India’s Top PSUs 2022

Experts’ View 47 India’s Top PSUs 2022 How would you describe the journey of your company since its inception? What are some of the key milestones of the company in recent years? Founded in 1867 by Stephen George Balmer and Alexander Lawrie, Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. started its corporate journey as a partnership firm. Today Balmer Lawrie is a Miniratna - I PSE under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, GOI, with a turnover of ` 2105 crores and a profit of ` 170 crores. With its four JV and one subsidiary in India and abroad, Balmer Lawrie is a market leader in Steel Barrels, Industrial Greases & Specialty Lubricants, Corporate Travel and Logistics. The company currently has eight strategic business units - Industrial Packaging, Greases & Lubricants, Chemicals, Refinery &Oil Field Services, Logistics Services, Logistics Infrastructure, Cold Chain, Travel & Vacations. Formed as an ‘agency house’ into trading, with products captive to tea gardens, the company pioneered its way into greases & speciality lubricants manufacturing and barrel manufacturing. It was among the first PSEs to set-up a manufacturing facility abroad and several JV companies to take forward the economic liberalization process. The company knew the nuances of venturing into new businesses and exiting non-viable ones. The company has evolved and expanded its product range in barrel manufacturing and greases & lubricants. Huge investments were made for Travel and Logistics offices, setting up new plants, Container Freight Stations, and R&D Centres for the businesses. In the last decade, the aim was to consistently drive growth. The company has commissioned three state-of-the-art steel barrel manufacturing plants. In 2014, the company acquired Vacations Exotica to provide end-to-end travel and tour services. The company also set-up a Multi-Modal Logistics Hub at Visakhapatnam along with four Cold Chain Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited units pan India. A distinct trend was consistent high performance and the company never made losses. What role has technology / digital transformation played in transforming your organization? In 2015, the company had seamlessly moved its entire operations over to SAP. This IT transformation helped the company to reach out to maximum customers and enhance transparency. We have developed a new portal for GOI employees for air ticket booking on Government Account and Defence Travel System including an Air Travel Module for Armed Forces. We have also transitioned to ‘One Hub’ for Ticketing Operations and deliver a superior and consistent experience to customers. We offer cost-effective customised services to our corporate clients through our SBT/SSBT products. We are upgrading the facilities on our B2C portal, www.vacationsexotica.com . The company leverages advanced technology to manage real-time consignment tracking along with RFID in Container Freight Stations and Warehouse Management System in the Warehouses. Further, it maximized automation in barrel manufacturing and grease / lubricant production. What is your company’s growth strategy for next 3-5 years? Focused on driving necessary transformation to achieve a Gross Revenue of ` 6000 crores and ` 10000 crores by the year 2025 and 2030, respectively, and improved bottom-line by 10+%. Revisiting some of the existing strategies across businesses & JV’s, redesigning and realigning wherever necessary, prioritize initiatives and accordingly allocate resources to drive rigorous implementation in a timebound manner to get the organisation back on its accelerated growth path positively by the end of this financial year, FY2022-23. Adika Ratna Sekhar , Chairman & Managing Director Dun & Bradstreet