Petya-hit Saint-Gobain says it’s GST ready

Never mind the Petya ransomware attack on its global systems which impacted its network in India for over 36 hours, Saint-Gobain Glass India is ready to start invoicing under the GST from midnight tonight.

Saint-Gobain India, says President and Managing Director, B Santhanam, stopped invoicing its products for 12 hours from Friday noon to make a seamless transition to the GST regime soon as it’s rung in. “We are internally ready and waiting for the GST rollout,” he adds.

Santhanam explains that the company did not halt its production or distribution as it was able to isolate its local systems from the global network to service Indian customers.

“Those two days were challenging, but we have a strong disaster management system in place. Those elaborate protocols which we thought we would never use, are actually coming into play now. The resolution is already in place, and production, operations and despatches are ramping up,” he explains.

Santhanam says the new tax system would give a competitive advantage for the French company that faces competition from some traders on imports.

“There are a lot of grey practices but we are already seeing a behavioural change in many of our small retailers; GST is introducing this behavioural change. There will be transitionary pain but we feel that we will have a good July. It’s healthy for the industry and our company; anyone who is doing transparent practices will welcome this and in many cases customers will benefit,” explains Santhanam.

At a function on Friday, Saint-Gobain’s corporate office was re-certified with an LEED gold rating by Green Business Certification Inc.

The certificate was handed over to Santhanam by Mahesh Ramanujam, President & CEO of GBCI.

It recognises Saint-Gobain’s efforts in energy, water, waste management and indoor environment quality.

The Chennai office got its certificate first in 2013 and the re-certification recognises the glass major’s continuing efforts in going green.

Among the key initiatives by Saint-Gobain are: 90 per cent of the office space is naturally lit, it uses an energy efficient façade that reduces 85 per cent of the incoming heat, transparent partitions to improve penetration of daylight to work areas, all workstations made of glass and recycled material.

“We believe in a sustainably-built work environment, which promotes well-being while enhancing cognitive comfort and quality of life,” says Santhanam.

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