I am pleased to share our 9^th Sustainability Report for the Financial Year 2019-20 which shows how we have embedded the principles of sustainability in business activities - People, Planet, Profit and Partnership. In these grim times, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to share some positive news with you. The year 2020 marks the 40 year since inception for Galaxy. The journey which began in 1980, has now completed 4 decades.

In these grim times, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to share some positive news with you. The year 2020 marks the 40 year since inception for Galaxy. The journey which began in 1980, has now completed 4 decades. I would like express my gratitude to all people who have contributed in growth of Galaxy – our employees, customers, investors, vendors, partners, and stakeholders. This journey has been built upon and enhanced through our focus on customer centricity, people and continuous innovation. In spite of numerous challenges, our strengths have enabled us to surpass the hurdles of changing requirements in terms of certain regulations, consumer demands and sustainability, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Our COVID ‘Yodhas’ as we internally call-our members from the Plant, Operations and Logistics not only fought through the various risks and lockdown restrictions but also ensured that we kept on delivering and fulfilling our customers’ needs 24x7. For the year 2019-20, while our Performance Surfactants business grew at 6% in volumes, Specialty grew at 1.7% after a spectacular FY 2018-19. Overall volumes grew at 4.4%.

Our entrepreneurship was recognized as my own nomination for being selected as Finalists in the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ 2019 awards. Few of our key achievements were being awarded with Gold Innovation Award at HPCI 2020, Great Place to Work-Certified™ for Dec. 2019 – Nov. 2020, Gold level - National Awards for Manufacturing Competitiveness (NAMC) for Jhagadia manufacturing site and many customer recognitions.

As part of the Valuable 500 initiative, we have committed ourselves to including 40 differently-abled members within Galaxy by 2022. We have voluntarily embraced the TCFD recommendations to evaluate, manage and report our climate-related risks and opportunities through CDP Disclosure. Although, in this year, we have maintained our progress for our Sustainability Goals 2020, we are continually improving towards delivering positive impact on society and environment.

In April 2020, we had a very unfortunate and rare incident resulting in 3 fatalities of our employees. We deeply regret for the incident and express our solidarity to the family members of deceased. Safety has been an integral part of Galaxy’s Culture & Ethos since inception. Galaxy is known for its safety standards and while this accident has left an indelible mark, we shall ensure that such an incident never ever occurs again. Based on the insights derived from the investigation, we have launched Project Abhayatam – A Fearless, New Beginning. This project comprises an 8-step review mechanism by a Team of subject specialists within Galaxy. This will strengthen and enhance the Design, Operations, Safety and Skill levels of all our plant personnel across the organisation and enable us to identify the areas requiring improvement in Safety.

We look forward to work towards the larger purpose of contributing to better living along with our partners in line with UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030. We shall always be committed to safety of our employees and at workplace, contribute to community, and become major player in Personal and Home Care industry.

 But to succeed tomorrow, one needs to work today, and work for the next decade has already begun. The next decade shall see the rise of ‘PERSISTENCE’ – Growth driven by: Premiumisation, E-commerce, Regulations, Sustainability and Safety, Innovation, Supplier Integration, Trade, Emerging Opportunities, New-age Technologies that shall power unmatched consumer experience, Customised Consumption, Engagement with all Stakeholders.

 On that futuristic, optimistic and positive note, ladies and gentlemen, thank you once again for being part of this journey.

Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
U. Shekhar,
Managing Director

GRI 102-40, 42, 43, 44

We consider it extremely important to understand the viewpoints and concern of our stakeholders. Every year, we attempt to bring continuous improvement in our approach towards comprehensively engaging our stakeholders and arriving at the material aspects. We have a range of internal and external stakeholders. We engage with all relevant stakeholders through a variety of mechanisms, including direct meeting, surveys, digital platform, engagement at industry forums, and sharing information. The frequency of engagement is organised for regular communication with stakeholders on key issues. We conduct additional engagement with identified stakeholders as part of development of our sustainability reports. Combining internal and external feedback, we have prioritised 14 topics as mentioned in Materiality Matrix. The Sustainability Cell has reviewed the material topics and validated 10 priority areas to be reported in the report.

GRI 102-47

Materiality assessment is essential to understand our sustainability priorities. We regularly review and update our materiality matrix. In February 2020, we have conducted survey with selected stakeholders to identify key topics of importance.

Also, we have identified priority UN Sustainable Development Goals* in line with Galaxy's material topics. The performance with respect to these topics is shared for the operations in India, Egypt and USA in subsequent sections based on GRI standards.

* To know more about United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,
visit web site: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

Galaxy has posted excellent financial performance during the year in a challenging environment. Against the consolidated volume growth (adjusted) of 4.4 %, the PAT grew by 20.6%. This has been achieved against deteriorating growth, adverse geopolitical conditions, volatility in currency and feedstock market and start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the continuous decline in the price of a major feedstock, the volume growth does not reflect in the sales revenue.

The Consolidated financial statements comprise financial statements of Galaxy Surfactants Ltd (“the Company”) and its subsidiaries (collectively, the Group). As of March 31, 2020, the Company has five wholly-owned subsidiaries within the definition of ‘Subsidiary Company’ under the Companies Act, 2013. Further pursuant to the provisions of Section 136 of the Act, the Financial Statements of the subsidiaries are uploaded on the website of the Company i.e. www.galaxysurfactants.com.

Safety forms an integral part of our culture. Galaxy's Vision is to achieve and sustain an incident-free organisation. In order to achieve this Vision, we have established processes and systems and ensure that our culture promotes safety across all locations. In manufacturing sites, we conduct monthly meeting of joint safety committee chaired by Site Head and Safety in-charge. Members are from staff, operator and contractor category. Representation of operators and contractors is 50% and staff is 50%. As a company, we have always believed training and up-gradation of skills is an important aspect of employee development. In order to enhance safety awareness among employees & contractors, various emergency drills and trainings have been conducted. Galaxy provides safe workplace environment and imparts training to all its employees on regular basis. We regularly provide training to company and contractor employees on topics like behavioural safety, Fire Safety, SCBA, MSDS, EMS-OHSAS standards, Responsible Care, etc.

Responsible Care

Responsible Care is the chemical industry’s unique global initiative that drives continuous improvement in health, safety and environmental (HSE) performance, together with open and transparent communication with stakeholders. This initiative, which started in Canada in late 1980s, is gaining worldwide momentum in the chemical industry. In India, Indian Chemical Council is in the forefront in spreading this initiative. Galaxy Surfactants Ltd. received permission for using Responsible Care Logo for a period of 3 years: January 2018 to December 2020; post-surveillance audit carried out in November 2017.

Responsible Care enables the chemical industry to contribute to most of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as address some of the major sustainability footprint issues that the chemical industries face, including product stewardship, pollution prevention, occupational & process safety, emergency preparedness, community engagement, safe chemicals distribution and chemical security.

Security Vulnerability Assessment at Jhagadia, Gujarat

In 2019, Galaxy has initiated adoption of  Security Code under the voluntary requirements of Responsible Care.

Signatory to Responsible Care Global
Charter in March 2015

Recertification Responsible Care Logo for 3 years:
January 2018 to December 2020

PEOPLE ENERGY

Our Human Resource Process is called as ‘People Energy Process’ because we believe our people are the endless sources of energy who help us in generating resources for our continual growth.

Great Place to Work® Certification

Every year, more than 10,000 organizations from over 60 countries partner Great Place to Work® Institute for assessment, benchmarking and planning actions to strengthen their workplace culture.

Great Place to Work® Certification Program is the first step for an organization in its journey to build a High-Trust, High-Performance Culture™ and our organization has successfully accomplished this milestone. Galaxy Surfactants has been certified for the second time as Great Place to Work - Certified™ by the Great Place to Work® Institute for period December 2019- November 2020.

Diversity and Inclusion

As part of the Valuable 500 initiative, Galaxy has committed to having 40 differently-abled members as a part of its family by 2022. Our work culture fosters diversity and equal opportunity. We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to including differently-abled members of society in our world and integrating them into the business.

We had participated in the job fair organized by the National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped (NASEOH), India held in Mumbai.

New Hires 

Total: 320 (Male: 287, Female: 33)

Attrition

Total: 129 (Male: 107, Female: 22)

*Unidentified , 8.5% of employees in TRI-K chose not to identify their gender.

With Sustainability - a way of life at Galaxy, we have embarked on a journey of sustainable growth across all geographies of our operations. Galaxy continues to improve sustainable performance and practices by adopting globally applicable management systems. Galaxy strives to minimize environmental impact by setting long term sustainability goals. Over the past several years, we have made substantial progress in Environmental Management and Sustainability goals.

CII GreenCo

CII’s GreenCo Rating is the “first of its kind in the world” holistic framework that evaluates companies on the environmental friendliness of their activities using the life cycle approach. Galaxy adopted the GreenCo rating system at its Taloja plant in Nov. 2019 to assess its operations’ environmental performance adopting a procedure-based approach.

In August 2020, Galaxy Surfactants, Taloja plant has been conferred with the CII Green Company rating (GreenCo - Silver level).

GROUP SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

Galaxy has Sustainability Goals 2020-21 with focus in areas of climate change, energy, greenhouse gases, renewable energy, tree plantation, water, packaging waste and life cycle assessment. The Financial Year 2020-21 will mark 10 years of Sustainability Journey and final year for our Sustainability Goals 2020. With a clear roadmap in mind, focus and vision, Galaxy is determined towards making a positive impact and further difference to our society in the coming years. The performance of these goals and material topics are being reviewed on quarterly basis in Sustainability Cell meetings and other internal review meetings.

We aim to reduce our energy consumption and emission impacting climate.

Energy and Climate Change

• Reduce energy intensity by 50% at GSL vs FY 2011-12 and by 30% at GCE vs FY 2014-15 by improving efficiency.
• Increase share of electricity from renewable energy sources by 10% at GSL with base FY 2015-16.
• Reduce GHG constituting of scope 1 & 2 by 35% at GSL vs FY 2012-13 & by 25% at GCE vs FY 2014-15.
• Introduce afforestation programmes as climate change mitigation measures and plant 25,000 trees at GSL

We aim to reduce our water consumption.

Water

• Reduce water consumption per metric tonne of production by 80% at GSL with base FY 2011-12 & by 50% at GCE with base FY 2014-15

We aim to generate less waste.

Waste

• Reduce packaging waste generation by 10% at GSL using process of reduction, recycling and reuse of raw material packaging waste with base FY 2015-16.
• Reduce waste generation by 15% at GCE with base FY 2014-15.

We aim to adopt Life Cycle approach to evaluate potential environmental impacts.

Water

• Achieve environmentally sound management framework for products and complete Life Cycle Assessment of 40 products.