Thermax May Become Predominantly A Global Supplier By FY19, Says MD Unnikrishnan
Thermax’s Unnikrishnan is more positive on capital goods sector than before. Here’s why.
Engineering solutions provider Thermax Ltd. may get majority of its orders from foreign companies rather than domestic firms in the next 18 to 24 months, its Managing Director M S Unnikrishnan told BloombergQuint.
Over the last year, the Pune-based company received 49 percent of its projects from overseas, while 51 percent came from India. The scale should lean towards foreign orders, making Thermax predominantly a global supplier, he said in a telephone interview.
The shift from domestic to global will also provide an opportunity to improve the company's margins. Thermax, however, is more focused on improving the company's topline while maintaining margin, Unnikrishnan said.
After a slowdown in investment and orders in the capital goods sector in the last three-four years, the industry is now seeing some green shoots, that too from the non-traditional sectors. For example, Thermax is seeing investment “opening up” from the fertiliser sector which has been in a “non-investing mood” since the last eight years, Unnikrishnan said.
The sentiment towards the steel industry may also improve, Unnikrishnan said, as balance sheets turn from “red to green”, prices start firming up and worries regarding their bad loans start getting taken care of.
“These are the items making me feel more positive compared to the shrouded feeling all of us had that ‘what the hell is going to happen to this company’,” he said.