A Future-Ready Redington, Today.
Dear Shareholders,
I am delighted to present Redington Limited's Annual Report for FY24.
It captures our collective achievements for the year gone by and outlines the exciting
opportunities that lie ahead. Your Company with its strong leadership positions in
high-growth markets of the world - India and the Middle East - and its firm commitment to
bridge the gap between technology innovation and adoption is positioned well to capture
the new growth opportunities enabled by digital technologies. Redington is future- ready,
today.
Our markets are experiencing a digital transformation of an
extraordinary scale. Consider India. Large-scale investments in Digital Public Goods
(DPGs) have acted as a crucial catalyst for growth. DPGs have empowered a large portion of
the population to access the internet and participate in the digital economy. Aadhaar, the
world's largest biometric ID system, along with Unified Payments Interface, has played a
pivotal role in streamlining government services and achieving financial inclusion for
millions of Indians. This emphasis on digital infrastructure has positioned India as a
global leader in the digital identity space.
Our journey till date demonstrates our deep appreciation of the
transformative power of technology at scale. Over the last three decades, we have
facilitated sustained access to cutting- edge technologies by enabling our partners -
technology companies and channel partners - to overcome market- and technology-related
frictions.
Professor J. Ramachandran
Chairman
Likewise, in the Middle East, the governments of the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are seeking to transform their economies by
investing heavily in new generation technologies. The UAE government recently launched the
UAE National Program for Artificial Intelligence to position itself as a force in AI. The
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as part of its Vision 2030 plan to diversify its economy, has
created a USD 100 Billion fund to invest in chip manufacturing and in building large-scale
data centres.
Our journey till date demonstrates our deep appreciation of the
transformative power of technology at scale. Over the last three decades, we have
facilitated sustained access to cutting-edge technologies by enabling our partners -
technology companies and channel partners - to overcome market- and technology-related
frictions.
Capturing the growth ahead, however, will not be bereft of challenges.
With its power to create content and synthesise ideas, AI is expected to shape 'all of
what we (humans) do' and will naturally disrupt the traditional ways of doing things and
will require all to adapt. It will cause all firms to review and redefine their value
propositions.
In our business, we are already witnessing an acceleration in the shift
towards consumption-oriented buying behaviour that was set in motion by the emergence of
cloud-based architecture. Pay-for-use is gaining momentum as it affords the customers
greater flexibility to adapt; it enables them to experiment with the new tools and
technologies, assess their efficacy in practice without having any obligations to buy or
even use them for long. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional 'pay & own'
model that would require them to make upfront commitments of both financial and human
capital.
The natural corollary to the shift towards consumption- driven buying
behaviour is a change in the models of customer engagement: from meeting the customers
periodically to ascertain their needs to something akin to 'real-time' customer service!
Consumption can increase only if the products are in use! Solving problems that inhibit
adoption and use of technologies by customers will be critical for growth. In the future,
besides assuming prudent credit risks and providing efficient logistics, customer
engagement models will determine success.
Consumption can also increase by building customers' awareness and
appreciation of the power and efficacy of new technologies in solving their business
problems. However, enabling adoption of many of these new-to-the- world technologies will
require significant investments in human and financial capital to bridge the knowledge
gap. The explosive growth in the number of companies developing new technologies, for
instance, will call for significant increase in managerial effort to identify and build
relationships with them. Likewise, translating these
new and diverse technologies into viable offerings to customers will
call for significant investments in upgrading the knowledge and deployment skills of
channel partners. Finally, customers would want to save themselves the burden of
evaluating and integrating niche/diverse technology products into working solutions; they
would rather opt for pre-configured 'solution suites' that address their needs
effectively. Thus, overcoming knowledge frictions that render adoption of new technologies
difficult, will be critical for success in the future.
As your Chairman, I am happy to report that your Company is
future-ready in this knowledge environment. We are well-prepared to benefit from the shift
towards consumption-led growth even as we continue to excel in traditional product
ownership-led models of growth.
We have the best-in-class technical and managerial talent in the
Company that helps our partners and customers to negotiate market, technology and
knowledge-related frictions. The commitment of our people to create value continues to be
the cornerstone of your Company's success.
In closing, on behalf of all of us, I extend my deepest gratitude to
each of you, our esteemed shareholders.
Your belief in us, as reflected in the continued growth in the
Company's market value that stands at nearly $2 Billion, motivates us. Every day.
Thank you.
Professor J. Ramachandran
Chairman