A leader is pivotal for every industry, and more so for an industry constantly focusing on adopting innovation and sustainability, which is the chemical manufacturing industry. The leader’s guidance helps companies stay competitive and adaptable, develop talent, and commit to long-term industry success. Prakash Babu (CEO at Süd-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd. (SCIL), is an excellent example of a leader who understood the need for and importance of catalysts in the chemical industry. His passion, commitment, and fiercely competitive mindset led him to dedicate 32 years of his career to Süd-Chemie India, steering the company to make significant progress and remain competitive.
For more than thirty years, Prakash has steered SCIL, a prominent figure in the performance chemicals sector. This narrative traces his path, emphasizing his leadership ethos, SCIL’s triumphs over obstacles, and his forward-looking aspirations. Through dedication to innovation, fostering a positive workplace, and embracing sustainability, Prakash has elevated SCIL into a trusted ally for clients spanning various industries. Delving into his cultivation of an environment of excellence, adoption of digital advancements, and focus on nurturing talent, the story illustrates how he has sustained SCIL’s position as a frontrunner in the dynamic chemical realm.
From Humble Beginnings to Global Recognition
Prakash Babu has dedicated over three decades to Süd-Chemie India, driven by his passion for the chemical industry and the versatile applications of catalysts. During his tenure, he faced several challenges and had to overcome them to grow the company. Some of these challenges were diversifying the portfolio through new product development, scaling up, and commercialization, which were particularly stimulating. Another challenge was making the company future-ready! As a result, he emphasized his focus on preparing the organization for the future by fostering a culture of skill development and cost-effectiveness. “I think we have succeeded fairly well in overcoming these challenges,” affirms Prakash.
Leading Player in the Global Field
Süd-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd. (SCIL), a leading player in the performance chemicals industry, has established itself as a trusted partner for clients across diverse sectors like petrochemicals, automotive, and refineries. Led by Prakash, a passionate leader with over three decades of experience, SCIL has established itself as a trusted partner for clients across diverse sectors. The company’s success story is one of overcoming challenges, fostering a dynamic culture, and embracing continuous innovation. It recognizes the critical role catalysts play in its customers’ profitability. With deep expertise in chemistry and its applications, SCIL leverages its understanding of both domestic and international markets to deliver high-quality, long-lasting catalyst solutions.
Prakash Babu, a key leader at SCIL, emphasizes the company’s unwavering commitment to adding value for its customers at every process stage. Over the past five decades, SCIL has built a global reputation for pioneering products and exceptional service. Innovation, environmental sustainability, and community development are core principles that guide all of SCIL’s endeavors. SCIL remains at the forefront of the industry by employing cutting-edge manufacturing technologies. Its expertise encompasses producing various oxide, precious metal, zeolite, and wash coat-based products, catering to various industries.
Overcoming Obstacles for Success
Prakash Babu reflects on Süd-Chemie India’s journey, highlighting the various challenges encountered. One challenge involved European companies attempting to undercut SCIL through predatory pricing tactics. Prakash credits the team’s determination, commitment, and agility in successfully proving these practices and securing anti-dumping duties. Introducing newly developed products and establishing manufacturing facilities with minimal capital expenditure (capex) also presented hurdles. However, Prakash emphasizes the entire team’s ability to overcome these obstacles through careful planning and innovative approaches. He acknowledges that prudent capex management and human resource development are common challenges all organizations face, but SCIL’s success hinges on its unique and effective strategies.
Prakash Babu states the importance of fostering a dynamic company culture that embraces continuous improvement, new product development, and market expansion. He emphasizes a strong customer-centric approach, transforming SCIL from an importer to a leading manufacturer and exporter of high-tech, specialty products. This shift reflects the company’s commitment to “Make in India” initiatives while exceeding domestic demands through international sales.
With a deep understanding of chemical engineering and nearly four decades of collective industry experience, Prakash champions continuous innovation as the company’s driving force. He fosters a culture that encourages teams to constantly create, test, and refine new product and service development ideas. This approach ensures SCIL remains ahead of the competition while delivering exceptional customer value. Prakash Babu actively collaborates with vendors and industry experts to instigate cutting-edge advancements in manufacturing processes. This collaborative spirit fuels the development of superior products and services that consistently meet evolving market demands. By embedding excellence and innovation into SCIL’s work culture and ethics, Prakash strengthens the company’s decades-long reputation for quality and leadership.
SCIL’s Range of Offerings
Following are the offerings that SCIL specializes in:
- Designing, development, and scaling up of new catalysts for various industries;
- Validation of the developed lab / commercial scale products for the specified application at the lab scale;
- Commercial scale manufacturing of catalysts;
- More attention to products that support the environment and help reduce greenhouse gases and
- Value-added and after-sales services, including performance evaluation, life predictions, troubleshooting, loading/start-up assistance, and more.
Recognizing the ever-evolving industrial landscape, Prakash Babu is spearheading Süd-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd.’s (SCIL’s) digital transformation journey. He emphasizes leveraging advanced automation and digitalization programs to enhance quality and productivity. SCIL has implemented a comprehensive suite of digital solutions, including ERP-driven business processes, process control, automation systems, and robust security measures such as EDR, XDR, UTM/Firewalls, cloud-based email protection, and Microsoft 365. The company also utilizes HRMS and CRM systems to streamline human resource and customer relationship management.
Prakash Babu understates SCIL’s commitment to continuous improvement in the digital realm. The company has already implemented several IoT and AI-based systems, with ongoing projects and explorations to optimize operations further. Furthermore, SCIL fosters a “Policy-based Digitalization” approach, ensuring all digital initiatives align with the company’s strategic goals. To encourage employee engagement in the digital transformation process, SCIL has established a dedicated “Digital Club.”
Leadership Philosophy
At Süd-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd., Prakash Babu’s leadership is focused on aligning employees with the company’s vision, culture, and ethics while connecting with them emotionally so that the team is motivated to contribute to the company’s success. Elaborating on the importance of fostering a positive work environment, he says, “We religiously believe that if given a positive working environment, employees are encouraged to find fulfillment in both their work and personal lives, which improves their job satisfaction and increases their productivity.” Prakash Babu also envisions a radiant future for Süd-Chemie India and has various plans lined up to scale the company’s success in the upcoming days. According to him, the company’s future roadmap includes achieving sustainability in its processes, fostering complete satisfaction among employees, and delivering innovative products and services to keep the business a step ahead of the competition. Prakash highlights the company’s determination and innovative approach to overcoming these hurdles. He emphasizes SCIL’s transformation from an importer to a leading manufacturer and exporter, reflecting its commitment to “Make in India” initiatives.
Being a leader at the forefront, Prakash Babu believes that strategic and smart performance are necessary, as well as loyalty and dedication to deliver performance as an individual and for the company. Further believes, “Including all employees in shaping the company’s vision, values, and work culture encourages an entrepreneurial spirit, resulting in outstanding performance. It prioritizes strategic and intelligent performance, loyalty, and dedication at individual and organizational levels.” Yet another aspect close to the hearts of many employees at Süd-Chemie India is the ‘Home to Home culture (HtH)’ approach adopted by the company, aiming to create a comfortable environment and experience job satisfaction, whereby the employees are motivated to give their best thus finding fulfillment in their work and personal lives. In fact, the Süd-Chemie India team constantly credits their accomplishments to the skilled workforce and the company’s supportive work culture. This positive work environment has led to consistent company growth under Prakash’s leadership.
Building a Legacy
With commendable backing of chemical engineering and almost forty years of industry experience, Prakash has made ongoing innovation a central strategy for improving products and services, promoting a culture of constant improvement at Süd-Chemie India which have over the years led to some extraordinary achievements for the company. Prakash Babu encourages a collaborative approach to innovation, urging its employees to generate, test, and refine new ideas. This approach helps Süd-Chemie India stay ahead of the competition and consistently provide value to its customers. He collaborates with vendors and industry experts to bring new and advanced manufacturing techniques to the table, thus ensuring that the products and services meet the needs of its stakeholders.
The following graph shows the achievement of the company under the leadership of Prakash Babu
Balancing Stability and Profitability
Throughout his tenure at Süd-Chemie India, Prakash has championed achieving sustainable growth through a balanced and thoughtful approach. He recognizes that long-term success matures on overcoming external and internal challenges maturely. Prakash cautions against reactive or opportunistic strategies that may arise during periods of strong performance, emphasizing the detrimental impact such approaches can have on long-term sustainability. Under his leadership, the company prioritizes nurturing long-term goals over short-term gains. To achieve this, Prakash Babu advocates for meticulous planning and a long-term perspective. This includes building a strong company culture, establishing robust systems, and developing a skilled workforce. Continuous risk assessment and mitigation strategies are also paramount. Prakash highlights Süd-Chemie India’s success over the past three decades as a testament to the effectiveness of this approach.
While acknowledging the importance of calculated risk-taking, Prakash emphasizes careful evaluation to avoid future burdens. He stresses the importance of not neglecting existing, successful businesses or products. Instead, these should be nurtured through continuous quality improvement and cost-effective practices to ensure sustained profitability and goal achievement. New product development, while necessary, should be implemented strategically to avoid disruption to ongoing operations. Finally, Prakash emphasizes fostering an environment that encourages team collaboration, a key ingredient for overall success.
In terms of identifying and developing talent, Prakash Babu believes that industries, such as the catalyst field, are very specialized and do not get ready-made talent from the market. Therefore, talents must be continuously nurtured by enormous mentoring. While emphasizing its importance, he also believes talent identification and nurturing are some of the biggest challenges in the current market scenario. It is a long journey; hence, one needs to foster immense patience to learn and train, particularly in this highly specialized field. Another challenge is developing a culture of agility to adopt these changing technologies and handle high volatility.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Prakash Babu emphasizes that a culture of excellence and continuous innovation is ingrained in SCIL’s DNA. This commitment has led to the development of numerous new products, some of which are industry firsts now exported globally. SCIL has implemented a bold policy to drive product innovation: 25% of sales revenue must come from new products launched within the past five years. This focus on continuous improvement extends beyond product development and encompasses production processes, quality standards, and energy efficiency.
Prakash recognizes the importance of thoughtful risk assessment and mitigation strategies in any business. He highlights how SCIL’s entrepreneurial culture and shared vision are crucial in managing risk. The company fosters a culture of challenging the status quo and encourages employees to review proposals, systems, and potential challenges holistically. This collaborative approach helps minimize and mitigate risks, ensuring well-informed decision-making.
Looking towards 2030, Prakash Babu envisions a robust future for Süd-Chemie India Pvt. Ltd. (SCIL), built upon the company’s impressive historical growth trajectory of nearly 20% CAGR. He emphasizes the importance of setting ambitious yet achievable short-term targets while keeping long-term goals in mind. Sustainability is a key focus for SCIL, and Prakash highlights the company’s ongoing development of products that help customers reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, SCIL is actively pursuing the development of new products for both domestic and international markets, bolstering “Make in India” initiatives while driving export growth.
Prakash Babu acknowledges the exciting yet challenging path ahead for SCIL. He outlines several key strategies the company is actively pursuing, including new product development, a commitment to sustainability, digitization, and automation. These initiatives will ensure SCIL remains well-positioned to meet evolving market needs and maintain its leadership position in the future.
