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History
Late Shri C.C.Shroff, the founder member
of M/s. Excel Industries Limited together with Shri K.C.Shroff
had a dream to do activities for development and upliftment of
farmers and rural population of the country.
The dream was to make available to farmers all possible agri-inputs
and marketing support available at the right time and at a
reasonable cost with all necessary technical assistance and
guidance under one roof so that farmers farm productivity and
income level increase along with national productivity. He was
confident that with this the farmers of the country would be
extremely benefited.
In line with this, the first Agrocel Service centre was
started in Mandvi,
Kutch, Gujarat in 1988. After that other
centres were opened in Kutch and other states of India.
However, before this - in 1969,
Kutch experienced a
particularly severe drought. Chandaben Shroff went there to
assist in a famine relief project. During this trip, she
realized that the rural women excelled at the local art of
embroidery. This lead to the establishment of a not-for-profit
making organization, called Shrujan, which worked in
handicrafts with rural artisans.
Shrujan’s path was followed by VRTI (Vivekanand Research &
Training Institute), which came in
Kutch in 1975 and worked
with farmers. It emphasized on supporting farmers and rural
development activities.
The Shroff group felt that they are doing social activities in
Kutch with two non-government organizations and Agrocel
Service Centres but in spite of being natives of Kutch, they
have not yet set up any industry in Kutch.
With this thought, they decided to set up an industry where
the raw material available in this region can be used to
manufacture quality products. So, a decision was taken to set
up a manufacturing unit for Bromine, Potash and Magnisium
compounds, in the Rann of Kutch.
The Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research Institute (CSMCRI)
assisted in identifying the site for the plant. 10,000 acres
of land was taken on lease and after 4 long years of efforts,
production was started in the plant in 1996.
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