Company Update

Giridhar Pai – India’s pioneer of stored product insect pest monitoring in the food industry: Our Managing Partner, Giridhar Pai, is the pioneer of stored product insect pest (SIP) monitoring in India, having begun it in the Indian food industry and introducing it to the Indian pest control industry. At the start of his career in 1995 as a food safety manager at AVT McCormick Ingredients Limited (AVT McCormick), a leading spice exporter, he initiated India’s first and to-date largest pheromone trap monitoring programme for tracking SIP populations at the company’s warehouses. He quickly became an expert in using pheromone traps for monitoring cigarette beetles, flour beetles and warehouse moths. He used Indian and foreign-made pheromone traps and lures. He successfully established the monitoring programmes at AVT McCormick as an early warning system for SIP presence, reducing insect incidence, pest treatment costs and product losses. After Giridhar Pai joined Pest Control India Private Limited (PCI) in 2000, he launched the Trece Storgard insect monitoring systems of the United States of America in India. He introduced stored product insect monitoring for food processors. Over the past three decades, the Indian food and pest control industries have benefitted from the availability of various pheromone trapping systems in India for monitoring and detecting common SIP species. SIP pheromone monitoring is simple, inexpensive, and easy to detect insect presence in food products, storage and processing. By 2020, Giridhar Pai found that customers could not easily purchase SIP pheromone traps in India. Though customers were seeking the Storgard Insect Monitoring system range, there was no Indian distributor for the products. Direct import of the products by customers was impractical due to low purchase volumes, the need to bear shipping costs, and customs duties for any purchase quantity. Sensing the opportunity for reputed SIP pheromone traps in India, Giridhar Pai re-established contact with Trece, Inc. of USA and re-initiated the import of the Storgard insect monitoring system range to India starting in 2024. As a result of Giridhar Pai’s pioneering industry leadership, the Indian food processing and pest control industries can again access the world’s best Storgard insect monitoring system to detect and estimate stored-product insect pest populations in the Indian food industry supply chains. United States of America’s Trece Inc’s Storgard Insect Monitoring Systems: The leading global supplier of pheromone traps and lures, Trece, Inc of USA created the Storgard Insect Monitoring Systems for SIPs in the nineties of the twentieth century. STORGARD pheromone traps are an early-warning system for detecting potentially damaging SIPs during food processing, storage, transport and retailing of foods and other products vulnerable to SIP infestation. Using Storgard pheromone traps for SIP monitoring makes it possible to reduce losses and ensure the safety and quality of stored foods, leading to time and money savings. STORGARD has been among the global pest management industry’s leading SIP monitoring systems for over three decades, offering various traps, pheromone lures, food attractants and grain probes. As STORGARD products are species-specific and sensitive even to low SIP populations, they are useful in achieving zero insect populations in wheat and rice milling, baking, snack food, pet food and numerous other food processing and storage facilities. STORGARD insect monitoring systems provide an edge in the battle against SIP moths and beetles, which are present through the supply chain of human, animal, and pet foods. Storgard products are ideal for early SIP detection and monitoring in varied environments such as raw material storage, transportation, processing, finished goods storage, distribution, and retailing. Due to their highly evolved nature, SIPs persist in the global food supply chains. Monitoring them through highly effective products like Storgard pheromone traps is essential for food safety. Storgard product availability in India from 2024: Due to its managing partner’s familiarity with the products, GPAL has carefully evaluated the Storgard range and imported in January 2024 the products that Indian customers were familiar with during 2000-2020, after which the product range became unavailable in India. Indian food industry customers are most familiar with the Storgard Dome Trap kits, which are very useful for monitoring: ∙Cigarette Beetles (CB) (Lasioderma serricorne)∙Confused (CFB) (Tribolium confusum)∙Red Flour Beetles (Tribolium castaneum)∙Tobacco moth (TM) (Ephestia elutella) Starting January 2024, GPAL will initially supply Dome Trap Kits and pheromone lures for CB, CFB, and RFB in India, and only the pheromone lures for the TM. We are confident that the pheromone traps and lures for CB, CFB, RFB, and TM shall meet the basic SIP monitoring requirements of the Indian food processing industry. GPAL plans for Storgard stored product insect monitoring:GPAL aims to keep adding innovative pest management solutions such as SIP pheromone traps and lures, which are non-toxic pest management options. Through its pan-India distributor network, GPAL is making the Trece Storgard insect monitoring system range available across India to the food industry, pet food industry and pest control industry. The food and pest control industries will greatly benefit by monitoring SIP populations in processing, storage, and transport and have an assured source for purchasing Storgard in India through Giridhar Pai Associates LLP. As SIP adults and larvae, the active life stages, are tiny and not easily visible, Storgard pheromone traps are the ideal solution for continuous monitoring of SIP presence and populations. Giridhar Pai Associates LLP’s plans for the Storgard range include offering the pheromone traps and lures against other SIPs listed below. ∙Khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium)∙Warehouse beetle (Trogoderma variabile)∙Almond Moth (Cadra cautella)∙Sawtoothed Grain Beetle (Orzyphaeilus surinamensis)∙Merchant Grain Beetle (Oryzaephilus mercator)∙Lesser Grain Borer (Rhyzopertha dominica) Summary: GPAL continues pioneering efforts by re-launching India’s Trece Storgard insect monitoring systems range in 2024. The Indian food and pest control industries greatly benefit from the availability of pheromone traps against a range of common stored-product insect pests commonly found through the supply chain. The current practice of routine fumigation and other SIP treatments without correlation to the SIP population can be improved by SIP monitoring with Storgard insect monitoring systems. SIP monitoring is a sustainable practice that will lead to reduced pesticide use and

When we recently introduced the black FLYght One to customers, we didn’t change just the color of the trap but far more. Here is the three-year story of FLYght One, India’s first UV LED flycatcher. The beginning We developed the first FLYght trap prototypes in late 2019. After confirming the design would work, we produced evaluation samples in early 2020, just before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic-induced lockdowns slowed product development, and we waited till July 2020 to launch FLYght One, the first Pestroniks Innovations Pte. Ltd. product. FLYght versus fluorescent tube flycatchers We made many changes to the flycatcher design through the enormous design flexibility that FLYght One’s eight LEDs allowed us. As we were free from housing three fluorescent tubes and the ballast common to second-generation flycatchers, we could significantly reduce the size of our UV LED flycatcher. Like any other product, the FLYght range also has evolved with the FLYght Duo that arrived in 2021, having improved features over the FLYght One. Over the past year, to improve the look, feel, and performance of the FLYght One, we returned to the drawing board to reconfigure it for enhanced housefly capture. Using the feedback from our customers, we re-engineered the FLYght One to the new unit now available to customers. The old versus new FLYght One As we retained the product’s functional features, both FLYght One versions share some features, as described below. Further, we have highlighted in our description the new features of the FLYght One beginning January 2023. What remains the same in both versions Metal housing: We continue to use steel in FLYght One trap which makes them sturdy and rugged compared to traditional plastic-bodied flycatchers that are prone to damage and have high parts replacement costs. UV LEDs and bio-VE+: Both trap versions have eight X 1W LEDs and a bio-VE+ board. The bio-VE+ board is a bio-Visual Enhancer that reflects the UV from the LEDs after enhancing the wavelengths and intensity of such light. The blue glow emanating from the bio-VE+ board of all FLYght traps contains houseflies attracting UV wavelengths. Glue board : Both the old and new FLYght Ones are usable with the universal glue board that is 418 mm X 283 mm. Flies hidden from view : Like in all FLYght traps, the new FLYght One’s glueboard at the back of the trap is hidden from view, and people near the trap can’t see any of the houseflies it has trapped other than by taking the glueboard out of the trap. What is different in the new FLYght One Color: The all-black FLYght One stands out in any setting in contrast to the all-white FLYght One we made earlier, leading us to proudly introduce our ‘Machine-in-Black (MIB) Contrasting colors attract houseflies more, and the black exterior of the FLYght One juxtaposed with the white color of its bio-VE+ board has higher housefly attraction than a white bio-VE+ board inside a white FLYght One. Size: The new FLYght One has a length X width X depth of 476 X 237 X 98 mm versus the 425 X 196 X 112 mm of the old FLYght One. The FLYght One is now longer and wider than its older version. The new trap is heavier by 500 gm. at 2.75 kg. against the 2.25 kg. of its previous version. However, the FLYght One is still very light compared to other flycatchers in the market, and a technician can easily lift it with one hand for installation and maintenance. Wider bio-VE+ board : The bio-VE+ board of the new FLYght One is 2X the width of the old one. We are still researching whether the wider bio-VE+ board attracts more houseflies to the trap. Board position : The new FLYght One allows the insertion of the bio-VE+ board horizontally and the glue board vertically, letting users make board changes easily and quickly. We have simplified glueboard use and position by having a single slot for the glueboard at the back of the trap. In the old FLYght One, users had to make two pieces of the glueboard and insert them into the two slots of the trap. Thus, our customers now save time they would have spent readying two pieces of the universal glueboard for use in a FLYght One trap. More and different housefly entry holes : The old FLYght One has 110 round holes through which houseflies enter the trap. The new FLYght One has 226 hexagonal holes through which houseflies enter it. Our research has shown a difference in catch rates of hexagonal trap openings compared to round openings. Pricing : We offer the new FLYght at a 19% lesser price than the older FLYght One, helping customers benefit from an overall lesser purchase price and the low cost of ownership. As the pioneers of India’s UV LED fly catcher segment, we have interacted with hundreds of customers and introduced them to our novel technology. We continually improve our user experience by simplifying our products to make them easy to install and maintain. For example, a user can install FLYght traps in less than five minutes as they only have to remove the release paper of the glueboards before powering the trap for the first time. We call it ‘plug and flay’ technology in which our customers plug their FLYght flycatchers and flay houseflies in the premises. Interacting with customers in Sri Lanka, we have found that the rising electricity prices make the FLYght range of flycatchers more attractive to customers looking for lower electricity costs for housefly monitoring. We are confident that 2023 will be the inflection year in which hundreds of Indian customers will switch from second-generation flycatchers with fluorescent tubes to Pestroniks Innovation Pte. Ltd.’s third-generation UV LED flycatchers.

We begin 2023 by sharing the journey of our third product, the RodeXit All-In-One seal – a rodent-proofing strip.  🐭 Mice and rats no longer have unfettered entry into Indian buildings with a RodeXit rodent seal barrier! RodeXit’s ten steel wires deter the toughest rodents attempting to gnaw their way into a structure. 🐁 We were very confident that the RodeXit rodent strip would change rodent management in India when we launched it in 2022 thanks to the efforts of our friend, Raja Mahendran, and the RodeXit rodent seal co-inventor Bjørn von Ryberg. In this blog post, we are glad to share the success of an international collaboration of pest management professionals across Europe, India, and Australia to rodent-proof and secure Indian buildings against mice and rats. In September 2021, the international business consultant Raja Mahendran based in Australia, proposed that we evaluate the potential for the RodeXit rodent-proofing strip in India.  Our discussions with Raja Mahendran soon led to our first online meeting with Raja Mahendran and RodeXit rodent seal’s co-inventor, Bjorn von Ryberg, in October 2021.  The RodeXit rodent seal is a product from Denmark currently available only in the United States of America and India for pest management professionals (PMPs) to securely rodent-proof buildings against rodent entry. Bjorn von Ryberg was very receptive to our market positioning suggestion for the RodeXit rodent seal in India and helped us price it for just rupees five hundred a foot for the end-consumer.    We have retained the highly economical INR 500/foot price for the RodeXit rodent seal despite currency fluctuations and increased freight costs since we launched RodeXit in India.  Also, Indian PMPs can increase their revenue by offering a RodeXit rodent seal installation service.  As the RodeXit rodent seal is a simple product, Indian pest control technicians can quickly learn and fix it for customers, generating revenue for their pest control company. In December 2021, we signed a distribution agreement with RodeXit North America (RNA) ApS for Giridhar Pai Associates LLP (GPAL) to become the first Asian RodeXit distributor. As a result of GPAL’s RodeXit distribution agreement with RNA ApS, India is now only the second country in the world where RodeXit is available other than the United States of America.  We ordered and received our first shipment of 200 meters of the RodeXit rodent seal in India in March 2022.  We started distributing RodeXit samples among GPAL distributors and end consumers starting April 2022.   However, our progress was slow as there is no other rodent-proofing strip in India, barring the RodeXit All-In-One seal, and we had first to educate users about the concept of rodent-proofing.  Most Indian PMPs rely on trapping and poison-baiting rodents. However, with the customers not demanding humane and non-toxic rodent management solutions, there has been little incentive for rodent-proofing in India. We widely shared RodeXit samples among our distributors, who showed them to their customers afterward. As a result, one of our distributors, Pecopp, made a short video to promote RodeXit and became the first Indian pest control operator (PCO) to sell the RodeXit rodent seal to a customer in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Pecopp exhibited RodeXit for the first time at an Indian trade show at the Clean India Show, Greater NOIDA, from 13 to 15 July 2022. In January 2023, Aaditya Pest Specializers Private Limited became the second Indian PCO to supply RodeXit to a customer in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. A direct order for 100 m. RodeXit from a leading Indian FMCG group in January 2023 helped GPAL complete the sale of its first 200-meter RodeXit rodent seal import shipment, marking a significant milestone for rodent-proofing in India.  Thus, over ten months, starting in April 2022, GPAL finished distributing 200 meters of the RodeXit seal it imported into India in March 2022. Food safety auditors commonly highlight the rodent entry points in the food industry where they conduct food safety audits. However, till we launched the RodeXit rodent seal in 2022, there was no simple, easy-to-use, and inexpensive rodent-proofing product in India. RodeXit is very easy to install in most cases requiring less than an hour, which we shall soon demonstrate through RodeXit installation videos filmed in India.  As RNA ApS has sold RodeXit mainly in the United States, we don’t yet have videos demonstrating how to rodent-proof doors and rolling shutters in India using the RodeXit rodent seal.  GPAL’s RodeXit videos will make it easy for Indian PMPs and building owners to understand how to use the RodeXit rodent seal to deny rodent entry by the use of the RodeXit rodent seal. With the increasing concern about using certain rodent traps and rodenticides, the need for alternative rodent management methods has never been greater.  Several Indian states have already restricted the use of glueboards for trapping mice and rats.  Further, non-target species may ingest rodenticides, and large quantities of rodenticides that are not consumed by rodents contaminate soil and water, polluting them.  Sanitation is the first step in rodent management, and it must be followed by rodent entry prevention into buildings.  By restricting rodent entry into buildings, building owners can reduce or eliminate the use of rodent traps.  Preventing rodents also helps eliminate rodent damage to property inside buildings. The second step to rodent management is preventing rodent entry, for which GPAL is happy to offer the “RodeXit All-In-One seal” to rodent-proof buildings against mice and rats.  As you read above, GPAL has initiated India’s rodent-proofing revolution over the past year with the RodeXit rodent seal!    We are confident that we shall soon complete the distribution of our second consignment of 200 meters of the RodeXit seal in India that arrived in February 2023. Till recently, there was only one other rodent-proofing solution in India, but that option is no longer available.  Also, that product range had multiple options and components, making it difficult for the user to understand and implement that rodent-proofing method. With the advent of the RodeXit rodent seal, Indian

Giridhar Pai Associates LLP’s third-year journey in 2022 In a year that started with the peak of the Omicron COVID-19 wave in India, we completed one more year of business without pandemic restrictions, like in 2020 and 2021.  In 2022, it was a fresh start to business as earlier, with people returning to industry tradeshows and in-person meetings.  We progressed significantly in the third year of our company and recorded the following milestones on the way. January 2022: We revamped our website removing its e-commerce feature and adding the Aedes-X and RodeXit products and details about mosquitoes and rodents to complement our new product range.  We changed our LinkedIn and Facebook profile images to reflect the three international products we represent. We reached 400 followers of GPAL on our LinkedIn company profile. We received our Importer Exporter Code (IEC) from the Government of India. February 2022: We got our first export order from Big Tree Brands, Zambia, and shipped them FLYght Duos on February 22 22. We Ordered 200 m. RodeXit All-In-One seal from RodeXit ApS on February 22, 2022. We reached 500 followers on GPAL’s LinkedIn profile. March 2022: We received 200 m. RodeXit from Denmark on March 25, 2022, making India the second country in the world where the RodeXit All-In-One seal is available for pest control operators (PCOs) for rodent-proofing. April 2022: We had the RodeXit online launch in India by Bjorn von Ryberg and Raja Mahendran on April 21, 2022, for the GPAL distributors across India. July 2022: Pecopp Pest Control Services Pvt. Ltd. Sold the first RodeXit 25 m. roll in India to its customer in the state of Maharashtra. Our distributor, Pecopp Pest Control Services Pvt. Ltd., displayed FLYght One, FLYght Duo, Aedes-X, and RodeXit for the first time at a tradeshow in the Clean India Show 2022 from 13-15 July, 2022 at the India Exposition Mart, Greater Noida. November 2022: We shipped our 200th FLYght trap shipped in India on November 2, 2022. We reached 1000 followers on LinkedIn on November 3, 2022. We completed the Government of India’s Startup India registration on November 9, 2022. In closing, we thank our customers, distributors, and business partners, Pestroniks Innovative Pte. Ltd., for their excellent support to GPAL in its third-year journey.

We shipped the 1st FLYght Trap to Sad Vaidya Sala Private Limited on September 14, 2021 We shipped the 100th FLYght trap to Symega Food Ingredients Limited on October 6, 2021. Today, on November 2, 2022, we shipped our 200th FLYght Trap to AB Mauri India Private Limited. FLYght UV LED Insect Light Trap (ILT) is India’s first Make-In-India product of its kind we manufacture at Mysuru. Starting 2019, when we developed the product, we have been progressing in our FLYght sales to replace ILTs in India from fluorescent tube ones to UV LED ones. Such a switch from UV fluorescent to UV LED is happening globally, and we are proud to mention that India is one of the first countries to have locally-made UV LED ILTs. The greatest benefits of UV LED ILTs are that ones like FLYght consume only 20% of the electricity of the fluorescent tube (conventional) traps. Further, FLYght UV LEDs last 50,000 hours and do not need a replacement for five years. Most fluorescent tubes last about ten months, after which they do not emit UV, which attracts filth flies to such traps. The discarded tubes contribute to solid waste with heavy metals during each fluorescent tube replacement. Hundreds of Indian customers have switched from conventional ILTs to FLYght UV LED ILTs. We started by introducing steel FLYght traps and followed it up with aluminum-bodied ones, which are light yet sturdy. FLYght traps have a bio-Visual Enhancer (VE+) coated board that enhances the UV intensity and wavelengths of the eight UV LEDs emissions. FLYght traps attract and trap as many filth flies as larger conventional flycatchers.  In addition, as FLYght traps rely on universal glue boards, our customers are free to source their replacement glueboards from any source, though we prefer they order from us. In humanity’s journey towards Net Zero, FLYght and products like it will play a key role in substantially reducing electricity consumption during fly monitoring with flycatchers. We thank all our customers for their FLYght trap purchases.  We also thank our distributors for supporting our sales and Pestroniks for efficient order handling and dispatches.

Since 2005, the Clean India Show (CIS) has brought together cleaning & hygiene industry professionals and end-users to promote facility cleaning and maintenance in India. CIS is now the single largest Cleaning Industry platform for manufacturers to showcase their cleaning & hygiene solutions.  In addition, facility management (FM) professionals patronize CIS to learn the latest product innovations and cleaning solutions from across the globe. CIS is a great place for FM professionals to update themselves with the latest innovation & technology for managing commercial, municipal, industrial & residential buildings. CIS is a sought-after networking event for product suppliers & solution seekers to connect, establish and grow their relationships. GPAL is happy to announce that its distributor, PECOPP Pest Control Services Private Limited (PECOPP), is displaying FLYght traps and RodeXit proofing strips for the first time in India at a trade show through the CIS 2022. When GPAL launched FLYght One UV LED ILT in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown allowed only for an online event.  However, a year later, when GPAL launched FLYght Duo UV LED ILT in 2021, that event was online, too, as India was during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The launch of RodeXit in April 2022 was also an online event as GPAL distributors were in different Indian cities and could only meet RodeXit inventor Bjorn von Ryberg in Denmark and their marketing advisor Raja Mahendran in Australia over a video call. With the resumption of trade shows, it is now business as usual, and we look forward to customers getting a feel of FLYght and RodeXit at PECOPP’s CIS 2022 stall. Here is what you can expect when you see those products for the first time. FLYght traps: FLYght One and FLYght Duo are compact, making many viewers wonder how such a small trap can be effective as conventional fluorescent tube ILTs, which are about double the size of FLYght traps.  The metal shell of FLYght traps makes them sturdy and last longer and withstand handling without damage for many years. You can also open the FLYght trap to notice that the eight UV LEDs face the white bio-Visual Enhancer (VE)+ board at the back of the trap.  The bright glow you notice is a reflection from the bioVE+ board, and its UV component (which people can’t see) attracts filth flies to the FLYght trap.  You will see that the two glue boards slide into the trap, and a viewer can’t see the flies stuck on them.  The most amazing aspect of both traps is that FLYght is under two kilograms, and FLYght One is slightly heavier than two kilograms. RodeXit: RodeXit has been available in India only since April 2022, and thus few Indian customers have seen it.  However, GPAL’s distributors have shown the product’s samples to FM teams across India. RodeXit is available as a twenty-five-meter roll in flat cardboard boxes and is very handy to move around. The RodeXit roll is suitable for cutting in any length, which avoids wastage, which is common with other rodent proofing products that their manufacturers sell in pre-set lengths. The screw markings across the strip are guides to installers and are key for quick fixing RodeXit on doors and shutters. When you touch the RodeXit strip, you will feel it has a rubbery texture as it is a Santoprene elastomer (thermoplastic vulcanizate).  RodeXit is rigid enough to withstand pressure but retains flexibility for door and shutter use after RodeXit installation.  When you observe the cut end of RodeXit, you will notice the ten steel wires impart RodeXit’s ability to repel rodents.  Unfortunately, due to the presence of the steel wires, you can only cut RodeXit using a metal cutter, though you can trim the elastomer portion using Stanley knives. Customers can avail of the special discount that PECOPP is offering for order bookings at the CIS 2022 at their stall. We look forward to meeting you at the PECOPP CIS 2022 stall, where their team shall show you FLYght One and FLYght Duo flycatchers and the RodeXit All- In-One rodent proofing strip. Register Now as Visitor for Clean India Show 2022