13th Construction World Annual Awards 2015

OCTOBER 16, 2015 Hotel Four Seasons, Mumbai Organised by: ASAPP Media Information Group The 13th CONSTRUCTION WORLD ANNUAL AWARDS 2015 brought the industry together, to celebrate mutual chievements and set benchmarks for achievement and excellence. Once again, in its 13th year, a group of stellar achievers gathered to celebrate victory. This was no surprise as the Oscars of the construction industry - the 13th CONSTRUCTION WORLD Annual Awards - were back, and this time with more hope for the construction industry´s revival. The grand evening that brought together industry stalwarts was a clear testimony of the fact that ¨The India story is yet to begin¨. And, that this will be one burst of opportunities for all. Construction companies have learnt their lessons from the challenging times in the past and now the focus is on performance. This intent and strategy was evident at the recent awards held in Mumbai. Despite challenging times, the largest have maintained their position once again, companies jumped up the growth graph and topped the charts of being among India´s top three fastest growing companies and despite the sluggishness, several construction and infrastructure companies managed to confront and surpass the challenges and make it to the CW list of Top Challengers of 2014-15. That said, winners included companies engaged in contracting, engineering, building materials, and equipment, and CW honoured their resourcefulness and resilience. What´s new! The awards ceremony commenced with the unveiling of the 19th edition of the CW Annual, which carried details on the process followed in selecting the winners, along with viewpoints of top industry doyens on the measures required to forge ahead. What´s more, already red carpet-savvy, winners glided down the ramp after receiving their trophies. The evening just had the perfect show-stoppers! And, the CW team was ready with questions at the end of the ramp that revealed winning strategies, success mantras, special dedications, contribution to the sector´s growth and much more. Pratap Padode, Managing Director, ASAPP Media Information Group, in his welcome address revealed how the group company has always been at the forefront of developments in the building, construction and infrastructure sector. (Read full speech on page 60) Updating the industry on some recent developments, he said, ¨Our digital tool for home design called DesignGenie is working towards fulfilling the needs of the community seeking assistance in that area. In a similar fashion, we have set up Smart Cities Council India, which has been providing a platform to our members, which include the likes from the IT world, such as IBM, Microsoft, CISCO; some from the EPC space such as Vector, Black & Veatch, Accel Infra; power utilities like Alstom; including telecommunication companies as well.¨ He added, ¨We have been appointed as technical experts for three cities - Ajmer, Allahabad and Vishakapatnam - to oversee the master planning, and we intend to extend our expertise to other local urban bodies across the country.¨ Winning note The grand evening was a true celebration of the winning companies. Holding the trophy of being India´s largest construction company was MV Satish, Senior Vice President-Building, Minerals & Metals, L&T. He said, ¨Although the market is a lot more challenging, we hope that initiatives taken by the government shows results and much more. The government is sincere in its approach and that will really benefit India.¨ In an optimistic mood was RA Krishnakumar, Executive Director, Dalmia Bharat. A true competitor, he said, ¨We would always like to be No. 2, so that we have somebody to chase.¨ He was confident of a mega shift in another five years from using cement to using ready-mix concrete. In his words, ¨A major turnaround is expected to take place.¨ Paresh Mehta, CFO, Ashoka Buildcon, was positive about the roads sector. He said, ¨The PPP programme till sometime back was a good breakthrough in all sectors - power, roads, and even ports.¨ While PPP gave a big thrust, now is the time to see how it performs in future.¨ Amandeep Gupta, Director & CEO-Cement, OCL India, shared the company´s success chart with pride. ¨When the market was growing at about 8 per cent last year, we grew at 27 per cent, and this year, when the market is growing at a 13 per cent, we are growing at 30 per cent.¨ Evidently, the numbers spoke louder than words. NR Alluri, Promoter Director, NCC, credited the team for his achievement. He said, ¨In the last 35 years, we have been building teams to do large projects and most of them are still with us. So it is this dedicated team that has helped us execute projects.¨ For AK Lakhotia, Chairman & Managing Director, MBL Infrastructures, a breakthrough in the construction sector in recent times is the positive mindset that we need to grow. He believes that with this positive thought, change will automatically follow. He said, ¨There will be huge order inflows, which will be followed by good growth opportunities.¨ One among India´s Top Challengers, S Ramnath, CFO, ITD Cementation India Ltd, shared the company´s strategy applied in the year 2014-15: ¨First was to have a diversified offering, as it helps minimise risks; second to be selective in bidding; and third to focus on cash, not profits.¨ For Ramnath, one key problem that needs to be addressed and controlled is inflation. While government initiatives like smart cities will open doors for new entrants in the sector, with projects like the dedicated freight corridors, there may be more participation in the railways. But as an industry person, he averred, ¨Rather than knowing the government targets five years down the line, I want to know what is being done today and what will be done tomorrow to ensure sustainable growth and goals.¨ Having made it to CW´s list of India´s Top Challengers for the second consecutive year, Mayur R Doshi, Executive Director, Indian Hume Pipe Co Ltd, shared the company´s strategy to stay out of financial mess - something that several mega construction companies have been battling in the present day: ¨If we see opportunities, which have a certain degree of risk, we have learnt to say no to them. If you learn to say ¨no¨ in this industry, half the battle is won.¨ However, at the same time to succeed you need to take some risk, ¨We were able to identify certain opportunities and invested money in ramping up our capacities for manufacturing - luckily that played out well.¨ Since the company is into the manufacturing of pipes, the vigour that has come about in the road infrastructure will be helpful for it in the long term. Among other winners, Deepak Khetrapal, Managing Director and CEO, Orient Cement Ltd, kept it simple, yet powerful, on what has helped the company grow most in a challenging year: ¨Just remembering that we are still the challengers, not the winners.¨ And, Manish Bhatia, President-Building products, HSIL Ltd, said on his part: ¨We have always focused on two things: No compromise on quality, which has been our hallmark over the years and a strong focus on consumer insights, to decide what would be relevant for the consumers today.¨ Aditya V Somani, Chairman, Everest Industries Ltd, gave complete credit for his victory to the company´s focus on speed. ¨We have constantly worked towards making construction faster and that has led us to this award.¨ The selection process To deliberate upon these winners in various categories of India´s largest and fastest growing companies, an esteemed panel of jury members came together on September 2, 2015, at the Indian Merchants Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai. Further, a presentation was made on the companies to be considered for India´s fastest growing companies across six categories: Construction; Equipment & Allied Equipment; Cement; Steel; Paints; and Tiles, Ceramics & Sanitaryware. As per practice, a report with quantitative analysis - data sourced from published annual reports and results published by companies - was submitted to the panel to assess. Even in the case of non-listed firms, such data was sourced from the company directly by seeking audited figures. To ensure authenticity of data during compilation, various checks and balances were put into place. Companies not considered for the awards were those with insufficient data available; or those that suffered losses in FY2015; or whose figures derived mainly from ´in-house performance´. The jury members discussed the all-round performance of various companies during the period under review and ´industry perceptions´ about them. Also, a decision was made to rule out a government-owned company, which was more of a distribution company; it awarded contracts rather than being an executer. Similarly, companies who were major suppliers and not generating a huge share of the business from contracting activities were not considered along with companies that showed negative profit growth, etc. Data was comprehensively scrutinised, a decision made, and India´s fastest growing companies were arrived at and awarded. Read on for insights from our keynote speaker Graham Robinson, Executive Director, Global Research Perspectives (read speech on page 58), along with the list of winners, and images that bring the event to life...