India has the fourth largest railway network with over 22,593 operating trains with a daily passenger count of 24 million passengers and 203.88 million tons of freight. India's railway network is recognized as one of the largest railway systems in the world under single management. Under Modi Government, there has been a shift in vision to improve the infrastructure in the country and since 2014, the pace of infrastructural development has skyrocketed with the introduction of modern systems at par with global standards.
More importantly, the will to make the infrastructure in India at par with the developed countries is very strong which is helping in actually achieving the set targets. With more focus vested on Dedicated Freight Corridors, Highspeed Railways, Gauge Conversion, Doubling Projects, and Metro Rails coming up in all the major cities, there is huge potential in the infrastructure segment, especially in Roads and Railways.
A pioneering firm recognized for its Railway Infrastructure services, ISC Projects is a name that has set a niche for itself, right from Jammu down to Karnataka and from Maharashtra to Orissa. Established in 1969 by Indrajeet Singh Chhabra - an engineer by profession, ISC Projects came into existence as a proprietary firm with very minimal resources. Today, the company stands tall with an annual turnover of more than 500 Crores. A single window solution provider for all the services required in any railway project, ISC is also a major player in earthworks, bridge construction works, flash-butt welding, thermic welding, signaling & telecommunication, overhead electrification, and construction of station buildings, etc.
"In the 1980s, with Indian Railways doing almost all the work departmentally, there was no system of awarding contracts of railway track works. Only labor contracts for spreading of ballast, placing sleepers, rail shifting, and other miscellaneous works were awarded to contractors. However, by 1982, we ventured into executing track-related works like deep screening of ballast, track sleeper replacement, track relaying works, and track de-stressing, this again was labor-intensive work with no involvement of material procurement or supply.
Not long after, Central Railway floated tenders for laying of railway tracks including supply of fittings and fastenings and the work was awarded to ISC Projects. Since then, there has been no looking back for us", says Indrajeet Singh Chhabra, Founder & Chairman of ISC Projects.
It was in 1990, that this firm became stronger when both his sons, Kulmeet and Jameet got on board and coupled their knowledge to contribute to the growth of the company. In the year 2008, the firm was restructured as ISC Projects, with Kulmeet Singh Chhabra as Managing Director and Jameet Singh Chhabra as CEO. Today, ISC Projects has marked its presence across 19 states in India with its fleet of all modern machinery and 500 plus employees.
ISC Projects has laid 4000+ km of railway tracks, constructed uncountable major and minor bridges all with unique designs structures, and has cumulatively done about 1.50 Crore Cubic Meters
of earthwork in Cutting and Filling of which nearly 40 lakh cubic meters is for cutting in Hard Rock. Today, ISC Projects is a celebrated name in the sector with a reputation for blistering pace and quality within all divisions of Indian Railways and PSUs like RVNL, IRCON, Konkan Railway, and RITES, etc.
Addressing Client Challenges With Years Of Experience
"Today, one of the most common yet major expectations of all the clients is before-time completion of the project, with absolutely zero compromises of quality standards. With our skilled team of professionals and years of experience, timely completion is given the highest priority at ISC Projects, and the firm leaves no stone unturned when it comes to completing the project within the stipulated time", shares Kulmeet Singh Chhabra, Managing Director of ISC Projects.
"At ISC Projects, the approach has always been towards devising new solutions which befit today's world. For example, the monitoring of machines such as excavators, tippers, transit mixers, etc., and controlling their fuel consumption and theft has always been challenging with little to no means of controlling it. However, recently we have installed GPS-operated vehicle monitoring systems in our 500 plus machines to monitor their location, activities, and fuel consumption which has improved considerably now that theft of fuel has significantly declined."
In today's world of cutthroat competition, it is critical to be independent in every aspect to survive and thrive. While every project has problems from clients, with its ‘Be Proactive, Be Independent’ approach, ISC Projects proactively tries to resolve them without wasting any time waiting for the client to solve them. ISC is also going the extra mile in its endeavor to be completely independent by amassing a massive fleet of plants and machines to remove all dependency on third-party support for machinery use.
"To eliminate dependency on other agencies, we have acquired our fleet of plants and machines. For example, in the case of flash-butt welding, an important activity in track laying works today for which we had to depend on external parties for the machine. However, to be fully equipped, we acquired our flash-butt welding machine. Every project has project-specific needs, and in our effort to expedite project completion we don't believe in holding back when it comes to expanding our fleet of plants and machines which includes an ever-increasing number of concrete batching plants, transit mixers, special shuttering and staging, tower cranes, excavators, tippers, etc.", briefs Jameet Singh Chhabra, CEO of ISC Projects.
Nurturing The Experts
"ISC Projects vests major focus on nurturing the talent at hand. We understand that human resource is the backbone of our organization, and every win is a result of our team's dedication towards their work and a positive attitude of our team towards their commitments. Hence, at ISC we make sure to take utmost care of our team through various employee welfare and benefit programs.
Our founder is extremely passionate about the education of children, especially the education and welfare of daughters. We have therefore started a few policies in line with his passion, some of which are – the Save Girl Child Policy wherein Rs. Fifty Thousand is deposited in a Sukanya Samruddhi Account on the birth of a girl child for our Head Office staff and Rs. One Lakh for staff working on site. Furthermore, an additional Rs. Fifty Thousand is deposited in the Education Institute's Account for Higher Education of the daughter, and a Marriage Gift Policy for girls with a gift of Rs. One Lakh upon their marriage. Every staff member and their family members are covered by the most comprehensive MediclaimPolicy", says Managing Director Mr.Kulmeet Sigh Chhabra, ISC Projects.
Leaving Footprints For Others To Follow
Starting from scratch with limited bandwidth both in terms of geographical presence and the type of work undertaken, today, ISC Projects has grown steadily and created its presence across India and expertise in all the verticals involved in railway projects and that too with strong financial credentials. Coming from an annual turnover of Rs. 55 Crores in 2013 to more than Rs. 500 Crores in 2022 culminating in average year-over-year growth of more than 25%, the journey of ISC Projects has been remarkable.
"With a current turnover of more than Rs. 500 Crores and order book of more than 1500 Cr, our target is to increase the Year Over Year Growth rate to 50% and achieve turnover of more than 1000 Cr. in next two years. By 2025 ISC Projects will be in the top 10 companies in India dealing in railway projects", says Jameet Singh Chhabra. The company has diversified and expanded horizons starting with only labour-oriented works to the successful execution of large value consolidated contracts including major and minor bridges, viaducts, earthwork, laying of tracks, etc. "During the journey so far, we have diversified our business and added a new vertical of Real Estate Projects.
We have only recently completed and handed over a major Real Estate Project in Pune comprising 420 apartments and we have another major, high-end project of around 300 apartments coming up in Koregaon Park, Pune. We have also begun venturing into the highways sector with two highways projects currently under execution this is a sector we are looking at very favourably for the future and we feel that in the coming years the highway sector will be a substantial contributor to our revenue figures. We are currently also exploring the mining sector and we will be adding a new mining division very soon", concludes Jameet Singh Chhabra.
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