Pesticides are substances meant for attracting, seducing, destroying or mitigating any pest. They are a class of biocide. The most common use of pesticides is as plant protection products (also known as crop protection products), which in general protect plants from damaging influences such as weeds, diseases or insects. A pesticide is a chemical or biological agent (such as a virus, bacterium, antimicrobial, or disinfectant) that through its effect deters, incapacitates, kills, or otherwise discourages pests. Target pests can include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, mollusks, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes (roundworms), and microbes that destroy property, cause nuisance, or spread disease, or are vectors for disease. Although there are benefits to the use of pesticides, some also have drawbacks, such as potential toxicity to humans and other animals. Type of pesticide Target pest group Herbicides Plants Algicides or Algaecides Algae Avicides Birds Bactericides Bacteria Fungicides Fungi and Oomycetes Insecticides Insects Miticides or Acaricides Mites Molluscicides Snails Nematicides Nematodes Rodenticides Rodents Virucides Viruses Few Indian Major Players are as under • Agrocel Industries Ltd. • Aimco Pesticides Ltd. • Aryan Pesticides Ltd. • Bannari Amman Sugars Ltd. • Bhagiradha Chemicals & Inds. Ltd. • Bharat Rasayan Ltd. • Bhaskar Agrochemicals Ltd. • Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corpn. Ltd. • Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd. • Chemcel Biotech Ltd. • Cheminova India Ltd. • Chemisynth (Vapi) Ltd. • Gujarat Agro Inds. Corpn. Ltd. • Gujarat Insecticides Ltd. • Kerala Cardamom Processing & Mktg. Co. Ltd. • Kilpest India Ltd. • Kothari Industrial Corpn. Ltd. • Krishi Rasayan Exports Pvt. Ltd. • Maharashtra Agro-Inds. Devp. Corpn. Ltd. • Maharashtra Insecticides Ltd. • Montari Industries Ltd. • Mountain Spices Ltd. • Mriyalguda Farm Solution Ltd. • N S L Textiles (Edlapadu) Ltd. • Nagarjuna Agrichem Ltd. • Nagarjuna Finance Ltd. • Northern Minerals Ltd. • Ocean Agro (India) Ltd. • P I Industries Ltd. • Paradeep Phosphates Ltd. • Parul Chemicals Ltd. • Phyto Chem (India) Ltd. • Pioneer Products Ltd.