About
SRF Ltd
SRF Limited is a chemical based multi-business entity engaged in the manufacturing of industrial and specialty intermediates. The Company is a market leader in most of its business segments in India and overseas. The Company has operations in four countries, India, Thailand, South Africa, and Hungary. SRF has commercial interests in more than ninety countries and classifies its businesses as Technical Textiles Business (TTB), Chemicals Business (CB), Packaging Films Business (PFB), and Other Businesses. The principal activities of the Company are manufacturing, purchase and sale of technical textiles, chemicals, packaging films and other polymers.
SRF Limited (SRF) was incorporated on 9th January 1970 under the name of Shriram Fibres Ltd. The commencement of Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric Plant at Manali, Chennai was made by the company in the year of 1974, also introduced Fishnet Twines and Nylon Engineering Plastics in the same location during the year 1977 and 1979 respectively. During the year 1983 and 1986, the company commissioned Industrial Fabrics Plant and Coated Fabrics project respectively at Tiruchirapalli. In the identical year of 1986, SRF Finance Ltd was started its operations. In 1989, SRF had commissioned commercial production of fluorochemicals at Bhiwadi. The change in the name was made in the year 1990; the name of the company was changed from Shriram Fibres Limited to the present name SRF Limited.
Total Quality Management (TQM) practice was adopted by the company in wide during the year 1993 itself. In the period of 1995, SRF took over the nylon tyre Cord plant of Ceat at Gwalior and also started Chloromethane production at Bhiwadi. The first overseas presence was made in the year 1996 by the way of formed operation plant in Dubai. The company divested SRF Finance Ltd to GE Capital in 1997 and acquired Tyre Cord Fabric conversion facility of Dupont at Gummidipoondi, Chennai during the year 2000. In 2001, SRF became one of the top ten suppliers of nylon tyre cord in the world and also commenced operations of SRF E-Biz, an e- procurement business. The Company's Polyester Films, Fishnet Twines and Engineering Plastics businesses spun off as a separate entity in the year 2002 under the name of SRF Polymers Ltd. Flurochemicals Business of the company at Bhiwadi awarded the prestigious OHSAS 18000 and SA 8000 certification for practicing environment safety in the period of 2003.
During the year 2004, SRF had unlocked the Packaging Film Plant at Indore and Pharma Chemicals Business at Bhiwadi. Also in the identical year of 2004, Deming Application Prize awarded to the Industrial Synthetics Business. SRF became one of the top 3 manufacturers of belting fabrics in the world during the year 2005. The Captive Power Project at the company's Chemical Business, Jhiwana, had commissioned and capitalized in April of the year 2006. The project of holographic film plant of the company had commissioned in December of the year 2007 at an investment of approximately Rs. 10 crore. The product from this plant is used for luxury packaging segments. SRF has acquired two foreign companies during 2008, one in Thailand and the other one in South Africa. Thai based Thai Baroda Industries Limited (TBIL) is a tyre cord company and South Africa based Industex Technical Textiles (Pty) Limited is a manufacturer of belting fabrics. In 2012, SRF commissioned chemical complex at Dahej, Gujarat.
With a vision of becoming a credible, global player in the Fluorochemicals business space, SRF acquired the Dymel HFC 134a regulated medical pharmaceutical propellant business from DuPont in January 2015.
On 1 April 2016, SRF announced that its Board of Directors has approved an investment proposal for setting up of a pilot plant to manufacture next generation refrigerant gas, HFO 1234yf.The breakthrough initiative will make SRF the first technology developer outside US and Europe for manufacture of HFO 1234yf, which is expected to find increasing use in car air-conditioning systems globally in future.
The Board of Directors of SRF, in tune with the company's strategic intent of expanding its chemicals business, approved two separate capex proposals aggregating Rs 345 crore at its meeting held on 8 August 2016. One of the proposals pertains to setting up a Multi-Purpose Plant for specialty chemicals at an estimated cost of Rs. 180 crore and the second one for Chloromethane (CMS) plant at an estimated cost of Rs. 165 crore in its Chemical Complex at Dahej in Gujarat. The second project that got approved in the Board, aims to double SRF's capacity for Chloromethanes to 80,000 tonnes per annum.
On 2 November 2017, SRF Limited announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the HFC-125 assets from a global leader in the development, manufacture and supply of fluoroproducts. Under the agreement, SRF will own the HFC-125 assets and the technical know-how on an exclusive basis. The company plans to relocate the assets to India and set up the facility for manufacturing HFC-125 at its Chemical Complex in Dahej, Gujarat. With this acquisition, the company will gain the unique advantage of manufacturing all three major HFCs, namely HFC 134a, 32 and 125, which will be marketed under the company's FLORON brand.
As on 31 March 2018, the Company had 5 wholly owned subsidiary companies whereby 1 wholly owned subsidiary company is registered in India and remaining 4 are registered outside India. 2 of these are direct wholly owned subsidiaries and rest 3 are step-down wholly owned subsidiaries.
On 9 July 2018, SRF Limited announced the setting up of a second Bi-axially Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate (BOPET) film line and a Resin plant in Thailand at an investment of approximately US$ 60 million. This new plant will be put up at the company's existing manufacturing location in Rayong, Thailand by its wholly owned subsidiary - SRF Industries (Thailand) Limited and is expected to become operational in close to two years. Once operational, the new line will be capable of producing approximately 40,000 metric tonnes per annum. With this capacity addition, the company will further strengthen its presence in the buoyant South East Asian region and expand its customer base in new geographies.
As on 31 March 2019, the company had 6 wholly owned subsidiary companies whereby 1 wholly owned subsidiary company is registered in India and remaining 5 are registered outside India. 2 of these are direct wholly owned subsidiaries and rest 4 are step-down wholly owned subsidiaries.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Consequent to this, Government of India declared a national lockdown on 25 March 2020, which has impacted the business activities of the Company.
During the year ended March 31, 2021 the Company has issued 17,64,705 fully paid up equity shares equivalent to 3.07% of the existing paid up equity capital of the Company to Qualified Institutional Buyers in accordance with SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, These shares were issued at an issue price of Rs. 4250 per share for an aggregate consideration of Rs. 750 Crore.
Pursuant to the approval given by the shareholders through Postal Ballot on 06 October 2021, the Board at its meeting held on 15 October 2021, issued and allotted 236,980,820 fully paid up Bonus Equity shares of Rs. 10 each in the ratio of 4:1 to the shareholders.
As on March 31, 2022, Company had 7 wholly owned subsidiary companies out of which 2 wholly owned subsidiary companies are registered in India and remaining 5 are registered outside India. 3 of these are direct wholly owned subsidiaries and rest 4 are stepdown wholly owned subsidiaries.
During the year 2022, the Board at its meeting held on October 15, 2021 allotted 23,69,80,820 Bonus Shares to the eligible shareholders of the Company in the proportion of 4 new fully paid-up equity share of Rs. 10/- each for every 1 existing fully paid-up equity share of Rs. 10/- each.
During 2023, the Company commissioned Multi-Purpose Production (MPP4) facility, for agrochemical and pharmaceutical intermediates and a Thermal Oxidation facility at Dahej. The Second CMS Plant in Dahej got commissioned into the Fluorochemicals Business. It commissioned the 2nd BOPP Film Line and Metalliser at Indore, India. The Company's Belting Fabrics (BF) segment commissioned Solid Woven plant, further enhancing its product portfolio from 1,100 to 1,800 Metric Tonnes Per Month. Fluorochemicals Business commissioned new plants such as, chloromethanes, calcium chloride and a Captive Power Plant (CPP) in Dahej.
SRF Ltd
Chairman Speech
Dear Shareholders,
It is a great privilege to be able to share my thoughts with you for
the first time since taking over as the Chairman and Managing Director of SRF Limited in
April 2022.
This year, we bid farewell to the patriarch of our Group, Mr. Arun
Bharat Ram, who expressed his desire to step down as the Executive Chairman and Director
of SRF Limited. The amount of value SRF has created under his leadership - is
extraordinary, as he leaves behind a strong foundation for future generations. Having said
that, SRF will continue to benefit from his valuable knowledge and wisdom from
time-to-time as a mentor to the Board of Directors and the management.
As I take on the role of Chairman and Managing Director with a great
sense of responsibility and humility, I look forward to leading SRF into the future with
an outstanding team at my side.
Firmly rooted. Growing responsibly.
We chose "Firmly rooted. Growing responsibly" as the theme of
our annual report this year as we prepare to shape our future growth journey based on a
powerful combination of experience and energy. Experience of a Company that has succeeded
for decades, and the energy of a young Company with fresh opportunities. SRF products
touch millions of lives every day and we work hard to remain relevant and current to the
customers we serve and respond appropriately to changes taking place in our environment.
As an organisation that continues to evolve, grow, and progress into
the future, we are also making concerted efforts towards identifying our ESG
(Environmental, Social and Governance) risks and opportunities. It was therefore
imperative for us to adopt ESG as part of our Company aspirations. In March 2022, we
introduced and launched our Company's new ASPIRATIONS 2030. The five pillars of our
ASPIRATIONS 2030 are:
We will continuously strive to be known for our:
• Professional Reputation and Value System
• Customer Advocacy
• Innovation and Technology Leadership
• Operational Excellence
• Environment & Social Responsibility
Our efforts in ESG encompass management of water use, protecting
ecosystems and reducing community impacts related to operations, among others. I invite
you to read the ESG section of this report for more on our work towards our environmental
responsibility.
Financial Performance
FY 2021- Rs 22 was an extraordinary year. Despite the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic, widespread supply bottlenecks, and increasingly higher energy and raw materials
prices, we achieved robust operational and financial performance.
From a financial point of view, in FY 2021- Rs 22, the Company achieved
a 58% increase in profit after tax at Rs 1,889 crore compared to Rs 1,198 crore last year.
The Company's revenue for the year stood at Rs 12,434 crore as against Rs 8,400 crore in
the previous year, recording an overall growth of 48%.
Business Performance
Let me now talk about some of the milestones achieved by each of our
business segments during the year.
Chemicals Business
In FY 2021 - Rs 22, the Chemicals Business accomplished strong growth
of 43.8% Year-over-Year (Y-o-Y) to achieve record revenues of Rs 5,240.8 crore.
Our Specialty Chemicals Business performed remarkably well in the year,
driven by strong demand in both the exports and domestic markets. Our new product
portfolio is being enhanced continuously, which also helps us expand and strengthen our
customer base further. Our customers are demanding more-and-more complex molecules, a
demand that is being met by our robust in-house R&D team, giving the Company an
overall edge in the marketplace. With rapid strides in the development of new products and
process technologies, we launched four new products in the agrochemicals and two in the
pharmaceuticals segment during the year. In addition, we are also seeing traction in the
Active Ingredients (AI) space and building our capabilities on this front.
As we grow our revenues, we will continue to invest in this business to
sustain healthy growth rates over the next few years. In this regard, I am pleased to
share that the Board of Directors have approved the setting up of dedicated facilities to
produce agrochemicals intermediates at Dahej, Gujarat, at a cost upwards of Rs 200 crore.
In addition to that, the Board approved a project to set up a Pharma Intermediates Plant
(PIP) at a cost of Rs 190 crore, which will strengthen SRF's pharma capabilities. Similar
investments alongside improved efficiencies, optimum utilisation of capacities, and other
initiatives to reduce the environmental costs of manufacturing were also announced
throughout the year.
Overall, as India's largest specialty chemicals player, SRF, in FY
2021- Rs 22, continued to maintain its 'preferred partner' status with most of its marquee
global customers.
Poised for sustainable growth, our Fluorochemicals Business delivered a
strong performance during the year. This was largely on account of higher volumes in
refrigerants, blends, and chloromethanes, in both the domestic and exports markets. Our
capabilities on backward integration allow us to control costs as well as propel the
business forward.
As an organisation that continues to evolve, grow, and progress into
the future, we are also making concerted efforts towards identifying our ESG
(Environmental, Social and Governance) risks and opportunities.
Furthermore, in our constant endeavour to offer cutting-edge products
to our customers, we enhanced our portfolio by introducing Anhydrous Hydrogen Chloride
(AHCL) for pharmaceutical applications and ramping-up production of other key products in
the Industrial Chemicals segment. Our Pharma propellant, which is sold under the brand
name of Dymel? HFA 134a/P witnessed a significant increase in sales, expanding to new
geographies and consolidating its customer footprint across the globe.
With large capex such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), chloromethane
(CMS), etc. likely to capitalise in the next few quarters, we are looking forward to
exciting times ahead in the Fluorochemicals Business.
Packaging Films Business
In FY 2021 - Rs 22, our Packaging Films Business witnessed robust
growth of 45.2% Y-o-Y to achieve record revenues of Rs 4,779.2 crore. Both our domestic
and international facilities delivered strong performance and contributed to the overall
growth. Over-the-years, SRF's Packaging Films Business has established itself as a
renowned player in the worldwide packaging industry, with a growing market presence across
100+ countries with multi-country and multi-substrate presence. This is a result of the
Business' 'Easy to do Business with' philosophy, our geographical spread, along with
continued focus on enhancing efficiencies, innovative practices, and cost-
competitiveness.
During the year, the Company made an important announcement to further
enhance our leadership position in this segment. We have allocated a capex of Rs 425 crore
to set up an Aluminium Foil manufacturing facility near Indore in Madhya Pradesh, India,
which is expected to be commercialised in approx. 20 months. Our new BOPP film line, which
is currently under construction in Indore is also on track and expected to be commissioned
in the forthcoming quarter.
I am also happy to share that during the year, our Packaging Films
Business was recognised with two prestigious awards. Our facility at Indore was conferred
the Quality Sustainability Award at the international convention, organised by the
International Academy for Quality (IAQ). SRF FLEXIPAK, our South African facility received
the 'Sword of Honour' from the British Safety Council, demonstrating our emphasis on
superior Environment, Health, Safety (EHS) practices.
As a market leader, our focus on sustainability initiatives is our
responsibility and we will continue to work towards innovating films that have a lower
environmental footprint. We aim to foster the 'Circular Economy' where we increasingly
bring waste materials back into the economy.
Technical Textiles Business
In FY 2021 - Rs 22, our Technical Textiles Business demonstrated
promising results of 68.1% Year-overYear to achieve healthy revenues of Rs 2,085.2 crore.
This was achieved on the back of highest-ever sales volumes from the Belting Fabrics and
the Polyester Industrial Yarn segments. This contributed to partially offsetting the weak
demand for Nylon Tyre Cord Fabrics. Overall, the Company is actively focusing on improving
its operational efficiency and productivity paraments in this segment.
Other Businesses
In our Other Businesses, SRF continues to maintain market leadership in
the Coated Fabrics Business, with a high-volume share driven by improved sourcing
initiatives and plant efficiency. In the Laminated Fabrics Business, SRF retained its
price & volume leadership, with the facility operating at full capacity, achieving its
highest-ever sales in the fourth quarter. However, realisations in this segment were
adversely impacted by the continuing surplus supply situation.
Our People are our Real Assets
I would like to emphasise at this point that our passionate workforce
is our core business asset. I want to thank the employees of SRF for their hard work,
dedication, and resilience in scripting our success story.
As most of our teams have now returned to our offices, I have had the
opportunity to rediscover the collaborative culture that makes us such a unique and
extraordinary Company.
Expanding our Community Impact
SRF Foundation, the CSR arm of SRF, has deep expertise in supporting
transformative education initiatives at local and grassroot levels, including improving
student-learning outcomes for more than one lakh fifty thousand students in India. We also
go beyond traditional education by imparting vocational skill training to the youth,
making them employable and contributing citizens of our country.
More importantly, our employees worldwide share our passion for
community service. They volunteer and leverage their skills and experience to make a
difference in the world. I am grateful to my team for their commitment towards making a
positive change in our society.
In closing
On behalf of the Board and management, I thank you, our shareholders,
for your continued support. I am confident that, with the actions we have outlined to
continue driving growth, we will create long-term and sustainable value for our
stakeholders.
| Stay well. |
| Sincerely, |
| Ashish Bharat Ram |
| Chairman & Managing Director SRF Limited |
  Â
SRF Ltd
Company History
SRF Limited is a chemical based multi-business entity engaged in the manufacturing of industrial and specialty intermediates. The Company is a market leader in most of its business segments in India and overseas. The Company has operations in four countries, India, Thailand, South Africa, and Hungary. SRF has commercial interests in more than ninety countries and classifies its businesses as Technical Textiles Business (TTB), Chemicals Business (CB), Packaging Films Business (PFB), and Other Businesses. The principal activities of the Company are manufacturing, purchase and sale of technical textiles, chemicals, packaging films and other polymers.
SRF Limited (SRF) was incorporated on 9th January 1970 under the name of Shriram Fibres Ltd. The commencement of Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric Plant at Manali, Chennai was made by the company in the year of 1974, also introduced Fishnet Twines and Nylon Engineering Plastics in the same location during the year 1977 and 1979 respectively. During the year 1983 and 1986, the company commissioned Industrial Fabrics Plant and Coated Fabrics project respectively at Tiruchirapalli. In the identical year of 1986, SRF Finance Ltd was started its operations. In 1989, SRF had commissioned commercial production of fluorochemicals at Bhiwadi. The change in the name was made in the year 1990; the name of the company was changed from Shriram Fibres Limited to the present name SRF Limited.
Total Quality Management (TQM) practice was adopted by the company in wide during the year 1993 itself. In the period of 1995, SRF took over the nylon tyre Cord plant of Ceat at Gwalior and also started Chloromethane production at Bhiwadi. The first overseas presence was made in the year 1996 by the way of formed operation plant in Dubai. The company divested SRF Finance Ltd to GE Capital in 1997 and acquired Tyre Cord Fabric conversion facility of Dupont at Gummidipoondi, Chennai during the year 2000. In 2001, SRF became one of the top ten suppliers of nylon tyre cord in the world and also commenced operations of SRF E-Biz, an e- procurement business. The Company's Polyester Films, Fishnet Twines and Engineering Plastics businesses spun off as a separate entity in the year 2002 under the name of SRF Polymers Ltd. Flurochemicals Business of the company at Bhiwadi awarded the prestigious OHSAS 18000 and SA 8000 certification for practicing environment safety in the period of 2003.
During the year 2004, SRF had unlocked the Packaging Film Plant at Indore and Pharma Chemicals Business at Bhiwadi. Also in the identical year of 2004, Deming Application Prize awarded to the Industrial Synthetics Business. SRF became one of the top 3 manufacturers of belting fabrics in the world during the year 2005. The Captive Power Project at the company's Chemical Business, Jhiwana, had commissioned and capitalized in April of the year 2006. The project of holographic film plant of the company had commissioned in December of the year 2007 at an investment of approximately Rs. 10 crore. The product from this plant is used for luxury packaging segments. SRF has acquired two foreign companies during 2008, one in Thailand and the other one in South Africa. Thai based Thai Baroda Industries Limited (TBIL) is a tyre cord company and South Africa based Industex Technical Textiles (Pty) Limited is a manufacturer of belting fabrics. In 2012, SRF commissioned chemical complex at Dahej, Gujarat.
With a vision of becoming a credible, global player in the Fluorochemicals business space, SRF acquired the Dymel HFC 134a regulated medical pharmaceutical propellant business from DuPont in January 2015.
On 1 April 2016, SRF announced that its Board of Directors has approved an investment proposal for setting up of a pilot plant to manufacture next generation refrigerant gas, HFO 1234yf.The breakthrough initiative will make SRF the first technology developer outside US and Europe for manufacture of HFO 1234yf, which is expected to find increasing use in car air-conditioning systems globally in future.
The Board of Directors of SRF, in tune with the company's strategic intent of expanding its chemicals business, approved two separate capex proposals aggregating Rs 345 crore at its meeting held on 8 August 2016. One of the proposals pertains to setting up a Multi-Purpose Plant for specialty chemicals at an estimated cost of Rs. 180 crore and the second one for Chloromethane (CMS) plant at an estimated cost of Rs. 165 crore in its Chemical Complex at Dahej in Gujarat. The second project that got approved in the Board, aims to double SRF's capacity for Chloromethanes to 80,000 tonnes per annum.
On 2 November 2017, SRF Limited announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the HFC-125 assets from a global leader in the development, manufacture and supply of fluoroproducts. Under the agreement, SRF will own the HFC-125 assets and the technical know-how on an exclusive basis. The company plans to relocate the assets to India and set up the facility for manufacturing HFC-125 at its Chemical Complex in Dahej, Gujarat. With this acquisition, the company will gain the unique advantage of manufacturing all three major HFCs, namely HFC 134a, 32 and 125, which will be marketed under the company's FLORON brand.
As on 31 March 2018, the Company had 5 wholly owned subsidiary companies whereby 1 wholly owned subsidiary company is registered in India and remaining 4 are registered outside India. 2 of these are direct wholly owned subsidiaries and rest 3 are step-down wholly owned subsidiaries.
On 9 July 2018, SRF Limited announced the setting up of a second Bi-axially Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate (BOPET) film line and a Resin plant in Thailand at an investment of approximately US$ 60 million. This new plant will be put up at the company's existing manufacturing location in Rayong, Thailand by its wholly owned subsidiary - SRF Industries (Thailand) Limited and is expected to become operational in close to two years. Once operational, the new line will be capable of producing approximately 40,000 metric tonnes per annum. With this capacity addition, the company will further strengthen its presence in the buoyant South East Asian region and expand its customer base in new geographies.
As on 31 March 2019, the company had 6 wholly owned subsidiary companies whereby 1 wholly owned subsidiary company is registered in India and remaining 5 are registered outside India. 2 of these are direct wholly owned subsidiaries and rest 4 are step-down wholly owned subsidiaries.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. Consequent to this, Government of India declared a national lockdown on 25 March 2020, which has impacted the business activities of the Company.
During the year ended March 31, 2021 the Company has issued 17,64,705 fully paid up equity shares equivalent to 3.07% of the existing paid up equity capital of the Company to Qualified Institutional Buyers in accordance with SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018, These shares were issued at an issue price of Rs. 4250 per share for an aggregate consideration of Rs. 750 Crore.
Pursuant to the approval given by the shareholders through Postal Ballot on 06 October 2021, the Board at its meeting held on 15 October 2021, issued and allotted 236,980,820 fully paid up Bonus Equity shares of Rs. 10 each in the ratio of 4:1 to the shareholders.
As on March 31, 2022, Company had 7 wholly owned subsidiary companies out of which 2 wholly owned subsidiary companies are registered in India and remaining 5 are registered outside India. 3 of these are direct wholly owned subsidiaries and rest 4 are stepdown wholly owned subsidiaries.
During the year 2022, the Board at its meeting held on October 15, 2021 allotted 23,69,80,820 Bonus Shares to the eligible shareholders of the Company in the proportion of 4 new fully paid-up equity share of Rs. 10/- each for every 1 existing fully paid-up equity share of Rs. 10/- each.
During 2023, the Company commissioned Multi-Purpose Production (MPP4) facility, for agrochemical and pharmaceutical intermediates and a Thermal Oxidation facility at Dahej. The Second CMS Plant in Dahej got commissioned into the Fluorochemicals Business. It commissioned the 2nd BOPP Film Line and Metalliser at Indore, India. The Company's Belting Fabrics (BF) segment commissioned Solid Woven plant, further enhancing its product portfolio from 1,100 to 1,800 Metric Tonnes Per Month. Fluorochemicals Business commissioned new plants such as, chloromethanes, calcium chloride and a Captive Power Plant (CPP) in Dahej.