Among the first to introduce ductile iron pipes in India, the Electrosteel Group has established itself as an international brand. With five decades of experience, Electrosteel Castings is the country’s leading pipeline solutions provider.
What started off as Electrosteel Castings, a steel castings and cast iron spun pipe manufacturing company, evolved in time into a manufacturer of ductile iron pipes and fittings. Presently, over 60 per cent of its products are exported around the world and Electrosteel has its subsidiaries in 11 countries and distribution centres across the globe; including in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy & the UAE.
Electrosteel Steel, has an average four-year sales growth of 335.9 per cent, with an average four-year profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 636.9 crore. The sales in 2014-15 stood at Rs 1,789.82 crore, growing at 281.4 per cent. The market capitalisation of the company stood at Rs 954.06 crore in FY2014-15.
In the last four years, the company’s compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was 294.5 per cent.
In March 2002, Electrosteel acquired a 46 per cent stake in Lanco Industries, which is also involved in manufacturing ductile iron pipes, pig iron, cement and castings, to meet the growing demand for its products.
Electrosteel Steels, promoted by Electrosteel Castings — which had Parbatpur coal mine with 231 million tonnes of reserves, plus, an iron ore mine and a non-coking coal mine in Jharkhand — was to source iron ore and coking coal from Electrosteel Castings for a period of 20 years. But then, the coal blocks of Electrosteel Castings were de-allocated in 2014 and Electrosteel Steels had to buy raw material at high prices from the market while finished product prices crashed. Last year, Tata Group, Vedanta and many other private players showed interest in buying a stake in the company.
In 2009, it commissioned fourth coke oven battery resulting in additional capacity of 70,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) of coke, taking the total capacity enhanced to 280,000 TPA and 250,000 TPA respectively.
In 2016, Electrosteel Castings, the world’s third largest producer of ductile iron pipes and ancillary products, inaugurated its $6.6 million warehouse in Bahrain. The warehouse will be “a one-stop solution for water projects, for the Bahrain & Middle East markets”, the company said.
monica@businessworld.in; @MonicaBehura
