December 11, 2002
We in ACC are very sad at the
passing away of our beloved Chairman Emeritus,
Mr N A Palkhivala. It is a loss not only to
the ACC Parivar but to the entire country.
Mr Palkhivala had a very long
and illustrious association with ACC since his
appointment as a Director on March 28, 1968.
He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of
ACC from January 1, 1969 till September 3, 1997
(excluding his tenure as Ambassador to USA from
September 24, 1977 to July 26, 1979).
Mr Palkhivala relinquished
the chairmanship of the Board with effect from
the close of September 3, 1997.
In recognition of his outstanding
contribution, the Board appointed Mr Palkhivala
as Chairman Emeritus for life and he continued
to be on the Board till July 12, 2001.
The Board of ACC had placed
on record its admiration for Mr Palkhivala's
many splendoured achievements and expressed
its deep gratitude to him for his outstanding
contribution to ACC for over 33 years. Mr Palkhivala
inspired and motivated his colleagues on the
Board and the Management Team and strengthened
ACC's culture and ethos.
In the world of law, he was
a legendary figure and was one of the great
luminaries and practitioners of constitutional
law. He was a champion in the cause of free
speech, constitutional rights and civil liberties.
He was a leading author in the field of constitutional
law and the law of income-tax. A unique personality
and a great speaker, he held huge audiences
spellbound while delivering his illuminating
annual budget speeches on the Union Budget.
His conduct of shareholders'
meetings was an object lesson in leadership
and in the art of chairmanship. Above all, Mr
Palkhivala always looked to promoting the national
interest.
He was the recipient of several
national and international awards including
numerous honorary degrees of Doctor of Law from
various universities. In January 1998, the President
of India, conferred on Mr Palkhivala the award
of Padma Vibhushan.
ACC has been privileged to
have such an outstanding personality at its
helm as Chairman for over three decades and
we salute his memory.
( P K Sinor )
Director & Company Secretary
Top
November 29, 2002
ACC wins PHDCCI Good Corporate
Citizen Award for the year 2002
PHD Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, New Delhi has selected The Associated
Cement Companies Limited (ACC) as the winner
of its Good Corporate Citizen Award for the
year 2002. The nomination recognizes outstanding
contributions by a member of the corporate sector
to social causes, including rural and community
development activities, healthcare, family welfare,
education, literacy programmes, vocational training,
employment generation and Environment awareness
and protection activities. This award, which
carries a trophy and a citation, was presented
to ACC's Managing Director by Shri K C Pant,
Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission at PHDCCI's
97th annual session.
The Chamber which was established
in 1905 as the Punjab Chamber of Commerce and
Industry today serves ten states of Northern
India (comprising Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar
Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu
& Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal
and the Union Territory of Chandigarh).
ACC's earliest initiatives
in community and rural development date back
to the 1940's. Most of its plants and mines
are located in backward and remote tribal villages
spread over eleven states of the country. Each
plant is closely involved in the development
of the rural areas around it as well as in the
welfare of the local community The range of
activities undertaken by ACC to improve the
living conditions of people in rural and tribal
areas around its factories begins with extending
educational and medical facilities for the local
populace and goes on to cover income-generation
projects such as agriculture and cottage industries.
Ample opportunities are given to generate employment
and ancillary businesses for local people.
ACC is among the first companies
to include commitment to environmental protection
as one of its corporate objectives, long before
pollution control norms and regulatory act came
into existence. The company inducted the use
of sophisticated high efficiency pollution control
equipment for cement kilns, raw mills, coal
mills, power plants and coolers as far back
as 1966. ACC has also vigorously pursued ways
of rechannelising and recycling environmental
pollutants, such as waste products from other
industries. For example two major pollutants
viz. fly ash from thermal power plants and slag
from steel plants have been dealt with most
effectively and efficiently by converting them
into value-added premium Blended Cements.
The company has won several
prizes and certificates of merit for environmental
measures undertaken at its various plants and
mines. These include the Indira Priyadarshini
Vrikshamitra Award, Indo-German Environment
Excellence Award, the Golden Peacock Environment
management Special Award, the Drona trophy for
outstanding performance in mines environment
and mineral conservation, the Federation of
Mineral Industries' Subhikaran Sarogi Award,
the Vishwakarma Trophy for outstanding performance
in safety and mine working , FICCI's award for
adopting innovative measures for pollution control,
Vriksha Vardhak Award and the National Safety
Award among many others. In particular ACC has
been appreciated for its programs involving
'greening,' afforestation, reclamation and rehabilitation
of mines, top soil management, noise abatement
and other visible measures such as tree plantation
and water management.
The company's most recent success
story in the area of social volunteering has
been to organize timely and unique assistance
in the aftermath of last year's earthquake in
Gujarat by providing free training on earthquake-proof
construction practices to over 1500 unemployed
rural youth in remote and interior parts of
the quake-affected districts. ACC was quick
to earmark expenditure up to Rs 1 crore on such
rehabilitation work. There is no formal training
course in the country for this trade whose members
draw their skills only from years of informal
apprenticeship and practical experience. This
is the first time in the country that formal
training of this magnitude was arranged for
masons, construction site supervisors and apprentices.
Our initiative also stands apart from others
in that it was based largely on the use of local
materials, local people, local techniques and
solutions.
(R Nand Kumar)
Vice President-Marketing and Corporate Communications
Top
28th November 2002
Mr T M M Nambiar, Managing
Director - Retirement from service and Mr M
L Narula, Director & Chief Operating Officer
(COO) to take charge as Managing Director from
1st December 2002
Mr T M M Nambiar, Managing
Director will be retiring from the Company's
services with effect from 1st December 2002.
The Board of Directors has
at its Meeting held today placed on record its
warm appreciation of the most valuable services
rendered by Mr T M M Nambiar during his long
and fruitful association of 27 years with the
Company.
Mr Nambiar joined the Company
in November 1975 as Financial Controller responsible
for the entire finance and accounting functions
of the Company. In January 1982, he was promoted
as Director - Finance. He was appointed Wholetime
Director on 21st December 1988 which position
he held till his appointment as Managing Director
on 1st April 1996. As Managing Director, Mr
Nambiar took various initiatives and cost saving
measures to improve the performance of the Company.
He was associated with the Cement Manufacturers'
Association (CMA) and was elected as President,
CMA with effect from November 2001 and by virtue
of this association contributed substantially
to the Cement Industry. He was also Chairman
of the Board of Governors' of National Council
for Cement & Building Materials.
As communicated earlier vide
Press Release of 19th September 2002, the ACC
Board at its Meeting held on 19th September
2002 appointed Mr M L Narula, Director and Chief
Operating Officer (COO) as the Managing Director
of the Company from 1st December 2002 till 31st
October 2005. Accordingly Mr Narula will take
charge as the Managing Director with effect
from 1st December 2002. Mr Narula is an Electrical
Engineer by discipline having Graduated in B.Sc.
Engineering (Electrical). He is also a Fellow
of the Institute of Engineers. He joined the
Company in January 1963 and has acquired wide
ranging knowledge and experience in all facets
of cement operations and vital matters pertaining
to the Cement Industry. He has occupied various
senior positions with distinction, viz. as Controller,
Director-Technical, Wholetime Director since
April 1996 and as Director & COO with effect
from 25th January 2002.
The Company is continuing the
tradition of nurturing its in-house managerial
talent by appointing Mr Narula, who joined the
Company about 40 years ago to the highest executive
position of the Company
( P K Sinor )
Wholetime Director & Company Secretary
Top
19th September 2002
Appointment of Mr M L Narula,
Director & COO, as Managing Director with effect
from 1st December 2002
At its Meeting held today,
the Board unanimously decided to elevate Mr
M L Narula, Director & Chief Operating Officer,
to the position of Managing Director of the
Company. The Board has accordingly appointed
Mr Narula as the Managing Director for the period
1st December 2002 till 31st October 2005 (i.e.
upto the date of his superannuation). Mr Narula's
appointment is subject to the approval of the
shareholders in general meeting.
The tenure of reappointment
of Mr T M M Nambiar as Managing Director will
end on 30th November 2002. He will thereafter
retire from the Company's service. In order
to ensure smooth succession, the Board of Directors
had nominated Mr M L Narula as Director & Chief
Operating Officer, on 25th January 2002.
Mr Narula is an Electrical
Engineer by discipline having Graduated in B.Sc.
Engineering (Electrical). He is also a Fellow
of the Institute of Engineers. He joined the
Company in January 1963 and has acquired wide
ranging knowledge and experience in all facets
of cement operations and vital matters pertaining
to the Cement Industry. He has occupied various
senior positions with distinction, viz. as Controller,
Director-Technical and Wholetime Director since
April 1996. Mr Narula has been responsible for
spearheading various in-house initiatives, particularly
Total Productivity Management (TPM) at the various
Units. He has participated in various programmes
such as "Competing Globally : The Japanese Cement
Industry" held under the auspices of Armstrong
Information Ltd., London, which has very close
links with London Business School and "Technology
Management in a Global Economy" organised by
The Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad,
and Singapore Unviersity. He is a Member of
the Managing Committee of Cement Manufacturers'
Association and a Director on the Board of some
of the subsidiary and associate companies of
ACC.
The Company is continuing the
tradition of nurturing its in-house managerial
talent by appointing Mr Narula, who joined the
Company about 40 years back to the highest executive
position of the Company.
(P K Sinor)
Wholetime Director & Company Secretary
Top
27th March 2002
Mr P K Mistry has resigned
from the Board of Directors of the Company
Mr P K Mistry has resigned
from the Board of Directors of the Company with
effect from 27th March 2002 after a long and
fruitful association of 65 years with ACC.
Mr Mistry's association with
the Cement Industry dates back to 1935 and he
has held various responsible positions. He was
the Secretary of ACC from 1952-56, Director
of Cement Agencies Limited, the former Managing
Agents of ACC from 1956-1967 and thereafter
Managing Director of that Company from 1967-1970.
Consequent upon the termination of the managing
agency system, Mr Mistry was appointed as Managing
Director of ACC from 1970-1975 and thereafter
continued as a Director on the Board from April
1975. He has also been the Chairman of the Audit
Committee of the Board since its inception in
November 1986. Mr Mistry's long tenure of service
has been unparalleled and his contribution to
the cement industry, to ACC and its Board has
been immense. He has tendered his resignation
from ACC Board on account of the frailties of
advancing age.
The Board has at its meeting
held today appointed Mr Cyril S Shroff as a
Director in the casual vacancy caused by the
resignation of Mr Mistry with effect from 27th
March 2002. Mr Shroff is a Solicitor - High
Court Bombay, Advocate on record Supreme Court
of India and is a partner in the well known
law firm Messrs Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh
A Shroff & Co. He is also a Director on the
Board of various leading Companies. The Chambers
Law Directory and the Commercial Lawyer (a leading
legal publication) selected Mr Cyril Shroff
as one of the world's Top 20 lawyers and the
only one from Asia and Australia. Euromoney
and Asia law have consistently selected Mr Cyril
Shroff as India's top Corporate and Project
Finance lawyer.
Mr Shroff has authored several
publications and also serves as country correspondent
on a number of international publications. He
was a member of numerous committees including
(a) the Legal Sub-Committee of the Expert Group
on Commercialization of Infrastructure (Rakesh
Mohan Committee), (b) the Dhanuka Committee
constituted by SEBI, (c) a committee established
by the Ministry of Finance, Central Board for
corporate restructuring and (d) a committee
appointed by UTI in relation to their strategy
for corporate positioning of UTI in the new
millenium.
(P K Sinor)
Director & Company Secretary
Top
January 25, 2002
Mr P J Jagus has resigned
from the Board of Directors of the Company
We wish to inform you that
consequent upon Mr P J Jagus' decision to migrate
to Canada, he has resigned from the Board of
Directors of the Company with effect from 25th
January 2002 after a long and fruitful association
of 55 years with ACC. During this period, Mr
Jagus held various responsible positions including
that of Director Research. He was Wholetime
Director from 1st May 1980 till 19th September
1985. He was thereafter appointed as a Director
on the Board with effect from 1st October 1985
and has been a member of its Audit Committee
since its inception in 1988. Mr Jagus' contribution
to ACC and its Board has been very substantial.
The Board has at its Meeting
held today appointed Mr S M Palia as a Director
in the casual vacancy caused by the resignation
of Mr Jagus with effect from the aforesaid date.
Mr Palia has held very senior positions in IDBI
and is on the Board of various leading companies.
P K Sinor
Director & Company Secretary
The Associated Cement Companies Limited
Mumbai
Top
January 25, 2002
The following proposals were considered
and unanimously approved by the ACC Board at
its Meeting held today :-
-
Mr T M M Nambiar has been
reappointed as Managing Director for a further
period from June 1, 2002 to November 30,
2002 on the existing terms and conditions.
-
Mr M L Narula, Wholetime
Director, is redesignated as Chief Operating
Officer. In addition to his current responsibilities
of being incharge of the Cement Business,
Mr Narula will also directly supervise the
Human Resources and Finance functions. He
will continue to report to the Managing
Director.
-
Mr A K Jain, President-Marketing
has been inducted on the Board in the casual
vacancy of Dr A K Chatterjee and appointed
Wholetime Director for a period of three
years with effect from 25th January 2002.
The reappointment of Mr T M M Nambiar as
Managing Director and the appointment of
Mr A K Jain as Wholetime Director will be
subject to the approval of the shareholders
at the next Annual General Meeting of the
Company.
P K Sinor
Director & Company Secretary
The Associated Cement Companies Limited
Mumbai
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