- Alakesh Roy, Managing Director, Zamil Steel India
Steel production capacities in India are known to have gone up in the last couple of years. However, the country is still lacking major infrastructure in many areas. According to Alakesh Roy, Managing Director, Zamil Steel, “We have not moved the growth story to villages and the tertiary cities. This is where the growth will come from and a major driver will be infrastructure.” He shares more on the steel industry and the company’s plans...
Which segments are driving demand for your products?
Our products cater to the market where capacity expansion is required, in whatever form.
Now, capacity expansion also comes from consumption growth, because we are not an export-driven economy and steel is a protected industry by the government. If domestic consumption grows, the steel industry will also grow. We are, however, upbeat about the growth potential for the PEB sector because there are newer sectors that are opening up for PEB. Food and waste processing will also be major players.
Introduce us to the company’s new launches.
On the product front, we have designed and delivered new louvers, new systems of skylight – whereby the daytime electricity consumption is almost zero, and we have installed solar power in our own plant. Further, we are augmenting that all buildings supplied by us are solar capable, which means that we can put solar energy on to the rooftop solution. With respect to high-rise structures, we have introduced the concept of vertical manufacturing, for which we are pioneers. There is a rapid change in the environment and its conditions, and hence, we have involved global engineering styles to develop products to suit these new equirements.
How can good quality steel withstand occurrences such as the recently reported bridge and building collapses and infrastructure accidents?
You will not find any accident where a steel bridge or building has collapsed, other than the steel over-bridge in Kolkata that did.
This is because steel is much malleable and ductile, and it can withstand the passage of time with proper maintenance. Today, if you look at all the flyovers being built across cities, steel is not the preferred choice; brick and mortar, concrete and precast is usually used. While they are good, technically and technologically, they are subject to wear-and-tear. Steel might sag, but it will not crack. This is a segment where we should push the utilisation of steel in building bridges. Today, most steel players undertake constant R&D, which has led to immense technological growth for the sector. Generally, all R&D is limited to looking within, but we have instructed our supply chain team to survey and collect data from vendors globally and, in turn, suggest alternatives of steel, its current rates and material specifications. This helps us provide better optimised solutions.
What is the company’s current market share? What are your growth prospects for this fiscal?
While we were not even among the top five three years back, this year, we are at No. 2. Our market share today is around 15 per cent. Further, we have increased capacities in our existing facilities. This year, we are growing at 60 per cent, and our target for next year is set for 20-25 per cent further growth YoY. Our main target is to cross the 100,000 mt mark.
(Communication by the management of the company)
