Information Technology Initiatives

Our Company implemented SAP S/4 HANA in FY 2021-22 at the Steel Plant Division and in FY 2023-24 at the Castings Division. Business process re-engineering adopted in SAP implementation ensured an increase in the efficiency of manufacturing processes, revolutionizing the way it operates across our value chain.

This year saw our Company making advancements in our internal enterprise processes using SAP (core Enterprise Resource Planning system). It has also digitalized many Human Resource processes to provide a plethora of easy-to-use, advanced digital tools to employees, improving overall employee experience. As an organization committed to keeping our people and business safe, considerable investments were made to ensure Cyber Security and a safe and secure online environment for employees.

The digitalization of customer and vendor communication enabled the reduction of turnaround time for business communication from 10 days to 1 hour, enhancing their satisfaction. At the Steel Plant Division, data analytics solutions and automation helped in increasing plant productivity. Additionally, this year, our Company ensured the launch of connecting Weighbridges to the SAP system directly, enabling complete data accuracy and reducing cycle time. It also launched the Advanced Shipping Notification system to seamlessly control the movement of material from Mines to the Steel Plant Division, helping in tracking and receipt of the material at the plant without any manual entry, which reduced truck cycle time.

As the cyber threat landscape continues to rise, our Company focused on strengthening endpoint security, email security, external threat monitoring, and employee cyber awareness. It partnered with Seqrite, a cloud-based, robust, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-driven Managed Detection and Response (MDR) cyber security service that combines technology and human expertise to ensure continuous monitoring, detection, and response against sophisticated known and unknown cyber-attacks. This increased our Company’s cyber security status substantially, specifically for endpoints.

The implementation of MDR, along with VAPT security operations, provided our Company with much-needed visibility and support in combating cybercrime. Our Company provided cyber security training to new employees, apart from mandatory cyber awareness training for all employees.

Additionally, our Company conducted phishing simulation drives to educate users in identifying phishing attacks. It also issued emails, banners, and posters on cyber awareness and conducted cyber training sessions to build a robust cyber culture. Further, our Company collaborated with Seqrite and deployed a digital risk monitoring tool, which helped in continuous brand scanning, combating fake brand pages, rogue applications, and impersonating domains to preserve our Company’s brand image.

Cloudification and IT Transformation

The major thrust of our Company has been on cloudification and transformation of IT infrastructure to support digital initiatives. In the quest to make IT and Digital solutions agile and scalable in line with business growth and dynamism, our Company collaborated with a leading Data Centre Service Provider, M/s Yott Infrastructure, to establish an SAP Disaster Recovery platform for hosting SAP solutions. Our Company has also charted a three-year IT roadmap to maximize the cloudification of IT systems and solutions.

Business Continuity Plan

The purpose of this plan is to recover IT systems at an alternative location and provide user access within a response time objective of four hours. The procedures set out in this document serve as guidance when responding to an incident and ensuring business continuity.

It ensures that business operations can continue in a limited form until IT systems are restored, with information security controls always in place to protect classified information. Our Company firmly believes in setting up processes and implementing plans to enable the delivery of products and services at acceptable levels following a disruptive incident.

Business Continuity Plans and procedures are periodically tested based on contingency test plans and audited periodically by internal and external audit agencies.

Paperless-Office Working

To leverage technology and reduce paper consumption, our Company has adopted a leading cloud-based application to digitize various business processes, creating a work environment that uses minimal physical paper. Instead, digital documents are primarily used for various processes, ensuring that documents are electronically stored and linked to various systems, including SAP, for performing business transactions.

As part of this project, our Company has covered the following processes:

• Procure-to-Pay, covering material receipt, service, work orders, cash purchases, and automation of contract employees’ gate passes.
• Order-to-Cash, including a Customer Portal.
• Internal Approvals
• HR Process Automation

Going paperless in these processes has enabled access to digitized documents through the system (including SAP), storing all documents securely in a centralized cloud repository, accessible anywhere with appropriate access rights. This has substantially reduced document handling cycle time.

Procurement Digitization

As part of our green procurement and digitalization initiative, our Company has implemented SAP Ariba, a leading procurement solution that enables an online supplier portal for day-to-day operational management of purchasing and supplier quality management activities. The supplier portal features various modules covering:

• Online Vendor Onboarding
• Raw Material Schedules and Supply Monitoring System
• Raw Material Specification
• Audit Reports
• Supplier Ratings
• Other quality-related requirements

All purchase orders are generated through the SAP system and communicated to the supplier base globally through a paperless electronic medium.

To maximize the use of digital information technology, our Company encourages the use of video conferencing, telephonic conferencing, and other latest collaborative technologies to minimize environmental impact and promote green practices in procurement activities.

Our Company is already using SAP-ERP to process financial transactions and maintain our books of accounts. The SAP system has been set up to ensure the adequacy of financial transactions and the integrity and reliability of financial reporting. The financial controls are evaluated for operating effectiveness through management’s ongoing monitoring and review process and independently through Internal Audit.