External Environment Harnessing Opportunities to Propel Growth

Commodity markets are constantly evolving, and we continue to witness unprecedented levels of volatility in prices and demand. However, with great challenges come great opportunities, and we must continue to innovate and adapt to stay ahead of the curve. Hindustan Zinc, being the market leader in zinc and lead industry, has a long history of successfully implementing innovative and sustainable solutions.

We focus on customer uniqueness and strive to address their needs and preferences by building long-term relationships with them. We keep customers at the centre of our actions while creating value-added novel products & services. This helps the customers to evolve in this dynamic business environment. The new alloy plant commissioning is reinforcing our aim to become a product-centric company from a commodity company.

We have been recently accredited with REACH certification for our SHG zinc, which has opened up opportunities for us in European markets. We have already despatched 20 kt in FY 2022-23 to European and American markets and look forward to increasing the same in FY 2023-24. Additionally, it is a matter of pride that our zinc and lead have found excellent acceptance across 43 countries and over 300 customers spread over multiple consumption sectors.

As a market leader, with the growth opportunities in India, we will continue to focus and adopt the responsible and sustainable practices thereby contributing to India’s ‘Aatmanirbharta’.

Vijay Murthy

Chief Marketing Officer – Metals & Acid

The global economy was severely impacted by various turbulences faced by the world in calendar year (CY) 2022. The Russia-Ukraine conflict, tightening financial conditions in most regions, the lingering COVID pandemic, and higher inflation rate weighed heavily on the global economic outlook of CY 2022. The Ukrainian conflict and the supply cuts caused energy prices to soar, thus contributing to slower economic activity in Europe. China’s restrictions as part of zero COVID policy further slowed down economic activity and constricted the strained global supply chains, though the reopening of the country in late 2022 paved the way for a faster than expected recovery.

The outlook for global economic growth in CY 2023 is expected to decline to 2.8% from 3.4% in CY 2022, below the historical average (CY 2000-19) of 3.8%. The Russia-Ukraine conflict and the rise in central bank rates to fight inflation continue to put pressure on economic activity in CY 2023. The global inflation rate is expected to fall to 7% in this calendar year, from 8.7% in CY 2022. India recorded a growth rate of 6.8% in CY 2022 and is expected to grow at a rate of 5.9% in CY 2023. Overall, the economic outlook in CY 2023 has slightly improved compared to CY 2022, but some of the risks remain the same.

At Hindustan Zinc, the primary activities viz. production, manufacturing, sales, marketing are based in India and global sales are managed through sales/marketing offices based in India only. Hindustan Zinc earns all its profits from operations in India as there are no operations, sales or marketing offices outside India.