India is celebrating completion of 75 years of Independence. During these years, as a country we have come a long way on multiple fronts, be it industrialization, education, healthcare, science, information technology to mention a few. These developments and accomplishments of India on the global stage inspire confidence and enthusiasm among the citizens especially the youth to strive for greater achievements in the future.

While doing so, we should not forget the sacrifices and contribution of the freedom fighters and the founding fathers. Our founder, Shri.Navalmal Kundanmal Firodia was a true patriot and his vision was to transform India into an industrially self-reliant nation. His keen desire to improve the lot of the common man by providing effective and efficient transport solutions still inspires us in our efforts.

Our group along with all its employees has also played an important role in enabling India to reach this enviable position. Some of the landmark achievements are:

• Invention of the concept of the Autorickshaw,
• Maker of India's first 4-Wheeled petrol light transport vehicle - Viking
• Maker of India's first 4-wheeled diesel light transport vehicle - Matador
• Maker of India's first fully indigenous utility vehicle - Tempo Trax
• Design and development of India's first fully indigenous moped - Luna
• One of India's largest and most awarded independent aluminium die-casting manufacturer
• Design and development of India's largest monocoque panel vans and monocoque buses.

During the pandemic we witnessed a surge in demand for ambulances purchases and are privileged to be considered a dependable lifesaving partner for our fellow citizens. Now that the pandemic is behind us, our key segments school, staff and tourist are opening up, we are confident that the second half of this fiscal should see significant increase in our sales volumes.

The Traveller Monobus is steadily making inroads into 33/41- seater segment. We have now started getting repeat orders once the operators who opted for Monobus experienced its superior fuel efficiency, riding comfort and driveability in comparison to the competing makes in their fleet.

The economy as well as the manufacturing industry is on the growth path. Our high technology aggregates business with BMW and Mercedes-Benz are in full swing. Till the last count, we have produced over 1,40,000 engines for Mercedes and 65,000 engines for BMW. The new factory set up in Chakan to produce the Rolls-Royce MTU series 1600 10/12 cyl, 1000hp engines is now in regular production and deliveries to customers in India and abroad have commenced.

The brand new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for producing T1N is now fully ready and we hope to roll out the first batch of vehicles in the coming festive season.

Wishing you all a very joyous festive season

- Prasan Firodia

The All-new Force Gurkha was launched with great fanfare in the Nepal market during the first quarter of this year. The all-new Gurkha, with its longer and wider body, most spacious cabin in its class with captain seats for all four occupants, best-in-class legroom, headroom, and elbow room plus over 500 litres of boot space was an instant hit with the Nepalese customers.

The main event arranged by our distributor, Aayam Intercontinental Pvt. Ltd based in Kathmandu started with the auspicious lamp-lighting ceremony followed by an address by Mr. Dhrubha Thapa, Chairman of Aayam Intercontinental. The large gathering included key government officials, representatives from leading banks, institutional customers, leading automobile dealers and many local dignitaries.

"Gurkha is not only superior in terms of power, performance, and design but also highly suitable for the road conditions in Nepal" said Dhruba Thapa, who is also the President of Nepal Automobile Dealer Association. He assured that his company is well equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, top quality human resources including company trained technicians to offer high end service to the customers.

At this event, keys were handed over to several customers by Mr Laveen Gupta, Vice President, International Business, Force Motors. Many spot bookings were also received during the event. The two other dealers in Nepal M/s Siddhartha and M/s Biswajyoti also organized similar events in their towns.

The mechanical engineering stream is traditionally considered to be male-dominated. However, this trend is rapidly changing with more women opting for it; and this is reflected in greater number of women joining our factory on the shop floor.

Of the many women working with Force Motors, this edition features three ladies who work at the Pithampur factory which is our flagship plant producing the full range of Traveller, Trax, Gurkha and the new T1N. It is a state of the art facility complete with power train manufacturing, press shop, body shop, paint shop and final assembly lines.

The ladies in focus work in the area dedicated to manufacturing of axles in the power train unit.

Mrs. Nisha Jinwal: Nisha has been working at Force Motors Pithampur plant for over 11 years. She started her career as an engineer inspecting engine components. Gradually gaining expertise in transmission production, today she leads it. She underwent professional training in the organization and is also an internal auditor of EOHS. She has implemented various KAIZENs and Six Sigma practices.

She enjoys working with Force Motors as the organization provides continuous on-the-job learning opportunities and gives liberty to put the learning to actual practice. Her suggestion to every lady considering joining Force Motors is, “It is a great place for women to work, there is safety and support of the management and immediate superiors to learn and hone one's skills."

Ms. Sakshi Ojha: Sakshi started her career with Force Motors in 2017 and has completed 5 years with the organization. She has been working in the quality department of the power train unit and has mastered trouble shooting grinding issues.

She feels there is absolute gender equality in the organization and suggestions that are in the interest of the end customer are always heard and implemented. Technically she says she has learned a lot from her superiors and the continuous on-the-job learning is her motivation to keep excelling in her performance.

Ms. Archana Salamkar: Archana joined Force Motors in 2017 and has completed 5 years with the organization. She works in the testing and assembly line of power train unit. She has implemented multiple Kaizen initiatives and has won 4 Kaizen certificates.

She feels the work environment is highly conducive for women employees. The tools and equipment on the line are designed for operational ease and limited effort. Thus, even women can easily assemble heavy aggregates. With the modernization of tools and introduction of robotics, efficiency has further increased.

At Force Motors we are happy to have such dedicated technically competent women in our workforce. We look forward to welcoming many more women who wish to follow their passion

In order to keep all our employees focused on delivering top quality in all aspects of manufacturing several initiatives have been taken across all our plants. Notable among these are various competitions like the Quality Quiz competition, Poster competition, Elocution competition and Slogan competition. In addition multiple training sessions have been conducted for Six Sigma, Kaizen, Problem-solving tools, PPAP. These initiatives ensure that the employees are aligned with the quality goals of the organization. The response from our employees is truly heartening. Over 3200 employees across locations participated in the quality slogan competition. About 1500 employees participated in the poster competition and close to a thousand employees participated in the Quality Quiz competition. The organization also celebrated the Quality month with great enthusiasm. All these activities will surely enable Top Quality in the products and services that we offer to our customers.

Now that the pandemic is behind us, and our key segments viz., schools, staff transport, tour and travels have started opening up, it was decided to re-energise the field sales teams by conducting refresher sales training programs across the country. The first of these programs was focused on the school bus segment.

The training program initiative was named "KARTOOS" as during the training programs the sales persons were being given ammunition to win over customers. The theme of the program was "HAR SCHOOL HAMARI BUS MEIN" as the objective was to have our school buses in every school. Over 500 sales persons across the country were trained under this initiative.

The topics covered during the training program included TCO (Total Cost of Operation) calculations, explanation of benefits over comparable competition models, establishing technical superiority of our products especially the new models like the Monobus, exchange and finance schemes, etc.,

Child safety in Force Motors school buses is our uttermost priority. During the last 3 years people barely travelled except for essentials. Schools being shut and drivers not using their driving skills often, it was a worrisome situation for academic institutions and parents like. Our sales team took note of this and tried to help by coming up with a unique driver training programme.

In this programme drivers, conductors and in some instances fleet managers were given refresher training programs. Besides safe driving practices, social and behavioural best practices were also incorporated in the training module. The concept was developed keeping

all stake holders in mind and training was imparted for ensuring all safety precautions and practises are implemented when children were aboard.

Glimpse of the training program conducted at Children Academy, Mumbai is seen here.

The bus segment is one of the most competitive segments in the Indian commercial vehicles industry. With the four leading national players catering to this segment, snatching share for a new entrant is very challenging. However, the unique selling proposition of monocoque structure offering best in class fuel efficiency, unmatched structural strength and lowest maintenance cost is a proposition difficult to beat. This is precisely what happened, our customers could not disagree and we were able to record a sale of over one hundred Traveller Monobus (school bus variant) within 60 days of its introduction.

Hansa Foundation is an NGO that supports the cause of providing medical treatment for needy patients. Their focus is on those who reside in remote areas where medical assistance is barely available and who cannot afford the transport cost to the urban centres where medical facilities are available.

It is indeed a very noble cause and their efforts are most commendable. In order to fulfil their objectives, they needed ambulances that were also equipped to provide primary healthcare in the form of medicines and non-invasive treatment. Force Motors supplied 150 twin stretcher ambulances built on the wider T2 platform suitably modified to meet their requirements. Going by their experience of cost effectiveness, operating efficiency, and utility of these ambulances, the NGO placed repeat orders on Force Motors.

We wish Hansa Foundation all the very best in their endeavours and are happy to be a part of their noble cause.

The flower rose considered a symbol of love comes in various shapes, sizes and colours; every colour representing a different human emotion. Force Motors, Pithampur participated in 34th Rose Exhibition organized by the Malwa Rose Society. It was a virtual exhibition (first of its kind, in view of COVID). It was held on 5th & 6th Feb '22 and was open to exhibitors from the Malwa region (Indore and nearby places).

The exhibition was segregated into two categories; Cut Flower Category and Pot & Plant Category, both for individual and institutional. Force Motors Ltd. won four prizes in total; stood first in Pot & Plant Category and Floribunda, and stood second in HT orange and HT red. With this, Force Motors now have the newest additions to bloom in their in-house nursery.

June 05 is designated as World Environment day to encourage awareness about pressing environmental issues. Force Motors also celebrated the World Environment Day 2022 across all locations. The theme was creating awareness about the importance of green cover that helps absorb carbon dioxide, reduce pollutants and provide natural cooling. Hundreds of saplings were planted at all our plants. The best part was that the saplings planted were all raised in our in-house nurseries. Seen here are glimpses of the tree plantations done on the occasion.

This is Sachin Matkar, a native of the Malwa region of Central India. He holds a Masters's degree in Chemistry and has been working at Force Motors, Pithampur, since May 2004 in the Paint Shop department as Sr Manager. He was drawn to photography at an early age and blessed with an observant eye he started capturing the dramas unfolding in nature as a hobby.

He says, "My passion for wildlife photography and birding has only intensified in the past 5 years, resulting in extensive traveling to major national parks in India and the most memorable, a field trip to Masai Mara nature reserve in Africa".

He loves to shoot Indian birds, wildlife and landscape as he believes that India has one of the most diverse flora & fauna. He also lectures about his work and the state of wildlife to the youngsters.

He has received numerous awards and recognitions both at national and international levels and stands among the top 10% of mammal and bird photographers. Sachin is a founder member of Wild Worriers' Society of Indore, a Life member of Youth Hostel - Indore unit/Life member of Lens Maestro Group of Photography Indore, and a Member of Camera club of Indore.

Apart from this, Sachin has a huge variety of collections of coins from about a century ago, which includes not just Indian coins but other countries as well. He also is a big-time Bird Watching enthusiast. In his spare time, he could be found in unusual areas with his set of binoculars, quietly and patiently waiting just to get a good glimpse of birds that one doesn't easily get to see in the normal course of daily life.

One rarely finds many members of the same family in one organization. We have amongst us five brothers working in our group companies. These are Mr. Ugam Singh Bhati, Mr. Mehtab Singh Bhati, Mr. Gayad Singh Bhati, Mr. Tagat Singh Bhati, and Mr. Narpat Singh Bhati. All of them are working in the Security Department . The eldest of them Ugam Singh Bhati joined the company way back in 1984 and has completed 37 years in the company.

That is not all we have employees in our security department whose children are also working in our company. They are working in the security department but after in the manufacturing as well as in the IT dept. The organization appreciates these families’ dedication.

It is a matter of great pride that our team at Jaya Hind Industries has taken the initiative to design, develop and manufacture in- house Jet Cooling equipment which is a critical process in handling hotspots in dies. This process was initially accomplished using very costly imported machines. This is truly a Make in India achievement

Hearty congratulations to P. Balagurunathan, Plant Head, for leading this effort along with active support from section heads S. Vasantharaj (Maintenance), K. Harikumar (PDC & Utility) and N. Ramesh (PDC Production).

Not to forget the Engineers on the job, D.Lokesh kumar ( Jr. Engineer - PDC ) , T. Sathishkumar (Engineer - PDC), U.Rajesh (Engineer - PDC), Sarathbabu (Engineer - PDC), and K. Kumaran (Engineer - PDC)

Mr. Rakesh Maru

Mr. Rakesh Maru has joined us on 1st August 2022 as 'President Sales and Marketing' at Akurdi Pune. He will be responsible for Sales, After Sales and Marketing functions for CVD and SVD. With 30 years of experience in Strategy and Revenue Growth, New Product Launch, Product positioning, Channel Development, People Management and Development.

Mr. Naren Joshi

Mr. Naren Joshi has joined us on 27th June 2022 as 'General Manager Service' at Akurdi, Pune, who will be handling CVD and AVD service. He has 22 years of rich experience in Customer Support, Technical Support, Customer Management, Dealer Management and Part.

Mr. Ranajit Mukherjee

Mr. Ranajit Mukherjee has joined us on 18th July 2022 as ‘General Manager Sales’ at Akurdi, Pune. He will be responsible for CVD division White Buses (T1, T2and Monobus). He has 27 years of experience in Channel Sales, Institutional Sales, Business Development and Network Expansion.