From the Managing Director's desk
"I firmly believe that India could play a far more decisive role in catalysing thegrowth of the global economy. For this to become a reality the country needs nationalchampions in business - corporations with an Indian soul that would use their immensemanagerial and innovative capabilities to serve the country's larger priorities."
Dear Shareholders
Today's business world is one of disruption where every venture seeks to challengestatus quo. rf To contour an operating model I never thought of even a decade I before.To grow the market size H before carving out market share.
And this reality is borne out in one glaring example - the valuation of a hotelaggregator far exceeds I the cumulative valuation of India's decades old five-star hotelchains. This in my mind is true value i creation.
This is what your Company seeks to do. For behind our every strategy there is a silentvoice that constantly urges us to 'Put India First'.
I firmly believe that India could play a far more decisive role in catalysing thegrowth of the global economy. For this to become a reality the country needs nationalchampions in business - corporations with an Indian soul that would use their immensemanagerial and innovative capabilities to serve the country's larger priorities.
In our endeavour to emerge as a national champion we covered considerable groundduring the year under review. We singularly focused our energy on setting up ourproduction lines at our greenfield Bengaluru facility. We commissioned two lines (In-LineGalvanized pipes and Designer Galvanised pipes) leveraging the global Galvant technologyin the first quarter of the current year and produced about 10200 tonnes of output duringthe period. This is healthy start for its showcases the acceptability of our pioneeringsolutions and lends a credibility watermark on our efforts to align India with globalstandards.
Further we hope to commission our manufacturing infrastructure for our other productsnamely Narrow Sections and Door Frames at our Dadri unit in the second half of the currentyear. With these facilities on stream we should catapult the Company into a new growthorbit over the medium term.
Going forward...
Having successfully emerged out of the global financial crisis a decade ago the worldeconomy continues to remain fragile. The recurring dips in growth and employment are acause for concern despite all-out attempts by advanced and developing economies to shoreglobal economic progress. The cascading effect of the economic slowdown in the richernations have left deep scars across the globe.
Though developing countries managed to drive more than half of the global growth theirgrowth rate have reduced primarily owing to the protectionist trade policies adopted bythe advanced economies as a tool to strengthen their respective economies. But thereality is ... progress collectively and individually is losing steam.
India is no exception to this trend. The lone shining star on the global horizon seemsto be on the threshold of an economic slowdown with most indicators showing a downwardtrend. With consumerism dipping with every passing month India Inc. has throttled itsgrowth strategies. Moreover the issues plaguing the NBFC space have gradually snowballedinto a full-scale liquidity crisis for the nation. The bottomline then is that theecosystem in which we operate appears to be challenging for the current year.
Having said that I continue to be optimistic of our prospects.
For the nation is striving hard to grapple with the situation and is seeking ways tokickstart the economic growth engines. One important move in this direction is the hugeinfrastructure spend announced by the Government.
This announcement augurs well for a number of user sectors including pipes and tubesalthough I feel it would take some time for the budgetary allocation to transform intoon-ground development.
Our blueprint
Fiscal 2018-19 was a landmark year of building and putting the pieces in place for ournext leap forward. In the years ahead we will capitalise on our investments andadvancements.
Our topmost priority would be to reach our products to the consumers. This would bequite a challenge. Because of important realities
• We are not selling products we will be marketing concepts.
• We are not in the pricing game. We are in the value-delivery segment.
In India it takes some doing to market a concept because it means asking the customerto pay more now for value which he will derive over a period of time. This meansexplaining the USP's of our product and technology and building his trust in ourcommitment. But I am confident that the Company's dynamic team will be upto the task. Ilook forward to make 2019-20 another record-breaking year for Apollo TriCoat and all itsstakeholders barring unforeseen developments.
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my fellow Directors for theircommitment and professionalism in paving the Company's long-term path.
I would like to thank our esteemed shareholders partners and other stakeholders forbelieving in our story and reposing their confidence in our capability and extending theirsupport in our long journey of endurance.
Warm regards
Rahul Gupta
Managing Director.
