A leader who leads by example, Mr. Sridhar is a living example of the fact that with hard work, dedication and right attitude one can move mountains. The foundation of his illustrious career was laid in the year 1997 with his selection as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. Before taking over charge as Chairman & Managing Director at Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd., he worked as a Sub Collector in Rajahmundry; Project Officer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency, Utnoor, Adilabad District; Director of Ports, Kakinada; and Collector & District Magistrate in Ananthapur, Krishna, Warangal and Ranga Reddy districts of Andhra Pradesh. He has also worked as Special Secretary to Hon’ble Chief Minister, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, for a period of over 3 years.
CHALKING OUT HIS DISTINCT SUCCESS TRAIL
Skilfully leading Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd, Mr. Sridhar has been consistently forging the path for the continued growth of the company, through forward integration with Singareni Thermal Power Plant – a 1200 MW project at present – which is soon expected to enhance its capacity to 2000 MW. This plant is all the more significant because it is the only thermal power project in the country which is built and operated by a public sector coal mining company.
During his tenure, the company has made great strides and has been consistently performing exceedingly well. Under his leadership, the coal production has increased from 52 MT to 65 MT and the growth rate in coal production has jumped to 23% – a notable achievement, indeed! Similarly, Coal despatches have increased from 52 MT to 68 MT.
Owing to his dedicated efforts, Overburden (OB) removal has increased from 262 M Cu M to 386 M Cu M. With regard to Gross sales; an increase from INR 14078 Crores to INR 25071 Crores has been registered during his tenure. The growth rate in gross sales during his tenure is 78% against 51% growth rate for the same period before his tenure. Significantly, Profit after Tax (PAT) has increased from INR 490 Crores to INR 1767 Crores during his tenure. The growth rate in PAT during his tenure is an astounding 262% against 39% growth rate for the same duration previously. He has shown keen interest in getting approvals from various central and state government agencies to sustain the SCCL production growth over 10% in future. He has planned and initiated action for 13 mines in the coming 5 years to enable SCCL increase its production to 85 MT by 2024.
MOTIVATING EVERYONE TO EXCEL
A great leader, Mr. Sridhar is an adept at bringing out the best in others. As he puts it, “I focus on people a lot.” He elaborates, “One of my core strengths is letting people to do what they need to do to perform with proper guidance to bring the best in everyone. When employees understand the ins and outs if what it takes to run and maintain a mining company of this scale, their performance is much better.”
A people person, he quickly builds a rapport with employees at every level. “In operating the company, my style of management is not just engaging with the top level executives, but to actually go to the sites and the places where production happens, to get into details of what it takes to make something positive to happen. All the management teams and executives are looking after various issues, while being present in field,” he adds.
Sharing his success strategies, he says, “Monthly review meetings are held with responsible officials to solve various issues and problems without delay and giving approvals instantaneously for removing the hurdles for surpassing the targets and to get exponential growth. We have formed multidisciplinary committees to look after the operations to ensure a smooth work flow. These kinds of strategies are helping us to achieve a rapid growth.”
WORKING TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
An ardent advocate of sustainable development and renewable energy, Mr. Sridhar successfully executed the construction and installation of 2 X 600 MW STPP power plants in a record time frame, which has started generating power from 2016 onwards. The plant has generated 31,750MU till March, 2020 since inception and was ranked 5th nationally with a PLF of 91% during 2017-18. Under his quintessential leadership, a few 300 MW Solar power plants are under construction, which are estimated to be completed by the end of this year.
AWARDS GALORE
For his outstanding contribution to the field of business and economy, Mr. Sridhar has received numerous awards and accolades namely ‘Best Management Award” from Telangana State Government in 2016, Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Award 2018 from Enterprise Asia, Outstanding Global Leadership Award 2018 at Global Economic Summit, Dubai by Institute of Economic Studies. He has also received Telangana Best Service Award 2017-18 by Telangana Red Cross Society from Hon’ble Governor of Telangana, ‘Manager of the year – 2018’ award from Achievements Forum-2019, London and ‘Pride of Hyderabad’ award from Hon’ble Home Minister of Telangana State at 41st PRSI conference – 2019 at Hyderabad.
Under his leadership, Singareni Collieries Company Limited has received Asia’s Most Trusted Company 2018 at Bangkok from International Brand Consulting Corporation, USA, and India’s Best Company of the year 2018 Award by Berkshire Media, USA.
