PI launches new insecticide CARVINT for chili and brassica pests

In September 2026, Indian agrochemical major PI Industries launched a new insecticide, "CARVINT." Its active ingredient is Flometoquin 10% SC, targeting thrips and diamondback moth (DBM) on chili and brassica crops (cabbage, cauliflower). It launched in seven states: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka. What Japanese companies should not overlook here is that this active ingredient, Flometoquin, is a compound that originated in Japan. In the concrete field of protecting high-value crops, Japanese technology is reaching farms as a product from an Indian major.

Starting news: PI Industries launches CARVINT in seven states

According to a report by agricultural trade media agrospectrum, CARVINT has Flometoquin 10% SC as its active ingredient and belongs to IRAC mode-of-action Group 34, a class of insecticide new to India. Targeting chili, cabbage, and cauliflower, it controls thrips, a chronic problem in chili, and diamondback moth, a major constraint in cabbage. CEO Saket Bhatnagar said, "CARVINT's unique mode of action offers a new, effective, and sustainable option for pest management."

Background: why target chili and brassica crops specifically

Chili is a major cash crop in India, and damage from thrips feeding and the viruses they transmit greatly affects yield and quality. In cabbage and cauliflower, diamondback moth readily develops resistance, and the persistent trouble has been that existing chemicals stop working well. PI's introduction of a product with a new mode of action (IRAC Group 34) is meant to hand farmers a different class of weapon against resistant pests and add more options for rotating control methods. Rather than a general-purpose broad-spectrum insecticide, this is a product designed specifically around the troubles of high-value specialty crops.

The active ingredient Flometoquin is a compound that originated in Japan

Flometoquin, the core of CARVINT, is a novel quinoline-based insecticide discovered in 2004 through joint research by Nippon Kayaku and Meiji Seika (now Mitsui Chemicals Crop & Life Solutions). According to academic reports, it acts quickly on both larvae and adults of thrips through contact and ingestion, with a unique mode of action that inhibits the mitochondrial electron transport chain (Complex III). It is also noted for having little effect on non-target arthropods, making it easy to incorporate into IPM (integrated pest management). This Japan-born ingredient is reaching local chili fields as CARVINT, a formulation from India's PI.

How it is being received locally and in the industry

agrospectrum reported CARVINT as a concrete product launch through which PI is expanding its pest-control portfolio for specialty crops. Within the scope of the report, PI shows an intent to introduce a product with a new mode of action specifically in major chili and brassica growing regions, giving farmers more options for resistance management. It reads as positioning the product as "another line of attack" against pests that existing chemicals no longer control well.

Implications for Japanese companies: the model of entrusting an ingredient to a local partner for productization

The path taken by Flometoquin is a real example of a division of labor in which an active ingredient discovered in Japan is turned into a local product by an Indian major that holds the registration, formulation, and distribution network. Rather than building registration and distribution in India from scratch on its own, entrusting the ingredient and technology to a local partner through licensing or supply arrangements makes it easier to clear both the regulatory wall and the distribution wall at the same time. Japanese chemical makers are shifting investment and procurement from China to India (Mitsui Chemicals and Sumitomo Chemical shift away from China toward an India base, and this trend continues across processing and materials sectors (Japanese chemical makers' investment shift toward India). Local production as a response to price competition is also progressing in areas like paints (Nippon Paint doubles its India plant capacity), and the design of embedding an ingredient or technology into a local product also applies to agricultural inputs.

Ripple effects on the market: pest control for specialty crops feeds into procurement networks

The better pest control gets for high-value crops like chili and brassicas, the easier it becomes to handle raw material from those growing regions for export or processing. In India, direct-from-farmer D2C models connecting directly with farmers are also growing (KisaanSay's Farm-Direct D2C and Its Network of 50,000 Farmers), widening the room for Japanese technology to enter at every stage from cultivation to distribution.

Practical information and related links

• A proposal for sourcing Indian dried potato for the Japanese market
• Suzuki turns cow dung into fuel and puts local resources to work
• Japanese chemical makers moving away from China and into India

Summary: companies with an ingredient should check the licensing and supply entry points

CARVINT is a concrete example of a Japan-born ingredient reaching farms as a product from an Indian major. The first move available to Japanese chemical and agri-input makers with an active ingredient or manufacturing technology is, before rushing into direct entry into India, to check the entry point of supplying or licensing it to a partner who already has local registration, formulation, and a distribution network. With a division of roles — technology in-house, localization through the partner — it becomes easier to clear both the regulatory wall and the distribution wall at the same time.

Sources

• Agrospectrum: PI Industries launches CARVINT for chilli and cole crops
• Journal of Pesticide Science: Discovery of flometoquin, a novel quinoline insecticide