Sajjan was established as a textiles business in 1905, but has diversified a great deal over the years. How has the company developed to become a leading contract manufacturer?

Sajjan began in the jute business in Kolkata and its textile business began in 1957 with the acquisition of a large textile building in central India. The company’s first chemical unit was set up in 1974 to manufacture chemicals for import substitution. As the Indian chemical industry was in its infant stage at that time, Sajjan began introducing key dyestuff intermediates to supply to local emerging dyestuff producers. In the 1980s, an opportunity arose to start exporting to USSR, which became a lucrative bulk business for Sajjan and continued to be so for a decade.

Simultaneously, the Indian currency was revalued in 1985 and a slow depreciation started, increasing competitiveness of many Indian products in the more developed markets of the United States and Europe. This is when Sajjan gained its initial break with German companies and thereafter, with companies in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and other parts of the world. In the late 1990s, the company diversified into other specialty chemicals and the range of products continued to increase until today. We diversified into intermediates for agrochemicals, Electronic chemicals and other specialty chemicals. Sajjan has many confidentiality agreements with Western and Japanese companies that include technology transfer, exclusivity and buy-back arrangements. As the dyestuff industry shifted somewhat from Europe to other parts of Asia, some of the products Sajjan supplies to German companies are now being consumed in India. Aside from selling in India, 90% of Sajjan's sales come from exports. Europe remains the single largest market for Sajjan, particularly Germany and Switzerland, followed by Japan and the United States. Other important markets for us are South America, Southeast Asia, United Kingdom and France.

Could you elaborate on Sajjan’s infrastructure and R&D capabilities?

Our state-of-art production facility is located in Ankleshwar (Gujarat) on 75,000 m² of land and consists of four main plants. We have expertise in large scale production of active ingredients (Agro), electronic chemicals, specialty chemicals and intermediates having application in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and dyestuff. We follow the highest standards of cross contamination prevention policies in our plants. They are fully integrated having a wide range of reactors, distillation columns and closed filtration and drying systems.

Our production is supported by a very well equipped R&D setup, which consists of over 50 scientists and PhD graduates working around the clock, seven days a week. We have one team of scientists who dedicatedly work on cost improvements through increasing the productivity, increasing yield and reduction of waste water. Other scientists are constantly working on developing new chemistries. One of our strengths is fast product development, sometimes completing a development cycle within a week, which has managed to amaze many multinationals as well.

Have there been any trends in demand for Sajjan's services?

With the sudden strict implementation of environmental regulations in China around 17,000 Chinese companies have been shut down with many more closures in the pipeline. This has led to a lot of disruption in the worldwide supply chain. It will be a big game-changer and rightly bring more sanity to product prices. This change has already resulted in good opportunities for Sajjan and will bring significant others in the immediate future.

Have you noticed any changes in the Indian policy framework to make the environment more supportive to Indian manufacturers?

The Make in India campaign is a serious attempt towards supporting Indian companies. Initial hiccups are to be expected, and the current adverse reactions are more based on vested interests than fundamentals. GST is also a great idea which will greatly decrease costs including initial investment. These initiatives will make India's manufacturing and cost base more dynamic.

What sets Sajjan apart from its competitors and makes it the partner of choice to its customers?

Aside from quality and cost, trust plays a big part in our relationships with our customers. Over 30 years of exposure to foreign markets helps us in generating new opportunities. As intellectual property and patented processes are of great concern to customers, our long-term association with multinationals gives us an edge over many other companies. Customers are assured by our reputation that no intentional leakages or other unethical practices will occur when confidentiality agreements and technology transfers are established. We have not had any litigation or informal disputes occur with any customers to date.

Another differentiator is our environmental friendliness. We have even discarded some products that were producing unmanageable amounts of waste. We have been awarded by the Gujarat government for being one of the top companies for environmental compliance and waste-reducing innovation. Another of Sajjan’s strengths is the complex chemistry it has developed and fine-tuned over the years. Some critical key reactions cannot be found at any other companies or only at very few. Another attraction is our strong financial base as a zero-debt company. Although we have many credit lines, our working capital and plant capital are our own, which is a rare accomplishment for any company.

-What are the key objectives for the company going forward?

Sajjan plans to continue with its contract manufacturing offering. The mega consolidation occurring in the world forces companies to divest parts of their businesses, which in turn opens the door for outsourcing and generates opportunities for us. We are trying to consolidate our customer base, preferring to grow with our existing partners, and we hope to gain more customers by word of mouth in Japan, Germany and the United States.