The Indian Express- Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, VadodaraThe Financial Express- Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune

June 8, 2009

Insi

de

BOTH 1910 AND 1959 ARE SIGNIFICANT

TO INDIA THIS YEAR. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE

BOTH THESE YEARS, IN BETWEEN OF THEM

CHURNED OUT SOME OF THE MOST MIGHTY

CORPORATES, BANKS AND PSUS THAT THE

COUNTRY OR EVEN THE WORLD, IN MOST

CASES HAVE SEEN. THESE ARE COMPANIES

WHICH ARE OLDER THAN 50, BUT NOT YET

TOUCHED THEIR CENTENARY. THESE ARE

COMPANIES WHICH ARE CELEBRATING THEIR

GOLDEN JUBILEE YEAR THIS YEAR. BUT

THERE IS A LOT COMMON IN ALL OF THEM.

PATIENCE, COMMITMENT, RESILIENCE,

FORESIGHT…ALL A COMBINATIONAL RECIPE

OF SUCCESS. THEY ARE FEW, BUT THEY HAVE

LIVED EVERY DAY OF THEIR EXISTENCE TO

GRACE GREATNESS.

1910. Halley’s Comet brushes Earthwith its tail. The Union of South Africa iscreated. African-American boxer JackJohnson defeats American boxer JamesJ. Jeffries in a heavyweight boxing match,sparking race riots across the UnitedStates. Henry Ford sells 10,000 cars.

1959. The United States recognizesthe new Cuban government of FidelCastro. The Caves of Nerja are discov-ered in Spain. The Barbie doll debuts.NASA announces its selection of 7 mili-tary pilots to become the first U.S. astro-nauts. Ceylon’s prime minister S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike is assassinated. MGM’swidescreen, multimillion dollar,Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starringCharlton Heston, is released and be-comes the studio’s greatest hit. Cold War– Antarctic Treaty: 12 countries, includ-ing the United States and the SovietUnion, sign a landmark treaty, which setsaside Antarctica as a scientific preserveand bans military activity on that conti-nent.

1959, a year specific to India markedthe establishment of Doordarshan,India’s national state-owned broadcaster.It also marked Tenzin Gyatso, the 14thDalai Lama, fleeing Tibet and travellingto India and Bajaj Auto obtaining licensefrom Government of India to manufac-ture two- and three-wheelers in India.

These events and more, within itsbracket, spurned several events of greatimportance towards the world’s and evenIndia’s media-related, political, and indus-trial development.

But there was more to happen.There were companies in the waitingto start a revolution of change andbring India to a place where it couldindividually claim stake on several en-trepreneurial acclaims and make itsstand sealed on the industrial and cor-porate bandwagon.

India was to change from these yearson and there were a number of com-panies which marked India’s entry intoa the new dominion of the third worldto a fast growing, next big economicpower-house of the world.

There were many companies whichwere floated between 1910 and 1959;many perished, but those who survivedhave lived it through and succeededcontinuously even in these times ofeconomic recession. These are com-panies which have constantly provedtheir acumen in the Corporate as wellas PSU circles through their foresight,vision and mission rules concretely inplace.

Companies like Ashok Leyland,Bajaj Group, Cadbury India, Cipla,DLF group, Hero Group, HindustanLever Ltd, ITC, Larsen & Toubro Lim-ited, Mahindra Group, Proctor &Gamble India, TVS Group, V-Trans(India) Ltd.; banks like Andhra Bank,Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bankof India, Dena Bank, ICICI Bank, In-dian Overseas Bank, Karur VysyaBank, Oriental Bank of Commerce,Reserve Bank of India, SyndicateBank, UCO Bank, Union Bank of In-

dia, United Bank of India, ING VysyaBank, Vijaya Bank; PSUs like Bharat Elec-tronics Limited (BEL), Hindustan Aero-nautics Limited (HAL), Indian Oil Corp,National Mineral Development Corpora-tion, New India Assurance Co Limited,ONGC, Oriental Insurance Company,Singareni Collieries, Steel Authority ofIndia Limited (SAIL), United IndiaInsurance…all have shown their might interms of maturity in growth as well as busi-ness ethics; professional growth, expan-sion through foresight and side by sidebuilding an empire of robustness andtransparency.

Golden Success

These are companies which have fol-lowed the secrets of success in their indi-vidual businesses. They stretched theirgoal overcoming failures, problems anddifficulties by conscious effort and by ap-plication of capabilities, resources andmethods. They have clearly differentiatedtheir success from luck, chance and do-ing what comes naturally without effort.And then these companies had the mostprecious of them all…people. Mathema-tician James A. Yorke once commented,“The most successful people are thosewho are good at Plan B.” Most compa-nies which crossed the long tenure withgreat success had people who had a PlanB when the initial plan failed and this fac-tor made all the difference at the mostcrucial of times.

Contd. on Page 2...

Featuring few companies which have completedfifty years and still striding ahead with founda-tions created out of strong values, foresight,vision and individuals.In

sid

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A Space Market ing Feature

2 JUNE 8 I 2009

A YOUNG TEAM OF HIGHLY MOTIVATED

AND ENTERPRISING INDIVIDUALS WITH

EXPOSURE TO TRANSPORT ACTIVITIES

WAS THE CORE STRENGTH WHEN VIJAY

TRANSPORT COMPANY WAS LAUNCHED

IN 1958. BEING FROM TRADING

COMMUNITY THEMSELVES, THEY WON

TRUST OF TRADERS SOON AND BECAME

THEIR PREFERRED TRANSPORTERS. THEN

ON, THERE WAS NO STOPPING THEM.

Transportation in India is diverse,complex and is in an unorganized state.In 50’s and 60’s Vijay TransportCo. introduced movement of goods inSaurashtra and Kutch to far off dis-tances like Mumbai. The company en-abled people of Kutch to tastealphonso mangoes, till then not avail-able in Kutch and also ensured thatpeople in Mumbai enjoyed Farm prod-ucts, Ghee etc. produced in Kutch.Traders of those days were hesitant tohand over their precious cargo totransporters in return of paper con-signment notes.

“Being from the trading communityourselves and knowing the apprehen-sions of traders, we would persuadethe traders to use their services andthereby opening transportation sectorwith those classes of people. By open-ing 80+ locations in Gujarat, webrought services to the doorstep of theclients. By setting excellent service stan-dards, higher level of honesty, integ-rity and decorum, we have compelledthe transport industry to provide im-proved services to the clients,” saidMahendra K. Shah, Managing Direc-tor, V-Trans Group.

The Visionary

Kunverji Khimji Shah (K.K.Shah)was an impressive person, a visionaryand one of the most respected per-sonalities of Kutch. Born in 1923 andbrought up in village Patri in Kutch-Gujarat, K.K. Shah came to Mumbaiat the tender age of 9 years. He beganworking in kirana shops and in 1946,joined Padamshi Narshi & Co., a localtransport company, as a clerk. This wasthe beginning of his journey in thetransport industry. To reward his ex-cellent performance and to de-velop his hunger for growth,Padamshibhai handed overthe charge of his business toK. K. Shah and gifted him aChevrolet truck, when he leftthe company to start hisown business. With thissame truck, K. K. Shah andhis friend Balubhai starteda transport business in 1950,in the name of BalubhaiKunverji and Co. Andthe journey had be-gun.

Growth

As they e a r spassed

by and the company grew multi fold,the Partnership firm was dissolved in1996 and Vijay Transport Co. Ltd. wasestablished as a closely held LimitedCompany. In 2001, the organizationthrough a massive corporate identityexercise was renamed as V-Trans In-dia Ltd. Today, Group V has got 325branches spread across 20 states hav-ing 1300-plus manpower and a turn-over of about Rs 200 crores.

Future Plans

“In the next few years,we see ourselves as acomprehensive logisticcompany focusing ondomestic markets. Modern warehouseswith various materialshandling equipment,use of state of art

technologies like ERP,a fleet of latest vehiclesfitted with GPS are

some of the key steps be-ing taken,” said

Shah. ❑

ESTABLISHED IN 1911, CENTRAL

BANK OF INDIA WAS THE FIRST

INDIAN COMMERCIAL BANK WHICH

WAS WHOLLY OWNED AND MANAGED

BY INDIANS. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF

THE BANK WAS THE ULTIMATE

REALISATION OF THE DREAM OF SIR

SORABJI POCHKHANAWALA,

FOUNDER OF THE BANK. CLAIMED

THEN TO BE THE TRULY ‘SWADESHI

BANK’, SIR SORABJI PROCLAIMED

CENTRAL BANK OF INDIA AS THE

‘PROPERTY OF THE NATION AND THE

COUNTRY’S ASSET’.

“The Central Bank of India since itsvery inception had been a pioneer inoffering a variety of innovative servicesto the customers, which proved turn-ing points. However, the nationaliza-tion of the Bank in July 1969 was oneof the key events in the history of Cen-tral Bank of India. It was during thisperiod that the Bank embarked on anexpansion drive in a big way from classbanking to mass banking and startedon its stellar role in the economic de-velopment of the country. It openedseveral new branches, focused on ru-ral sector and came up with severalground breaking rural initiatives aspart of rural banking scheme. Apartfrom this, the Bank also started lend-ing activities on a major scale even tosmall entrepreneurs, some of whomhave metamorphosed into majorcorporates today,” says S Sridhar,Chairman & Managing Director, Cen-tral Bank of India

During the past 98 years of historythe Bank has weathered many stormsand faced many challenges. The Bankcould successfully transform everythreat into business opportunity andexcelled over its peers in the Bankingindustry. Today, further in line with theguidelines from Reserve Bank of In-dia as also the Government of India,Central Bank has been playing an in-creasingly active role in promoting thekey thrust areas of agriculture, smallscale industries as also medium andlarge industries.

The Bank also introduced- a num-ber of Self Employment Schemes topromote employment among the edu-cated youth. According to Sridhar, asof 31st March 2009, the Bank had 3518branches, 34 satellite offices and 243extension counters. “During the cur-rent fiscal we shall be adding about 150branches,” he added.

Recent Initiatives

� Central Bank of Indialaunched Visa Platinum andVisa Gold cards

� IT Enabled Financial Inclusionat Hoshangabad which willbring the financial ser-vices to the door steps ofthose who are living inremotest parts of thecountry.

� In order to developrural entrepre-neurship, the

Bank launched a Rural Develop-ment and Self Employment Train-ing Institute (Rudseti) atHoshangabad.

Performance

During the quarter ended March2009, Central Bank of India’s total in-come registered growth of 21.22 percent at Rs 3150.33 crore over March2008.

Targets

“During the current fiscal we havetargeted a business growth of over 18per cent at Rs. 2,57,550 crore. Thisshall come about through 18 per centgrowth in advances at Rs. 1,02,350crore and over 18 per cent growth indeposits at Rs. 1,55,200 crore. As a

business strategy to improve ourprofitability, we are focusing

on improving our share ofCASA to 36.9 %, forwhich we have planned to

add 20 Lakh Savingsaccounts and 75,000Current accounts dur-

ing the year,” says

Sridhar. ❑

Mahendra K. Shah, MD, V-Trans

Few comments from Golden En-terprises about their success mantraand turnaround times

Mahendra K Shah, Managing Direc-

tor, V-Trans Group

“A burning desire to succeed pro-pelled the founder K. K. Shah, a manwith towering personality along withhis brothers to venture in the businessof transportation and started VijayTransport Company in 1958 with just2 trucks. The qualities and values theyput forth in the organization like sin-cere hard work, sticking to ethical busi-ness practices, being enterprising andcontinued family unity ensured thatthe company negotiated any hurdlesuccessfully. Its single focus of provid-ing reliable, safe service and willing-ness to provide solutions to clientshelped the company to sustain andgrow to be a preferred Transport Com-pany.”

Satish Chander Gupta, Chairman &

Managing Director, United Bank of

India

“As a result of implementation ofPrudential Accounting Standards,United Bank of India incurred hugelosses in the year 1993 and 1994 andwas identified as a weak bank by theWorking Group set up at the time ofBanking Reforms, weakness beingidentified in three main areas –Opera-tion, Human Resources, and Manage-ment. However, at the end of 2001-02,UBI could turn around under theguidance of RBI and scaled a newheight of 522% rise in net profit at Rs.119.04 crore. UBI’s turn around wasthe fastest not only in banking sectorbut also in the entire corporate world.”

S Sridhar, Chairman & Managing

Director, Central Bank of India

“Since its inception as the firstSwadeshi bank of the country on 21stDecember 1911, Central Bank of In-dia has emerged as one of the largestbanks in India through resilience, in-novation and faith of millions of satis-fied customers. Over the years, the pro-active and sagacious management ofthe Bank have launched many pio-neering initiatives viz., Thrift and Sav-ing accounts for women & childrenand Recurring deposit scheme, buy-ing and selling gold, specialised ladies

department, first Indian managedbank to issue Rupee TravellersCheques, Cash Certificate, Safe De-posit vault, Credit card etc. These ini-tiatives have established the Bankfirmly in the market place as an inno-vative, trust worthy, proactive andsteady Institution on which custom-ers – both depositors and borrowerscan bank upon.”

Vice Admiral Harisimran Singh

Malhi, AVSM, VSM, Chairman &

Managing Director, Mazagon Dock

Limited

“After its takeover by the Govern-ment in 1960, Mazagon Dock grewrapidly to become the premier war-shipbuilding yard in India, producingsophisticated warships for the Navyand offshore structures for theONGC. It has grown from a singleunit, small ship repair yard, into amulti-unit and multi-product com-

pany, with significant rise in produc-tion and sophistication of products.The company’s current portfolio ofdesigns spans a wide range of prod-ucts for both domestic and overseasclients.”

Ishaat Hussain, Chairman, Voltas

Limited

“Since 1853, Volkart had beenprominent in ‘two-way trade’ betweenIndia and the West. Broadly, raw ma-terials and commodities were ex-ported while the imports focused onmachinery and engineering equip-ment from overseas manufacturers.Over the years, such technology-basedproducts increasingly needed instal-

...Contd. from Page 1 lations and support services. Thisevolved into Volkart’s Engineering &Import business, which soon formedthe bulk of their activities. Post-warand post-Independence realitiescalled for some drastic revisions.India’s manufacturing capabilities hadbeen jumpstarted by wartime condi-tions. Independent India too was in-tent on forcing the pace ofindigenisation, by restricting importsof engineering equipments (amongothers). Paradoxically, India’s indus-trial and economic growth would re-quire more and more such equipment,and the installation / support services,which Volkart was so well placed todeliver. Volkart and Tata’s teamed upas Voltas Limited to tackle these chal-lenges. It was the ideal combination:Volkart’s engineering service and trad-ing expertise, allied with Tata’s historicstanding as a major industrializingpower.”

Drona Rath, CMD, Mecon Limited

“As an independent department ofHindustan Steel Limited, the func-tions of Central Engineering and De-sign Bureau (CEDB) were quite flex-ible and in line with the needs and di-rections of the HSL board. LateMohan Kumaramangalam, as SteelMinister, in 1972-73, conceived the for-mation of SAIL as the holding com-pany for the main iron and steel plantsand ancillary industries in the publicsector. CEDB took on a separate iden-tity as Metallurgical and engineeringconsultants (India) Limited, (Mecon)on April 1, 1973 as a subsidiary of theholding company. HSL remained aseparate company like Bokaro Steel,under the holding company umbrella.The memorandum of associationmade it clear that Mecon was not con-fining itself to pure consultancy or toiron and steel, the main course on itsmenu. It would also be engaged in thedesign and manufacture of equipmentand systems, and in detailed andproject engineering not undertaken byother consultancy firms. In its aims andobjectives, the company presented topublic view, many new facets and newdirections in which it hoped toprogress. Mecon has till date com-pleted over 4500 consultancy and ePcassignments covering wide range of

field and services.” ❑

THERE WERE MANY COMPANIES

WHICH WERE FLOATED BETWEEN

1910 AND 1959; MANY

PERISHED, BUT THOSE WHO

SURVIVED HAVE LIVED IT THROUGH

AND SUCCEEDED CONTINUOUSLY

EVEN IN THESE TIMES OF ECO-

NOMIC RECESSION. THESE ARE

COMPANIES WHICH HAVE CON-

STANTLY PROVED THEIR ACUMEN

IN THE CORPORATE AS WELL AS

PSU CIRCLES THROUGH THEIR

FORESIGHT, VISION AND MISSION

RULES CONCRETELY IN PLACE.

S Sridhar, CMD, Central Bank of India

3 JUNE 8 I 2009

THE ORIGIN OFUNITED BANK OFINDIA GOES BACKAS FAR AS 1914(CONSIDERING

THAT IT WAS

FORMED OUT OF THE AMALGAM-ATION OF FOUR SMALL BANKS OFBENGAL; ONE OF THEM, COMILLA

BANKING CORPORATION LTD. WAS

ESTABLISHED IN 1914). WITH 174BRANCHES AND BUSINESS OF RS259 CRORES, UBI WAS ONE OFTHE 14 BANKS WHICH WERE FIRSTNATIONALIZED IN JULY1969. ITS INITIALGROWTH, DECLINE,RISING AND THECURRENT SUPREMACYIS STUPENDOUS AND ACLASSIC STORY OFMATURITY, FORESIGHT,VISION ANDCOMMIT-MENT

AMONG

OTHER KEYENABLERS.

Fifty eight years ago, on December18, 1950 United Bank of India (UBI)was born out of amalgamation of fourbanks viz., Comilla Banking Corpora-tion, Bengal Central Bank, ComillaUnion Bank and Hooghly Bank, es-tablished in the years 1914, 1918, 1922and 1932 respectively. Subsequently,two more banks (Cuttack Bank Lim-ited and Tezpur Industrial Bank Lim-ited) were merged with United Bankof India in the year 1961.

On July 19, 1969, United Bank ofIndia was nationalized.

The Decline

During 1969-1980, UBI’s total busi-ness increased by 19.7% p.a as against10.9% p.a growth achieved during

1950-1969. But the bank got mostaffected by the implementation ofPrudential Accounting Stan-dards as a part of Regulatorymeasures initiated in India in theearly 90’s. Since then rate of

growth of business declinedto 12.7% p.a and

1 2 . 5 % p . a

BEGINNING AS ASMALL BARGEBUILDING YARD,GSL HASGARNERED

REPUTATION ASONE OF THE MOST SOPHISTICATEDSHIP BUILDERS IN THE COUNTRY.FOR OVER FOUR DECADES, GSLHAS DESIGNED, BUILT AND COMMIS-SIONED A WIDE RANGE OF SOPHISTI-CATED VESSELS FOR VARIED APPLICA-TIONS IN THE DEFENCE AND COM-MERCIAL SECTORS WITH SPECIALEXPERTISE IN BUILDING MODERNPATROL VESSELS OF STEEL ANDALUMINIUM HULL STRUCTURE.TODAY, AFTER COMPLETING ITS 51ST

YEAR, THIS SHIPYARD REMAINS ASYOUNG AS EVER.

Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) wasoriginally established by Portuguesein 1957, as a small barge repair facil-ity, under the name “Estalerios NavaisDe Goa”.

Following the liberation of Goa itwas renamed as Goa Shipyard Lim-ited, with its own Board of Directorsin 1967. Government of India ac-corded status of schedule “B” to thecompany in Jan 1997. The Yard wasconferred the status of Mini Ratna,Category-I in March 2007.

Initial Challenges

In the beginning, GSL undertookship repairs, built small barges andfishing trawlers. Over the years, GSLupgraded in value chain, and has to-day built a reputation as one of themost sophisticated ship builders in thecountry.

It has established itself as a premiershipyard on India’s west coast. The

company has graduated from a merebarge building unit to a progressivewarship building yard.

“GSL is one of the few shipyards inthe country who have in-house designcapability, in the process efficientlymeeting the customers’ requirementsfor design, construction, repair andmodernization of vessels. Today theyard is known for delivering qualityships ahead of the schedule to the sat-isfaction of the customers,” says RearAdmiral A K Handa, CMD, Goa Ship-yard Limited.

While making consistent progress incore competency in shipbuilding area,the yard also utilized its technical andmanagerial capabilities to successfullydiversify in to new area of business,which included the design and con-struction of training simulators for theIndian Navy and ONGC, setting up ofShore Based Test Facility for LightCombat Aircraft (N) for AeronauticalDevelopment Agency Bangalore, andrecent venture in to Construction ofGlass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) Boatsfor Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA).

GSL is also in to the business of sup-plying Stern Gear Equipment andspares to the navy and other Indianshipyards in collaboration with an in-ternational firm of repute.

Recently, in the face of stiff competi-tion, GSL has won a prestigious orderfor the supply of Stern Gear Equip-ment for the first indigenous Air De-fence Ship, being built for the IndianNavy at Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

“Till date, GSL has to its credit thedelivery of 185 steel vessels which in-clude Offshore Patrol Vessels, FastPatrol Vessels, Advanced Offshore Pa-trol Vessels, Missile Crafts, Sail Train-ing Ships, Hydrographic Survey Ves-sels, Extra Fast Attack Crafts, LandingCraft Utility (LCUs), Torpedo Recov-ery Vessels, Oiler, Fishing Vessels, Off-shore Platform Support cum Standby

Vessels (OPSSVs), Passenger Vessels,Tugs and Simulators etc, to name afew,” said Admiral Handa.

Performance

In the fiscal year 2006-07, the com-pany registered the highest Value ofProduction (VoP) ever since its incep-tion of 267.07 crores, which was up by6.92 percent over the previous year.

During the year, the OperatingProfit soared by 282.85 percent while,the Net Profit increased by 143.36 per-cent over the previous year.

Thereafter it has been a year of rec-ognition & rewards for GSL.

The VoP performance during theyear 2007-08 exceeded even that of theprevious year by 18.8 percent whereas Net Profit increased by 72 percent.

Future Challenges

The company, in order to meet thefuture challenges, has embarked upona planned modernization project in aphased manner to augment its infra-structure facilities at GSL, which is atthe implementation stage and is ex-pected to increase the company’s ship

construction and repair capacity. ❑

during the decades 1980 to 1990 and1990 to 2000 respectively.

“As a result of implementation ofPrudential Accounting Standards, theBank incurred huge losses in the year1993 and 1994 and was identified as aweak bank by the Working Group setup at the time of Banking Reforms,weakness being identified in threemain areas –Operation, Human Re-sources, and Management. However,at the end of 2001-02, UBI could turnaround under the guidance of RBIand scaled a new height of 522% risein net profit at Rs. 119.04 crore,” saidSatish Chander Gupta, Chairman &Managing Director, United Bank ofIndia.

The Rising

The growth of the Bank acceleratedin the new millennium and accordingto Gupta, the turn around was thefastest not only in the banking sectorbut also in the entire corporate world.

Main Thrust

According to Gupta, Developmentof business is their foremost priority.“The Bank has achieved a businesslevel of Rs. 90,263 crore as on March31, 2009. We are trying to reach a busi-ness level of Rs. 1.25 lakh crore byMarch 2010. Emphasis are now onmobilizing more low cost deposits,increasing retail credit mainly in sec-tors like agriculture, MSME, Housing,Auto etc, NPA Management – both re-duction and prevention, increasingyield on advances, return on invest-ment and augmentation of non-inter-est income, increasing forex businessetc. The Government has already al-lowed restructuring of our Capital andwe are planning to go for an IPO thisyear,” he revealed.

The Bank has set a business targetfor themselves of Rs. 1.25 lakh crore

by March 2010. ❑

Rear Admiral A K Handa, CMD,Goa Shipyard Limited

S. Chander Gupta, CMD, UBI

4 JUNE 8 I 2009

THE SETTING UP OF KARUR VYSYA

BANK CAN BE DESCRIBED AS AN ACT

OF DISCHARGING SOCIAL RESPONSI-

BILITY OF TWO ILLUSTRIOUS BUSI-

NESSMEN OF KARUR WHO WANTED

TO SUPPORT THE CITIZENS OF THE

TOWN IN THEIR AGRICULTURAL AND

TRADE ACTIVITIES WHICH WERE IN THE

DOLDRUMS IN THE AFTERMATH OF

THE WORLD WAR. THOUGH THE

INITIAL JOURNEY WAS SLOW YET

STEADY FOR SEVERAL YEARS, THE PAST

DECADE HAS SEEN SIGNIFI-

CANT PROGRESS IN

THE FUNCTIONING

OF THE BANK.Karur Vysya Bank

was started in theyear 1916 in Karur,then a small textiletown with a vastagricultural back-ground, by two il-lustrious en-t r e p r e -

neurs –M.A. Venkatarama Chettiarand Athi Krishna Chettiar. Whatstarted as a venture with a seed capitalof Rs. 1.00 lakh has grown into a lead-ing financial institution that offers vari-ous financial services to millions of itscustomers under one roof.

“We have adapted to the changingface of the banking industry and in facttaken several path breaking initiativeswhich were ahead of the times. Ourearly computerization programme (inthe early 1990s), migration to the Corebanking Solutions platform (2004),implementation of employee friendlyinitiatives like release of ex-gratia pay-ments to all employees (which was thefirst such initiative by any bank in theindustry) are some of several such ini-tiatives. We have achieved several busi-

ness milestones like achievementof Rs. 10000 cr. base in both de-

posits and advances and totalbusiness of over Rs. 25000 cr.,which made us the firstTamilnadu based private sec-tor bank to do so,” said P TKuppuswamy, MD & CEO,Karur Vysya Bank

Performance

The total business of the bankas on 31.03.09 was Rs. 25664 cr.

with deposits at Rs. 15101 cr. andadvances at Rs.10563 cr. The profit

for fiscal 2007-08 was Rs. 208.33cr. and profit as on 31.12.08

was at Rs. 152.02 cr. Thebank’s Net owned fundis at Rs. 1221 cr. Its NetNPA is likely to be in theregion of 0.25% andCapital Adequacy Ra-tio more than 13% ason 31.03.09.

“We are target-ing a total busi-ness of Rs.32000 cr. for thecurrent finan-

cial year and hope to improve thebranch network to 350 by 31.03.10,”said Kuppuswamy.

Presence

One of the core strengths of the bankhas been its presence in semi urbanand rural areas. Long before the newgeneration banks started looking atTier II and III centres for business,the registered its strong presence insuch places. At present, out of its 314branches, the bank has presence in 97urban, 110 semi-urban and 49 ruralcentres.

“Through these centres, we havebeen providing yeomen service to de-velopment of these small economies.Our bank has been consistently reach-ing the priority sector advances targetof 40% (40.10% as on 31.03.09) of to-tal advances as mandated by the Re-serve Bank of India and a major rea-son for this achievement can be attrib-uted to our operations in these cen-tres. Agricultural lending was at10.30% as on 31.03.09. We are havingour share under all the Governmentsponsored schemes. We are now con-centrating more on Micro creditthrough MFI besides lending directlyto various Self help groups, especiallywomen groups engaged in Farm sec-tors activities,” said Kuppuswamy.

In accordance with Govt/RBI guide-lines, the bank launched its own KisanCredit Card scheme by name KVBGreen card.

In order to cater to the need of thefarmers to improve their investmentcredit, the has ‘KVB Green CardPLUS’ scheme which fulfils the needof the farmers for their working capi-tal as well as long term investmentneeds. To cater to the other core areain agriculture, Farm Mechanization thebank has specialized schemes namesas ‘KVB Green Trac’ & ‘KVB Green

Harvest’. ❑

SYNDICATE BANK WAS ESTABLISHED

IN 1925 IN UDUPI, THE ABODE OF

LORD KRISHNA IN COASTAL

KARNATAKA WITH A CAPITAL OF

RS.8000/- BY THREE VISIONARIES -

SRI UPENDRA ANANTH PAI, A

BUSINESSMAN, SRI VAMAN KUDVA,

AN ENGINEER AND DR.T M A PAI,

A PHYSICIAN - WHO SHARED A

STRONG COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL

WELFARE. THEIR OBJECTIVE WAS

PRIMARILY TO EXTEND FINANCIAL

ASSISTANCE TO THE LOCAL WEAVERS

WHO WERE CRIPPLED BY A CRISIS IN

THE HANDLOOM INDUSTRY THROUGH

MOBILISING SMALL SAVINGS FROM

THE COMMUNITY.The bank collected as low as 2 annas

daily at the doorsteps of the deposi-tors through its Agents under itsPigmy Deposit Scheme started in 1928.This scheme is the Bank's brand eq-uity today and the Bank collects aroundRs. 2 crore per day under the scheme.

The progress of Syndicate Bank hasbeen synonymous with the phase ofprogressive banking in India.

Spanning over 80 years of pioneer-ing expertise, the Bank has created foritself a solid customer base compris-ing customers of two or three genera-tions. Being firmly rooted in rural In-dia and understanding the grassrootrealities, the Bank's perception hadvision of future India.

It has been propagating innovationsin Banking and also has been recep-tive to new ideas, without however get-ting uprooted from its distinctive socio-economic and cultural ethos.

Its philosophy of growth by mutual

sustenance of both the Bank and thepeople has paid rich dividends. TheBank has been operating as a catalystof development across the countrywith particular reference to the com-mon man at the individual level and inrural/semi urban centres at the arealevel.

The Bank is well equipped to meetthe challenges of the 21st century inthe areas of information technology,knowledge and competition. A com-prehensive IT plan is being put in placeand the skills and knowledge of theBank's personnel are being upgradedthrough a variety of trainingprogrammes to promote customerdelight in every sphere of its activity.The Bank has launched an ambitioustechnology plan called CentralisedBanking Solution (CBS) whereby 500of their strategic branches with theirATMs are being networked nationwideover a 4 year period.

Performance

The bank has declared a profit ofRs 910 crore for the year against lastyear’s Rs 848 crore, the YoY growth is8%, however the growth Q4 to Q4 is64%, the growth of the year has beenenabled by the increase in interest onadvances which has grown up by 22%and tertiary income has been good inQ4, the profit on sale of investmentwas Rs 168 crore as against Rs 67 crorein the corresponding period last year.

The bank has done well overall, theefficiency parameters like the net NPAand the gross NPA has been achieved,the gross NPA has been brought downto 1.93% against 2.71% in the last yearand the net NPA has been broughtdown to 0.77% against 0.97% in thelast year.

Outlook

The Bank is projecting a steady

V K Nagar, Executive Director,Syndicate Bank

growth of 20% in year 2009-10 andalso a similar growth of 20% at thedeposits. It hopes to contain the grossNPA and the net NPA at the currentlevel.

Rural Development

Initiatives

The Bank has Lead Bank responsi-bility in 25 districts across the Coun-try. The Bank is also the Convener ofthe State Level Banker's Committee(SLBC) in Karnataka and the UnionTerritory of Lakshadweep and has dis-charged satisfactorily the responsibil-ity cast on it as the Convener of SLBC.

There are 5 Regional Rural Banks(RRBs) sponsored by our Bank cov-ering 30 districts in 5 States with a net-work of 1,244 branches.

The RRBs sponsored by the Bankoccupy top league among 92 RRBs inthe Country in respect of Key Busi-ness Parameters. The Bank is impart-ing training to unemployed youththrough eight Syndicate Institutes ofRural Entrepreneurship Develop-ment (SIRDs).

These institutes have conducted 206training programmes during the year2007-08, upgrading the skills of 7,095

persons. ❑

P T Kuppuswamy, MD & CEO, Karur Vysya Bank

5 JUNE 8 I 2009

AS A PAN INDIA BANK, BANK OF

MAHARASHTRA IS CATERING TO THE

FINANCIAL NEEDS OF ALL SECTORS

OF THE ECONOMY – AGRICULTURE,

TRADE, INFRASTRUCTURE, EDUCA-

TION, TRANSPORT, INDUSTRY AND

SERVICES INCLUDING ITES, HOSPI-

TALITY, ENTERTAINMENT AND

FINANCIAL SERVICESBank of Maharashtra, a Govern-

ment of India enterprise, had its ori-gin in Pune in 1935; since its inception,the bank has been giving support tothe common man by assisting smallbusiness enterprises, traders and self-employed. The Bank has over 12.5 mil-lion customers and adding on an av-erage 1.5 million new customers everyyear.

BoM has1427 branches in 22 statesand 2 union territories. In its constantendeavour to provide greater cus-tomer convenience and techno-savvyservices, Bank of Maharashtra hasrolled out 798 branches on CBS (CoreBanking Solution) & is providing any-where branch banking through thesebranches. The Bank has 345 ATMs andhas enabled Bio-metric features in 11ATMs, especially for illiterate custom-ers. Funds transfer from the accountmaintained at a CBS branch to thirdparty account at another CBS branchis free. Real Time GrossSettlement (RTGS) and National Elec-tronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) schemesare implemented at 686 branches. TheBank is providing free remittance ser-vices to the customers under RTGS &NEFT.

Performance

Total Income for the Bank increasedby 25.41% to Rs.4791.58 crore as com-

pared to Rs.3820.76 crore during theprevious year. Gross Income washigher by 2.27% for the quarter endedMarch 2009 as compared to the corre-sponding quarter in the previous year.Their Net Profit recorded a rise of14.24%, increasing to Rs.375.16 crorefor the year 2009 from Rs.328.39 crorefor the year ended March 2008; Oper-ating Profit for the year increased by17.97 % up from Rs.672.63 crore forthe FY 2007-08 to Rs.793.52 crore.

Customer Centric

The Bank has implemented “MahaConnect” - Internet Banking, PhoneBanking and SMS Banking with onlineand offline request processing includ-ing funds transfer for its customers.E-payment facility for tax payments hasalso been introduced through Internetbanking.

The Bank believes in the Slogan OneFamily One Bank’. “We want to be abank for every banking need,” saidAllen C A Pereira, CMD, Bank ofMaharashtra. To provide their cus-tomers with techno-savvy products,they have implemented Core BankingSolution, Phone Banking, SMS Bank-ing and Internet Banking which havebeen highly applauded by the custom-ers. Maha-Saraswati Deposit Schemesis for children and youth with the valueadditions including accident Insur-ance.

CSR

The Bank is also fully aware of itsCorporate Social Responsibility andhas always been a contributor towardsagriculture and rural development &promoting entrepreneurship skillsand self dependency. The bank estab-lished Rural Development Centres atHadapsar and Bhigwan. These centresare undertaking various developmen-tal activities for the benefit of thefarmer viz. Lab to Land project, De-

velopment of Saline Soil and provid-ing advice on use of various inputs.

“60 percent of our branches are inrural and semi-urban areas enhanc-ing our lending to micro, small andmedium enterprises because it createsemployment in II-tier cities and thendiversifies our risk in lending. 49,000SHGs are promoted by the bank cur-rently and we intend to carry this toother villages. This year, 2009-10, dur-ing our Platinum Jubilee we will beadopting 75 villages towards total de-velopment,” said Pereira.

The Bank has established a trust viz.Mahabank Agricultural Research andRural Development Foundation(MARDEF) to undertake variousprojects and village improvementprogrammes and farmers’ training.BoM also established Mahabank SelfEmployment Training Institute(MSETI) at Pune, Aurangabad,Nagpur, Nasik and Amravati for pro-viding training to rural youth andwomen. Gramin Mahila Va BalakVikas Mandal (GMVBVM), an NGOformed by the Bank is actively involvedin the nurtur- ing, trainingand link- age of SelfH e l p G r o u p s(SHG) to B a n k

Credit. ❑

Allen C A Pereira, CMD,Bank of Maharashtra

With nearly 2000 Service Unitsspread all over India, the bank alsooperates in two Major InternationalFinancial Centres namely Hongkongand Singapore. The bank also under-takes Foreign Exchange Business inmore than 50 Centres in India and hasForeign Exchange Dealing Operationsat 4 Centres.

Headquartered in Kolkata, theBank has 35 Regional Offices spreadall over India.

History

The very first Board of Directorswas represented by eminent person-alities of the country drawn from allwalks of life, and this all-India charac-ter of the Bank has been assiduouslymaintained till this day not only in thecomposition of its Board but also inthe geographical spread of its 1700odd branches in the country as well asin its overseas centres in Singaporeand Hong Kong.

Having traversed periods of expan-sion and consolidation, the Bank wasnationalized by the Government of In-dia on 19th July 1969 whereupon 100per cent ownership was taken over bythe government in ‘United Commer-cial Bank’.

This historic event brought about asea-change in the entire fabric of thebank’s thinking and activities, commen-surate with the government’s socio-political approach of mass banking asagainst class banking hitherto prac-

tised. Branch expansion started at afast pace, particularly in rural areas.To keep pace with the developing sce-nario and expansion of business, theBank undertook an exercise in orga-nizational restructuring in the year1972. This resulted into more func-tional specialization, decentralizationof administration and emphasis on de-velopment of personnel skill and atti-tude. Side by side, whole hearted com-mitment into the government’s pov-erty alleviation programmes continuedand the convenorship of State LevelBankers’ Committee (SLBC) was en-trusted on the Bank for Orissaand Himachal Pradesh in1983.

The year 1985 openeda new chapter for theBank as the name of theBank changed to UCOBANK by an Act of Par-liament. The customerf r i e n d l y

and socially committed character, how-ever, remained even with this changein name which has, over the years, beenregarded as one of the well known andvibrant banks in the country. Today,with all its inner strengths, UCO Bankhas come a long way to symbolizefriendliness for customers and effi-ciency in its banking business.

Performance

UCO Bank posted a net profit ofRs.558 crore for the fiscal 2008-09compared to Rs.412 crore last fiscal, agrowth of 35.44 percent.

“The domestic operation contrib-uted Rs.466 crore to the net profit andrest came from overseas operations,”S.K. Goel, chairman and managing di-rector of UCO Bank said. The fourthquarter (January-March) of 2008-09

generated a 19.26 percent growthin net profit over correspond-

ing quarter last fiscal. The netprofit for the quarter stoodat Rs.103 crore compared toRs.86 crore the year before.There was a growth of 25.42percent in deposits and 25.24

percent in advances in

2008-09. ❑

THE IDEA OF A TRULY INDIAN BANK WAS FIRST CONCEIVED OF BY G.D BIRLA, THE DOYEN OF INDIAN

INDUSTRIAL RENAISSANCE, AFTER THE HISTORIC “QUIT INDIA” MOVEMENT IN 1942. SOON THIS NASCENT

IDEA CAME INTO REALITY AND, ON THE 6TH OF JANUARY 1943, THE UNITED COMMERCIAL BANK LTD.

WAS BORN WITH ITS REGISTERED HEAD OFFICE AT KOLKATA.

S K Goel, CMD, UCO Bank

6 JUNE 8 I 2009

AMCO Batteries Limited of the Amal-gamations Group is the leading batterymanufacturer with a wide spectrum ofworld class high performance polypropy-lene batteries for the automobileindustry. Amco Batteries Limited wasstarted in 1932 by Becken Bain, a Germannational, and purchased by Amalgam-ations Group in 1955 for Rs. 5 Lakhs; itcommenced operations under the stew-ardship of late K.G. Parameswaran. To-day, AMCO Batteries Limited is an inte-gral part of the over Rs. 5000 Crore Amal-gamations Group, one of the largest LightEngineering Groups in India.

COMPLETING FIFTY YEARS OF EXISTENCE AS A COMPANY, A CONGLOMERATE, AS A PSU, AS A BANK AND STILL SUCCESSFULLY PROVIDING HOPE, LIVELIHOOD AND ECONOMIC STRENGTH TO A COUNTRY,

LENDS THESE ENTITIES A RARE RECOGNITION WHICH IS EQUAL TO AN HONOUR PROVIDED TO A WARRIOR WHO SUSTAINS HARDSHIPS IN TOUGH WEATHER AND BRINGS BACK GLORY AND LIVES TO SEE IT

THROUGH. THE RECESSION HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL. MANY STRONG BRANDS WHICH COMPLETED FIFTY YEARS AND MORE HAVE SHOWN THEIR PERFORMANCE DIP DOWN IN THE Q4 FINANCIALS. BUT THEN THEY

ARE SURE TO SPRING BACK WITH COURAGE, THE SAME THAT SAW THEM THROUGH TOUGH CHALLENGES IN THE PAST. HERE WE FEATURE FEW COMPANIES, WHICH HAVE COMPLETED FIFTY AND STRIDING

AHEAD…LIVING STRONG…THE FOUNDATION BEING CREATED OUT OF STRONG VALUES, FORESIGHT, VISION AND INDIVIDUALS.

Dena Bank was founded on 26th May,1938 by the family of Devkaran Nanjeeunder the name Devkaran Nanjee Bank-ing Company Ltd. It became a Public Ltd.Company in December 1939 and later thename was changed to Dena Bank Ltd. InJuly 1969 Dena Bank Ltd. along with 13other major banks was nationalized and isnow a Public Sector Bank. The Bank hasset a business target of Rs 1.26 lakh croreand is planning to open 400 branches inthe next three years.In the current fiscal,the Bank has set a business target of Rs85,000 crore as against Rs 72,300 crore inthe previous fiscal.

Established in the year 1958, H. & R.Johnson (India) Limited is India’s lead-ing tile, bathroom and kitchen solutionsprovider, offering a wide range of prod-ucts viz. Wall Tiles, Floor Tiles, VitrifiedTiles, Exterior and Industrial Tiles, Pre-mium Sanitaryware, Bathroom Accesso-ries, etc. H & R Johnson is a part of theRajan Raheja Group. For the financialyear 2008-09, the company recorded grosssales revenue of Rs. 1106 crores. Duringthe last 10 years, the company’s sale hasgrown at a CAGR of 17%. The companyhas set itself a target of crossing Rs. 3000crores sales turnover by 2013.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)traces its roots to the efforts of late SethWalchand Hirachand, who set upHindustan Aircraft Limited at Bangalorein association with the erstwhile princelyState of Mysore in December 1940. Today,HAL has 19 Production Units and 9 Re-search and Design Centers in 7 locationsin India. The Company has an impressiveproduct track record - 12 types of aircraftmanufactured with in-house R & D and14 types produced under license. HAL hasmanufactured over 3550 aircraft, 3600 en-gines and overhauled over 8150 aircraftand 27300 engines.

The Industrial Credit and InvestmentCorporation of India Limited (ICICI) wasincorporated in 1955 at the initiative ofthe World Bank, the Government of In-dia and representatives of Indian indus-try, with the objective of creating a devel-opment financial institution for providingmedium-term and long-term project fi-nancing to Indian businesses. Today, theBank is India’s second-largest bank withtotal assets of Rs. 3,793.01 billion at March31, 2009 and profit after tax Rs. 37.58 bil-lion for the year ended March 31, 2009.The Bank has a network of 1,443 branchesand about 4,721 ATMs in India.

Beginning in 1959 as Indian Oil Com-pany Ltd., Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. wasformed in 1964 with the merger of IndianRefineries Ltd. It is the 18th largest petro-leum company in the world. It is India’slargest commercial enterprise, with a salesturnover of Rs. 2,47,479 crore (US $ 61.70billion) and profits of Rs. 6,963 crore (US$ 1.74 billion) for the year 2007-08. TheProfit After Tax was Rs. 6,963 crore. Forthe year 2007-08, the Indian Oil group sold59.29 million tonnes of petroleum prod-ucts, including 1.74 million tonnes of natu-ral gas, and exported 3.33 million tonnesof petroleum products.

ITC was incorporated on August 24,1910 under the name of ‘Imperial TobaccoCompany of India Limited’. Its beginningswere humble. ITC is today one of India’sforemost private sector companies with amarket capitalisation of nearly US $ 19billion and a turnover of over US $ 5.1Billion. For the entire year ending March31, 2009, net turnover at Rs.15,388 crorewas 10.3 per cent higher than the previ-ous year’s Rs.13,947.53 crore, drivenmainly by a robust 20 per cent growth innon-cigarette FMCG business. The netprofit stood at Rs.3,324 crore againstRs.3,157.76 crore in 2007-08.

National Small IndustriesCorporation(NSIC), a public sector orga-nization of GoI, has been engaged in pro-moting, aiding and fostering the growthof micro, small and medium enterprisesin the country since 1955. Over this periodof transition, growth and development,NSIC, through its network of more than75 offices, has been promoting first gen-eration entrepreneurs and helping exist-ing small enterprises in modernization,up-gradation of technology, facilitating fi-nance and marketing support, strength-ening their linkages with large enterprises.