million or its equivalent in Indian rupees with a tenor of up to 5 years for each disbursement. The loan will benefit from a corporate guarantee from DFPCL until required security interest is created and perfected.The TA of $225,000 will focus on improving climate resilience of farmers through training in a broad range of climate smart farming solutions and technologies as well as functional financial literacy.  The TA will address gaps in women farmers’ access to agricultural information and training.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

STL is a 100% held subsidiary of Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Limited (DFPCL), which is an operating company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange with 52.4% public shareholding. The balance of 47.6% is held by the promoters (directly as well as indirectly through other promoter-owned entities). 15 Sailesh Mehta is the chair of the DFPCL group and is a second-generation entrepreneur. STL was formed in 2015, when the group reorganized its business verticals, transferring the fertilizer and part of the chemical businesses into STL, to enable increased focus on growing the group’s fertilizer business. 16. Established in 1979 as an ammonia producer, the DFPCL group is one of India’s leading fertilizer and chemical businesses, with leading market shares in each of its individual businesses.16 (Confidential information deleted). 17. The group is headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra. Each of its business lines has an independent management team, sales and marketing team, finance team, and R&D team. However, several functions are also centralized at the group’s headquarters, including the group treasury, which manages overall fund raising; the projects team, which manages all new projects during the initial stages of construction and commissioning; corporate strategy; and the manufacturing team, human resources, and information technology. Each of the businesses is headed by a president who (i) is responsible for the business’s overall financial contribution and growth and (ii) reports directly to the chair and the board of directors.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.
Responsible ADB Officer Dora, Tushna

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.

How it works

How it works