Cementing future success: Jayanta Basu

When it comes to the safety and welfare of workers, the construction sector in India has fallen short of international standards over recent decades. Poor working conditions, long hours and inadequate facilities have been commonplace, leading to justifiable accusations of exploitation and indifference to the wellbeing of employees.

It is an issue Jayanta Basu is all too aware of. And it’s something he has promised to address.

As Managing Director of engineering and construction firm ITD Cementation, Basu has targeted the improvement of working conditions as one of the core goals of the company.

"As an Indian construction company – or, in fact, any industry – our focus on the environment, safety and health has been to consistently improve according to international standards," Basu tells The CEO Magazine.

"In India, there is a huge discrimination between the classes and we treat the labor force in the same way.

"This is an area where we have much work to do. The progress and quality of the work largely depends upon the performance of the workforce. So our focus is to enhance the skill of our workforce and provide them with better facilities."

The same goes for the environment and its carbon footprint, according to Basu. To ignore such a monumental issue would invite disaster to its door. The technologies of today will be obsolete one day, he points out.

"Structures and projects are also being modernized," he says. "At the same time, the project execution time is getting shorter. Thus, we need modern techniques, innovative technical solutions nowadays.

"The involvement of AI also has the capability to radically change many aspects of the construction industry. These are the sorts of things we have to focus on."

One brick at a time

That’s not to say the industry has failed to positively evolve since Basu began his career at ITD Cementation – then called Cemindia Company – in 1986. Back then, as a graduate engineer, the industry was "primitive", as he describes it, with little focus on safety, quality and technology.

But there has been rapid change in the intervening years, particularly since the turn of the 21st century.

"India really started opening up with new airports, metros and highways and ITD Cementation aligned its growth with that of the country," Basu says.

To illustrate ITD Cementation’s expansion, the company’s annual revenue was just US$1.8 million when he joined the firm. Today it stands at US$956 million.

"We have diversified significantly. Name any civil construction segment and we are there," Basu says.

"At ITD Cementation, our commitment extends to maintaining global standards in quality management, environmental sustainability and occupational health and safety. We proudly stand among India’s leading construction firms accredited with ISO 9001:2015 for Quality Management Systems, ISO 14001:2015 for Environmental Management Systems and ISO45001:2018 for Occupational Health and Safety management Systems by TUV Nord."

Projects recently won by ITD Cementation include a US$148 million project to build a residential colony in New Delhi, a multi-storied commercial building worth US$235 million in Uttar Pradesh and a US$129 million marine contract to construct a third jetty at Dahej cargo port in Gujarat.

Basu has been instrumental in the creation and subsequent growth of ITD Cementation’s marine work, overseeing numerous projects across India’s major ports. Such expansion has contributed to its revenue improvement, which, with the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic years, has accelerated since Basu took over as Managing Director in 2019. And he has set ambitious targets to continue that growth.

"Our revenue was stagnant for four or five years, in the region of US$239 million to US$358.5 million, but over the past two years we have grown by 60 percent in each of those years," he reveals.

"But we will have to keep the tempo going for another three-to-four years to at least become number three or four in terms of the volume of business in our field."

A century of growth

Should ITD Cementation maintain that momentum, it will be approaching its 100th anniversary in fine shape. It started life in 1931 as the Indian branch of the United Kingdom’s Cementation Company before, after several ownership changes, becoming ITD Cementation India in 2005.

Perhaps it is this long history that partly accounts for its strong relationships and mutual trust that has developed between itself and suppliers, to the extent that contractors will begin work without a formal agreement in place. A phone call and a handshake are as good as signed contracts, Basu explains, with RDC Concrete among its key partners.

"We’ve worked with some contractors for 25 years. They know us, we know them and the trust has built up," he explains. "We have developed long-term relationships with our suppliers in the cement and steel sectors, which is a key to our success."

Also fueling that success is the knowledge of the ITD Cementation team. As Basu says, anyone with money can buy the technology and equipment. To run the machine requires expertise, experience and workforce continuity.

"That is the beauty of the company and differentiates us from competitors," he says.

As for Basu himself, he has spent his entire career at ITD Cementation – almost 40 years – working his way up through the ranks.

"I have no experience of working in any other company," he states. "I don’t know if that is good or bad, but that is what it is."

For all his contributions to the company over so many decades, ITD Cementation would say the former is most definitely the case.