Building Talented Leaders for the Future

06 Dec 2021

Q. Why it is important for young leaders to understand both old ways and new ways of running a global company?

This is critical. Timeless notions such as investing for the long term and a dedication to learning should persist in any organization. However, it is also important to build agility, avoid hierarchies, and empower decision making. The large global technology companies are results of such elements of culture.

Q. Please tell us about your career growth at ELGi - How it started, challenges faced and success stories.

I started with ELGi in 2015. Prior to ELGi, my professional experience comprised retail and consumer packaged goods marketing. I believe being an outsider helped my time at ELGi. Fundamentally, success in any industry is about understanding customers’ needs and addressing these needs better than the competition. My consumer marketing experience helped establish the importance of building a brand at ELGi and setting forth structured marketing plans. From a personal perspective, I enjoyed the challenge of learning a new industry. New products, new value propositions, new sales channels, and new customers. Over the past six years, I’ve had the benefit of understanding these dimensions across different geographies with varying levels of awareness for our brand.

Q. What is your approach towards the business and the industry?

Aside from my general marketing experience and background, I think specific to ELGi the biggest challenge that we are going to have over the next phase of our growth is how to communicate the benefits of our technology and products, so that we can convert business not only in India but the world over. Here my marketing background and skills will certainly help.

Q. How are you planning to meet the expectations of ELGi’s stakeholders across regions?

With our products, we aim to provide the lowest ownership cost experience for our customers supported by responsive service. Customers expect air compressors to last for ten years working constantly under strenuous conditions. We aim to minimize their ownership cost by designing and manufacturing the most energy efficient products with the lowest failure rates in the market coupled with low maintenance costs.

Q. Could you brief us about the performance of ELGi at global level and about the overall performance of the industry?

ELGi posted a PAT of Rs. 51.6 Crores for the September 2021 quarter, compared to a PAT of Rs. 33.2 Crores in the same period in 2020-21, on a consolidated basis. The standalone PAT for the quarter was Rs. 56.9 Crores as compared to a PAT of Rs. 29.8 Crores in the same period in 2020-21. The consolidated sales for the quarter was Rs. 652 Crores as against Rs. 480 Crores in the corresponding quarter in 2020-21. Standalone sales for the quarter was Rs. 416 Crores compared to Rs. 265 Crores for the same quarter in 2020-21. But for Australia and South East Asia which faced a resurgence of COVID related disruptions, the Company’s performance has been good across markets.

Q. Where you foresee ELGi in the next two to three years?

We will continue to invest to be amongst the top three global compressed air players. To this end, we will focus on expanding our sales presence in our strategic markets while investing in expanding our range of products to offer a wider portfolio of products to our customers.

Q. How you intend to create a pool of talented leaders within the company?

There are two pillars to building talented leaders. First, we invest in making ELGi an attractive long-term destination for the most talented potential employees across all of our functions. This means meaningful work, Best-in-class compensation and benefits, and merit-based career progression plans. Second, we intend to be deliberate with managing our talented young talent so that we have internal candidates for our future leadership positions.