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Pandurang B. Dandawate (Founder Director)
THE MAN BEHIND REENVISIONING THE INFRASTRUCTURE CONSULTING TRENDS OF THE MARKET
"Young generation if involved in the development of the nation will provide exponential benefits to the nation. Therefore, I urge the youth to take up entrepreneurship and work towards the betterment of everyone"
Pandurang B. Dandawate.
In terms of global infrastructure consulting firms, India is one of the fastest growing markets in the world. In addition, with clients and the economy amplifying its demand and toughening its project mandates, the consultants are required to channel all their focus in raising the bars.
Moreover, to mention raising the bars and not to mention Dhruv Consultancy Services Limited, the brainchild of Pandurang B. Dandawate (Founder Director), would be wrong.
They are meticulously working towards generating profitable growth and bagging the title of the leading infrastructure consultancy firm that lasts generations with diligence towards work quality, reliability, timeliness, and serving the client beyond expectations.
Established in 2003, an infrastructure consultancy firm, since its inception, the company has been providing a spectrum of professional consultancy services namely feasibility studies, preparation of detailed project reports, construction supervision, lenders engineering, technical and structural audits, bridge inspection, design of highways and structures.
The company presently works in six sectors – Highways, Bridges, Tunnels, Architecture, Environmental, and Ports. Dhruv is presently working in 15 states across the length and breadth of the country with employee strength of more than 450.
Dhruv has a wide range of clientele namely Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORT&H), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), MSRDC, JNPT, CIDCO, MMRDA, etc.
With the rise in the numbers of international consulting firms, the Indian consulting sector is also adopting advanced methods according to the organisation to come up with the best solutions.
Additionally, with options to explore like Dhruv Consultancy Services Limited, outsourcing has become more of a driving force than a challenge.
He was born on 9 Jan 1963 at Pandharpur a religious place in a rural part of western Maharashtra. His father was a clerk in PWD & grew up in a family of his parents' two sisters and three brothers.
His education took place in Palghar, Alandi, Solapur and then finally graduation in Aurangabad as a Civil Engineer. He always stood in ranks throughout his academics journey and bagged school scholarships and National Merit Scholarships. He stood 5th in the University in his final exam of BE Civil.
He cleared MPSC exams and was selected as a Class I officer in PWD, Government of Maharashtra as an Assistant Engineer at the young age of 23 and served in the government for 23 years.
He is the Founder Chairman and Managing Director of the company. He is having a professional experience of 31 years. He has worked in Maharashtra state PWD and MSRDC for 19 years and has a vast experience in roads and bridge constructions, tolls and BOT projects.
He was associated with MSRDC in construction of flyovers in Mumbai, maintenance, toll collection works, IRDP projects, ROB projects, and road works. He was also involved in the formulation of BOT policy and implementation of Mega BOT projects in Maharashtra.
44 years old, he handles Business Development activities in the company. He has worked in the infrastructure sector at grassroots levels and has immense skills and experience of handling clients and customers.
With more than 20 years of experience and is associated with the company since incorporation, he is the ideal Second-Generation Entrepreneur a company can have. The family owns this company and Civil Engineering lies in the blood of the family.
Tanvi Dandawate is positioned as managing director of the company, and she is taking DCSL towards higher latitude. In her capable hands, the company has grown in multi-folds, financially as well as administratively, since she has taken over the company in 2016.
At a mere age of 26, she handles her responsibility with utmost dedication and integrity. Being from the millennial generation, her perspective and vision for the company are way ahead of the traditional approach.
She does her work ethically, being from an engineering background, with her experience she has gained immense knowledge in Finance and Administration.
In a conversation with The CEO Magazine, P. B. Dandawate talks about his journey, overview, future aspirations, infusion of technology and more.
P. B. Dandawate: Since the liberalization in 1991, reforms in economic strategy encouraged privatization in Country. Post-1995, Private consultants were being appointed to enhance the quality and accuracy of projects.
In a way, working as a consultant was going to put my skills for better use, and I feel this is also a service to the nation.
P. B. Dandawate: Generally, Infrastructure projects required to be designed and executed with high precision. And, as the government has less advanced technical skills, it becomes difficult for them to monitor the quality of work making void for flaws in the system.
We as a consultant, specifically fix this problem. We have senior staff with vast knowledge and young employees who are enthusiastic, which is a great synergy for the organization and helps us stand out from the others in the consulting industry.
P. B. Dandawate: With technology entering into infrastructure sector as well, dependency on manual workforce reduces to quite an extent. Use of software for designing, estimation, project management, Financial accounting, and reporting has increased accuracy levels.
So, with technological advancements, the consultancy business will also grow as it will increase efficiency, thereby giving high precision and satisfied clients.
P. B. Dandawate: Presently, the company is working for two major types of services in the infrastructure section Feasibility Study and Preparation of Detailed Project Report.
It includes the detailed planning, designing, estimation, costing, land acquisition proposals, forest clearance proposals, utility shifting proposals, technical and financial viability of the project.
It covers the supervision for Construction and Maintenance Projects – which includes monitoring the quality, quantity, day-to-day execution activities, certification of milestones, certification of drawings and all other activities involved in the execution of an infrastructure project.
P. B. Dandawate: Our major Clients are the MORT&H, NHAI, MMRDA, JNPT, CIDCO, and MSRDC. All the government offices are in close vicinity to our corporate office where maintaining relations with the clients becomes easier.
We have proficient a team of workers, who have experience of working in Government. This gives us an edge while maintaining long-term relationships with the client.
P. B. Dandawate: we started this company with four employees, and now we are 450 plus and likely to be double in the next 2 years.
The employees here are a blend of professionals in both private and Government sector. All employees have talent, spirit, energy, and integrity be it any age and experience.
These employees are our main asset, and once they join, they work as a part of the family. The second-generation of Dhruv's Management has also maintained the same culture with which the company started.
Company is working on ports, heritage conservation works, smart cities, and has recently entered bidding for Solar Projects. In the next 5 years, the aim is to strengthen these verticals to play a vital role in the rapidly growing Indian economy in these sectors and to expand the growing business worldwide.
P. B. Dandawate: In the last few years, the industry of infrastructure consulting in India has witnessed substantial growth in terms of services offered and not just size superficially.
Customers in India are now keenly looking for consultant expertise for their organisations that in return are opening up a plethora of new opportunities for well-established and budding consultants to facilitate the business with their knowledge base and familiarity.
The future is all set to go under the insurance umbrella of the best practices adopted with a smooth infusion of technology, warehousing of data, knowledge management tools, and an industry that is open to transition.
The industry is by each passing day soaring to new heights around the world and rapidly getting used to the swift pace.
The need to power the framework has increased for Indian consulting industry by implementation of the invention, cultivation of aptitude, refining the value of consulting services, and improving consulting abilities.
P. B. Dandawate: The Company got first outsized work of Design & Project Management consultancy work for Bhiwandi – Kalyan Shil Road amounting of Rs. 210 Cr.
The work was upgradation of a two-lane road to four-lane Highway of State Highway No. 4 including one creek bridge of length 269.8m, one ROB of length 475.14m inclusive of design. The Client was PLUS Expressways Berhad (K.L.) Malaysia. The Work finished in 2009 on B.O.T basis.
The second milestone was securitization of toll income & five entry points of Mumbai. This project proved to be an acceleration point in terms of our growth.
Our work broadly included Preliminary survey of tolls and their systems, collection of traffic data for five locations, analyzing the data, and calculating their revenue estimation, the estimate for periodical, renewal, and structural repairs of flyover works, preparing a business plan including corridor wise cash flow to preparation of tender document among others.
With this Confidence, the company started making Joint Venture with large scale firms and got a prestigious work of Capacity Augmentation of Mumbai Pune Expressway (MPEW) in 2010.
The company achieved a turnover of Rs. 10 cr. with an age of 10 years in 2013 and thus qualified for work of National Highways. Installed simultaneously by MORT&H in 10 out of 12, categories thus registered it at the national level for work in other states. This was another feather in the cap.
In the year 2014 Government of India took an ambitious project of upgrading the road network all over India. Also in Maharashtra, a number of roads were identified for up gradation to National Highway Standard.
This was a great opportunity for the company to be part of the development of this Strategic Network.
Our Sixth milestone was the award of two mega-sized bridge inspection works (MBIU -Mobile Bridge Inspection Unit). We were awarded two major works of bridge inspection on National Highways by MoRTH in the States of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, and Dadara Nagar & Haveli.
This work majorly consists of Inventory and condition Survey of all bridges & structures on the National Highway & submission of reports to MoRTH/IDDC.
Our Seventh milestone came as an opportunity to prove our worth with an unfortunate incident that occurred at Savitri Bridge on 2nd August 2016, where the bridge collapsed while close to 42 people losing their lives.
Hon. Minister for MoRTH & Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari announced that the new bridge would complete within a year. We as Authority's Engineer put our best effort to deliver on Hon.
Minister's Promise. We completed the new bridge in 165 days. Our effort was recognized by The Ministry with a certificate of appreciation.
The Eight Milestone was making on the list of BSE on 10th May 2018 and becoming a public limited company. This, in turn, helped us to put our mark on the map, develop a reputation, and capital in the market.
P. B. Dandawate: The company business and government policies go hand in hand when it comes to infrastructure. Company has a strong order book of Rs. 299 cr. to execute in the next 2 years.
Considering an unexecuted portion of Rs. 175 cr., it is going to touch a dynamic growth of FY 19-20. We are also working hard to increase our share in Bharatmala and Sagarmala Pariyojana like the strategic development of the country.
Even if considered on a conservative side at 5% is Rs. 200 cr. per year in the next 5 years.
The vision is to execute the order book in an effective way to reduce high aging debtors and reduce expenditures and increase profits, thus making company debt-free.
P. B. Dandawate: There are some key points one should know before walking this path. The aspirant should possess technical knowledge and have real practical experience in the field.
He should also have a good financial background before starting a business. The reliable and highly skilled team of professionals will take a venture to new heights in no time.
"As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied to us."
Winston Churchill.
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