The Indian Express- Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Vadodara

The Financial Express- Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune

August 31, 2009

Inside

with the Indian Navy which is scalable toRs 80 crores. We are also working withDRDO. We are venturing into a promis-ing future and into those technologieswith huge potential. We are entering intoSecurity & Surveillance and we find thatit is a promising future for us. We haveasked Ernest & Young to provide us witha thorough report on our capabilities inthe next years of becoming a Rs 1000 crorecompany. Right now we are at Rs 165crores of which Rs 133 crores was till lastyear. We are sure to touch Rs 200 croresplus this year,” said Captain Om PrakashDua, Managing Director, KELTRON,which has completed 36 years.

The future growth strategy for mostcompanies would be to take the inorganicgrowth path.

Mergers and acquisitions will continueto remain the most preferred strategyamong the companies for the near fu-ture as this would be the fastest way toincrease clientele, enter/expand into newgeographies, increase product/service of-ferings and gain specialisation.

While sharing his business mantra atthe company’s 36th AGM, Onkar SKanwar, Chairman, Apollo Tyres Limitedsaid, “Our commitment continues to re-main on three key principles in good timesand downturns. One: a clear focus onmarketing a healthy top and bottom-lineby concentrating on profitable growth.Growth at any cost is not the company’sway of doing business. Mere growth isneither healthy, nor sustainable for anenterprise. And to ensure a comfortablebottom-line, the company focuses onprice and product leadership, the rightproduct mix and continuous brand invest-ment. Two: nurturing and adding domes-tic markets. For the company, India is itslargest domestic market. But the baseneeds to be expanded continually to al-low for profitable growth and guardagainst stagnation and complacency.Three years back we added South Africaand the African continent as our seconddomestic market. This year, we haveadded Europe through our acquisitionof Vredestein. We will continue to expandfrom this base of three key domestic mar-kets. And the third component of ourbusiness model has been an unwaveringfocus on cost and quality. The company’scontinuing attention on increasing effi-ciencies across the board and re-aligningcosts to protect margins has paid divi-dends over the past year,”

According to Ashok Sinha, Chairman,Bharat Petroleum, which has completed32 years, “Bharat Petroleum realises that,in the long run, success can only comewith a total reorientation and change in

approach with the customer as the focalpoint. Today, Bharat Petroleum is restruc-tured into a Corporate Centre, StrategicBusiness Units (SBUs) and Shared Ser-vices and Entities. We need to grow be-cause the economy is growing and so isenergy demand. We want Bharat Petro-leum to get into new businesses and grow.In every sphere of the energy businessthere is demand, there are growth pros-pects.’’

For GAIL (India) Limited, India’s flag-ship Natural Gas company which com-pleted its 25th year on August 16th thisyear, the aim is to further expand its corebusiness of Natural Gas Transmission &Marketing, to capture larger share of thegrowing market.

The company wishes to move upstreamto secure gas supplies for the coretransmission business. Addition-ally, investments in petrochemi-cals and city gas distributionare being planned to en-hance margins and in-crease sources of rev-enue. Further, the com-pany is exploring and in-vesting in internationalopportunities with a stra-tegic rationale of gaininginternational presence.

Brijmohan Lall Munjal, theChairman, Hero Honda Mo-tors, which completed 26years, succinctly points out,“We pioneered India’s motor-cycle industry, and it’s our respon-sibility now to take the industry tothe next level. We’ll do all it takesto reach there. In the new mil-lennium, we stand com-mitted to innova-tion, to change,to achievingb r e a k -throughs…to mov-ing for-ward inthe newcentury,while re-ta in ingthe val-ues thathave beenlike a bea-con in thisjourney thusfar.”

Maruti Suzuki IndiaLimited has, over the yearsstrengthened the existingpractices and experimented withmany new initiatives by way of kaizens(continuous improvements) to delight itscustomers. These initiatives ranged fromproduct design and quality to network ex-pansion, and included new service pro-grams to meet unsaid needs of custom-ers. The company has retained its com-petitive edge by offering high quality prod-

A nation’s future and its ability to com-pete in the global market depend greatlyon how it generates new ideas, innovatesand sustains. Today India stands erect toface the global financial crunch with manyadvantages and strengths.

One of the key advantages is of coursethe fact that India is not exposed to thenew and innovative financial instrumentsthat triggered the meltdown. Key strengthis the plethora of companies with solidfoundations and concrete experience.

India has a huge number of companieswho have a robust financial record overthe years; some since 100 years. Thenthere are companies who are celebratingtheir platinum jubilee and those who arecelebrating their Golden.

And there is the ‘young’ bunch of en-thusiastic companies who are on thethreshold of entering the dynamic phaseof their existence. That of the passage of25 years.

These are the companies that India willhave to look at carefully, while of coursethe people running these organizationshave to be increasingly careful with theirshort terms and long term strategies andapproaches. These are the companieswhich face big challenges, huge expecta-tions in trying times.

“These days, it is not very difficult for acompany to think of crossing 25 years,but when you look at 50 years…75years…100 years, then it surely seems atough task,” said Rajeev Nannapaneni,Director & COO, NATCO Pharma, aHyderabad based pharmaceutical formu-lations company founded in 1981.

Strategies of the Sterling

Enterprises

Technology adoption by companiesacross sectors and rapid evolution of tech-nology and applications will significantlydrive growth of many of the companies.

Most of the companies who havecrossed 25 years have been expandingservice offerings and entering newer ge-ographies to strengthen their businessmodel, reduce dependency on single lo-cation and offer end-to-end solution totheir clients.

“Keltron as a company has restructureditself to be robust enough for the nextfifty years. We are in a comfortable posi-tion right now and with the pioneeringventure like Intelligent Traffic Systemwhich involves multiple domains and itsintegration, we are sure that the next 25years is well planned in a futuristic ap-proach. We are also into the defense busi-ness with a Rs 60 crore deal of 300 mines

ucts. In the field, the products are sup-ported by rapidly expanding networks.The company has diverse networks fornew cars, spares, service, pre owned cars

A Space Marketing Feature

THE SILVER JUBILEE HAS A SILVER LINING. IT’S NOT ADULTHOOD BUT PERHAPS AN EVEN MORE IMPORTANT MOMENT IN THE LIFECYCLE – IT IS THE COMING OF AGE AND MATURITY.

IT IS A TIME TO PAUSE AND REFLECT ON ALL THE GOOD WORK THAT HAS BEEN, AND TO CHART THE FUTURE COURSE THE COMPANY SHOULD TAKE FOR ANOTHER 25 YEARS OF

SUCCESS. THE FEEL IS MAGICAL, AND THE FUTURE FULL OF HOPE. IT IS A TIME WHEN THE BUBBLY FEELING SETS IN AND THE APPEARANCE CHANGES FROM DIMPLED SHYNESS TO

THAT OF ‘WE MEAN BUSINESS’.

A SILVER JUBILEE IS A TIME TO PAUSE AND

REFLECT ON ALL THE GOOD WORK DONE

SILVER JUBILEE IS WHEN

THE TORCH IS PASSED TO

ANOTHER GENERATION-

TAIMUR RAHMAN

Silver Jubilee has a special significance in the life of any institution as it signifies acoming of age and maturity. We present few companies which have either justcrossed the milestone or have crossed it and moving ahead towards touching thegolden sphere. ...Page 4

- DENIS J. HART

Contd. on Page 2...

2 AUGUST 31 I 2009

THE FIRST STATE PUBLIC SECTOR

CORPORATION TO DEAL ENTIRELY WITH

ELECTRONICS IN THE COUNTRY,

KELTRON WAS THE FIRST IN INDIA

TO DESIGN, DEVELOP AND MANUFAC-

TURE A MICRO PROCESSOR BASED

CARD ATTENDANCE SYSTEM AND

IMPULSE CLOCK SYSTEM FOR FACTO-

RIES AND OFFICES. IT HAS BEEN A

COMPANY SUSTAINING THROUGH SHEER

INNOVATION AND FUTURISTIC TECH-

NOLOGIES.

KELTRON was formed in1972-73 with a specificcommitment to buildup electronics in-dustry in the stateof Kerala. The ob-jectives were tostimulate and pro-mote electronic in-dustrial projects ingeneral; render tech-nical, promotional andfinancial assistance tointending entrepreneursfor establishment ofelectronic indus-t r i a lprojects;e s t a b -

lish, manage and control projects formanufacture of such electronics prod-ucts as may be thought fit; set up facil-ity for research and development, in-spection, quality control, proto-typedevelopment and other specializedservices required by electronic indus-try; set up a strong and dynamic mar-keting organization and to set up in-dustries in different districts of Keralawith emphasis on backward districtsin order to create employment oppor-tunities equitably and effect industrialdevelopment uniformly.

Starting operations with an R&Dunit which was later enlarged into afull fledged autonomous ElectronicResearch and Development Centre(ER & DC) in order to play a pivotal

role in the development of electron-ics, the first project undertaken

by Keltron was manufacturingof B&W TV (EC TV) sets onbehalf of M/s Electronics Cor-poration Of India Ltd. This

was the first ever suchagreement between Centraland state PSUs.

Keltron Equipments Com-plex was established inKarakulam, Trivandrum. In

addition to TV Productionunit, Industrial Elec-

tronics Prod-ucts divi-

s i o n ,

Mass Communication Division andSpecial Products Divisions were estab-lished subsequently. Keltron Compo-nent Complex was established in 1974and started manufacture of Electro-lytic Capacitors with a technical col-laboration with Sprague Electromag,Belgium.

Simultaneously, a new technocratsector was conceived in the place ofthe normal joint sector. In 1978, theCorporation signed an agreement withControle Bailey of France for themanufacture of Control & Instrumen-tation for Thermal Power Plants andProcess Industries with an investmentof Rs. 8 Cr as Keltron Controls Divi-sion. The ER & DC and Materials De-velopment Centres were established in1980. The Cybernetics Division wasestablished in 1986.

“Keltron has aided the overall de-velopment of electronics industry inthe country by providing horizontaltransfer of technology to other states;J & K, Bihar, Pondicherry andManipur. Keltron has paved the wayfor forming Electronics DevelopmentCorporations in other states like UttarPradesh – UPTRON, Andhra Pradesh- APTRON (APEL), Karnataka –Keonics, Tamil Nadu – ELCOT, WestBengal – WEBEL, Maharashtra –MELTRON, MP– OPTEL, Gujarat –GECL, , Rajasthan – REIL, Haryana– HARTRON, Punjab – PUNWIRE,”said Captain Om Prakash Dua, MD,KELTRON.

“KELTRON’s success over the yearscan be attributed to its approach ofworking in partnership with custom-ers to fully understand their core busi-ness values as well as technologicalneeds and environments. This en-sures the most strategic, cost-effectiveand successful technological solutionis implemented for the individual cus-tomer,” Dua added.

ment.

The drive to develop core R&Dskills was, in large part,

prompted by the threats andopportunities presented

by globalisation. Therew e r e

other rea-sons too like im-provements in product quality andprocesses, but the prime mover wasthe realisation that having innovationcapabilities leading to world classproducts was essential for companiesto go global.

Having been around for more than25 years, it is time for these companiesto now invest in R&D.

Indian companies have long beencriticised for their low level of invest-ment in R&D, both in India and otherparts of the world. This fact has pre-vented them from becoming seriousplayers in global markets.

Most companies spend a fraction oftheir sales, less than 1%, on R&D. As

a result, India has often been viewedas a third-world country that stumblesalong by copying western products,aided by lax patent policies.

The long-term objective has to be tooptimally foster greater global com-petitiveness for Indian industry as wellas to ensure faster innovation, wealthcreation and overall development.

Innovation is a process to achievemeasurable value enhancement in anycommercial activity, through introduc-tion of new or improved goods, ser-vices, operational and organisationalprocesses.

It is a significant factor in facilitatingcompetitiveness, improvement in mar-ket share and quality as well as reduc-tion in costs.

What began with R&D and strategyhas moved to the third, and probablythe most important phase in the his-tory of innovation in the Indian busi-ness setup.

However, the most effective combi-nation of products, R&D and strat-egy would bring out the best in inno-vation from India.

The enterprises in the silver leaguehave already set new benchmarks inservices and delivery. But, the focusnow has to be on innovation.

These companies indeed been inno-vative, but unfortunately in most cases,they have not been able to showcasethis innovative trait to the world. In-novation is the path to growth andsustenance and these companies arenow strongly treading that path.

Conclusion

The constraints that Indian compa-n i e s which have

crossed the 25year mark face

are a bless-i n g

A SILVER JUBILEE IS A TIME TO LOOK BACK

AND THANK EVERY PERSON WHO HAS CONTRIB-

UTED - FR JOSEPH CARTER

and so on, and all of themwere in expansion mode lastyear to enable the companyto get closer to the customer.

According to R.S. Sharma,Chairman & Managing Director,NTPC, which is now 34 years old, allefforts are geared towards maximiz-ing shareholders’ wealth in line withthe best corporate governance prac-tices, including sensitivity to the envi-ronment and the society. “Optimiza-tion of cost should be integral to ourworking. The company is participat-ing in the entire value chain of powerdevelopment to contribute to theGovernment’s commitment of pro-viding power for all by 2012. Thepolicy and legal framework in thepower sector provides a platformfor growth to all the power players.We are confident that the appropri-ate policies and guidelines shall con-tinue to encourage investment in thesector. The Company will also developgreen field sites, expand capacity in itsexisting units, will add capacity throughsubsidiaries and joint ventures and willalso take-over viable stations to become75,000 MW Company by 2017, therebyachieving CAGR of 10.6 per centwhereas national CAGR works out to9.6 per cent,” he said.

Challenges

Availability of skilled human re-source remains a key concern for com-panies. Factors impacting employeecost include demand-supply gap andhigh attrition rate.

Companies need to control cost by

hiring freshers and training them in-house, which also takes care of qualityissues. Training and development willremain the key to developing skilledhuman resources for companies. Man-aging employee cost will remain a keychallenge for the companies.

Other than human resource, theother challenge which necessarily af-fects every company, however old itmay be, will be to improve governance,reducing corruption, upgrading edu-cation, checking environmental degra-dation and water scarcity.

On an overall basis, it is integral toanalyze the conditions in the fields likerole of micro financing in eradicatingproblems of poverty and unemploy-ment, the problems and prospects ofknowledge economy, chances and chal-lenges of outsourcing in service sec-tor, role of insurance companies inmaking the future brighter and safer,aggressive retailing and millions of re-tailers, impact of future trading incommodities on smaller traders, re-forms and changing pattern of lend-ing and borrowing and challenges be-fore the public sector banks.

For most companies which havecrossed the silver jubilee period thefuture course is unanimous assounded by Anuradha J. Desai, Chair-person, Venkateshwara HatcheriesPvt. Ltd., which has completed 38 years,“We look at the past with satisfactionand look at the future with awarenessof the challenges, and try our best tomeet the challenges of the future.”

Another challenge which most ofthese companies face is that of futurecompetition and not getting compla-cent.

“Any institution which starts is shortof funds and has its own challenges toface. It is in phases that we build astrong enterprise. Once that falls intoplace then most of what has to be con-quered has been. Then it is all aboutsustainability and the main challengeremains of competition. This is whathappens after 25 years. Till 25, youcan take shelter but after which youare in the open. Human resourceissues, adept knowledge ofstrengths & weakness,contemporariness, etc aremain factors to be considered.Apart from these it is very cru-cial that an organisation fol-lows a modern manage-ment method. Competi-tion too can be conqueredthen,” said Prof. K. M.Kaveriappa, Vice Chancel-lor, Mangalore Universitywhich has completed 29years.

Innovation

Strategy for the Silverleague enterprises willnow be to focus moreon innovation and Re-search & Develop-

in disguise, and meeting these chal-lenges will ensure that they becomeglobal leaders of tomorrow.

With demographic & technologi-cal changes sweeping the world, thefuture of business will be very differ-ent from the past. Indian companiesthat focus on future, rather thanpast, will have a chance to emerge as

global leaders.

To make this leap,c o m p a n i e s

have to

consciouslyfocus on thefuture, thanmerely managingthe present. Compa-nies must evaluate whatpercentage of their projectsis about managing the currentenvironment and what percentageis about creating future. They mustfocus on creating the future, whileselectively forgetting the past.

Apart from facing the challengesand not being complacent, thesecompanies will now have to focus alot more on innovation and R&D,which are factors that will shape thefuture course of the country as wellas the route to reach the golden, plati-num and centennial phases.

These companies which have al-ready understood the value ofgrowth with time will now have to fo-cus more inorganic growth. Mergers,acquisitions will be the norm andspreading boundaries will play a vitalrole in establishing their future.

Overall, the companies that haveturned 25 or have already seen 25 andare moving ahead to touch 50 willhave a great responsibility of brand-ing India’s business in the globalworld and create the country’s imageas a consistent and robust businessplatform for the world.

It is a journey that is now begin-ning and companies who have alreadyproven their might have a tougherchallenge....to prove it again a secondtenure and this time it just might betougher, considering the expectationof the market, the economy worldover, the expectations of consumersas well as that of the employees andabove all the main challenge will befor the young guns to prove theirmight in an exceedingly demandingatmosphere of business.

Only time will tell as to how manyof these in the silver league will be

able to touch the golden sphere, butit is certain that many of these enter-prises surely have a direction of busi-ness - both in the long term as well asin the short term.

When companies are closing everyother day due to varied global impli-cations, these sterling enterpriseshave proved to be on firm groundand it surely is making the countrydrive on top gear in terms of growth,recognition and above all trust.

SILVER JUBILEE CAN

ILLUSTRATE HOW

MUCH MORE NEEDS TO

BE DONE

Captain Om Prakash Dua, Managing Director, KELTRON

...Contd. from Page 1

3 AUGUST 31 I 2009

Venkateshwara Hatcheries Group(VH Group), established in 1971 bythe late Padmashri Dr. B.V. Rao, is apioneering organization which hasbeen in the fore-front of the growthand modernization of the Indian Poul-try Industry for nearly four decades.The Group plays an important role inour national effort to achieve “Nutri-tion Security for all” through its cho-sen field of poultry farming.

With a mission to provide to thefarmers, the best quality products andafter-sales services and give total cus-tomer satisfaction in terms of quality,pricing & relationship and to makeIndia the No.1 country in poultry, atleast in the layer segment – both quan-titatively and qualitatively, the group is

focused on its mission set by itsfounder Dr. B.V. Rao – fondly

remembered by poultry farm-ers as Father of Indian Poul-

try Industry.

“The role of VH Groupis two-fold – one as a fa-cilitator of growth byproviding to the farm-ers, every essential in-

put required for suc-cessful poultryfarming, matchingthe best interna-tional quality stan-

dards and techni-c a l

TOADY, A RS 11,000 MILLION

MULTI-PRODUCT, MULTI-CHANNEL

CORPORATION PART OF THE PRESTI-

GIOUS SHAPOORJI PALLONJI GROUP,

THE STORY OF EUREKA FORBES BEGAN

IN 1982 AS A JOINT VENTURE

BETWEEN THE FORBES GROUP AND

ELECTROLUX OF SWEDEN. SINCE

THEN THE COMPANY HAS BEEN

PIONEERS & LEADERS IN WATER

PURIFICATION SYSTEMS, VACUUM

CLEANERS & AIR PURIFIERS AND

PEOPLE WHO INTRODUCED DIRECT

SELLING IN INDIAOne of Asia’s largest direct selling

organization with over 7,500 strongdirect sales force touching the lives of1.7 million Indian homes across 600cities and towns through Direct Op-erations in over 130 cities and fran-chised direct operations in over 470towns, Eureka Forbes has expandedchannels that reach out to customersto include a 10,000 strong dealer salesnetwork and a 58 distributor stronginstitutional sales network. Today,Eureka Forbes is ranked amongIndia’s Most Admired Consumer Du-rable Companies & also one of theBest Employers in Asia.

The essence of the story of EurekaForbes since inception has been in asingle word Relationships,” saysSuresh L Goklaney, VC & MD, Eu-reka Forbes. “Relationships have madeus reach out to our customers in their

homes, transforming the way they pu-rify their drinking water, clean theirhomes and the air they breathe, andsecure their families so that they leadhappier, healthier lives. And they haveencouraged us to provide opportuni-ties for our people to realize the po-tential of their dreams,” he adds.

Eureka Forbes Launched India’sFirst Vacuum Cleaner in India in 1982followed by Aquaguard water Purifica-tion system in 1984. Today Aquaguardis India’s first Superbrand water puri-fier that enjoys the trust of over 20million users. Aquaguard’s range ofover 20 products deploy 5 differenttechnologies to cater to 17 diverse wa-ter conditions across the country.Aquaguard’s latest SMP+ technologyis the first of its kind in the world. Itmaintains a healthy balance of the natu-ral minerals in your water. Aquaguardoffers complete protection not onlyagainst disease causing bacteriaand virus but also dangerousnew age contaminants likeLead and Pesticides.

AquaSure SureBoil rangeof water purifiers providessafe drinking water to homeseven without electricity andrunning water. To cater tothe needs of Indian homesat different price points, thecompany has a range ofAquaSure Power Boil waterpurifiers available on the re-tail shelf too.

Euroclean Vacuum Cleaners withover 2.5 million satisfied customersis India’s Largest Selling Vacuumcleaners and a Superbrand. To pro-vide health and hygiene solu-tions to industrial and institu-tional customers, Eureka Forbes has now formed two companies called “Forbes Facility Services Limited” and “Forbes Concept Hospitality Limited” which pro-vide housekeeping, Maintenance and Foodservice solutions. In order to tap global opportuni-ties, Eureka Forbes has tied up with another giant in the world of Direct Sales - Lux interna-tional of Switzerland - and formed a Joint Venture called Forbes Lux Group.

“Our vision to provide happy,healthy and pollution free environ-ment that is built on trust and lasting

relationships with our cus-tomers continues to beour guiding light. Inrecent times we haveforayed into Devel-oping New Marketsand New technolo-gies. The company

is working on pathbreaking technologythat will make drink-ing water safe and

affordable for villag-ers at 10 paise a litre,”said Goklaney.

POULTRY FARMING, AN INTEGRAL PART

OF OUR AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY,

PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN RURAL EM-

PLOYMENT GENERATION, COMBATING

MALNUTRITION AND EMPOWERMENT OF

WOMEN. AND EVERY SINGLE INNOVA-

TIVE STEP TOWARDS THE TRANSFOR-

MATION OF INDIA’S POULTRY INDUSTRY

FROM A BACKYARD ACTIVITY CONFINED

TO RURAL POOR HOUSEHOLDS INTO A

MODERN, SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGY-

DRIVEN INDUSTRY,

CAPABLE OF COM-

PETING WITH THE

INDUSTRIES IN

THE ADVANCED

COUNTRIES,

WAS TAKEN

BY

VENKATESHWARA

HATCHERIES

GROUP.

services round-the-clock, all under oneumbrella, at the farmers’ door steps.Secondly, we intend to unify and em-power the farmers to get a remunera-tive price for their produce, by sup-porting farmers’ organizations likeNECC & Bromark, and also by creat-ing facilities for exports, value-addi-tion, like poultry processing and eggprocessing; creating a nation-wide net-work of retail distribution outlets,” saidAnuradha J. Desai, Chairperson,Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt. Ltd.

Achievements

For VH Group the most importantachievement was the enhancement ofproductivity levels of both layer andbroiler birds – in terms of life-span,feed conversion ratios, reduction innumber of days to attain the desiredbody weight in broilers etc, which en-abled the farmers to remain in busi-ness in spite of higher input costs andfluctuating market conditions.

Other achievements include estab-lishment of a nation-wide network ofdisease diagnostic and technical ser-vice centres, and the Institute of Poul-try Management, which helped thou-sands of entrepreneurs to managetheir farms scientifically, and provid-ing the best technology in every aspectof poultry to the door steps of poultryfarmers in India.

India Presence

In the Indian market, together withits Franchisees, VH Group have over85% of the layer day-old chick market,and 75% of the broiler day-old chickmarket. On the export front, VHGroup exports Egg Powder to variousEuropean, Middle-East and Far East-ern countries. “We are also exportingHatching eggs to Middle East and afew African countries,” said Desai.Anuradha J. Desai, Chairperson, Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt. Ltd.

Suresh L Goklaney, VC & MD, Eureka Forbes

4 AUGUST 31 I 2009

Registered as a company in 1976,Apollo Tyres Ltd, a leading tyre manu-facturer has three manufacturing unitsin India, four in Southern Africa and onein the Netherlands, with a green-fieldfacility currently underway in Chennai.Apollo’s subsidiary companies areApollo Tyres South Africa Pty Ltd (pre-viously known as Dunlop Tyres) andApollo Vredestein BV in the Nether-lands. India, South Africa and Europeare the company’s three domestic mar-kets from where products are exportedto over 70 countries. On July 23rd 2009,the company announced its consolidated1st quarter revenues which grew by 24%to reach net sales of Rs 16.3 billion.

On 24th January 1976, the BurmahShell Group of Companies was takenover by the Government of India to formBharat Refineries Limited. On 1st Au-gust 1977, it was renamed Bharat Petro-leum Corporation Limited (BPCL). Itwas also the first refinery to processnewly found indigenous crude (BombayHigh), in the country. Bharat Petroleumproduces a diverse range of products,from petrochemicals and solvents to air-craft fuel and speciality lubricants. BPCLregistered a net profit of Rs 614.12 crorefor the first quarter ended June 30, 2009.The company had a net loss of Rs 1,066.7crore in the same quarter last year.

Coal India Limited was formed as a hold-ing Company in 1975 with 5 subsidiariesviz. Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL),Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), West-ern Coalfields Limited (WCL), EasternCoalfields Limited (ECL) and CentralMine Planning and Design Institute Lim-ited (CMPDIL). Coal India contributesaround 85% of coal production in India.Coal India Ltd plans to raise up to 60 bil-lion rupees ($1.25 billion) by selling 10 per-cent through an initial public offer (IPO)expected within a year. CIL would provide312 mt of coal to power utilities in thisfinancial year, compared with 292 mt whichthe navratna coal PSU provided in 2008-09.

GAIL (India) Limited, the country’slargest gas transportation company, wasincorporated on 16th August ,1984 inte-grating all aspects of the Natural Gasvalue chain and its related services. In arapidly changing scenario, GAIL isspearheading the move to a new era ofclean fuel industrialisation, creating aquadrilateral of green energy corridorsthat connect major consumption centresin India with major gas fields, LNG ter-minals and other cross border gas sourc-ing points. This year, GAIL announcedthat it will invest Rs 7,600 crore in build-ing India’s longest gas pipeline fromJagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldiain West Bengal.

In 1983, the joint venture betweenIndia’s Hero Group and Honda MotorCompany, Japan not only created theworld’s single largest two wheeler com-pany but also one of the most successfuljoint ventures worldwide. Hero Hondabikes currently roll out from its three glo-bally benchmarked manufacturing facili-ties. Two of these are based at Dharuheraand Gurgaon in Haryana and the thirdstate of the art manufacturing facility atHaridwar, Uttrakhand. These plants to-gether are capable of producing out 4.4million units per year. Hero Honda Mo-tors posted an 83% jump in net profitfor the June quarter.

HCL is a leading global Technologyand IT Enterprise with annual revenuesof US$ 5 billion. The HCL Enterprisecomprises two companies listed in In-dia, HCL Technologies and HCLInfosystems. The 3 decade old enter-prise, founded in 1976, is one of India’soriginal IT garage start ups. Its range ofofferings span R&D and TechnologyServices, Enterprise and ApplicationsConsulting, Remote InfrastructureManagement, BPO services, IT Hard-ware, Systems Integration and Distribu-tion of Technology and Telecom prod-ucts in India. As on 31st March 2009,HCL’s total revenues touched $5 billion.

In 1979, Hindustan Petroleum Corpo-ration Limited (HPCL) came to beingafter merging four differentorganisations at different points of time.HPCL is today a fortune 500 companyand one of the major integrated oil re-fining and marketing companies in In-dia. HPCL accounts for about 20% ofthe market share and about 10% of thenation’s refining capacity with two coastalrefineries, one at Mumbai (West Coast)having a capacity of 5.5 Million MetricTonnes Per Annum and the other inVishakapatnam (East Coast) with a ca-pacity of 7.5 MMTPA. HPCL reported anet profit of Rs 649.12 crore for the firstquarter ended June 30, 2009.

Infosys Technologies Ltd., India’s sec-ond largest software exporter, wasstarted in 1981 by seven people with US$250. Today, it is a global leader in the“next generation” of IT and consultingwith revenues of over US$ 4 billion.Infosys’ offerings span business andtechnology consulting, application ser-vices, systems integration, product engi-neering, custom software development,maintenance, re-engineering, indepen-dent testing and validation services, ITinfrastructure services and business pro-cess outsourcing. Infosys Technologiesposted a 17.3 per cent rise in first quar-ter net profit to Rs 1,527 crore.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL,formerly Maruti Udyog Limited), a sub-sidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation ofJapan, is India’s largest passenger carcompany, accounting for over 50 per centof the domestic car market. Since incep-tion (1981), the company has producedand sold over 7.5 million vehicles in In-dia and exported over 500,000 units toEurope and other countries. Thecompany’s net profit for the first quarterof financial year 2009-10 was Rs 5.83 bil-lion, an increase of 25.3%, compared toRs 4.66 billion in the same period of fi-nancial year 2008-09. The company's netsales were Rs 63.4 billion, an increase of34% from the first quarter of 2008-09.

Moser Baer is the world’s 2nd largestoptical storage media manufacturer andsupplies to the world’s top dozen brands.The company was founded in New Delhiin 1983. 75% of its revenue comes fromexports; although most of that is fromOEM products. Their product range in-cludes floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs.Moser Baer has a presence in over 82countries, serviced through six market-ing offices in India, the US and Europe.Its 4 manufacturing facilities are locatedin Noida. The company was among thefirst to set up a wholly-owned subsid-iary, in 2005 - Moser Baer Photo VoltaicLimited. This year it introduced low costMP3 players in the Indian market.

National Aluminium Company Ltd(Nalco) was incorporated in 1981 in thePublic Sector, to exploit a part of the largedeposits of bauxite discovered in the EastCoast. Nalco is considered to be a turn-ing point in the history of Indian Alu-minium Industry. In a major leap for-ward, Nalco has not only addressed theneed for self-sufficiency in aluminium, butalso given the country a technologicaledge in producing this strategic metal tothe best of world standards. It is Asia’slargest integrated aluminium complex,encompassing bauxite mining, aluminarefining, aluminium smelting and cast-ing, power generation, rail and port op-erations.

NTPC, India's largest power company,was set up in 1975 to accelerate powerdevelopment in India. Today, it hasemerged as an ‘Integrated Power Ma-jor’, with a significant presence in theentire value chain of power generationbusiness. NTPC was ranked 317th in the‘2009 Forbes Global 2000’ ranking of theWorld’s biggest companies. With a cur-rent generating capacity of 30,644 MW,NTPC has embarked on plans to becomea 75,000 MW company by 2017. This year,NTPC achieved the highest ever singleday generation of 655.22 MUs with thehighest ever single day coal based gen-eration of 579.02 MUs.

NIIT is a leading Global Talent Devel-opment Corporation, building a skilledmanpower pool for global industry re-quirements. The company which was setup in 1981, to help the nascent IT indus-try overcome its human resource chal-lenges, has today grown to rank amongthe world’s leading talent developmentorganisations offering learning solutionsto Individuals, Enterprises and Institu-tions across 40 countries. NIIT’s train-ing solutions in IT, Business ProcessOutsourcing, Banking, Finance and In-surance, Executive Management Educa-tion, and Communication and Profes-sional Life Skills, touch five million learn-ers every year.

Founded in 1978 by Subrata Roy, Sa-hara India Pariwar is a major entity onthe corporate scene having diversifiedbusiness interests that include Finance,Infrastructure & Housing, Media &Entertainment, Consumer Products,Manufacturing, and Services & Trading.Under its finance businesses Saharaoperates in Para-banking, Life Insurance,Mutual Funds and Home Loans sectors.Under its Motion Pictures business, Sa-hara is engaged in business of produc-ing, marketing and distribution of mo-tion pictures. This year Sahara Prime City,part of the group, is planning to raise upto Rs 5,000 crore by year-end throughan initial public offer.

Established in 1983, Swaraj MazdaLimited is owned by the Sumitomo Cor-poration of Japan and Punjab TractorsLimited of India, with a technical collabo-ration with Isuzu and Mazda of Japan.Sumitomo upped its stake in the com-pany this year by purchasing all of PunjabTractors remaining shares, raising theirstake to 53.5%. The company manufac-tures light commercial vehicles like trucks,buses, ambulances, police personnel car-riers, water tankers and special vehicles.It exports its products to countries likeNepal, Zambia, Bangladesh, Kenya, Tan-zania, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Rwanda,Seychelles, Syria and Jordan.

Vizag Steel Plant (VSP), also knownas Visakhapatnam Steel Plant wasfounded in 1971 and is among India’spremier steel mills. It has also been con-ferred the Mini Ratna status. VSP todayis among the lowest cost steel producersin the world. The Plant was designed inlate 1960s but by the time its chief Con-sultants - MN Dastur & Company’s re-ports were accepted in 1984, it had be-come the most expensive steel plant everto be constructed, designed to produceabout 3 million tonnes (Mt) of processedsteel per year. Now, it has plans to ex-pand plant capacity to 6.3 Mt by 2010-11,with the mission to expand further insubsequent phases.

Apollo Tyres Bharat Petroleum Coal India GAIL

Hero Honda HCL HPCL Infosys

Maruti Moser Baer NALCO NTPC

NIITNIITNIITNIITNIIT SaharaSaharaSaharaSaharaSahara Swaraj MazdaSwaraj MazdaSwaraj MazdaSwaraj MazdaSwaraj Mazda Vizag SteelVizag SteelVizag SteelVizag SteelVizag Steel

A SILVER JUBILEE HAS A SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE IN THE LIFE OF ANY INSTITUTION AS IT SIGNIFIES A COMING OF AGE AND MATURITY. IT BECOMES IMMENSELY SIGNIFICANT IN TIMES LIKE THE ONE WE ARE LIVING IN

– THAT OF AN ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY. ITS PROFOUNDNESS INCREASES WHEN THE MILESTONE HAS BEEN REACHED IN A COUNTRY LIKE INDIA WHICH HAS ALL THE MIXED RESOURCES TO MAKE STRONG BARRIERS.

HERE ARE FEW COMPANIES WHICH HAD THE STRENGTH TO HOLD ON, FIGHT AGAINST OPPRESSION, AND TAKE ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS WITH RAW COURAGE BORN OUT OF SPIRITED MINDS AND ROBUST IDEAS.

BUT THESE ARE COMPANIES WHICH ARE ON THE BEGINNING OF THE LONG JOURNEY THAT TESTS SUSTENANCE POWERS. AND LOOKING BACK AT THEIR JOURNEY SO FAR, THEY SHOW TREMENDOUS PROMISE TO

SUCCEED AS THEY ENTER ADULTHOOD OF THE BUSINESS WORLD. THE COMPANIES FEATURED HERE ARE FEW AND IN NO SPECIFIC ORDER.

The Indian Express- Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Vadodara

The Financial Express- Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune

Inside

Silver Jubilee has a special significance in the life of any institution as it signifies acoming of age and maturity. We present few companies which have either justtouched mile 25 or have crossed it and moving ahead towards touchingmile 50. ...Page 4

Entrepreneurs with fire in their bellies don’tlast only because of an idea but it is when theystrike the right balance between their ideas aswell as the market needs. It is one voyage wherethe thrill is as much in the ride as in reaching thedestination. One needs to build an understand-ing of the industry, a mental map of the players,recording developments and the trends in themarketplace. Achieving preset goals is not justabout outwitting competitors but thinking in theright direction and the flexibility to change withthe business scenario.

Today, despite all the difficulties of doing busi-ness in the country, India has become a fertileground for breeding new entrepreneurs. Thecountry is still holding its ground in the midst ofthe current global financial crisis and techno-logical developments keep throwing up new op-portunities.

Investor sentiment in India has improved sig-nificantly in the first quarter of 2009, accordingto a survey conducted by Dutch financial ser-vices firm ING.

With foreign assets growing by more than 100per cent annually in recent years, Indian multi-national enterprises (MNEs) have become sig-nificant investors in global business markets andIndia is rapidly staking a claim to being a trueglobal business power, according to a survey bythe Indian School of Business and the Vale Co-lumbia Center on Sustainable International In-vestment.

The skill to identify, face and solve problemsis critical for all entrepreneurs, new andexisting. In developing first-generation entre-preneurs, providing business opportunity guid-ance is very critical.

Many first -generation entrepreneurs do nothave sufficient knowledge and skills to identifyand assess the entrepreneurial opportunity.

“I strongly believe that a successful companyis a combination of the right people and theknowledge. To hit our targets we need to keepinnovating and bring in the right people to sus-tain and manage innovation. I believe in nurtur-ing young innovative ideas alongside experi-enced management who can take the conceptsand turn them into fruitful projects,” saysRaj Anand, Founder/Operations Di-rector, Kwiqq, a social websitebuilder, who won Europe’sYoung Entrepreneur2007 Award byBusinessWeek.

The Veterans

25 Years represent a significant milestone inthe Life of an organisation. It is not that manyorganisations live to see 25, given the currenteconomic scenarios and possibilities. There aremany stakeholders - Customers, Vendors, Em-ployees, Employers and share holders whowould be responsible for the Milestone 25 foran organisation.

Says G. Saroja Vivekanand, Joint MD, VisakaIndustries, which has completed 25 years, “Forthe last 25 years, Visaka Industries has beensteadily growing and consistently paying divi-dends to its shareholders. Visaka has beenprompt in repaying its debts to all the banks.The founder, Dr.G.Vivekanand’s vision of serv-ing the society is met by prompt payments to itssuppliers, good quality, price and service to itscustomers, prompt servicing of its financial obli-gations to its lenders, consistent dividend to itsshareholders, and a company working environ-ment along with opportunities of growth to itsemployees. These factors have played a vital rolein the journey of Visaka.”

For companies which have already crossed the25 year mark, the going was not always smooth.The beginning of the journey has always beentough and patch in between is usually a routineaffair.

But the survival depends on the competencyof the management which is an important fac-tor. Says K.S.Sreenivas I.A.S, Managing Direc-tor, Kerala Mineral & Metals Limited, which hasalso completed 25 years, “During the initial phaseof production, 1984 when the plant was com-missioned to produce Titanium Dioxide Pig-ment, when the company was trying to achievefull capacity, it went through some teethingtroubles. These problems, continued right intothe 1990s; but undeterred by these problems,the experienced management of the company,with its own expertise from inside, achieved amajor breakthrough in Financial, Production,Maintenance, and HR man-agement. Pro-d u c -

tion increased gradually and the company be-gan to develop newer grades of pigments.”

Another aspect that many companies attributetheir successful 25 years to, is relationship. Eu-reka Forbes Limited (EFL)is one such example.The essence of the story of Eureka Forbes sinceinception has been in a single word ‘Relation-ships’.

Relationships have made the company reachout to its customers in their homes, transform-ing the way they purify their drinking water,clean their homes and the air they breathe, andsecure their families so that they lead happier,healthier lives. And they have encouraged thecompany to provide opportunities for its peopleto realize the potential of their dreams.

It was able to reach out to its customers intheir homes, transforming the way they purifytheir drinking water, clean their homes and theair they breathe, and secure their families sothat they lead happier, healthier lives. Known tobe an aggressive sales organization that broughta new way of making purchase decisions at home,Eureka Forbes pioneered the concept of DirectSales in India.

“We attribute our success to our most valu-able asset, our People, who we call Eurochamps.They have been and continue to be the corner-stone of our success story. When Eureka Forbesstarted out in 1982 concepts like Vacuum Clean-ing and Water Purification were unheard of. Forit to succeed EFL had to ensure that it reachedout to customers and demonstrated the prod-ucts and explained the concepts in a mannerthat would bring out the customer’s latent need.This led to the introduction of Direct Selling inIndia and since then EFL has never lookedback,” says Suresh L Goklaney, VC & MD, Eu-reka Forbes.

Another example of long term planning andsocietal uplift that has seen a company touchglobal heights and success is that ofVenkateshwara Hatcheries. A company founded

by Dr. B.V. Rao – fondly remembered by poultryfarmers as Father of Indian Poultry Industry, ithas been an example of how, with a small ideabut strong beliefs, a company can become a syn-onym to success itself.

VH Group, as it is widely known, has beenable to create an aura of optimism in a world ofpoultry farming which was a backyard hobby ofrural India. Bringing it to the mainline, the com-pany set a revolution of sorts and created anindustry that has made India touch the top-linenudging shoulders with developed nations.

.”The role of VH Group is two-fold – one as afacilitator of growth by providing to the farm-ers, every essential input required for successfulpoultry farming, matching the best internationalquality standards and technical services round-the-clock, all under one umbrella, at the farm-ers’ door steps. Secondly, we intend to unifyand empower the farmers to get a remunerativeprice for their produce, by supporting farmers’organizations like NECC & Bromark, and alsoby creating facilities for exports, value-addition,like poultry processing and egg processing; cre-ating a nation-wide network of retail distribu-tion outlets,” said Anuradha J. Desai, Chair-person, Venkateshwara Hatcheries Pvt. Ltd.

Long Way to Go

The role of an Entrepreneur is key to acompany’s success and how the are able to live& breathe the Vision, Mission and Goals setout.

Whether 25 years is a milestone is really atough call to make due to the varied challengesof business and the complexities of the com-pany management. Other than that, today’syoung entrepreneurs really don’t think 25 yearsdue to the numerous business possibilities thatcome up during the first couple of years of theIndustry incubation.

“Market conditions such as recession, com-petition, economic and social conditions of theregion or country add to the normal hurdlesand challenges that a company faces during itsjourney. Growth, complacence and sustaining

the long term vision are some of the veryimportant questions that come up dur-

ing the 25 journey. Many times theinitial team that starts the ven-

September 30, 2009A Space Marketing Feature

INDIAN COMPANIES WHICH LASTED TO TOUCH 25 YEARS HAVE A RARE PERSONA. THEY ARE COMPANIES BUILT ON STRONG IDEALS, FOCUSED GOALS, AND ROBUST VISION. BUT THEN THERE ARE THE

FIRST GENERATION ENTREPRENEURS ALSO, WHO ARE TWO TO FIVE YEARS OLD AND LOOKING AT MILE 25 WITH MUCH EAGERNESS, STUDYING MARKET DYNAMICS AND STRESSING ON STRATEGIC PLANNING.

THIS BUNCH OF ENTREPRENEURS, WHO HAVE COME TO FORE WITH AN IDEA, HAVE ENOUGH EXAMPLES TO LOOK AT – WITHIN AND ABROAD, BUT THE CHALLENGES ARE APLENTY AND WHILE 25 YEARS

SEEM TOO LONG A TIME, THEY ARE STRUCTURING THEIR IDEALS, VISIONS AND GOALS TO LAST THAT LONG.

Contd. on Page 3...

2 SEPTEMBER 30 I 2009

VISAKA INDUSTRIES WAS ESTABLISHED

IN 1981 TO MANUFACTURE CORRU-

GATED CEMENT FIBER SHEETS. WITH

THE INITIAL PRODUCTION CAPACITY OF

36,000 TONS PER YEAR, THE FIRST

FACTORY IN PATANCHERU, ANDHRA

PRADESH COMMENCED COMMERCIAL

PRODUCTION OF CEMENT SHEETS IN

1985. THE COMPANY DIVERSIFIED

INTO TEXTILE YARN MANUFACTURING IN

1992. SINCE THEN THERE HAS BEEN

NO LOOKING BACK.

Incorporated as Visaka AsbestosCement Products Limited in the year1981, Dr.G.Vivekanand, an MBBSgraduate was clear in his pursuit. Un-derstanding his lack of experience inthe business, he focused on getting themost proficient professionals in thefield onboard.

“He got in various professionals indifferent disciplines based on theirexperience. He remained the JointManaging Director of the companywhile a professional head was the MDinitially,” says G. Saroja Vivekanand,Joint MD, Visaka Industries.

The company started as an asbestoscement sheet company. The first plantcommenced production on 1st April1985, and the first full year of produc-tion was January 1986 to December1986, the calendar year at that time. Inthe first full year of production, thecompany made profits and declareddividend.

At a time when Andhra Pradesh’sreputation among banks was that of a

bad paymaster as many companiestook loans, floated companies andthen went sick, few companies weresuccessful.

“It was mainly because of DrVivekanand’s foresight and his seri-ousness towards running the companyon a long terms basis that Visaka couldsuccessfully wade through the storm.In due course of time, he got a hangof the business and became the MD in1989. But unfortunately at that timefurther license for future expansionwas difficult as the industry was notgiving new licenses. So we had to lookfor other alternatives. In the quest forfurther growth, Cement was too big tohandle as our turnover was about Rs10-15 crores. The other core sectorthat looked prospective was yarn. In1990, the company changed its namefrom Visaka Asbestos Cement Prod-ucts Limited to Visaka Industries be-cause we were getting into the yarnbusiness and the company name hadto adequately reflect that we were notjust in Asbestos, but were in other busi-nesses also,” said Saroja.

For the last 25 years, Visaka hasbeen steadily growing and has beenconsistently paying dividends to itsshare holders. Visaka has been promptin repaying its debts to all the banks.Visaka continues its corporate socialresponsibility and provides health, wa-ter and education to the under-privi-leged.

When the company entered spin-ning, it did not go for the conventionalring spinning model, but went for thelatest technology, and at that time inIndia nobody had entered into TwinAir Jet technology. The company en-tered the twin air jet technology andall the machines were imported fromJapan. 1992-93 was the first full yearof spinning operation and that was theonly year when we made loss due to

devaluation of currency in 1991,which effected us. 1992-93 and thesubsequent year was the only timewhen we could not declare dividends,but after these two years, the com-pany has been continuously declar-ing dividends.

In 1985-86, the company was 7th inthe industry in terms of overall ca-pacity; today it is 2nd after HyderabadIndustries Limited. The company op-erates in 15 states in terms of salesand about 6 states in terms of manu-facturing presence viz., AP,Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka, West Bengal and UttarPradesh. “The idea is that if you putup a plant, you should be able to sellits production within a radius of 300-500 kms because the transportationcost in terms of percentage of turn-over constitute about 10% of the turn-over. So if you make 1 rupee of sale,the transport cost will be 10 paise. Soit becomes a key element,” saidSaroja.

In 1988, the turnover of the com-pany was Rs 10 cores, which hasgrown to Rs 550 crores in 2008-09.The company is looking at Rs 600crores turnover in 2009-10.

MANUFACTURING TITANIUM DIOXIDE

THROUGH THE CHLORIDE ROUTE,

KERALA MINERALS & METALS LTD

(KMML) PRODUCES VERY PURE

RUTILE GRADE TITANIUM DIOXIDE

PIGMENT. THE DIFFERENT GRADES

CHURNED OUT BY KMML UNDER

BRAND NAME KEMOX HAS A READY

MARKET WHICH ASKS FOR MORE. THE

COMMENDABLE WORK IN RESEARCH BY

THE R&D DEPARTMENT HAS ALSO

HELPED KMML TO ADD MORE

COLOURS TO ITS PORTFOLIO.The history of the beaches of

Sankaramangalam and nearby areasis inextricably intertwined with the his-tory of the precious beaches andKMML. Precious, as was discoveredin 1909 by the German scientist Dr.Schomberg who found traces of mona-zite in the sand flakes on the importedcoir from Sankaramangalam. Thebeaches with a wealth of rare earthminerals became the centre of scien-tific attraction.

By 1932, a visionary private entre-preneur established the F. X. Periraand Sons (Travancore) Pvt. Ltd, theforerunner to KMML. During thecourse of time, KMML changed handsthree times over. In 1956 it was takenover by the state government and wasplaced under the control of the indus-tries department. The unit was subse-quently converted as a limited companyin 1972 by the name of ‘The KeralaMinerals and Metals Ltd.’

The construction of Titanium Diox-ide Pigment using chloride technology

started in 1979. The same was com-missioned in 1984. “KMML is theworld’s only fully integrated TitaniumDioxide pigment manufacturer. Thecompany has a production capacity of40,000 metric tons. The year 2008-09is a golden year for KMML. The turnover of the company moved up to Rs.464 crore and registered a quantumgrowth of 33%. The profit before taxfor the year is Rs. 31 crore. We havemanaged our operation by producing35518 MT of pigment and marketing38465 MT of pigment to achieve thisprofit. This production and sale fig-ures are highest in the history ofKMML,” said K.S.Sreenivas I.A.S,Managing Director, KMML.

During October, 2008 the Govern-ment of Kerala sanctioned 3 major costreduction projects for implementa-tion. These are Projects for separa-tion of Minerals at an estimate cost ofRs. 21 crores; Capacity Augmentationof Synthetic Rutile Plant at an estimatecost of 32 crores and Fuel conversionsystem at an estimate cost of Rs. 44cores.

KMML is also setting up a TitaniumSponge Plant with an installed capac-ity of 500 Tons per Year (TPY) whichlater will be expanded to 1000 TPY.“The plant will utilize technology de-veloped by the Defense MetallurgicalResearch Laboratory, Hyderabad(DMRL). The plant will be first of itskind in the country and on commis-sioning, India will be the seventh na-tion attaining capability to produceTitanium Metal. The project is ex-pected to cost Rs. 145 crores and isfully funded by ISRO,” said Sreenivas.

The construction activity of the newplant is in full swing. Orders for allmajor machinery have been placed.Installation of machinery will com-mence by mid September 2009. Com-missioning trails are scheduled for Dec

2009 and the plant is scheduled to startcommercial production by June 2010.

“Now the present project on Tita-nium Sponge is to go one step ahead -from Titanium Dioxide to TitaniumSponge. The next step would be tomake Titanium as a metal. We are rightnow catering to the interest of thedomestic market. Understanding thatTitanium Sponge has huge demand,world over, the government of Keralais planning to setup 10,000 tons plantin association with Russia. Of courseit is just in the initial stage. If the plantis realized, then out of the 10,000-tonsof sponge, about 75-80% would be ex-ported,” said Sreenivas.

KMML is also coming out with apower project using the cogenerationmethod. The company is looking at a20 MW capacity cogeneration plant ina year or so. KMML is in the processof producing nano titanium dioxidepigment. Its research and develop-ment department have completed pre-liminary work on the same and a pilotplant is being set up for the produc-tion of nano pigment.

K.S.Sreenivas I.A.S, MD, KMML

G. Saroja Vivekanand, Joint MD, Visaka Industries

3 SEPTEMBER 30 I 2009

CMC LIMITED, INCORPORATED ON

DECEMBER 26, 1975, AS THE

‘COMPUTER MAINTENANCE CORPORA-

TION PRIVATE LIMITED’ IS A LEADING

IT SOLUTIONS COMPANY AND A

SUBSIDIARY OF TATA CONSULTANCY

SERVICES LIMITED (TCS LTD), ONE

OF THE WORLD’S LEADING INFORMA-

TION TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING

SERVICES AND BUSINESS PROCESS

OUTSOURCING ORGANISATIONS.

With 18 offices, 150 service locations,520 non-resident locations and over3,600 employees worldwide, CMC pro-vides a wide spectrum of unique In-formation Technology solutions andservices to a clientele of premierorganisations in the government andprivate sectors.

CMC Americas, its subsidiary, ser-vices clients in the US, while its branchoffices in the UK and Dubai marketits products and services in Europe,Africa and the Middle East. Since itsincorporation in 1975, CMC has anenviable record of successfully build-ing IT solutions for massive and com-plex infrastructure and marketprojects.

Major Tasks

• A passenger ticketing and reserva-tions system for Indian Railways,which runs 6,000 passenger trains

carrying over 10 million passengersa day, on a 90,000-km railway net-work covering around 8,000 railwaystations.

• A comprehensive online real timecargo handling system to integrateall complex and varied activities ofcontainer terminals. This system hasbeen implemented for several In-dian and International ports.

• An online transaction processingsystem for the Bombay Stock Ex-change, which handles millions of se-curities trading transactions everyday.

“CMC manages turnkey projects,and have built, managed and sup-ported their customers’ IT systemsacross the value chain - infrastructure,applications and business processes.That is because its capabilities span theentire IT spectrum: IT architecture;hardware; software (including systemsand application software, develop-ment or implementation, mainte-nance, and frameworks); network con-sulting; and IT-enabled processingservices,” said R Ramanan, MD &CEO, CMC Ltd

The company has expertise in a widearray of applications, including real-time systems, online systems, embed-ded systems, process control, transac-tion processing, image processing,data communications, networking,parallel architectures, e-commercetechnologies and e-governance appli-cations.

“CMC’s competitive edge comesfrom combining its technology com-petencies with its understanding ofverticals, straddling a range of sectorsfrom banking and insurance, power,mining and defence to education. Itshigh quality, high value IT solutionshave helped reshape businesses anddelivered measurable results to its cus-tomers,” said Ramanan.

CMC also conducts significant re-search into emerging technologies andcompetence areas at its state-of-the-art, ISO 9001-certified R&D centre inHyderabad. CMC’s customers includesome of the biggest organisations inIndia: Reserve Bank of India, IndianRailways, Indian Oil CorporationLimited, Bharat Petroleum Corpora-tion Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Cor-poration Limited, United WesternBank, Bank of India and Bank ofBaroda. CMC’s growth strategy fo-cuses on capitalising on its unique skillsets and leveraging the synergies withTCS and other Tata group companies,for growth in revenue and profitabil-ity of its operations.

CMC posted revenues of Rs 173crore for the quarter ended June 30,2009, compared to Rs 257 crore dur-ing the corresponding quarter lastyear.

The net profit was at Rs 26 croreduring the quarter under review ascompared to Rs 23 crore during thecorresponding quarter last year. Earn-ings per share stood at Rs 17.66 com-pared to Rs 15.20 during the corre-sponding quarter last year.

ture may not be equipped with skills torun the company when it becomes big.The initial team often struggles to un-leash and allow others to take it for-ward. Every five years, the team has torevise / revisit the strategy to adjust tothe changed environ-ment and businesssituation. Anyorganisation has tokeep re-inventing it-self both in terms ofproducts and servicesit offers. I believe thatinnovation holds thekey to success. It isneedless to say thatthe team involvedneeds to be continu-ously motivated andpassionate about thecompany and its ob-jectives,” says AnantR Koppar, Chairman& CEO, KTwo Tech-nology Solutions.

India’s Growth

& Inspirations

Inspite of all pos-sible real or imagi-nary odds, India to-day stands as a greatexample of hardwork, dedication,commitment, futuris-tic thinking, by all the people involved.

This exuberance has resulted in in-numerable business opportunities forentrepreneurs and individuals to ex-cel.

“When I travelled 20 years back, for-eigners did not recognise or did notcare about Indians. The scenario iscompletely changed now – there is lotof respect for us as intellectual people.After few successful ventures I startedKTwo, a products company for design-ing and developing innovative Indianmade products. KTwo’s vision is tobasically enhance the quality of life bybuilding world class products and so-lutions through innovative applicationof technology. We are currently 2 years

old with a big dream to make this com-pany the largest products company inIndia in the next 25 years,” saysKoppar.

The growth that India has witnessedin the last decadeor so has playeda significant rolein taking manycompanies tothe mile 25. En-trepreneurs likeKoppar havedrawn inspira-tion from suc-cessful brandslike MarutiSuzuki, whichhas grown withIndia’s growth.Maruti, the pio-neer of the In-dian AutomotiveIndustry hasbeen in existencefor the past 26years.

In the wordsof Managing Di-rector ShinzoNakanishi, 61, ‘In1983, it was diffi-cult to even callhome. When Igot through Ihad to shout asthe line was bad.

Today, Business is tough. Life is easier.Competition is stiff and selling cars isno longer easy. Infrastructure has im-proved. Sprawling malls make shop-ping easier. The telecom network isworld class. That’s the speed at whichIndia has grown and that’s what it hastaken for Maruti to really get wherethey are today.’

For Ujwal Makhija of Phonon, whichprovides telecom technology plat-forms to enterprises & content cre-ators, India is a developing and futur-istic market where bureaucracy andleadership are creating a stable envi-ronment for business to grow. “Thepotential of coming out with innova-

tive products and the fundamentals arestrong today as a macro factor. Themain idea has to be that products im-pact the common man’s life in termsof continuous value addition. Whilethere is ease of getting information itis important thatthe information isleveraged too.While the chal-lenge lie in lowconsideration ofethics in terms ofenterprise, I amsure it will changewith time,” he says.

Makhija is in-spired Victor Kiaman American en-trepreneur whofirst made his for-tune as the Presi-dent and CEO ofRemington Prod-ucts, which he fa-mously purchasedafter his wifebought him his firstelectric shaver. Heonce said, “Entre-preneurs are risktakers, willing toroll the dice withtheir money orreputation on theline in support ofan idea or enter-prise. They willingly assume responsi-bility for the success or failure of a ven-ture and are answerable for all its fac-ets.”

Worthy Partners

Another factor that has played a vi-tal role in companies crossing hurdlesand reaching where they are, is thepartners with whom they worked inthe initial stages.

The bigger the brand one is associ-ated with, the more robust the signa-ture of a company becomes.

According to Sanjay Salil, Founder,MediaGuru, a specialist consultancyvertical that provides a complete gamut

of services for setting up Television,Radio and other media channels, 25years is a long period for a start up.

“I started MediaGuru 5 years ago.The vision at that time was to create a

new segment in themedia industry,which was undergo-ing rapid expansion,specially in the elec-tronic sector, tomeet the prevalentneed gap. We havebeen very fortunateto work with some ofthe biggest names ofthe industry. Theyhave helped us gainexperience as well asdomain knowledgeand we have workedas partners withthem rather than asclients. Through thisexperience we havereached where weare today, as theleading media con-sulting firm in AsiaPacific and amongthe most known glo-bally. In 25 years wewant to become oneof the largest mediahouses on this sideof the world,” hesays.

Koppar sites the example of HewlettPackard (HP). “HP started many de-cades ago and has now become theNumero Uno even beating IBM to thenumber one position. From makingPC’s to Servers, they morphed them-selves well into the Professional Ser-vices space and have now emerged asthe biggest amongst the IT Giants. Inthis process of reaching a 100 Billion $Goal, they have successfully acquiredmany companies such as Compaq,EDS, etc and have merged all the enti-ties. The challenge we could see hasbeen many of these businesses werecompetitors and working on the samespace and areas, but with the mergersredundant businesses were either re-

I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT A

SUCCESSFUL COMPANY IS A

COMBINATION OF THE RIGHT

PEOPLE AND THE KNOWLEDGE.

TO HIT OUR TARGETS WE NEED

TO KEEP INNOVATING AND

BRING IN THE RIGHT PEOPLE. I

BELIEVE IN NURTURING YOUNG

INNOVATIVE IDEAS ALONGSIDE

EXPERIENCED MANAGEMENT

WHO CAN TAKE THE CONCEPTS

AND TURN THEM INTO FRUITFUL

PROJECTS

moved or merged and presented asone entity,” he says.

Rural Success

There are many successful entrepre-neurs in the ruralmarket also andthese are thecompanies whichhave innovativemeans and ideasto sustain in amarket which hasnot yet beentapped by others.It is in this part ofIndia where thereis enough scopefor expansion asthe market poten-tial and size ishuge.

Amith Agarwalof StarAgri, anend-to-end solu-tion provider inWa r e h o u s i n g ,P r o c u r e m e n t ,Collateral Man-agement of Agri-Commodities isone such entre-preneur who hasunderstood therural empowerment mantra and thepotential it holds if given the propertreatment. He feels that maximisingcustomer satisfaction and earningprofits on satisfactory grounds willdrive them for long. They were the win-ner of TATA NEN Hottest Startup in2008. “By tapping on the service as-pect in the Agricultural sector and byorganising this highly unorganised sec-tor, we are making profits. Secondlywe focus on building customer rela-tionships and their satisfaction, whichalso helps us grow. With a very goodphysical network and partnershipsacross industry our vision is ‘Empow-ering Rural India’. We want to estab-lish a brand to be expanded nationallyand uplift rural India where every par-ticipant will have shinning future pros-pects and satisfactory growth,” he says.

THE POTENTIAL OF COMING

OUT WITH INNOVATIVE

PRODUCTS AND THE FUNDA-

MENTALS ARE STRONG TODAY

AS A MACRO FACTOR. THE

MAIN IDEA HAS TO BE THAT

PRODUCTS IMPACT THE

COMMON MAN’S LIFE IN

TERMS OF CONTINUOUS

VALUE ADDITION.

MARKET CONDITIONS SUCH AS

RECESSION, COMPETITION,

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL

CONDITIONS OF THE REGION

OR COUNTRY ADD TO THE

NORMAL HURDLES AND

CHALLENGES THAT A COMPANY

FACES DURING ITS JOURNEY.

GROWTH, COMPLACENCE AND

SUSTAINING THE LONG TERM

VISION ARE VERY IMPORTANT

QUESTIONS THAT COME UP

DURING THE 25 JOURNEY. Ujwal Makhija of Phonon

Anant R Koppar of KTwoRaj Anand of Kwiqq

...Contd. from Page 1

Conclusion

While it will take another 15-20 yearsfor most of these entrepreneurs totest the fire-in-their-bellies, one aspectsurely comes to fore – that of an emer-

gence of first genera-tion entrepreneurswho know their busi-ness and who areready to evolve fromthe conservative ap-proach of a 9-6 job.

These are peoplewho have improvisedon innovative ideasand have not reliedon anybody to take itfurther. These areentrepreneurs whohave both the inno-vative mind alongwith an equally bal-anced business acu-men which is neces-sary for any start-up.Not just that, it is abalance that will seethem through in thelong run too. Theseare entrepreneurswho will face the testof time armed withnot just ideas, but

strong market understanding, flexibil-ity, resources and partnerships. Butwhat remains to be seen in a practicalview of today’s scenario is that willthese entrepreneurs be able to keepup with this rare balance of two vividaspects of living in this fast paced worldwith competitive elements all around.

The very thought of touching themile 25 could possibly take a lot ofsheen from the balanced mindset ofmany, but at the end of the mile, it willbe this very mix of ideas and acumenthat they will have to finally thank.People, who go along with this bal-ance will, by all means remain an inte-gral part of the milestone.

For most of the companies touch-ing mile 25 is a dream and we surelyhope that they are well equipped.

R. Ramanan, MD & CEO, CMC Ltd

4 SEPTEMBER 30 I 2009

Apollo Hospitals started as a 150 bedhospital in Chennai in 1983. Founded byDr. Prathap C Reddy, Apollo Hospitalshas made colossal strides to reach whereit is with more and more facets of thefounding vision turning to reality. TodayApollo Hospitals has become one of thecountry’s premier healthcare providers.Its standalone Performance for the yearended 31st March 2009, the turnover hasgone up from Rs. 1152 crores to Rs. 1480crores, representing a healthy growth of29%. Its new initiatives include harness-ing technology to address the healthcaredelivery gap in the country – HealthHiway.

Archies Greetings and Gifts Ltd., wasset up in 1979 by Anil Moolchandani andinitially sold song books, posters andleather patches. The company’s mainproduct, greeting cards was introducedin 1980. The company went public in1995. In 1998, it was listed on the Na-tional Stock Exchange of India andBombay Stock Exchange. The companyexpanded its product range to includeartificial jewellery, crystal ware, choco-lates and perfumes, and accordinglychanged its name to Archies Limited in2002. Archies has about 2000 outlets andfranchisees, called Archies Gallery,spread across 120 cities and 6 countries.

DHFL (Dewan Housing Finance Lim-ited) was launched on 11th of April 1984by Rajesh Kumar Wadhawan. TheFounder Chairman saw the owning of ahome as a critical element to the buildingof identity and confidence of every Indian.DHFL was only the second housing financecompany to be set up in the private sectorin India and its stated business objectivewas to provide access to housing financeto lower and middle income Indians. To-day, DHFL with its Corporate Office atMumbai & 5 Zonal offices strives to reachout to its customers through its extensivenetwork of 74 Branches, 78 Services Cen-ters, 35 Camps managed by 7 RegionalProcessing offices.

Dr Anji Reddy established Dr. Reddy’sLaboratories with an initial capital out-lay of Rs.25 lakhs in 1984. Today it is anemerging global pharmaceutical com-pany. Dr Reddy’s products are marketedglobally, with a focus on India, US, Eu-rope and Russia. Dr. Reddy’s conductsNCE research in the areas of metabolicdisorders, cardiovascular indications,anti-infectives and inflammation. In2008, Dr. Reddy’s formally announcedits US Specialty Business, PromiusPharma, LLC. Overall revenues were atRs. 18.2 billion ($381 million) in Q1 FY10as against Rs. 15 billion ($315 million) inQ1 FY09, representing a growth of 21%.

JK Cement operations commencedcommercial production in May 1975 atits first plant at Nimbahera in Rajasthan.At Nimbahera, the company started witha single kiln with a production capacityof 0.3 million tons. Today, J. K. CementLtd. is one of the largest cement manu-facturers in Northern India. It is alsothe second largest white cement manu-facturer in India by production capacity.While the grey cement is primarily soldin the northern India market, the whitecement enjoys demand in the exportmarket. Its Net Sales /Income from Op-erations for Quarter ended June 2009was 42,834.54 Lakhs as compared to Rs34,352.41 Lakhs the pervious year.

Mangalore University was createdthrough an amendment to the KarnatakaState Universities Act 1976 with its juris-diction over the colleges in the districtsof Dakshina Kannada, Udupi andKodagu. Today, about 120 scholars arepursuing their doctoral studies on itscampus. There are 20 ongoing researchprojects with a total outlay of more thanRs.10 crores. According to the surveyundertaken by National Institute of Sci-ence Communication and InformationResources (NISCAIR), New Delhi,Mangalore University ranked 20th in sci-entific research publications among In-dian Universities in the year 2008-09.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL,formerly Maruti Udyog Limited), a sub-sidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation ofJapan, is India’s largest passenger carcompany, accounting for over 50 per centof the domestic car market. Since incep-tion, MSIL has produced and sold over7.5 million vehicles in India and exportedover 500,000 units to Europe and othercountries. They offer full range of cars-from entry level Maruti 800 & Alto tostylish hatchback Ritz, A star, Swift,Wagon R, Estillo and sedans DZire, SX4and Sports Utility Vehicle Grand Vitara.Its turnover for the fiscal 2008-09 stoodat Rs. 203,583 Million & Profit After Taxat Rs. 12,187 Million.

Patni Computer Systems Ltd. is oneof the leading global providers of Infor-mation Technology services and businesssolutions. Over 14,500 professionals ser-vice clients across diverse industries, from27 sales offices across the Americas, Eu-rope and Asia-Pacific, and 22 GlobalDelivery Centers in strategic locationsacross the world. The company has ser-viced more than 400 Fortune 1000 com-panies, for over two decades. It has long-standing partnerships with over 300 com-panies across the globe. Revenues forthe quarter ended 31st March 2009 wereat US$ 156.4 million. The Operating In-come for the quarter was at US$ 16.0million.

Apollo Hospitals Archies Gallery

DHFL

Dr. Reddy’s

JK Cement Mangalore Univ.Maruti Suzuki

Patni Computers

WE PRESENT FEW COMPANIES WHICH HAVE CROSSED MILE 25 AND ARE LOOKING AHEAD VIBRANTLY AT MILE 50. THESE ARE COMPANIES WHICH HAD THE STRENGTH TO HOLD ON, FIGHT AGAINST OPPRESSION, AND

TAKE ON THE ROAD TO SUCCESS WITH RAW COURAGE BORN OUT OF SPIRITED MINDS AND ROBUST IDEAS. BUT THESE ARE COMPANIES WHICH ARE ON THE BEGINNING OF THE LONG JOURNEY THAT TESTS SUSTE-

NANCE POWERS. AND LOOKING BACK AT THEIR JOURNEY SO FAR, THEY SHOW TREMENDOUS PROMISE TO SUCCEED AS THEY ENTER ADULTHOOD OF THE BUSINESS WORLD. THE COMPANIES FEATURED HERE ARE FEW

AND IN NO SPECIFIC ORDER.

Ador PowertronAdor Group Company has engineer-

ing products and services which includewelding, cutting products and projectsengineering division; welding technologyexchange, education and training; sur-facing and reclamation welding; andpower electronics. Its Industrial and con-sumer products company include per-sonal care products and industrial & con-sumer packaging. The industrial invest-ment/finance services aspect includes in-dustrial investment / venture capital. Thecompany has catered to global require-ments including Australia, Bangladesh,Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indo-nesia, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia,Nepal, New Zealand among others.

HBL Power Systems Ltd is the pio-neer in the Design, development andmanufacture of specialized batteries andDC systems in India. With over 3 decadesof experience in this field, the companyoffers a wide range of batteries and as-sociated electronics providing its custom-ers, custom built solutions to meet criti-cal requirements. The company is theresult of a merger between HyderabadBatteries Limited (1977) and SABNIFEPower Systems Ltd (1986). The companyhas its Head Quarters in Hyderabad, withfactories and Sales Offices in variousparts of the country. HBL also has of-fices all over the globe to cater to its ever-growing Export Business.

HBL Power

For three decades, the innovators oftechnology have trusted NSTL with test-ing and certifying their most importantproducts. Their clients, many of whomwho have been with them for more than20 years, rely on their deep technical ex-pertise, their flexibility and scalability andtheir global reach to ensure that theirproducts are tested to the highest stan-dards and that time to market is opti-mized. NSTL was acquired by Intertek inSeptember, 2007. NSTL’s technology ex-pertise covers the mobile, PC and digitalliving markets. NSTL has base in the USand Canada, the United Kingdom andEurope, the Asia-Pacific region and inIndia.

NSTL

Established in 1984 by Janardan Doshiunder the name of Doshi Associates, thecompany started as manufacturers andsuppliers of Electrical, Electronic andmechanical spares, accessories and equip-ments for industrial furnaces. Today,Doshi Technologies is a leading manu-facturer and supplier of arc type meltingfurnace and ladle refining furnace in In-dia. Its design and manufacturing stan-dards have earned it a place of repute insteel making industries. Their Electrodegripping is through Positive clamping withhydraulic cylinder. Their Hydraulicmechanism for electrode movement hasminimum moving parts as compared toWinch motor mechanism.

Doshi Associates

South Malabar Gramin Bank (SMGB)is the largest Regional Rural Bank inIndia. It was established in 1976 as aScheduled Commercial Bank as per Re-gional Rural Banks Act of 1976. Its areaof operation is limited to 6 districts inKerala. It finances farm & non-farm sec-tors and other employment generationprograms through its 216 branchesspread over these 6 districts. SMGB is asponsored bank of Canara Bank. ThePrimary objective of the Bank is to fi-nance farm & non-farm sectors andother employment generation pro-grams. The bank operates in 8 Districtswith, 228 Branches, 9 Area offices. It hasa staff strength of 1585.

SMGBVedanta is an LSE-listed diversified

FTSE 100 metals and mining company,and India’s largest non-ferrous metalsand mining company based on revenues.The company has additional assets andoperations in Zambia and Australia. It isprimarily engaged in copper, zinc, alu-minium and iron ore businesses, and isalso developing a commercial power gen-eration business. The company has ex-perienced significant growth in recentyears through various expansion projectsfor their copper, zinc and aluminiumbusinesses. Revenue from its businessesincreased from $3,701.8 million in fiscal2006 to $6,578.9 million in fiscal 2009, acompound annual growth rate of 21%.

Vedanta

Inkarp has been successfully promot-ing scientific & analytical instrumentssince 1985, catering to the needs ofPharma, Biotechnology, LifeSciences market. Headquartered inHyderabad, it has offices in 15 major cit-ies. Over the years, Inkarp has estab-lished alliances with a number of leadingForeign Principals, mostly on an exclu-sive basis. Inkarp success is backed by askilled and dedicated manpower thatform the core strength of the organiza-tion. INKARP has, right from its incep-tion, built upan effective customer supportprocess to address the post saleneeds of its customers.

INKARP

Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd(KIOCL) is a Govt of India enterprisehaving its head office in Bangalore. Ithas iron ore mines in Kudremukh onthe Western Ghats and a pelletisationplant in Mangalore. The administrativeactivities of KIOCL are carried out fromBangalore. The actual mining takes placeat Western ghats at Kudremukh. Themined ore is transported through pipe-lines running through districts of Udupiand Dakshina Kannada up to the plantin Panambur, adjacent to the premisesof New Mangalore Port. The ore ispelletised in the pelletisation plant. Thesepellets are exported to countries likeChina, Iran, Japan, Taiwan, etc .

KIOCL