Simply UNIQUE !

Arijit Basu,
Managing Director,
SIKA India Pvt. Ltd.

SIKA India started its operations in 1985, as an Indian company. It was known as Qualcrete India Limited. In 1987, Qualcrete India Limited forged an alliance with Sika AG, Switzerland and was renamed as SikaQualcrete Limited. In 2002, Sika AG, Switzerland acquired 100% stake in the company. Since then, the company has been rechristened as Sika India Pvt. Ltd. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sika AG.
ArijitBasu, Managing Director, SIKA India talks to Construction Times in an exclusive interview.

Please elaborate on SIKA India Pvt.Ltd's role in the process of building nation in the diverse market sectors - An overview!

ArijitBasu: SIKA is one of the pioneers in the construction chemicals industry globally. Even in India, SIKA was the prime movers in this industry as one of the early starters in the construction chemicals industry. The company started as a joint venture, close to three decades ago. In terms of spreading awareness of using construction chemicals, SIKA India, with its range of construction chemicals and solutions have brought in lot of innovations in the Indian market. In terms of our contribution to the nation, I would say, SIKA is one unique company, even within the industry of construction chemicals. Our solutions possibly have an imprint on every large infrastructure, coming down to a small building, up to even industrial applications like automobile etc. You take any product that contributes to the nation building, in some ways SIKA is in the value chain contributing there. In a larger sense, I believe we are not only contributing in technology and solutions, but also our past and present generations' tireless efforts to make this industry known, is our contribution in building the nation.
We still have a long way to go, as consumption of chemical with respect to the cement produced and consumed in the country is very low. If you compare a country like China, or even the Middle-East, forget about the matured markets in Europe, where it is close to hundred per cent, India is far off. This is a clear opportunity with more awareness and more technology coming in. Industry at large will get benefitted and of course, we will surely see India as a big growing market.

Please elaborate on SIKA's journey in india.
ArijitBasu: Usage of chemicals in construction activities has been documented long time ago, when Egyptians started using it in construction activities. However, a structured and organised construction chemical was known by the inception of SIKA in 1910. Officially, the first construction chemical company in the globe, there was this tunnel getting constructed in Switzerland during 1910. During the construction, they had some water seepage problems. It was then when Casper Wingler, a known professional was called to resolve the water seepage problem. He developed a product, which is still in our product range, which is called SIKA. We do not why he called it SIKA. There are various theories, the most credible one is: He mixed two chemical compounds, one was silicate the other one was calium, which is the Greek name for potassium. SIKA came from these two combinations. The company was started in a bar, in Switzerland. The head office is still located there.
Now SIKA is present globally in 91 countries, spread across all the continents. The global turnover is over 6 billion. In India, started as a joint venture, in 1986 it was named as Qualcrete Private Limited. In 1987, Qualcrete India Limited forged an alliance with Sika AG, Switzerland and was renamed as SikaQualcrete Limited. In 2002, Sika AG, Switzerland acquired 100% stake in the company and since then the company has been rechristened as Sika India Pvt. Ltd. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sika AG. Before our entry, Fosroc was here. These are two pioneering companies in India, in construction chemicals. Since then, we have grown in leaps and bounds. Today, we are close to 500 crores company in India.
We have come a long way educating the customer on the benefits of construction chemicals, how to choose chemicals for a particular application, how to use it and so on… Why you should use to what you should use, the transition has happened at least in the urban centres. If you see, the overall perception of the brand in our stakeholders like construction companies, professionals and distributors, SIKA has a strong reputation not only for the quality, but also for the range of products we offer.

How would you describe the global trends influencing the Indian Construction Industry and vice-versa?
ArijitBasu: To start with, one key factor is time. There was a period, when a construction projects took such a long time, this scenario has completed changed today. They now know the value of time and finishing the projects well before time, so they are making more money. At this point of time, the advantages or importance of using chemicals has come in. What we used to do it in 28 days, we can do it in 8 hours now, for example, casting a slab. People have realised what impact it creates in the cash flow and profitability. Parallelly, certain innovative construction practices also came to India, starting from in situ concrete to RMC concrete, from conventional slab casting to precast construction, all these are indicators and the stakeholder have realised time is money and spending more time for a projects, is not advisable. This global trend is very much catching up in India.
Another global trend to an extent, catching up with people is looking for solutions. When I say solutions, I do not mean quality. I would say the end users are still not looking for quality product and price is still a big factor. However, at least there is a tendency to seek for a solution. Going forward, they may also realize that the initial cost is not the prime factor, because the total cost optimisation from cradle-to-grave kind of cycle in construction is yet to catch up in India. It is here and possibly the next global trend will catch up. This will lead to the search for better quality solution, which can be only brought in a holistic life cycle costing.
The mega trend in the global scenario is the energy efficiency, reducing carbon footage etc. And these have become our core values in whichever country we operate. This basic standard is delivered by SIKA - the basic quality, safety etc are a default at SIKA. That is possibly a reason, in every market, people look at SIKA in a different way.

Brief us on the range of products.
ArijitBasu: In India alone, we have core product line close to 500 products, and in global perspective, it will be around 2,000 product solutions. We have two broad verticals - one is construction and the other is industry. Under construction we have concrete, waterproofing, roofing, refurbishment, flooring and various target groups, depending on the requirements.

Please enlighten our esteemed readers of your R&D.
ArijitBasu: From 1988, we have a state-of-the-art R&D plant, which is DSIR recognised centre. Now we have new plant and R&D centre in Gujarat, which is equipped with advanced facilities to deliver the solutions. SIKA India's R&D is recognised within the SIKA Group, as one of the regional R&D centres we have. For hot weather climate countries we are doing research here. We have developed formulations, which have become part of the global product range. The core focus of what we do in our R&D here is adapting to the local raw materials, local variations of temperature, local customer needs in terms of setting time, pot life, ease of application - localisation in terms of product features and applications and also the need of the locally available materials. Therefore, the challenge for R&D is you cannot look at India, as one country. We have a larger range of powder products, which are cementitious products. We do not get consistent quality cement and sand across the country, which means depending on the region we sell. We still need to fine-tune the formulations - this is a key challenge for our R&D. For some projects, we do collaborate with our central R&D centre in Europe. We also do certain global projects as well.
We have a systematic approach. We have a portal SIP - SIKA Innovate Products, where all the R&D team is connected with the central team. We have a complete PCP - Product Creating Process. There are milestones as the product gets reviewed. Our R&D projects are quite structured.

From where do you procure the raw materials for your products?
ArijitBasu: We would say 80 per cent of the raw materials are sourced locally. There few, which we still import. Part of our product line is also imported, as we do not have the economy of scale to manufactures those products here in India, e.g., polyurethane sealants, which we are selling to the industrial application for bus-body building, train and trucks, or wind mills. Another example, the State bus-body panels are riveted, whereas the Volvo bus panels are glued using high strength polyurethane adhesives. Any car, from BMW, Mercedes to Audi, from glass to panels there is SIKA for adhesives. R&D is athe back bone for SIKA global.

How will RERA affect the major building materials' suppliers and manufacturers?
ArijitBasu: My perspective is that RERA is more for the builders and developers. As an intention, it will help much more to organise the building sector, which means quality builders and developers will get motivated. It might help the value chain, down the line.

Was there a dip in the sales because of demonetisation? How will GST Act impact the construction industry?
ArijitBasu: I would say, the times were challenging. The sales were not to our expectations, because our expected growth was little curtailed. However, I look at it on a positive way. In the long run, it is a transition and the stakeholders, including us need to bite the bullet. Once the dust settles, you will fall in line for fair and better competition in the market. All across, everybody has to come under one tax. Tax percentage may vary from 18 to 26 per cent. There may be a short term impact.

How strong is your distribution network?
ArijitBasu: SIKA has done exceptionally well in the distribution market. Our distribution business was 27 million Swiss francs last year, which is approximately, close to 200 crores. SIKA is No. 1 in many product ranges and in India, overall our market share is 10 per cent.

What are the latest innovative technologies SIKA India has incorporated in recent times in improving the efficiency and efficacy of operations in India?
ArijitBasu: When we talk about efficiency, we need to loop it in specific ways. One element of efficiency is timeline, the other element is durability or durability enhancement, and third element is risk mitigation for a construction project. If you look at these areas, SIKA has brought in lots of innovative technology and possibly made the construction industry, in India, something to experience, which they never had a chance earlier. A few examples, if you see the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, the quality of concrete used is very high. It is dense, highly durable, is able to take the loads of current and future vehicle movement - so, we used a highly advanced technology of PCE in admixture to develop the concrete in such a way that it can withstand the saline and extreme atmosphere. The flyover's segmental construction, which means between the two segments, the flyover has to be glued, and the glue was supplied by SIKA. The entire bridge is in segments and every segment is glued using SIKA product. We did extensive trials with HCC. It was one of the most challenging projects.
Another project is the first anti-static flooring we did for ISRO, for its launch pad. SIKA has played a significant part in building a strong nation by being part of multiple Metro Projects, Dams, Nuclear Power Plants and plenty of Road Projects. SIKA's footprint is present almost everywhere.

Please elaborate on your products' range.
ArijitBasu: In the Road Sector, if it is a concrete road, the quality and durability depends on the mixed design, which needs to be modified with quality additives and admixtures. In certain sector, where you need to save water used for curing, for example, mass concreting needs lots of water for curing, we have developed curing agents, basically sprays applied on the finished concrete. Now you have various panel-to-panel joints in concrete, where we supply quality sealants, ensuring there is no seepage happening. Depending on the type of concrete, we can offer variety of solutions, among them the basic solutions are admixtures, curing agents and sealants.
In the Power Sector, there are lots of products depending on the structures. Underground structure needs waterproofing or water retaining, while for super structures, you need protection, strengthening, durability enhancement then retrofitting and refurbishment of existing structures, and depending on the structures there are various solutions.

How would you describe your annual turnover?
ArijitBasu: 80 per cent of our turnover comes from construction products and 20 per cent is from industrial products. Industrial application is a special business. It is a solution-driven business. The type of solutions and players are basically standardised and organised. We facilitate to make these technologies available in India. When it comes to construction business, majority of our products are produced with the local R&D here.

Tell us more about the skilling part of your company.
ArijitBasu: We tried a few in the past. Skilling in core construction is to be driven by major construction companies. What we need is a different skill set, where we need to have our own training programmes and training modules, which is what we quickly realised. We have a very structured training up to the level of customers. We invite our customers to visit our facility, make them understand how the product is manufactured, what kind of consistency and quality we bring in. We also do certification for our application, who are basically third part companies. They are trained and approved by us, to execute projects. It is our responsibility.
We want to make the organisation more focused on, what we really want. The more is always less and to have more is more sustainable method. We did see a good profitable growth. We actually doubled our growth in the last couple of years quantitatively. It is encouraging, however, on qualitative terms, cultural alignment of the group was pooled in the support, is what mattered. The growth was because of intention and the second, the efforts and support to reach the intention - that possibly made us double the profit, in no time.

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