Be passionate about the business you do and keep challenging yourself.
Salil Singhal
Chairman Emeritus
Special Achievement Awards
Salil Singhal
Chairman Emeritus
Born in 1946 in the illustrious Singhal Family of Allahabad, Salil Singhal completed his education from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai before joining his father, a first-generation entrepreneur, in year 1965 to help grow their family business in Udaipur (Rajasthan); a public listed company now known as PI Industries Ltd.
Having lost his father at an early age and being the eldest of his sibling, Salil took upon himself to lead the family business and also guide and support his siblings in establishing other business ventures of the group in Mining, Mineral Processing, Energy Metering, etc. From a humble beginning, today these group companies have achieved leadership positions in respective business areas, not only in India but at global scale and doing business in more than 50 countries and employing over 10000 people. The group enjoys an excellent reputation for its transparent and ethical business dealings.
Apart from building successful companies, Salil actively contributed in formulation of Govt. policies and regulatory framework in the areas of Agriculture, Agrochemicals and Environment Protection throughout his working career. He was the Chairman of Pesticides Association of India for 20 long years before being elected as Chairman Emeritus for life. He was also the Chairman of FICCI’s Environment Committee for several years and played significant roles at CII National Council in the areas of policy formation and advocacy on Agriculture, MSME, Innovation, Corporate Governance, etc.
Salil is currently Chairman Emeritus at PI and non-executive Chairman at Secure Meters Ltd and Wolkem India Ltd, other two group companies. He is also an Independent Director on the Boards of several other companies like Usha Martin Ltd, Somany Ceramics Ltd, Mahindra World City, Lake Palace Hotel, etc.
PI Industries Ltd (PI), Group’s flagship company, is one of the fastest growing Agri Sciences company with a unique business model across the value chain of agrochemicals from Research to Manufacturing to Marketing and Distribution. With over US$ 2.30 billion market cap, this listed company has delivered consistent performance over last 10 years.
Secure Meters Ltd, the other group company began its journey in 1987. After licensing metering technology from the UK, it pioneered energy metering business in India to curb the menace of electricity theft in India at that time. Today, it is the largest metering company having diversified into electricity management systems, and its business has grown many fold, is spread over 50 countries and driven by its innovative products and services.
Wolkem India Ltd, is in mining and mineral processing is world’s largest miner and producer of Wollastonite mineral. It is also the largest miner of Calcite and various other industrial minerals having operations in 4 countries and exports to more than 20 countries.
Salil played a significant role in the growth journey of all these companies from business development, building pan India marketing network, exclusive technology / product tie ups with global MNCs, etc in the initial phase and then being the face of these companies to nurture / mentor leadership, ensure strong corporate governance and guide executive management in setting right vision and mission for long term sustainable growth of the group companies.
All group companies are leading and well-respected brands in their industry segments and are admired for their distinct business models, highly reliable and straight forward dealings and respect for Intellectual Property. All the group companies have won numerous national and international awards in the areas of Innovation, Sustainability, Safety, Environment Protection, Green chemistry, Quality Management, CSR, etc.
PI Industries Ltd.
Chemical & Plastic Industry
5Th Floor, Vipul Square, B Block,Sushant Lok,
Phase – 1, Gurgaon-122009.
Tel: +91-12-46790000
www.piindustries.com
Company Milestone
1965
- Joined father to drive family business of agrochemical.
1972
- Diversified Mining and mineral business and established a separate company.
1993
- Setting up a world class manufacturing unit for energy meters in Udaipur.
1996
- Diversified into CRAMs business and signed a large contract with Japanese partner.
2000
- Setting up of world class R&D centre in Udaipur.
2014
- Winner of Entrepreneur of the Year – Life Sciences Award by Ernst & Young.
2018
- “Leadership for Business Transformation” Award given by KPMG at the Horasis Conf in Malaga.
- Lifetime Achievement Award (Rajasthan Ratna) by CNBC Awaaz.
Future Plans
Salil’s long term vision about the group companies is to retain leadership position in the businesses they operate and achieve sustainable profitable growth on the back of creating own IP and exclusive capabilities in the high technology, niche and knowledge space. He has laid the principle that the first priority of every business is to protect and enhance Its Corporate reputation.
All the group companies have significant visibility of long-term organic growth and also working on identifying in-organic growth options to sustain high growth momentum.
Salil strongly believes that long-term sustainability of the businesses cannot be achieved without finding disruptive ways of constantly enhancing value delivery to the customer, setting new benchmarks of corporate governance and turning organization into institutions where professionals passionately chase common goals and become part of corporate growth. Hence, as the mentor of the group companies, Salil’s focus is more on guiding and mentoring the team leaders of the business to pursue excellence.
Having successfully implemented the leadership succession at all the group companies, Salil now intends to allocate more time for philanthropic activities through the Foundation and also play more active role in industry bodies for policy framework in the areas of significant importance. His lifetime learnings to share with young and aspiring entrepreneurs is: Be passionate about the business you do and keep challenging yourself, build a team of smarter people as no one can succeed in business alone and embrace risk which is essential for growth. And more importantly do business ethically and with integrity.