Dear Shareholders,
The global economy continued to face headwinds in financial year 2023
due to geo-political tensions, high inflation and tighter monetary policies by most
central banks around the world. The prognosis of a looming recession setting in during the
financial year 2023 did not materialize, though uncertainties related to economic recovery
and slowing growth rates across the major economies lingered.
On the other hand, India's economy remained resilient. While it is
not immune to the global environment, India is in the spotlight due to its strong domestic
consumption-driven economy. The capital expenditure cycle, both public and private, grew
stronger, with the engineering and manufacturing sector being a key beneficiary during the
financial year 2023. The energy and infrastructure sectors have been the driving force
behind the increase in the order book for Corporate India.
In this backdrop, all the businesses of the Company did commendably
well, as is evident in the Company's strong performance in Revenues, New Orders and
Net Profit. This was representative of the continued growth in capital expenditure and
digital spending by both public as well as private sectors.
Financial Performance Highlights
For the financial year 2023, the Company received New Orders valued at
Rs 463,829 million, a 138.8 percent increase over Rs 194,221 million in the financial year
2022. The Order Backlog as of September 30, 2023 stood at Rs 455,227 million. Sales
(excluding other operating revenues) were up by 21.3 percent to Rs 177,007 million,
compared to Rs 145,881 million in the previous financial year.
Profits from Operations stood at Rs 20,167 million compared to Rs
13,974 million in the previous financial year, an increase of 44.3 percent over the
previous financial year. The Company's Profit before Tax stood at Rs 25,451 million
compared to Rs 16,802 million in the previous financial year, an increase of 51.5 percent.
The Profit after Tax for the financial year was Rs 19,113 million, an increase by 52.9
percent compared to Rs 12,497 million in the previous financial year. The Board of
Directors of the Company has recommended a dividend of Rs 10/- per equity share of the
face value of Rs 2/- each for the financial year ended September 30, 2023. The above
financial performance is for continuing operations.
Business Performance Highlights
Among the key highlights during the financial year 2023, the Company
received an order worth approximately Rs 260 billion to supply 1,200 locomotives of 9000
horsepower (HP) for Indian Railways. This is the single largest order in the history of
the Company. The locomotives would be delivered over an eleven-year period, and the
contract includes 35 years of full service maintenance. This is an outstanding
achievement!
The Company is also supplying steel tank traction transformers for the
1,200 locomotives as part of the above-mentioned order. These steel tank transformers are
competitive and more efficient when compared to the aluminum option. It won several big
orders for supplying large power transformers to India's largest electric power
transmission utility as part of the customer's efforts for integrating renewable
energy.
In a step to address the fast-growing demand for electric vehicle (EV)
charging infrastructure in India, the Company acquired the EV division of Mumbai-based
Mass-Tech Controls Private Limited. The division is engaged in design, engineering and
manufacturing of a wide range of alternate current chargers, and 30 to 300kW capacity
direct current chargers for various end applications for EVs. The addition of products
will complete the Company's portfolio of e-mobility solutions. It will also address
the needs of the Indian market, which has unique requirements such as lower power rating
and parallel charging.
Earlier in the financial year 2023, the Company launched its first
industry-ready 5G routers. The applications on industrial 5G offer long-term benefits to a
wide range of customer segments that depend on a strong communication backbone. These
include intralogistics, autonomous machines, industrial edge, remote diagnostics,
augmented reality, assisted work, wireless backhaul, edge computing and mobile equipment.
The availability of 5G is a milestone on the path to Industry 4.0, in which smart
factories become more flexible and productive thanks to end-to-end digitalization and the
Internet of Things.
Digital transformation
The Company achieved a significant milestone for the Siemens Xcelerator
platform with the inclusion of 100 India-relevant digital use and reference cases across
multiple industries such as Food & Beverage, Data Centers, Commercial Buildings, Power
Utilities and others. Siemens Xcelerator is an open and evolving digital business platform
that comprises a comprehensive, curated portfolio that includes digital and Internet of
Things (IoT)-enabled offerings (software, hardware and digital services) from Siemens, and
certified third parties.
Part of the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio is Industrial Operations X, an
open and interoperable portfolio for automating and operating industrial production and
Building X, a scalable digital building platform to digitalize, manage and optimize
building operations.
This milestone is evidence of the progress that the Company has made
over the past year with Siemens Xcelerator and a powerful ecosystem, which enables it to
support the increasing demand for digitalization and decarbonization solutions in India.
Sustainability
The Company's sustainability goals are defined under the holistic
DEGREE framework (Decarbonization, Ethics, Governance, Resource Efficiency, Equity,
Employability). The Company ensures and prioritizes sustainability in its own operation
and has adopted a value chain approach' supporting both its suppliers as
well as customers on their sustainability journey.
Continuous efforts are being made to decarbonize the operations of the
Company in the areas of space optimization, energy efficiency, resilience and green
electricity. The Company has installed advanced HVAC chiller system technology as well as
energy-efficient equipment and solutions for thermal storage and day light harvesting.
Green electricity is generated through roof top solar panels in the factory premises and
also through a power purchase agreement. In addition, it has initiated a program for
decarbonization of the supply chain. It involves assessment of emissions, decarbonization
solutions and carbon reduction targets. G-AVATAR, the Global Data Monitoring & Remote
Analysis Center for Building Related Data located in the Company's Kalwa factory
complex, is a showcase of digitalization for energy management and carbon reporting. It
monitors over 14,000 data points from 1,300 locations across 90 countries. The Company
empowers its customers to accelerate their sustainability goals along three impact areas:
decarbonization and energy efficiency, resource efficiency and circularity, people
centricity and societal impact.
Further details on ESG disclosure of the Company can be found in the
Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report.
Business Responsibility
The Company considers it as its economic, environmental and social
responsibility to foster sustainable local development and add value to the local economy
in which it operates. Its CSR projects are long-term in nature and designed to create
sustainable value to society.
Through various initiatives, the Company supports over 83,000 students
and trainees every year across their entire learning cycle of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
The Company's Dual VET (Vocational Education and Training) program
has seen remarkable success. Over 53,000 trainees benefit every year through the program,
which is currently implemented at over 350 government Industrial Training Institutes
(ITIs) across 17 states. As part of the program, thousands of micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) provide in-plant training to the ITI trainees. The Dual VET program is
being implemented in collaboration with Deutsche Gesellschaft f?r Internationale
Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government
of India and Tata STRIVE. During the financial year 2023, Siemens Scholarship Program
completed 10 years since it was launched in 2013 with 20 students. It has since expanded
to 1,335 meritorious and deserving students from 125 government engineering colleges
across 27 states in India. The program enables access to quality education to economically
disadvantaged communities based on the German model of Dual Education and ensures equal
opportunity for girls.
Another key initiative is Project Jigyaasa aimed at promoting
curiosity-based learning and encouraging students to take up Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. It promotes STEM education through science
fairs where school teams build innovative projects that address real-life problems.
Project Jigyaasa is currently being implemented in 13 locations across seven states in
India. Under social and environment focus areas, Project Asha continued to work towards
enhancing living conditions for over 600,000 people in over 100 villages in Palghar and
Aurangabad. It follows an integrated development model and leverages simple, inclusive
technology. The Company also provided humanitarian assistance to communities affected by
the floods in Delhi. These are a few highlights you will find more details in the
CSR Report later in the Annual Report as well as in the Business Responsibility and
Sustainability Report.
People Excellence
The Company values, encourages and practices a sharing culture. It is
thanks to this culture of empowerment and collaboration between teams and people that the
Company has performed well yet again. A strong growth mindset, a feeling of belonging and
trust are key to building long-lasting partnerships within the organization as well as
with customer and partners. During the financial year 2023, the Company implemented
measures to strengthen its internal practices and the overall culture for employees while
enhancing its employee value proposition. The Company recognizes that up-skilling,
re-skilling and cross-skilling of its people is crucial for its continued success. In
financial year 2023, it focused on capability building in technical skills, leadership
readiness as well as upskilling of people engaged in manufacturing, sales, and engineering
to build a flexible and competitive workforce. It also recruited experts in engineering,
sales, and digital domains in line with business requirements.
Several learning and development initiatives were launched, covering
leadership capability, sustainability and Siemens Xcelerator. One such program is Lead,
Empower, Accelerate, Practice (LEAP), which is an action-oriented learning program to
build leadership capabilities aligned to the Company's strategic priorities. The
Company recorded over 227,000 cumulative hours of learning during the financial year 2023.
Outlook
The geo-political tensions continued to escalate around the world in
financial year 2023. The US economy did witness improvement as seen in the
better-than-expected GDP growth in the latter part of the financial year. However, the
economies of Europe and China remained subdued and are expected to experience slower
growth. Elections are also scheduled in many democratic nations across the world in
financial year 2024. In spite of these challenges and risks, the global economic growth
expectations can be viewed with cautious optimism with a growth rate of 2.7 percent
in financial year 2024 compared to 3 percent in financial year 2023. There is little
probability of global recession as many feared in the beginning of the financial year and
the focus will be on growth, inflation and monetary policy. The trend in commodity prices
also needs to be watched in the next financial year. This is especially true for
green metals' such as copper, nickel, zinc and cobalt that are key raw
materials for clean energy applications.
India has been largely immune from the economic turmoil. In spite of
global economic risks, India will be the fastest growing economy for the next few years
and a preferred emerging market for investments. India has gained a strong presence in
various global diplomatic and trade forums. It has made progress towards achieving its
goal to be a global manufacturing hub. As global supply chains seek to diversify, India
stands to gain as a stable destination for manufacturing and business.
The General Elections in 2024 may cause a momentary pause in tendering
for large projects but will not disrupt the long-term growth trajectory, which is intact
due to our nation's political stability and consistency in policy measures. The GDP
growth rate is also expected to pick up momentum, moving from the current 6.4 percent to
above 7 percent in the next 3-4 years.
Siemens Limited is best placed to support India in its growth story.
Whether in Energy, Infrastructure, Manufacturing or Mobility, Siemens Limited is well
positioned to provide technologies and solutions that can address India's
requirements. In tune with the increased capital expenditure seen across sectors, the
Company too announced capital expenditure of Rs 416 crore to expand its manufacturing
capacity and strengthen the product portfolio. The investment is toward capacity
expansions of Power Transformers used in the Power Transmission business and of Vacuum
Interrupters for Medium Voltage Switchgear used in the Power Distribution sector. The
expansion in capacities of both these products will enable the Company to meet the growing
demand both in India and globally. I am certain that the Company with its strong
corporate governance, technology, products and people will march forward in its
successful, sustainable and profitable growth journey. In conclusion, I would like to wish
good health and safety and sincerely thank our customers, the board, the management,
unions and most importantly, the dedicated employees for their consistent support and
commitment to Siemens Limited.
Deepak S. Parekh
Chairman
Mumbai, Tuesday, 28th November 2023