Voltas Ltd

Dear shareholders,

It gives me great pleasure to present to you this year's Integrated Report – a document that distinctly exhibits our purpose, potential and the context we operate within. It perfectly encapsulates our comprehensive strategy of value creation and strategic decisions that have helped us thrive as a market leader.

2020-21 – a year that could easily be termed as one-of-its-kind – threw several challenges and brought about tremendous changes for all of us. It was a year dominated by crises and defined by heroic responses.

Underpinned by our strong resolve, we, at Voltas, took cautious but confident steps in the right direction to benefit from the current changing and emerging trends.

With the customer at the centre of our universe and all our business operations, we continued to focus on providing value to all our stakeholders at large. In addition, being celebrated for our determination and resilience, we were prompt in adopting the ‘New Normal' and pushing the boundaries through this pandemic. It is my pleasure to share with you our performance in 2020-21.

Fortunate to be a Consumer Durables Company with a robust portfolio to deliver in a COVID-19 world and beyond, Voltas made substantial progress despite these unusual circumstances. While there was a 1.8% decline in the Consolidated Total Income for the fiscal year, Profit after Tax was higher by 1.5% at 528.79 crores. The Balance Sheet as of 31 March, 2021, remained healthy with strong reserves, adequate cash and minimal borrowings. These results keep me optimistic about the coming months. I'm confident that brand Voltas will bounce back, playing an integral role in shaping India as the world's manufacturing hub.

There were a number of things that worked in our favour. One of these being Voltas' need to always have a well-thought contingency plan to bolster against unprecedented challenges. This credo is clearly reflected in the way we cushioned ourselves last year. With the perspective of self-reliance in mind, we focused on design and thinking-led product development, consumer centricity and digitalisation. We prioritised our business continuity plan based on these pillars. We worked in synergy to deliver our core brand promise of convenience and comfort to our customers in India and across the world. Keeping all this in mind, we continued to plan for the future, as always. Voltasites across the world have a common goal to be swift and agile in imbibing capabilities to move forward across businesses and industries.

Going forward, we are positive about easing and improving of consumer sentiments. With changing lifestyles post COVID-19, rising demand for consumer durables and appliances, we are optimistic about continuing our growth journey. Our focus on building the orderbook, following a cautious and risk mitigated approach, will support the Project business. The decision to restructure the businesses will start reaping benefits in near term across all verticals. We are optimistic that the overall industry in financial year 2021-22 will be touching the pre-COVID-19 levels.

I take this opportunity to thank our Board for their invaluable inputs and support. I look forward to their continued support and guidance for many years to come. Most importantly, I would like to thank our employees for their contribution, hard work, dedication, and drive which ensured that we remained competitive in the market during such unprecedented times.

I am certain that our ability to think proactively and comprehend the emerging future trends will propel us to move onto our next course of growth to meet the potential that tomorrow has to offer.