Sanmar Group is in the process of evaluating various sectors, including warehousing, that present growth opportunities in the future, Vijay Sankar, Chairman, The Sanmar Group, said. “At a group level, we are looking at a plan, that we will announce later this year, on areas where we are looking to grow. I think it will take us a few months to do this exercise,” he said.
Sankar was speaking at an event to mark 50 years of group company Sanmar Engineering, which was created by joint ventures with four American companies Flowserve, Crane Company, Emerson, and BS&B Safety. Of this, the Flowserve with JV is the oldest, completing a golden jubilee.
Between the four businesses, Sanmar Engineering delivers advanced products in the areas of fluid handling, industrial safety and flow control serving a range of industries including chemicals, refineries and petrochemicals, power and fertilisers.
In 2007, Sanmar Engineering also undertook a backward integration move, where it added a steel foundry to support these businesses. Sanmar Engineering and Foundry together clock revenue of around ₹2,000 crore.
Thanks to ongoing investments, the companies have added capabilities over the years, Sankar said.
Flowserve Sanmar is expanding seal system and gas panel manufacturing capacity with a new plant at Thiruporur, near Chennai. Xomox Sanmar (Crane) is expanding capacity from 80,000 valves per year to 150,000 valves per year at its facility in Viralimalai. Anderson Greenwood Crosby Sanmar (Emerson) is investing in advanced digital test benches and cryogenic testing facilities. BS&B India develops custom-engineered products in segments such as defence, space, nuclear power and more.
Speaking on overall demand trends, Sankar said while capex growth has been a little slow in last few years, the future looks strong and the cycle is picking up.
On the JV track record, he stressed on the quality of relationship and understanding with the partners whereby Sanmar’s companies don’t export directly to third party customers but only ship to the JV partners and likewise, the partners too do not sell into India, and do not come to India and set up a plant in Sanmar’s product ranges.
B Visweswaran, Managing Director, Sanmar Engineering, said the market opportunity would be split into two- traditional energy security businesses and those where there are new opportunities. “For all the four businesses, the company follows high levels of localisation; It’s really make in India for India,” he said.