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| Celebrating achievement | | THE BS JURY |
| BS Reporter / Mumbai Mar 19, 2009, 00:52 IST |
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In a year that saw India Inc hit new highs, it wasn't easy figuring out who came out on top. After much debate and discussion, a distinguished six-member jury picked the winners of the BS awards for 2007-08.
.jpg) It all seems rather distant now but the three years to 2007-08 saw Indian industry at its best. Whether it was simply running their businesses more efficiently or cashing in on new opportunities, Indian companies did it all. The results showed up in the numbers— corporate sales in those three years rose by a compounded 21 per cent.
Given this tremendous performance, it wasn’t easy to decide which, among hundreds of companies, had excelled. The task before the Business Standard jury was truly an unenviable one. They had to come up with not only the CEO of the Year but also look for achievers in other categories: Small and Medium Enterprises(SME), Multinational Companies (MNC), Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and Unlisted Firms.
Chairing the jury meeting on a pleasant winter afternoon, at the Taj Mahal Hotel, in New Delhi, was Nandan Nilekani, Co-chairman, Infosys Technologies. The other members: Nitin Paranjpe, CEO and Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever, Adil Zainulbhai, Managing Director, India, McKinsey & Company, Sanjay Nayar, Chief Executive Officer, KKR India Advisors, Asim Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone Essar and Subir Raha, former Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC.
If the mood in Indian industry has changed for the worse since the heady days in the mid 2000s, these leading decision makers weren’t about to let it affect them. As it is, poring over reams of data was hard enough, even if Business Standard had tried to make things easier.
In a preliminary sorting exercise, Business Standard looked for those firms that had posted both a top line and bottom line growth of over 20 per cent compounded in each of the three years between 2005-06 and 2007-08. Other financial criteria including returns on net worth and capital employed were applied to arrive at a shortlist.
Trying to figure out which of these companies had really battled the odds to emerge successful was tough even for an experienced team such as this one. Which firm had faced the keenest competition, perhaps from MNCs, but despite that had succeeded to carve out a niche for itself? Which contender had managed to use its capital efficiently and turn in good returns on net worth? Which of these managements had a robust business model? Which of these players had not compromised on ethics? Who had been able to respond quickly when the tide turned? Which one had always pursued high standards of corporate governance? And which of them would be able to keep up the good work even in difficult times?
No, it wasn’t easy. After all, the idea here was to reward initiative for creating a business that was differentiated and there are several such stories. After an initial screening which threw up a list of six contenders, the debate raged around which of these was truly a winner. Collective wisdom decided that the honour belonged to Ms Meher Pudumjee, chairperson Thermax Ltd. Ms.Pudumjee, the jury members felt, had risen to the challenge of competing in an industry dominated by bigger players and had come through with flying colours.
The Pune-headquartered Thermax posted growth in net sales of a compounded 41 per cent and in net profits of 62 per cent between 2005-06 and 2007-08. But it was more than the numbers; the reputation of the company as one that had fought hard while maintaining the highest corporate governance standards tilted the scales in its favour.
The SME category had its fair share of contenders; it’s no secret that over the last few years, the country has seen the emergence of hundreds of entrepreneurs, who in a strong economic environment, have scaled up their businesses rapidly. The company that caught the attention of the experts was Opto Circuits, the Bangalore-based firm that makes medical equipment.
In the MNC space, which featured heavyweights across sectors, the jurors voted for Areva T&D, which they felt was the clear winner. Among the top equipment suppliers to the Power T&D sector in India, Areva, with its high-end technology for sub-stations, has clocked a compounded growth in sales of 37 per cent in the three years to 2007-08.
Moving on to the PSU segment, members believed that of all the contenders, Power Grid Corporation, a company that was listed on the stock exchanges just a couple of years back, had played a “game-changing” role in the industry. And in the unlisted segment, Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE), which bought out the tractors business of Eicher Motors, was adjudged the winner. TAFE, the jurors felt had done well in the face of competition from both local heavyweights and MNCs.
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