Fermenta Biotech Managing Director Prashant Nagre
Vitamin D3 is required at all stages of life, “from the cradle to the grave,” says Fermenta Biotech Managing Director Prashant Nagre, on the prospects that open-up for their plant-source Vitamin D3 (Vitadee Green) that recently received approval from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI). The ingredient can now be used in food, as well as health supplements and nutraceutical supplements, he points out.Fermenta has a presence in the regular Vitamin D3 segment, but the company explored a sustainable natural source and found it in the byproduct of soyabean oil. Oil from soyabean seeds gets refined and goes into food, but the byproduct was available. “We get an intermediate from there (the by product)…and that becomes my starting (point),” Nagre explains, on the research to ensure that food crops were not diverted for the purpose. “So, we have a raw material coming out of (a) plant system …It is sustainable, it is also scalable because soybean is a large crop in India…and the economics when the by-products are used is also favorable to the farmer in increasing his income”, Nagre told businessline, adding that keeping it sustainable, scalable and affordable was the objective, when they started research in 2014. Edible oil and milk are allowed to be fortified, he said, pointing to possibilities for large-scale adoption.Fermenta Biotech was a subsidiary of DIL (Duphar-Interfran Ltd) and following a reverse merger (2017-18), Fermenta remains on BSE and is now looking to list on NSE as well, he said. Vitamin D sales accounts for over 70 percent of Fermenta’s total revenue of ₹551 crore for the year ended March 2026.DIL was listed in 1976 on Bombay Stock Exchange, he says, adding that few companies are listed on BSE for 50 years. “About a month ago we also announced that we want to get listed on NSE and we have made applications to NSE…We are undergoing that process for a full listing on NSE,” he added.The company is looking to ramp up over the next three months to tap possibilities in India and overseas, said Nagre. “Industry has an alternative. We can use now the plant-based, it is T3, it is what the body makes and it is sustainable, scalable as well as affordable ….and from a company which has done T3 for (the) last six decades,” he added. Fermenta’s manufacturing facilities are at Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), Dahej (Gujarat), and Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), and its research and development centre is at Thane.Published on July 28, 2026
