India’s TOP 500 Companies 2021

INDIA’S TOP 500 COMPANIES 2021 150 Experts’ View Tell us about some of the key milestones of the company. What has been the company’s vision since its inception? Being a pure-play Water Technology Multinational, WABAG successfully completed 25 years of operation in India and completed 10 years post listing. The journey so far has been extremely memorable, witnessing new heights of success, achieving many major milestones. One of the significant milestones in our journey was the management buyout in 2005 backed by ICICI Ventures. Subsequently in 2007, WABAG India successfully completed the reverse acquisition of the erstwhile parent company from Siemens and since then we never looked back. Being a leading Indian MNC in water industry, we got listed on the stock exchange in 2010. We have come a long way since our listing, from an order book of INR 3,402 Cr in 2010 to over INR 9,500 Cr today. Our strategy has always been four pronged - Pure play in water; Focus on emerging markets; Focus on technology and Asset Light Model. However, recently we have entered into HAM Projects and currently executing two projects, one at Kolkata and the other at Patna. But, we still continue to be asset light as a major portion of the investment has been secured via financial partners who will be investing in these projects. After successful implementation the One City One Operator Concept in Istanbul, we have been assigned the responsibility of managing the wastewater infrastructure of Agra and Ghaziabad for 10 years. This is definitely a key milestone achieved for our operations business. Over the last 25 years, wehave successfully executed over 1,400 projects for various Municipal and Industrial clients which are ensuring water sustainability for millions of people across the globe. These state-of-the-art plants have brought us many global accolades in our journey. WABAG was ranked among the Top 10 Desalination companies globally and recently, Global Water Intelligence, UK has ranked WABAG 4th globally, joining the top league of global water companies for serving over 71 million people. What are the major challenges faced by the company in recent times? How has the company dealt with these challenges? As you are aware, the recent times have been extremely challenging owing to the global health emergency and the associated implications. This has no doubt impacted businesses globally, but gradually, we are transitioning to the new way of working and adapting to the new normal to ensure minimal disruption. During the last 1 year, the construction at many of our sites worldwide has slowed down, owing to the restrictions imposed by the local authorities. During such trying times, we adhered to the SOPs issued by the local authorities and found new ways of working. Necessary measures were taken to ensure the safety and well-being of our workforce by providing them with all essentials within the project premises and operating as per the local regulations. However, during this time, our Engineering and Procurement functions were working at full capacity, even while operating from home, ensuring business continuity. Thus, in spite of 2020 being an extremely challenging year, we have ended FY21 on a strong note, with our consolidated revenue and PAT growing by 11% and 21 % YoY respectively. Over the last year, the pace of tendering of new projects has slowed down considerably. The governments and the ULBs shifted their focus to ensure health and safety of the citizens during these trying times. Therefore, we expect that going forward, there will be traction on the new projects and the pace of tendering will pick up substantially. VA TECH WABAG LIMITED Rajiv Mittal Managing Director & Group CEO Dun & Bradstreet