THE ESSAR GROUP

Company Background
The Essar Group comprises of various companies operating in seven business sectors - steel, power, shipping, oil and gas, telecom and BPO, construction, and other diversified areas. Shashi Ruia currently heads the group. The group has a strong team of 15,000 professionals working across its group companies. It generated revenues of approximately US$ 2.2 billion in FY 2005-06.

presence and augment its capabilities. It has formed a joint venture with Qatar-based Qasco to build a 4 million ton capacity steel plant with an investment of US$ 1.25 billion.The group has also invested approximately US$ 1.2 billion in a steel plant in Trinidad and Tobago to expand its production capacity and utilise new technology.

Essar Group in the United States of America

Mode of Operation The Essar Group operates in the USA through its sales and marketing offices.The company also provides tele-services and other business process outsourcing services through its subsidiary - Aegis Communication Inc. Overview The company has a 4,100-strong workforce. The group generated revenues exceeding US$ 110

Global Footprint of the Essar Group

The Essar Group has its presence spread across the globe, in countries such as India, Qatar, Cyprus, the USA, the UK, Middle-East, Singapore and China. The group has also forged alliances with various companies across diverse fields to gain market
Industry Domain Steel Oil and Gas Power Shipping and Logistics Company Details

Telecommunication and Technology Industrial Construction and Engineering

The group operates in this domain through Essar Steel Limited. It is an integrated steel manufacturer with an annual production capacity of 4.6 million tonnes. Essar Oil Limited is an oil company involved in exploration, production, refining and retailing of petroleum products. The Essar group operates in the Power sector through Essar Power Limited. It is a power generation company with a capacity of approximately 1000 MW. Essar Shipping and Logistics Limited is among the leading sea logistics solutions providers in the world. It has four different companies to support its operations Vadinar Oil Terminal Limited, Essar Logistics Limited, Essar Shipping Limited, and Essar Oilfields Services Limited. The group operates in this domain through Hutchison, which is a joint venture with leading cellular service provider, Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong. It also provides BPO services to its various clients through Aegis Communications. Essar Global Limited is among the leading engineering, procurement and construction specialists in India.

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million in 2006. Currently, the group provides high quality, reliable and cost effective products and services to its clients.The group has been actively involved in developing strong relationships with its clients.The following Essar Group companies are present in the USA: Essar Steel Essar Shipping Ltd. Essar BPO Essar Steel Essar Steel operates in the USA through a sales and marketing office.The company provides international quality API graded steel with low sulphur content. It provides various products to different industry segments such as automobiles, roofing, oil and gas, shipbuilding, fabrication and white goods.The company has built its sales network in the USA, China, Indonesia and the UAE. It markets approximately one-third of its production in international markets such as Europe, the Americas, South-East Asia, and the Middle East. The company has established a high degree of integration for its products. It has recognised the benefits of backward and forward integration and implemented these in its business model. Essar Shipping Limited Essar Shipping operates in the USA through its marketing ventures.The company is among the leading sea-logistics companies in the world. It provides transportation solutions to global energy companies. Its main clients are major oil companies present in the USA, Europe, and India.The company has established strategic relations with major global oil companies and its oil tankers have been chartered to international oil majors such as Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Statoil, Ultramar Inc., BP Amoco and Texaco. The company has been able to provide world-class services as it has incorporated quality standards such as ISO 9002:1994, ISO 9001:2000 in its

Revenues of Essar Shipping Ltd from the United States of America

25 20

20 17 11 10 4

US$ million

15 10 5 0

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year
Source: Reuters Knowledge

services business model. It has also received USCoast Guard's AMVER award for high maritime safety standards.The company has been recognized for its adherence to international quality standards, which helps it in providing quality service. Essar BPO (Aegis Communication Group Inc.) The company operates in the USA through its group company - Aegis Communications Group Inc. The Essar group entered the BPO space in 2002-2003, through a 40 per cent stake in Aegis Communications Group Inc.The Essar Group along with Aegis Management, since the initial investment, has successfully transformed the company into a Top-Tier player.The Essar Group has increased its holding to 100 per cent and taken the company private as on November 2006. During this transformation, the Essar Group has approached the business from the point of view of having a Global Delivery model that offers right shoring solutions suited to customer requirements. Through this approach it has been able to serve clients well by providing quality services in the US. The company has in the past 18 months successfully implemented the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform supported by a cuttingedge communications network.This has enabled Aegis to offer its clients, the advantage of scaling quickly through a virtual agent network of 4,100

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associates across nine centers in the US and 4,500 agents across ten centers in India. In addition, the company's US and India operations have leveraged this technology and six sigma quality standard to develop a rapid deployment of off-shoring process, delivering benefits of savings and quality standards to its clients. The company provides inbound and outbound telesevices and telesales support to a number of Fortune-500 companies.The company serves clients in telecom, retail, financial services, energy, education and logistics sectors through a gamut of voice, non-voice, back office and transaction processing services.The company has recently concluded the acquistion of a receivables management platform.This will enable it to offer a full suite of customer experience management services. Significantly, the company's revenues are in excess of US$ 110 million from its BPO operations.

infrastructure, sales and marketing network, and business processes. It has undertaken backward and forward integration in business to gain cost competitiveness and market advantage. Quality Focus The various companies under the aegis of the Essar Group have esteemed quality certifications such as ISO 9001:2000, 9002:1994, etc. to their credit These certifications ensure that the products and services maintain international standard quality. Adherence to quality has also improved the brand visibility of the company, which in turn has led to increase in business.

Future Plans
The group has undertaken an expansion strategy for its BPO operations. It plans to double its operational capacity from 7,000 to 14,000 employees in the next two years. It plans to add 2,000 employees to its American BPO operations. Apart from organic growth, the group has plans to increase its presence in the US market through the inorganic route, particularly focusing on small and medium companies. The group has undertaken restructuring of its businesses.This will enable the group to improve its business options and increase shareholder value. The group has re-focused on its drilling business and plans to increase its operational excellence in this domain.The group has purchased a semisubmersible rig for US$ 220 million.This will assist it to be among the leading companies in the contract drilling sector. Further, it also plans to improve its operational optimisation so as to increase its production capacity as well as gain competitive edge.The group plans to aggressively develop its disaster recovery site for its voice over internet protocol technology and gain sizeable business.

Success Factors
Research-Led Innovation in Business The focus on innovation has assisted the company in the development of creative products and solutions.The company continuously focuses on building its domain knowledge and utilising it to deliver technology-enabled products and services. The use of technology has also helped the company in gaining business from its customers and creating a brand for itself.The Group has carved a niche for itself through investments in delivering cutting-edge technology solutions to clients. Cost Advantage The Essar Group provides cutting-edge technology solutions to its clients. It provides high quality, reliable, and cost effective products and services to its global clients.The group is able to provide technology-enabled products and services at a lower cost because of its well-established

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