Strong work culture - Vardhman steel

What were the opportunities you saw for yourself and the company when you decided to
take on the role?
So when I got to charge this team business in 2010 that is 11 years ago, I saw clearly that
I would like to work on making this into a world-class steel company. So that was the
dream that I had and to be No. 1 in India in the alloys team area. Now we’re No. 1 in India
and also going to be a world-class company.
What are the plans for the company’s growth in the medium to long term, say 3 to 5 years
time?
At that time we were very small. We were only 50,000 tons of steel machine and we said
to reach where we wanted to be. We would like to be somewhere between 800,000 to a
million-ton company. So basically you’re talking a growth of about 20 times from what was
the size at that point in time. So from there, we have now reached a capacity of about
180,000 tons but in half times and the idea is to go from here to about 5 times this size in
the next 10 years. So that is the dream and there are no concrete plans.
What are all the key areas of focus for you to improve over the next 12-18 months?
As you’d be aware that we have a joint venture with Aichi Steel Corporation of Japan.
They have an 11.4 % stake in our company and Aichi is part of the Toyota group. So the
number one task is to stabilize the quality to get the approval of Toyota. That is the number
one task. The second task is to increase the capacity of this plant from the current 180,000
tons to about 230,000-240,000 tons and that is the second task. The third task is to start
the planning for the next phase of growth, improving the quality, expanding the current
capacity, and putting down plans for future growth.
What do you believe sets Vardhman Special Steels apart from its competitors?
One, our belief in long-term sustainability. So that leads to very strong work culture.
Second, we have a very collaborative participate work culture where even workers have
a very strong sense of belonging to the company. So the culture sets us apart. The third
which sets us apart is very strong customer orientation. I’ve designed my career before
joining Vardhman in sales and marketing. And I have been at the grassroots level. So my
customer orientation came from there. That is what I’ve brought into the textile company
early on and in the steel company. The fourth which sets us apart is our joint venture
partner. IGC Corporation in my opinion is the best steel company for automotive steel in
the world and they are our joint venture partner. So having a partner like that gives us a
huge competitive advantage. Our own internal factors are culture and marketing, long-term
sustainability, and then, of course, our partners which are the best in the world so their
technology, quality orientation as well as being part of Toyota group’s market for Southeast
Asia, etc.