The Fifties : PCI was then the only company of its kind in India, with fumigation as the main business. Services soon expanded to include termite control (1955), rodent control and household disinfestation (1956). Those were the early days when Pest Control as a private service was virtually non-existent in India. There were no institutes to impart training and no specific equipment for urban pest control was available. Also, the restrictive import policies meant that new technologies were not easily accessible.

The Sixties : N.S. Rao then embarked on a worldwide pest control training visit. In 1960, he became a member of the National Pest Control Association, NPCA (now NPMA), the first member from the far-east excluding Japan. He visited the U.K. and trained at Rentokil, thus setting up the basis for a long association.

PCI soon set about its task and virtually wrote the handbook on pest control in the country. Specific training programmes were created in-house. With the Green Revolution and the pesticide manufacturers’ focus squarely on agriculture, the Company decided to set up its own chemical formulation and filling plant to ensure reliability, standards and efficacy at Ville Parle, Mumbai (1962). The available range of agricultural spraying equipment was modified for urban pest control use while technical teams were sent out of the country to source new technology and information.

A significant outcome was the introduction of Warfarin (1966), a multiple dose anti-coagulant rodenticide, under the brand name Rodafarin®. Soon PCI was offering all major services and its network of branches and bases grew steadily.







Realising that the trade would not have a voice or any significant representation unless there was a united forum, PCI spearheaded the setting up of the Indian Pest Control Association (IPCA), with N.S. Rao as its Founder President, in 1967. Since then PCI has had regular representation in the IPCA, with many senior executives having served the Association in various capacities over the years.

The Seventies : The need for regular interraction within PCI was transformed into the PCI Convention. This biennial event, which has been regularly held since 1972, is a gathering of every manager from across the country.




In 1974-75, the Agricultural Department, Govt. of Maharashtra, sought PCI’s help for a large-scale intensive and extensive agricultural rodent control programme at Nannaj, Sholapur, which was heavily infested by rats. The programme, covering 7000 acres and 739 houses, carried out Rodafarin® baiting in fields and houses for commensal rats and included training facilities for village level workers and farmers.

PCI’s philosophy of client satisfaction and its resultant goodwill meant that it was often approached for solutions to problems not usually associated with pests. The medical fraternity expressed the need for alternate and better means of sterilization for their equipment; this was developed into the first ethylene oxide gas based sterilizer, Freoster®, which was patented and introduced in 1977. To ensure a smooth and reliable supply of gas mixtures, the development of a dedicated gas filling and formulation unit was also set in motion.



Chlordane and Heptachlor were introduced into services; the former was also commercially introduced as a ready to use liquid termiticide, Termiseal® in 1976. PCI was the exclusive distributor in the region for Velsicol-USA, for the two chemicals. The same year, Pyrethrum was made commercially available in an aerosol form, under the brand name PestSeal®.

Fumigation services had hitherto been limited to stored commodities in warehouses, containers and silos; 1978 saw ship fumigation being introduced, where bagged commodities in holds were fumigated.

In 1977-78, PCI demonstrated that a successful mosquito campaign could be carried out for a large area such as an entire township, when it bagged the contract for mosquito control at Faridabad, near Delhi. Residential and industrial areas (including surrounding villages) were treated using larvicides and adulticides. Motan swing foggers, PCI’s first import of fogging equipment, were also introduced in this project which was highly successful and well appreciated by all residents.

In 1979, PCI undertook its largest ever agricultural rodent control job for the Department of Agriculture, Govt. of Karnataka, in an area covering more than 25,000 acres. The project was dubbed the Pied Piper Project and was the first of a series of many similar campaigns. The success of PPP-I led to PPP-II in the next year. The projects had, however, exposed the limitations of Warfarin; this to comprehensive field trials with the new generation, single dose anti-coagulant Bromadiolone (1979), which offered considerable advantages over conventional and first generation rodenticides.

PCI soon realised that excess use of chemical pesticides in agriculture and the resistance being developed in pests meant that alternate means of control were sorely needed. In 1979, an operational field trial project for suppression of the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella) employing the “Gossyplure hollow fibre” controlled-release sex pheromone, was undertaken near Bhatinda, Punjab. This extensive project, carried out jointly with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine & Storage (PPQ&S), Directorate of Agriculture-Aviation, New Delhi, Conrel an Albany International company from the US and the Indian Cotton Mills Federation, Bombay, was a great success and proved that the pink bollworm was the major problem on cotton in Punjab. The effectiveness of biological control was demonstrated when subsequent yields increased by almost 34%.

The KARMA (Karjat Agriclutural Rural Management Assistance) Project was initiated by the Rural Development Cell in 1975. The effort won national acclaim in the form of the Assocham Award from the Association of Chambers of Commerce, for Rural Development and Agricultural Activities, in 1978. >>PCI Social projects

The electric flying insect control system was introduced under the brand name Pest-O-Flash®, in 1979. PCI had spread its network to many more cities in the country, offering a wide range of professional services.

The Eighties : PCI had begun to spread its wings, and in 1980, started providing technical consultancy in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, through Muna Noor Incorporated. The operational and managerial staff were sent on deputation from PCI and major jobs were undertaken for termite, rodent and general pest control in palaces, residences and hotels.

Sterifume®, the microbial sterilization service, was developed and introduced in hospitals and medical facilities in 1980.

The trials with pink cotton bollworm pheromone culminated with the setting up of the Bio-Control Research Laboratories, BCRL, in 1981. It was the first commercial insectary in India, with the aim of developing and perfecting “lab-to-land” bio-control technology.

In 1981-82, PCI was appointed as technical consultants by Greenfield MiddleEast Group, Dubai, U.A.E., and Four Eyes Consultants, to oversee the technical aspects and operations of aerial spraying against the Dubas Bug on date palms and on citrus orchards. Helicopters from Dollar Helicopters, U.K., were hired for the operation.

From 1982-84, PCI carried out PPP-III using Bromadiolone at East and West Godavari Districts in Andhra Pradesh.

With the overall increase in business, a dedicated factory with increased chemical filling and formulation capabilities was set up at Mira Road, near Mumbai, in 1983. This would ensure that the same chemicals would be used as per standards, at every PCI service establishment across the country. The gas formulation and filling unit was also made operational at the same premises. (photo: mirafront.jpg)

As a diversification, horticultural jobs including landscape designing and their implementation, were taken up for defence establishments such as Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and RCI Imarat at Hyderabad in 1985-86.

Received the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Award for Fair Business Practices from the President of India, in 1983.

The availability of synthetic pyrethroids such as Cypermethrin saw this chemical become one of the active ingredients in the new formula PestSeal® aerosol in 1984. PCI became the exclusive agent in the region for Lipha-France for Bromadiolone (which was commercially introduced under the brand name Roban® (1985).






In October 1988, PCI became a public limited company due to amendments in the Companies Act; the word “Private” was dropped from the title and the company became Pest Control (India) Limited.

An emergency request from the country’s international flag carrier, Air India, led to the introduction of the Aircraft Fumigation service (1989).

The Nineties : Undertook the Pied Piper Project at Colaba, in south Mumbai, in 1992. The aim of this large scale rodent control programme was to demonstrate the long term efficacy and economy of a scientific approach using Roban®. >>PCI Social projects

The rapid strides made by BCRL led to the National Award for Excellence in Research and Development Efforts in the Industry in the Agro-Industry Category, in 1993. This award is given by the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Fumigation services achieved another first in the form of Bubble Fumigation in 1994, thus becoming the only PCO in the country to offer stack, structural, ship, aircraft, vacuum chamber and bubble fumigation.

1995 : PCI became the sole agent in India for IGEBA Geraetebau GmbH-Germany and introduced the advanced technology range of IGEBA® thermal fog generators. These are now standard equipment for the company’s mosquito control operations and also sold commercially. (photo : IGEBA visit1.jpg). Glue traps for rats and mice were also introduced under the brand name Trubble Gum® in the same year.

1996 : PCI managed and implemented The Getty Conservation Trust’s Picture Mumbai Project, which was completed and opened at the Price of Wales Museum, Mumbai. >>PCI Social projects


Development of specialised services led to the introduction of the Baiting Technique for Cockroach Control, specially designed to minimise client inconvenience (1997).

Introduced the concept of using natural extracts to stimulate facultative bacteria for odour control and waste management, through an agency for the Biologic™ range of products from SciCorp-Canada in 1997.

The fully automatic sterilizer, Auto Eto™ (1999) and Custom Sterilization Service was added to the sterilization range. Own chambers were set up at Cochin (1998), Bangalore and Mumbai (1999).



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