It is my pleasure to introduce you to the seven-decade old Dempo Group of Companies. We are engaged in a myriad of activities, both business and not-for-profit, and are prominent players in the industrialization as well as the social development of Goa along India’s West Coast. The present Group turnover exceeds Rupees 7200 Million (US $ 153 Million).

Historically, we have been essentially in the business of resources or commodities, with our one-time Company being among the earliest to mine for iron ore in Goa. My grandfather, the late Vasantrao S. Dempo, and his brother, the late Vaikunthrao S. Dempo, founded V S Dempo & Co. Pvt Ltd in 1941. The Group ventured later into manufacturing calcined petroleum coke, pig iron, baby foods, and ship building & repair, newspaper publishing, the travel business, and wind energy generation. In 1999 I was called upon to take charge of the group following the untimely demise of my father, the late Vasudeva V. Dempo, who had begun a phase of business consolidation.

The customer response to each of the Dempo products has been gratifying. Our commitments to quality, standardization of manufacturing and other systems, environmental stewardship, partnership with Government and civil society are a matter of record. The enduring partnerships we have nurtured with global customers stand testimony to the tenet of responsible business that we swear by. All our activities are geared to excellence by way of ethics.

Wedded as we are to sustainable development, we believe in taking along all our stakeholders on the way to business excellence. Our diverse corporate social responsibility programmes and initiatives are aimed at furthering higher education, climate change awareness, sporting excellence, and cultural richness, each of which is an inseparable feature of the Goan social landscape.

My recent decision to divest our Goa-based iron ore mining business is part of the Dempo strategy to ensure the sustainability of our conglomerate by unlocking value, thereby deploying resources across new lines of activity while injecting fresh resources into existing businesses.

Let me once again welcome you to this enlightening discovery of the Dempo Entities.

With compliments,

Shrinivas V. Dempo
Chairman, Dempo Group
October 2010