Stronger through adversity
My dear fellow shareholders,
I believe being resilient during unprecedented circumstances while
staying committed to the principles of innovation and ESG is a hallmark of sustainable
businesses. In this regard, the strong operating and financial performance delivered by
Welspun India Ltd (WIL) despite all headwinds makes your Company truly sustainable.
Despite historically high levels of commodity prices, logistics disruptions, persistence
of the pandemic, and onset of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, WIL delivered revenue growth of
27%, with the core business of Home Textiles alone crossing the billion- dollar mark.
FMCG of home textiles is now a reality
While the core B2B continued to be strong, it is heartening that the
emerging businesses of Brands, E-commerce, Flooring and Advanced Textiles together grew by
44% during the year and contributed 26% to overall revenues. Our brands have been
witnessing a rapid increase in awareness and acceptance with revenue growth of 40% with a
strong traction in the international and domestic markets. Two of our brands in the
domestic market - SPACES and Welspun have independently gained recognition. Our expanded
retail footprint in 6,642 stores across 482 towns, resulted in the Domestic Retail
business delivering a growth of 66% during the year and recording its highest-ever
revenue. The recently launched Flooring business too registered new milestones, with over
100% growth on the back of considerable investments in the state-of-the-art plant,
expansion into new geographies, and two patent filings. On an overall basis, WIL has 35
patents filed globally, the largest for any Home Textiles player, enabling our unwavering
focus on innovation as a key value driver.
Shaping equitable, inclusive and sustainable growth
At Welspun, we believe in creating shared value and pursuing the path
of inclusive growth, with circularity embedded across our entire value chain. In line with
this objective,
WIL has set benchmarks for the industry through its differentiated
efforts in all areas of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) where several
significant outcomes have already been achieved. This has been reflected in the rating by
Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), one of the world's foremost sustainability indices,
as part of its corporate sustainability assessment 2021, where the Company secured an ESG
rating of 48 which is 62% higher than the average industry score. Another significant
recognition during
FY22 came from the Government of India, with WIL being ranked 1st under
'Best Industry' category at the National Water Awards by the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti
for its water stewardship. The Company was also recognised with a Jury Special Mention
Award for its STP to recycle and reuse domestic sewage at the Frost & Sullivan and
TERI's Sustainability 4.0 Awards 2021, which honoured companies embedding Sustainability
with Economic Value Creation.
Future ahead
Your Company has been industryleading, driven by its unparalleled
competitive edge that comes from a highly-differentiated business model, investments in
new-age technologies like Blockchain, and unique value proposition to customers. Some of
the macro headwinds do continue to persist and even rise in intensity, inflationary
pressures being a major one. We are seeing inflation, particularly in Western economies,
rise to levels not seen in several years. This is likely to affect business and consumer
sentiment in the medium term. As a business, however, we remain focused on strengthening
our journey as a manufacturer to 'FMCG of home textiles' with increasing contribution from
a set of trusted brands enabled by investments in innovation and technology and the
success we are already seeing in our business-to-consumer (B2C) and direct-to-consumer
(D2C) initiatives globally.
Appreciation
Our progression and accomplishments could not have been possible
without the sustained support and contribution of all our stakeholders. I express my
sincere gratitude to all Welspunites as well as to our customers, shareholders, Board of
Directors, Bankers and all other institutions and individuals who have stood by us through
our journey. I look forward to the future with great optimism.
B. K. Goenka
Chairman