February 14, 2023
Transcript of 65th Annual General Meeting
Siemens Limited
Transcript of 65th Annual General Meeting
Tuesday, 14th February 2023, 4.00 pm (IST) to 5.02 pm (IST)
- Moderator: Good afternoon, dear members and a very warm welcome to the 65th Annual
General Meeting of Siemens Limited through video conferencing. Please note that as per the requirements the proceedings of the annual general meeting is recorded. I now hand over the proceedings to Mr. Deepak Parekh, Chairman, Siemens Limited.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you and your family are safe and in good health. I extend a hearty welcome to all of you to the 65th Annual General Meeting of your
Company conducted through video conferencing. Since the requisite quorum is present, I call this meeting to order. With me present here in the Siemens office in Mumbai are our
Directors, Mr. Sunil Mathur, Dr. Daniel Spindler, Mr. Matthias Rebellius, Mr. Mehernosh
Kapadia, Mr. Shyamak Tata, Mr. Tim Holt and Mr. Willem Rudolf and the Company Secretary,
Ketan Thaker. I welcome Sindhu Gangadharan, Director who is attending through video conference. Also, in attendance are the representatives of the statutory auditor, secretarial auditors and the scrutinizer. On behalf of the Board of Directors and your behalf and on my personal behalf, I welcome Ms. Sindhu Gangadharan and Shyamak Tata to their first AGM of the Company. The Company has received 3 letters of representation in respect of 75% of the paid-up share capital. The registers and other documents are required under the Companies
Act, 2013 are open for inspection through electronic mode. The Company has taken adequate steps and efforts to enable its members to participate and vote on items being considered in this AGM.
- Ms. Anjali Bansal and Mr. Johannes Apitzsch ceased to be Directors of the Company with effect from 1st April 2022 and 1st January 2023, respectively. Ms. Sindhu Gangadharan and
Shyamak Tata have been appointed on the Company's Board of Directors as Independent
Director’s effective 12th May 2022 and 30th January 2023. I hand over the mic to Sunil Mathur.
- Mr. Sunil Mathur – MD & CEO, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Deepak Parekh, second term as an Independent Director of the
Company was up to 29th January 2023. Mr. Parekh, Chairman is appointed as Non-Executive
Non-Independent Director of the Company with effect from 30th January 2023. All the above appointments have been approved by the members via postal ballots conducted in June 2022 and December 2022. I hand it back to you Mr. Chairman.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh - Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you. Mr. Basson has tendered his resignation as director of the Company with effect from 1st May 2023 due to other commitments. The Board of Directors at its meeting held today has approved the appointment of Dr. Juergen Wagner as a Non-Executive Non-
Independent Director would affect from 1st May 2023 or on allotment of Director Identification
Number by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, whichever is later. On behalf of the Company and the board, I would like to place on record our gratitude to
Ms. Anjali Bansal, Mr. Johannes Apitzsch and Mr. Willem Rudolf Basson for their wise council and guidance that they have provided to all of us.
- In accordance with the circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI, the annual report and notice of the 65th Annual General Meeting was sent through e-mail to those members whose e-mail addresses were registered. Since there are no qualifications,
1 observations, or comments on the financial transaction or matters which have any adverse impact on the functioning of the Company in the statutory auditor’s report and the secretarial auditor’s report, the same are not required to be read. Let me now update you on a few key topics. I'm sure you must have read the annual financial statements of the Company for the last financial year. All the major events and developments of the Company during the year are given in detail in the annual report 2022.
- Let me share with you the highlights of the financial performance of last year. The Company received new orders valued at ₹19,422 crores, which is a 43.1% increase. The Company had booked a larger order with approximately ₹900 crore for Pune metro rail line corridor 3 in
Q1 2022. Consequently, new orders grew by 36.5% on a comparable basis. The order backlog as of 30th September 2022 stood at ₹17,183. Sales excluding other operating revenues were ₹14,588, which were up by 18.3%, and profit after tax was ₹1,250 crore up by
19.7%. As you all are aware, the Board of Directors of the Company has recommended a dividend of ₹10 per equity share of the face value of two each for the financial year ended
30th September. On July 1, 2022, the Company sold and transferred its Large Drives
Application business as a growing concern on a slump sale basis to Siemens Large Drives
India Private Limited for a cash consideration of ₹440 crore. During financial year 2022,
Sunsole Renewables Private Limited, Mumbai became an associate company of our
Company. Sunsole would supply green energy for the Company’s Kalwa factory.
- Macro-economy: The financial year 21-22 was a volatile period for the global economy. While it started with optimism, developments on the geopolitical and macroeconomic fronts led to uncertainty. Speculation of a looming recession and slowing growth emerged as a result of inflation, material shortages, supply chain issues and most central banks around the world raising interest rates to rein in the inflation. In such a scenario, the Indian economy remained resilient and continued growing. Business sentiment too was strong as seen has increased domestic demand and consumption aided by both public and private capital expenditure. The central government has been consistent in its policies and measures to maintain higher capital expenditure while also supporting the state governments to follow suit. It is imperative that the core sectors and the small and medium enterprises continue to get capital investments to drive steady all round economic growth.
- Our country's growth story remains intact. The government's commitment to maintain growth by empowering the states to accelerate capital expenditure along with the program such as
Atmanirbhar Bharat, Power for All, digital India, National Logistics Policy, National Rail Plan, and Green Hydrogen Policy to name a few are encouraging for the nation's economy. India is rightly positioning itself to be a high-end manufacturing hub, an incremental capital expenditure is expected to be concentrated on areas where India needs to reduce external dependency on global supply chains. Our long-term growth prospects depend on attracting consistent investments. While private investments are strong, continued public capital expenditure will be crucial. We are well positioned with our technology solutions especially in digitization and sustainability. The Company’s profitable growth would continue to be driven by market momentum combined with strong execution along with the selective participation in large projects.
- Let me now turn to the Q1 of financial year 2023 financial results. The Company registered the revenue from continuing operations of ₹3,596 crore, 17% increase over the same quarter in the preceding year. The new orders from continuing operations stood at ₹5,446, 6% increase over the same period last year. The Company had moved a large order of ₹900 crores for Pune metro rail line 3 corridor in Q1 2022. Consequently, new orders in Q1 grew by
28% on a comparable basis. Profit after tax from continuing operations was at ₹438 crore, an increase of 80% over the same period last year driven by volumes, better price extraction, and positive forex commodity and commodity effects. Last month, the Company signed a contract with Indian Railways to deliver 1,200 electric locomotives of 9000 horsepower over
11 years and provide 35 years of full-service maintenance. The contract has a total value of
₹26,000 crore approximately, excluding taxes and price variation. It is a prestigious project and the single biggest order in the history of your Company.
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- The 9000 HP electric block locomotive is a significant milestone in the rail electrification mission of the Indian Railways and we are proud to build these in India using the latest technology provided by Siemens mobility. This is another step in Siemens strategy of continued localization under Make in India vision of our government to provide integrated, cost effective and sustainable offering to meet the nation's friend and passenger transportation demands. Last but not the least, let me thank all the members of the board for their excellent contribution and support. I wish to place on record our appreciation to all the members of the Company, our employees, our customers, our suppliers and to other stakeholders. Thank you.
- Now, coming back to the businesses to be transacted at this AGM, the Company had provided the remote e-voting facility to all its members to cast their vote on the resolutions forming part of the 65th AGM notice which are: adoption of standalone and consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended 30th September 2022, declaration of dividend of ₹10 per equity share for financial year 21-22, reappointment of Mr. Tim Holt upon retirement by rotation, and revision in the salary package of Mr. Sunil Mathur, MD & CEO and
Dr. Daniel Spindler, ED & CFO, and approval of remuneration to M/s. R. Nanabhoy & Co. our cost auditors for the financial year 22-23.
- I would now like to invite questions from Members who have registered themselves to speak at this meeting. May I request you to be brief and restrict your questions to the matters as set out in the notice of the AGM and the operations of your Company for the last year. As we have many speakers, I would request you to restrict your speech to three minutes each. I will answer your queries with the help of Mr. Sunil Mathur after all Members have asked their questions. I shall now read out the names of the speaker Members. The first speaker is
Dinesh Kotecha. We have a moderator also who will moderate the meeting.
- Moderator:
- Chairman, Mr. Dinesh Amrutlal Kotecha is not present. We can go on to the next speaker shareholder please.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yusuf Yunus Rangwala. Fatima Yunus Rangwala, is she there?
- Moderator:
- Requesting Yusuf Rangwala to unmute please and also Fatima Yunus Rangwala.
- Mr. Yusuf Yunus Rangwala – Shareholder:
- Yes Sir, am I audible? Good afternoon, Sir.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Good afternoon.
- Mr. Yusuf Yunus Rangwala – Shareholder:
- I'm very happy to see your excellent face Sir. Page #5, I’m very happy for our railway order as I’m the shareholder of this Company. you have given the dividend. I want to know what about the new order, because at this time our government budget is very good, which will help us. We are having many orders of Siemens. This shows how working our Company,
Siemens is. I have full support Sir. Our cadre is hardworking “suraj chamakte rahe roshini”, like is our secretary Sir. He is very hardworking Sir. I received the balance sheet also from him. I am very happy. Our balance sheet is around 256 pages. I had not seen such a good balance sheet till now Sir. Sir, if possible next year after Holi, Deepak Sir please keep small get together. I want to meet you Sir. Deepak Sir, wish for your health and wealth is good Sir. I
3 pray to god for your good health Sir. Nothing more to add. I support all the resolutions with full support, I have voted in favor Sir. Thank you very much. Deepak Sir, may god bless our
Company and nothing more to add Sir. I support all the resolutions. Thank you very much,
Sir. Khuda Hafiz. Jai Hind. Jai Maharashtra. Vande Mataram. Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Thank you very much. thank you, Sir.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh - Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you, Yusuf Bhai. Thank you. Is Mrs. Rangwala speaking?
- Mrs. Fatima Yusuf Rangwala – Shareholder:
- Hello, can you hear me? Hello?
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes.
- Mrs. Fatima Yusuf Rangwala – Shareholder:
- Good afternoon to everyone. First of all, I thank the Company Secretary and his team for sending me the AGM copy. Now, I will come to the question.
- Moderator:
- Chairman, we have Bimal Kumar Agarwal who has joined in now.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay. Go ahead, Mr. Agarwal, please go ahead.
- Moderator:
- Due to some technical issues, Mr. Agarwal has also left. We may now go on to the next speaker shareholder please, Chairman.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Aspi Bhesania. Aspi are you there?
- Moderator:
- Mr. Aspi Bhesania is not there. We now go on to the next speaker shareholder.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Manoj Kumar Gupta.
- Moderator:
- Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta has not yet joined in Chairman.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay. We go to Satish Jayantilal Shah.
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- Ms. Lekha Satish Shah – Shareholder:
- Hello.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes.
- Ms. Lekha Satish Shah – Shareholder:
- I’m Mrs. Shah from Mumbai Sir. Respected Chairman Sir
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Who?
- Ms. Lekha Satish Shah – Shareholder:
- Mrs. Lekha Satish Shah.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay. Lekha Satish Shah, speak.
- Ms. Lekha Satish Shah – Shareholder:
- Respected Chairman Sir, Board of Directors, and my fellow members. Good evening to all of you. Myself Lekha Shah from Mumbai. First of all, I'm very much thankful to our Company
Secretary, Ketan Bhai for sending the AGM notice well in time, which is full of knowledge, facts, and figures in place. Thank you, Chairman Sir for explaining as well about the
Company. Sir, I pray to God that he always showers his blessings upon you. Thanks for the dividend Sir. Sir, I would like to ask few questions. My first question is what is the order book in hand in the current year and any new orders received? My second question is what initiative taken by our Company in reducing carbon footprint and other environment regulation? Sir, I strongly and wholeheartedly support all the resolutions for today's meeting and my best wishes always with our Company and its prosperity. Thank you, Sir.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh - Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you. Next speaker is Hutokshi Patel.
- Moderator:
- Chairman, Ms. Hutokshi Patel is not present.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay. Is Bharat Shah there?
- Moderator:
- Chairman, Mr. Bharat Mulchand Shai is also not present.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- What about Smita Bharat Shah?
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- Moderator:
- Chairman, even Ms. Smita Bharat Shah is not present.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay. Kotwani is there? Mr. Kotwani?
- Moderator:
- Mr. Kotwani, yes, he's present. Mr. Kotwani may we request you to unmute please and please go ahead.
- Mr. Kotwani – Shareholder:
- Yes, yes. Am I audible gentleman?
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes, yes, yes.
- Mr. Kotwani – Shareholder:
- Yeah. Sir, it's a great pleasure to join you. I think all our respective person attending this meeting, so as our team and Mr. Deepak Parekh, Company is doing well, little room to criticize, but how is plan to reward the minority shareholders. Your other equity is too high, it is a high time to reward the minority shareholder by right issue at the meager book value price because your capital intensive, so capital is needed, the huge orders, what is the paining game Mr. Chairman, how is the health of our organization and what about this metro, how payment we received from metro operations, how installment they are giving, somewhere throw some light on that and your director report said some three sexual harassment case are reported only to investigation, what type of investigation is still pending and how you deal with them? Is there any law of land is good out of the company for the criminal act, please throw what steps Company is taking in this regard? Certainly, no other things, certainly the future growth and the future - reward is the certainly waited because we trust you, your Company is doing well, you will increase the remuneration, no objection because literally you are doing well, but certainly do increase the tremendous dividend also. There is increase, but is still low and how you are going to reward in the future? Thank you and good luck ahead.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay. Thank you, Mr. Kotwani.
- Moderator:
- Chairman, Mr. Bharat Mulchand Shah has just joined in, may we please allow him in?
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay.
- Moderator:
- Mr. Bharat Mulchand Shah, please go ahead with your question. Request you to please unmute first and go ahead with your question.
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- Mr. Bharat Mulchand Shah – Shareholder:
- Am I audible Sir?
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes, we can hear you.
- Mr. Bharat Mulchand Shah – Shareholder:
- Respected Chairman Sir, MD Sir, and other respected directors, my name is Bharat Shah.
Sir, I’m your shareholder for years. I have no query. The business of the Company is going on very nicely. We are getting the dividend also. Sir, I have one request that you give bonus in the coming year. Now, there is no corona, so please keep physical AGM Sir and we will meet face-to-face. It has been many years that we have met. If possible, please arrange for a factory visit. It has been many years since factory visit. I wish you luck for our Company’s prosperity. I want to thank the Company Secretary, Ketan Bhai Thaker and his full team. I support all the resolutions. thank you very much, Sir. Jai Hind Sir.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you, Mr. Bharat Shah. Dinesh Bhatia. Is Mr. Dinesh Bhatia there?
- Moderator:
- Yes, Dinesh Bhatia is there. May we request Mr. Dinesh Bhatia to please unmute and go ahead with your question.
- Ms. Smita Shah – Shareholder:
- Hello, hello.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes, who?
- Moderator:
- Chairman, actually Ms. Smita Shah has just joined in before Dinesh. So, we'll request her to go first. Ms. Smita Shah please go ahead with your question.
- Ms. Smita Shah – Shareholder:
- Okay, okay. Thank you, Sir. Respected Chairman Sir, Deepak bhai and other respected directors, I’m Smita Shah from Mumbai. Sir, first of all, we received balance sheet in time and
I want to thank our Company Secretary, Mr. Ketan bhai and whole secretarial team for their good service and sending me the physical copy. Sir, our Company is progressing ahead many, many congratulations Sir. Deepak bhai, I wish you good luck for your future. I wish you for this new year also. Sir, I would like to say that now everything is open, your offices are also open, all children are also going to school, so you would have kept a physical AGM as we did not meet face-to-face for three years. Now we are meeting like a picture. So, I request that if this AGM would have been physical, I would feel good as we would have got a chance to meet you face-to-face. So, next year please have a physical AGM as there has become a long distance between us. We support you fully and say thank you.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you, Smita Shah. We go to Mr. Bhatia.
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- Mr. Dinesh Bhatia – Shareholder:
- Hello. Sir, am I audible?
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes, we can hear you.
- Mr. Dinesh Bhatia – Shareholder:
- Okay. Thank you. Firstly, I want to congratulate Chairman and your full team for having excellent results, excellent profit, and our Company is progressing ahead. We are also very happy to be shareholder of such a good company. I want to thank you for giving dividend which was ₹4 per share – sorry ₹8 per share, this time you gave ₹10 per share, this is a good thing. As your income is increasing, you are increasing the dividend also. Secondly, we are seeing, Deepak bhai we have seen all companies where you are in are doing well and we are happy all the work is excellent. We wang to know that our plant that is shown on page 120, it shows that our ₹70 lakhs are there in various cooperative societies respective, which last year.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- which page?
- Mr. Dinesh Bhatia – Shareholder:
- 120. Page #120.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Okay.
- Mr. Dinesh Bhatia – Shareholder:
- In notes below it shows our ₹70 lakhs this year is in various cooperative housing societies respectively is there. Last year you showed ₹100 lakh, so how did ₹30 lakh decrease, Sir? have you sold any land and your investment that is there, in how many housing societies it is there? Are our Directors using these flats? Secondly, the profit on sell of asset on page #135, note #37, profit on sale of assets, so which asset is sold. We have made profit ₹23.2 crore this year, which last year was 2 crores, so which asset have you sold? We are seeing the everything good is happening. I had one suggestion Sir, if you see the rate of our share today that is ₹3,087.40, so our lowest was ₹2,100 and highest was 3,179, so even after such a good rate, if you split our ₹2 share into ₹1, so liquidity will increase in the market, number of shares will also increase, so if possible in next meeting split ₹1 share and it will have no change in our finance structure in EPF APC. Second request I have is, plant on page #59, we have 11 plants in Goa and other places, so if you can arrange a plant visit to Goa or
Vadodara plant for people who are attending this meeting for our information. I support all the resolutions. I want to thank the secretarial department for allowing us to speak. All the best for the prosperity of our Company. Thank you.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you. Mr. Mahadevia.
- Moderator:
- Mr. Shailesh Mahadevia request you to unmute please and go ahead with your question.
Mr. Shailesh Mahadevia you're muted currently.
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- Mr. Shailesh Mahadevia – Shareholder:
- Respected Chairman, Deepak Parekh and the Board of Directors. Sir, let me first congratulate the entire board and the management team for achieving excellent result during the year under consideration. Sir, you have also reported in an excellent report all the details required by a shareholder and this year it also includes the business responsibility and sustainability report, which has been included for the first time. Sir, our CSR work is also excellent, well reported, we have spent about ₹27 crore. Sir, I also appreciate the cooperation from the secretarial department particularly, Mr. Ketan Thaker for his assistance and guidance.
- Now, I wish to put some questions with a view to increase my understanding and appreciation of the good work done by the Company. Sir, my first question is that the number of employees in our Company as on 30th September was 8,317, however, we do not have the details that whether this number is permanent employees or it also includes the contractual employees. If contractual employees are extra, may we know how many contractual employees we are engaging? Further, we don't have the details of male employees and female employees in this data and further how many people have left our organization during the year under consideration. Sir, my next question is regarding capital utilization. You have given in the report that capacity utilization in the Indian economy is around 72% and it may result in further investment by public as well as private sector. Sir, may I know what is capacity utilization of our plants? I understand that we have so many plants and we can't give details of each and every plant, but if you can give us a general idea and coupled with that if we have fully utilized our capacity or substantially, may we know the CapEx program for our next year. Sir, then under the CSR work you have given the details of the various places where we have spent and the result which we have got for the benefit of the society.
However, Sir the expenditure has a multiplier effect and the benefit to the society is much larger than the expense incurred by us. Sir, I would like to know whether social impact study has been made during the year. The social impact is much more larger and if the report which has been given under this head, there is no expense made for the purpose of social impact study. Sir, my suggestion is that we should carry out such a social impact and then only the society will know the comprehensive benefit of our CSR work.
- Sir, my next question is regarding digitalization. So far, we have been reporting what is with the percentage of income with relation to digitalization in the total income? Sir, have we worked out any such detail in the year under consideration that what is the percentage of our income in the field of digitalization. Sir, lastly my question is regarding our potential orders in the railways. You have given an excellent data regarding our order which we have received amounting to about ₹26,000 crore, which is to be executed in the next 11 years. Sir, I believe there is further great potential from this particular source of income in view of government of
India's thrust for Atmanirbhar Bharat and to carry out the real connections in various parts of the country. Sir, with this, I wish our organization success, which has almost become over way of life in the past so many years and Sir before I forget an end, I would like to appreciate that the promoters have decided to retain the services of Mr. Deepak Parekh as a Chairman, who has already given excellent service for about 10 years. I wish the Company all the best in the years to come and I'm speaking from Bangalore at present and here it is very cold and that is why I am wearing sweaters at this place. Thank you very much.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you, Mr. Mahadevia. Next speaker is Humayun Behrouz. Behrouz, are you there?
- Moderator:
- Yes, Sir we have Mrs. Humayun Behrouz.
- Mrs. Humayun Behrouz – Shareholder:
- Can you hear me? Hello?
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- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes, yes, we can hear you ma'am.
- Mrs. Humayun Behrouz – Shareholder:
- Yeah. Mr. Parekh, such a delight to see you again. I'm sure all the shareholders are feeling the same way, I'm also feeling the same way. It’s a real pleasure and delight to meet you.
One feels really happy to meet a personality like you. Now just few questions I have that's all.
One is you mentioned that you had supply chain issues problems which so many auto companies had like any other companies had because of this COVID you know disruption, what they were actually machinery or part or raw material which difficulty you had faced we want to know that. We would like to – because every company had different supply chain issues you know. #2, every year we expect Siemens is famous selling one unit of its or the other. In the past it sold its prime property at Worli, but a dividend doesn't rise correspondingly. If they sell, they should also think and consider a dividend to rise correspondingly. This is a one-time dividend or they said it’s a special dividend, they must think of that.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yeah.
- Mrs. Humayun Behrouz – Shareholder:
- You know, entire dividend should not go in their pockets. #3, what were the losses we faced because of COVID, we would like to know. Sir, we were the essential service that means our plant was functioning, I would like to know, but then again it's difficult to procure all the laborers to work you know to function the plant regularly, thus we should have corresponding orders, you can just throw light on that and of course last but not the least, I thank your secretarial team for cooperating immediately with me and bringing me to the speakers platform, all of them Mr. Vinayak, Mr. Ketan Thaker, we are very much happy with their services to the Company also and those shareholders also. Thank you very much. Wish you all the best because what the Company will achieve, we are the beneficiary. Thank you.
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Thank you. Surekha Shah.
- Moderator:
- Ms. Surekha Shah could you please unmute please. Yes please, ask your question.
- Mr. Sharadkumar Shah – Shareholder:
- Can you hear me, Sir?
- Mr. Deepak Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Limited:
- Yes, we can hear you.
- Mr. Sharadkumar Shah – Shareholder:
- Hi Sir, good evening and very important of this annual report is that share price is increased by 33% in this particular financial year from ₹2,400 to ₹3,200. Another thing Sir, our performance this year is much better, much good, excellent from compared to last four years and another thing that I'm very happy that there was a big news that Siemens received railway order of ₹26,000 crore, which was not in the annual report, but at least in your speech you talked about it. I am very happy about that and once Siemens starts getting orders from
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Railways, I think we will not be short of order and our performance will be good for each and every year. Another thing you talked about Pune Metro, Metro 2B there are only two vendors, one is Siemens and another is who has quoted ₹443 crore, and I feel personally that our chances are much better to get this order. Another thing is Mr. Kotwani raised the issue of rights issue. Company whose share capital, promoters’ share capital is 75% never come with the rights issue and when the Chairman’s age is also above 75, they never come with the rights issue. Please clarify whether I am right or wrong? And another thing is that my issue of
HDFC AMC is still pending because of Covid, if you can do something please do it. About
Siemens I am very happy. And Bharat Bijlee is the 5th largest shareholder of Siemens, that is also a very good point because I am a shareholder of Bharat Bijlee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak, thank you very much, sir.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Thank you. Mr. Monot, Shripal Monot.
- Moderator:
- Chairman, Mr. Shripal Monot is not there, request you to go to the next speaker please.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Mrs. Mascarenhas.
- Moderator:
- Mrs. Celestine Mascarenhas, please unmute and go ahead with your question.
- Mrs. Celestine Mascarenhas – Shareholder:
- Am I audible?
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Yes Maam.
- Mrs. Celestine Mascarenhas – Shareholder:
- Thank you very much. Respected Chairman, members of the board, my fellow shareholders, I am Mrs. C. E. Mascarenhas, I am attending from Mumbai. First of all, I thank the Company
Secretary, Mr. Ketan and his team, especially Mr. Vinayak Deshpande for sending me an e-annual report as well as physical copy. I am very thankful for the business responsibility and sustainability report which is highly interactive, very good, everything is explained very well. I also thank you for registering me as a speaker at my request, thanks to the entire team. A very good annual report and it is so much informative and self explanatory and adhering to all the norms of corporate governance. Working is very good, PBT/PAT up and dividend of 500% that is ₹10 per share is excellent and to add to that flavour - market capitalisation is very good. Sir, I have some queries, have we done or applied for ESG rating, if it is applied then what is our rating score and if it is very good rating like platinum then any plans to list on some ESG platform or exchange.
- Next question, how much margin we are enjoying in our rail business. Third one, this year my
Company has launched Xcelerator, an open and evolving digital business ecosystem. How much of business we have received on this platform and how much margins we are enjoying vis-à-vis for the same. Next question, do we have any additional land which we can monetize and give as one-time dividend, please throw some light on this.
- We have completed 65 years, what is the future roadmap for the next 10 years especially relating to carbon footprint, global warming, climate changes and water management, and most important Aatma Nirbhar Bharat. Sir, this is most concerning me and I need your help, because I have my shares, many share in physical form and they are more than 30-40 years
11 old, and I am getting a lot of hassles in demating them, they are usually returned saying that signatures are differing and I being a banker with all signing all drafts whole day then also, and after giving a cancelled cheque and bank verification they were also returned. It is so much mental agony for us at the age of 70 plus we are really suffering. And we have now less years to live and the government SEBI and whoever is the concerning authorities should be merciful to us, you know. Sir, I require your help in this. See it is really when we have the money but we can’t use our money because all this tossing this side that side, I please request you and your team to do something about this. With this I support all the resolutions. I wish our Company all the best. Mr. Mascarenhas, my husband also wants to say two words.
- Mr. Aloysius Mascarenhas – Shareholder:
- Can I proceed with your permission? Respected sir, distinguished members of the board, and my fellow shareholders, good evening to you all, my name is Aloysius Mascarenhas. I am a fan and well wisher of our Chairman, Shri Deepak Parekh. I never miss a meeting which is conducted by him. He has got a magic touch, wherever he goes the company turns prosperous.
- So, I have only two questions to ask. One is that the railways are the more helped company, favorite company of our government, railways – big budget, Vande Bharat and all. We are in railways so what is our share, how many orders have we got in railways, and in power also. I endorse all the questions that has been raised by my wife and other shareholders, so I would end my speech wishing you personally, all the board members and more importantly all the employees, all the very best in the days and years to come. With this thank you very much.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Mascarenhas, thank you. Next is Ms. Dakwe, Vasudha Dakwe.
- Moderator:
- Ms. Vasudha Dakwe, request you to please unmute.
- Ms. Vasudha Dakwe – Shareholder:
- Can you hear me Sir?
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Yes
- Ms. Vasudha Dakwe – Shareholder:
- Very good afternoon, Chairman sir, board of directors and my fellow shareholders, myself
Vasudha Dakwe. I would like to congratulate our Company Secretary and his team for sending me the soft copy of the report well in advance which itself is clear and transparent. I would like to ask on page no. 35 – foreign exchange earning is less than outgoing, please highlight. One page no. 145 – Siemens - Ukraine-Russian war, what is the impact on our location plant. With this I support all the resolutions, thank you very much, and I wish the
Company all the best for coming financial year. Thank you, sir.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Thank you, ma’am.
- Moderator:
- Chairman sir, Mr. Aspi Bhesania is back again, may we please allow him in for his questions.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Sure, sure. Aspi.
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- Moderator:
- Mr. Aspi Bhesania, please unmute and go ahead.
- Mr. Aspi Bhesania – Shareholder:
- Chairman sir, I am Aspi from Bombay. Sir, I would like to know why are you not holding the physical AGM? Just because the MCA allows you to hold the online meeting you should not go for online meetings only, it is very difficult for shareholders to attend especially when you don't know the speaker number. Most of the companies don't even inform the speaker number. So, it is very difficult as we have to wait from beginning till end. Thank you very much, sir, the Company is doing very well, there is nothing to share. Thank you very much, all the best.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Thank you, Aspi.
- Let me try and answer some of the questions, if any are unanswered, I will hand it over to
Mr. Mathur to answer them. I am not going in any order, but a couple of general points.
- I would like to thank all the shareholders for the interest they have taken and were very happy with our performance, excellent performance that the Company has provided this year and the credit really goes to the staff. And our number two speaker, Mr. Yusufbhai, also said hardworking staff, and he supports all resolutions. He was very happy with the presentation on the balance sheet, so thank you for that. You are also happy about the dividend. Let me tell you about the dividend, we have increased the dividend significantly this year, at 400 to
500% and the pay-out ratio has gone up to 28%. I think some shareholders also happy with the dividend.
- Now I think one or two shareholders, one asked for bonus, one asked for rights issue. Now rights issue is needed when we need capital expenditure, when we need large capital expenditure. Today your Company Siemens India is sitting on cash resources. It is the cash resources that is bringing our ROE down and we have to find ways and means of utilizing our cash resources, and the massive railway contract we just got we hope we can spend some of the surplus money. So, there is no need of any additional resources. So the question of rights issue is too premature unless we buy some large company or there is some acquisition or something. So, at the moment I think right issues is not an option.
- Again, on the bonus let me say that one of the shareholders asked for bonus, all the board members are present, they have heard your request, they have heard your demand, we will see at the next meeting what we can decide, what we can do. It is a very volatile world because of what is happening around the world, India may be resilient India may be doing well but we have look at the global situation and then take a call.
- Ketan Thaker and the entire share team has been complimented like every year, so we thank
Ketan and his team for the excellent service provided to our shareholders.
- Next is order book, I mentioned in my opening remarks that the order book is ₹17,100 crore and something is the pending order book – ₹17,183 crore.
- Some people asked about employees – 8,317 employees are there, out of that let me tell you how many are permanent, 8,074 are permanent, 243 are contractual, 7,488 are male, 829 are female. People who have left the organization is 777. This gives us an attrition rate of 9.48%.
- Capacity utilization of our factories have gone up to 79%. Last year it was 72%.
- Social impact, I think Mr. Mahadevia asked, we will have a look at it. The legal requirement of the CSR is that when a company spends more than a crore on a single project then it is mandatory for the company to do impact assessment. So, we will have a look if we have not done any. No expense has been made during the year on social impact study.
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- Let me go back to my questions here. Order book I mentioned.
- Carbon footprint, now we have given some deadlines within the Company to comply with the country’s regulation on carbon footprint because as you know as a country we have said that we will be compliant by 2030 and something by 2050, so we have to follow what the country
India is doing and India has accepted this commitment, India has given this commitment to the global community.
- We have an internal complaints committee which is a formal process to handle all POSH cases as per the defined framework.
- Someone wanted to know the metro project, the metro project is the Pune-Hinjewadi project which we are doing in collaboration with Tatas, where we have got an advance of 10%.
Regular invoicing is being done as and when the progress is made, and 80% will come like that during the progress of the construction of the metro, and last 10% is the retention amount.
- Rights issue, metro Pune Hinjewadi.
- I think a dozen of you wanted a physical meeting. This year the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has permitted a virtual meeting. We have heard your comments, we have heard your requests, we will look at it next year. Don't forget that China has just opened up post Covid and there is a fear everywhere that there could be another Covid attack, so it was safer this year to do a virtual meeting. We will have a look at it in the next year.
- Good performance, congratulations, balance sheet received on time, good results, good dividend.
- Profit on housing, you see the shares of the housing society have come down because we have disposed off a few flats and therefore equity shares in the housing society has come down and that is the profit we have shown in other income, profit on sale of real estate.
- Site visit to Goa or Baroda - I think there was a request for that and we will look at it.
- Someone wanted a split - I think it is too premature to do a split at this stage.
- Yes, Mr. Mahadevia, this was the first year we gave a copy of BRSR – Business
Responsibility and Sustainability Report. You were happy with the CSR, but you wanted to know about the social impact assessment. Attrition I told you it is 9.48%. 79% was capacity utilisation. Year’s capex was about ₹140 crore.
- Digitization - you can take that.
- Supply chain issues, I think everyone had supply chain issues until China had a complete lockdown and things have improved for Indian industries and slowly they are getting back to normalcy.
- Special dividends - someone wanted a special dividend we have given 500% dividend, how much special dividend you want. We have to reserve some money within the Company.
- ESG rating, Mr. Mahadevia we have not applied for, we will look at it.
- Margin in railway business is modest, it is not very high but it is medium return.
- Land, yes, we have land, we have a number of factories and we have to see which factory, we have also inherited 11 factories when we acquired C&S Electric and we are examining how many of these 11 factories can be combined and consolidated, that work is in progress.
- So, it is low to medium single digit margin for the railway business but it is a very prestigious contract which we have got from the Indian Railways, and it is a beginning and it is a big contract as you know of ₹26,000 crore. And it will help India in freight and in passenger
14 getting modern locomotives. These locomotives will be built in the railway factory, railway yard.
- Sunil, you want to answer anything? I think I answered most of it. Matthias, you want to speak?
- Management:
- No.
- Mr. Deepak S. Parekh – Chairman, Siemens Ltd:
- Okay. So, to facilitate the members who could not cast their votes through remote e-voting the Company has offered the facility of e-voting during this meeting and it shall continue for the next 30 minutes. The Company has appointed P.N. Parikh, Practising Company Secretary as scrutinizer for scrutinizing the votes cast by e-voting in a fair and transparent manner. I have authorized Ketan Thaker, Company Secretary, to receive and declare the results of the voting along with the scrutinizer’s report, intimate the same to the stock exchanges and place the same on the website of the Company. The resolutions that are set forth in the notice shall be deemed to be passed today subject to receipt of requisite number of votes.
- With your permission I call this meeting to an end, stay well and thank you for attending.
End of transcript
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