SRF Journey
The roots of SRF’s Business dates back two centuries.
SRF began as Shri Ram Fibres in 1970 to manufacture nylon tyre cord fabrics. Its formation was a result of the foresight that nylon was the future material for tyre cord fabrics. We established our first Tyre Cord Fabrics plant in Manali near Chennai in 1974. These fabrics are used as reinforcement material in a wide range of tyres. Production of Fishnet Twines started in the Manali plant near Chennai in 1977. The company made a conscious decision to cease the manufacturing of twisted cord/twine some years ago. Our Engineering Plastics Business was established in 1979, manufacturing more than 500 grades of engineering plastics in five categories of polymer range, catering to the automotive industry and the electrical & electronics sector. Society for Education and Welfare Development was set up in 1982 as the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of SRF Limited. SRF started manufacturing belting fabrics that are used as reinforcement material in conveyor belts and other mechanical rubber equipment at Viralimalai, Tamil Nadu. Processed within multiple layers inside conveyor belts, belting fabrics offer requisite strength and durability to the end-product. Coated Fabrics Business was set up in 1986. The business offers a diverse range of products for several applications in varied segments such as architecture, lifestyle, sports, advertising, defense, mines, food & agriculture, automobile, and transportation. SRF Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company started in 1986. SRF started its journey in Fluorochemicals in 1989, manufacturing refrigerants at our facility in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, India. SRF’s Fluorochemicals Business holds the status of being a refrigerant supplier of choice with pride, serving customers in more than sixty countries worldwide. Shri Ram Fibres diversified beyond technical textiles and entered the chemicals business to manufacture refrigerants. Consequently, Shri Ram Fibres was renamed SRF Limited to better represent its strong, independent, industry-leading businesses. Our journey in the Packaging Films Business started in 1995 when we acquired a BOPET film plant at Kashipur in India from M/s Flowmore. We have since then grown beyond the national boundaries and become one of the leading manufacturers of both BOPET as well as BOPP films globally. SRF acquired the nylon tyre cord division of CEAT Ltd. Located at Malanpur, near Gwalior, the cost of the acquisition was INR 325 crore. Back in the day, it was the biggest acquisition in India Inc’s history. With this acquisition, SRF also became the largest tyre cord company in India and the second largest globally and has since maintained its position. SRF collaborated with Elf- Atochem, a leading global chemical technology developer in 1995 to manufacture Chloromethanes at its chemical facility in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. The company started a vision care division to manufacture plastic optical lenses in Bangalore. Our first overseas venture! We commenced operations at our first international plant, SRF Overseas Limited set up in the Jebel AN Free Trade Zone, Dubai to manufacture nylon tyre cord fabric. The company sold its entire 50.5-percent stake of the wholly owned subsidiary, SRF Finance to GE Capital (Mauritius) Investment Ltd., which is a subsidiary of GE Capital of the USA, the world’s largest finance company. Spun off its vision care division which manufactured plastic optical lenses as a separate company to the Paris-based Essilor Group in 1997. SRF acquired the facility with its purchase of DuPont subsidiary DuPont Fibres Ltd (DFL) in September 2000 and renamed it Tyre Cord Fabric Ltd. With deep knowledge of Fluorine since the early 1980s, the company entered the Specialty Chemicals Business as a supplier of fine chemicals to the agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals industry. The business has a rich experience of close to three decades in Custom Synthesis, Contract Research and Manufacturing. To meet the growing demand for packaging films globally, a new manufacturing plant was set up in Indore in 2004. Currently, the Indore (SEZ) plant has an output capacity of 1,58,200 Tonnes per Annum and houses a state-of-the-art R&D center. Society for Education and Welfare Development was renamed as SRF Foundation to better align with SRF Limited. SRF Foundation is dedicated to the transformation of education in the country. SRF acquired the Thai Baroda Industries Limited plant in Rayong, Thailand that manufactured Nylon 6 tyre cord fabric. SRF acquired the belting fabrics business of Industex Technical Textiles (Pty) Limited, a South African company. The acquisition cost approximately INR 20 crore. Post the acquisition, the new entity was named SRF Industex Belting (Pty) Limited. We commenced commercial production of Polyester Industrial Yarn in May 2009 with a capacity of 14,500 Metric Tonnes per Annum. Located in Gummidipoondi (Tamil Nadu, India), the manufacturing facility takes pride in its state-of-the-art technology installation from Toray Industries, Japan. We set up the Laminated Fabrics Business in 2010 with the commencement of our plant at Kashipur, India. The business delivers quality solutions to the printing, advertising & signage industry. The Gummidipoondi plant is equipped with world class facilities for manufacturing yarn, weaving and coating and is fully integrated for manufacture of coated fabrics with PVC formulation. Spread over an area of ~293 acres, SRF’s Dahej facility in Gujarat is the company’s biggest manufacturing facility to-date. It was set up in 2012 with state-of-the-art equipment and best of the brains in the industry to serve the specific needs of its customers. We set up two Packaging Films facilities in Thailand and South Africa in the same year to cater to our customers worldwide. The company closed its manufacturing operations in Jebel AN Free Zone, Dubai. SRF Overseas Ltd. (a wholly owned subsidiary of the company) manufactured nylon tyre cord fabric at its Dubai plant. We acquired the Dymel® HFA 134a/P regulated medical pharmaceutical propellant brand from DuPont™ in January 2015 along with the technology to convert our technical grade of F 134a to the propellant grade. This made us one of the few manufacturers of Pharma grade HFA 134a/P in the world, which is used in Metered Dose Inhalers as a propellant. With the aim of dominating the fast-growing domestic market and leveraging low cost for global play, the company set up a distribution network for refrigerants and chemicals in Thailand through SRF Industries (Thailand). SRF’s Packaging Films Business set up a BOPET and BOPP films manufacturing facility at the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA), in Indore, Madhya Pradesh to tap the growth of the flexible packaging sector in India. SRF acquired the HFC-125 assets and the technical know-how on an exclusive basis. The company relocated the assets to India and set up the facility for manufacturing HFC-125 at its Chemical complex in Dahej, Gujarat. With this acquisition, SRF gained the unique advantage of manufacturing all three major HFCs, namely HFC 134a, 32 and 125, which are marketed under the FLORON® brand. The South African subsidiary was assessed to have become unviable and hence the operations were closed during the year. The company sold its Engineering Plastics Business to DSM, the Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company in an all-cash transaction, amounting to INR 320 cr., making a strategic exit to focus on core businesses. The company closed its Technical Textiles Business (TTB) manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand and the TTB capacities in Rayong were integrated with our India operations. SRF’s newest Bi-axially Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate (BOPET) film manufacturing facility is located at Jaszfenyszaru, Hungary. This state-of-the-art facility houses an ultra-modern 10.4m wide BOPET film line capable of producing 40,000 MT/annum. SRF Industries (Thailand) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the company set up the 2nd BOPET film line and a Resin plant at its existing facility in Rayong, Thailand in 2020. Our 5-layer, 10.4m fully automated high-speed BOPP film line from Brückner, Germany can produce all specialty products. The new line complies with all customer-centric quality norms, highest safety standards and can produce approximately 60,000 tons per annum of BOPP film. SRF Altech Limited is incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of SRF Ltd., to engage in the manufacturing of Aluminium foil.
1970
Shri Ram Fibres was incorporated
1974
Started manufacturing Nylon Tyre Cord Fabrics
1977
Fishnet Twines
1979
Engineering Plastics
1982
Registered the ‘Society for Education and Welfare Development’
1983
Belting Fabrics
1986
Coated Fabrics
1986
SRF Finance
1989
Entered Chemicals Business to manufacture refrigerants
1990
Shri Ram Fibres renamed as SRF
1995
Packaging Films Business
1995
Acquired the Tyre Cord division of CEAT Ltd.
1995
Started manufacturing Chloromethanes
1995
Started a Vision Care Division
1996
SRF Overseas Limited
1997
Sold SRF Finance to GE Capital
1997
Sold its Vision Care Division to Essilor
2000
Technical Textiles Business, Gummidipoondi Plant
2004
Commencement of the Specialty Chemicals Business
2004
Packaging Films Business, SEZ, Indore Site
2007
SRF Foundation
2008
Acquisition of Thai Baroda Industries Limited plant in Rayong, Thailand
2008
SRF Industex Belting (Pty) Limited
2009
Polyester Industrial Yarn
2010
Laminated Fabrics
2011
Coated Fabrics, Gummidipoondi Plant
2012
Commissioned Chemical Complex at Dahej, Gujarat
2013
Packaging Films facilities in Thailand and South Africa
2013
Closure of SRF Overseas Ltd. in Dubai
2015
Acquired Global DuPont™ Dymel® HFA 134a/P
2016
Fluorochemicals Thailand Operations
2017
Packaging Films Business, Domestic Tariff Area, Indore Site
2017
Acquired Mexichem’s HFC-125 assets
2018
Closure of SRF Industex Belting (Pty) Limited
2019
Sold the Engineering Plastics Business to DSM
2019
Closure of the Technical Textiles Business manufacturing plant in Rayong, Thailand
2020
Foray into Europe; Packaging Films Hungary Site
2020
2nd BOPET Film Line and a Resin Plant at Rayong, Thailand
2021
1st BOPP Film Line at Rayong, Thailand
2022
Incorporation of SRF Altech Limited
Sand Art depicting the
SRF Journey
An enriching journey for us. History for the world!
