Polson Ltd is a specialty-chemicals company that makes the substances the global leather industry uses to turn raw hides into finished leather - and it has been doing so, in one form or another, since 1906. Incorporated in 1938 and reshaped under the Kapadia family from 1970, the business today calls itself Asia's largest manufacturer and exporter of natural-based vegetable tannin extracts and eco-friendly leather chemicals. Everything it does runs through a single, self-contained operating philosophy - the Polson Management System - that governs how it makes, sells and manages risk, with an emphasis on an "untarnished track record of consistently meeting international quality standards". # Business segments A single-engine specialty-chemicals business built around one product family - synthetic organic tanning substances and eco-friendly leather chemicals - sold to both domestic and export markets from one manufacturing site. ## 1. Leather chemicals: Asia's largest maker of natural tannin extracts **The company makes the intermediates that turn hides into leather, using natural raw materials whose waste then fuels the factory - a closed loop that lowers both input and energy costs.** - **One product family, many end-uses** - its synthetic organic tanning substances and vegetable tannin extracts are intermediates that go into pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, adhesives, paints, coatings, agrochemicals and even photovoltaic solar-cell materials, so demand is spread across industries far beyond leather. - **Natural feedstock, self-supplied fuel** - the principal raw materials are Hirda and Tamarind Testa, and the residue left after processing is burned as boiler fuel, which cuts the consumption of furnace oil. - **Exports are the mainstay** - a major portion of business is transacted in US dollars, revenue is recognised when goods are handed to Customs, and the company uses foreign-currency credit facilities and forward contracts to manage the resulting exposure. - **Long credit cycles, managed deliberately** - the average collection period from customers stretches to 90-360 days, while it typically settles its own payables in about 90 days, and the operating cycle is a full twelve months. - **A single factory, tightly maintained** - manufacturing runs from one unit at Kagal, Kolhapur, where the company applies reliability tools like FMEA and RCM, runs SAP Plant Maintenance, and physically verifies all plant and equipment once every three years. # Group structure and partners **Polson is a standalone operating company with no subsidiaries or joint ventures, controlled by a single parent and run by a family management team.** - **Parent and ownership** - the company is a subsidiary of M/s AJI Commercial Private Limited, with an equity base of 1,20,000 shares of Rs. 50 each. - **No group entities** - it has no subsidiaries, associate companies or joint ventures, so all operations sit inside one legal entity. - **Family-led board** - the six-member board includes Managing Director Amol Kapadia and Executive Director Sushila Kapadia, who are mother and son, alongside two non-executive non-independent directors and two non-executive independent directors. - **Related-party sales** - the company sells goods to Atlas Refinery Private Limited, an enterprise where key management personnel have significant influence, on an arm's-length basis in the ordinary course of business.