— C. Ravindran, Director, Indian Commerce & Industries Company Pvt. LtdIndian Commerce &
Industries Company Pvt.
Ltd, the flagship company
of Beehive Kowtha Group
of Chennai, is one of the
largest steel construction
and project engineering
companies in the south.
The company specialises
in industrial steel
buildings whose market
size is set to grow from
the current 2 million tpa,
says C. Ravindran.
The Indian construction industry
is growing at a CAGR of over
20 per cent and contributes
around 8 per cent to GDP. What
is your assessment of the sector
for the next five years?
We expect the construction sector
to continue growing at a
CAGR of around 20 per cent. We
feel that the construction sector's
contribution to GDP will
increase to 10 per cent over the
next five years.
What is the current market size of
the steel building and construction
segment? What is your company's
share of this market?
There are a number of sub-segments
in the steel building and
construction market. The approximate
size of the industrial steel
building segment in India is
around 2 million tpa. Our current
share is about 2 per cent.
The current demand for PEB in
India is 1.2 million tpa. What
about the future demand?
We expect the demand for preengineered
buildings in India to
grow by over 20 per cent per
annum.
What are the new opportunities
for steel building and construction
projects? Which sectors is
your company most active in?
We expect the share of steel
buildings in multi-storey commercial
and industrial construction
to increase rapidly over the
next few years. We are active in
the industrial buildings sector.
How does the volatility in the
price of materials like steel
affect your company's growth?
While the volatility in the price
of steel does not really affect our
growth, it does have adverse
effect on profitability.
As a major contractor specialising
in industrial steel buildings,
what are the key challenges
that you face during the
execution of a project?
The major challenges we face
are fluctuations in price of steel;
non-availability of wide range of
steel sections in India; quality
problems in steel, particularly
from public sector producers;
and substantial change in the
expectations of project authorities
with regard to completion
schedules (crash schedules
have become a norm).
Your company is also into the
restoration of old steel buildings
and roofing systems. Can you tell
us more about this service with
one or two recent illustrations?
We have undertaken changing
of existing asbestos cement roofing
systems to metal sheet roofing
with or without insulation, at
a number of locations.
Three such projects are: Ashok
Leyland Ltd at Ennore, Tamil
Nadu, and Bandara, Maharashtra;
and Automotive Axles Ltd in
Mysore, Karnataka.
Can you briefly tell us about
your company vis-à-vis its
inception, products and services,
manufacturing plants and
their capacities, and exports?
Our company was founded in
1907 as a trading company.
During the early 1900s, we took
up steel construction projects.
During the mid-1900s, we
added a steel foundry. Till the
1990s, we were concentrating
on conventional steel buildings
and structures. During the past
15 years, we have added PEB
and metal sheet production
lines, and are currently active
in conventional steel construction,
pre-engineered steel
buildings and steel castings.
Our current capacity in steel
construction is around 40,000
tpa. We have been regularly
exporting steel structures to a
number of Asian, African and
Australian countries during the
past 20 years. We were awarded
'Certificate of Merits' for our
export performances in 1996-97
and 1999-00.
What are your company's longterm
plans for the Indian steel
structurals market?
We are currently augmenting our
PEB production capacity with a
second mechanised production
line. We have also identified the
power sector as a major potential
area for large volume steel construction
contracts over the next
few years.