EGS Survey Pvt Ltd, established in 2006, has emerged as a formidable force in India's offshore survey sector. Commander (Retd.) PK Tyagi, Managing Director, speaks about the company's growth trajectory and his views on the industry in an exclusive interview with Manoj Kumar of The Marine World. Excerpts:

Let us start from a broad perspective. How far has India's marine survey industry been affected by the recent global recession? How did your company fare?
The recession has not affected India so much because there is considerable amount of domestic consumption. However, it will be incorrect to say that the recession has not affected the country at all. Infrastructure development has slowed down and therefore the recession affected India with a time lag. What happened the world over last year is happening in India this year. Elsewhere recessionary trends are lifting, but the Indian offshore industry has started feeling the pinch at the present moment. Many infrastructure projects did not take place last year, and were deferred.

How long do you think the survey industry will take to witness boom?
Survey industry depends on a lot of factors such as the developments in the oil sector, which has not been affected because India has a lot of domestic consumption and therefore continued requirement to develop oil fields. Another factor is the need for development of new facilities such as ports and jetties. A lot of such projects were put on hold. Projects that were not awarded last year might be getting awarded this year. Infrastructure has suffered from this slowdown. But the oil sector apparently did not suffer. The oil industry kept us going. Shipping does not involve so much of surveying. There is hardly any work from the shipping side coming to us. By next year it should be all right.

What are EGS' achievements in India?
EGS started after Elcome Surveys, the largest private sector survey company in India, was bought by multinational company. Some of us then left Elcome and set up a company with support from a British company from Hong Kong. The multinational EGS was 34-year-old at that time. In 2006 February we set up our company, with a small group of just three people. Today we have 53 employees.
In the first year we saw business of Rs four lakh . We have grown tremendously since then, undertaking projects in several Parts of the world . We have undertaken projects in Iraq. In the financial year ended 2008 March, our revenue was Rs 20 crore. This year we expect to make Rs 30 crore. We have done reasonably well. We have a nucleus of very highly trained and experienced manpower. The majority of them are from Elcome Surveys including me. I was the Chief Executive Officer of Elcome Surveys at the time of her acquisition. All my senior colleagues are from Elcome. We have been working together for the last 16 years. We have a good, new and reliable set of equipment, which are the same as that any other survey company uses. We use all Indian resources. We are the only company servicing the Middle East from India, and pay taxes here. Other companies have set up subsidiaries overseas to avoid paying taxes in India. We have not done that. In commercial terms we may be called fools but we are not. We are operating from India, our resources are from India, and our revenue comes to India. We are purely an Indian company. The initial support came from the Hong Kong Company. Hong Kong gives you lots of facilities for business. As a former British colony, Hong Kong has a number of advantages. Even today, Indians, and other nationals can fly into Hong Kong on a 14-day visa on-arrival The Company continues to be located there in Hong Kong and is represented on the board as majority shareholders.

It is a tremendous growth from Rs four lakh to Rs 20 crore in turnover. Do you have any capital expenditure plan to augment the growth?
We have invested a million plus dollars last year. I do not think we should invest any more now. We have also invested around Rs four crore in our new office. We are interested in buying a survey ship in future, and for this we will invest. As far as going to the market to raise the funds for this, we have not taken a decision.

Do you mean to say that you want to keep the company privately-held?
We have not taken a decision on that. After all, it is up to the board of directors to take a call on this. EGS is wholly owned by its employees. It is owned by a trust and there is no other owner. So I do not expect that we will go public any time soon.

What are the latest technological breakthroughs in marine survey?
Survey industry has been growing at a steady pace. The technology has not changed very much in years. There are, however, new equipment and systems that have come into the picture. For example, multibeam has come to be recognised as a standard tool the world over. We have three systems of multibeam which we have used up to the depth of 3,000 metres. The latest equipment we have is a Gradiometer used for Seabed surveys in area with metallic debries.. As and when a newer technology emerges, and when any other survey company has it, we also will have it. We are not worried about cash for acquiring newer technologies. We are not cash-strapped.

Do you think the training in India is adequate to handle such most modern technologies?
Our staff includes people who have been trained for more than 15 in years in respective fields. In hydrogaraphic survey, our people are formerly from Indian Navy. I am also from the Navy, which provides the best training in hydrographic survey in India. Our engineers are partly from universities in India or from the Navy. Our geo physicists are from Indian universities or from IITs. In addition, we also have oceanographers with post graduate qualifications. We are one of the two companies in India who have oceanographers.
The staff are well trained and experienced, and include some of the best in the industry. We have not heard a complaint about our staff. Our instrumentation is also the best in the industry. We make sure they are calibrated and maintained periodically. We have a full fledged workshop. We send our instruments to the original equipment manufacturers for repair and servicing rather than tinkering with them here. We also periodically train our people. When we buy new equipment, we have training sessions conducted for our staff by their people so that the new technology gets transferred quickly. This training lasts for around five days. We have a gigabyte internet service. EGS group is a large group with presence in America to Australia. We can get qualified and trained people from one of the group companies from anywhere in the world just as we send our people to train them. It's a different ball game here.

What changes in attitude do you perceive in today's seafarers as compared to those in your generation? Today, seafarers do not like to spend time at sea and are looking for shore jobs.
This attitude is prevalent in offshore also. Having said that, I must say that people come to stay offshore and they love to go to sea. Ocean-going ships are a different industry all together. In offshore, we are amongst the best paymasters in India. It's not because I am in the know of what others pay. It's because nobody who has left EGS has ever joined any other Indian company. In offshore shipping industry the system is different. They go to the sea for eight months and the next eight months they are off from work. This is a very tough life.

Is there any industry mechanism to address the collective issues of marine surveyors?
There is nothing of that sort for surveyors. The collective problems are not being sorted out. The survey industry is one the most disorganised industries. Competition is tough everywhere but in survey industry it is cut-throat. There is co-operation at the level of the professionals. There are only a very few companies, and there is no cooperation at the corporate level. There is no collective bargaining ever done, and I don't think it is likely.
There are several collective issues such as delays in permission and unfair practices resorted to by some of the offshore companies. Even if a qualified Indian company is available in India, some offshore companies bring in foreign companies to do the same work. These issues are there and which can be addressed collectively. For example, the Directorate General of Shipping will not give permission for chartering a foreign merchant navy ship unless it gets a no-objection certificate from the Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA) but in offshore construction contractor can bring in any foreign company at its will. Even in dredging the same situation prevails. There is no way we can stop it.