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The Sanmar Group9, Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086.

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

Sanmar Holdings Ltd

AMP Sanmar Life Insurance Company Ltd

Sanmar Engineering Corporation LtdAsco (India) LtdBS&B Safety Systems (India) LtdFisher Sanmar LtdFlowserve Sanmar LtdFMC Technologies SanmarSanmar Engineering Services LtdSanmar Foundries LtdSensortronics Sanmar LtdStrategic Weighing SystemsTyco Sanmar LtdXomox Sanmar Ltd

Chemplast Sanmar Ltd

Cabot Sanmar Ltd

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd

Bangalore Genei

Intec Polymers

ProCitius Research

Sanmar Shipping Ltd

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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.

The tsunami tragedySanmar reaches out 4P S Jayaraman

‘The board plays a key role’:Preety Kumar 6

Sanmar team wins MMA Young Managers contest 8

Sanmar quiz team in fine form 9

Sarada Jagan adjudged Indira Super Achiever 10

Employees’ cornerHijack! 11

IE Singapore panelA new institution-building experience 12N Kumar

Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional ChildrenMNC attracts some interesting visitors 14

Sankara schools celebrate Annual Day 15

Memorable comeback by Balaji 16

Sanmar has a new library 17

Chemplast Sanmar LimitedOn-site emergency mock drill at Mettur plant 18

Chemplast bags State Safety Award 19

Tyco Sanmar LimitedTyco Sanmar a sellout at Power-Gen Fair 21

Legends from the SouthM Visvesvaraya 22

Cover photograph courtesy: Aid India

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The tsunami tragedySanmar reaches out

P S Jayaraman, Managing Director, Chemplast Sanmar

The group has involved itself directlyin providing extensive relief measures tothe tsunami victims besides makingsubstantial cash donations.

The Sanmar Group has made anaggregate cash contribution of Rs. 50lakh to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’sPublic Relief Fund, Prime Minister’sNational Relief Fund and Pondicherry

The tsunami tidal waves struck thecoastal areas on 26 December 2004,causing huge damage to human lives andproperties. While the company’s plantat Karaikal was not affected, the pre-project commissioning activities of thecontractors setting up the MarineTerminal Facility on the coast at Karaikalhave been affected. The salt fields atVedaranyam suffered some damage.

P S Jayaraman handing over Sanmar’scontribution to the Chief Minister’s PublicRelief Fund to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.The total Sanmar Group spending ontsunami is likely to reach Rs. 10 millionsoon. Looking on is S B Prabhakar Rao.

The recent tsunami disaster has affected the lives of thousands of people in thecoastal regions of south India. The communities neighbouring the facilities ofChemplast Sanmar in Karaikal and Vedaranyam were no exception. We allknow how help has come pouring forth from all parts of the world. The SanmarGroup, on both the personal and official levels, has also made an earnest effortto lend a helping hand to the suffering families and the government in bringingsuccour to those families. P S Jayaraman, Managing Director, Chemplast Sanmar,recounts his first hand experience of the impact of the tragedy as well as themeasures the Sanmar Group has initiated to provide relief to the tsunami victims.

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M Thomas MariaChandran, R Padmanabhanand S Venkatesan ofChemplast Karaikal, andV Ramesh, ExecutiveDirector, ChemplastSanmar, giving awaymaterials to tsunamivictims, and interactingwith them.

Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Thisincluded a voluntary contribution ofRs.8 lakh received from the employeesof the Group.

In addition, the factory administrationat Karaikal and Vedaranyam involvedthemselves fully with the reliefoperations, assisting the localauthorities. Working in closecoordination with the officialmachinery, both at Vedaranyam andKaraikal, the company arranged clothes,food, water packets and milk powder fornearly 4000 people living in the nearbyaffected areas. JCBs, tractors andambulances were provided to the localgovernment authorities to carry out therelief work and transport relief materials.The Group distributed rations andclothing materials to the families of thevillagers and the fishing hamlet ofVadakku Vanjore situated near ourKaraikal project site.

A medical team was rushed from theChemplast Mettur plant, withparamedical staff and ambulance. Firstaid was provided to the people of theaffected villages at Karaikal andVedaranyam. The team also carried outimmunisation of staff and volunteersinvolved in the relief work.

Further plans for distribution of fishingnets, reconstruction of damaged housesand common facilities in the affectedvillages at Karaikal and Vedaranyam arebeing worked out in close coordinationwith the local authorities.

The Group is also working with thedistrict administration and panchayatofficials in Cuddalore to ascertain theexact needs of some of the affectedvillagers in the district. Appropriaterelief measures will be undertakenshortly.

The Group expects to incur a totalexpenditure of around Rs.100 lakh (10million) including cash already donated,towards these relief measures at Karaikal,Vedaranyam and Cuddalore.

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Can you throw some light on the globalethical standards prevalent in the area ofexecutive searches? Are you satisfied withthe adherence to ethics by Indian executivesearch firms as well as their clients?

Global executive search companiesoperate at the highest level ofmanagement and are typically involvedin inducting CEOs, functional leadersand Board related professionals. Hence,the typical needs of the industry arethose of confidentiality and discretionof very high levels.

Good search firms build their reputationnot only on the basis of their performanceand delivery capabilities, but also on theiradherence to a strict standard of ethics.These ethical standards typically demandthat the firm does not divulge

confidential information of clients andcandidates and that it manages thatprocess sensitively. Other issues arearound staying off-limits with clients andnot accessing their senior people, etc.

Most international executive searchfirms adhere to these ethical standardsas part of their philosophy. However, thearena is wide and different players maynot always understand or follow thesestandards. Globally, the Association ofExecutive Search Companies (AESC),headquartered in the US, drives a rangeof ethical standards in this profession.

You have said in the course of an articlefor Businessworld, “We must, as anation, focus on building our capacityto innovate by nurturing theentrepreneurial spirit. This capacityto innovate will lead to productivityenhancement at the national level,driving our economic and corporateframework to behave differently and,hence, demand a different kind ofoutput.” Can you give examples of someof the steps we must take (as government,as employers, as parents) to foster such aspirit?

Talent is the raw material for the spiritof performance and henceentrepreneurship. A nation, society,family or individual that is geared torecognize, build and nurture talent isgoing to be more successful than others.To do so, each of these different playersperforms a different role.

‘The board plays a key role’:Preety Kumar, Member, The Sanmar Group Corporate Board

One of the members of the Sanmar Group Corporate Board, who recentlyvisited our Mettur and Viralimalai facilities, is Preety Kumar, ManagingPartner, Amrop International India, the well known global executive searchfirm. An authority in her field, Kumar shared some of her views on the principlesand practices of her chosen area of work and her impressions of the SanmarGroup with Matrix. Here are some excerpts:

V Ranganathan, Chief Executive,welcoming Preety Kumar and P N Kapadia,both members of the Sanmar GroupCorporate Board to Chemplast, Mettur.

Preety Kumar

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As a society, we place more value onsuccess and status than on talent. Hencethe safe paths to success havetraditionally scuttled talent. To me,entrepreneurship means being different,not following the beaten path, doingwhat you want to versus what is onlyright by the standards of society. In thepast it was a safe, predictable bet to be adoctor, IAS officer, Engineer, or MBAand all of us were expected to tread thatpath, at least the intelligent ones. Howmany budding and talented musicians,potters, choreographers have beenstopped in their tracks as these have notbeen traditionally seen as successoriented-professions!

The other issue is respecting and valuingwork. I am not sure that we as a societyrespect work enough. In our ownhierarchical ways, we demean somework as ‘lower level’. This then lowersrespect for ‘that kind of work’. How thencan we be a nurturing society? Successhas no correlation with ‘work dignity’.This phenomenon then has anautomatic impact on how these jobs arepaid and hence how they attract people.Unless we teach ourselves to provide‘work dignity’ there is no way we cantruly have talented people going intodifferent kinds of professions andfinding diverse entrepreneurialopportunities.

Talent spotting

Our education system needs to squarelydeal with the area of talent scouting. Evenin the more well managed, good qualityinstitutions, I find an overemphasis onstudies, marks. Talent spotting, showingstudents different paths to achievement,is not something I see institutionalized.

As parents, we must encourage ourchildren to be different, allow them topursue something that is not weather-beaten and recognize their achievements,even though it may not be the mostremunerative or recognized professionfrom the standpoint of society.

Synergies with Sanmar

As a top flight executive searchprofessional, what synergies with thegroup do you find in your role as amember of the Sanmar Corporate Board?

In executive search now for 16 years, Ihave been associated with a very diverseset of clients and seen them build theirbusinesses. Further, I have intimatelyunderstood the impact of good qualityleadership on a business, its strategy andits success. With Sanmar’s diversebusiness portfolio and its journey forgrowth and success, I very much identifywith this phase and can hopefullycontribute in looking at the leadershipissues. Further, having been on theAmrop Hever Global Board, I enjoy

Board work and feel that the right Boardcan play an extremely important role inthe successful running of a business andcan be a very effective body.

What are your impressions of the groupafter your recent visits to its variouslocations?

I have been very impressed with whatI have heard about the businesses andwhat I saw on the ground in terms ofoperations connect, quality ofexecution and the overall sense ofcommitment by the managementteam. Clearly Sanmar’s success lies inits ability to have a strong executionframework and I was certainly able tosee that in action.

N Sankar with V Narayanan of the Sanmar Group Corporate Board.

V Ranganathan, M N Radhakrishnan and Adit Jain during the Sanmar Group CorporateBoard’s visit to Mettur.

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It was an outstanding victory for theyouthful Sanmar team consisting ofAarathi Chellammal, Heena Nandaniand Piyush Bhandari at this year’s YoungManagers Competition for managersbelow 35, held on 18 January 2005, onthe theme of ‘Beyond Creating Value’.

The youngsters laid out their writtenpresentation in the form of a tabloidwith news and articles. They also madetheir oral presentation a TV talk show.

Sanmar team wins MMAYoung Managers contest

The Sanmar team of Aarathi Chellammal, Heena Nandani and Piyush Bhandari (3rd, 5th and 7th from left) with (l to r) C Venkat,B Ramalinga Raju, Chairman, Satyam Computer Services, P K Mohapatra, President, MMA and D P Padmanabhan, Vice President, MMA.

The team will represent Chennai in theNational Level Young Managers’competition to be conducted by the AllIndia Management Association (AIMA)in August 2005.

Two other Sanmar teams, V ShankarGanesh (Asco), RM Alagappan (Asco)and Shyam S Kumar (Flowserve), andM Rangarajan (Xomox), N Gnanasekhar(Tyco) and B Ramkumar (Xomox), alsoacquitted themselves creditably.

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Sanmar quizteam in fineform

The Sanmar Group has, over the years,made a mark in Chennai’s corporatequizzing circuit. The formidablereputation that the Sanmar team ofRamkumar Shankar and A H KesariPrasad has earned in the last couple ofyears was recently reinforced in a coupleof prestigious quiz contests.

Sanmar has dominated the southernregional edition conducted under theaegis of the Madras ManagementAssociation (MMA)—of the annualNational Management Quiz (NMQ) ofthe All India Management Association.Regional winners in 2003 and firstrunners-up in 2004, the Sanmar teamwon the regional round again in 2005.This year’s win was especially sweetbecause it came just weeks after a Sanmarteam won the Young Managers contestconducted by the MMA.

The Sanmar team also finished secondin a nailbiting finish in the Chennairound of the Brand Equity Quiz of TheEconomic Times, arguably India’sbiggest corporate quiz, which is eagerlyanticipated and hotly contested.Ramkumar Shankar and Kesari Prasadwent down fighting to the ultimatewinners, Citibank, the contest beingdecided only on the penultimatequestion of the quiz.

A H Kesari Prasad Ramkumar Shankar

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Sarada Jagan adjudgedIndira Super Achiever

Sarada Jagan, Chief Executive - HR,Sanmar Corporate Division, receiving theIndira Super Achievers Award fromC K Ranganathan, Managing Director,CavinKare Ltd., on 18 December 2004.

Sarada Jagan, Chief Executive, HR,Sanmar Corporate Division, was one ofthe corporate personalities to receive theIndira Super Achiever Award on 18December 2004 at a function at the TajConnemara, Chennai. The awardlaunched in 2003 and given out by theCentre for Change Management, Pune,consisted of a trophy and a citation.According to the organisers, Centre forChange Management by design ofresearch have found the professionalsfrom the corporate world who had avision of the organization they servedand the values they inculcated in theirpeople must be recognized. We created

a platform by which we were able to letthe younger generation know that rolemodels and mentors are available inabundance in the corporate world. It isa question of finding them and learningfrom them, with this intention theIndira Group of Institutes instituted the‘Super Achievers Award’.

At the awards function,C K Ranganathan, Managing Director,CavinKare Ltd., was the chiefguest, while P K Divakaran, andDr R L Bhatia of the Indira Group ofInstitutes, Pune, were the otherspeakers.

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Hijack!

Mr S Suresh, Senior Manager, PVCDivision, asked me to collect ‘C’ formsfrom our customers at Nandyal,Kurnool, in the Rayalaseema region ofAndhra Pradesh. Accordingly I visitedthe Nandi group of companies atNandyal, to effect rectifications in the‘C’ forms and obtain signatures from sixof the group’s companies. I left myHyderabad home at 4.30 in themorning and reached Nandyal atone o’ clock in the afternoon. By 4.30p.m., I collected the signatures of thecompany’s executives on the annexuresof all the invoices. The total value ofthe ‘C’ forms was Rs. 21.63 crore. I thenwent from Nandyal to Kurnool by bus.At Kurnool, I boarded a bus bound forHyderabad at 7.00 p.m.

It was around 9.30 p.m. when the busstopped at a ticket checking point, sometwo hours before Hyderabad. All thepassengers were watching a film on thecoach video when these three personsboarded the bus. They wore monkeycaps to cover their faces and carriedpistols, hand grenades and a dagger.They went to the driver and took overcontrol.

‘This bus is hijacked’

One of them announced: “Dearpassengers, this bus is hijacked.” Theythen took the bus into the forest,collected all our mobile phones from usand threatened us with direconsequences if we offered anyresistance. One of them stood guard,while the other two went roundcollecting cash and valuables from all ofus and putting them into huge bags theywere carrying. They collected 20cellphones in all. A number ofbusinessmen were travelling by the bus,and the hijackers managed to gather

quite an impressive amount of gold, cashand other valuables. They sparednothing, even mangalsutras were forciblyremoved. My own loss was worth aboutRs. 20,000, including my cellphone, Rs.1,000 in cash and my gold ring with a12 gm diamond stud.

Physical violence

The hijackers were tough on anyonewho tried to hide their money orvaluables or refused to part with them.They bodysearched each of us three orfour times, looking inside footwear andother hiding places. They even hit oneof the lady passengers when she tried tohide her ornaments. I got hit too andwas made to hand over my ring. Theywere curious about my briefcase whichI was constantly clutching as itcontained the valuable ‘C’ forms. Theythought I was carrying a lot of moneyin it. Luckily, I managed to save Rs.1,000 which I had hidden in my ‘thiefpocket.’ The hijackers left us finally after24 hours of terror.

One of the passengers, Mr ZakirHussain of Kolkata, had flung hiscellphone out of the window. Heretrieved it, and I was able aroundmidnight to call Mr Suresh, who calledme back. We were by then in theJadcherla police station, where the policetook written statements from all thepassengers. I was able to retrieve all my‘C’ forms even though the thieves hadscattered them in anger, when theyfound no money in my briefcase.

The police let us go around 4 in themorning. I reached home at six o’clock.By then we were in the news, all Telugunewspapers and TV channelsbroadcasting recorded passengerstatements on the incident. I appearedon TV too!

Employees’ corner

K Balakrishna of Chemplast Hyderabad underwent a harrowing experience recentlyfrom which he not only escaped unscathed but also emerged with honour and prideshowing character under duress while carrying out his official duties. Here he gives us afirst person account of his adventure.

K Balakrishna

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International Enterprise Singapore (IE),earlier called “Trade DevelopmentBoard” (TDB), is akin to India’scommerce ministry. It also used tomaintain the key statistics of trade andcustoms, discussions on bilateralnegotiation, rules, laws etc., until therules and statistics part was taken overby the Government. IE became purelya trade body like India’s ForeignInvestment Promotion Board (FIPB).Another body called EconomicDevelopment Board (EDB) investsabroad. For example, in India, it hasforged investment in the hi-tech parksin Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc.

In 1991-92, Barry Desker, who was theCEO of TDB, came over and requestedme to become Singapore’s HonoraryTrade Representative in India, becausehe thought I knew Singapore and Indianindustry well. After I accepted, we(TDB) focused on the South, and a greatdeal of activity was generated.Mr V Subramanian, who was in myoffice, assisted me. We met variousSingapore delegations to India, gave

IE Singapore panelA new institution-building experience

N Kumar, Vice Chairman, The Sanmar GroupChairman, IE Singapore panel in India

them office space at Indchem and helpedthem understand India and Indianbusiness. TDB had similar offices inDelhi and Bombay. By 1996, theactivities of TDB in Chennai and theSouth expanded and we hired full timeemployees. Subra was deputed to workfor TDB fulltime from 1997 and movedto a new office in Besant Nagar.

I decided to involve myself only at thegovernment level and in the strategicplanning and discussions of TDB andnot in the day-to-day activities of thecentre, as I was a businessman and therecould be a conflict with potential localpartners of Singapore businessmen.This planned separation, I believe,contributed to our success. TDB grewand developed over the years and a greatdeal of investment came from Singaporeinto the South. When we met formerPrime Minister Goh Chok Tongrecently, he congratulated us onaccomplishing this focus.

In 2003, the strategy changed, and theTrade Development Board became re-christened as IE, with its focus entirelyon investment promotion. There waseven more activity, and IE moved to alarger and posh office in Raheja Towers(Standard Motors premises) on MountRoad. The centre is now a high growthoffice that helps all Singapore companieswith what they need to do in South India,among other things, providing themoffice space and secretarial support.

A new concept takes shape

My association with IE has always beendocumented with an annual review, andlast year I suggested a change in strategy,as I had been involved for more than adecade and become familiar with IE’splans. They also wanted to appoint

N Kumar, introducing (l to r) VaishnavPuri, Hon. Trade Representative - Mumbai,IE Singapore, and Alok Prasad, HighCommissioner of India, to Senior MinisterGoh Chok Tong (former Prime Minister),Republic of Singapore.

N Kumar

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another Honorary Trade Representative(HTR) in Bangalore as the work hadexpanded, but asked me to continue.

I then recommended a panel of advisersinstead of appointing individuals,though in every other country, IE haveonly individuals as HTRs. They likedthe idea, and Kathy Lai of IE and Istarted working on this plan. Wedeveloped the concept and chose thispanel with leaders from different partsof the country and involved in differentactivities. The panel has, in software,S Ramadorai of TCS, Mumbai andAshok Soota from MindTree, Bangalore,in telecom, Sunil Mittal, in financialservices, K V Kamath and in bio-tech,Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. M S Banga,Tarun Das, Vaishnav Puri and MukeshAmbani complete this high power panel.

Representing IE has given me greatexposure and I like the process ofinstitution building it involves. It’s anexercise similar to my stint in CII butinvolves two countries. In this regard,Kiran made a significant observation tome when she complimented theSingapore Government for using nineexperts from India to help theirbusinessmen to understand and investin India, displaying their entire country’sstrategy to all of us, when the Indianpolity did not allow even NRIs on ourEconomic Advisory Panel.

Singapore is run professionally like acompany. They function in a clean,planned, transparent manner. They goby the book, adhere to the law, but withthe Sanmar experience in corporategovernance, I found it easy to deal withthem. The first meeting of the paneltook place in February 2005. We metSenior Minister Goh Chok Tong andthe who’s who of Singapore businessover the two days. We were treated likeroyalty.

Coming to the meeting, the topicscovered eight different areas ofspecialisation, like real estate, software,biotech and manufacturing. Singaporecompanies interested in investing in

India were asked about their areas ofinterest and opportunities identified forthem through these topics. It was a veryopen panel with people to peopleinteractions and very frank views wereexchanged.

Some members of the Indian panel feltthat with logistics poor in India, it wasa tall order to bring in investment inelectronics manufacturing. But the panelfinally felt that since manufacturing inIndia is popular and evokes a lot ofinterest, the Indian panel couldguarantee investment in the sectorprovided the transformation in thelogistics infrastructure happens. Asuggestion was that EDB and a grouplike the Tatas could together prepare awhite paper on setting up a globalmanufacturing centre in India. Thiscould be presented to the Governmentwhile addressing the problems ofbureaucracy, delays, etc.

The Singapore side of the panel wasconcerned with how to make Singaporemore popular and how to attract moreinvestments from India as compared toother centres like Dubai, and HongKong. This was another topic ofdiscussion.

Mr Goh Chok Tong and his successor,Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, havebeen very emphatic that India is crucialto Singapore’s plans. Their clear strategyis to have one leg in China and anequally strong one in India. ‘We wantto create an Asian powerhouse, whichwill be a force for the world to reckonwith,’ he stresses.

Smaller than Tamil Nadu, Singapore hashuge strengths. Its weakness is its relativelack of manpower and this is where wehave an advantage. There is great synergyin this area between the two countries.With CECA coming through, the futurefor Singapore and IE and the InAPbodes well. I believe that the InAP willplay a crucial role in the years to comeand I am excited at this opportunity toassist the two nations to grow closertogether and help each other.

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MNC attracts someinteresting visitors

The Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional Children continues to be abeehive of activity. The eighth annualsports meet held there on 11 February2005 had star cricketer Hemang Badanitaking the salute at a marchpast by thestudents. Kannan Pugazhendi, Directorof the Physical Fitness FoundationAcademy of the College of PhysicalEducation, YMCA, gave away the prizesto the winners of some fiercely contestedevents.

Indian Test cricketer Hemang Badaniwho captains the Sanmar cricket team,was a popular chief guest at this year’sannual sports day of the Madhuram

Cricketer Hemang Badani with a student of Madhuram Narayanan Centre at the Annual Sports meet of the Centre.

George Meyrick, a student volunteer from the U K, training children in play acting.

Madhuram Narayanan Centre forExceptional Children

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Sri Sankara SeniorSecondary Schooland Sri SankaraV i d y a s h r a m a mMatriculation HigherSecondary Schoolcelebrated their AnnualDay function inJanuary 2005. Speakingon the occasion, chiefguest M S Ananth,Director IIT Chennaisaid that intuitiveknowledge should beverified with logic toboost the confidence ofstudents. He explainedthe need for character-building of studentsand suggested thatteachers act asfacilitators and exposethem to learning in acongenial atmosphererather than by force.

A colourful culturalperformance by thestudents of the schoolswas the highlight of thecelebration.

Sankara schools celebrate Annual Day

Sebastien Gergaud, a student of Special Education in France, training children in yoga atMNC

Narayanan Centre for ExceptionalChildren.

Another interesting visitor was SebastienGergaud of Champaign, France, a yogateacher at the Krishnamacharya YogaMandiram, who taught the children,teachers and parents, as part of his owntraining in special education.

Two British students, Tim Moody andGeorge Meyrick, gave the children,teachers and parents some interestingglimpses into the techniques ofplayacting.

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Memorable comeback byBalaji

Lakshmipathi Balaji, the Chemplast and JollyRovers paceman, had a memorable comeback toTest cricket after an injury layoff that lasted nearlya year. He toiled hard to regain his fitness and ironout some technical flaws in his bowling action.His hard work really paid off when he took ninePakistan wickets in the First Test against Pakistanat Mohali and followed it with a memorable spellat Kolkata. In an Indian XI that had Zaheer Khanand Irfan Pathan, Balaji emerged as the leadingbowler.

Unfortunately, Balaji sustained a rib injury afterhis successful run in the Test series, and had towithdraw after the first one-day internationalagainst Pakistan at Kochi, where he gave some vitalbreakthroughs.

Dinesh Mongia recalled

Balaji’s Chemplast teammate Dinesh Mongia hasbeen rewarded for his consistent performances witha recall to the Indian squad.

Lakshmipathi Balaji

Born at Chennai on 27 September 1981

Career Statistics

In Test matches

O M R W Avg Best

292.4 64 1004 27 37.18 5 for 76

In One Day Internationals

O M R W Avg Best

213.1 11 1162 32 36.31 4 for 48

In First Class matches

O M R W Avg Best

1594.2 352 4798 182 26.36 7 for 42

In other Limited Over matches

O M R W Avg Best

521.2 30 2621 94 27.88 5 for 36

(O = Overs; M = Maidens; R = Runs; W = Wickets; Avg = Average).

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N Sankar, Chairman, inaugurated theSanmar Group library on 23 February2005 at Corporate Headquarters,Chennai. The library is proving to bepopular among employees whose usageof the facility is steadily growing.

Some of the ideas under considerationto make the library a desirabledestination are a ‘Name your Library’contest for users in Chennai, videoscreening sessions on managementrelated topics, book reading and bookreview sessions, inviting guest speakersof stature to interact with library users,and quiz contests. These are ambitiousplans but feasible, provided there isenthusiastic participation fromemployees.

Sanmar has a new library

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On-site emergency mockdrill at Mettur plant

An on-site emergency mock drill wasconducted at the Chemplast plant atMettur to educate the workers on waysto secure themselves in the event of anaccident. The training includedmeasures to be taken in an emergencysituation which was well attended by allworkers and officials of all thedepartments. K Manoharan, Inspectorof Factories, Salem, appreciated thetraining offered and suggested guidelinesto workers on precautions to be takenwhile at work.

Scenes from the on-site emergency mock drillat Chemplast, Mettur.

Chemplast Sanmar Limited

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Chemplast Sanmar received the StateSafety Award for the year 2002. Theaward, instituted by the Government ofTamil Nadu, was given to Plant III atMettur, where caustic soda, chlorine andchlorinated solvents are manufactured.The award under the Group ‘A’ categorywas given for the highest reduction inthe weighed frequency rate compared tothe previous year, employing more than10 lakh man hours.

While the company’s Plant I atMettur received the second prize inGroup ‘C’ for 2001 and the third placefor 2002, the Vedaranyam Salt Worksreceived the second, third and secondprizes under Group ‘C’ for 2002 underschemes 1, 2 and 3.

The Tamil Nadu State Safety Award for the year 2002 was received by T AN Thenappan,(centre) Vice President - Operations, and L Subramanian, Manager - Safety (right), ChemplastSanmar, Mettur, from P Annavi (left) Minister for Labour, Government of Tamil Nadu, at afunction organised by the Tamil Nadu Government at Chennai on 4 March 2005.

Chemplast bags StateSafety Award

T AN Thenappan, Vice President -Operations and L Subramanian,Manager - Safety of Chemplast Sanmarreceived the awards from P Annavi,Minister for Labour, Government ofTamil Nadu at a function organised atChennai in March 2005. M B Pranesh,IAS, Principal Secretary, Departmentof Labour and Employment,K A Mohamed Aziz, Chief Inspector ofFactories, Government of Tamil Naduand R Thiruvengadam, Chairman,National Safety Council, Tamil NaduChapter, were present at the function.

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“They are withus!”: SEC

The response to SomaBasu’s question in TheHindu Metroplus wouldbe that peacocks can befound in good numberswithin the compound ofthe Sanmar EngineeringCorporation units atViralimalai. They find asafe haven in the greenbelts developed bySanmar, as can be seen inthe pictures below.

The Hindu, Metroplus, dated 5 February 2005.

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Tyco Sanmar participated in the Power-Gen India & Central Asia Conferenceand Exhibition held at Pragati Maidan,New Delhi, from 1 to 3 February 2005.Close to 100 exhibitors took part in thefair.

The exhibitors included manufacturersof equipment and their representatives,providers of services and technologyrelating to the power generationindustry.

Products from Australia, the US andUK, Italy, France, Azerbaijan, Germany,Sweden and other countries were ondisplay.

The participants’ list included suchnames as Alstom, Ansaldo, BHEL,Bosch Rexroth, Clarke, Cummins,Doosan, Escorts, GE Energy, ManB&W, Sanmar Engineering, Siemens,Skoda, Thermax, Tata Power, andTurbomach SA.

This was the first major event addressingthe power industry in which TycoSanmar showcased its products andmade animated presentations on

product performance on steamapplications of its product range.

The Tyco stall was a sellout, with bothexisting and prospective customers aswell as potential vendors of SanmarEngineering Corporation thronging thestall.

Tyco Sanmar a sellout atPower-Gen Fair

Tyco Sanmar Limited

A view of Tyco Sanmar’s impressive display at the Power-Gen expo.

Ashok K Puri, Chairman & ManagingDirector, BHEL, with the Tyco Sanmarteam.

Ravinder Bhat (left) escorting R V Sahi, Secretary, Government of India, to the Tyco stall.

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Born on 28 August 1860 inMuddenahalli village of the Kolardistrict in the princely state of Mysore,Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was oneof India’s foremost engineers and livedto the ripe old age of 101.

The creation and nurturing of severalmajor institutions in Mysore (Karnatakatoday) are credited to Visvesvaraya.Among these are the Krishna Raja SagarDam, Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Works,Mysore Sandalwood and SoapCompany, Mysore University andHindustan Aeronautics. According tobiographer Dilip M Salwi, he was “anable economist, statesman, visionary,writer and humanist.” He received manyawards and honours, crowned by thenation’s highest honour, the BharatRatna award, which he received in 1955.

The youngest of four children born toSrinivasa Sastry and Venkachamma,Visvesvaraya went to school inChikballapur and Bangalore. Even as achild, he had an engineering bent ofmind. When he was barely 13, his father,a Sanskrit scholar and an authority onHindu dharma, besides being anAyurvedic doctor, died while returningfrom a pilgrimage to Kasi, in the north.

Amidst uncertainty whether thedire circumstances of the family wouldallow him to continue his studies,the boy received help from hismaternal uncle H Ramaiah, who “hadseen the sparkle in the eyes of the thinand shy Visvesvaraya.” Ramaiah tookhim to Bangalore and admitted himto the Wesleyan Mission High Schoolin 1875. He later went to CentralCollege where he obtained hisbachelor’s degree.

Visvesvaraya won scholarshipsthroughout school and college, but alsotook up tuitions to support his familyafter his father’s demise. His mother,brother and sister lived in Chikballapurwhile he studied at Bangalore, andyoung Visvesvaraya always found thetime to visit them despite his hecticschedule of studies and tuition.

Impressed by Visvesvaraya’s academicbrilliance and capacity for hard work,Charles Waters, the principal of hiscollege and mathematics teacher,recommended him for a scholarship tostudy engineering after the young manstood first in B A Honours. In 1880,Visvesvaraya joined the Poona Collegeof Science to study civil engineering. Inthe final examination held in 1883, hestood first in the Bombay Presidencyand won the James Berkeley Medal.

Joining the Public Works Department(PWD) of Bombay as AssistantEngineer, Visvesvaraya came up with anumber of ingenious solutions tonumerous engineering problems in thecourse of his work.

One of Visvesvaraya’s significantcontributions as an irrigation engineerwas to design and patent a system of weirwater floodgates called the AutomaticSluice Gates in 1901. These wereinstalled at Lake Fife, the Khadakvaslareservoir in the water works departmentof Poona and Kirkee cantonment. Thesegates prevented flooding and loss ofwater. The success of these gates led tosimilar measures in the Tigra dam inGwalior and the Krishna Raja Sagar damin Mysore. The Krishna Raja Sagar damacross the Kaveri River was the biggestreservoir in India at that time.

Legends from the SouthM Visvesvaraya

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Visvesvaraya’s consistent performance,his innovative schemes and problem-solving ability facilitated his rapidgrowth in his career. His Britishsuperiors not only posted him to theproblem areas of the country to takeadvantage of his sterling qualities, theyalso made sure he received promotions,often ‘out of turn’, in recognition of hismerit. They also sent him abroad on anumber of tours to learn the state of theart in engineering systems.

Visvesvaraya realised that when hebecame the seniormost Indian in theservice, he would not be appointedthe Chief Engineer of BombayPresidency, a post reserved for Britons.The proud and principled officer thathe was, he resigned from governmentservice at age 48.

Diwan of Mysore

Visvesvaraya was then appointed ChiefEngineer of the Mysore princely statein 1909, and the Diwan of the state in1912. In these roles, he contributed tothe all-round development of the state,with the support of Maharaja KrishnaRaja Wodeyar.

Harnessing the river Kaveri to generateelectric power was one of the mostsignificant engineering projectspromoted by Visvesvaraya. When, aftercrossing several obstacles, the KrishnaRaja Sagar dam was commissioned in1931, it became the largest hydroelectricpower scheme in the country. Next tothe dam are the Brindavan Gardens,with their musical fountains, parksflower beds and avenue trees, the resultof Visvesvaraya’s vision, watered andnourished by the releases of the dam.“As Visvesvaraya had foreseen, thegigantic scheme changed the landscapeof the neighbouring Mandya andMysore districts. These now became richand prosperous, yielding rice, sugarcaneand cotton.”

Visvesvaraya was instrumental in settingup the Government Engineering College

in 1917 in the city of Bangalore, whichwas later named after him. The UniversityVisvesvaraya College of Engineering isone of the most reputed institutes ofhigher learning in the state of Karnataka.He also promoted the Mysore University.

CentenaryKnighted in 1915, Visvesvaraya retiredas Diwan in 1919, but continued toserve state and country as an activeconsultant engineer for the rest of hislife. He was involved in the constructionof Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi,the establishment of the ChemicalTechnology Institute in Bombay, andthe reorienting of research in the IndianInstitute of Science, Bangalore. Themodification of the drainage system ofKarachi, and monitoring the Back BayReclamation in Bombay were some ofhis other contributions. His 1939 reporton floods in Orissa led to the conceptionof the Hirakud Hydroelectric Project.At age 75, he played a key role in startingHindustan Aeronautic Laboratories inBangalore, though his original intentionwas to set up a foreigncollaboration to manufacturemotorcars in the state. Abyproduct of Visvesvaraya’sefforts was the PremierAutomobiles Limited inMaharashtra, whichmanufactured Fiat cars inIndia.

Visvesvaraya had the uniquedistinction of participating inhis centenary celebrations. Itwas inaugurated by PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru,on 28 August 1960. TheIndian Posts and TelegraphsDepartment issued a specialstamp to honour him and theVisvesvaraya Industrial andTechnological Museum wasset up in Bangalore tocommemorate the occasion.

Visvesvaraya died on 14 April1962, and he was cremated at

his village, Muddenahalli, where amemorial has been erected at his home.In his own words, he had “achieved all Idreamed for in my youth.”

AWARDS AND HONOURS

Crown of the Indian Empire 1911

Knighthood of theIndian Empire 1915

Bharat Ratna 1955

Other awards and honours

Durga Prasad Gold Medal of the RoyalAsiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta

Life Membership of the Institution ofCivil Engineers, London

Life Membership of Institution ofEngineers (India)

Fellowship of the Indian Institute ofScience, Bangalore

Fellowship of the Institute of TownPlanners

Publications

Planned Economy of India, 1934Memoirs of My Working Life, 1951

Illustration by S Girish

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