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solid by-products produced at the site, but also produces several in Soda Ash/Energy Business Unit. The modified sodium bicarbonate
grades of high quality cement with strong customer acceptance in at Winnington has performed reliably, enabling strong and reliable
its target markets. customer service delivery and growth during the year. British Salt
Limited’s salt business delivered good volume and production with
The cement business registered an improved performance this
year over the previous year benefitting both from an improved good efficiencies and continued its strong market share throughout
the year.
market scenario and success of initiatives launched last year related
to rigorous quality focus and customer connect programs in the For Tata Chemicals Magadi Limited (‘TCML’), soda ash dominated the
Company’s target sales regions of Gujarat. product portfolio with the main destination being in the container
glass and silicate sectors. Salt, Crushed Refined Soda (‘CRS’) and
Business Performance
by-products formed the rest of TCML’s product portfolio. The
India Chemical Operations (‘ICO’) delivered another year of strong Magadi operation has stabilised the Soda Ash Magadi (‘SAM’) plant
performance in a mixed business environment marked by good performance, which continues to be the lifeline for TCML turnaround.
demand growth on one hand along with significant increase in input Going forward, TCML will focus on SAM production by ensuring
energy costs and competitive pressures on the other. The Company consistent quality and efficient operations resulting in higher volumes.
executed its operational excellence initiatives with rigour leading to Integrated Report
significant cost optimisation across all functions. Outlook for Business
Despite short-term challenges related to high energy costs, significant
The Company targets a “Zero Harm” policy related to the safety of its
people and plant assets. After demonstrating a good safety track- domestic and global capacity addition, the Company is optimistic
record in the first half of FY 2017-18, Mithapur site witnessed 2 fatalities about the long-term prospects of this business. The Company remains
committed to strengthen and leverage its leadership position. The
in the second half of FY 2017-18 related to on-site road safety. This has
led to even greater focus on behavioural safety and related training Company actively manages its energy cost exposure through Risk
programs along with review of Process Safety Risk Management Management processes.
implementation to ensure targeted safety performance. The Indian soda ash demand is expected to continue to grow at its
long-term growth rate of ~5% p.a. over the next few years. Most of
On the sustainability front, the Company aims to go beyond
compliance requirements to setting the industry agenda in initiatives this demand growth is expected to be serviced by planned increase in
related to the environment and local community engagement. domestic capacity, including ~0.5 million tonnes p.a. of new capacity
coming online in FY 2018-19.
Zero ground water withdrawal, 100% fly ash utilisation, filtration
and usage of soda ash solids to minimise solid waste and focused The outlook for TCNA remains positive with soda ash manufacturing
bio-diversity preservation programs indicate TCL’s commitment continuing to remain sold out. Aggressive pricing from competitors, Statutory Reports
to the environment. As part of the Company’s local community increased global capacity and strengthened US dollar can impact
engagement, TCL continues to offer a multitude of skill development domestic pricing. TCNA’s continued efforts and emphasis will be
and self-employment generation programs. to stabilise the cost base through a three pillar approach that
encompasses Zero Harm, Operational Excellence and Sustainable
During the year, Tata Chemicals India continued to focus on
throughput optimisation of all key products within the prevailing Growth. The Company continues to focus on sustaining and
operational constraints and achieved cost control across all functions. improving its safety performance. The safety performance at TCNA
This, coupled with marginally better price realisation for most of the has improved significantly in the calendar year 2017 with significant
reduction in reportable incidents compared to the previous 2 years.
key products in TCL portfolio in line with market conditions, led to
improved financial performance despite significant rise in the energy UK operations plan to build on the strong base of FY 2016-17 and
costs. The year witnessed the highest ever production and sale of FY 2017-18, recognising that it is up against increasingly strong
bicarbonate including the launch of “Medikarb”, TCL’s pharmaceutical headwinds of higher inflation, increased raw material commodity
grade bicarbonate, along with an overall increase in share of branded pricing and greater competition on soda ash and, to some extent, salt
bicarbonate. Other performance highlights included record sales product ranges. The drive to increase sales at the sodium bicarbonate
of bromine with ~97% volumes shipped in ISO tankers and ~60% plants at Winnington and Lostock will continue. TCEL will move into
increase in bulk movement of soda ash. Finally, in line with the goal a major project development and construction phase in FY 2018-19
of increased customer proximity and ease of doing business; the including the areas of packing/logistics and energy plant efficiency. Financial Statements
Company has launched online “ChemConnect”, a platform welcomed
For TCML, soda ash demand is expected to remain favourable in
and widely adopted by its channel customers to enable seamless
management of the sales ordering and related processes. FY 2018-19. Competitiveness will be defined by price and quality
which means strategic market mixes will determine gains for TCML.
Tata Chemicals North America (‘TCNA’) sales volumes increased during TCML’s focus will be on markets with best returns.
the year in both North America and export markets as the reliability
of production returned along with a strong demand for soda ash in New Product Development and value added products for the animal
the export markets. Export sales improved due to a sharp reduction in industry shall remain the main focus for the TCML’s salt business. During
exports from China in 2017. The impact on net revenue of the higher the fourth quarter of FY 2017-18, investments on advertisements in
sales volume were partially offset by adverse sales mix and pricing. local vernacular radio stations targeting the high consumption areas
was done with an objective to accelerate volumes for Fortified salt in
For Tata Chemicals Europe (‘TCE’), plant operation at Lostock was the FY 2018-19.
affected by fire in May 2017, but operated throughout with good
efficiencies thereafter. The associated energy business had an CRS growth shall be driven by the Silicate sector in Kenya, Mining in
outstanding year despite loss of a Gas Turbine spare in January 2018, South Africa and trading in the Middle East. Product development
generating strong income and contributing to very positive outcome continues in this sector since CRS has demonstrated potential for

Management Discussion and Analysis 95