Thermax

Thermax Limited

Type	Public company
Traded as	BSE: 500411 NSE: THERMAX
Industry	Energy, Environment and Chemical
Founded	1980
Headquarters	Pune, India
Area served	Worldwide (75 countries)
Key people	Meher Pudumjee (Chairperson) M.S.Unnikrishnan (MD)
Products	Integrated products in the areas of heating, cooling, power, water and waste management, air pollution control and chemicals.
Revenue	₹55.02 billion (US$770 million) (2016)[1]
Operating income	₹3.89 billion (US$54 million) (2016)[1]
Net income	₹2.75 billion (US$38 million) (2016)[1]
Total assets	₹62.36 billion (US$870 million) (2016)[1]
Total equity	₹23.55 billion (US$330 million) (2016)[1]
Website

Thermax Limited, (BSE: 500411, NSE: THERMAX) an engineering company involved in energy and environment.

Thermax was founded as a family concern in 1966 by A.S. Bhathena and later taken over by his son in law, Rohinton Aga (R.D. Aga )who served as the chairman and managing director. The company went public in 1995. After the death of R.D. Aga in 1996, his wife Anu Aga who was heading HR at the time became the chairperson.

Anu Aga was the chairperson of the company from 1996 to 2004, till she handed over the reins to her daughter, Meher Pudumjee^[2] In 2007 Anu was part of 40 Richest Indians by net worth according to Forbes magazine,^[3][4]

M.S. Unnikrishnan is currently the MD and CEO of the company.

History

Thermax came into being by harnessing the power of steam, produced by boilers.The company first started with producing small,once through,baby boilers to cater steam required at that time by the hospitals.Thus, the business was established in 1966. It was also the year A.S. Bhathena (father of former chairperson Anu Aga) collaborated with a Belgian company, Wanson, to commence business operation as Wanson India Ltd., manufacturing small boilers at a unit in Dadar, Mumbai . The company was renamed Thermax Limited in 1980.^[5]

In the ’70s Thermax introduced Vaporax boilers that generated instant steam. The oil shock in the same decade saw Thermax introducing Multitherm - a boiler that led the shift of Indian industrial market to solid fuel fired boilers. The company went on to build water treatment systems for boilers, chemicals to support them, and then air pollution control to contain boiler emissions. The company emerged in 1981 as Thermax Pvt. Limited.

In the 80s and 90s, Thermax branched off into waste heat recovery, absorption cooling and power generation. It went public in 1995.

Thermax played a key role in the country’s energy shifts – from oil to coal and biomass. To waste heat, solar and other forms of clean energy.In 1987 it started making vapour absorption machines, in collaboration with Sanyo of Japan. It formed a joint venture in 1988 with North Carolina-based Babcock & Wilcox, who make boilers, to make steam generation units for heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs).^[6] In 1992 it formed its Combined Heat and Power Group.

On 15 February 1995 it became a public company on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

In 2009, it signed a 51–49 joint venture with US firm SPX Corporation to provide equipment and services for Indian^[7] power sector.^[8]

In 2010, it signed a joint venture agreement with US-based Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) to manufacture super-critical boilers for the power sector.

In 2010, Thermax also acquired European boiler manufacturer, Danstroker A/S, and its German subsidiary, Omnical Kessel for Euro 29.5M.^[9]

In 2017, Thermax acquired Polish boiler manufacturer,Weiss Sp. z.o.o. in Poland.

Manufacturing plants

The company has an R&D setup, involved in technology development and adaptation for various applications. Over the years, the company has formed technology partnerships with Babcock & Wilcox, USA (for supercritical boilers), SPX Corporation, USA (energy efficiency systems), Lambion Energy Solutions, Germany (combustion systems to generate energy from waste), Georgia Pacific, USA (for paper chemicals and specialty products) and Marsulex Environment Technologies, USA (air pollution control systems). Over the years, Thermax spread its operations to markets across the world. It has a sales and service network spanning 22 countries around the world. The company has also focused on growth through strategic acquisitions – Danstoker and Boilerworks in Denmark, Weiss in Poland (boilers and waste heat recovery systems), and Rifox in Germany (steam accessories).

Structure

Its three main segments are :^[10]

• Energy - Heating, Cooling, Power generation, Renewable energy
• Environment - Air pollution control, Waste and waste water treatment
• Chemical

Energy segment products

Environment segment products

Chemical segment products

• ion Exchange resins
• Water & fuel treatment chemicals
• Oil field chemicals
• Paper & pulp chemicals
• Construction chemicals

See also

• List of conglomerates in Maharashtra
• List of boiler types, by manufacturer

References

• Thermax Ltd. at NDTV Profit