Dear Shareowners,
 
 Want to make mor e than a Banker? Become a F armer!'' said Jim Rogers,
 legendary investment whiz, best-selling author and Wall Street giant in
 a r ecent Time Magazine article. Rogers further predicts that farming
 incomes will rise dramatically in the ne xt few decades, faster than in
 most other industries. He ar gues that the world doesn ''t need more
 bankers. What it needs ar e more farmers.  Drawing more people back to
 agricultur e in the adv anced economies is the only solution to solvin
 g the serious food crisis that the world is faced with.
 
 In India, we ha ve the opposite pr oblem ± of too many people engaged
 in agriculture with less than 1 hectar e of land each. The challen ges
 here are manifold. At the same time, the goals remain the same ± to
 incr ease productivity per unit of land and improve farmers'' income.
 
 At MIL, this reality has been the foundation of our business and forms
 the cor e of our vision. F ood security and sustainable agriculture are
 dreams that we work towards achieving. More importantly however, in
 doin g what we do, our endeavor is to giv e wing to the aspir ations of
 millions of farmers around the world and contribute to the improvement
 of their lives.
 
 It is common knowledge that gr ain production needs to double by 2050,
 in order to f eed the projected world population of 9 billion. Is there
 a historical precedent to this? In 1970, the global pr oduction of
 maize, milled rice and wheat was 788 million MT. By 2010, he production
 of those thr ee grains was 1.912 billion MT, an incr ease of 142%. In
 the 1970s, it was expected that grain production in India would lag
 consumption and India would continue to be dependent on impor ts. In
 1970, India was a net importer of 3.2 million MT of these thr ee
 grains, mostly wheat. By 2010, India was a net exporter of 4.8 million
 MT of these three grains.
 
 Therefore, it is not unr easonable to assume that the desired growth
 rate can be achieved in the next 50 years, even though the base now is
 much higher. Also what got us her e (new varieties based on global
 germplasm pool, rapid adoption of fertilizers and agricultural
 chemicals), will not get us to our new goal. We will need new tools to
 get there.
 
 India needs an agricultural resurgence ± after all, the challenges are
 tougher now  more population, diminishing resources, changing weather
 patterns.  Today, agriculture employs 55% of our workforce, but
 contributes only 14.2% to the GDP. This divergence will have to be
 bridged, as we mo ve towards creating food security for our people.
 Proposed legislation such as the Food Security Bill will have to be
 based on a f oundation of sufficient agricultural output, which can be
 achieved if the farmer awareness levels are increased, agricultural
 inputs are modernized and the post-harvest wastage is reduced.
 
 At MIL, we are happy to ha ve been a par t of this dr eam and
 contribute to improving farmer liv es through our direct and indir ect
 initiatives.  We are happy that we ha ve played a role in incr easing
 productivity in maize with our pr oduct portfolio, partnerships with
 sev eral State Governments and A griculture Institutions and e xtension
 services. In addition to the consistent r esearch that we under take in
 developing new varieties and upgrading existing ones, we ar e living
 our commitment on sustainable agriculture in many other wa ys. We are
 also contributing to protecting yields through our Crop Protection
 Chemicals such as herbicides.  More importantly however, our continuous
 and consistent en gagement with farming communities in par tnership
 with State Go vernments as well as civil societ y organizations is
 leadin g to an immer sive and long-term incremental impact on farmers.
 We will continue to en gage with farming communities and help r ealize
 their dreams by making agriculture sustainable and profitable. At the
 same time , we are confident that this will also be the f ountainhead
 of value creation and dream fulfillment of all our stakeholders ±
 employees, shareholders, government and the countr y at large.
 
 However, a more fundamental and compr ehensive change in mindset is
 also needed. The Gr een Revolution of the 1 960s was made possible by
 unflinching public and political support together with policy backing
 for the new technology. Today, as we are faced with the critical need f
 or a second green revolution, public policy and political suppor t will
 be imper ative to make it possible. T echnology intervention, improved
 inputs and modern agronomic practices need to be embraced in view of
 the impending reality.  Biotechnology in agriculture has p roved to be
 a safe and successful route the world o ver to incr easing yields and
 pr otecting natural resources.
 
 In India too, we need a debate based on scientific evidence and the
 adoption of modern agricultural research, to alleviate our low and
 stagnant yields.
 
 The most critical challen ges or deterrents to this are the decr easing
 acreages available for agriculture and the concerns ar ound climate
 change - protecting yields, preserving nutritional aspects of soil and
 reducing dependence on rain- fed agriculture. Many of our actions and
 research initiatives undertaken, address these challenges.
 
 At MIL, we are aware of our position as a catalyst in connecting
 multiple dr eams. In this y ear''s annual report, we focus on the dreams
 that take birth in the hear tland of our countr y. Dreams are moving
 targets. To that extent, that which is already achieved is history.
 Newer challenges are emerging everyday and newer r ealities are
 surfacing. How well we adapt to these r ealities, how well we calibr
 ate our r esponses and yet not dilute our essential aim, will determine
 the success of our endea vors. With your consistent support, we are
 confident that these collectiv e dreams will be r ealized and we will
 continue to positively transform more lives.
 
 
 Sekhar Natarajan 
 
 Chairman