Astral (company)

Astral Limited (formerly Astral Poly Technik Limited) is an Indian building materials and equipment company based in Ahmedabad which makes chlorinated polyvinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride pipes.

History
In 1996, Astral Poly Technik Limited was founded by Sandeep Engineer and later became known as Astral Pipes. At first, the company introduced industrial CPVC pipes in India by licensing the CPVC Resin procurement technology from Lubrizol. However, after three years, they shifted to the plumbing sector, where CPVC pipes became more popular than galvanized Iron (GI) pipes. In 2004, the company started offering lead-free polyvinyl chloride pressure pipes. Following that, in the next few years, they diversified into other areas such as fire sprinkler system, Soil, Waste and Rainwater (SWR) pipes, underground pipes, and other related sectors.

In 2007, the company went public and had its shares listed on the National Stock Exchange of India and Bombay Stock Exchange.

The introduction of PVC pipe in 2013 marked the beginning of the business's expansion into the agricultural market. In 2016, it brought an end to its partnership with Lubrizol regarding the production of CPVC pipes and began operations at its own CPVC compounding facility at Santej (Gujarat) in collaboration with Sekisui Chemical.

Operations
As of 31 March 2022, Astral had a total manufacturing capacity of 282,338 MTPA for both pipes and water tanks. It has factories which are located in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Odisha. In addition, Astral had a combined adhesive manufacturing capacity of 95,980 MTPA, with factories in Santej (Gujarat), Unnao, and Rania (Uttar Pradesh), as well as in the United States and United Kingdom.

The company has a distribution network of over 800 distributors in the plastic segment and over 1,800 distributors in the adhesive segment.

Financials
According to the DuPont analysis conducted in 2020, the company's current ratio declined from 1.45% in 2015 to 1.27% in 2019. However, as of March 2022, it recovered and increased to 1.78%.

Mergers and acquisitions
Since 2014, Astral has acquired companies in India, the UK, and the US.


 * In 2014, the company acquired a Kanpur-based adhesive company Resinova Chemie for inr 2130000000.
 * In 2018, Astral entered the infrastructure market with the acquisition of Rex Polyextrusion, which has its headquarters in Sangli, Maharashtra, and is a manufacturer of double-wall corrugated pipes.
 * In 2022, the company acquired a majority 51 percent stake in Gem Paints for inr 1940000000. In the same year, the company implemented a capacity expansion project in Karnataka, resulting in the rise of annual capacity by 36,000 kiloliters.
 * In October 2022, Astral acquired 80% of UK-based adhesive and sealants maker Seal It Services Ltd for inr 440000000.

Marketing
In 2017, as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, a direct-to-digital advertisement was released by the company which garnered global attention by creating awareness about open defecation and linking it with the issues of women's safety and gender-based violence in India.

Controversies

 * In November 2021, the Income Tax Department conducted searches at approximately 40 locations across India belonging to Astral Limited and Ratnamani Metals and Tubes.
 * In March 2023, a former employee and his son were involved in stealing data from the company's system and using it to conduct business separately with the company's clients, resulting in a loss of inr 50000000 for the company.