With a sheer experience of 29 years under his hand Mr R Ramakrishnan took the responsibility as Vice Chairman, Joint MD & Group CEO, Polycab Group. Having worked in the companies like Asian Paints and Bajaj Electricals and handling the areas such as sales & marketing, manufacturing, new product development, international collaborations, strengthening the product, distribution and brand portfolio has made him the perfect match for the above. To get the glimpse of the plans which he has chalked out for Polycab to drive change and transformation, his outlook on the market and the future he foresee ahead for wire and cable industry team WCI interacted with him below are the excerpts.
WCI: Polycab has been a fantastic entrepreneurial success story in the last four decades. How do you intend to contribute to this tradition and enable the company to drive change and transformation?
R Ramakrishnan: The remarkable evolution of Polycab can be credited to four industrious brothers- Mr. Inder Jaisinghani, Mr. Girdhari Jaisinghani, Mr. Ajay Jaisinghani and Mr. Ramesh Jaisinghani, who have developed and nurtured this business over the last four decades. Polycab promises a great combination of business challenges, institution building opportunities and driving change management along with entrepreneurial opportunities. I intend to strive towards making Polycab a strong brand and a great organization, comprising of a fantastic team of people, with an excellent blend of professional management skills and entrepreneurial zeal.
WCI: “We intend to build a great future for team Polycab for our vast dealer network and stakeholders along with diversifying into new areas.” Kindly elaborate on the action plan for the above goals?
RR: Being a market leader in the Indian cable industry, Polycab represents a strong brand that has gained a solid reputation among all leading OEMs, consumers, consultants and contractors. Our widespread network of authorized distributors, dealers, stockists and agent’s is what sets us apart and gives us that winning streak. We have a Polycab retailer at just about every corner of the country – within every 5 sq. km of India. 70% of our channel partners have been loyal to the brand for over 25 years now. This is coupled with the state-of-the-art infrastructure; a dedicated and foresighted management team is what makes Polycab a driving force in the wire and cable industry. The future looks quite bright as we see the brand consolidating its presence and retaining its numero uno position in India for wires and cables and also making a mark in the international market. We intend to be amongst the top 10 players in the cable & wire Industry in the world in the coming decade. We recently set up a large capacity mother warehouse at Singur in West Bengal’s Hooghly district for supplying our products to different parts of the eastern region. An additional sum of Rs. 200 crore will be invested to set up three plants at Vadodara and its vicinity by 2013. In order to sustain our growth, expansion is a crucial factor. We envisage a future that will focus on becoming an Indian MNC. Our products are currently being exported to over 30 countries including, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, UK, South East Asia and Africa.
Polycab has an extensive dealer network all over India. Domestic switchgear, switches and other electrical products which are sold by the same distribution network would be a natural choice in terms of expanding our product basket. We will draw up plans in this regard in due course.
WCI: With the entry of global players coming in and setting up their manufacturing bases here in India and many companies eyeing on JV’s? What is your outlook on the market and how you foresee the future?
RR: Yes, the industry has witnessed the entry of some international players recently. Their focus is on the EHV segment where demand has slowed down significantly. However, in many cases, their domestic partner is not too strong. Due to overcapacity in the industry and sluggish demand scenario, some companies are fighting for their survival. We expect a shakeout in the industry and the ‘survival of the fittest’ in the next few years.
WCI: According to you what are the opportunities and challenges for the Indian wire & cable industry ahead and what are the areas where improvisation is needed?
RR: The cable industry’s growth is closely related to the country’s overall economic growth. The current situation is slightly murky. Political uncertainty, lack of decision making, hesitation in launching the next stage of economic reforms, commodity price fluctuations and pressures on the forex front are all contributory factors to a sluggish industrial growth. Many power generation plants which are a major driver of our growth are on hold. Lacks of reforms in power distribution are also a constraining factor.
Volatility due to important metals like copper and aluminum used by cable manufacturers are also shifted to commodity trading. This diverts the focus from their core competency, which is marketing and manufacturing, to managing unwanted risk factors in purchase of basic raw materials and currency related fluctuations.
Despite all these challenges, we are of the strong opinion that there is sufficient headroom for a company to prosper despite the gloomy market scenario. All one requires is a smart management team that knows how to make the right investments in production capacity, product range, people and distribution channels while focusing on value creation and long term profitable growth. I believe that Polycab with its inherent strengths is uniquely poised to take advantage of the opportunities in the environment.
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