CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT
Annual Report 04-05 | Sustainability Report 04-05
Annual Report 04-05
"Dear Shareholders,
 The momentous developments of the year
2004-05 took the iron and steel industry by storm. With demand reaching unprecedented
heights, prices of finished products and input materials soared worldwide.
In our country too, iron and steel was
symptomatic of the tremendous optimism that surged through the economy reflected in GDP
growth of 6.9% and industrial sector growth of 7.8% (official estimates). Although, a
partially failed monsoon brought down the growth rate in the agriculture sector to 1.1%
(down from a bumper 9.1% in 2003-04), India reported buoyant economic growth, a scenario
that is expected to continue.
Tata Metaliks leveraged this improvement in the
economy and within its sector to report a landmark year in terms of performance, planning
and implementation.
I am pleased to inform you that the Company not
only kept pace with its ambitious target, but also made rapid strides in consolidating its
presence in the Indian industry.
For instance, the Company's second mini blast
furnace commenced production from 22 March 2005 and has increased installed hot metal
capacity from 1.63 lac tonnes per annum to 3.25 lac tonnes per annum accompanied by an
intention to integrate forwards from the manufacture of foundry grade pig iron to the
manufacture of steel.
In the pursuit of excellence, the main drivers of
the Company's operations are and will continue to be appropriate technological
interventions, upgradation and agile business decisions.
The outsourcing of the coke conversion process
to an adjacent unit helped the Company reduce logistics bills and enhance competitiveness.
A continuous focus on upgradation and optimal
human resource utilisation helped double the production capacity with a substantial
increase in productivity.
The Company entered another five countries and
increased its global footprint to 14 countries.
Within the domestic market, Tata Metaliks established its presence in the hitherto
untapped markets of south and west India.
As a result, the company came in for a special
commendation from the Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal and the Hon'ble Minister of
Industry and Commerce of West Bengal on the occasion of the inauguration of the second
mini blast furnace. The State Government has assured us of appropriate assistance,
whenever we ask for it, for on-going or new projects. We should take full advantage of
this positive pro-industry attitude of the government for our prospective plans. Needless
to mention, our endeavour should always be to make the state proud of our presence through
excellence in all spheres of our activity. I hope that the positive attitude of the state
government will also manifest itself in the form of meaningful policy decisions, which
will attract corporates and entrepreneurs to this area of high potential to foster growth
and provide opportunity to the people here.
It gives me great satisfaction to see the
Company's commitment to the principle of Corporate Social Responsibility in keeping with
the basic tenets of the Tata Group. This continuing endeavour of the Company on the social
front earned it the third position on the Tata Index for Sustainable Human Development
across the entire Tata Group.
I have always placed great faith in our employees
and their unions to lift the organisation to even greater heights. The enhanced
performance of the Company makes me glad to see that this faith was not misplaced. I
deeply appreciate their efforts and energy. I take this opportunity to thank you for your
confidence in Tata Metaliks and thank the management, the union, all the employees and the
stakeholders for the performance in 2004-05.
I look forward to an even better 2005-06. "
Dr. T. Mukherjee
Chairman
Tata Metaliks Limited
(From Annual Report 2004-05, on Corporate
Social Responsibility)
"Corporate success reconciles a Company's
capability in managing its business, ability in protecting the environment and depth in
developing the community.
In view of this broad objective, Tata Metaliks
has embarked on a number of initiatives with the following in mind:
To make its factory environment non-hazardous,
pollution-free and worker-friendly.
To empower its neighbouring community through
self-employment, women and adult education and better health / hygienic conditions.
To green and clean its environment.
As a result, Tata Metaliks can be described as a
successful Company creating a surplus for the community, the world and itself."
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