Mr. Anil Jain, Managing Director, Time Technoplast Ltd. (TTL), and right from commencement of its business he has worked towards making Time Technoplast Ltd. a leading polymer product company in India. He has degrees in Science, Engineering and Business Management. Mr. Jain joined Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) in 1977 and worked in Marketing & Sales Division, Project Management and Marketing & Planning departments at its head quarters in Delhi. In 1983 he joined Voltas Ltd., at Mumbai in Project Engineering Division, responsible for special Projects. In 1986, he switched over to Prestige HM-Polycontainers Ltd., at Mumbai and became responsible for operations of the company. He left Prestige in 1991 and promoted Time Technoplast Ltd., (Formerly Time Packaging Ltd.) together with other colleagues who are the Promoter Directors' of TTL. Mr. Jain has spent over 20 years in the field of polymer technology and products and is one of the pioneers in introducing some of the innovative products.
Time Technoplast Ltd. (TTL) is a leading technology based polymer product company. The company's portfolio consists of technically driven innovative products catering to growing industry segments like, Industrial Packaging Solutions, Lifestyle Products, Automotive Components, Healthcare Products and Infrastructure/Construction related products. TTL has 21 manufacturing units and 10 regional and marketing offices. TTL has successfully expanded its footprint by setting up facilities in UAE, Bahrain, Poland and Thailand. TTL has built up a consolidated technology platform enabling development of wide range of innovative polymer based products. While focusing on products, TTL lays high emphasis on R&D activities that allows it to be on the cutting edge of technological breakthroughs and merging them with business and market requirements.
In an exclusive interaction with Hemant P. Maradia of India Infoline, Mr. Jain says: "Our focus is to manufacture products where we find application in niche markets and where we can add value."
How has the company evolved over the years?
The company started its operations on a modest scale way back in 1991. The company initially operated in a single product segment i.e. industrial packaging. From 1991-92 to 1999, about 95% of our topline came from packaging business. The company gradually branched out in other product segments & at present operates through five strategic verticals i.e. Industrial Packaging, Life Style, Automotives, Healthcare Products & Infrastructure Products .In each of these segments, company has built up its brands
Our focus is to manufacture only those products where we find application in niche markets & add value. The company has created a consolidated technology platform encompassing the basic polymer technologies – blow moulding, Injection Moulding & Extrusion.
We have set up manufacturing facilities at 11 locations across India. Since polymer packaging products are a little bulky, we have to set up the manufacturing facility closer to the base where customers are located so as to optimize on the Freight cost
The company's topline has grown by CAGR of 40% in the last three years. We have acquired some companies in the past four years where we saw scope for further value addition & optimization of available capacities.
We have also entered in to joint venture with world leaders for bringing in certain niche polymer products /applications in India.
In all the products segments, we enjoy a very good market share.
Give us a sense of the opportunities in polymer processing?
Polymers find applications in a whole lot of areas. You can make a number of products with the help of polymers. On macro level basis, per capita consumption of polymers in India is about 4 KGs. As compared to that, per capita consumption of polymers in Asia is about 18 KGs. In the matured economies like the US, the per capita consumption is as high as 28 KG. This indicates that there is a fair amount of headroom available for increasing the applications of the polymers
If you look at the business of Time Technoplast, in essence, we are engaged in the manufacturing polymer products where we see products can replace metal products in the niche areas.
For example, about 25 years back there were hardly any polymer based containers in use in India and now we see such containers have about 40% share of the total drum packaging market for large sized drums of more than 200 lets.
We have market share of over 70% in polymers industrial packaging of above 200 liters capacity.
What is the outlook going forward?
The overall outlook for all the product segments looks encouraging. In the packaging business, we see volume growth in excess of 20% driven by one the normal growth (In fact, India is becoming a hub for sourcing some of the speciality chemicals for many multinational companies in Europe & US, therefore, we see accelerated growth here).
Second is the acceleration in replacement of the metal drums with the Polymer Drums because of the narrowing of the price differential between the metal & polymer drums
We see an organic growth of at least 20% in all the product segments of the company
What was the rationale behind acquiring Kompozit-Praha?
Kompozit Praha (KP) is one of the three producers of Composite Cylinders worldwide.
KP is engaged in manufacturing high tech Composite Cylinders for LPG at their manufacturing facility at Dysina (near Prague), Czech Republic. Composite Cylinders produced by KP are highly acclaimed for their quality and performance, and conform to the latest international and European standards.
Through this acquisition Time Technoplast shall be able to bring for the first time 'state of the art' Composite Cylinders in India and will explore business opportunities in other countries in Asia and Middle East.
KP is well on its way to develop Composite Cylinders for CNG applications which will also be available to Time Technoplast for commercial use in less than a year.
We have acquired 99% equity stake in the company
What are some of the key benefits of Composite Cylinders?
Composite Cylinders have several advantages over steel like they are light weight (half the weight of steel cylinders), non-corrosive, explosion proof (even in open fire); have long service life and high wall transparency (which allows users to see how much gas is present). Aesthetically also, these Cylinders are superior.
What is the scope for such products in India?
Government of India is very keen to import composite cylinders for LPG & presently in the process of finalising tender to import 100,000 PLG Cylinders We wanted to participate in the tender process. But, while we were in talks with KP, the tender had already closed.
India has over 150 million gas cylinders in circulation with an addition of 12 million every year with projected growth rate of 12% to 15% pa. State-run Oil Marketing Companies have announced additional 55 million gas connections in rural sector in the next five years which will generate a huge demand for composite cylinders.
Going ahead we will also start making composite cylinders for application in the CNG space. Currently a large number of high pressure metal cylinders are being used for CNG applications, especially in automotive sector.
KP has already developed Type-4 Composite Cylinders for CNG which can withstand bursting pressure exceeding 600 bars. Being light weight and explosion proof, such Composite Cylinders are being preferred over metal cylinders for CNG run vehicles.
How much you paid for KP?
The total cost for acquiring a 99% stake in KP including the cost of modernization, repayment of the existing debt is US$5.2mn.
How much are you spending on this business in India?
We will set up a manufacturing facility to make composite cylinders in Western region (Maharashtra) with a capacity of one million cylinders per annum at projected outlay of Rs 5500mn.
This facility will be operational by April 2011. Till that time we will be importing the Composite cylinders from the manufacturing facility of KP, in Czech Republic.
Are you also eyeing the overseas market?
We have a presence in Europe, Middle-East, China and South East Asia. So, we would not limit ourselves to the Indian market alone with regard to composite cylinders.
We may set up manufacturing facilities in any of the regions to cater to those markets.
How costs effective are composite cylinders vis-à-vis steel ones?
The cost of the composite cylinders that we will supply will be only about 15-20% higher than the steel cylinders.
Steel cylinders cost Rs1000-1100 right now.
How is the JV with Schoeller Arca doing?
Schoeller Arca Systems (SAS) is a Dutch company, about 50-year old. They have a major presence in Europe and the US. We entered into a joint venture with them in June 2009 for introduce a wide range of plastic Returnable Packaging (RTP) and material handling solutions.
The JV caters to broad range of small and large foldable containers, pallets, crates, etc. This will provide end to end material handling systems to sectors like Retail, Automotive, Agriculture, Beverages, Processed Food, Apparels, Pharma, FMCG, Consumer Durables and Logistics.
We have already set up a facility at Silvassa; we are also planning facilities at Pantnagar in the second phase to serve the northern markets
What is your view on raw material prices?
As far as polymer is concerned, in the past there had always been a pressure on supply as demand is always much higher than the capacity. But, over the past year or so, new polymer capacities have started coming up in the Middle East and also in China.
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More than 6.5mn tons of new polymer capacities are being created over the next 3-4 years in the Middle-East alone. Another 6.2 mn tons capacities are coming up in China during the same period. What is interesting to note here is that the feedstock in major of these capacities is gas as compared to Naptha, and the cost of producing Polymers from Gas feedstock is almost half than the cost of producing in case of Naptha based Cracker. Therefore this means that the pressure on polymer prices will soften over a period of time.
We believe that we have entered into a low commodity cycle for next three to four years as far as polymers are concerned. Polymer prices, which were ruling at around US$1650 per metric ton a year & half back, have come down to about US$1250-1300 a metric ton. We expect this to settle at around US$1100-1200 per metric ton.
We use a mix of imported and locally sourced polymers. There is not much difference in the price between the imported & the local one.
What kind of orders are you getting in your HDP Pipes business?
Polymer HDPE Pipes business started operations earlier in the current year. We got into this business to cater to the infrastructure space, mainly for water & sewage management. We are completely sold out on our capacity & are expanding to meet the strong demand .This business is expanding at more than anticipated growth rate. We have already executed orders from key blue chip customers & have received repeat orders from them.
It may be pertinent to mention here that getting the BIS approvals itself takes about 6-9 months & we have already obtained the approvals for major part of the products.
We are hopeful of building up substantial business around this vertical
What about the Pre-Fab Shelters business? How is that doing?
We have recently implemented the Pre-Fab Shelters project & have executed a few pilot orders already. With large demand seen in various end user segments of this product, we see a gradual build up of this business in the years to come
What kind of capex are you looking at?
In next two-three years, we are looking forward to capex of around Rs 250 -300 crores
The company has a fairly low capital gearing with long term debt to equity ration standing at 0.35 & total debt including working capital loans, standing at less than 0.70, there is enough room to raise money through debt if the need arises.
Brief us about your batteries business? What is the outlook on that side?
Time Technoplast acquired 71% stake in NED Energy Ltd. – a closely held company, engaged in manufacture of high technology Valve Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries based at Hyderabad, in FY 08.
At that time its topline was about Rs450mn, EBIDTA was Rs60mn and net profit was about Rs30mn.
In less than three years of our acquisition, the business of the company has grown by four times & EBIDA has multiplied by more than six times.
The total capacity of NED Energy, which was 50mn MAHs at the time of acquisition, has gone up to 300mn MAHs. After acquiring this company, we through NED acquired 100% stake in Gulf Powerbeat WLL (Bahrain) in early 2008-09. The company has a ready to use facility manufacturing key battery components.
Simultaneously we have implemented a battery assembly project at Panoli (Gujarat).
The total size of the battery market in India is Rs10000 Crores. Of this, 20% is accounted by the telecom sector and balance by the other sectors, particularly the auto sector. We have about 8% share of the total telecom battery market. So, right now we are a small player, but there is headroom to increase our share in this space going ahead. Owing to the continuous focus at NED on producing a quality product backed by one of the best R & D scientists, today NED has a sizeable demand from its replacement market (A third of the demand comes from the replacement market.)
In the near future, we have plans to make batteries to serve the industrial segment.
In addition, in the coming financial year we will launch automotive batteries in the GCC Region from Gulf Powerbeat facility in Bahrain.
How much do you spend on R&D?
We believe in making innovative polymer based products. We have a strong in-house R&D team. As a matter of our corporate policy, we spend a minimum 1% of the annual consolidated topline on R&D.
Are you looking at fresh inorganic growth?
The company has in the past three years grown both organically & through acquisitions. We have in the past three years successfully completed & consummated six acquisitions in various geographies. .
We continue to scout for good acquisition opportunities where we see the potential of adding synergies values .We are currently looking at a couple of them. One is in Europe and the other in Far East.
What is your message to the shareholders?
Time vision is to "We shall be second to none in our business".
At present, we are the worldwide largest large sized drum manufactures in a single Country with lowest cost of production. Going forward, we aspire to be a US$1bn company in about three years & build a world class organization with creation & enhancement of the value for all its stakeholders.
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