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Tel: + 91 44 2811 8500Fax: + 91 44 2811 1902

Sanmar Holdings Ltd

Sanmar Engineering Corporation LtdAsco (India) LtdBS&B Safety Systems (India) LtdFisher Sanmar LtdFlowserve Sanmar LtdSanmar Engineering Services LtdStrategic Weighing SystemsSanmar Foundries LtdSensortronics Sanmar LtdTyco Sanmar LtdXomox Sanmar Ltd

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Cabot Sanmar Ltd

Sanmar Shipping Ltd

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals LtdPerformance ChemicalsIntec PolymersActive Pharmaceutical IngredientsProCitius ResearchBangalore Genei

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In this issue...

Matrix can be viewed at www.sanmargroup.comDesigned and edited by Kalamkriya Limited, 9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086. Ph: + 91 44 2811 8051/ 52

For Private Circulation Only.

Cover StoryThe moon’s the limit for BS&B (India)! 4

Sanmar Sonata in rescue missionEgyptian passenger ship sinks in Red Sea 5

Emerson chief Dave Farr visits Sanmar 6

Madhuram Narayanan CentreThe Krishnaswamys honoured 8

Sports Day celebrated with enthusiasm at MNC 9

Sri Sankara schools celebrate Annual Day 10

Activities galore at Sri Sankara schools 11

A Sanmar son is speed reading champ 12

MMA celebrates Golden Jubilee 13

Good show by Sanmar’s Young Managers 17

Indian business leaders meet Senior Minister of SingaporeN Kumar leads panel 18

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals LimitedMurli Ramachandran appointed Managing Director 19

Chemplast Sanmar LimitedOverwhelming response to health camp 20

Farm Fest 2006Karaikal plant wins first prize 21

Sanmar Engineering Corporation LimitedFisher Sanmar develops CHP valves for power plants 22

Xomox Sanmar delivers special valve to Essar Steel 23

The new look Sanmar Annual Report 24

Employees’ CornerA boon for the blind 25

Legends from the South

C Subramaniam 26

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The moon’s the limit forBS&B (India)!

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre(VSSC), awarded BS&B Safety Systems(India), an order for custom-engineeringrupture disks for its space mission to themoon called the Chandrayana.

It is a rare privilege for this SanmarEngineering Corporation (SEC)constituent to be associated with thisprestigious project that will move forward

India’s space exploration programme. Thecompany’s innovative work for VSSCincludes the design and manufacture ofrupture disks for the Spin motor and theDe-Orbit motor, whose construction andmetallurgy assist the launch of a spaceprobe to impact the moon’s surface. Thesatellite is expected to take pictures andanalyse the findings of the moon surface,the results of which will prepare thegroundwork for subsequent humanlanding on the moon.This new application illustrates the use ofrupture disks as a pressure releasemechanism. It has found innovativeapplication in windmills, fire extinguishersfor battle tanks, in experimentalaeronautics and in wind tunnel testing.

The applicationThe rupture disk will open at a pressureof 25 bar to let out an impinger with thecamera from the satellite on to the surfaceof the moon. On impinging, the dustgenerated will be studied through thephotographs sent by the camera. Thecustom-made rupture disk is supposed towithstand the lunar environment for 100days before the disk is bursted to de-orbitthe impinger for striking the surface of themoon. The disk will be welded on the de-orbit nozzle, which is connected to thepropulsion body. The medium inside thehousing will be hot gases at 2900 degreeC and the external environment will bevacuum. The disk type will be a variant ofthe standard design.Committed to providing VSSC with thehigh-end technology it needs to manageits space exploration efforts cost-effectivelyand safely, BS&B takes pride in assuringthat its rupture disks and safety systemsmeet the tough requirements of VSSC andall its other valuable customers.

Cover Story

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The Egyptian passenger ship Al SalamBoccaccio 98, carrying about 1,400people, sank in the Red Sea on 2 February2006, during bad weather. Accounts fromsurvivors and crew members suggest thatthe tragedy began when a fire broke outon board. Water used to fight the blazeapparently flooded the car deck, pooledto one side, and caused the ship to listand quickly sink. Rescue ships andhelicopters pulled dozens of survivors andbodies from the water. Most of thepassengers were Egyptian workersreturning from their jobs in Saudi Arabia.At least four Saudi and four Egyptianships were involved in the search effort,arriving about 10 hours after the 35-year-old ferry was believed to have sunk. Therewere fears that the death toll could beextremely high.

Sanmar Sonata was summoned by theEgyptian Navy to assist in the Search andRescue (SAR) operations of the ill-fatedpassengers aboard the passenger ship,which capsized. Sanmar Sonata, loadedat Rabigh in Saudi Arabia was transitingthe Red Sea, en route her discharge portin Syria (Mediterranean). When she wassummoned to assist, she drifted close tothe site of tragedy (since 0130hrs IST on3 February 2006) and was assigned to thecommand of an Egyptian Navy warship,“Shama Sheikh”, controlling theoperations.

Under international laws, a merchantship is obliged to assist in such rescueoperations, if called upon to do so, underinstructions from the relevant RegionalNaval Command. Sanmar Sonata’smaster Capt Kundan Kumar, advised thecharterers Vitol and the TORM Pool,the Flag State, Marshall Islands and the

Sanmar Sonata in rescuemissionEgyptian passenger ship sinks in Red SeaEgyptian passenger ship sinks in Red SeaEgyptian passenger ship sinks in Red SeaEgyptian passenger ship sinks in Red SeaEgyptian passenger ship sinks in Red Sea

P&I Club about her deviation from theschedule.

The vessel was involved in the search andrescue operations for nearly twentyhours. After that, she was released latein the evening of 4 February 2006. Thevessel’s master, stated that there was notrace of the ill-fated passenger ship atthe site which had sunk so quickly.During the rescue effort Sonata wassuccessful in guiding the naval ship tothe position where seven survivors weretraced and successfully rescued. In allabout 380 survivors were traced andrescued in the effort, which wascoordinated by the Egyptian warshipassisted by six merchant ships includingSanmar Sonata and two Americanmilitary aircraft.

The Flag Administration, Marshall Islandsand the Agent at Suez Canal commendedthe efforts of Sanmar Sonata.

Sanmar Sonata. Inset: Al Salam Boccaccio 98.

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Emerson chief Dave Farrvisits Sanmar

Dave Farr, Chairman, Emerson, and histeam were greeted warmly at Sanmar andhad fruitful interactions with all thesenior executives of the group both at

Dave Farr, Chairman, Emerson, withN Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group

and M N Radhakrishnan, Director-Coordination & Review, The Sanmar

Group.

Emerson team at Asco:

Ed Monser in the Quality Control room ofAsco (India). Also seen are (from l to r)P Natarajan, Managing Director, SanmarEngineering Corporation, Dave Farr,B Natraj, Director-Corporate, TheSanmar Group and Mike Train.

the Sanmar headquarters and SanmarEngineering Corporation (SEC),Karapakkam.

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Dave Farr and Vijay Sankar, Director,The Sanmar Group, engrossed in adiscussion at the Fisher plant, whileP Natarajan looks on.

Emerson team at Fisher:

(L to r): P Natarajan, Dave Farr, StevePelch and G K Pillai, Chief Executive,

Fisher Sanmar, at the Fisher Controlvalves plant.

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The Sadguru Gnanananda nationalawards were presented to former AirVice Marshal V Krishnaswamy and hiswife Mrs Jaya Krishnaswamy ofMadhuram Narayanan Centre (MNC)at a function held in Chennai on 4February 2006. The award was given tothe couple under a special category -

Madhuram Narayanan Centre

The KrishnaswamyshonouredSadguru Gnanananda national awardsSadguru Gnanananda national awardsSadguru Gnanananda national awardsSadguru Gnanananda national awardsSadguru Gnanananda national awards

“Families in social work”- introduced forthe first time by Manava Seva DharmaSamvardhani (MSDS), a charitable trustfor the promotion of socialconsciousness. MSDS identifies andacclaims women who are agents of socialchange and take up the onerous task ofserving fellow humans, especiallywomen and children. It has so farconferred awards to 70 women socialentrepreneurs from all over India.

Under the special category of awards,this husband and wife team doingpioneering work in the social sector bybeing instrumental in establishing andrunning the Madhuram NarayananCentre for Exceptional Children, havebeen chosen and honoured. The awardcarried a citation, cash award ofRs 50,000 each to Air Vice Marshal andhis wife, a plaque and shawls. Thedevoted couple who have dedicatedtheir lives to the cause of special childrenand have been involved with MNC sinceits inception in 1989 havemagnanimously donated the cash awardto the institution.

Former Chief Election Commissioner ofIndia T S Krishnamurthy presented theawards and the guests of honour presentwere Swami Nityanandagiri ofTapovanam and N Sankar, Chairman,The Sanmar Group. The other awardeesof the year include Dr Kiran Bedi, India’sfirst woman police officer, Ms UmaPreman, the founder of Santhi MedicalInformation Centre at Guruvayoor andMs Jammela Nishat who established theShaheen Women’s Resource and WelfareCentre at Hyderabad.

Air Vice Marshal and Jaya Krishnaswamy receiving the citation from Swami Nityanandagiri.

Air Vice Marshal V Krishnaswamy and JayaKrishnaswamy receiving a silver plaque fromT S Krishnamurthy, former Chief ElectionCommissioner of India.

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At the annual Sports Day celebrationsof Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional Children (MNC) held on17 February 2006, games and specialevents designed for special childrenincluded picking up balls from one bowland dropping them into another,picking up stones from a bucket of water,dropping coins in a piggy bank, abacusnumber games and sorting vegetableswhich elicited a big response from thechildren. “For children whose mobilityis restricted we chose games that couldbe played sitting in one place”, saidVimala Kannan, Principal of MNC.William Alden, Managing Director,Alden Pre-Press Enterprises (P) Limited,was a guest of honour at the function.Former Test cricketer Bharath Reddy, thechief guest for the day’s proceedings,gave away the prizes to the winners.

Sports Day celebratedwith enthusiasm at MNC

Mythili welcomes chief guest Bharath Reddy with a bouquet.

Guest of Honour William Alden, Managing Director, Alden Pre-Press Enterprises (P)Limited, taking the salute as the children march past.

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Sri Sankara schoolscelebrate Annual Day

Supercop K Vijaykumar, the AdditionalDirector General of Police, was the chiefguest at the joint annual day celebrationof Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School,Adyar and Sri Sankara VidyashramamMatriculation Higher Secondary School,Tiruvanmiyur, on 28 January 2006.Vijaykumar as we all know, led themission to capture the brigandVeerappan.

Chief guest K Vijaykumar (centre), Additional Director General of Police, is seen here with(from l to r) Subala Ananthanarayanan, Principal, Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School,Adyar , V S Dhandapani, Managing Trustee, Indian Education Trust, K S Narayanan andKalpalatha Mohan, Principal, Sri Sankara Vidyashramam, Tiruvanmiyur.

Variety entertainment programmesoffered by the schools marked theoccasion. While students of Sri SankaraSenior Secondary School presented adance programme titled, “MahishasuraMardhini”, and the student orchestrarendered the Thiruvachakam, studentsof Sri Sankara Vidyashramam presenteda dance programme, “AmruthaSaraswathi”, and rendered the Thevaram.

The chief guest gave away the awardsand prizes. V S Dhandapani, ManagingTrustee, Indian Education Trust spokeon the occasion.

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As part of the World Wild Lifeprogramme in January this year, childrenof classes I to V of Sri SankaraVidyashramam, Tiruvanmiyur, exploredthe diversity of wild life species in fourdifferent continents including Asia,Antarctica, Africa and Australia.Children dressed to look like variousanimals belonging to these continents,had something to tell the audience andthe stage looked like a forest designedexclusively for the children.

Activities galore atSri Sankara schools

World Wild Life programme.

SFA programme in progress.

At the Skills For Adolescence (SFA)programme conducted at the school forstudents in January this year,Ms Jayne Westerlund, ProgrammeCo-ordinator, Lions Quest InternationalFoundation, Illinois, was the guest ofhonour. She interacted with the studentsand appreciated the articulate skills of thestudents.

Sri Sankara Vidyashramam Matriculation HigherSecondary School, Tiruvanmiyur

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Winners of the ISRP Quiz, 2006.

Students of Sri SankaraSenior Secondary School,Adyar, participated and wonthe first, second and thirdplace in the Science quizprogramme conducted by theIndian Society of RadiationPhysics (ISRP), Kalpakkam.The school is bagging prizesfor the fourth consecutiveyear. A special prize wasawarded to Harshavardhan ofclass XII.

Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, Adyar

At the Intel Science quizconducted by the CentralBoard of SecondaryEducation at New Delhi,6000 teams from all over thecountry participated andteam represented by AnindyaDutta, S Shravan andR Ananthapadmanabhan ofclass XII of Sri Sankara SeniorSecondary School, Adyar,won the third place.

Senathypathy seen holding the cup and thecheque with the organisers of the speed-reading competition.

V Senathypathy, son of S Veluchamy, adriver at Asco (India) Limited, has donehis school and parents proud by winningthe first position, which included a cashprize of Rs 10,000 and a trophy at aspeed reading competition conductedfor school children in the city. OnlySuccess Learning Technologies, acompany that conducts several training

programmes for children, recentlyorganised the competition in the citywhich elicited a favourable responsefrom several school children. After threerounds of elimination, some were chosenfor the final round. The13-year-oldSenathypathy, is a student of Sri SankaraMatriculation Higher Secondary School,Tiruvalluvar Nagar, Tiruvanmiyur.

A Sanmar son is speed reading champ

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MMA celebrates GoldenJubilee

The two-day golden jubileeconvention of the MadrasManagement Association (MMA)began with the inaugural session on 3February 2006, followed by threesessions by several distinguishedspeakers and continued the next daywith another three sessions before itended with the valedictory session on4 February 2006 at Le Meridien,Chennai. The Union Minister ofCommunications and InformationTechnology Dayanidhi Maran and theTamil Nadu Governor Surjit SinghBarnala addressed the convention atthe inaugural session on 3 February.Addressing the convention, the Union

Minister said that the growth inmanufacturing sector was the key togenerating employment. In hisaddress, the Tamil Nadu Governorsaid that greater growth was needed infood production and manufacturingindustry to meet the needs of thegrowing population. D PPadmanabhan, President, MMA, inhis welcome address detailed thegrowth of the association from thedays when management education wasnascent to the present lives in whichentrepreneurs from India were notrestricting their operations within thecountry, but looking for growthopportunities worldwide.

N Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group,receiving a memento from M S Kumar, PastPresident, MMA & CEO, Precimax Tech.

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“India without boundaries”

We reproduce below the text of SanmarChairman N Sankar’s speech at theconvention.

The theme of this convention is ‘An Indiathat knows no boundaries’, and this isnowhere true as much as with regard tothe Manufacturing and EngineeringIndustry, which we will focus on in thissession. The opportunities for this sectorin India currently are enormous - perhapsunparalleled anywhere else in the world.I am sure we are all aware of the reasonsfor this, but permit me to encapsulatethem.

First, unparalleled market opportunity.India offers a practically unlimited marketfor almost any product over the mediumand long term. Indian per capitaconsumptions of most products are a 4th

or a 5th of that of even countries likeThailand and Malaysia, let alone thewestern world, which are much, muchhigher. Thus even if we catch up withthe consumption levels of our closerneighbours, the multiplier effect of India’sone billion plus population will ensurecontinued double digit growth indemand for most products and servicesfor several years to come.

Some of the delegates at the convention.(From l to r): Srinivasan K Swamy(R K Swamy BBDO), S Gopal, B Natraj,B Shivkumar (Alpump), C K Ranganathan(Cavinkare), Prakash G Apte (IIMBangalore) and Prithika Chary(Apollo Hospitals).

Next is the global migration of industrialcapacity away from the DevelopedNations. The moving out ofmanufacturing capacity, particularly theheavier industries, from the developedworld, is a phenomenon India has begunto capitalize on. India offers an excellentmanufacturing destination, particularlyfor the engineering industry. With a wellexecuted strategy, India has an excellentchance of emerging as one of themanufacturing powerhouses of the world.

Lowest costs in the world

India offers the opportunity to set upmanufacturing units at perhaps the lowestconversion cost on a global basis. Thecapital costs of greenfield projects aremuch lower here, as are the costs ofconversion once the units get underway.These advantages arise primarily from thesignificantly lower cost of our excellentIndian manpower – the engineers, thetechnologists, lawyers, accountants,software specialists and so on. The restof the world has woken up to this fact,and the results are seen in the largenumber of multinationals setting upGreenfield manufacturing sites here bothfor the local market and to feed into their

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global supply chains, as well as researchand design and development centres.

These are in my opinion the mostimportant positive factors in favour ofthe engineering and manufacturingsector. There are many more and I amsure we will hear about them later.

But, now let us move on to the flip side,the impediments. All is not hunky doryin India. In spite of several rounds ofeconomic reforms, some basic problemscontinue to stymie our economicprogress. These essentially concern ourInfrastructure, Labour legislation,Education and dichotomies betweencentral and local Government legislationand fiscal policy, driven by bad politics,not good economics.

Poor Infrastructure is possibly thenumber one retarder of economicdevelopment. Whilst we can berightfully proud of our Telecominfrastructure specially over the last fewyears, the story is very different when itcomes to Roads, Airports and Sea Ports.The Golden Quadrilateral is only nowbeing slowly completed caught as it wasin a change of Government at the centre.But we possibly need a score of goldenquadrilaterals, not just one. And airportscontinue to be bogged down in politicalcontroversy, even as we show the fastestgrowth rates amongst airlines of theworld. And turnaround times in majorports continue to be measured in dayswhen the rest of the world has moved tohours. A visit to China will demonstratehow much we are behind the world inthis key area of infrastructure, progressin which could propel India to thenumber one position in the world.

On the labour front, with technologyand product obsolescence becoming theorder of the day, businessmen need thefreedom to tailor employment tobusiness requirements. And the Bonuslegislation needs to recognize that Bonuscan arise only when there is Profit.

List of session chair persons/speakers at the convention:

N Lakshminarayanan, President &

CEO, Cognizant Technology Solutions.

K Raghavendra Rao, Managing

Director, Orchid Chemicals &

Pharmaceuticals.

P K Mohapatra, President & CEO,

Technology Business Sector, RPG Enterprises.

Srinivasan K Swamy, Managing

Director & CEO, R K Swamy BBDO.

N Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group.

Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman & CEO,

HCL Infosystems Ltd.

Shanker Annaswamy, Managing

Director, IBM Global Services India Pvt. Ltd.

G V Prasad, Executive Vice Chairman

& CEO, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.

R D Thulasiraj, Executive Director,

LAICO Aravind Eye Care System.

Raghu Pillai, Managing Director &

CEO, Home Solutions (Retail) India Ltd.

Arvind Singhal, Managing Director,

KSA Technopak India Pvt. Ltd.

Puneet Johar, Star India.

Bhaskar Das, Executive President, Times

of India, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.

Subir Raha, Chairman & Managing

Director, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd.

B V R Subbu, President, Hyundai Motor

India Ltd.

Prof Marti G Subrahmanyam,Charles E Merill Professor of Finance and

Economics, Stern School of Business, New

York University.

Adil S Zainulbhai, Managing Director,

McKinsey & Co.

Gurcharan Das, Former CEO,

Procter & Gamble India Ltd.

Dr Prakash G Apte, Director,

IIM - Bangalore.

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And the well intentioned and ill-structured reservation policies followedby the centre and numerous stategovernments, now threaten to engulf theprivate sector too. Threatening to cripplemeritocracy in the face of politicalopportunism.

Yes, we need to take several firm steps ifwe are to wake up ‘where the world isnot broken up into fragments by narrowdomestic walls’.

Education concerns

Education, which I had earlier cited as amajor advantage, could soon reverse itscharacter if we are not careful. Onejust has to look around Chennai to seethe results of the freeing up of PrivateSector in education over the last fewyears. A large number of technicalinstitutions – close to 250 if you takethe whole of Tamil Nadu – many ofthem new, are churning out 50,000graduates a year covering the wholespectrum of engineering and technology.Granted not all of them are employableon an international basis, but theopportunity that such an availability oftechnical manpower throws up is mindboggling. A few bad examples among theprivate educational institutions shouldnot lead to a wholesale reversal of policy.The explosion in demand by the

B V R Subbu, President, Hyundai Motors.

software / BPO sector has sucked up somany people, that the manufacturingindustry is already complaining of thelack of availability of technicalmanpower.

Role of government

And finally the role of the state and otherlocal governments. They need to pushfor and support central labour legislationon bonus and redundancies. They needto accept the spirit of VAT and notcircumvent its purpose by introducingnon VAT able items such as Entry taxes,Octroi, etc.

Against this background, we have someamazing examples of success in themanufacturing industry spearheaded byIndians, and not just in India. Many ofthem have translated their successes here toexpansions abroad – names such as BharatForge, Sundaram Fasteners, the Tatas areall well known to us. All of them have builtinternationally on hard won success in Indiaand such success is definitely to be admiredand emulated, given the background that Ireferred to earlier.

We have today with us an individualwho is extremely well qualified to analysethe reasons for such success.Mr B V R Subbu, the President ofHyundai Motors has undisputedcredentials in this regard. He has almostthirty years of experience in theautomobile industry in India – first withthe Tatas and then with Hyundai, whomhe joined as Director, Marketing and isnow the President.

Chennai is perhaps unique in the worldthat in the last decade two completegrassroots automobile plants have comeup, apart from a few other assemblyplants, and of course the consolidationof the auto component industry here.Hyundai has been remarkably successfulin India and has made inroads inproduct areas where there were alreadyentrenched heavy weights, like thecompact car market.

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Good show by Sanmar’sYoung Managers

The Madras Management Association(MMA) organises an annual event foryoung managers, open to participationfrom Corporate teams. This year was aspecial year for the organisers – theGolden Jubilee year of MMA. The themehad to be special as well – and that it was,being reflective of the buoyancy in theIndian economy, the surge in the growthrate in the Indian economy, the (almost)limitless potential - ‘This India knows noboundaries’ was the canvas.

This year’s competition saw close to 30registrations. The format for thecompetition, as always, was a writtensubmission of 5000 words, followed byan oral presentation to a panel of judgeson 6 January 2006. Teams from AllSecTechnologies, NEG Micon, Polaris,Wipro, TCS, Covansys, IOCL were inthe fray. Sanmar had 2 teams taking part– one team represented by Anupama Rao,Aarathi Chellammal and Deepak Anand(Sanmar Team 1) and another representedby Ram Prasadh, Karthik and John Jacob(Sanmar Team 2), mentored by ArjunAnanth and Ramkumar Shankar.

Sanmar Team 1’s presentation centeredaround the traditional industries. WhileIndian companies today are in a betterposition to take their operations overseas,building brands overseas continues to bea major challenge. Creative industriespresent a great opportunity for Indianentrepreneurs to build niche globalbrands – Tanishq, Hidesign and Ritu Beriwere the examples that were show-cased.Sanmar Team 2, in their presentation,covered the manufacturing industry(Bharat Forge), the pharmaceuticalindustry (Ranbaxy) and the retail industry(Moserbaer).

The teams were ranked on both thewritten presentation (originality,accuracy, extent of research) as well asthe oral presentation (communication &presentation, team work, interactionwith the judges). A team from TCS,Trivandrum was ranked the best. SanmarTeam 1 was ranked second.

The awards were given away at the MMAGolden Jubilee Annual Convention heldon 3 and 4 February 2006.

“Personally, I must say the entireexperience was pretty interesting – theresearch that we did, the discussions thatwe had before we zeroed in on thetraditional industries as our ‘focus area’,the race to get our written submissionin on time(!!) – was absorbing. Ithoroughly enjoyed being part of theteam”, says Anupama Rao, who was partof the team that won the second positionat the 10th MMA competition fortomorrow’s managers.

At the competitionconducted by MMAfor women managers,to identify the“Outstanding WomanManager” for the year,Lavanya Venkatesh,

Assistant Manager-HR, ChemplastSanmar, was placed second. Of the 24candidates who had participated in thecompetition, four were chosen. Thecandidates were required to make apaper presentation on the topic,“Women in India: 2020. There is nostopping us”, followed by an oralpresentation before a panel of judges.Bhooma V G, Deputy Chief PersonnelOfficer, Indian Railways, IntegralCoach Factory, was adjudged theoutstanding woman manager of theyear.

Lavanya’s distinctionLavanya’s distinctionLavanya’s distinctionLavanya’s distinctionLavanya’s distinction

Members of Sanmar Team 1 at the awards function. (L to r): Aarathi Chellammal,D P Padmanabhan (President, MMA), Deepak Anand, Gurcharan Das (Former CEO,Procter & Gamble India), Subir Raha (Chairman & MD, ONGC) and Anupama Rao.

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Six members of the India Advisory Paneldiscussed ideas for Singapore and India tojointly develop a Special Economic Zonein India when they called on SeniorMinister Goh Chok Tong at Singaporeon 8 February 2006. Members of the IndiaAdvisory Panel including the Chairmanof the Panel N Kumar, Tata ConsultancyServices Chief Executive Officer andManaging Director S Ramadorai andChairman & Managing DirectorMindtree Consulting Ashok Soota, weregiven a warm welcome by Goh.

They also talked about ways to speed upimplementation of the ComprehensiveEconomic Cooperation Agreement, thebilateral free trade agreement signed inJune last year.

Senior Minister Goh mooted the ideaof a Special Economic Zone – anindustrial park area to draw more foreign

Indian business leaders meet SeniorMinister of Singapore

N Kumar leads panel

investment to India – when he metpolitical and business leaders during avisit to the country last month.

He envisioned it being built on at least1,000 ha of land and having a varietyof manufacturers and an anchor tenant.

At the meeting, panel members andGoh, who has long encouragedbusinesses at Singapore to look at India,discussed various ways of bringing theSpecial Economic Zone idea forward.

The panel was set up by InternationalEnterprise Singapore in February lastyear to provide insights on how Indianand Singaporean companies can deepentheir economic ties.

It consists of 10 corporate bigwigs fromsome of India’s biggest firms who willadvise on strategies for Singapore firmstargeting the Indian Market.

Members of the India Advisory Panel whenthey called on S M Goh. From l to r: Panel

Chairman N Kumar, Tata ConsultancyServices Chief Executive Officer and

Managing Director S Ramadorai andMindtree Consulting Chairman and M D

Ashok Soota.

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Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Limited

Murli Ramachandranappointed Managing Director

Poised for major growth in its businesses,The Sanmar Group, has naturally beenfocusing on enriching its intellectualcapital by identifying the best and mostappropriate talent to occupy keypositions in the group to take it forward.One such important appointment hasbeen that of Murli Ramachandran whohas joined Sanmar Speciality ChemicalsLimited (SSCL) as Managing Director.He takes over from Vijay Sankar, whohad been holding additionalresponsibility for SSCL since M SSekhar’s retirement last year. All SSCLBusiness Heads and the heads of Financeand HR will report to him.

With an educational background inMechanical Engineering, ManagementSciences and Industrial Engineering,Murli has work experience of over 22years with leading organisations such asL&T, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson,Accenture and KPMG. Before joiningSanmar, he was with the RPG Groupfor five years, initially coordinating theirCorporate Strategy, and thereaftermoving to RPG Life Sciences asManaging Director. His background inManagement, Strategic Consultancy,and his exposure to the Life ScienceIndustry, will be of great value to SSCL,which is on the threshold of expansivegrowth in different sub-specialities.

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A general health camp was conductedin November last year at RameshVidyashram Matriculation School,Kunjandiyur, a village near Mettur, by

Chemplast Sanmar Limited

Overwhelming response tohealth camp

Employee volunteers of Chemplast Sanmarseen with the medical professionals whoconducted the health camp.

Healthcare camp in progress.

Dr R Kumar, Senior Manager, MedicalServices and Dr R Kailasam, Manager,Medical Services both of ChemplastSanmar and two other medicalprofessionals, Dr K Kalyanakumari,MD, DGO and Dr K Vijayan, MD,DM (Neurology), from Coimbatore.The employee volunteers fromChemplast Sanmar and the NationalSocial Service students of the schooljoined hands for the smooth conduct ofthe full day health camp which focusedon checking hypertension, diabetes,neurological disorders andgynaecological problems of the villagers.There was an overwhelming response forthe general health camp and over 500benefited from it.

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Karaikal plant winsfirst prize

Lush green gardens sprawled across 12acres of land, 80,000 square metres ofvelvety lawns lined with shrubs, groundcovers, areca palms, fishtail palms, ficusand bamboo varieties and the shade ofmore than 10,000 trees – this is thecommitment towards environmentmanagement at the Karaikal plant ofChemplast Sanmar’s PVC division. Thecontinuous efforts of the dedicated teammanaging the green belt and horticultureat Karaikal were rewarded when thisindustrial garden won the first prize inthe Farm Fest 2006 competition,conducted by the Government ofPondicherry, Agriculture Department,Karaikal.

Farm Fest 2006, was held between 3 and5 March at Beach Garden, Karaikal. TheKaraikal plant participated in theOrnamental Garden category (IndustrialGarden). A team from AgricultureDepartment inspected all the industriesfor assessment on 1 March 2006.

Committed towards excellence inenvironment management, the team atKaraikal treat green belt and horticulturedevelopment as one of their primeobjectives, coming up with innovative

solutions for maintainingthe green belt area throughan irrigation system, thatuses recycled water for thegarden.

The Karaikal plantentered Farm Fest in 2002,2003 and 2004, and wasrecognised in all the earlierFarm Fests. But this is thefirst time that the Karaikal garden wonthe first prize. A proud moment indeedfor the PVC division at Karaikal.

S Venkatesan, General Manager, Operations, Chemplast Sanmar, receiving the prize from DrR Sathiaseelan, Director of Agriculture, Government of Pondicherry, at the valedictoryfunction of Farm Fest 2006.

Farm Fest 2006

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Sanmar Engineering Corporation Limited

Fisher Sanmar developsCHP valves for power plants

The boiler feed water regulator valveused in many power plants is requiredfor the main operation of the unit. Thisvalve is to control the flow rate of feedwater during normal operations whenthe boiler is under pressure. The boilerfeed water start up valve does the initialfilling.

During the initial operation, the serviceconditions for the feed water regulatorvalve nearly match those of the

feedpump recirculation valve, with theexception of the flow rates. Theregulator valve begins the transition ofthe flow from the recirculation valve andwill open as the recirculation valve closes(See figure).

The service conditions for the regulatorvalve vary depending on plant size andunit operation.

Inlet pressure: 2800 ~ 3200 psig

Pressure drop: 100 ~ 600 psid

Temperature: 300 ~ 400º F

Fisher traditionally designed the large,high capacity 12" EH valve for thisapplication. The modified equalpercentage characteristic gives highcapacity.

As the Fisher traditional 12" EH valveis not at a competitive price, Fisher AsiaPacific, along with Marshalltown,designed a new model 12" CHP(compact high pressure model). Thepilot sample manufactured at FisherIndia was a first for Fisher worldwideand successfully passed the test. Thecastings of the body, bonnet, and cageare sourced from Sanmar FoundriesLtd. This design of the 12" CHP haswith 40% less weight, 40% lessmachining and assembly timecompared to the 12" EH.

The first order received for this designfrom Bharat Heavy Electricals Limitedfor 4 nos. to CSEB Korba 2 x 250 MWwith a potential of 8 more quantities forthe Raigad power plant is awaited. 12inch CHP has been designed to best fitfor 300 – 1000 MW boilers. This designhas the potential of appx. 100 units perannum in such applications.

T Narita, A Ravi Kumar, Lionel Kwok, Sam Tomochika and G K Pillai during testing doneby the AP Power team.

Fisher’s new CHP valve.

To Feedwater Heatersand Boiler

BoilerFeedwaterStartupValve

BoilerFeedwaterRegulatorValve

BoilerFeedwaterRecirculationValve

Deaerator

FromCondensate Pump

Boiler Feedwater Pump

Typical Feedwater System

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Xomox Sanmar deliversspecial valve to Essar Steel

Xomox Sanmar has expanded itsmanufacturing range through thedevelopment of a 20" Class 300 SleevedPlug Valve, the first out of an order forsix valves placed by Essar Steel Ltd.,Hazira, to be used in transporting crudeoil from the jetty to their Works.

Team XOMOX readily accepted thechallenge to develop the valve within theshortest possible lead time withenthusiasm and optimism.

The project was kickstarted by orderingthe casting requirements of an LCBbody, plug and cover castings onSanmar Foundries Ltd (SFL) withstringent technical delivery conditions.

The 1000 kg body casting and the othertwo parts comprising plug and covercastings were all successfully poured toradiographic quality in record time atSFL.

The PTFE sleeve, which alone weighs92 kg, was moulded in a single shot—probably for the first time in India—through a unique moulding process.

The difficult control body port lipmachining, plug taper grinding, pressureribs taper broaching and sleeve taperwere finished accurately with innovativefixturing.

The indigenously developed top sealassembly with fire safe cartridgesqualified the valve further to stringentfire safe test standards.

A new and efficient enclosed gearmechanism makes the rotation of theplug smooth and effortless.

The operation of fitting the sleeve insidethe body went through flawlessly andthe valve operation was extremely

smooth belying all expectations of adifficult time during assembly andtesting.

The completion of this valve from thedevelopment stage to full assembly andtesting within 6 months of receiving theorder is indeed a feather in the cap ofXomox Sanmar Ltd.

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”“

For the first time in its history, The Sanmar

Group has made a departure from its

tradition of publishing ‘a plain vanilla’

annual report and come out with one that

serves as both a colourful, well-designed

report. In the words of N Sankar,

The new look SanmarAnnual Report

Chairman, The Sanmar Group, prefacing

the group annual report 2004 -2005,

“The size of the group warrants a report of

this scale and scope for the benefit of our

bankers and financial institutions. The

results of our core businesses need to be

transparently communicated to their

respective stakeholders. Besides, our group

has made a number of proactive

investments in SHE initiatives, beyond

immediate statutory requirements – zero

discharge and progression towards zero

environment load – that will be relevant

for the broad community. Our business

plans and investments will drive attractive

growth, over the coming years, that could

be of interest to existing and prospective

employees.”

25

It’s a common sight almost at everytraffic junction for people sitting in carsto crib about not being able to watchsome new movie of Shah Rukh Khan ornot being able to keep up their weekendplan because of some emergency at homeor work. A few yards away from the caron the pavement, you find destitutewomen with malnourished children orhandicapped children literally living onthe streets. Had those children beengiven the same opportunities as we werethey would have reached greater heights!Aren’t we all really self-centered? Yes, weare and that’s the hard fact!

There are people who have thought ofall this and felt that their contributionin a small way could make a bigdifference in so many lives. There areorganizations that do incredible serviceto society. I am sure all of you will agreethat it is our duty to be aware of suchservices happening around us. Take thevoluntary work of my uncle NKrishnaswamy, a retired officer of theIndian Police Service, who decided acouple of years ago to do something forblind children. Thus originated “VidyaVrikshah”, and the National InitiativeFor The Blind, formulated by thisorganization in 2003, which aims tointroduce Braille-based education in allschools and colleges so that the blindlanguishing in homes and streets can bedrawn into education and then into thesocio-economic mainstream.

The Vasantha Braille Cube developed byVidya Vrikshah, a simple device forteaching or learning Braille is gainingcountrywide acceptance and testimonyto this fact is that more than 200 blindschools in the country have soughtsupply of this cube in large quantities.The cube has one to six dots in different

Employees’ Corner

A boon for the blindby Aparna Chandrasekhar, Officer-Accounts, Corporate Division, Chemplast Sanmar

positions on its six sides. Manipulationof the sides enables one to create up to63 dot patterns, each standing for a letterand all together enough to represent allletters in any alphabet of any language.A ready reckoner chart with the lettersof the alphabet and their correspondingBraille dot patterns enables anyone tolearn Braille through use of the cube inless than an hour. The organization hasalso developed a Universal Braille Kitwith other devices like the NatesanBlock, which will facilitate the blind toform sentences in Braille.

Krishnaswamy is the first person toadmit that this is not the work of oneman or one organisation. There havebeen so many people and organizationsbehind this big leap. The organization’scollaboration with IIT-Madras hasresulted in a speech-enabled softwarepackage developed by the latter, to bemade available with training to largenumbers of blind persons and teachersof the blind, helping them to usecomputers in all the Indian languages.

When differences become small, smallthings make the difference.

A star trainee of Vidya Vrikshah. Afrose,7 years old and born blind. Has masteredBraille and now uses a computer in Tamil.

With this cube you can learn Braille in30 minutes.

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Legends from the SouthC Subramaniam

‘Bharat Ratna’ C Subramaniam was atowering figure among career politicians.The author of India’s Green Revolution,he spearheaded an epochal movementin the 1960s that transformed aperilously food-deficit country into afood-surplus one through some of themost daring measures any governmentbefore or after has undertaken. Of hiscontribution to India’s self-sufficiency infood, Nobel laureate Dr Norman EBorlaug wrote: “The vision andinfluence of Subramaniam in bringingabout agricultural change and in the verynecessary political decisions needed tomake the new approach effective, shouldnever be underemphasised. Thegroundwork for this advance (in theproduction of wheat), was solidly laidduring the period (1964-67), whenSubramaniam was the guiding politicalforce, instituting change.”

Born in 1910 to agriculturistChidambara Gounder and his wife, inSenguttampalayam village, near Pollachiin Coimbatore District, four-year-oldC Subramaniam (CS) walked to thenearby ‘thinnai pallikoodam’ orfrontyard school, carrying a bag full ofbooks and a brass tiffin-box full ofhumble food made of ragi and greens.“Little did the parents foresee that thisboy of theirs would one day be waging awar against hunger and be a harbingerof the Green Revolution,” wrote anadmirer of the future AgricultureMinister of India.

Subramaniam pursued academics withdedication and grew up to study at Madras,acquiring bachelor’s degrees in Physics andLaw at the Presidency College and LawCollege, after school in Pollachi. Thoughhe was a brilliant scholar, his love of formal

education did not prevent him fromjoining the nationalist movement in 1932when a law student and later as a buddinglawyer. He drew inspiration from CRajagopalachari or Rajaji, another lawyerwho had already left a lucrative practice inSalem and made his mark as an all IndiaCongress leader. CS modelled himself onRajaji who was known for his sharp witand his wisdom. Soon he became Rajaji’sprotege in the political arena. It was naturalfor CS to follow Rajaji’s simplicity andGandhian ways, as he was already beenexposed to spiritual guidance by hispaternal uncle Swami Chitpavananda, thefounder of a famous seat of learning onthe banks of the Kaveri.

A caste free society was no mere sloganfor CS. He married a girl from a differentcaste. She was one of the early womengraduates in her community, and nearly13 years younger. This created anupheaval in family and community alike.Despite her wealth and education, hiswife remained a homemaker aftermarriage. Staying at home and lookingafter their son and two daughters, shehelped CS focus on his political careerand service to the nation.

A minister responsible for variousportfolios like Finance, Education andLaw in Rajaji’s cabinet at the MadrasPresidency level, CS became unionminister for Steel and Heavy Industriesin Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’scabinet in the early 60s. With hispragmatic approach, he gave theseindustries a new lease of life. When LalBahadur Shastri succeeded Nehru, CSwas made Food and Agricultureminister. Some felt this was a demotion,but with his family background infarming, he was able to contribute

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significantly to his job. Agriculture wasa top priority of the government, thanksto the acute food shortage prevalent inIndia then and its mounting population.CS plunged into the new challengegoing about his task in a systematic andplanned way.

He declared before Parliament in 1966that he would make India a surplus statein food production in 10 years’ time.This was a brave statement to make, asIndia was so deficient in agriculturalproduction, famine was being predictedby international observers skeptical ofher ability to surmount her problems.His critics in his own party disapprovedof his plan to import hybrid seeds (wheatfrom Mexico and rice from Philippines)and fertiliser. According to an observer,CS told Prime Minister Shastri that ifthere was available a better man to dohis job, he was quite prepared to moveover. Shastri persuaded CS to continue,and the rest is history.

C Subramaniam was essentially aninstitution builder. Some of theinstitutions in whose origins he had ahand are IIT Madras, The Institute ofMathematical Sciences, The MadrasInstitute of Development Studies, andeven the M A Chidambaram CricketStadium.

The Green Revolution resulted in arecord grain output of 131 million tonsin 1978-79, establishing India as one ofthe world’s biggest agriculturalproducers. No other country recordedsuch success with the green revolution.India became an exporter of food grainsaround that time.

In recognition of his contribution toagricultural development policies andprogrammes, Subramaniam was electedto the board of governors of theInternational Rice Research Institute,Manila, and the International Maize andWheat Research Institute, Mexico, in thelate 1970s.

C Subramaniam

(30 January 1910 - 7 November 2000)

Milestones, awards and honours

Conferred the Bharat Ratna in February 1998

Law degree fromMadras University 1932

Advocate at Coimbatore 1936

Freedom fighterImprisoned 1941, 42

Elected to ConstituentAssembly 1948

Member of Madras cabinet 1952

(Portfolios held for next tenyears: finance, education, and law).

Elected to Lok Sabha 1962

Portfolios as Union Minister

Steel 1962-63

Mines and Heavy Engineering 1963-64

Food and Agriculture 1964-66

Food, Agriculture, CommunityDevelopment and Cooperation 1966-67

Defence 1979

Governor of Maharashtra 1991-93

In 1970, at the invitation of the UNSecretary General, CS prepared astrategy statement on fighting proteinhunger in developing countries.

In 1971, he headed a panel of expertsthat made recommendations for actionby the UN General Assembly.

CS received the Nehru Birth CentenaryAward in 1991 and the Norman BorlaugAward in 1997. However, he declinedthe Man of the Century Awardinstituted by the Centenarian Trust,stating that there were many others whodeserved it more than him.

Till the very end, Subramaniamcontinued to be active in public life,associating himself with variousinstitutions. During various periods, heheaded the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan andthe Ramakrishna Mission. In his finalyears, Subramaniam called for a secondGreen Revolution. This, according tohim, should encompass agriculture andagro-based rural industries.

The Green Revolution

The Green Revolution is theincrease in food productionstemming from the improvedstrains of wheat, rice, maize andother cereals in the 1960s developedby Dr Norman Borlaug in Mexicoand others under the sponsorshipof the Rockefeller Foundation. Thisincreased the crop yield in India,Pakistan, Philippines, Mexico, SriLanka and other underdevelopedcountries.

The revolution began in 1945 whenthe Rockefeller Foundation and theMexican government establishedthe Cooperative Wheat Researchand Production Program toimprove the agricultural output ofthe country’s farms. Dr NormanBorlaug was instrumental in thisprogram. This producedastounding results, so that Mexicowent from having to import half itswheat to self-sufficiency by 1956and, by 1964, to exporting half amillion tons of wheat. This programwas continued in India and Pakistanwhere it is credited with saving overone billion people from starvation.Norman Borlaug won the 1970Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

Illustration by R Manikandan.

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