chairman
Dear shareholders,
I am happy to share with you your company's spectacular performance in 2010-11 which
saw it cross several new milestones. We surpassed previous year's all time high
consolidated net profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 324 crore by 49 per cent thereby setting a
new record at Rs. 484 crore during the year. Though the profitability in large measure was
propelled by a dramatic improvement in the demand for packaging films, the other
businesses also made significant contributions.
At SRF, we continued to demonstrate our business leadership by building and augmenting
new product and process capabilities. We made significant headway in our effort to
complete approvals of our newly developed Polyester Tyre Cord Fabrics from some of the
leading tyre majors. We diversified our product portfolio especially for the auto and the
electrical segments by developing and commercialising poly carbonate based engineering
plastics. And, we further stepped up our R&D efforts to discover and develop molecules
for some of the world's leading pharma and agro-chemicals manufacturers. The capability of
the R&D team in the Chemicals Business is increasing all the time and we believe that
they will be the growth-driver for the future of the Chemicals Business.
Simultaneously we continued to work towards strengthening our long-term fundamentals
and global competitiveness through continuous investments in adding, replacing and
upgrading capacity and technology. Recognising the distinctive potential of growth in all
our businesses, we embarked upon several projects worth around Rs. 1500 crore during the
year. We also took several strategic initiatives to expand our global operations. We
entered into a joint venture to set up a Biaxially Oriented Poly Ethylene Terephthalate
(BOPET) films plant in Bangladesh and obtained board approval for setting up a Biaxially
Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) films plant in South Africa.
These developments clearly point to a brighter future. And, the credit must go to those
who deserve this the most - our people who made concerted efforts to achieve a .
remarkable breakthrough in our company's performance. We continued to draw on our talent
pool and our 'management way' of TQM to build and improve upon our organisational
capabilities in tune with changing business imperatives. Using IT as a platform we set off
on a path of 'knowledge management' making a paradigm shift in the way we contribute and
collaborate across the company. Among other people development initiatives we worked on
integration of our overseas units with the parent company through relevant policies and
systems.
More importantly, we launched a company-wide campaign to reiterate our commitment to
living the organisational values. We also created and communicated a 'brand charter' which
defined what we stood for as an organisation. Sure, all these efforts are aimed at
enabling our colleagues to align with our company's business proposition, which revolves
around ethical values. There is no gainsaying the fact that adherence to these values is a
bedrock of all our actions.
Another vehicle that drives our businesses is the creation of societal value through
sustainable means. Pursuing a purpose of changing the lives of the underprivileged in our
community we continued to work on the identified areas of Education, Health Care-HIV AIDS,
Natural Resource Management (NRM), and Affirmative Action in support of SC/ST, the
historically disadvantaged people in India.
In particular, we expanded our ambit of work in education through our social wing, SRF
Foundation. We intensified our efforts to improve infrastructure and teachers' training in
all the 40 schools we have adopted in the Mewat region of Haryana. Many other companies,
government agencies, NGOs, employee volunteers, educational institutes and the community
at large joined us in our efforts to transform the lives of the children in these schools.
It's truly satisfying to be able to contribute towards community development in a
meaningful manner. Recognitions for our socially and environmentally responsible work
further inspire us all to reaffirm our commitment to the cause. It's a matter of great
pride for all of us that our Chemicals Business was conferred with the prestigious
'CII-ITC Sustainability Award-2010' for the third year in a row for its endeavor towards
sustainable economic, environmental and social development. You will be happy to know that
a consortium of Netherlands based Civil Society Organisations, selected our NRM project,
the only one in Asia, as a unique example of NGO-Business Partnership to be presented at a
learning event at Erasmus University, Rotterdam during the year. In line with our
proactive approach towards managing climate change, we undertook an ISO 14064-compliant
study to measure the carbon footprint of its Chemicals Business based at Bhiwadi during
the year.
The journey continues. We will continue to engage with our customers. We will continue
to create value for our society. And, we will continue to spur innovation. Let me assure
you that we will remain committed to bringing continuous improvements in all that we do
the work ethos that reflect in the new tagline of your company, We always find a better
way.
I look forward with confidence to achieve total excellence.
With kind regards,
ARUN BHARAT RAM
Chairman