Shirpur gold Refinery (SGRL), an Essel Group company, has an interesting history besides a fantastic financial performance in FY15.
It used to be known as Agee Gold Refiners before the name was changed to Shirpur Gold Refinery in 2002. The current name is based on Shirpur, in Dhulia district in Maharashtra, where the company is credited for setting up India’s first private sector gold refinery.
But before Agee, the company was also known as Autoriders Industries. Back then, it was in the business of Limousine busses. However, since the project was not viable, it was discontinued, and the company changed its line of business from automotive to precious metal.
Amit Goenka is the promoter and non-executive director of the company. Goenka, with a work experience of more than 10 years, is one of the promoters of the Essel Group and currently spearheads the technology front of the group.
Setting up SGRL was based on a simple business rationale: India is a country where precious metals like gold and silver are always in demand. The refinery has an installed capacity of 217 tonnes for gold and a similar capacity for silver. The refinery has been set up using imported equipment from Singapore. The company has production lines for gold and silver bars, mining of gold and silver coins and gold jewellery. The company also has its own airstrip with 24-hour landing facilities.
The financial year 2014-15 emerged as a good year for SGRL with total revenue at Rs 3,222.21 crore as against Rs 1,744.40 crore in the previous financial year, thereby clocking an increase of 84.71 per cent. The company registered an operating profit of Rs 79.56 crore as against Rs 57.07 crore, an increase of 39.40 per cent over financial year 2013-14. Its profit after tax (PAT) stood at Rs 15.43 crore as against Rs 5.80 crore in the previous year showing a remarkable growth of 166.13 per cent as compared to previous year. The company’s exports recorded an increase of 38.53 per cent from Rs 474.9 crore last year to Rs 657.9 crore in FY15.
The company is selling products under ‘Zee Gold’ which is a well-known brand. The products, company claims, meet stringent quality standards of purity, weighment, shape, size and aesthetic look. In recognition for its achievements, Dun and Bradstreet, a provider of international and Indian business information, has ranked SGRL at 350th in terms of total income, 457th in terms of net profit and 471th in terms of return on net worth in ‘India’s Top 500 Companies 2015’. —
ashish.sinha@businessworld.in; @ashish_bw
BW Reporters
Ashish Sinha is an experienced business journalist who has covered FMCG, auto, infrastructure, tourism, telecom among several other beats. Ashish has keen interest in the regulatory scenario impacting different sectors. He writes on aviation, railways, post and telegraph, infrastructure, defence, media & entertainment, among a wide variety of other subjects.
