SEP/OCT 2011
Meet India’s Fastest-Growing
Mid-sized Companies...
India’s fastest-growing Mid-sized Companies
Our Exclus Annuaive Rankinl g
The Magazine for Growing Companies
...and the Superstar
The magazine for growing companies
Entrepreneurs Who Run Them Plus...
Why we’re just getting started... (Our No. 1 on mega growth plans) Page 42 My rags to riches story Page 50 How I paved rough paths Page 54 My ambition doesn’t allow me to sleep Page 67 September/October 2011 | `150 | Volume 02 | Issue 08 A 9.9 Media Publication
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September/October 2011
32 This Is Big
The 3rd annual Inc. India 500 ranking—India’s fastest-growing, mid-sized companies. Also, a peek into our methodology
The Meticulous Planner Manav Garg has coded delivery excellence into Eka Software Solutions. It’s the only path to a $100-million business.
37 The Class of 2011
Our complete list of 500 honourees
42 No. 1
67 Top IPOs
45 Top 6 Business Cities
71 On Our Radar
His company grew by 631% in the last three years—but Vikas Garg, MD, Vikas Global One, thinks he’s just getting started
A look at an important entrepreneurial milestone—going public. A list of companies that fared well at the stock market in 2010
The hubs with the most action
Companies to look out for—they are poised for superstardom
By the Numbers
A look at the top 500, categorised by four revenue bands. And, our pick of interesting entrepreneurs within these bands
78 A Top View
48 Below `100 crore Satheesh Kumar K.R. Enzen Global 50 `101 crore - `500 crore Vijay Shekhar Sharma One97 Communications 54 `501 crore - `1,000 crore G.R.K. Reddy MARG 57 `1,001 crore - `1,500 crore Arun Kumar Jagatramka Gujarat NRE Coke
We gave pop quizzes to our MDs, CEOs and founders—on how they hire and who they wish to be. Here are some of the best answers
Get to know our top 100 better
79/81 A Rapid Fire
My Story
Eight company builders on their twists and turns
60 N.M. Kejriwal Kejriwal Bee Care India 64 Jayadev Galla Amara Raja Batteries 67 Rajesh Agarwal BS TransComm 71 B. Venkataramana Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components 75 Sudhir Seth Sudhir Gensets 88 Manav Garg Eka Software Solutions 92 Sukumar Subramanian Sanraa Media 94 Daya K. Goyal and Ajay K. Goyal, Angelique International
Making It
A photo-feature of everyday products by our winners 46 Tara Health Foods 58 Macleods Pharma 86 Relaxo Footwears
60 Fastest-Growing Private Companies
A look at the top 10 fastestgrowing private companies
96 Publisher’s Note
64 Public Wealth Creators
photographs by subhojit paul and s. Radhakrishna
Ten companies that have created the maximum wealth for their shareholders
This edition of Inc. magazine is published under license from Mansueto Ventures LLC, New York, New York. Editorial items appearing on pages 5, 22-23 and 25-28 were all originally published in the United States edition of Inc. magazine and are the copyright property of Mansueto Ventures, LLC, which reserves all rights. Copyright © 2009 and 2010 Mansueto Ventures, LLC. The following are trademarks of Mansueto Ventures, LLC: Inc., Inc. 500.
Mr High-Growth His father’s advice to him is to slow down. But, the MD of Vikas Global One, our No.1, doesn’t know how to.
on the cover
3-D 500 created by Tommy McCall. Cover design by Sristi Maurya.
september/october 2011 | INC. | 3
contents
September/October 2011
18
14
21
07 Editor’s Letter
08 Behind the Scenes
Companies that help Delhi’s TC stay hip and cool
11 Launch
It’s smart to be nice Research Corner: When to tackle stretch goals and when to play it safe The Ticker The business of uniforms
14 The Scuba Sutras
By Guhesh Ramanathan The joy is also in the little moments, not just in meeting targets
16 Innovation
A super-glue for the skin
18 Passions
Why Varun Agarwal is devoted to filmmaking—it feeds his passion and funds his ventures
21 The Goods
High-end gaming laptops that help you swipe, swoop and splurge Google Chrome apps—we pick out some fun ones you should try out Stay backup-wise with these websites Tag Heuer’s new time machine Tech Wise: Smartphones or tablets—figure out your type Some outdoorsy fun Things Rimy Oberoi cannot live without
Guidebook, No. 8
How to improve sales forecasts. Find the guidebook after Page 24
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25
Strategy 25 Sales & Marketing Using referrals to turn customers into salespeople 27 managing Why some companies are rethinking how they honour top employees 29 sales & Marketing Experts on how a storage company can stack up clients 30 elevator pitch Twtbuck helps brands advertise smartly. Can 4 crore give it the wings it needs?
Inc.com
contents
september 2011: spotlight on
Social MEdia
I always tell people that social media is just a new way for people to do business the oldfashioned way. If your product sucks or your company is bad, social media is your worst enemy. If your product is great, social media is your best friend.
Q&A
Navigating the New Online Universe
Photograph courtesy INC.
In 2007, Rick Calvert (above, left) and Dave Cynkin (above, right) created the BlogWorld & New Media Expo to help attendees capitalise on a novel technology—blogs. Now, of course, blogs are just a small part of a burgeoning socialmedia universe—and BlogWorld has become a twice-annual must-attend event for people seeking to navigate that world. Calvert recently spoke with Inc.com’s Tiffany Black about why businesses can no longer ignore social media. What has changed since the first BlogWorld conference? The first year, Twitter didn’t exist. The second year, people said we should change the name to TwitterWorld. Then, social media became the business buzzword, so we created a track called the Social Media Business Summit. This year will be the first time the conference will have a track on mobile media. We are all going to be consuming more and more con-
tent on our mobile devices. That is definitely the future. Given that, do businesses even need blogs anymore? The blog is the hub and all these other things—Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube—are spokes that lead back to the centre. The blog is the centre of the social-media universe. Do you want your company to be at the centre of the conversation, or do you want to be out in the rest of the galaxy? If you want to be a leader, you still need a blog. How can mastering the social media help small companies compete? Big companies have the problem of being out of touch with their customers. Small companies have the problem of not being able to reach all their potential customers. Social media helps small companies become bigger and big companies act smaller.
Lots of businesses either hand their social-media efforts to young employees or outsource it altogether. Good idea? You have to do this yourself. You can’t hire someone to do it for you. Would you take a kid out of college or an intern and make him your CMO? Social media can have the impact of a major advertising campaign. Do you put an intern in charge of that? Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media says, “You are not too old to learn social media; you’re just lazy.” That’s the truth. How else do you see social media and blogging changing? Today, social media is a job. In the future, social media will be seen as a skill, like typing. But if most people don’t know how the internet works today, how can they know how blogs work; how can they know how Twitter works? You want to take this leap from “I’m still using e-mail” to Quora? That’s a wide gap in between. The only way you can get there is start doing it yourself. The next BlogWorld & New Media Expo takes place November 3–5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Go to blogworld.com for more information. september/october 2011 | INC. | 5
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CONTRIBUTORS
Meenakshi Kumar Meenakshi Kumar is an independent journalist who has spent more than a decade in the action-packed newsrooms of leading English newspapers. Even after so many years, nothing is more satisfying to her than chasing a good humaninterest story and seeing it printed. She has written on subjects as varied as women, environment, books, travel, culture, health and entrepreneurship. When not writing for a living, she is busy bringing up her two hyper-active daughters. In between, she squeezes out time to pursue her love for reading and music.
6 | INC. | september/october 2011
Tejeesh N.S. Behl An ‘accidental journalist’, Behl considers himself a drifter. Some 11 years ago, after bagging a degree and working in the hospitality sector, Behl deliberately lost his moorings. Since then, he’s been suffered gladly by ANI/Reuters TV, Business Today, Mint and The Financial Chronicle. Behl has covered travel, hospitality, foreign affairs, politics, real estate, sports, wines and lately, telecom, with all its attendant paraphernalia of scams and spams. He considers the opportunity to work as a journalist a blessing, for having bestowed upon him his two ‘real’ achievements—the opportunity to walk on fire and the chance to drive a truck.
Charu Bahri Charu Bahri would like to say that she writes for the sheer love of it. But, in truth, she earns her living as a freelance writer. She enjoys writing on subjects as diverse as business and spirituality. She likes talking to people to learn more about how things work, almost as much as arranging words in a way that benefits readers the most. In the past five years, she has written 500-plus articles for a medley of Indian and overseas publications and websites. Bahri lives in Mount Abu with her parents and her dog.
editor’s letter
Many Billion Dreams sprightly business owners we’ve had the privWhen you edit a magazine like ilege to speak with over the past eight weeks. Inc. India, it’s easy to become Because we tweaked our methodology for the 2011 ranking—our third consecuaccustomed to great stories. The tive—to include more private and unlisted entrepreneurs we profile spoil us companies, we were treated to some real hidden gems. These are companies that you may with their fascinating tales of grit not have heard of but we guarantee that you will sit up and notice them in the not-so-disand acumen. tant future. It’s hard to ignore this savvy set.
Yet, I have to admit, putting together this issue—our annual ranking of India’s fastest-growing, mid-sized enterprises—was almost a refresher course in ambition. For one, a billion-dollar turnover seems to be the de rigueur milestone for many company owners we met. But the entrepreneurs who laid out these robust plans did so without much drama. It Things I Learnt was tough not to marvel at their selfIn This Issue confidence and overwhelming can There’s a new “worry do spirit. Even the younger set and pecking order” for those lower down the revenue slab Indian businesses— were driven; if not by blockbuster employees, clients numbers then by the aspiration to and capital stand out globally as best-of-breed Companies that don’t solution providers. make it, run out of ambition not Business confidence in India opportunities. Point hasn’t been at its peak in the past few taken, B. Venkataramana quarters. Inflation, rising input costs, A rags-to-riches lower foreign investment and scams journey is still the best have threatened to take away some of kind of story. Take Vijay its sheen. Well, not so much for all of Shekhar Sharma’s tale, for starters us at Inc. India, thanks to the
Another aspect that drew our attention—and certainly occupies our winners’ thoughts—is the intense focus on people. Entrepreneurs told us that being able to “achieve” wasn’t a function of opportunity or capital any longer; it was simply about having the best team. Many of them talked passionately about making their companies responsive and fair workplaces. They know cracking the “people code” will not be easy. So, we look forward to tracking the creative HR policies and smart people practices they’ll experiment with as they build organisational cultures that can power growth. Putting together a double-issue has certainly reinforced for us that you cannot do much without a great team. I sincerely hope you enjoy our special package. We’ll see you next in November. Till then, do keep up the winning act. Your successes make our pages come alive.
Shreyasi Singh shreyasi.singh@9dot9.in
september/october 2011 | INC. | 7
BEHIND THE SCENES
Companies at the Heart of Everyday Life
Sound system TC’s clearly not just another restaurant with a liquor licence. The pub-cum-music hotspot has been kept loudly melodious by White Eagle Entertainment. Established in 2009, this professional audio company was started by Arun Kalra, a veteran, who’s been in the business of keeping pubs, parks, auditoriums and even temples in tune for the past 18 years. Today, White Eagle considers Lap, Hard Rock Cafe and Haze as part of its loyal customer base. The 5-crore firm is run by a 20-member staff team and has a pan-India presence.
Refrigeration system Fourteen years ago, TC may have been called something else, but it has always been a cool spot to hang out in. Old-timers fondly remember it as ‘the pub’ to nurse a decent night cap. Keeping the hang-out still chilled and cool is ANS Temp Control Engineering, an 80-member firm headed by Sanjeev Lal. The company that began a good 14 years ago, today provides refrigeration solutions to leading players in the Indian healthcare and hospitality sectors.
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TC, Delhi
02.08.11 7:30 pM
Floor tiles Come Friday night, the young and the young-atheart flock the pub for a drink and a dance. Taking all that traffic and the related stress is this mandana stone floor. The easy to clean, hardy and pretty stone was sourced from Asian Granito India Limited. The leading tile manufacturing firm was started by three business partners. The 550-crore company is a bigleague player employing nearly 2,000 people and providing material to leading corporates, hotels, hospitals and government institutions.
photograph by subhojit Paul
reported by rohini banerjee
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News, Ideas & Trends in Brief
launch research corner
When it’s OK to take a risk
The study: The Paradox of Stretch Goals: Organisations in Pursuit of the Seemingly Impossible by Sim B. Sitkin, Duke University; Kelly E. See, New York University; C. Chet Miller, University of Houston; Michael W. Lawless, University of Maryland; and Andrew M. Carton, Duke University; published in Academy of Management Review Polite Path to Happiness Industry survey reveals ‘niceness’ to be one of the key influencers in rating a company’s culture.
Be Nice, Be Attrition-Free Employees rate respect as the top happiness quotient in the workplace Needless to say, attracting the right talent
and retaining happy employees are the key challenges for Indian companies. Sustained inflation and high aspirations have added to employers’ woes, as employees look out for higher salaries and exciting opportunities. A recent survey by Regus, a global flexible workspace provider, finds that satisfied workers and positive workspaces aren’t always a function of money though. The survey, which spoke to over 17,000 illustration by shigil n
respondents from more than 80 countries, is a must-read for bosses out there looking to decipher the attrition puzzle. When asked what factors help them to create a happy work atmosphere, 66 per cent of Indian workers said respect for colleagues is the key ingredient. Another 51 per cent said encouraging skills and knowledge-sharing was important. Vocally acknowledging the work of others continued on the next page
The thesis: Setting stretch goals or ambitious objectives, can make companies more innovative. But those best positioned to benefit from such goals rarely pursue them. Weaker companies though, often reach for unrealistic solutions out of desperation. The method: The researchers reviewed case studies, such as Southwest Airlines’ campaign to turn around flights in 10 minutes. They then studied what compels some companies to reach for overly ambitious goals. Intriguing finding: Ambitious goals at companies with strong financial resources tend to free up employee creativity, but those resources also lessen the urgency to make big changes. september/october 2011 | INC. | 11
launch
(44 per cent), and actively celebrating colleagues’ success (36 per cent) were voted the third and fourth most important factors. Madhusudan Thakur, regional vice president, South Asia, Regus, said, “The results
more human and wholesome environment that the staff are not easily tempted to abandon.” Interestingly, there are slight, but insightful differences between global responses and those of Indian employees, as
Top Staff Pleasers India
Global
Being respectful, even to junior members of staff
66%
61%
Encouraging knowledge and skills sharing among staff
51%
49%
Vocally acknowledging the work of others
44%
49%
Actively celebrating colleagues’ successes
36%
33%
should serve as a wake-up call for managers who may be overlooking simple and cost-free measures they can take to make sure the staff don’t resign.” The survey asked a bouquet of questions to figure out the top tips to help employers create a thriving workplace. Apart from vocally acknowledging the work of others, actively celebrating colleagues’ success, questions like always greeting colleagues when they enter or leave the office, always being on time for meetings, treating suppliers courteously and fairly, regularly enquiring about the happiness of colleagues’ family members, making way for colleagues in doorways and corridors, and remembering people’s birthdays were the other things asked. Thakur adds that as work pressures and hours expand further into people’s personal lives, employees in India are aware of the link between job satisfaction and the people they work with. “Aside from salary increases and material bonuses, these simple steps contribute to creating a 12 | INC. | september/october 2011
shown in the chart. Within India, the study found regional variations. In Chennai, for example, being respectful to everybody, including junior colleagues, was voted as the top factor by more than 75 per cent of respondents, as compared to the 56 per cent in Hyderabad. While in Mumbai, half the respondents said vocally acknowledging others’ achievements was important; in Pune, only 26 per cent of respondents BANAN found it important. Whatever may be the variation, higher salaries and challenging job descriptions aren’t the only measures of a great workplace. Employers can channel the findings to churn out a pleasant office, with no additional cost. —Inc. India
The monsoons may have receded but it’s now raining monies. First up on the news is TVS Capital. It’s planning to raise `500 crore for its top-up fund, an add-on via a parallel scheme, the TVS srinivasa Shriram Growth Fund-IB. Sponsors TVS and Shriram Groups will put in `50 crore with friends chipping in another `50 crore, says Gopal Srinivasa, MD, TVS Capital Funds... Matrix Partners India made its second healthcare investment of `45 crore in Bengalurubased Kids Clinic India, a maternity and infant care brand... Mohandas Pai, former HR director of fund flush Infosys and Ranjan Pai, CEO, Manipal Group have joined hands to start a $100-million private equity fund focusing on healthcare and technology....Taking a similar route is Vivek Mathur, who’s joined SAIF Partners, a growth capital firm, as its CFO and partner. Before SAIF Partners, Mathur was the head of the India contact centres for Dell...Investment firm Future Ventures has struck a twin deal to re-invest in its portfolio firms, Capital Foods Exports and Aadhaar Retailing...Also feeling drenched is Vayavya Labs, a software firm, after the Indian Angel Network decided to invest in it...Now, some delicious news. India Equity Partners is reportedly investing `180 crore and buying a majority stake in restaurant chain Sagar Ratna, founded and run by Jayaram Banan. —Inc. India
photograph by vijay kutty
The Ticker
Be Nice, Be Attrition-Free continued...
launch
Perfectly Attired The business of uniforms Sachin Sahni, co-founder and CEO of Youniform (YFM), a uniform solutions provider, believes he is (as they say) the right person at the right time. Gurgaon-based YFM is focused on providing uniform solutions to schools, institutions, corporates and industries in sectors such as hospitality, healthcare, retail and manufacturing. Founded in 2010, YFM has already managed to receive contracts from 20 schools in NCR, Bengaluru and Udaipur. There’s a need for a professionally managed uniforms company, says Sahni, because it is a whopping `10,000-crore business. Stitching mega-success from clothes is something Sahni is demonstrably good at. Before turning entrepreneur with YFM, he was the CEO of Cotton County, a garment chain of 600 stores across 400 towns. When he joined Cotton County in 2004, it was a one-store company. Not surprisingly, his ambitious threads for YFM are woven with calm self-confidence. —Shreyasi Singh Why did you focus on uniforms for your entrepreneurial venture?
YFM has a great market opportunity because right now there is not even a single pan-India player present in this vertical. The market is growing annually at a rate of 20 per cent. That’s on a huge current base of `10,000 crore. We want to create the country’s first pan-India chain of in-school uniform shops. Right now, quality is a major victim as far as school uniforms are concerned. Vendors get away with giving low-quality products, most of which use 100 per cent polyester fabrics made from harmful dyes at low-price points. We don’t want to compete with them on pricing. YFM wants to focus on offering high-quality, eco-friendly and skin-friendly products to health-conscious schools. Parents and school managements are now becoming much more aware about these issues. We are confident that the demand for highquality uniforms will increase. What has been the response like in schools? Do you think you have gone beyond the proof of concept stage?
We are happy with the response. In Delhi and NCR especially, we have signed up with several reputed schools. Similarly, we have also tied up with a few schools in Bengaluru, Udaipur, Pune and Indore. We have 20 schools on our roster now. Of course, it’s been tough so far. As a group, school administrators are not prone to changing things quickly. Decisions take time to come. Business development is time consuming, as can be expected with institutional sales.
The Right Threads Sachin Sahni wants to tailor a thriving business in the `10,000-crore uniforms market.
We are now beyond the proof of the concept stage. YFM is now looking for aggressive expansion, especially during the summer season. We have launched our other verticals also. Our Uniform Supply Management System (USMS) caters to organised retailers. In USMS, we take care of the company’s whole process of uniforms—starting from designing the uniform to supplying it. It’s a hassle-free solution for companies. We’ve already signed up New U, a chain of beauty stores owned by the Dabur Group. Soon, we’ll ink contracts with major players in mobile retailing and consumer durables.
What are your ramping-up projections? How quickly will this grow over the next few years?
We are confident of stepping on the gas with YFM. In the first year itself, we touched revenues of over `1 crore. We’ll triple that by next year. By 2014-2015, our target is to touch a minimum of `50 crore. Looking at the huge market size, and the growth rate, we don’t expect any major obstacle in getting to these milestones. We’ll need to change a few things, of course. We currently outsource production. But we are exploring setting up our own production units. It’ll help us scaleup and maintain quality. september/october 2011 | INC. | 13
The Scuba Sutras BY Guhesh Ramanathan
I will enjoy the dive, not just the fish
As a regular diver, every now and then, you come across a bad dive. Nothing goes right in these. All you can do is curse your lot for that day— low visibility, not enough marine life, strong currents that sweep you and nothing worth seeing. After all, one dives for pleasure and to see that elusive shark, or that manta ray zooming over you. When you get to see nothing because of silt in the water, or other reasons, isn’t it natural to write-off that dive as a wasted effort? Among all the locations I’ve dived in, Goa tops the terrible visibility charts. I remember the time I dived there. I kitted up, checked my equipment and back-rolled off the boat. I still vividly remember the panic that struck me when I could see absolutely nothing. I couldn’t figure out which way was up or down. I cursed under my breath. What could one hope to see with that visibility, I grumbled. There were three of us that day. We Immerse Yourself started the dive and stuck close to each Let yourself enjoy other. In these waters, if anyone drifted the little moments away, there was little chance that the group would be able to us to a reef in the middle of nowhere. and small joys. find them. Our dive master told us to stay as close as possiWe stopped at the reef for a minute. ble, and in case we separated, to spend just about two minutes looking for the Then, the dive master signalled that we were to go others. If you don’t find others in that time, surface slowly, he instructed us. for a nice, slow circle around the reef, ascending So, we stuck close, literally inches from each other. I don’t know how from about 22 metres to approximately 10 metres by the dive master could navigate where we were going but somehow he led which time we’d be back at the same place where we
14 | INC. | september/october 2011
photo by photos.com
Don’t get trapped by tasks, details and deadlines. Sometimes, allow yourself to enjoy your environment
The Scuba Sutras
descended. In diving sign language, he told us to rank up one behind the other and stay close to the reef. He would lead, my buddy would follow and I’d be the tail end. Usually when I dive against a reef, I look at the far side or what divers affectionately call The Blue. That’s where you see the big fish and the bright, colourful schools. But that day the water was a murky brown, occasionally even turning to black. At best, visibility was a couple of feet. I was sure we wouldn’t see much. But I resigned myself to our 50 minutes under water. I was prepared for this dive to be my worst ever. Still, I kept one eye on the reef, at my left shoulder, just so that I wouldn’t bang against it by mistake. Suddenly, something flickered on the reef. It was a quick move and then it just froze. Curious, I moved closer to check it out. When I saw what I was looking at, I blinked a couple of times in disbelief. It was a perfectly camouflaged scorpion fish. Clearly, my buddy and the dive master had missed it. I reached out and tapped my buddy on his leg. He turned to look at where I was pointing and froze too when he saw it. Realising that we had spotted something, the dive master drifted back to us to get a look too. For a good five minutes, we literally stayed suspended there, watching the scorpion fish as it merged into the surrounding reef. We watched its eyes open slowly as it looked around for prey. We saw it burrow back into the reef, and we thanked our stars for sighting one of the rarest of rare fishes in the murky waters of Goa. We saw other fish too on that dive— colourful sea anemones with clown fish darting about, a clump of fire coral, a beautiful starfish, all at very close quarters. When we surfaced, only because our tanks were almost empty, I still remember the look of awe on my buddy’s face. That’s got to be one of my best dives, he gasped excitedly. I couldn’t agree more. And to think that I’d almost written off this dive even before it had started. At work, too, we often write off days as terrible. Last December, I met an old friend who is now very senior in his
organisation. Given that Christmas and New Year were just around the corner, I expected to see him relaxed and in great spirits. But when I asked him how things had been, his wasn’t a voice of cheer. “Nothing is happening,” he said by way of explanation. I looked around his office. There were lots of relaxed people, lots of good humour, even a tree in the corner with folks dropping off gifts for each other in
quarter analysis sheets, he said. The team wasn’t serious about these, he grumbled. I gently asked what the damage would be if these were sent out in the first few days of January instead of on December 31. He shrugged and said probably not much other than an unnecessary stinker mail from a ‘bonehead’ at the head office. I asked him to consider if that was how his team probably saw him those days— that the boss will probably scream but in
Take in the things around you. They are probably the ones you’ll remember fondly years later. true Christmas spirit. In every way, it was a great environment. So, what was bugging my friend? Well, he was under great pressure. The quarter was coming to a close. With everyone around him slowing down for the holiday season, including his customers, he was tense. He’d met most of his targets for that quarter in the first two months itself but the last few loose ends were taking longer than expected to tie-up neatly. Plus, beneath the happy cheer, his team was stressed out. On my way out, I chatted up his assistant to find out more about what was eating up the boss. She grimaced but said matter-of-factly, “He’s always like that toward the end of the year. Just ignore him. He’ll be fine at the beginning of the next year.” I decided to take my friend out for coffee and prompted him to vent, which he soon did. It bugged him, he said, to see his team horse around at work even when there was a lot of stuff to close for the quarter. I dug deeper—what were the outstanding tasks, I wondered, especially when the sales numbers were closed by November itself. There were reports to do and several
the bigger scheme of things it wasn’t an important issue. That point hit home. For a few minutes, he went totally quiet. As our coffee finished, I suggested he better get back to his office. He suddenly grinned and said we should extend our meeting to lunch. “Let me get a couple of others from the office and ask if they’d like to join us too. You can tell us your Scuba Sutra stories,” he said excitedly. So here’s my two bits of feel-good holiday advice (well before the season) for those of you who always focus just on the big sightings—the reports, the analysis, the workaholic kicks. Don’t forget to take the time out to enjoy the dive. Take in the things around you. Let me assure you, these are the moments you’ll remember fondly many years later.
Guhesh Ramanathan is a mentor at the entrepreneurship cells of IIM Bangalore and IIM Ahmedabad. He serves on the boards of several companies, and is an advanced certified scuba diver. september/october 2011 | INC. | 15
innovation
Companies on the Cutting Edge
Sticky Cure
Some 14 years ago, Jagannath Yedida of Reevax Pharma found himself getting superpsyched. He had witnessed the miracle of “cyanoacrylate”—a super glue—in a surgery. He’d discovered that the glue-like fluid could be used as a tissue adhesive to treat a wound. But, there was a downside to this near perfect product. It was hyper-sensitive to changing temperature and atmospheric moisture. So, storing it was a total nightmare. Like the adhesive, Yedida’s attention stayed fixed. Cut to 2006, he found a smarter alternative with XION which has all the abilities of the old product minus the ultra-sensitivity. It’s also been packaged smartly. Its syringe container enables surgeons to administer controlled amounts of the product. It can also be stored easily outside the freezer. Once its process patent comes through, Yedida plans to aggressively market it globally. Did you know? Cyanoacrylate was accidentally invented in 1942 by American scientists Harry Coover and Fred Joyner of Kodak Laboratories. While trying to make a transparent plastic suitable for gun sights, the two found “cyanoacrylate” which could glue together materials with great strength. From that, Kodak developed Eastman #910—the “super glue”. How it works Cyanoacrylate gets polymerised (hardens) quickly and becomes ineffective when in contact with moisture and room temperature. The stabler XION stays in its clear-blue fluid state even when exposed to room temperature, dust and moisture because it’s packed in a “hermeticallysealed”, crushable glass ampule. As the glass walls are impermeable to moisture, the product remains in its liquid form.
16 | INC. | september/october 2011
XION
Reevax Pharma
“XION can be used anywhere, even in ears and eyes, which are sensitive areas.” —Jagannath Yedida, CEO, Reevax Pharma
Photograph Courtesy Company
reported by Rohini Banerjee
PASSIONS
Life Outside the Office
“Film-making helped me set up Alma Mater.” 18 | INC. | september/october 2011
Location Courtesy PVR Cinemas, Bengaluru
Varun Agarwal
Filmmaking
His mum’s first mistake: taking him for his first film in Bengaluru’s Galaxy Theatre. Varun Agarwal, founder and CEO of school and college memorabilia outlet, Alma Mater, has been hooked since. “By Class VIII, I was watching three films a week,” says the 24-year-old. Mum’s second mistake: buying him his first video camera. Agarwal used it to document a school trip to Shimla. The footage remained on his desktop till he discovered an online editing software to turn it into his maiden documentary. “My friends loved it and I knew I wanted to go to film school,” he recalls. That’s when all hell broke loose. His mother put her foot down and Agarwal was packed off to engineering school. But he stuck on till he eventually won his camera back from his mother. He went on to direct several documentaries, and viral and music videos. “My passion got me a stint at Phat Phish, a production firm. That money helped me start Alma Mater.” Now the `9-crore firm is feeding his next venture, Reticular. Favourite Flicks Shawshank Redemption Requiem For A Dream Citizen Kane Apu Trilogy Trainspotting Desi Hits Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron Chashme Baddoor Deewar Gulaal Andaaz Apna Apna His Weapon Canon 5D with multiple lenses
photograph by s. radhakrishna
reported by rohini banerjee
AD
Your Business Toolbox
The Goods
Fun and Games Machines that help you swipe, swoop and splurge Gaming laptops are the new it machines,
and more and more gamers are ditching their desktops to get one. We take a look at some great options in this category. —www.thinkdigit.com
MSI GT680r
The GT680R is a high-end gaming machine in MSI’s books and it tries to live up to its reputation. A quad core; Core i7 2630QM; 8GB of DDR3 1333 MHz RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX460M make it a potent machine on paper. Having said that, it would’ve been nice to get a faster graphics solution. It does compromise the picture a bit but gamers want speed and the GT680r gives us that. The performance comes at a price though. People spending a bomb might get turned off by its rather mediocre finish. If looks aren’t a must-have, this is a good machine to play new games and classics. cost: 1,19,999
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MSI GX780r
The GX780R is MSI’s latest offering. It’s a top-of-the-line gaming series notebook that is both handsome and powerful. The sturdily-built lid slims out towards the front, giving an impression of a forward sloping, aggressive design. The GX780R has nicely spaced keys. It doesn’t have back-lit indicators around the trackpad, but looks more suave for it. It has a massive 16GB of RAM. The Core i7 2630QM and NVIDIA GeForce GT555M are impressive but given its price, a more powerful GPU would’ve been nicer. The uber gamer might not appreciate this lack of power. cost: 1,19,999
Illustration by shigil n
ASUS G74SX
This notebook is built like a tank. It doesn’t have fancy back lighting like Alienware notebooks but the G74SX is made of quality plastic and has beautiful finishing. It has a huge trackpad that’s accurate, but gamers might prefer an even higher precision. The mouse keys are also soft and have a deep travel. The keypad is backlit—a huge help when gaming in darkness. It’s packed with best specifications— support for 3D stereovision, a 120Hz display and Core i7 2630QM that most gaming notebooks have. A 16GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX560M makes the machine more potent. The flipside is the steep price. cost: 1,24,990
Alienware M17x
Alienware’s M17x is a colossal laptop outweighing even the prodigious G74SX. Large is lovely in this case. The rubberised finish looks slick. The inside body also has the rubberised finish except for the bezel around the keypad that’s brushed aluminium. The keys are wellspaced and have just the right amount of feedback. They are also beautifully backlit. The trackpad has accuracy but a dedicated mouse is called for. The M17x has a nice display—bright colours and contrast. It’s a good buy for those who are bling-happy and have deep pockets. cost: 1,59,000
september/october 2011 | INC. | 2 1
the goods
Products + Services
Chromed To Perfection Some cool Google Chrome apps What’s quirky and useful—certainly, some of the new Google Chrome apps are. Go ahead and shop for these great pick-me-ups to make office fun.—www.thinkdigit.com Chimpoo:
safeguards
Website backup made simple Until recently, there was no simple way to back up content on a website. These new, easy-to-use tools automatically archive content regularly. To test them, we set up mock websites and deleted files to see how easily we could retrieve them. —J.B.
Like its quirky name, Chimpoo is a fun online virtual universe, mainly for kids and kids-atheart. There’s an online chat enabled inside the browser making the game interactive. The engagement time of the game (approximately 15 minutes) in India is high.
The Cricinfo:
The app is an advanced HTML5 application which uses some of the most cutting-edge technology to provide a fresh, exciting way of consuming ESPNcricinfo, the world’s largest, oldest and favourite cricket site.
Evernote:
It’s one of the most handy apps used to save a web page or parts of it. It helps the user save a variety of data (think pictures and voice memos). With Evernote, one can tag, sort in folders and comment on the notes saved, and access them from anywhere using a login and password.
VaultPress
This web-based service works only with sites that run on the WordPress publishing platform. Setup is easy: simply create a VaultPress account and tap in a domain name. Anytime you add new content, including blog posts, comments, media files and photos, the service will back it up automatically on VaultPress servers in real-time. You can also log on to your account to perform manual backups, get status updates, and retrieve lost content. During our test, we retrieved a deleted WordPress file in less than a minute. cost: Starts at $15 a month per website
Springpad:
It’s one of the most strikingly beautiful apps in the Chrome store. With Springpad one can save notes, bookmarks, recipes and movies schedules. One can also access notes from any browser via offline support from Chrome.
Aviary Image Editor:
Hobnox Audiotool:
If music is what you live for, then you need to install Audiotool from the Chrome webstore. The app contains almost all the music editing tools and effects that one can think of inside a browser.
Some might argue that the browser-based interface of Aviary image editor is powerful enough to replace its desktop counterpart. However, the image editor not only offers essential image editing tools, but it’s also fun to play around with and simple to handle. All you need is basic editing skills.
CodeGuard
2 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
Phone Fashion
An iconic watchmaker dials in new plans Luxury watchmaker Tag Heuer’s foray into mobile phones might take you by surprise. Christened the LINK smartphone, the phone’s made of alligator skin and stainless steel. It’s shock-resistant and sports a 3.5-inch Gorilla glass screen with 800x480 resolution. The LINK smartphone runs on Android 2.2 Froyo and contains a 5-megapixel camera and a 256MB internal memory. Its best feature: undoubtedly the uber stylish, high-quality look. price: 3,50,000
Powered by:
CodeGuard works with publishing platforms and hosting services. After creating an account and adding a domain name, you can choose to back-up content to CodeGuard servers either hourly, daily or weekly. When we deleted a file, it took an hour for the archived version to appear on CodeGuard.com, much longer than it took with VaultPress. cost: Starts at $10 a month for one website with up to 250MB of storage
Products + Services
tech wise soham raninga
Are You a Tablet or Smartphone Type? Figure out your best bet Decisions, decisions. A high-end smart-
phone or a tablet? With smartphones getting bigger screens and the tablet segment heating up, there are some tempting offerings although there is a considerable overlap between smart tablets and high-end smartphones. Both have their advantages. It’s important to figure out your typical usage pattern to make the right decision. Here’s a checklist that might help you zero-in on the right device. Who should buy a tablet? The heavy internet user (browsing, apps, e-books etc.): tablets are more suited for browsing, especially if you are reading a lot online. Web pages fit better on a tablet and the app experience is also richer. With apps being developed specifically for tablets, there will be more features that will allow greater productivity. Those who do long hours of voice calling everyday. Despite latest hardware and high-resolution screens, smartphones still have battery life limitations. If you are a heavy voice user, your phone is probably running out of juice in a day. We suggest you keep the phone strictly for voice and SMSes and get yourself a tablet to ensure that both have enough life. The frequent traveller: the tablet is the best replacement for a laptop. Whether you are in an aircraft or airport, tablets are more convenient than notebooks and offer a lot more than smartphones. Once you become comfortable with the tablet, you can ditch your laptop for meetings and short business trips, if all that you need to do is browse, check e-mails and play games. The heavy consumer of multimedia content (photos, videos and YouTube): A big screen makes for much better entertainment. Smartphones cannot match tablets when it comes to watching fulllength movies. The strain of watching a
the goods
off duty
Apps for the great outdoors
movie on a 4.2-inch smartphone is something that’s best avoided by all. The gadget happy and tech-savvy: If you are a gadget freak, then a tablet is a must have. Period. Who should buy a high-end smartphone? One who carries sensitive data: Tablets don’t enjoy the same privacy and are less personal compared to smartphones. The family will want to tinker around with the tablet and it will, inevitably, become a family gadget. For mission critical, sensitive data, high-end smartphones make much more sense. The creator of heavy multimedia content (videos and pictures): While tablets may be suited for consumption of heavy multimedia, creation of media is a totally different ball game. Shooting pictures or recording videos isn’t comfortable with tablets—face it, they aren’t portable at all. Smartphones today offer higher-quality optics and are portable. One who needs to access data 24x7: Tablets can’t fit your pocket and hence are less portable compared to mobile phones. The big screen buff: Hardcore movie buffs and gaming enthusiasts will not enjoy movies or gaming on the tablet. The not-tuned to tech: If managing multiple gadgets does not come naturally to you, the smartphone is your weapon of choice. It will potentially combine phone, internet browsing device, camera and personal media player in one single device. Finally, if you refuse to get yourself into the tablets vs smartphone dilemma, just buy both. The most ideal state of nirvana would be to have an android smartphone—the Samsung Galaxy S2 is highly recommended—and get an Apple iPad.It’s by far the best tablet in the market today. —Write to Tech Wise at soham. raninga@9dot9.in
Now that summer is in full swing, you have permission to use your smartphone for things other than checking e-mail and calling clients. Here are three apps to get you started. —Lindsay Silberman freecaddie pro
This app displays the distances to greens, bunkers and hazards at some 23,000 golf courses worldwide. You can enter your scores and statistics as you play, then log on to FreeCaddie.com to analyse them. The app works on a variety of phones, including iPhones, BlackBerrys,and Android models. cost: $9.95 steep and cheap
Every day, this iPhone app offers dozens of deals on outdoor apparel, including tents and backpacks. A recent offer featured a pair of Sole Sport sandals for $29.99, a 55 per cent discount off the retail price. You can check the app for deals during the day or have push notifications sent to your phone. cost: Free Oh, ranger! parkfinder
After you enter your zip code or city and select an activity—say bird watching or boating—this app will direct you to nearby national and state parks or national forests that suit your needs. The app, which works on iPads and iPhones, also provides directions, forecasts and lodging suggestions. cost: Free september/october 2011 | INC. | 2 3
the goods
Beyond Business
Things I Cannot Live Without...
Chic-time I would be invariably late to meetings without my watch.
Never without my phone My mobile phone doubles up as my address book. I am lost without it.
Scribble queen Where would I be without my notepad?
Founder and CEO, Oyster Learning
Rimy Oberoi
In Class VIII, Rimy Oberoi knew she need not be
Visual aid I am long-sighted and stranded without my glasses.
2 4 | INC. | september/october 2011
yet another doctor in a family of medical specialists to do something great. Today, the founder of Oyster Learning is happy to have struck a compromise. She’s changing the lives of students and making her life more meaningful: “I am an oldfashioned person. I knew I couldn’t just hold a job which had no purpose.” Oberoi’s old-fashioned indeed. She still writes her important notes in a notebook and tells time by a watch. “There’s a reason for that. It’s the only feminine and pretty piece I wear all the time.” Still, of all her possessions, it’s the motley collection of passport photographs—of her parents, kids and husband—that are most precious. “As I see them smiling, everything falls into place. My priorities are clearer and I de-stress immediately.”—Rohini Banerjee
...and What I Covet ...is to live to see the day that Oyster Learning becomes an internationally renowned brand.
Photograph by Subhojit Paul
08
Everything you need to know to run your business in today’s economy
: : : : : : : : : : : A monthly guide to policies, procedures and practices
Remove booklet along dotted Line
Improve Sales Forecasts When it comes to measuring business well-being, there’s no better indicator than sales. Profit, after all, is an outcome of how much is sold, so higher sales mostly spell greater success. But, a company needs to plan for sales and forecast spurts or other trends in their sales cycle to make sure that the company’s processes are aligned to achieve its targets. It might sound like crystal-gazing or wishful thinking. But to borrow a cliché, sales forecasting isn’t rocket science. Simply put, sales forecasts are educated guesses of future sales made in advance of the business year. It’s a useful planning tool, says Shrikanth S., team leader, business and financial services, Frost & Sullivan. “It forces business heads to study how parameters affecting sales are likely to move in the coming months. Sales estimates are then drawn up after leaving room for contingency factors.” These forecasts set the standards for expenses and are used by functional heads to plan minutely. During the year, comparisons between actual sales and forecasts help chart the progress of a business. Forecasts can then be tweaked mid-term to work in changed business realities. While comparisons may be made weekly or monthly, sales trends become clearer by mid-year. That helps business heads sit down, take stock of where things stand and decide what to do next. Read on to see how you can do this right. —Charu Bahri
Vol. 02 No. 08 | inc. guidebook
08
improve sales forecasts : : : : : : : : : : : : :
Forecast well Define the parameters: First, decide how far ahead you need to forecast. Ideally, sales forecasts should show sales by month for the coming year, and at least quarterly sales for the following two years. If that seems too distant, then stick to an annual forecast by the month. Next, break down the consolidated sales forecast into estimates for each product line. If your sales are spread over more than one geographical area, tot up the projected product sales in each, to come up with a detailed area-wise forecast. Sales forecasts should be comprehensive but not too complicated. Often, business models dictate the kind of sales forecasting taken up. “OEM suppliers base their long-term sales forecast on their clients’ macro planning. Immediate forecasts depend on customers’ short-term production plans,” shares Pankaj Mital, COO of Motherson Sumi Systems. Base it right: Sales forecasts are often misunderstood. Projections don’t always have to be based on past sales. Forecasting isn’t limited to coming up with a percentage to show expected growth from the previous year. “It’s fine to rely on past sales when the market dynamics are predicted to remain constant. But work external factors that you know may impact future sales into the estimate,” says Rohit Anand, managing director, Value Edge Research Services, an analytics firm. For instance, if market research reveals that a competitor’s coming out with a new product, you will have to factor that in the expected impact of the launch. Also, when a new product is being introduced, you have no previinc. guidebook | Vol. 02 No. 08
ous sales data. “Forecasters must then make a ‘bottom-up’ forecast involving a target population estimate in the addressable market,” explains Anand. Get everyone onboard: Marketing and sales departments can be valuable in giving you information
Forecasting isn’t limited to projections based on past sales. about prevailing business conditions. “For mature products, forecasters must work closely with sales affiliates because they ‘own’ their sales numbers. For new product launches, interact closely with the marketing team,” suggests Anand. Industry research can also minimise the measure of uncertainty associated with sales forecasts. According to Anand, industry inputs are more relevant to firms that are pitching in for a larger share of the pie. “New-age technology or internet-related spaces have no traditional boundaries. Google created the industry and its sales forecasts drove a category rather than the other way around.” Sometimes, corporate strategy and manufacturing teams may be asked to participate in the process. Involving all helps ensure that functional heads use and trust the forecast. Forecasts should be vetted by departmental heads before being taken as final. Even if the production head doesn’t have a say in the forecast, his stamp of approval should confirm that production can be adjusted to meet estimated sales.
Review forecasts
Compare and review: Forecasts provide benchmarks to compare with actual sales made: thus keep tabs on business. Types of businesses will dictate the frequency of reviews. Sales of commodities, i.e., packaged products sold off-the-shelf, are tracked more frequently than value-driven solutions for which one needs to create a demand. “Commodity sale forecasts are compared with actual sales volumes per day. In contrast, sales of conceptual solutions are more complex,” says Sanjay Rao, vice president (sales and alliances) at AppPoint, a software solutions firm. Rao suggests tracking solution sales activities on a daily basis, and closures on a week-on-week basis. Though number crunching takes precedence, sales analysis should go beyond tracking revenues. Analyse variations: Understanding variations between planned and actual sales is vital to remedial action, especially when volumes fall short of estimates. “Solution providers should check whether they missed any opportunity to convert client needs into sales, and why. Also, sales burn rate should match customers’ appetite,” says Rao. That involves determining if you estimated selling more than the client can consume. Sales analysis should also focus on “non-dollar” aspects—to what extent one was able to convince customers that the product would add value to their business. Consumer perspective is an essential part of sales analysis. You must also find out if you sold less because if an internal mismatch (say when production levels couldn’t keep up with sales causing under-delivery).
Get the overall picture: Since no business operates in isolation, compare your estimated and actual growth with industry performances. “Market factors should be analysed in context with a company’s portfolio and public image to understand its prospects,” says Shrikanth. This suggests that some companies may remain attractive propositions even if the overall trend is recessionary. For instance, though petrol and diesel car sales usually fall when fuel prices rise, sales of electric cars may increase in such conditions. So, electric vehicle makers may gain an edge in an otherwise recessionary car market because of a shift in demand in their favour. At Parle, industry comparisons are worked into
the annual sales forecasts by estimating market shares as well as volumes. Sometimes, volumes may grow as estimated but a product may fall short on market share—that indicates that the competition has grown faster than the brand. “We track the progress of each product by quarter. A shortfall in market share calls for measures in the 4Ps or at the trade level,” shares Pravin Kulkarnii, GM of marketing at Parle Products.
Revise forecasts
Since you can never fully comprehend the impact of business parameters, no forecast is perfect. Still, Shrikanth suggests making comprehensive forecasts by taking into account all the possible realities. “Rope in all the parameters that
may impact sales in two extreme situations—an optimistic and a pessimistic scenario.” That way, you reduce the chances of needing to revise the forecast. Unpredictable situations sometimes necessitate mid-term reviews. Raw material prices may suddenly shoot up or a competitor may launch a new ad campaign. “Such situations necessitate corrective action if they have a longterm impact. If input prices rise, product prices are hiked to sustain profitability—this may impact sales forecasts for the remaining period,” says Kulkarnii. Even so, don’t expend too much energy on refining your forecast. Focus on identifying the big exceptions. That’s what calls for action.
08
improve sales forecasts : : : : : : : : : : : : :
Forecasting: Practice makes perfect
Forecasts are inexact by nature and practice does make it perfect. Don’t get discouraged by not-so-accurate first forecasts. Motivate yourself to continue the exercise. These are a few practical tips to get you started: Begin by drawing up short-range forecasts, that is estimating the sales for the next few months. Work your way to intermediate forecasts for the year ahead. Then take on long range forecasts. The more often you forecast, the better you get at making an accurate estimate. It’s not about getting more practice but frequent forecasts are usually made for the short-term. Since you are better informed with the immediate business situation, the estimates tend to be accurate. Apply one forecasting model consistently over business periods and for all the forecasts you create. That standardises the format and makes it easier to review year after year.
Notes:
Draw up multiple forecasts Why should you prepare multiple forecasts? Because a single forecast may not represent the needs of all departments. Draw up multiple forecasts that represent the needs of different business elements (say for instance: industries dealing with sales and after-sales services could use two kinds of sales forecasts—licence revenue and income from services). Service resources may be further categorised as resource types, location, skills, rates and industry that help draw up staffing plans. Prepare more effective forecasts: Software solutions available on cloud computing can help you manage sales forecasts more effectively. Solutions are usually integrated with in-house ERP implementations managing employee master data (for instance, tools like AppPoint’s CRM may be integrated with an in-house implementation of SAP or PeopleSoft in a hybrid model.
Resources
[Learn more] Show trends and forecast sales with charts http:// office.microsoft.com/en-us/excelhelp/show-trends-and-forecastsales-with-charts-HA001087785. aspx
[Read more] Conduct a sales
forecast, http://www.va-interactive. com/inbusiness/editorial/sales/ibt/ sales_fo.html#3 [Understand better] Learn about different sales ratios, http://www. bizwiz.ca/sales_ratio_calculation_ formulas/sales_ratios.html
inc. guidebook | Vol. 02 No. 08
Sales & Marketing The persuasive power of friendship and why it works better than conventional marketing campaigns this page Managing Awards for disastrous ideas, positive mentors and brainwaves—no prizes for guessing this: some companies are rethinking how they honour their top employees page 27 Elevator Pitch Twtbuck helps companies soar on social media. Will investors give it `4 crore to help it fly? page 30
How Would You Sell That?
Experts on how a storage company can fill up orders. page 29
strategy Sales & Marketing Tell your friends about us Turning customers into pitchmen Roku was one of the first companies to bring online movies to people’s living rooms. Three years ago, the Saratoga, California-based company started selling remote-controlled devices that can stream online media content, such as Netflix movies and Pandora radio, to TV sets. When competitors began to emerge, they were formidable: Microsoft, Apple and Google. Unlike those giants, Roku, which has about 100 employees, didn’t have deep pockets for advertising campaigns. What Roku did have was fans. Through surveys, the company had learnt that about a quarter of its one million customers were so smitten with their Roku players that they had encouraged friends to buy one. “We knew we had an engaged customer base that was passionate about the product, and we wanted to tap into that,” says Lomit Patel, Roku’s senior director of direct marketing. Last year, Roku launched a refer-a-friend marketing campaign, which rewards customers for recommending the company’s video players to people they know. Word-of-mouth marketers have long Illustration by PC Anoop
september/october 2011 | INC. | 2 5
strategy
touted the power of customer referrals. Recommendations from friends are among the top influences of purchases, according to a recent study by ForeSee Results, a market research firm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Now that sites such as Facebook and Twitter have made it easier than ever to tap one’s entire social circle, companies like Roku are experimenting with new tools and incentives to get customers chatting about their products.
Extole’s monthly fee of $1,500 (an introductory rate for being an early customer), Roku spends about $12 to acquire each customer, who, in turn, spends an average of $97. Other companies aren’t waiting as long as 45 days to get customers talking to their friends. Abe’s Market, a Chicago-based online retailer of food, clothing, and other products made from natural materials, wants its shoppers to spread
People who were referred by friends were three times more likely to purchase than visitors who clicked on online ads. To get the conversation started, Roku hired Extole, a San Francisco-based company that specialises in refer-afriend marketing campaigns. Roku now sends an automated e-mail to customers 45 days after a purchase, offering them one month of free Netflix services if someone they refer purchases a Roku player. Each customer who participates gets a unique web link, created by Extole, to share with friends via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook. In the first three months, 15,000 customers recommended Roku to their friends using Extole’s system, and 1,500 customers bought Roku players after clicking on links sent to them by pals. The refer-a-friend marketing campaign has already proved to be more effective than online banner ads or paid search ads, says Patel. People who were referred by friends were three times more likely to purchase than visitors who clicked on online ads. “It has that implied endorsement before they even come to the site,” he says. Between the Netflix giveaway and 2 6 | INC. | september/october 2011
the word before they even make a purchase. Last year, Abe’s Market added a “share it” feature to its website. The feature offers shoppers 10 per cent off on their orders if they agree to tell three friends about the products in their online shopping carts. After a customer enters three e-mail addresses, her buddies get a message that she is “shopping for natural products on AbesMarket.com, and wants to share some great finds.” The e-mail includes photos of the products in the customer’s cart as well as a coupon code that lets the friends save 10 per cent on any order. It took two of the company’s programmers just a few days to create the feature. Because the project was done in-house, Abe’s Market can easily make changes like tweaking the amount of the discount, says Jon Polin, the company’s co-founder. So far, the strategy is paying off. About half of Abe’s Market customers use Share It, and those who use it spend about 30 per cent more than those who don’t.
Polin says Abe’s Market is on track to hit $1.5 million in sales this year, thanks in part to customers who found out about the site from their pals. Eventually, Polin wants customers to be able to share their purchases with their friends on Twitter and Facebook, too. Other companies are making Facebook their primary focus. The Step2 Company, a Streetsboro, Ohio-based maker of children’s playhouses and furniture, recently added tools to its website that make it easy for customers to tell their Facebook friends about the company’s products. Step2 uses software from Power-Reviews, a San Francisco-based company, to manage customer reviews on its website. The application, which starts at about $3,000 a month, makes it possible for shoppers to log in to Step2’s website using their Facebook accounts. It also lets Step2 add Facebook “like” buttons to each of its product pages. When Step2 shoppers log in through Facebook, they can see which Step2 products their friends “liked”. And reviews those customers write will also be posted on Facebook. So far, about 7 per cent of Step2’s customers have registered on the company’s website with their Facebook IDs, and of those who have, more than half of them have shared product reviews with their Facebook friends. In the past year, traffic from Facebook has increased 135 per cent and revenue from Facebook visitors has nearly tripled. And Step2 wants to keep people coming back. When someone writes a review, Step2 sends a coupon for 10 per cent off on the next purchase. But the company waits until after reviews have been written to let customers know about the discount. Otherwise, says Tena Crock, Step2’s online marketing director, they might see it as a bribe. “We want them to have their own voice,” she says, “without forcing them.” —Jennifer Alsever
strategy
Managing And the award goes to... Rethinking annual honours The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences honours the year’s finest film. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation honours the year’s best fiction. SurePayroll honours the year’s most impressive screw-up. Winning Best New Mistake is a signal distinction at SurePayroll, a $23-million, online payroll-processing company based in Glenview, Illinois. The company, which was recently acquired by Paychex, celebrates the end of its busy season with a ceremony called the SureChoice Awards, of which Best New Mistake is the breathlesslyawaited culmination. Employees nominate themselves; management receives about 40 proud admissions of error each year. There are three winners (gold, silver and bronze), and the perpetrator of the gold gaffe receives $400—twice as much as do winners of the company’s other, more traditional awards. “We underline the new part,” says SurePayroll’s president, Michael Alter. “There’s no award for making the same mistake twice.” Last year’s winner tried to streamline a process for customers and ended up frustrating them instead. Alter dreamed up Best New Mistake to remind staff that, in a culture of innovation, failure is always an option. “If you don’t encourage people to take risks, then you end up with incrementalism forever,” says Alter. “Mistakes are the tuition you pay for success.” Best New Mistake is one example of the effort to inject relevance and excitement into what, at many companies, are staid and symbolically sterile artifacts: annual awards. Over the years, the President’s Award, the Leadership Award, the Customer Service Award, and their ilk tend to come unmoored from a company’s mission. And employees start to forget what those awards were meant to recognise—if their significance was spelt out in the first place. A few companies are trying to invigorate this creaky tradition by rethinking what they honour and how they honour it. The Disruption Award sounds like all those innovation prizes that became ubiquitous in the ’90s, when everyone started reading Clayton Christensen. But at ADG Creative, a $6-million marketing firm in Columbia, Maryland, the Disruption Award goes to the person whose personal life was most disrupted by his or her job that year. “We give it to the person who is relentless, not because we expect
them to kill themselves but in the spirit of sacrificial leadership,” says ADG’s founder and chief creative officer, Jeff Antkowiak. Typically, the recipient is someone who volunteers for an ambitious project that keeps her at the office late at night and on weekends. The winner receives a bag of espresso beans, a neck pillow, and—more substantively—a five-day weekend and $2,000. Last year, three employees won for overseeing the transition to a new office space while keeping the old one running. Most annual awards are meant to encourage desirable behaviour by spotlighting role models. But that relegates a company’s best employees to a passive role: people who have already proved themselves and are now held up as objects of emulation. Bob Nelson, a consultant and motivational speaker and the author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, argues that awards should instead propel recipients into new roles with greater responsibility. “If it’s the Leadership Award, don’t just give them a check and send them to Hawaii,” advises Nelson. “Say part of the honour is to become a mentor. Or if it’s the Innovator Award, give them a budget to develop one of their ideas.” Nelson also recommends ditching the one-award-one-winner formula—which forces leaders to draw artificial distinctions among high september/october 2011 | INC. | 2 7
strategy
performers—and instead, honouring all the Polishing the Trophies brightest stars in a company’s constellation. Employee awards don’t have to be stale gestures. Here’s how to put meaning back into the plaques. That largess is feasible if the award is a call to service rather than a fat check. I Love says ADG’s founder, Jeff Antkowiak. Spell out the criteria. Write down what Rewards, a San Francisco-based company each award recognises, including that helps human-resources departments Recognise multiple top performers. examples of past winners and why they implement staff-recognition programmes, Don’t place arbitrary limits. If several won. That way, the honour remains employees have had bang-up years, honconsistent. Says author and motivainducts about 10 employees into its our them all. “Why put a quota on exceltional speaker Bob Nelson, “You president’s club every year. And yes, they do lence?” says Nelson. “You don’t have to don’t want people saying, ‘wait a minget a trip (last year, it was four days in the give them all $1,000.” ute. Isn’t that what he’s paid to do?’” Bahamas). But once back home, the honourees become part of the CEO Insiders’ Limit the kinds of awards. It’s tempting Customise prizes. Find out whether to create awards recognising every individual winners would prefer money, Circle. The Circle, which consists of staff accomplishment. But don’t create so time off, a trip, or something else. At members of various departments and many that they’re meaningless. “There’s ADG Creative, managers discreetly ask employment levels, meets quarterly to help this great line from The Incredibles,” says imminent winners about their preferCEO Razor Suleman evaluate big questions. Antkowiak. “When everybody is extraorences. “We want to make sure we give “When you ask your best employees what dinary, nobody is extraordinary.” them something they actually want,” you need to do, they know,” says Suleman. “And when other employees see that top performers helped develop the strategy, you get amazing buy-in.” at least people are learning from it.” Ideally, the mention of a More important than what awards consist of is what they signify. particular award will conjure the image not of a trophy or a check but Award ceremonies are great opportunities to remind employees of of the honouree busy doing whatever makes him valuable to the the company’s core values. “Someone gets the President’s Award— business. “We give away trips, but we don’t want people thinking well, what the hell is that?” says Nelson. “The CEO should state what about trips,” says Antkowiak. “We want them thinking about what’s that person did and tie it back to the mission and strategic goals. Now, so amazing about their co-workers.” —Leigh Buchanan
strategy
Sales & Marketing Hoard More with StoreMore Will customer requests stack up? Finding space for all your so-called sentimental clutter that we accumulate over life can be tough if you live in small city apartments. Still, parting with your first-born’s wardrobe, childhood comic collection and report cards can be even more painful. To help spacecramped city folks scuttle this pain, a former investment banker and consultant Amit David Wilson, and Nitin Dhawan, have launched StoreMore. An offshoot of their maiden entrepreneurial venture, Reliable Records, a document storage company for corporations, StoreMore wants to make ‘hanging on’ easy. Their offering is simple—sort out the stuff that you don’t need at home but don’t wish to throw away either. Dump them into a carton and send it to StoreMore. Lack of space shouldn’t necessitate difficult choices—throw or keep—Wilson says. StoreMore, which launched in June 2011, charges its customers a storage fee of `60 per month per box. There are also annual charges (`365 or a rupee a day) and a special `999 package for three years. Orders have started trickling in and monthly revenues are moving towards `1 lakh. But StoreMore wants to stack up fast. Four experts suggest ways to do more. —Charu Bahri
How would you sell that?
pitch no. 3: A challenge Arvind Mahtani, CEO, Settlers India, real estate services provider Any business looking to store goods of “sentimental value” will need to surmount cultural barriers. Indians traditionally make space for objects they value and give away stuff they can do without. The fact that the Indian recycling industry is so well-established goes against the concept of accumulating too much clutter—people see value in parting with old stuff. So StoreMore may only find takers among the young who are open to new ideas. It would help to offer more realistic price points.
photo by photos.com
pitch no. 1: Pack it with trust Abhilash Nair, regional manager, Crown Worldwide Movers In this business, trust should be key because StoreMore plans to deal with emotional valuables. My concern is that StoreMore’s website doesn’t reveal enough—just a telephone listing isn’t enough to win confidence. You need to show your facility and location clearly. The approach should be personal. There’s the need to demonstrate how much you care by describing the facility and maintenance activities in detail. pitch no. 2: Adjust price Prateek Chandra, CEO, Avenues Consult, marketing consulting firm Team StoreMore needs to refine its business model. At present, its pricing is unrealistic. The company should explore offering multiple pricing plans. Also allow clients to use their own packing material. Deliveries and pick-ups should be made complimentary—that’s the least the company can do for its customers. Once the business model is refined, other marketing steps can be brought in: introducing referral plans (referring customers get one month’s rent waived off or free additional storage) and tie-up with a good logistics company to get ground support and negotiate sponsorships.
Emotional Baggage Will StoreMore sort out its profit plan and help customers?
Feedback on the Feedback Great points have been made on the strategic level—that StoreMore’s an emotional pitch and that storage costs need to be a fraction of the cost of that which is being stored. On the tactical level, we like the idea of showing more to clients—using the site, video, referral programmes and tie-ups with logistics companies. We are a little surprised that experts feel testimonials will not help. Some of the suggestions on the businessmodel are challenging.
pitch no. 4: Cheaper deliveries Mohit Khattar, Director, Equips Consultants, a marketing company StoreMore is a unique idea though it needs to work on its business model. They should consider more cost-effective ways of serving those customers who demand their stored goods frequently. This could help open up a new class of clients who are really hard pressed for space but need regular access to their stuff. Maybe entering into tieups with logistics companies would help. Also, the price to store goods should be lower than the cost of goods else, it will not attract a large customer base. september/october 2011 | INC. | 2 9
Tweeting Profits
Gutter Credit here
Gaurav Sharma wants to spread his wings wider.
3 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
Photograph by Subhojit paul
strategy
Elevator Pitch Twtbuck helps brands soar online. Can 4 crore give the business more chirp? Founder:
Gaurav Sharma Company:
Twtbuck
Launched:
2010
Location:
Delhi
Revenue:
50 lakh
Revenue Model:
Pay per click, pay per lead, pay per job Clients: 450 advertisers Funding sought:
4 crore
Funds sought for:
Gutter Credit here
Hiring sales team, marketing and scaling up operations in USA and Singapore
The Pitch “We help companies advertise on social media platforms. Social
media marketing is now a $2-4 billion market in India. Companies can’t ignore social media. By creating Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn marketing campaigns with us, brands can save up to 70 per cent of their online advertising costs. We’re effective because we connect ad campaigns with potential customers on the basis of geographical proximity, keyword-match and real-time social media data. Because our advertisers pay us per click, we work hard for our targeting to be efficient. We don’t get paid if we don’t increase site and page visits. The revenue model is simple—the publisher gets a cut from what an advertiser pays per click and the rest comes to Twtbuck. We already work with 450 companies including Standard Chartered, Ford, Fiat and MakeMyTrip.”—As told to Inc. India
Investors Weigh In Focus on technology
Work out a strategy
A good idea
Twitter and Facebook are getting advertiser traction because of a very large user adoption. For example, Facebook has more than 20 million users in India. In addition to the large reach, these platforms can be used in a more targeted manner than the conventional mass media approach. So Twtbuck has a strong value proposition and a large market to play in. But the company must create a strong technology platform for targeting. This market will see global competition. Right now, the average spend per brand is very low on Twtbuck. Brands are still experimenting and aren’t able to scale up on the platform.
It’s a very interesting model. It can be disruptive if it develops as pure play or a self-serving and selflearning platform which grows virally. Technology will be key to success and failure. Historically, Indian companies have found it difficult to create world-class products. Also the market size mentioned is a global estimate. If he wants to tap the global market, being based out of India may prove to be a strategic disadvantage. It will be important to know how many such businesses already exist in the US because if this is a clone, then the possibility of it creating a global disruption is much lower than if it is a unique business model.
Given the proliferation and explosion of social media globally, and the engagement that consumers have with publishers and their online social networks, this is a great idea. There are several questions though—why don’t Google, Twitter or Facebook do this themselves? Having said that, advertisers follow engaged eyeballs, and consumers are moving in droves to their online social worlds and spending more time there. Now that companies like Twitter and Facebook are clearly focused on monetisation, Twtbuck may just be the partner that can create the overall ecosystem—publishers, advertisers and analytics.
Mukul Singhal, vice president, SAIF Partners, Delhi
Harish Bahl, founder and CEO, Smile Group, Gurgaon
Mohanjit Jolly, managing director, DFJ India, Bengaluru september/october 2011 | INC. | 3 1
This is big
3 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
3-D 500 created by Tommy McCall
this is big
big
This is
Introducing the definitive list of India’s fastest-growing, mid-sized enterprises
september/october 2011 | INC. | 3 3
Our third annual ranking is finally out. It took us months to get here— but what a
rewarding journeyit’s been. We hope you find our heroes as impressive as we do.
It’s been a year of intense economic upheaval. Undoubtedly, 2011 will be remembered in economic and political history as a time when seemingly-impossible and unimaginable events occurred. Take the United States of America, for example. The global giant was jolted to its very core by twin assaults on its economic health—the protracted debt crisis and Standard & Poor’s subsequent downgrading of its 70-year-old AAA rating. That US Treasury bonds would ever cease to be the safest investment in the world wasn’t an eventuality any economic forecast would’ve possibly put forward. Inc. India launched its annual 500 Meanwhile, European countries continranking of mid-sized companies in 2009. ued their downward spiral. With each year, we’ve added value to our Fortunately, India continued to grow rankings. Encouraged by the feedback, in amid this gloom, albeit at a slower pace. In our third annual edition, we’ve really fact, it seems global conditions have only pushed the envelope. This ranking is our made our entrepreneurs smarter. There’s bravest yet, mainly because it includes a still a latent positivity, but one that has ben- much larger chunk of privately-held, efited from the realisation that obstacles do unlisted companies. In our survey last year, exist and established success paths can go a few more than 400 of the 500 companies wrong. There’s also the understanding that on our list were listed entities. We’ve draIndian businesses are incredibly wellmatically changed that composition. By placed to take advantage of global condiputting in the filter that subsidiary compations. Ask the honourees who make up our nies of groups larger than `1,500 crore list of the fastest-growing mid-sized comshould not be considered, we brought panies in India. Many of them might not down the number of listed companies to be on any public radar but they are 200 this year. The remaining 300 are public silently and effectively scripting our coun- unlisted and privately-held companies, try’s next chapters of growth. Even as gleaned from our database of more than Indian GDP grew by 8.5 per cent, the top 3,500 companies. It’s certainly added that 50 companies on our list clocked a zing of freshness to our list. Take the No. 1, healthy upswing of 187 per cent in turn2 and 3 companies on our list. Between over in the past three years. them, they’ve grown 530 per cent in three 3 4 | INC. | september/october 2011
sector profile Sector No. of companies
INC. INDIA
500 IT&ITeS 58
Share in Inc. India 500
11.6%
Sales in 2010
`16,097 cr
Sales in 2007
`5,852 cr
3-year CAGR
40.11%
Average size of company
`277.54 cr
Top Player
Sector No. of companies
ICSA (India)
FMCG 41
Share in Inc. India 500
8.2%
Sales in 2010
`17,333 cr
Sales in 2007
`7,332 cr
3-year CAGR
33.21%
Average size of company Top Player
Sector No. of companies
`422.75 cr Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea
Steel 41
Share in Inc. India 500
8.2%
Sales in 2010
`13,691 cr
Sales in 2007
`5,336 cr
3-year CAGR
36.9%
Average size of company Top Player
`333.92 cr Prime Impex
this is big
years, but in all likelihood few of us had ever heard of them before. Vikas Global One, our No. 1 this year, is more than an Inc. India debutante. For Vikas Garg, the company’s 38-year-old MD, this was also his first full-fledged media interview. This is what drives us at Inc. India— navigating through uncharted territory to discover centres of excellence. On paper, there are around 850,000 registered companies in India. Yet, other than the top 100— the ones that regularly inhabit the pages of our mainstream business press— precious little is known about the huge ocean of enterprises. By law, Indian private companies aren’t mandated to share their financials. That made the task of unearthing audited data even more challenging. But our efforts have been rewarding. For starters, this year’s list is definitely more diverse. Similar to the previous two rankings, IT&ITeS continues to be the top sector with 11.6 per cent of the total companies. But, several chemical, oil and gas and FMCG companies have found their way into the list this year. In fact, FMCG accounts for 8 per cent of the total companies. Amid the excitement, there are also improvement areas. As mid-sized enterprises chase growth, issues like standardisation and best-practices, especially in financial governance are definite to-dos our companies might want to take a look at. Our team went through thousands of balance sheets and found many of them to be outdated templates. Alignment with global financial reporting standards will undoubtedly help these companies present a better business case when they go out to bid for international contracts or seek out capital. The Inc. India 500 holds a mirror to the future of Indian business. It’s gratifying to see the rise of mid-sized enterprises beyond the “more popular” IT&ITeS. The emergence of many “old-new” firms (in the steel, gas and FMCG sectors) could be a pointer to the strengths of Indian enterprises and an opportunity to establish new outposts. Our stories with these entrepreneurs also reveal a quiet confidence that their time has arrived and they’re ready to lead the charge.
Splitting Numbers
We take a closer look at the distribution of firms categorised by their turnover. See if you can spot a trend
44.6%
18% `50-100 crore
`101-500 crore
Top 10 Sectors A stack-up of the most prominent sectors in our survey
IT&ITeS 11.6%
18.8% `501-1000 crore
Sector No. of companies
Pharmaceuticals
7%
Engineering Construction & Real Estate 6.4%
7%
Capital Goods Textiles 6% 5.8% Infrastructure 5% Chemicals 4.8%
Pharma 35 7%
Sales in 2010
`17,269 cr
Sales in 2007
`8,459 cr
3-year CAGR
26.89%
Average size of company
`493.41 cr
Top Player
No. of companies
Steel 8.2%
`1001-1500 crore
Share in Inc. India 500
Sector
FMCG 8.2%
8.4%
Micro Labs
Engineering 35
Share in Inc. India 500
7%
Sales in 2010
`11,647 cr
Sales in 2007
`3,758 cr
3-year CAGR
45.79%
Average size of company
`332.76 cr
Top Player
Sector No. of companies
HBL Power Systems Construction & Real Estate 32
Share in Inc. India 500
6.4%
Sales in 2010
`14,060 cr
Sales in 2007
`3,526 cr
3-year CAGR
58.57%
Average size of company
`439.38 cr
Top Player
Madhucon Projects
september/october 2011 | INC. | 3 5
This is big
Sector
Capital Goods
No. of companies
30
Share in Inc. India 500
6%
Sales in 2010
`9,370 cr
Sales in 2007
`4,361 cr
3-year CAGR
29.03%
Average size of company
`312.32 cr
Top Player
Chettinad Cement
Sector
Textiles
No. of companies
29
Share in Inc. India 500
5.8%
Sales in 2010
`10,662 cr
Sales in 2007
`4,257 cr
3-year CAGR
35.80%
Average size of company Top Player
Sector No. of companies
`367.66 cr Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn
Infrastructure 25
Share in Inc. India 500
5%
Sales in 2010
`16,876 cr
Sales in 2007
`4,622 cr
3-year CAGR
53.99%
Average size of company
`675.04 cr
Top Player
Sector No. of companies
Tecpro Systems
Chemicals 24
Share in Inc. India 500
4.8%
Sales in 2010
`5,649 cr
Sales in 2007
`2,367 cr
3-year CAGR
33.63%
Average size of company
`235.38 cr
Top Player
Jayant Agro Organics
3 6 | INC. | september/october 2011
The Methodology When we at Inc. India decided to wade into the uncharted waters recognising business excellence among mid-sized enterprises in India, we were faced with a dilemma. Should we look at sales growth over a period of time? Or, should we look at the overall performance of a company? Over the last two years, we opted for the latter. But we realised that assessing the overall financial performance of these companies—mostly unlisted and largely family owned—was far more difficult than the common job of covering listed companies and our approach filtered out many deserving entities for lack of data. Hence this year we have decided to look at sales growth alone, mainly to allow a wider coverage of unlisted and privately-held businesses. While there are more than 8.5 lakh registered companies in the country, we only get to hear about the 7000-odd listed companies. So we changed our approach to identify future winners in India’s rapidly transitioning mid-size space. We began by creating three “master lists” of more than 3,500 companies across 35 sectors—one each for public listed companies, public unlisted companies and privately-held businesses. We excluded BFSIs (revenue is difficult to define), PSUs (not really independent) and companies whose group turnover exceeds `1,500 crore. These companies were then assessed by Inc. India’s research team on the following: 1. Digital presence: Each company was subjectively assessed on a scale of 1 to 5 on company website and availability of company information online. 2. Leadership: The leadership was assessed on information available online. In this digital world, absence of information on top management is regarded as ‘‘not keeping up with the Joneses”, and hence penalised. 3. Year of incorporation and line of business. After this subjective assessment, we assessed net sales data of the last four financial years. Where annual data was not available, relevant quarterly data was tabulated to arrive at this information. Finally, to rank the companies under each master-list, we calculated the compound annual growth rates (CAGR) of net sales. The final Inc. India 500 consists of 200 listed companies, 200 unlisted public companies and 100 privately held businesses.
The Process Schematic Listed Public Companies Unlisted Public Companies
Subjective assessment on three parameters
Sales CAGR (%)
Privately held businesses
1. Unlisted Public Limited companies are Public Limited companies that are not listed on any stock exchange, but can have unlimited number of shareholders. 2. Information available as on April 1, 2011.
OUR CLASS OF 2011—The Honourees
Welcome to the most comprehensive ranking of India’s fastest-growing mid-sized companies. Meet our bright bunch.
1 1
Vikas Global One
21
ASEEM Global
41
Aravali Infrapower
2
EdServ Softsystems
22
Protech Galvanisers & Fabricators
42
Angelique International
3
Tirupati Inks
23
Asahi Infrastructure & Projects
43
Econix Hi-Tech Components
4
SRS Real Infrastructure
24
Cura Technologies
44
Manthan Software Services
5
Sreepathi Lab
25
Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea
45
b4S Solutions
6
Excel Entertainment
26
Trinethra Infra
46
Baba Arts
7
RMP Infotech
27
Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components
47
UPL Environmental Engineers
8
Kejriwal Bee Care India
28
Orbit Corporation
48
Educomp Solutions
9
Vikas Granaries
29
Horizon Infrastructure
49
One97 Communications
Bhanot Construction & Housing
30 30
Balaji Coke Industry
50 ARSS Infrastructure Projects 50
10 10 11
FATPipe Networks India
31
Brandhouse Retails
51
AQUA logistics
12
Sai Service Spares & Accessories
32
Linkson International
52
Goenka Diamond & Jewels
13
Tara Health Foods
33
Aradhya Wire Ropes
53
Rainox Wires
14
Arcotech
34
VHCL Industries
54
Kwality Dairy (India)
15
IBI Chematur (Engineering & Consultancy)
35
Mittal Corp
55
Confidence Petroleum India
16
Mynah Industries
36
JP Infrastructure
56
EKa Software Solutions
17
Sanraa Media
37
Driplex Water Engineering
57
Everonn Education
18
Enzen Global
38
Nila Infrastructures
58
J Kumar Infraprojects
19
Kalpataru
39
Bartronics India
59
DEEP Industries
20 20
AMR Constructions
40 40
Armtech (India)
60 60
Sandhar Locking Devices
For details on the ranking methodology, please refer to Page 36. Source: Capitaline and online registration september/october 2011 | INC. | 3 7
thE CLASS OF 2011
61
SeQuent
107 Kilitch Drugs (India)
151 Shilpa Medicare
62
Vishwa Infrastructure and Services
108 Kemrock Industries & Exports
152 Parabolic Drugs
63
Champalal Motilal Steel Company
109 Opto Circuits (India)
153 BRIGADE Hospitality Services
64
Tecpro Systems
110 110
154 Apollo Industrial Products
65
Veena Industries
111 Continental Carriers
155 OnMobile Global
66
A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services
112 TCG Lifesciences
156 Euro Decor
67
Totem Infrastructure
113 Modern India
157 Parekh Aluminex
68
MARG
114 Hindustan Dorr-Oliver
158 Simplex Engineering & Foundry Works
CORE Education & Technologies
115 RT Outsourcing Services
159 Ozone Overseas
70 SB & T Designs 70
116 KND Engineering Technologies
160 160
71
Sterling & Wilson
117 Valley Iron & Steel Company
161 Nitin Fire Protection Industries
72
Clinigene International
118 Rohit Ferro Tech
73
Supreme Infrastructure India
74
Gala Equipment
75
69
Shirdi Industries
Saipem Triune Projects
162 Impex Ferro Tech
119
Anugraha Construction Equipment Services & Support
163 Oberoi Realty
Electrical Manufacturing Company
120 120
Kavveri Telecom Products
165 WearWell India
76
Man Infraconstruction
121 Vanaz Engineers
77
Credit Analysis & Research (CARE)
122 Solar Industries India
167 Accentia Technologies
78
First Steps Babywear
123 Tilaknagar Industries
168 Technofab Engineering
79
Diamond Power Infrastructure
124 Raj Oil Mills
169 GEE
125 Ess Dee Aluminium
170 170
80 Enmas GB Power Systems Projects 80
164 Secure Meters 166 Midi Extrusions
Ankit Metal & Power
81
NKG Infrastructure
126 Mantri Developers
171 Genesys International Corporation
82
Coastal Projects
127 Kumar Urban Development
172 Sumeet Industries
83
Nexxoft Infotel
128 Technical Associates
173 GPT Infraprojects
84
Glodyne Technoserve
129 Man B&W Diesel (India)
174 Resurgere Mines & Minerals India
85
LGS Global
130 Synoprene 130
175 Bharati Shipyard
86
Karuturi Global
131 Acropetal Technologies
176 Tops Security
87
Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services
132 Ankita Knit Wear
177 Titanium Tantalum Products
88
Max Flex & Imaging Systems
133 MBL Infrastructures
178 Ganesh Polytex
89
Sunil Hitech Engineers
134 Indofil Organic Industries
179 Pratibha Industries
135 Cheema Boilers
180 180
90 Gravita India 90
Ashoka Buildcon
DM Corporation
136 Jotindra Steel & Tubes
181 Maithan Alloys
92
USHER Agro
137 Compuage Infocom
182 Satra Properties (India)
93
Jaihind Projects
138 Toshbro Medicals
183 Axiom Impex
94
Som Datt Builders
139 Harish Chandra (India)
184 Rajputana Stainless
95
Paladion Networks
140 140
185 Aarvi Encon
96
Caliber Point Business Solutions
141 Astec Lifesciences
97
Gemini Engi-Fab
142 C & C Constructions
187 UIC Udyog
98
BVG India
143 Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision
188 Miot Hospitals
99
Camson Bio Technologies
144 Vakrangee Softwares
189 KG Fabriks
145 K L Rathi Steels
190 190
91
100 Cantabil Retail India 100 101 Compact Disc India 102 Dempo Mining Corporation
146
Jocil
Premium Paper & Board Industries
186 Financial Technologies (India)
Chemtrols Engineering
191 North Eastern Carrying Corporation 192 Hanung Toys and Textiles
147 Jollyboard
193 Radiant Info Systems
104 Concast Ispat
148 Goyal MG Gases
194 Allied Digital
105 VRS Foods
149 Oil Field Instrumentation India
195 Arshiya International
106 Simplex Projects
150 150
196 Astral Poly Technik
103 Symphony
3 8 | INC. | september/october 2011
B.E.Billimoria
thE CLASS OF 2011
197 Dharma Productions
241 BS TransComm
285 Pennar Industries
198 Sven Genetech
242 Ramdev Food Products
286 Vaswani Industries
199 Eros International Media
243 DT Cinemas
287 Shri Lakshmi Cotsyn
200 Koutons Retail India 200
244 Craftsman Automation
288 Piccadily Agro Industries
201 eClerx Services
245 GSS Infotech
289 Associated Stone Industries (Kotah)
202 Avon Corporation
246 Mandhana Industries
290 290
203 Credit Information Bureau (India)
247 Grabal Alok Impex
291 Fabindia
204 Geodesic
248 Heritage Foods (India)
292 Kalpena Industries
205 PNC Infratech
249 Dolphin Offshore Enterprises (India)
293 Zen Technologies
206 Lifetree Convergence
250 250
294 Relaxo Footwears
207 Media Industries
251 Arihant Industrial Corporation
295 Akshar Chemicals
Dorf Ketal Chemicals India
Globus Spirits
208 Corporate Media Men Advertising
252 Sadbhav Engineering
296 Amar Remedies India
209 Geno Pharmaceuticals
253 Fichtner Consulting Engineers (India)
297 BSCPL Infrastructure
210 210
254 Bilcare
298 Paharpur Cooling Towers
Sharon Bio-Medicine
211 Prakash Steelage
255 Mauria Udyog
299 SEED Infotech
212 Coral Hub
256 M Sons Enterprises
300 Proseal Closures 300
213 Pearl Global
257 Ihsedu Agrochem
301 GEI Industrial Systems
214 Ankur Drugs & Pharma
258 Kiri Industries
302 Development Consultants
215 Neo Corp International
259 Tricolite
303 Hikal
216 IDMC
260 260
304 Tantia Constructions
217 Vinati Organics
261 Softcell Technologies
305 Nakoda
218 Arch Pharmalabs
262 P C I
306 Shingar
219 Asian Tiles
263 Sanwaria Agro Oils
307 Indian Cable Net Company
220 220
264 Gujarat Polybutenes
308 Path Infotech
221 Ganges International
265 Hoysala Projects
309 Prestige Estates Projects
Madhu Silica
DQ Entertainment (International)
222 Richa Industries
266 Page Industries
310 310
223 Omnitech InfoSolutions
267 Gayatri Projects
311 Widex India
224 Prime Impex
268 Bharat Insulation Company (India)
312 Tolani Shipping Company
225 Sabero Organics Gujarat
269 Gujarat Multi Gas Base Chemicals
313 Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols 314 Microland
Ind-Swift Laboratories
226 International Print-O-Pac
270 Twilight Litaka Pharma 270
227 Shashi Cables
271 Amira Foods India
315 Pioneer Alloy Castings
228 SPANCO
272 Ackruti City
316 Ganesh Housing Corporation
229 Gujarat NRE Coke
273 Sudhir Gensets
317 Nilkamal
230 230
274 Responsive Industries
318 Elin Electronics
Span Healthcare
231 Madhucon Projects
275 Kaveri Seed Company
319 Transformers & Rectifiers India
232 KIC Metaliks
276 Amara Raja Batteries
320 320
233 Genus Paper Products
277 Wim Plast
321 Macleods Pharmaceuticals
234 Bliss Gvs Pharma
278 RHYDBURG Pharmaceuticals
322 Indian Immunologicals
235 Frigerio Conserva Allana
279 Insecticides (India)
323 Nandan Biomatrix
236 VEESONS Energy Systems
280 280
237 Origin IT & Facility Solutions
281 Base Corporation
325 Milton Cycle Industries
238 KNR Constructions
282 SGS Tekniks
326 HBL Power Systems
239 Penna Cement Indutries
283 Nirmal Lifestyle
327 FirePro Systems
240 240
284 Neoteric Informatique
328 Career Point Infosystems
Rithwik Projects
Merino Industries
Greenply Industries
324 LS Mills
For details on the ranking methodology, please refer to Page 36. Source: Capitaline and online registration september/october 2011 | INC. | 3 9
thE CLASS OF 2011
329 Tirumala Milk Products
375 Rainbow Papers
419 Maneesh Pharmaceuticals
330 Manjushree Technopack 330
376 Gujarat Infrapipes
420 Apara Enterprise Solutions 420
331 Catwalk Worldwide
377 Photon Infotech
421 Sumitron Exports
332 Mohan Breweries & Distilleries
378 ICSA (India)
422 Surya Food & Agro
333 BCH Electric
379 MSP Steel & Power
423 Indo Alusys Industries
334 Virgo Engineers 335 Granules India 336 Roop Telsonic Ultrasonix 337 Asbesco (India) 338 Bedmutha Industries 339 Sun TV Network 340 340
Ginza Industries
341 Unimark Remedies 342 Trinity India 343 CommTel Network 344 V-Guard 345 EMI Transmission 346 Technico Industries 347 e4e Healthcare Business Services 348 Mazda Colours 349 Innoventive Industries 350 350
Iris Computers
351 Dhanuka Agritech 352 AIA Engineering 353 Thangamayil Jewellery 354 Konkan Speciality Poly Products 355 Provogue 356 Emami 357 Nectar Lifescience 358 Parenteral Drugs (India) 359 Cox & Kings 360 Titagarh Wagons 360 361 Fedders Lloyd Corporation
380
Aditya Auto Products & Engineering (India)
381 Mayur Uniquoters 382 Anjani Portland Cement 383 Infinite Computer Solutions India 384 Century Plyboards (India) 385 Thermodyne Technologies 386 Tricom India 387 Micro Technologies (India) 388 Kunj Forgings 389 Gupta Cables 390 390
Vipul Impex & Infrabuild
391 Vallabhdas Kanji 392 A G Aerovision Electronics 393 Khanna Paper Mills 394 Sogo Computers 395 Transasia Bio-Medicals 396 Suprajit Engineering 397 CavinKare 398 Allied Strips 399 Subhasri Pigments 400 400
Avon Cycles
401 ANNIK 402 Menon and Menon 403 Persistent Systems 404 Dinshaws Dairy Foods 405 Tirupati Udyog 406 Dantal Hydraulics
362 MN Dastur & Co
407
Intercontinental Consultants and Technocrats
424 Autometers Alliance 425 VRL Logistics 426 Micro Labs 427 Rosvar Steels 428 Stewart Holl (India) 429 Bansal Wire Industries 430 430
Cross-Tab Marketing Services
431 CMS Computers 432 Eland International 433 Almonard 434 Kancor Ingredients 435 Om Logistics 436 BIC Logistics 437 Hetero Drugs 438 Lohia Starlinger 439 Kaytee Corporation 440 440
Bharat Serums And Vaccines
441 Ring Plus Aqua 442 Carrier Airconditioning & Refrigeration 443 Ankit Ispat 444 U P Telelinks 445 Stumpp, Schuele & Somappa 446 Forace Polymers 447 Aparajitha Corporate Services 448 Mackintosh Burn 449 Parle Agro 450 450
Ravi Organics
451 Sakal Papers 452 Contract Advertising (India)
363 Jayant Agro Organics
408 Cotmac Private
453 Aristo Pharmaceuticals
364 Zylog Systems
409 Vijay Tanks & Vessels
454 SVEC Construction
365 Best IT World India
410 410
366 Ram Ratna Wires
AB Hotels
455 Phoenix Overseas
411 Agrocel Industries
456 Swastik Pipes
367 Vikas Wsp
412 Machino Polymers
457 Uniproducts (India)
368 Aries Agro
413 Integra Software Services Private
458 Sargam Metals
414 USV
459 Hind Agro Industries
369 Haldiram Bhujiawala 370 370
APL Apollo Tubes
371 Chettinad Cement 372 Laxmi Publications 373 Time Technoplast 374 Sanghvi Movers
4 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
415 Consulting Engineering Services India
460 460
416 Alkem Laboratories
461 ZCL Chemicals
417
Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company
418 Go Go International
Fibcom India
462 UP Twiga Fiber Glass 463 Ralson 464 Cochin International Airport
thE CLASS OF 2011
465 STP Limited
477 DTDC Courier & Cargo
489 Biological E
466 Sai Service Station
478 Gordon Woodroffe Logistics
490 490
467 M&M Machine Craft
479 Param Dairy
491 SKS Ispat & Power
468 Gitanjali Exports Corporation 469 Narayan Organics 470 470
Gujarat Insecticides
471 Rushil DĂŠcor 472
Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Company
480
East India Pharmaceutical Works
481 Cethar Vessels
Msource India
492 Wolkem India 493 Thermax Engineering Construction 494 Saraswati Sugar Mills
482 Blue Cross Laboratories
495 TaximenS Services
483 Deys Medical Stores Manufacturing
496 Estel Technologies
484 Sindhu Cargo Services
497 Auto Ignition
473 Indus Tubes
485 Saraya Industries
498 Savani Carrying
474 Malayala Manorama Company
486 Federal Brands
499 Eurotech Cylinders
475 Synthite Industrial Chemicals
487 International Tractors
476 Elgi Ultra Industries
488 Alufit India
500 500
Indo Shell Cast
For details on the ranking methodology, please refer to Page 36. Source: Capitaline and online registration
Vikas Garg | Vikas Global One
Three Year Growth 631% | 2010 Revenue `63 crore
We’re just
getting started For 38-year-old Vikas Garg, August was quite a remarkable month. After 17 years as a director with Vikas Global One, the Delhi-based petroleum and petrochemical products company founded by his father, Nand Kishore Garg, young Garg was catapulted as the firm’s managing director. Over the last three years, Vikas Global One has grown exponentially—moving away from merely trading to actually manufacturing high-end chemical products used in plastics, pipes, rubber and packaging units. But, Garg has little time to celebrate his new position or his company’s top-rank in our survey. With plans that require the company to grow 5X in the next four years, there isn’t a moment to rest, insists Garg.
As told to Shreyasi Singh photographS BY Subhojit Paul
We’ve grown upwards of 500 per cent in the past few years. In the next five years, we’ll grow by five or even six folds and be a `800-crore company, and that growth rate will continue. The foundation that we had set up is finally showing results, as we near the end of our first stage in 2011. Vikas Global One was founded in 1984 by my father. Till eight years ago, we were an NBFC (Non Banking Financial Company). Along the way, we understood that this wasn’t a business for the future. My father had a Masters in Chemistry and
4 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
some contacts in the chemicals business so he got into the specialty chemicals and polymers business. Last month, I formally took over as the managing director. It was my father’s decision to pass on the reins. Things were changing fast and he wanted to slow down. If you compare us, I think he had an easier style. I am much more ambitious. It isn’t just about making money. I want the whole hog—fame, money and the fulfilment that comes from creating something beyond just shareholder value.
RANK
1
september/october 2011 | INC. | 4 3
INC. INDIA 500
We trade in specialty chemicals. These are
catalysts and additives needed for plastic formulations such as wireless cable, agricultural pipes and auto parts. When my father started his business, India was far behind Asian, European and American countries. Now, there are enough opportunities in the specialty chemicals business. Across the globe, it’s one of the fastest-growing segments, and our focus has to be global, as we are a multiproduct company. Merely adding on volumes won’t do for us. Beyond a threshold, volumes actually decrease your per unit profit.
In India, the per capita consumption of
polymer is negligible as compared to developed nations. We will grow by inorganic methods and by adding new capacity. We have two plants in Jammu and two in Raja-
sthan. They all have the capacity for further enhancement. In fact, we can double-up capacity when need be. We’ve also been granted land in Gujarat and are working on a greenfield manufacturing unit there. This is a critical project. It will help us cater to the industrial hubs in western India and the exports market. We are also actively on the lookout for buying available technology from Korea, Taiwan and China. As far as acquisitions are concerned, we
are in advance stages of discussion with two companies—it might happen in September and December. We’ve also established an export division though currently our exports are negligible. Although our focus is on the SAARC countries, we’ve also employed external agencies to scope
out opportunities in Europe and America.
Capital isn’t going to be a roadblock. We are
funding plans with internal accruals and promoter contributions. That should see us through the next few years. We are open to private equity funds if we get good valuations. But we aren’t actively scouting. Some HNIs did show interest but we’re not interested. Money is always welcome, of course, but our plans won’t stop if we don’t get it right now.
My other priority is to build a good team. I don’t want to work with every kind of person. They shouldn’t be those who only wait for the seventh of the month for a salary. I need people who share my dreams. That said, I can’t be a preacher who just gives gyaan. I can command respect only if I perform myself. So, come what may, I’m in the office by 9am even if I’ve got off an international flight at 5am. I’m constantly trying to adapt. The boss has to live the changes in a growing organisation. I feel guilty if I don’t work hard. I take work home every day. I constantly feel the pressure to perform and achieve. Having said that, it’s not that someone would haul me up if I don’t reach the `800-crore mark. But I’m answerable to myself, and that’s good enough. My father always asks me to calm down and go slow. On his face, I agree. However, without aggression, without that something extra, one cannot achieve.
“I’m constantly trying to adapt. The boss has to
live the changes in a growing organisation.” —vikas garg
4 4 | INC. | september/october 2011
I don’t get distracted or disheartened easily though. Short-term problems and challenges shouldn’t get one down. My perspective is not limited to a six or 12-month goal. It’s a long journey and I have to keep myself focused on the larger picture. I really believe that if you just play with a straight bat, the mission will be reached. It might be a year here and there from the deadline, but you will get there.
INC. INDIA 500
NCR
100
6
Here’s a geographical distribution of Inc. India 500 honourees. More than 50 per cent of our rankers have corporate offices in the usual suspects—the four metros and hubs like Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Top Business
Kolkata
Cities
42
29
Hyderabad
Mumbai
126
Bengaluru
34
How they stack up
25 20
These six cities account for 357 of the 500 companies on our list. A closer look at the break-up of cities by %age
8
26 Chennai
INFOGRAPHICS by Sristi Maurya
Mumbai
NCR
Kolkata
7
6
5
Bengaluru
Chennai
Hyderabad
* NCR denotes National Capital Region
september/october 2011 | INC. | 4 5
MAKING IT
It’s a long way to go—from fodder to fashionably healthy food options. Tara Health Foods may have started its business with the production and distribution of compounded cattle feed, however, it soon saw sense in diversifying into commercial production of nutritive, healthy edible oil to cater to health-conscious Indian consumers. A leading player in northern India, the company has established a strong distribution network in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the National Capital Region.
4 6 | INC. | September/october 2011
Tara Health Foods
photograph by subhojit paul
Rank No. 13
reported by rajat gupta
BY THE NUMBERS
INC. INDIA
500 THE FOUR BANDS
Our 500 honourees constitute a vast pool of data. It’s easy to overlook interesting companies in this universe of winners. Here’s another look at our list—this time, categorised by a certain band of turnover.
Satheesh Kumar K.R. | enzen Global
Where next is now Revenue Category: Below `100 crore
Energy may be life but the smart use of it is strictly business for Satheesh Kumar K.R. His Bengaluru-based company, Enzen Global, doesn’t tally wealth by net profits, but by the resources they help clients save. As they make companies more energyefficient, they are also powering their $1-billion dream.
4 8 | INC. | september/october 2011
Below `100 crore | Pg 48 `101-500 crore | Pg 50 `501-1000 crore| Pg 54 `1000-1500 crore| Pg 57
My Background Mother’s occupation: retired government employee Father’s occupation: retired government employee Previous jobs: Worked previously with C-DOT,
AT&T, NCR and Wipro. My Company
Its origins: I believe it was Gautam Buddha who supposedly said,
“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.” At Enzen Global, we believe in the power of conviction. When we began, our goal was to eradicate inefficiencies in the power, water, gas and environmental sectors to the best of our abilities. We aim to maintain a sense of humility, a passion for delivery and an obsession for ethics and values.
We began from Millers Road (Bengaluru) in 2006. And in March 2011, the firm completed five years. Currently, we are a 2,000-plus family of committed “knowledge practitioners” working with approximately 90 energy and utility companies across 10 countries, from 19 locations. The team’s driven by a
by the numbers Energy Saver Satheesh Kumar K.R. believes in the positive power of smart resources.
challenges. My team and I firmly believe that energy is an elixir, it is life. When we see leakages in the energy-value chain, we feel pulled to correct it. What I lost sleep over:
indifference to wastage and loss of energy especially when this waste is created by people who can otherwise make a difference. It bothers me deeply to see energy being inefficiently utilised and wasted. The best part of my job:
unquestionably, it’s my team. Each one of them is passionate about our cause. Their drive and purpose gives me the belief to work and progress. The worst part of my job:
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18
combined vision: to become partners to global markets and drive out at least $1billion worth of inefficiencies by 2016. What keeps us ticking is our employees’
energy. When we hire we go about seeking talented individuals who can set stretch targets for us and work roundthe-clock with clients to implement sustainable improvements in their business models. Our goal is to be one of India’s top consultants.
Why it’s growing: we measure ourselves on
business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-society parameters. Everything that we do falls into one of these categories. We call this focus “Enzeneration”. It makes us relevant to our customers.
We don’t do broad-spectrum advertising
or road shows. We let our values, culture and spirit get us business. This belief has stood us in good stead. Enzen’s growth has been fuelled as much by our customers’ desire to see us grow as our own. Our teams, investors and customers have trusted our spirit. Strategically, the energy and utilities space needs specialists: people who are aware of both local and global needs. There are few such specialists. We have kept our focus bigger. That has worked to our advantage and helped us to win industry recognition. How I Work
Where I get my inspiration: the world
around me is my inspiration. I am inspired by life. Impediments to growth are my
it’s the inertia to change of large energy and utility companies that we’re up against. Their reluctance to adopt contemporary efficiency improvement technology and processes because of a compulsive obsession with archaic internal bureaucratic processes is irritating. The country pays for their successes through depletion of resources. What’s Next At Enzen, we believe that “next is now”. What we do now shapes our next wave. Being relevant to more customers and consumers continues to drive us. In the future, we will continue to bring in easyto-deploy, affordable and sustainable technology, processes, policies and models across the energy and utility value chain. We will continue to explore newer forms of energy sources appropriate for underprivileged and remote areas of the globe. With the use of clean technology, we want to see people’s lives change substantially. september/october 2011 | INC. | 49
by the numbers
The Restless Nerd For Vijay Shekhar Sharma, business is more than just money; it’s about ideas.
5 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
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49
rags to riches story Vijay Shekhar Sharma | One97 communications
Revenue Category: `100-500 crore
My
Time was when, says the rather boyish-looking Vijay Shekhar Sharma, chairman and managing director of One97, a mobile value-added services (VAS) company, when he didn’t even have money to buy a bus ticket. He just walked to his destination. From a small town in Uttar Pradesh, with nothing more than modest means to boast about, he says he had little to lose then, and has little to lose now as the owner of a `250-crore company. That includes time—which probably explains why he doesn’t wear a watch.
As told to Tejeesh N. S. Behl photographS by subhojit paul
I believe success comes about in two ways—one, when you have nothing to lose and two, when you have everything to lose. In my case, it was a mixture of both. I come from Aligarh, from a not very wellto-do family. I was a bright student throughout school. Because my schooling was in Hindi medium, my early years at Delhi College of Engineering were spent translating the technical jargon of my professors from English to Hindi. In that sense, I over achieved by just being
an engineer. I was the first in my family to be one. Whatever I did after that—starting a dotcom venture, Indiasite.net, a search engine, that I later sold off, or working with a telecom solutions company where I was paid a very handsome salary (which became the seed fund for One97), were big jumps forward. I was always moving from
nothing to something more. But, given my background, becoming an entrepreneur meant losing other things like a stable government job with its many social benefits, and being seen as an eligible bachelor. People think I’m a man in a rush. I
wouldn’t deny that charge. I was 15 when I entered engineering college. Most of my other classmates were 18. I ran my first business for two years, between 1997-99, before I cashed out. At my next company, Lotus Interworks in New Jersey, I bailed out just two weeks before completing a year. Being with the organisation for a year would have enabled me to get stock options. But I didn’t really care about that. I felt I had saved enough capital for my seed fund.
I launched One97 in 2000 with that money. We started as a people search comseptember/october 2011 | INC. | 51
by the numbers
pany. India’s early telecom years saw the birth of the missed-call phenomenon to save on talk-time costs. I had a mobile phone and used to get missed calls, but had no clue about the caller’s identity. So I started One97 to enable consumers to find the name of the person who was calling by simply messaging the number to 197. Over the years, we’ve diversified into offering services to consumers such as music, enabling better network utilisation through services such as customer analytics, and offering cost reduction in enterprise delivery systems. A business is supposedly about making
money, but actually, a business is about ideas. Businesses flow from great ideas. I realised early on that compared to the internet, there’s much more opportunity in telecom. Its eco-system is far bigger than the internet market in India. There are many applications of it, and many people are impacted. It’s exciting and a challenge to cater to these different needs. For example, when we built applications for the rural market, we consciously decided to offer it in the local dialect. For that, we selected village leaders or the sarpanch to record the content. I’m a total nerd when it comes to the inter-
net. What I want to do is to make sure that whatever is there on the internet should have a mobile phone application as well. I realised during my start-up years that technology was ransomed by a few large companies. Since I come from an internet background, I know what consumers really want, and how to help them consume from a cloud platform.
Things have been good. In this fiscal year,
we’re looking to clock `250 crore in revenues. Hopefully by 2015, we should be making a billion dollars annually. There’s so much buzz around valuations. But these don’t excite me. For me, the thrill lies in achieving revenues. Our only focus right now is the billion-dollar mark. But, of course, it’s not going to be easy.
Doing business in India is very tough. I really feel if you can run a company and
5 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
“When a founder is at the helm, things move fast. Also, the thrill is in building the business.
I never want to be just an investor.” —Vijay Shekhar Sharma
make profits in this country, you can probably do it anywhere in the world. We want to build m-commerce and digital commerce in India but there is a trust deficit about transactions on the mobile platform. You need to build trust first and m-commerce will follow. We’ve also started the One97 Mobility
Fund to help fund start-ups. First generation entrepreneurs do not have access to capital or the experience of running a company. All of us who have done so know that in the first two years of your business, you don’t make money. So we have invested in early stage companies which VCs don’t typically look at. I know first-hand how important venture capital is. One97 raised its first round only as late as in 2007. I feared that taking somebody else’s money came with its set of caveats, and that it would limit what I could or
could not do with my own company. But that’s more of a myth. For us, there’s also a tactical advantage in
investing small amounts in early stage companies—much before the valuations rise exponentially. Our sweet spot is usually $1 million (the fund is worth $100 million). We invest in complementary technologies. An early stage company gets the advantage of our expertise and we get a head start. Our investments enable us to invest in companies that we could possibly buy out though we do not restrict the entrepreneur from selling if he gets a good offer. A case in point is Singapore’s Tencube, a mobile security solutions company which we invested in, and that was later acquired by McAfee.
I enjoy working on the fund and our portfolio companies. Yes, my attention does get divided between One97 and the fund but
by the numbers
fortunately, we have a great team in both places. I always say that a great company is about having great company. We are a young company (most of the directors on the board are in their thirties and forties). There’s a rush of adrenaline in our office. These are exciting days of growth. I have a big fear, that one day I’ll grow old or worse, senile. What if I have ideas, but am not be able to communicate them? Because of where I come from and the way I was brought up, money wasn’t a big
Companies:
Sales CAGR%
Below `100 cr
deal for me. I’m not a voracious shopper. I don’t have too many avenues to spend money on. My objective is to create something worthwhile in my lifetime. Having said that, if somebody were to offer me a billion dollars today, I’ll definitely be tempted. But seriously, that’s very far ahead. I’ve had some offers over the years but like most founders of businesses, I’m very emotionally attached to my company. I’d like to remain hands-on for as long as I can.
When a founder is at the helm, things move fast. You just can’t expect an outsider to run the company the way you imagined it. It’s not fair to them. Anyway, the thrill is in building the business. I certainly don’t want to live just an investor’s life. Which is why, I admire people like Steve Jobs, Sunil Bharti Mittal and Rupert Murdoch (but not for the recent phone-hacking controversy!) for still being actively involved in operations.
Companies:
`101 cr to `500 cr
Sales CAGR%
Vikas Global One
631.0
SRS Real Infrastructure
331.6
EdServ Softsystems
561.6
RMP Infotech
287.3
Sreepathi Lab
314.2
Vikas Granaries
253.7
Excel Entertainment
310.0
Bhanot Construction & Housing
235.9
Kejriwal Bee Care India
268.2
Tara Health Foods
203.4
FATPipe Networks India
228
Mynah Industries
197.5
Kalpataru
183.3
Sai Service Spares & Accessories
215.4
Acrotech
200.8
IBI Chematur
198.9
Sanraa Media
196
In The Right Space It’s tough to get a lot of information on companies in this band of turnover. Which is exactly why these two lists make for such good reading. They point to the future, and to emerging companies that are poised for more.
ASEEM Global
176.1
Asahi Infrastructure & Projects
162.2
Trinethra Infra
158.4
Orbit Corporation
150.8
Enzen Global Solutions
191.4
Protech Galvanisers & Fabricators
167.7
Cura Technologies
162.2
Aradhya Wire Ropes
121.2
VHCL Industries
117.6
JP Infrastructure
114.5
Nila Infrastructure
111.8
Armtech (India)
107.9
Econix Hi-Tech Components
106.8
One97 Communications
98.2
Manthan Software Services
106.7
AQUA logistics
95.6
b4S Solutions
105.4
Confidence Petroleum India
90.7
Rainox Wires
93.1
Everonn Education
89.8
eka Software Solutions
90.5
SeQuent
88.2
Deep Industries
88.5
Vishwa Infrastructure and Services
86.8
SB&T Designs
81.5
Horizon Infrastructure
143
Balaji Coke Industry
134
Linkson International
124.5
Mittal Corp
117.2
Driplex Water Engineering
113.1
Baba Arts
103.8
UPL Environmental Engineers
103.8
Champalal Motilal Steel Company
86.4
september/october 2011 | INC. | 5 3
G.R.K. Reddy | Marg
How I
Revenue Category: `500-`1,000 crore
paved rough paths G.R.K. Reddy or simply GRK went from being a merchant banker to a real estate mogul in 15 years. Success came to Reddy, chairman and MD of MARG Group, by quite literally walking through rough terrain. In 1994, he shuttered his ailing financial securities firm and forayed into construction. The project that set him on the road to riches, winded through far-flung Naxal-dominated rural areas. But that didn’t stop this first-generation entrepreneur from building wind farms in Andhra Pradesh’s forested wastelands. From windmills, to residential hubs, IT corridors and ports, MARG has today done it all.
As told to ila upadhyaya
I was born in 1961 in the coastal town of Tenali in Andhra Pradesh. My family owned a lot of land in the region. My father was a civil engineer and when I was born, he was involved in the historic Nagarjuna Sagar Dam Project. We were three brothers, a year separating each of us, quite a handful for my mother. So, I often accompanied my father to work. Much of my childhood was spent at construction sites my father supervised. I played among earthmovers and construction equipment. I’d make my own dams and canals using concrete slabs. Because of my father’s job, we moved a lot. I studied in several schools in remote areas in Andhra
5 4 | INC. | september/october 2011
Pradesh. Because most schools were far from project sites, I walked a few kilometres every day. Still, I have very fond memories of climbing up trees and diving into the village pond with friends. I spent my teenage years in Vijayawada,
the commercial capital of Andhra. It was a big change for me, from a rustic life to an urban setting. I learnt a lot of things. In 1980, I completed my undergrad in commerce and moved to Delhi for a Masters.
My first job was as an assistant with Sarin Consultants, a boutique investment banking firm in Delhi. Though the pay was not good, it was a great opportunity to observe,
learn and meet new people. I worked my way up. Within a year, I was the assistant manager. I moved on to CIFCO, a premier merchant
banking firm. In 1987-88, I was entrusted with opening up their office in Delhi. My work involved liaising with the government—the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Finance Ministry in particular—for all the IPOs and FD issues. The stint taught me a lot of things—how to value a company, read between the lines and really go deep into an organisation.
In the late 1980s, my younger brother died in a scooter accident. I moved back
by the numbers
Table Continued...
Companies:
`501 cr to `1000 cr
Multi-dimensional Creating wealth is just one aspect of what G.R.K. Reddy does; his real business is of “change”.
photograph courtesy subject
to Chennai to look after my parents. By then, CIFCO had become one of the largest merchant banking firms. They asked me to head their Hyderabad office and I said yes. I soon got bored of the work. I was used to being at the centre of action in Delhi. After that, Hyderabad seemed dull. I started getting restless. That’s when I thought of quitting and striking it out on my own. My first venture in 1991 was a
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stockbroking firm—MS Reddy & Co—at Coimbatore. With all the action in stock markets then, we did brisk business. I also started a merchant banking firm,
MARG Securities, in Chennai in 1993. The next year we came up with a public issue—`90 lakh—which was oversubscribed by 65 times. It was a big milestone and the capital was utilised in developing the foundations of the business that stands today.
Sales CAGR%
AMR Constructions
177.9
Brandhouse Retails
128.0
Bartronics India
109.1
Aravali Infrapower
106.9
Angelique International
106.9
Educomp Solutions
98.4
Goenka Diamond & Jewels
93.9
J Kumar Infraprojects
89.3
Sandhar Locking Devices
88.4
Totem Infrastructure
83.7
MARG
81.8
Supreme Infrastructure India
79.6
Electrical Manufacturing Company
77.8
Diamond Power Infrastructure
76.8
Glodyne Technoserve
74.5
Karuturi Global
74.0
Sunil Hitech Engineers
70.9
Som Datt Builders
68.9
Concast Ispat
65.1
VRS Foods
64.7
Simplex Projects
64.7
Kemrock Industries & Exports
63.5
Hindustan Dorr-Oliver
60.6
Valley Iron & Steel Company
60
Rohit Ferro Tech
60
september/october 2011 | INC. | 5 5
by the numbers
The economy started going out of steam
in 1993-94. MARG was in the middle of a rights issue when the crash happened in 1995. It was under-subscribed by `1 crore, an amount that MARG had to bridge. MARG had taken another `1 crore from the public by way of fixed deposits. Put together, we were saddled with a liability of `2 crore. Overnight the dream morphed into a
nightmare. All our hundred employees left the company. The capital markets went into a tailspin and revival seemed bleak. This was my first strong lesson as an entrepreneur. The failure of MARG Securities taught me the difference between an executive and an entrepreneur. I found that the biggest challenge is to keep relationships going—with stakeholders, bankers, governments, etc.
I was under immense pressure to liquidate.
But my survival instincts didn’t let me succumb. After some soul searching and market research, I decided to focus on the construction business with Marg Construction. Within a year, real estate crashed in Chennai. Several leading players went bust. Sai Subhodaya, my first residential project, did not take off as expected. I desperately needed projects that would give me positive cash flows. I had to pay off a whole pack of creditors.
next few years. I headed to the thick forested wastelands of Tadipatri, where 120 of those 200 windmills were to come up. I didn’t have more than a painfully small team of believers with me.
By now, we had a surplus of `4 crore. So after
Table Continued...
Companies:
`1000 cr to `1500 cr
Sales CAGR%
Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea
158.5
Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components
157.8
ARSS Infrastructure Projects
95.9
Kwality Dairy (India)
91.8
Tecpro Systems
84.9
A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services
83.9
Sterling & Wilson
80.9
NKG Infrastructure
76.2
Coastal Projects
75.7
Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services
73.5
Opto Circuits (India)
62.4
Compuage Infocom
53.3
four-storey, 20,000 sq ft property in Chennai. However, there was a catch. We had to do it in 110 days flat. The money from the project took care of our pressing creditors. I worked round-the-clock, living at the site. We completed it at 3am on the 110th day in April 1998.
C & C Constructions
52.4
Bharati Shipyard
47.3
Ashoka Buildcon
46.5
Koutons Retail India
44.1
Ankur Drugs & Pharma
41.9
Arch Pharmalabs
41.3
The customer was impressed. He asked us
Prime Impex
40.8
SPANCO
40.5
Gujarat NRE Coke
39.6
Luckily, I got a challenging offer to build a
to build three wind farms for him—at Chittradurga (Karnataka), Satara (Maharashtra) and Tadipatri (Andhra Pradesh). The last area lay in the heart of Naxal-
infested interiors. But this was an important client. If we did well, we would be asked to build 200 wind farms over the 5 6 | INC. | september/october 2011
We employed more than a 100 local people on the project. Every day brought a new challenge that had to be dealt with. But we managed to commission the Tadipatri wind farm in time in September 2000. We were actually an hour ahead of deadline.
Madhucon Projects
37
Sadbhav Engineering
37
Bilcare
35.9
Sanwaria Agro Oils
35.6
repaying all our creditors, I contemplated retiring. The prospect of making money for the sake of it, did not interest me then and it doesn’t interest me even today. But I realised I had a special privilege—to make a difference to rural India. In fact, it was my duty to do so.
I forayed into other infrastructure verticals. I bought a sizeable chunk of land on the Old Mahabalipuram Road. It was close to the city and yet to be developed. We were among the early movers in the development of residential and commercial complexes on the OMR, now the bustling IT corridor of Chennai. In October 2002, MARG got its first IT park project called Digital Zone I from Tata Consultancy Services. I sensed an opportunity for creating more space for the IT sector. We went ahead to build more IT parks for TCS and Satyam Computers. We also took a bold step and entered port development by bidding for the Karaikal Port. As a company, MARG’s value was a mere fraction of the project cost at the time. But we did it. We built one of India’s finest private ports. In 2007, I did a management programme
at the Kellogg School of Management in the US. My wife, Rajini, also a first generation entrepreneur, inspired me to take this up. The course gave me an opportunity to measure myself against global peers. It was also intense, challenging and fun. As I interacted with people there, I realised we weren’t doing badly at all. MARG was on the right track.
Today, wealth creation is only one dimension of achievement for me. What makes me most proud is that we have ushered in regional prosperity in all our projects.
Inspired by a vision Arun Kumar Jagatramka | Gujarat NRE Coke | RANK 229
Revenue Category: `1,000-1,500 crore
Gujarat NRE Coke prides itself on being low-key. Founded in 1995, the Kolkata-based company is today the largest independent producer of met coke in India. Its corporate presentation might sell the word ‘undiscovered’ but with such ambitious plans in place, that’s unlikely to continue. By 2015, the company wants to be among the top 10 hard-coking coal producers in the world.
My Background: Father’s Occupation: Founder, Gujarat
NRE Coke Ltd
Mother’s Occupation: Housewife
Previous Jobs: I’m a Chartered Accountant. I topped in the all-India exam and I am a gold medallist. I began my career as a CA, progressed to become a merchant banker and then took over the reins of Gujarat NRE Coke in 1997.
also the only Indian firm to own and operate coking coal mines in Australia. Why it’s growing: we’ve always managed to take advantage of every opportunity that came our way. We have not let ourselves be confined by defined targets. We have even grown during every downturn. Every time prices were down, we used the time to invest in capacities and expand our production facilities.
My Company:
How I Work:
Its origins: it had humble beginnings. In
Where I get my inspiration: that’s easy.
1994-95 the first manufacturing facility near Jamnagar had a production capacity of 0.1 million tonnes per annum.
I took over as the managing director in 1997. Today, we’ve grown beyond our expectations. We have an installed met coke-making capacity of 1.43MTPA spread across Khambhaliya and Bhachau in Gujarat and Dharwad in Karnataka. We’re
My vision of Gujarat NRE becoming one of the premier global resource players some day is good enough to keep me motivated and inspired.
What I lose sleep over: it really bothers
me that even after 64 years of freedom, there are several Indians who remain slaves in their own country. Also, why do we accept corruption as a way of life?
The best part of my job: I really believe
that everything I do, I give it my best. The worst part of my job: There’s nothing about what I do that I don’t like.
What’s Next: we’re on the right track. For us, execution is the next step. We are steadily increasing the production from our coking coal mines. From the current level of 1.55MTPA, we should be around 6MTPA by 2015. That will make us one of the top 10 hard-coking coal producers in the world. In India, we are in the process of setting up
60MW power plants. These will run on the waste heat emanating from the coke making process. In the next few years, we should generate 240MW of waste-heat based power. We’ve also ventured into green power through wind energy. A lot needs to be done. Like the poem goes, “The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...” september/october 2011 | INC. | 5 7
Healthcare to humanity is an ambitious mission—a tall task indeed! But it’s a challenge that Macleods Pharma accepted in 1986. They began with anti-TB drugs and went on to become one of the major global suppliers of first-line and second-line medicines. In the last two decades, Macleods has recorded a quantum leap through product diversification, increased manufacturing capacities and market emphasis, to emerge as one of the leading Indian pharmaceutical majors. Headquartered in Mumbai with an asset of more than 7,500 professionally-qualified staff across the globe and experience spanning more than two decades, Macleods has become a force to reckon with.
MAKING IT
5 8 | INC. | september/october 2011
Macleods Pharma
photograph by Subhojit Paul
Rank No. 321
reported by rajat gupta
Fastest Growing Companies They are racing towards greater glory. Here are the country’s fastest-growing private companies.
INC. INDIA
500 INSIDE list of India’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies | Page 62 Interview with N.M. Kejriwal | This Page
N.M. Kejriwal | Kejriwal Bee Care india
Trust isin life key & Three Year Growth 268.2% | 2010 Revenue `22 crore
in business My day begins as the dawn breaks. Ever since I can remember, I’ve woken up at 4am sharp. It’s a habit I inherited from my mother. On a usual day, she would be up and about by 3.30am. I would be wide awake a few moments later. Strangely, I was the only one; my brothers would snore on peacefully. My mother was also a devout woman and I learnt the value of spirituality from her. My 45-minute morning
6 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
Right after his high school exams, N.M. Kejriwal’s stockbroker father posed him the big question—do you want to be a stockbroker like me, or something else altogether? The young man was stumped. But his teacher’s father planted an idea in his head by handing him a tender form. “Start your own business and be your own boss” was his advice. Since then, Kejriwal has lived an exciting entrepreneurial life—first with a printing press supplying paper, then food products such as sugar, rice and fruit pulp, and finally honey, with which he’s struck the proverbial pot of gold. Kejriwal Bee Care is a pioneer in the production, marketing and export of honey. Today, business at the `80.2-crore company is buzzing with growth with its new bosses— Kejriwal’s son and nephew—at the helm. Kejriwal senior is happy to take a back seat. But if you think the veteran wants to hang up his boots, think again.
As told to Rohini Banerjee PHOTOGRAPHs BY Subhojit Paul
RANK
8
Exciting Entrepreneur N.M. Kejriwal believes in the power of honesty—in business and life.
september/october 2011 | INC. | 61
Fastest Growing Companies
prayer helps me focus on my day. It’s only after my prayers are done, at around 6.15am, that I feel ready to take on the world. This discipline has taught me to recognise
my priorities and know what and when to let go of—both professionally and personally. I didn’t second guess myself when I passed the baton on to my son. Similarly, I don’t feel guilty in taking things slow in the early part of my day; it’s my time, not business time. I relish the routine, the silence and even the effort of the hour-long yoga session that starts at 7am. An hour’s rigorous routine in the morning after my morning walk and another 30-minute session in the evening take care of my body just as my prayers take care of my soul. I leave the rest to fate.
I then read the newspaper for an hour between 8am and 9am, and am then ready for breakfast. I’ve always been a frugal eater; give me fruits any day but my family disagrees that one can live on fruits alone, so it’s either coffee and toast,
or anything home-made like poha. Finally, at 9.40am, I’m ready to enter office—which basically means climbing down the stairs to the basement from the upstairs living quarters. I like being the first one in office; I find it simpler to organise my day. It’s peaceful and the quiet helps me work. At the risk of sounding like a relic, I admit that I still rely on my pocket-sized scribbling pad and gel pen to put down a to-do list. By the time I’ve organised my thoughts and schedule, everyone’s in. Then it’s time to strategise and talk business with my son and my nephew (the CEO of Kejriwal Bee Care). I am increasingly disengaging from all the hands-on jobs; let the young ones handle it because they’re doing it well. Of course, they didn’t inherit the responsibility. Both of them had to work towards it. This is an exciting time for our business.
We’re trying to come up with new ideas every day. The Kejriwal Group has always
Fastest Growing Private Companies %age growth of sales over last four financial years
been keen on R&D. When I began, I thought honey was a sweet substance— nothing more. Today, we see it as a dietary substitute—nutritious yet delicious. Our teams are constantly innovating products that capture our customers’ imagination—Honey Chew being the latest in line. It was the brainchild of my son, Prakash. It’s a healthy treat that has won the “Top Innovation Award” at the ANUGA (the world’s leading food fair for the retail trade and the food service and catering market) in Germany. It’s also won awards from the AIFPA (All India Food Processors Association) and the iTQi Superior Taste Award (International Taste and Quality Institute) in Brussels. Honey Chew doesn’t spoil the teeth and is meant especially for children. I am a granddad, so it’s extra special for me. Introducing new products is a high. It’s
what makes business fun. That you get to learn every day is the real beauty of business. But you have to be willing to learn, to pick up new things, to improvise. I’ve lived my life like that. In fact, Kejriwal Bee Care was founded on a chance remark by an owner of an American firm. He told me I should go down the honey trail by marketing and supplying Indian honey as food supplements to the US in 1995. I didn’t know much about honey then. I knew it was an ayurvedic medicine that people took when they had a cold.
COMPANY NAME
sector
CITY
Sales cagr %
Sreepathi Lab
Pharmaceuticals
Hyderabad
314.2
Excel Entertainment
Media/Entertainment
Mumbai
310
RMP Infotech
IT&ITes
Chennai
287.3
Kejriwal Bee Care India
FMCG
Delhi
268.2
FATPipe Networks India
Telecom
Chennai
228
enzen Global Solutions
Energy
Bengaluru
191.4
Protech Galvanisers & Fabricators
Electrical Equipment
Delhi
167.7
Balaji Coke Industry
Energy
Kolkata
134
Aradhya Wire Ropes
Steel
Davangere
121. 2
By noon, the meetings outside the office take over. I am on the boards of several business platforms and groups, and have to constantly interact with ministries. I usually attend eight to 10 meetings every week, sometimes more, and these take me all over the NCR. I couldn’t have achieved all of this without my trusted chauffeur. The man’s as good as any GPS—I tell him where to go and he figures out the shortest route. He’s been with us for 15 years. His father was my first chauffeur and was with the family for 40 years.
Manthan Software Services
IT&ITes
Bengaluru
106.7
Loyalty is important to me. It has to work
6 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
both ways though—he trusts me enough to
Fastest Growing Companies
stay employed with me and I trust him with my routine and my time. Trust is a key word—both in life and in business. It’s important to me that my clients and employees trust me just as much as I trust them. This isn’t some clever management speak, I know. It’s the simplest, age-old idea. But it has worked for my company. Other companies that began operations around the same time as us and used our model, soon sank without a trace. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have these business opportunities. But what’s worked for us is hard work and honesty. It makes everything worth the while for us and for our clients. Other than my business, my grandchil-
dren are what I cherish the most in life. I can’t stay away from them for too long. After my meetings, I’m back at the office by 3pm. My family, that is my wife, son, daughter-in-law and grand kids, stay together. It was only after he got married that my nephew shifted home. For the first two years of his stint here, he was also living in the upstairs family quarters. After three gruelling hours of meetings, it’s time to be with the grand kids. Usually families have a dinner routine. In ours, we all sit down for evening snacks together at around 6pm. These thirty minutes of family time are precious. Because the children sleep early, I get to talk to them then and ask them about their school, friends and how they are.
It’s also a good transition from work to
begin wrapping up my day. For years, I’ve put in an hour of yoga in the evening. I am a news junkie. I make sure I watch at least an hour of news on the television in the evening. Of course, the evenings aren’t sacrosanct. When you travel for work, your evening schedule is the one that gets most disturbed. I’ve travelled quite a bit for work and pleasure, but it’s Kolkata that I enjoy visiting the most. I was born there and one of our largest offices is located there as well.
Most members of my family are settled there. I have friends who played a huge role in my business and personal lives there. The city, despite being labelled as unprofes-
“In fact, Kejriwal Bee Care was founded
on a chance remark by the owner of an American firm.”
sional, has left its indelible mark on me; I read Bengali literature, listen to Bengali music and even watch Bengali movies when I’m there. It’s part of my DNA now. I like travelling on holiday as well espe-
cially with my entire family. We take vacations together. My son is an avid traveller. My daughter-in-law and he went on a cruise recently, and now they want all of us to go on the same cruise when the children’s vacations come. I’m looking forward to that. It’s quite a family motto for us— work hard, travel harder. The motto’s applicable to my staff too. Till a few years ago, I would take all my employees within the Kejriwal Group and two members of their family on short trips. They were more like office picnics. It’s important to strike a rap-
—N.M. Kejriwal
port with the staff. Again, it’s a question of loyalty. I am loyal to my staff. Sadly, the picnics have become rarer. It’s my health and the company growth rate that’s making everyone busy. After a light dinner of soup and a slice of bread, I’m usually in bed by 10.15pm. I sleep very well. I’ve reached a point in my career and life where I realise what’s important—my family and my employees. Kejriwal is what it is because of them. So, it’s natural that they are on my mind as I drift off to sleep. Your company never leaves you. A child and a business are very similar. Just as one never stops being a parent, a company owner doesn’t stop being the one who began it all. If I can help it, I’ll go on forever. september/october 2011 | INC. | 6 3
INC. INDIA
Public Wealth Creators
A look at the companies that have made their shareholders rich despite the many turbulent phases on the stock exchange in the last few years. Here are our top 10 wealth creators—calculated on the basis of net change in market capitalisation.
500
jayadev galla | amara raja batteries | RANK 276
Three Year Growth 35.1% | 2010 Revenue `1465.2 crore
Why I’m another
cog in the wheel The Amara Raja Group of Companies has lofty plans—most of which come from business patriarch Ramachandra Galla. Proud son and current MD, Jayadev Galla, calls his father a ‘tireless worker’. However, as you speak to the son, the workaholic in him emerges too. Their energy seems unstoppable. Their battery business, under the flagship firm Amara Raja Batteries, has grown robustly. Now, the father-son duo is scouting for other sectors like food-processing and metal sheet fabrication.
My Background: Father’s occupation: Chairman,
Amara Raja Group
Mother’s occupation: Minister,
Government of Andhra Pradesh
Previous occupation: Chyrsler Corp.
My Company: Its origins: my parents decided to shift
back to India from the US while I was still
6 4 | INC. | september/october 2011
in college. I sort of hung around, completed my course and worked around a bit before I shifted as well. My father was educated in the US. He worked as a consultant engineer in the nuclear power industry there. In the mid-1980s, when the Indian markets were not open yet, my parents decided it was time to make the move. There were two catalysts to this decision— one, they felt it was time to be home, and
two, because several of his projects in the US were getting delayed or shelved. He was frustrated about that. In India back then, the economy was a
scene of growth. Central and state governments were becoming proactive and inviting the Indian diaspora to come back home and begin ventures. This was a decade before the start of liberalisation. In
public wealth creators
1985, the foundation stone for the Amara Raja Group was laid. My father had always wanted to work for himself and do something worthwhile. He zeroed in on a project (Amara Raja Power Systems) and applied for a licence. The project got underway just a week before the “licence raj” came into being. You could say we missed that regime by a whisker. In the meantime, my mother joined politics in India. She is now the Minister for Mines and Geology in Andhra Pradesh. Why it grows: Some decisions we took early on have held us in good stead. Right off the bat, we decided customer delivery has to be at the core of what we do. Our mission has been to bring world-class technology to our clients, and to do so at a competent price. We’ve constantly worked to match global standards. We deal with several sectors of the Indian economy, including railways, telecom and power, our three key verticals. We’re not worried about growth. We’ll keep growing as these crucial sectors of the economy grow. Today, our focus is on R&D. It’s what drives us now. A key strength for us is our team. It’s a
healthy mix of old and new. When I mean old, I mean experienced people, for sure, but certainly not those who are complacent. Young and fresh talent keeps everyone on their toes. It’s exactly how my father and I work. He represents transformation and I represent innovation. We are both cogs of the wheel. Together, we make a pretty cool team. I wouldn’t say there are no conflicts. But, they’ve helped us understand each other better, and define our individual domains.
As we grow, we are trying to get more
organised. In the past decade, we have focused on systems and processes. And worked hard to streamline them. Our vision statement reads: “To transform our spheres of influence and improve quality of life by building institutions that provide better access to opportunities, goods and services.” It’s not only a goal, it’s one of our work principles.
Top Public Wealth Creators
Evaluated on the net change in market capitalisation from April 2007-March 2010 COMPANY NAME
sector
CITY
Wealth Created
Sanwaria Agro Oils
FMCG
Bhopal
4183
Opto Circuits (India)
Electrical Equipment
Bengaluru
3360
Kwality Dairy (India)
FMCG
Delhi
2660
Educomp Solutions
IT&ITeS
Gurgaon
2464
CORE Projects & Technologies
IT&ITeS
Mumbai
2413
Gujarat NRE Coke
Energy
Kolkata
1809
Glodyne Technoserve
IT&ITeS
Mumbai
1761
Page Industries
Textiles
Bengaluru
1493
Sadbhav Engineering
Infrastructure
Ahmedabad
1433
Amara Raja Batteries
Auto Ancillaries
Hyderabad
1242
How I work: Where I get my inspiration: definitely,
from my father. Every time I try to take things off his plate, he goes on and starts something entirely different. Now he’s ventured into sheet metal and food processing industries. His indomitable spirit is something everyone can learn from. Even though the new companies are now reaching the `100-crore mark, he’s far from being content. He has big plans for each one of them.
What I lose sleep over: growth. In this age of high demand, I don’t want to be caught unprepared. I’d rather be six months early than six months late as far as capacity building goes. What I like about my job: innovation
excites me. I love the process of product development. I also enjoy enhancing consumer experiences through brand building. That’s what is exciting about business—managing these varying roles.
` crore
What I don’t like about my job: reviews.
Weekly, quarterly or annual, whichever variety they may be. Also, I find meetings tedious. What’s next?
We’re targeting a compound annual
growth rate of 30 per cent. However, business is unpredictable. Between my medium and long-term goals, I’d rather prioritise long-term ones. It’s where we envision ourselves to be in the future that makes a difference. Unfortunately, in business, profit and ‘‘growth’’ often clash. It’s a dynamic world. And, both our environment and our needs can radically change at any time.
We are trying to get deeper into the
market of alternative power sources. We also want to penetrate faster in IT, data centres, railways and automotive markets. We are looking at both medium and high-growth markets over the next five years. september/october 2011 | INC. | 6 5
AD
TOP IPOs Going public is a big milestone for a business. The year 2010 was a hectic year for our honourees with 24 companies going in for an IPO. Our pick of some popular listings.
INC. INDIA
500 INSIDE Popular Listings in 2010 | Page 68 List of top 3 IPOs | Page 70
Rajesh Agarwal | BS TransComm
Three Year Growth 38.1% | 2010 Revenue `521 crore
My ambition doesn’t
allow me to sleep When we launched the issue on October 6 last year, JM Financial, our merchant bankers, had a very strong commitment from the funds. But what happened was that there was a rally of issues in September. All of them listed in the first week of October. In fact, there were five IPOs in three days. None of those issues did well. The people who had committed to us suddenly felt the valuations were very high. Till the evening of October 7, we had commitments. Next morning, those who
Rajesh Agarwal’s apprenticeship began early. As a 15-year-old, Agarwal split his days between school and his family’s steel plant in Nagpur. The happy balance didn’t last long. Two years later, after his father expired, Agarwal dropped out of college, enrolled into a correspondence commerce degree, and shadowed his uncles to learn the business inside out. But his wings couldn’t be accommodated in a tightly-knit family concern. In 2003, along with his two younger brothers, he opted out to voyage alone. With a few lakh rupees, they launched a steel trading business and an IT firm. Since then, Agarwal has dabbled in multiple businesses. He’s hit the big league with BS TransComm, his four-year-old company. Hyderabad-based BS TransComm manufactures telecom and power towers and offers end-to-end turnkey solutions to manage this infrastructure for nearly 6,000 towers across India. In October 2010, it also went public. Contrary to their targets though, the listing wasn’t the stuff of breezy business dreams. Agarwal talks about those interesting days and much more here.
As told to Shreyasi Singh september/october 2011 | INC. | 67
TOP IPOs
committed had stopped taking calls from our merchant bankers. We weren’t able to push them. So, we extended the issue by three working days, and lowered our price band to `248 to `257 per share, from `257 to `266 per share. It was stressful but I was very optimistic
that things would be just fine. They’ll end well. In fact, I had a good time in Mumbai because my wife had travelled with me, and my brother had come from Nagpur. We went out for dinner with friends every night and watched movies in the evening. During such stressful times, you have to detach yourself from the problem. Taking a break also helps your mind think up fresher ideas. There wasn’t much I could do anyway. When the issue was extended by three working days, a weekend fell in between. Nothing could be done then, in any case. Obviously detaching yourself isn’t all that easy. You have to try hard to make it happen.
The stock market is the craziest phenom-
enon possible. Things change very fast at the bourse. You can’t blame your merchant bankers or start pointing fingers. Nobody can absolutely time this perfectly. Till the meter doesn’t show, it doesn’t show. Like I said, this didn’t give me sleepless nights. I had faith things would end well. And they did. We raised `190 crore from our listing.
Yes, the listing has taught me one thing—
you cannot just outsource this to your merchant bankers, or anybody else; you really have to lead yourself. There are no regrets but I feel we could’ve done more. Before the listing, people would call me to say they’ll subscribe and we would say a straight no because we were so confident. We had just left it to our merchant bankers.
Getting listed felt good. It’s like we have climbed another step. We had tried to list our family firm in 1993 but had to abandon
POPULAR LISTINGS
These are some of the most prominent IPOs from last year. They successfully navigated the stock markets. Between them, these 10 companies have increased their market capitalisation by `1,285 crore since their listing.
COMPANY NAME
Sector
LISTING DATE
OVER SUBSCRIPTION
Persistent Systems
IT&ITeS
4/6/2010
92.91
DQ Entertainment (International)
Media & Entertainment
3/29/2010
69.8
Man Infraconstruction
Infrastructure
3/11/2010
62.84
ARSS Infrastructure Projects
Construction & Real Estate
3/3/2010
51.32
Gravita India
Engineering
11/16/2010
42.24
Career Point Infosystems
Education
10/6/2010
41.24
Infinite Computer Solutions India
IT&ITeS
2/3/2010
36.05
Eros International Media
Media & Entertainment
10/6/2010
24.52
Tecpro Systems
Infrastructure
10/12/2010
20.26
Ashoka Buildcon
Engineering
10/14/2010
14.65
6 8 | INC. | september/october 2011
RANK
241
TOP IPOs
those plans because of the Harshad Mehta scam. Today, I know going public is an important step but that’s all it is, one more step. There’s still a very long way to go. I’ve also made sure that I monitor stock prices only once a day after 4pm. It’s not like I have CNBC on all day. I’ll only switch it on once a day for 15 minutes to get the news. It’s important to keep this discipline because the stock market is the biggest distraction. One of my brothers is quite interested in it. But I tell him to stay away from the panel. I’ve told him to leave the company if stocks is what he wants to do. If you get too involved in the market, you won’t be able to do anything else.
A Comparison
We journey back to track the IPO action over the last four years, for Inc. India honourees and India Inc, at large 106 Inc. India 500 India
92
38 22
21 11
2007
A Rare Contentment Going public is big, says Rajesh Agarwal. But it isn’t really a leap, it’s just one step forward.
PHOTOGRAPHs BY a. Prabhakar Rao
2008
24
6 2009
2010
At BS TransComm, I’m not just driven by growth in numbers—manufacturing volume or wealth creation. We want to really add value to the industry we’re in. We made a recent acquisition of Sugan Automatics, a company which creates technology solutions for telecom, power and infrastructure, our main verticals. With Sugan Automatics coming into our fold, our R&D has got a fillip. My technology people are working very hard on solutions that will reduce distribution wastage in the power sector. Few people know that the telecom sector is India’s second-largest consumer of diesel. There are 400,000 telecom towers in september/october 2011 | INC. | 69
TOP IPOs
India. We manage 6,000 of them. We are working on a green and fixed energy solution for these towers. Once we have it, we will be able to reduce costs by 10-15 per cent. We’ve also tied up with a solar cell company in Singapore. Trials with them are on right now. I want BS Group, the main holding com-
pany for all my businesses, to grow to a billion dollars by 2013. I know it’s just two years away but we’ll get there. Last year, we did `871 crores of business. We are looking at over 40 per cent growth.
I might have built profitable companies in IT, steel, power and telecom but I’m actually just a Class XII graduate. I have a
TOP 3 PUBLIC LISTINGS
From the 200 listed companies on the Inc. India 500 list, these are the top three blockbuster IPOs since 2007, our base year for company financials for this year’s ranking.
COMPANY NAME
Sector
OPEN DATE
OVER SUBSCRIPTION
Everonn Education
Education
July 2007
145.57
Persistent Systems
IT&ITeS
March 2010
92.91
Simplex Projects
Construction
July 2007
83.96
Bachelor’s by correspondence. But that wasn’t real education. It’s just a piece of paper. In business though, you don’t need domain expertise. When we launched i-Vantage, I didn’t even have an e-mail id.
I created my first e-mail account in 2004. That’s also when I learnt how to use the computer. Till then, I was a steel trader. We only needed phones for our business. My environment changed 360 degrees. I had to adapt quickly. I firmly believe that being on the learn-
ing curve is great. I tell my human resource people all the time—look for people with passion, not skill, when you interview. Yes, supposedly untrained people might not give you great deliverables in the first three to six months, but eventually you’ll see the results. Somebody who thinks he/she knows it all, doesn’t want to learn.
I think my restlessness helps when I’m in a new situation. I can’t sit idle. I am made like that. A famous tarot card reader once told me that I’m somebody who’ll make up a problem to create activity. I need action. I just enrolled in a Yoga Kriya course for oneand-a-half months and my energy levels have just shot up. People in my office are wondering how they’ll handle more of me. Luckily for them, I’m not involved with operations any more. I only help in strategy, finance, relationships or looking at the future. If I get back into operations now, my team will run away.
“I think
my restlessness helps
in new situations. I can’t sit idle. I’m made like that. I need constant action.” —Rajesh Agarwal
7 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
I’m not afraid to follow my ambitions. Life
will throw you ups and downs. But eventually, if you let it, it will take you forward. In 2006, after transitioning very successfully from i-Vantage, the IT firm I’d set up with my friend, I lost a huge amount of money in an iron shore shipment. I almost lost it all. But, I learnt again. I’m not afraid. I’ve seen a lot in the last six years.
On Our Radar
INC. INDIA
500 INSIDE
Meet some exciting companies that we think are in the proverbial right place at the right time. Inc. India puts a spotlight on them.
B. Venkataramana, VMC India | This Page Sudhir Seth, Sudhir Gensets | Page 75
B. Venkataramana | Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components
Three Year Growth 157.8% | 2010 Revenue 1,011 crore
doesn’t cost money Imagination
It was my wife who started the company with 3 lakhs. She had a Masters in physics from IIT Madras. At the height of the software boom in the late 1990s, she said she hated software. She didn’t want to work in that sector, so she began designing transformers. She set up a small manufacturing unit and started building magnetic electrical transformers for power. This was her area of specialisation. If she hadn’t married me, she would have gone and got a doctorate degree in magnetics. She had to give up her doctorate after marrying me. I never hear the end of it.
Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components (VMC) might make telecom and power products (think transmission equipment and power supply switchers) in its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad. But what it really fabricates best is pure entrepreneurial excitement. It certainly isn’t usual for companies to grow at this pace. Sample this: VMC began commercial production in 2003. Sales totalled `2 crore in that fiscal. Within a year, they rocketed to `12 crore. Two years later, the company hit the `400-crore mark. By 2009, VMC was hitting big league numbers with `700 crore in turnover. Today, it is a `1,000-crore plus, telecommunications and power products powerhouse. Behind these numbers is an equally fascinating people story. Its three figureheads— V. Rama Rao, B. Hima Hindu and B. Venkataramana are father, daughter and son-in-law respectively. B. Venkataramana, the company’s executive director, and its operational chief, gives us glimpses into how these dynamics have built a company that is wired to go places.
As told to shreyasi singh september/october 2011 | INC. | 7 1
Staring Success in the Eye B. Venkataramana is driven by his dream of making his company a global player.
RANK
27
7 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
photograph BY A. Prabhakar Rao
On Our Radar
The telecom revolution changed every-
thing in 2003. I was then running a software company. These were the post-dotcom-bust days. Before that, you couldn’t do anything wrong in software. Even the dumb ideas worked. But the 9/11 killed all that. It brought in the first real slowdown in software and I took quite a hit. As I grappled with these challenges, VMC took on big time. I kind of got sucked into it by the virtue of being married to her. I became the problem solver, especially on technology. My wife would keep reminding me that I had an electronics degree from IIT. Finally, I dived in. Right then, I had no idea whether I was in it full-time, long-term or what. I just thought I’d discover something I hadn’t while I was doing my engineering degree. I started reading up on stuff I hadn’t in over 20 years.
After a lot of heated arguments, between my wife and me (she thought her system was better, I thought mine was), we managed to put together an embedded switch mode battery charger that worked. Then, everything just took off. Within a year, we were market leaders in a particular product. We had never expected that. The orders started flowing in so quickly
that I had to exit technology and get into finance, to manage capital, to see how we could keep manufacturing and expanding our production capacity. It was time to use my IIM degree. In the first few years, we grew by hundreds of per cent. It was a sense of déjà vu from my software days, because that’s how I grew in the 1990s. But this time round I was more careful. I had learnt the need to acquire a cushion, in case of a fall.
We work with a very wide range of prod-
ucts today, from a price point of 50 to 3 crore a piece. We’re into two verticals right now, telecom and power supply (every day adaptors to DC power plants). Telecom is by far the bigger proportion right now. But power is growing. Within a couple of years, these verticals will be evenly matched. Power supply has an even larger spectrum of applications than telecom.
In The Spotlight
Some of them have billion dollar aspirations, others want to redefine urban spaces. What they have in common though is a real potential to stand out. Sales CAGR%
COMPANY NAME
Sector
Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components
Telecom
157.8
Sudhir Gensets
Electrical Equipment
35.3
Firepro Systems
Security Equipment
28.7
Mantri Developers
Real Estate
56.5
Eka Software Solutions
IT&ITeS
90.5
TCG LifeSciences
Pharmaceuticals
61.3
BVG India
Integrated Services
66.4
Strategy is one thing but more than anything else, the segment we’ve been in gave us the opportunity to grow at this pace. We just made sure we latched on tight. The telecom marketplace is huge. We got our timing right. When people ask me the secret of our success, I say luck had a role to play. You have to get your timing right in business. In no stage in our business journey has the market been a problem. Finance isn’t a constraint anymore. Ambition is more the constraining factor than capital. Six years ago, we said we wanted to be a 1,000-crore company. Now, we want to be a billion-dollar company. That shouldn’t take more than five years. It can take less, not more. My father-in-law is responsible for these
ambitions. He’s our guiding force. People ask me how it is to work with your wife and father-in-law. Well, he is certainly the scarier of the two. He’s somebody who’s just not
afraid to dream. He’s the man who first articulated the thousand-crore dream. He’s now the man who has the billion-dollar dream and is not afraid to say it to the world. He relentlessly keeps telling us to dream global. He is fascinated by what it takes to be a global company. Today, I believe every successful team needs a great dreamer and a great executer. Also, dreamers shouldn’t get bogged down by too many details. Today, India is the largest marketplace.
SAARC is the next boundary for us. We do have plans to enter Africa and South America. We understand what’s happening there. Over the next couple of years, we want to be in many developing markets. Going global is the real test. Do you have it in you to succeed in non-home-protected markets— that’s the test we have to take. We want to show that an Indian company can compete with the best anywhere in the world.
Telecom in India has already shown that it’s changed global conventions. Look at what september/october 2011 | INC. | 7 3
On Our Radar
some Indian mobile companies are already doing. People believed European and American brands cannot be challenged. But Indian companies are providing services and products at price points that are unimaginable anywhere in the world. We’ve adapted the technology to suit our needs. Nowhere else do mobile phones have FM radio. Here, phones won’t sell without FM radio. The controversy around the telecom
sector doesn’t bother us. These things come and go. Where there are licence issues, such issues will come up. But it doesn’t affect the industry overall. Moreover, we are equipment suppliers. We look beyond these events to ask whether the demand for handsets will go
up, and the answer is yes. Will people be asking for access to faster data and the answer is yes. Will they be looking for entertainment to be streamed into their homes, yes they will. Whatever happens to the regulatory framework, sooner or later, you’ll get there. If your vision is focused on the overall picture, there’s no need to get too entangled in the situational issues. Our passion is to be part of the transformation in the way people interact and communicate. The only challenge in a growing segment is getting people. Part of the problem is finding the right skill. India doesn’t have an ecosystem of electronics manufacturing. It’s tough finding experienced people. You constantly have to mentor them and let
them learn on the fly. We’re often working with people who are only partially ready, but the good thing is Indians have great adaptability skills. We can overcome the learning curve. So, you find bright people and match them to tasks. In the last couple of years, it has become
easier for us to attract talent. We are better known now. And once people see scale and vision, they’re excited to be a part of it. I think those who work for us can sense that this could be a game-changing opportunity for them to be a part of something bigger. We’re fortunate people feel that way about us. It’s wonderful when people are excited about working with you. On our part, we encourage our employees to be entrepreneurial.
In any case, the acid test of growth is whether business owners can delegate and let go of a lot of things somebody else can do. Often businesses that level off, do so because they lack management bandwidth, not because they don’t have market opportunity or access to capital. You have to get people better than you on board, to free you from some tasks. My wife and I’ve recognised that we have taken the company this far on our steam. Now we need a talented team to take us that much further.
The perfect match B. Venkataramana says his wife, B. Hima Hindu are a good team—he’s the “biz” guy, she’s the R&D geek.
“The acid test of growth is
whether owners can delegate and let go of
things somebody else can do.” —B. Venkatramana
74 | INC. | september/october 2011
That’s a core issue we both agree on. Otherwise, of course, we have a lot of debates. Typically, these are scientist, which is her, versus business person, that’s I, debates. They are very stimulating although she often wins. Unlike others who can leave their boss at work, I have the same boss at home. I report to her in both places. Even at home, we’re constantly talking work. But now, our son shuts us up. He tells us that if we want to talk shop, we should just go back to office. As with any company, we eventually will have to go public; when and in what timeframe is still to be decided. Our investors, Fidelity International, who infused 1,100 million in 2008, are in no hurry. They’re quite happy to be investing in us.
Sudhir Seth | Sudhir Gensets
Three Year Growth 35.3% | 2010 Revenue 752 crore
The best publicity is a
happy customer Famous last names are common. But Sudhir Seth’s first name powers a brand. His eponymous Gurgaon-based company, Sudhir Gensets, is a leading manufacturer of diesel gensets and sub-stations. The `1,100-crore company’s trademark bright green gensets are ubiquitous across Delhi. Much of the city’s best-known buildings and infrastructure—Medanta Medicity, Delhi Metro stations, Commonwealth Games stadium—have been powered by them. Still, 58-year-old Seth believes he’s just scratching the surface yet. Even as many people his age begin to think of slowing down, Seth is revving up for high-voltage business growth.
as told to shreyasi Singh
I grew up in Delhi. We are originally from Lahore but we settled here after the Partition. My father ran an electrical trading business in appliances like pump sets. I wasn’t really involved with my father’s business but I did pick up some early lessons here. I’d see my father personally attend to a complaint for even a small pump set. One day, I asked him why he had to do it himself. He told me to imagine how difficult it would be for my mom without water in the house, and for I as a kid if I didn’t have water to drink. I have now moulded my after-sales around that conversation. Frankly, I didn’t want to live in India. I studied economics at the Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi University.
And I remember thinking that as Indians we tended to kind of lie more than we needed to. I went to Canada for my MBA. I liked it there. I thought I’d settle down there. But my parents weren’t happy about the idea at all. They told me they had not spent all that money on my education to lose me to a foreign country. So I came back after my MBA. By that time, my father had grown to
become the biggest distributor of pump sets to Crompton Greaves in India. But I wanted to start out on my own. Thankfully, he was fine with that. In 1973, I got into the power generation business. Cummins was looking for a partner in India. We entered into an association with them. They are our global partners till today.
Our journey has been beautiful. They’ve been a real guiding factor for us. We were very small when we entered into this relationship. We learnt a lot from them. When we began our power generation business, we were up against big, established companies like Escorts and Voltas. With time, we saw them exiting and people like us taking over almost from nowhere. In the earlier days, the “big fish” tried to derail our progress. I remember a customer meeting once where I found out that some companies had bad-mouthed us. I was very disillusioned. We used to work with a company then called Kirloskar Electricals. There was a senior manager there who liked me a lot. I asked him why a large company should feel threatened. He told me someseptember/october 2011 | INC. | 7 5
On Our Radar
thing I haven’t forgotten even now. People can try and divert a winning horse. But they can never stop a winning horse. So if you have it in you, you’ll win, he told me. Today, we are a 1,100-crore company. We
have over 1,500 people. We have a wide range of products like silent diesel gensets, packaged sub stations, transformers and electrical panels. We sell more than 10,000 gensets a year. Just a few days back, I was at the Ministry of Health Affairs. They are taking AIIMS to every part of the country. They have a tender and we are bidding for two of the new AIIMS. While we were waiting at the reception, a gentleman wanted to know what my secret formula to
enquiry into an order is the best in business. In fact, people in Cummins tell me this is what they value most about us. It might sound strange but I don’t think I can remember a really rough phase in business. Of course, there are always some sticky issues and things go wrong all the time. But there have been no major threats. We’ve been very lucky with money also. When I was a young man starting out, there were no private banks or growth capital options. We banked with the Syndicate Bank. We had to go to Manipal every time we needed loans. I hated that. From then itself, I was determined to be financially strong. Having reserves is very important. We are a cash-rich organisation.
“I firmly believe you can leave the company to your children
can deliver.”
only if they
—Sudhir Seth
success was. I told him, the formula was pure and simple—it was hard work. All you need to do is ensure that at the end of the day, your client is the happiest man. That’s exactly what happened with Delhi
Metro. When we first began going there, we found they weren’t willing to give Indian companies a chance. I went to them at least 20 times to tell them to give us a chance. But, their first contract went to Siemens and ABB who sub-contracted it to us. Now, for all their electrical and power back-up, DMRC only looks at Sudhir Gensets. We’ve done business worth 700800 crore with them already. We are also doing the metro project in Rajasthan. Word-of-mouth endorsement is a big thing. That’s what I tell my people. Branding and marketing is fine, but the best mode of publicity is a happy customer. Another reason for our success is that we
are very aggressive. We’ve been like that for 30 years. Our ratio of converting an 76 | INC. | september/october 2011
In 2007, a consortium of Goldman Sachs and GE invested in us. They have 10 per cent equity now. We didn’t bring them on because we needed the money, but we thought it will be good for us to align ourselves with them and learn from the best practices they will bring to our financial systems. We’ve gained a lot of exposure while working with them. Even now, manufacturing gives me the
biggest high. I still absolutely love to set up a plant. When I walk into any of our five plants—Jammu, Bengaluru, Manesar, Gurgaon and Silvasa—I get a huge kick. To walk into a factory, see the machines you’ve set up work in a process, and people following quality standards like Kaizen and Six Sigma is absolutely fantastic.
More recently, working with the Delhi
Metro Rail Corporation has been incredible. They are demanding, disciplined and dedicated, unlike any other government organisation. They have world-class work
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273
On Our Radar Just Getting Started Sudhir Seth finds it strange that others his age want to slow down.
ethics. Working with them is like learning for free. If you can cope with them, you can work with anybody, anywhere. Still, there can be no room for
complacency, no matter what size your company is. I remind my son Rahul, who joined us 10 years back and now leads our marketing, that we must always learn from history. Just like the big companies which came and went, we could also get displaced if we are not consistently at it. There are lots of people with the hunger to succeed. If you don’t stay hungry, and slip up, they’ll be ready to snatch it away.
I’m now confident that Rahul has the
ability to make the organisation grow. That he was my son was never enough gratification for him to lead the company. He has to deliver. A few months ago, I was in Italy to ink a JV for some special transformers we want to manufacture. The founder was a 70-year-old man. Like all Indians do, I too began asking about his family. This gentleman has a son and a daughter. When I asked him whether his son came to the office, he said no. According to him, his son didn’t have the qualities to lead the company so he would have to appoint someone else to succeed him at the company. I really liked that. It’s the correct approach. There are 1,500 families who depend on Sudhir Gensets today. I have no right to give it to somebody who can’t make it grow. All industrialists must be conscious of this. Give it to your children only if they can deliver.
People tell me I’ve done very well; but if
you ask me, I think I’ve just done okay. During our golf games, when my friends talk about wanting to shut shop, I find it strange. I don’t tell them but while they’re thinking about taking a backseat, I am thinking about how to grow faster. People like Dhirubhai Ambani inspire me. Like him, I think it’s important to think of scaling up and to aim at being global leaders. On that, Sudhir Gensets has just scratched the surface.
Photograph by Subhojit Paul
september/october 2011 | INC. | 7 7
top
100
Let's get to know the best of the best on our list better. Who are they? What they do? And, how have they grown in the past years?
Rank 1 Vikas Global One Net Sales: `62.51 Founded: 1984
What it does: The firm manufactures and distributes high-end petroleum and petroleum-related products for use in the plastic, rubber and packaging industries.
Rank 2 EdServ Softsystems Net Sales: `52.12 Founded: 2001
What it does: EdServ provides job-linked,
next generation education through the "Integrated Learning Model". The firm works with higher education institutions.
Rank 3 Tirupati Inks Net Sales: `70.88 Founded: 1984
What it does: Tirupati Inks, based in Kanpur, manufactures and sells printing inks and cylinders. It also provides water-based inks for absorbent and non-absorbent surfaces, and for film series.
7 8 | INC. | september/october 2011
INC. INDIA
500 Fun CEO Surveys The Hot Seat | Page 79 Alter Ego | Page 81
Rank 4 SRS Real Infrastructure Net Sales: `307.98 Founded: 1990
What it does: SRS Real Infrastructure is the flagship firm of the SRS Group. It constructs group housing societies, townships, commercial towers, hotels, motels and farmhouses.
Rank 5 Sreepathi Lab Net Sales: `27.72 Founded: 2004
What it does: The Hyderabad-based firm is a research organisation that provides expertise and resources to develop "active pharmaceutical ingredients".
Rank 6 Excel Entertainment Net Sales: `62.7 Founded: 1999
What it does: Excel Entertainment is a
production house started by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. It has produced hits like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Rock On.
Rank 7 RMP Infotech Net Sales: `475.82 Founded: 2001
What it does: RMP is a network marketing company that specialises in providing innovative products to the public.
Rank 8 Kejriwal Bee Care India Net Sales: `22.46 Founded: 2002
What it does: The company is an exportoriented producer of honey. It has become a market leader in the production and export of honey and related products, both in India and abroad, through its focus on quality.
Rank 9 Vikas Granaries Net Sales: `115.92 Founded: 1994
What it does: Vikas Granaries specialises in the production of "Guar Gum Powder". It caters mainly to the international markets including the US, Europe, Brazil, Japan, China, Australia and South Africa.
top 100
Rank 10 Bhanot Construction & Housing Net Sales: `105.02 Founded: 1976
What it does: BCHL began with the construction of smaller residential and commercial complexes. It diversified into civil construction in 2009-2010. In 2008-09, its management merged Bhanot Infrastructure and Hospitalities, Trishul Industries and Fair Properties to form BCHL.
The Hot Seat
Finding smart employees is the top challenge for any fast-growing company. Here are some questions Inc. India 500 CEOs ask to get the right person.
Rank 11 FATPipe Networks India Net Sales: `41.99 Founded: 2002
What it does: The firm is the manufacturer and marketer of highest-level WAN solutions for organisations. It is mainly focused on the overseas market, and has several offices across the world.
Rank 12 Sai Service Spares & Accessories Net Sales: `24.48 Founded: 1991
What it does: It is a chain of service stations with presence in Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Sai Services is also the official, authorised dealer of Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Auto across Indian states.
Rank 13 Tara Health Foods Net Sales: `195.17 Founded: 1977
What it does: The firm specialises in production of compounded cattle feed and edible oils. Besides exporting, Tara is now focused on establishing itself as a strong domestic player.
“Do you know enough about us to join us?” – Pankaj Ratra, Path Infotech
“Are you a team player? Can you create and grow a team so that you can pursue greater responsibilities?” – Tapaas Chakravarti, DQ Entertainment
“Even if your salary was cut by 50%, what job would you still want to continue doing?” – Arvind Rao, OnMobile
“Why should I hire you from outside when I can promote someone from within?” – Amarjit Singh, AG Aerovision
Rank 14 Arcotech Net Sales: `93.09 Founded: 1981
What it does: Arcotech uses the latest technology to manufacture "non-ferrous metal semis". It has several fully-integrated, manufacturing facilities across India that melts, casts and produces non-ferrous metal semis.
“What has been your greatest professional failure? What did you learn from it? – Vimal Kedia, Manjushree Technopak
“What motivates you when you are in the throes of failure? – Jitendra Dugar, Go Go International
september/october 2011 | INC. | 7 9
top 100
Rank 15 IBI Chematur (Engineering & Consultancy) Net Sales: `21.62 Founded: 1976
What it does: They offer a complete range of services including technology search, prefeasibility studies, site selection, project monitoring and detailed design to clients in the engineering space.
Constructions uses latest global mining technology for the extraction of minerals. The company aims to become a global player in the natural resources industry in the next few years.
Rank 21 ASEEM Global Net Sales: `365.73 Founded: 1983
What it does: It is a distributor of non-
Rank 16 Mynah Industries Net Sales: `166.73 Founded: 1985
What it does: Mynah is a textile firm
specialising in the production of combed cotton and blended fabrics. It also works with chrome ore and ferro alloys.
Rank 17 Sanraa Media Net Sales: `66.66 Founded: 1995
What it does: Sanraa produces animated features both for television and the big screen. It has also recently ventured into the education sector through animation and design.
Rank 18 Enzen Global Net Sales: `99 Founded: 2001
What it does: Enzen, based in Bengaluru, is involved in providing consultancy services to the energy and utilities market. The firm operates mainly across India and UK.
Rank 19 Kalpataru Net Sales: `374.98 Founded: 1988
What it does: Kalpataru is a real estate development company involved in commercial, retail and residential constructions. It has completed 27 projects till date including townships and larger office spaces.
Rank 20 AMR Constructions Net Sales: `542.1 Founded: 2001
What it does: AMR is one of India’s
premier mining companies. AMR
8 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
ferrous and ferrous metals in India. It has one of the highest turnovers and capacities in the entire industry.
Rank 22 Protech Galvanizers and Fabricators Net Sales: `35.88 Founded: 2004
What it does: It is a one-stop shop for all
solutions required in the fields of power distribution and telecommunication. A new venture of the Protech group, the company is fully-equipped to handle a wide range of hardware and fittings requirements for its clients.
Rank 23 Asahi Infrastructure & Projects Net Sales: `366.77 Founded: 1988
What it does: Asahi Infrastructure & Projects is involved in urban infrastructure development. The 22-year-old firm provides services such as construction and maintenance of infrastructure.
Rank 24 Cura Technologies Net Sales: `52.97 Founded: 1991
What it does: Cura is an embedded-
technology solutions provider, mainly working with the energy sector. It is a market leader in providing governance, risk and compliance enterprise applications to sectors.
Rank 25 Dhunseri Petrochem & Tea Net Sales: `1140.11 Founded: 1916
What it does: Dhunseri was engaged in the production and marketing of tea exclusively till 2009. In that year, it also
ventured into the business of IT infrastructure development. The firm has a gross revenue of `1,200 crore and is headquartered in Kolkata.
Rank 26 Trinethra Infra Net Sales: `100.98 Founded: 1992
what it does: Trinethra is one of the fastestgrowing real estate companies in the south of India. It is a family-run firm that is headquartered in Andhra Pradesh.
Rank 27 Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components Net Sales: `1011.34 Founded: 1972
What it does: VMC is an original equipment manufacturer of a range of telecom, networking and power conversion products. VMC designs, develops and manufactures its products for domestic and international customers.
Rank 28 Orbit Corporation Net Sales: `487.11 Founded: 2000
What it does: Orbit is a real estate firm working primarily in the southern parts of Mumbai. It is one of the top 10 Indian developers listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.
Rank 29 Horizon Infrastructure Net Sales: `144.86 Founded: 1983
what it does: Horizon is an infrastructure firm that mainly works with India's ports, tourism and urban sectors. Over the next decade, it plans to invest `15,000 crore in projects.
Rank 30 Balaji Coke Industry Net Sales: `205 Founded: 1991
What it does: A coking coal trading company, Balaji operates mainly in Australia and the US. It handles more than 1 million tonnes of coal.
top 100
Alter Egos
If you could be anyone in the world, whom would you be? Most people answered “me”. But entrepreneurial superstars like Dhirubhai Ambani and Steve Jobs are definite icons.
“I'd like to have the innovative spirit of Steve Jobs, the humility of Ratan Tata, the integrity of Narayan Murthy and the wisdom of Swami Vivekanand.” —A.V.Hiremath, Astec LifeSciences
“I admire Ratan Tata for his focus on quality, steadfastness and the ability to take positive decisions in spite of adverse situations.” – C E Fernandes, GEI Industrial Systems
“I would love to be Steve Jobs–the ultimate entrepreneur” – P.D. Mundhra, eClerx
“I want Mahatama Gandhi’s values, Dhirubhai Ambani’s vision, Warren Buffet’s investment acumen and Bill Gates’ philanthropy.” – Atul Hemani, Omnitech InfoSolutions
“I want to be the Anna Hazare in my sector and eradicate power scarcity.” - Harjinder Singh Cheema, Cheema Boilers
“If I could be anyone in the world, I’d still like to be me. I want to do my bit to make India a great country.” – Suresh Vazirani, Transasia Bio Medicals
Rank 31 Brandhouse Retails Net Sales: `657.46 Founded: 2004
What it does: Brandhouse is a retail garment company that established itself with the Reid&Taylor brand. Since then, it has spread its wings across brands.
Rank 32 Linkson International Net Sales: `163.12 Founded: 1984
What it does: It is a coal extraction and trading company. Linkson plans to expand its base to the foreign markets and work in clean and sustainable energy.
Rank 33 Aradhya Wire Ropes Net Sales: `61.08 Founded: 1992
What it does: Aradhya manufactures wire ropes for industrial buyers in India and abroad. With two manufacturing plants, it has a production capacity of 44,000 metric tonnes of wire per year.
Rank 34 VHCL Industries Net Sales: `88.71 Founded: 1978
What it does: VHCL Industries, based in Silvassa, manufactures re-processed and re-cycled plastic granules.
Rank 35 Mittal Corp Net Sales: `278.37 Founded: 1985
What it does: Mittal Corp is a manufacturer of stainless steel intermediaries. The firm operates in central India and has factories in Indore, Ahmedabad, Jodhpur and Delhi.
Rank 36 JP Infrastructure Net Sales: `80.39 Founded: 2004
What it does: A real estate company, JP Infrastructure focuses on building affordable residential accommodations. It's one of the the fastest-growing players in the affordable living solutions space.
september/october 2011 | INC. | 8 1
top 100
Rank 37 Driplex Water Engineering Net Sales: `183.88 Founded: 1974
What it does: Driplex provides water treatment facilities and turnkey water supply solutions. It's one of the only companies to provide water treatment facilities to power companies in India.
Rank 38 Nila Infrastructures Net Sales: `62.08 Founded: 1990
What it does: It is a construction company that focuses on providing affordable housing solutions in Gujarat.
Rank 39 Bartronics India Net Sales: `580.11 Founded: 1990
What it does: Bartronics began by providing solutions based on "bar coding". In the past two decades, it has introduced newer technologies and solutions based on Biometrics, RFID, POS, EAS and Smart Cards.
Rank 40 Armtech (India) Net Sales: `39.36 Founded: 2003
What it does: A civil aviation company, it has more than 30 successfully completed projects to its credit. It's worked with several state governments and private organisations.
Rank 41 Aravali Infrapower Net Sales: `560.55 Founded: 2002
What it does: It provides engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance services, mostly to the power sector.
Rank 42 Angelique International Net Sales: `732.43 Founded: 1996
What it does: A project engineering,
procurement and construction company with global operations, Angelique has recently grown its network across India.
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Rank 43 Econix Hi-Tech Components Net Sales: `24.16 Founded: 1992
What it does: Based in Vadodra, Econix is a manufacturer of terminals, connectors, adaptors, interface modules, accessories, lighting pole terminals, SMPS, plugs, sockets, terminals and connectors.
Rank 44 Manthan Software Services Net Sales: `37.18 Founded: 2003
What it does: Manthan is a market analytics company catering especifically to the retail, CPG, food services, pharma and manufacturing industries. It provides and develops specific, analytics-based solutions to each of the sectors.
Rank 45 b4s Solutions Net Sales: `71.09 Founded: 1999
What it does: b4s provides security services,
staff outsourcing, contract labour, and operation and maintenance services to the telecom industry.
Rank 46 Baba Arts Net Sales: `157.73 Founded: 1999
What it does: Baba Arts is a production
company that specialises in post-production facilities—especially in the trade of IPRs.
Rank 47 UPL Environmental Engineers Net Sales: `106.56 Founded: 1987
What it does: One of the fastest-growing environmental EPC management companies, UPL executes a range of turnkey projects. It's built a reputation for handling complex problems in the field of treatment, recycling and re-use of waste water.
Rank 48 Educomp India Net Sales: `832.22 Founded: 1994
What it does: A globally-diversified education solutions provider and the largest education
company in India, Educomp reaches out to over 26,000 schools and 15 million learners and educators across the world.
Rank 49 One97 Communications Net Sales: `115.4 Founded: 2000
What it does: A mobile internet service provider for many telecom operators, One97 also invests in early stage mobile companies.
Rank 50 ARSS Infrastructure Projects Net Sales: `1000.59 Founded: 2000
What it does: One of the fastest-growing construction companies in India, ARSS has a focus on building highways and railways.
Rank 51 Aqua Logistics Net Sales: `322.01 Founded: 1999
What it does: It is a logistics company with clients spread across the globe. They provide consultancy services in supply chain management and logistics services.
Rank 52 Goenka Diamond & Jewels Net Sales: `536.84 Founded: 1990
What it does: A diamond trading company, Goenka is an established player in the jewellery market. The company is now backward-integrated for all its operations.
Rank 53 Rainox Wires Net Sales: `35.19 Founded: 2001
What it does: Ahmedabad-based Rainox Wires produces stainless steel nails and fine wires.
Rank 54 Kwality Dairy (India) Net Sales: `1054.09 Founded: 1992
What it does: One of the biggest dairy companies in India, Kwality Dairy offers a huge range of products.
top 100
“Good colleagues are like wine—the longer they stay, the more valuable they become” —Sukumar Subramanian, Sanraa Media
Rank 55 Confidence Petroleum India Net Sales: `353.3 Founded: 1994
What it does: A leading player in the LPG and allied business sectors, Confidence is the largest cylinder manufacturer in the country. It's also the largest private LPG bottler in the country.
Rank 56 Eka Software Solutions Net Sales: `36.79 Founded: 2004
What it does: A software solutions provider, Eka is a market leader in software for global commodity markets. Its risk management software enables trading firms to run efficient operations and minimise exposure to transactional and financial risks.
Rank 57 Everonn Education Net Sales: `294 Founded: 2000
What it does: A software solutions provider for the education industry, Everonn is a pioneer in using technological breakthroughs to make quality education a reality.
Rank 58 J Kumar Infraprojects Net Sales: `764.24 Founded: 1999
What it does: J Kumar is an infrastructure company based out of Mumbai. It focuses on the civil aviation sector and in public infrastructure projects.
Rank 59 Deep Industries Net Sales: `55.34 Founded: 1991
What it does: A diversified oil and gas
company with interests in different forms of energy, Deep has laid out an ambitious mission for itself—expansion in the overseas market and a vision to be recognised as a socially responsible organisation.
Rank 60 Sandhar Locking Devices Net Sales: `550.21 Founded: 1987
What it does: It is a company that produces a mass range of locking systems for different industries. It’s one of the few locking system companies that provides clients such a large variation of offerings.
Rank 61 SeQuent Net Sales: `246.34 Founded: 1985
What it does: SeQuent is a research-oriented pharmaceutical company. It's developed considerable expertise in the pharmaceutical and life sciences products too.
Rank 62 Vishwa Infrastructure and Services Net Sales: `406.2 Founded: 1992
What it does: It is an infrastructure company specialising in providing engineering, procurement and construction activities for infrastructure projects on a turnkey basis. It specialises in executing water supply and sewerage infrastructure projects.
Rank 63 Champalal Motilal Steel Company Net Sales: `446.07 Founded: 2000
What it does: Champalal Motilal Steel Company engages in the business of trading of "hot rolled" and "cold rolled" sheets and coils, mild steel sheets and plates, and colour-coated sheets.
Rank 64 Tecpro Systems Net Sales: `1455 Founded: 1990
What it does: Tecpro Systems is an established EPC company which engages in providing turnkey solutions to bulk material and ash handling systems. It also helps in the balance of thermal power plants, captive power plants and pollution control systems.
Rank 65 Veena Industries Net Sales: `366.29 Founded: 1996
What it does: Veena Industries pioneered the manufacture of canopies of gensets, compressors and under-carriages. Their clients span across the globe.
Rank 66 A2Z Maintenance & Engineering Services Net Sales: `1122.78 Founded: 2002
What it does: The company provides integrated design, testing, installation, construction and commissioning services on a turnkey basis to clients in the Indian power sector.
Rank 67 Totem Infrastructure Net Sales: `596.43 Founded: 1997
What it does: Totem is an infrastructure company operating in four major segments of infrastructure—transportation, irrigation, power and urban.
Rank 68 MARG Net Sales: `745 Founded: 1994
What it does: MARG is one of the fastestgrowing infrastructure companies in the country. Today, it has projects worth more than `5,000 crore under execution.
Rank 69 Core Education and Technologies Net Sales: `417.95 Founded: 1985
What it does: One of India’s largest global september/october 2011 | INC. | 8 3
top 100
education companies, Core has a presence in several countries outside India. It provides educational products for all stages of education from K12 to vocational training courses.
Rank 70 SB&T Designs Net Sales: `39.56 Founded: 2004
What it does: SB&T Designs manufactures and
exports diamond and precious-stone-studded, platinum and palladium jewellery products. The company operates out of Mumbai.
Rank 71 Sterling & Wilson Net Sales: `1082.57 Founded: 1974
What it does: It is one of the country’s leading MEP companies catering to the hospitality, IT and telecom industries. Sterling & Wilson also enjoys a presence in the overseas markets.
Rank 72 Clinigene International Net Sales: `33.05 Founded: 2000
What it does: It is a full-service clinical
research organisation that partners with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. It also has India’s first CAPaccredited central laboratory.
Rank 73 Supreme Infrastructure India Net Sales: `533.26 Founded: 1983
What it does: One of the most promising
infrastructure companies in the country, Supreme has completed several projects
“For us,
for the government, public and private bodies, and international organisations.
Rank 74 Gala Equipment Net Sales: `22.17 Founded: 1980
What it does: Gala Equipment is an ISO/TS 16949:2009 certified organisation with a high-level of engineering competency. Its clientele spans across continents—from Asia to Europe and across America.
Rank 75 Electrical Manufacturing Company Net Sales: `653.23 Founded: 1953
What it does: Electrical Manufacturing is a power systems company offering total turnkey solutions in the fields of transmission line projects, EHV substations and power distribution projects.
Rank 76 Man Infraconstruction Net Sales: `478.01 Founded: 2002
What it does: It is one of India's leading construction companies, and has worked for some of the most significant port projects in the country.
Rank 77 Credit Analysis & Research Net Sales: `137.88 Founded: 1993
What it does: Credit Analysis & Research, better known as CARE, is a full-service rating company which offers a wide range of rating and grading services across sectors to companies in India.
next is now. What we do now shapes
our next wave.”
—Satheesh Kumar K.R., Enzen Global
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Rank 78 First Steps Babywear Net Sales: `98.34 Founded: 2001
What it does: First Steps is a garment manufacturer that specialises in infant apparel. It also deals with high-end designer and cotton garments.
Rank 79 Diamond Power Infrastructure Net Sales: `724.28 Founded: 1992
What it does: Diamond Power Infrastructure is India’s largest and only integrated manufacturer of power transmission equipment.
Rank 80 Enmas GB Power Systems Projects Net Sales: `36.86 Founded: 1995 What it does: It handles the power boiler business of the Resurgent Group. It offers state-of-the-art, high pressure boilers for burning fuel.
Rank 81 NKG Infrastructure Net Sales: `1025.81 Founded: 1989
What it does: NKG is an infrastructure company that specialises in the execution and construction of roads, bridges, buildings, electric transmissions, distribution networks, and sewer and water works.
Rank 82 Coastal Projects Net Sales: `1330.08 Founded: 1995
What it does: Coastal Projects is a construction company that primarily engages in developing infrastructural projects across the country.
Rank 83 Nexxoft Infotel Net Sales: `70.59 Founded: 1991
What it does: Nexxoft is a software development firm which specialises in building innovative applications using 3D technology for clients.
top 100
Rank 84 Glodyne Technoserve Net Sales: `707.31 Founded: 1997
Rank 90 Gravita India Net Sales: `104.9 Founded: 1992
Glodyne, headquartered in Mumbai, offers technology-led business solutions across several verticals.
leading lead producing companies, It provides pure lead, lead metal, alloy and other related products.
Rank 85 LGS Global Net Sales: `240.75 Founded: 1999
Rank 91 DM Corporation Net Sales: `70.63 Founded: 2002
What it does: A leading IT services company,
What it does: LGS Global is an information technology implementation and outsourcing services provider which mainly works in the cloud computing segment.
Rank 86 Karuturi Global Net Sales: `533.82 Founded: 1994
What it does: Karuturi is one of the main
producers of cut roses across the world. The company grows roses over 292 hectares of land. Karuturi has an annual production capacity of 555 million stems.
Rank 87 Shiv-Vani Oil & Gas Exploration Services Net Sales: `1071.8 Founded: 1989
What it does: The company is a premier service provider catering to the upstream segment of the oil and gas industry. It is a globally-recognised firm known for its expertise in exploration, production and allied services.
Rank 88 Max Flex & Imaging Systems Net Sales: `310.78 Founded: 2002
What it does: Gravita is one of India’s
What it does: DM is a core construction company that constructs dams, tunnels, canals and power projects.
Rank 92 USHER Agro Net Sales: `342 Founded: 1996
What it does: One of the leading agribusiness houses in the country, USHER aims to meet the domestic demand for basic food. However, it also focuses on export markets. It is a ISO9001:2000 and HACCP-certified firm.
Rank 93 Jaihind Projects Net Sales: `409.28 Founded: 1985
What it does: Jaihind Projects is an
engineering, procurement and construction company that focuses on the hydrocarbon, water and infrastructure sectors.
Rank 94 Som Datt Builders Net Sales: `573.96 Founded: 1965
What it does: The firm is involved in the
manufacturing and marketing of digital and offset printing consumables in India.
What it does: Som Datt Builders is a global infrastructure company with projects across the globe. It was one of the first Indian construction companies with international projects, as early as 1976.
Rank 89 Sunil Hitech Engineers Net Sales: `722.68 Founded: 1998
Rank 95 Paladion Networks Net Sales: `41.66 Founded: 2000
What it does: Sunil Hitech works on fabrication and commissioning projects for the power industry.
technology-based solutions to clients across Asia, Europe and the US.
Rank 96 Caliber Point Business Solution Net Sales: `87.17 Founded: 2004
What it does: Caliber is the independent BPO arm of Hexaware Technologies, a leading global IT and BPO services firm.
Rank 97 Gemini Engi-Fab Net Sales: `21.06 Founded: 1998
What it does: Gemini is an engineering, procurement and construction company for custom-built critical process equipment. The firm has been growing 100 per cent year-on-year since 2007.
Rank 98 BVG India Net Sales: `139.89 Founded: 2002
What it does: BVG India provides facilities management services in India. It serves industrial premises, airports, shopping malls, hospitals, railways, commercial buildings and educational institutions.
Rank 99 Camson Bio Technologies Net Sales: `79.98 Founded: 1993
What it does: Camson Bio Technologies is a leading agricultural biotechnology company.
Rank 100 Cantabil Retail India Net Sales: `201.83 Founded: 1989
What it does: Cantabil is a retail garment chain that owns 279 exclusive stores across the country. The company deals in designer, formal, party and casual dresses for men, women and children.
What it does: Paladion Networks is a global, full-service and managed security provider that is committed to delivering september/october 2011 | INC. | 8 5
MAKING IT
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Relaxo Footwears
Rank No. 294
Does comfort always come at a price? Delhi-based Relaxo Footwears has twisted this trade (or should we say ‘tread’) truth. The company, founded in 1976, sells its low-priced and comfortable chappals, fancy sandals and school shoes in rural and semi-urban pockets of India. That’s roughly 70 per cent of India’s population. Little wonder then that Relaxo clocks in sales of more than 100 million pairs per annum under its brands— Sparx, Flite and Schoolmate. The company also manufactures for premium brands like Nike and Dunlop, and exports footwear to New Zealand, the US and UK.
photograph by Subhojit Paul
reported by ira swasti
THE WAY I WORK
Manav Garg | Eka Software solutions
no stupid ideas. Three Year Growth 90.5 % | 2010 Revenue `37 crore
There are
Everyone should pitch in
If you try to describe Manav Garg, CEO of Eka Software, don’t use words. Try numbers instead. Garg is all of 37 years. He began with a milliondollar seed fund. It took him five minutes to convince his then boss to invest. Today, he wants five more years from his investors, most of them worth a billion dollars. If they give the nod, Garg will take his $10-million firm to a new height— the $100-million mark. Eka Software may have conquered UK and the US, but Garg’s primary target is India. He wants to be the country’s largest product software company.
AS TOLD TO Rohini Banerjee photographs by S. radhakrishna
I grew up in a small middle-class town called Moga in Punjab. You don’t get everything you want in such places. That’s a good thing sometimes, because it teaches you a thing or two. It taught me the need to be disciplined. On school days, I would be up by 4.30am. The early morning habit has stuck on. Now I wake up by 6.15am. The first thing I do is get up and switch on my BlackBerry. I don’t feel the need for any coffee or tea to kick-start my day. It is business from the word go. Since Eka Software has offices across conti-
nents, my team and I work according to various time zones. On usual days, I talk to the head of production, based out of London, in the mornings. That’s his time to turn in. It makes sense to have a quick chat about his day and plan mine accordingly. The quick chat lasts about 15 minutes. After the call, it is time to exercise—
8 8 | INC. | september/october 2011
another childhood habit. I believe in the wholesome benefit of a quick jog, a round of lawn tennis or badminton. Breakfast means cereals, milk shakes or
home-cooked poha or idli. I love cooking elaborate dinners for my friends and family on weekends. On weekdays, I like to stick to light food. My son and daughter are six and three
respectively. My schedule allows me to spend a little time with them in the morning. I make it a point to either drop my daughter or son to their schools. I commute 40 minutes to reach my office. The school detour takes me 20 minutes. The rest of the journey is spent on calls or listening to classical music.
I am one of the first five to arrive in office.
The rest of the office is in by 11am. I am
strict about discipline, but that’s only as far as delivery is concerned. I believe that promises should be kept. Eka is, otherwise, a relaxed space to work in. Our office is an open, quirky, boomerang-shaped place. We don’t have cubicles. The design and culture of the office go hand-in-hand. We have tried to establish a sense of space and harmony. Everyone’s allowed to be individualistic and bounce ideas off each other. But, in the end, everyone is part of a larger whole. We are all passionate about R&D. My mantra is—there are no stupid ideas. I believe everyone has the right to make errors. Eka works on certain principles. We call them the ‘seven senses’. They are innovation, team work, discipline, growth, fun, community and environment. I began with a five-member team. Today, Eka has 220-odd people working for it. I have a massive pre-sales team. In a fast-
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Mr Discipline Manav Garg believes in sticking to his promises— especially those made to his clients.
september/october 2011 | INC. | 8 9
THE WAY I WORK
We all break for lunch around 1pm. I am
famished by then. That half an hour is dedicated to food, sports and political news. Post-lunch hours are usually packed with work so we make the most of this time. Usually, the UK office begins work after we’re done with lunch. From 2pm, we start making calls both to the US and the UK. By 7.30pm, I am ready to call it quits for the day.
I try to be home by 8.15pm to tuck in my
daughter. By nine, I am at the dinner table for a light meal of soup and sandwich with my wife. Then it’s me and book time. Right now, I am reading the Swedish crime thriller called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I hardly watch films or TV. Of course, everything depends on business calls. If there’s one, this evening routine goes for a toss.
“I don’t need coffee or tea to kickstart
business from the word go.”
my day. It’s
—Manav Garg
moving industry like ours, it’s important to constantly innovate and interact with clients. On a usual month, our pre-sales team engages with nearly 90 customers. They are an important part of my team as they know the pulse of the folks on the ground. I spend an hour with that team every day, trying to think long-term and looking at key aspects as product differentiation. The idea is not to intervene. I just help them brainstorm. When we had a smaller team, I used to involve myself in every nitty-gritty. I have learnt to let go now and let senior folks
9 0 | INC. | september/october 2011
handle all that. My main task is to manage talent and strategise. We are also trying to fortify Eka’s market-
ing and business strategy. We want A-list clients and for that you have to constantly travel, network and meet people. Meetings take up a pretty large chunk of my time. I usually call CIOs or CEOs of client companies every week, or go and meet people whenever I can. It’s a great way to receive feedback and keep tabs on the ground reality. Connectivity is very important and we have been looking at LinkedIn and Twitter to improve our web presence.
I love unwinding after a fully-packed work week. Two days every week, I sit down with my daughter to learn Hindustani classical music from our guruji. I absolutely love this session. It’s something I had wanted to do for a long time. My wife and son are exempted from the classes. I am usually in bed by 11pm. However, what man proposes, work disposes. At this phase of Eka, I have to travel to our offices in London, NYC, Venezuela and Australia. And, there’s no way you can faithfully stick to a regime when you are travelling. My business trips are special to me. The idea for Eka had sprung up during one such trip. I mustered up the courage to tell the chairman of GP Groups, where I was working then, of my plans. He agreed to loan me $5 million. Promptly, I spent a large chunk into launching Eka. That was one milestone crossed. Whether the next one will be an acquisition or reaching the $100-million mark or being known as the leader of the vertical, I still don’t know. But these don’t seem like wishful dreams anymore. They are achievable plans. When I go off to sleep, they’re all I can think of.
AD
SUKUMAR SUBRAMANIAN | Sanraa Media
Three Year Growth 196.4% | 2010 Revenue `67 crore
Life is all about
that first opportunity Sukumar Subramanian is a computer science engineer who gave up the American dream to pursue one of his own. Today, he’s the CEO of one of the most successful animation studios in India—Sanraa Media. His journey hasn’t been fun and games though. Initially, he set up PixAlaya Studios, an entertainment company, but almost called it quits when a client defaulted on a massive pay-up. Subramanian’s never-say-die spirit kept him afloat. Things changed after he met his business partner A. Venkatramani. Together, the duo bought a bankrupt entertainment company, Sanraa Media. Not unlike the animation series the company produces, Subramanian has scripted an exciting, fast-paced story for himself.
AS TOLD TO Meenakshi Kumar
My life is full of happy accidents. I come from a family of businessmen and always knew that I would run my own company some day. I was brought up to be independent. Like any other south Indian family, mine too wanted me to follow the traditional path. Great emphasis was laid on education and knowledge. I did my engineering in computer science in 1996. After graduation, I worked as a networking
programmer with a software firm in Bengaluru but soon realised that it was not my cup of tea. I was looking for something more creative. I gave up the job and moved to Chennai to join Pentafour Software.
9 2 | INC. | september/october 2011
Working for Pentafour’s multimedia division worked out for me. As a programmer, I wrote tools for animation. It helped me gain an insight into the world of animation, something I loved. I learnt a lot in the two years there. But soon enough restlessness kicked in. In 1999, I joined a gaming and media company as their gaming division head. I hadn’t done gaming, so this was new. I was instrumental in developing a game called Spooky Races. After that, I moved to Jadooworks, an animation company, as a consultant. After six years in the business of animation and gaming, I’d gained a vast amount of knowledge. I had my own ideas. I’d get
frustrated that they couldn’t be implemented the way I wanted. I was passionate about entertainment and wanted to launch my own company. In the 1990s, entrepreneurship still wasn’t cool. It was a huge decision to give up a regular job and start out on your own. A computer engineer was much sought after those days. The IT industry was booming and there were lucrative jobs in the US and elsewhere. In February 2002, I launched PixAalaya
Studios. I’d invested `20 lakhs into the company. I was only 27 then. We started with just three people in a tiny office in Chennai, and made mobile games for Nokia and some Singapore-based companies.
HOW I DID IT
The animation industry was growing at the time. India was being looked at as a great outsourcing destination. It was a good time to set up shop. Soon, we got a hugely ambitious project—a 135-minute interactive animation DVD called Steel League for Blue Monkey Studio, a UK-based firm. This set the stage for us and we soon started getting other good projects. We were riding high on our success when
a rude shock hit us hard. In 2005, a client didn’t pay us a `85 lakh outstanding. We were badly hit. I found myself reeling
under a huge debt of `1.5 crore. I had to sell my car and reduce my staff strength from 100 to only two. I worked 18 hours a day to repay a bank loan of `45 lakh. Later, I successfully sued the client but it was a long and lonely legal battle. Contracts, paperwork and stability must
be put in place—it was my moment of epiphany. Fortunately, in 2006, I met A. Venkatramani, a leading advocate. He had considerable management experience and had worked for blue-chip firms like Hindustan Unilever and HCL. He took over
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75 per cent of the company and turned it around into an aggressive new media technology company. Within a few months, we acquired Sanraa Media, a publicly listed company which had gone bankrupt. Venkatramani was clear. He wanted Sanraa to be a full-fledged entertainment company. It wouldn’t focus on just one vertical. After taking over Sanraa, we bounced
back. In 2006 itself, we made `30-40 lakh. Today, we are worth `70 crore. We have 500-plus people working with us in our offices in Bengaluru, Chennai, New Jersey and Singapore. We will soon set up a marketing office in Los Angeles and London. We aim at high-quality projects. Our clients—Endemol UK, Action Syntheses, France and Newtrickompany, Germany—trust us. It’s very gratifying that we are known as a creative and innovative company. We are people-focused. It’s been said enough
times but good employees really are a company’s assets. Colleagues are like wine, the longer they stay, the more valuable they become.
In the last two years, we’ve entered a new
league. In 2009, we landed a co-production deal with Endemol UK for the animated TV series, The 99. The entire production for the 3D animated series was done by us. The 99 is a fantastic story about 99 superhero characters who embody the global values of tolerance, wisdom, mercy and other heroic characterestics. In fact, US President Barack Obama had praised the series at a summit on entrepreneurship last year. In the next few years, we want to be a `400-
“It’s necessary to keep dreaming.
give up your dreams.”
Don’t ever
—sukumar subramanian
crore company. It’s not going to be easy. But it’s important to not give up on your dreams. I knew I wanted to be in the entertainment business and despite the ups and downs, I never stopped trying. I’ve bounced back from several low periods. Life and business are both like that. You need to take your chances. It’s all about that first opportunity and the people who make it possible like my father and my brothers who were my first investors. september/october 2011 | INC. | 9 3
D.K. Goyal & A.K. Goyal | Angelique international
Three Year Growth 106.9% | 2010 Revenue Rs. 732 crore
always first
Where family is
Entrepreneurship courses through the family tree at Angelique International with both generations of the founding Goyal family dabbling in various ventures. Those insights have obviously come in handy for Angelique International, the family’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company. The family touch is an intrinsic part of the company, starting from its very name, which has been inspired by founder-chairman Daya Krishna Goyal’s daughter, Anjali. Both of Goyal’s sons have also worked in the company at different times. Clearly, the gene pool has been effective. Today, after building success internationally, the Noida-based company, is focused on creating an even larger wealth in India.
As told to Tejeesh N.S. Behl photograph BY Subhojit paul
Daya Krishna Goyal: I worked with Cimmco Birla for 30 years. In 1993, I quit to start out on my own. It seemed natural to do so in the infrastructure sector as I was a mechanical engineer by qualification. And my experience of executing infrastructure projects at Birla gave me the confidence that I could do this on my own. Angelique was formed in 1996.
I asked Sanjay to join me as soon as he finished studies. He worked with me for a few years. In 2000, he wanted to strike out on his own and started his own telecom VAS (valueadded service) company, ACL Wireless. It was then that I asked Ajay to shut down his garment manufacturing business and join me. It was becoming tough for me to manage.
DKG: The early years were quite tough. The
challenge then. Banking policies were stringent and it was only because of my father’s rapport with the bankers that banks started lending money.
shift from a professional heading a team to single-handedly managing things was challenging. There was little capital, apart from some personal assets and I was alone at that point as Sanjay, my younger son, was studying in the US. Ajay (my eldest son) was running his garment manufacturing unit, having qualified as a textile engineer.
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Ajay Krishna Goyal: Raising capital was a big
AKG: Sanjay’s parting ways with Angelique
was amicable. He’s still on the board of directors, though not actively involved. We do foresee a role for him at Angelique in the
future. Initially, it was difficult for me to let go I’d built up over the years. There was also a little heartburn because when I shut my unit, my company wasn’t doing too well. I wasn’t making great profits. In fact, today I feel I should have joined Angelique earlier. There are areas where my father and I have differences. But we settle it amicably—he looks after project implementation and I take care of new businesses and marketing. It’s great that he has the ability to adapt to change. DKG: While there have been no major differ-
ences between us, it’s natural that each generation will have a different approach. My sons, whether Sanjay or Ajay, have taken advantage of technology in a better manner to run the business.
Slow and Steady The father-son team of Goyals has learnt the business value of patience.
HOW I DID IT
equation with the governments there. That helped us get projects. AKG: Our attention to focus on India came a
few years ago when we saw an increasing opportunity in the domestic market for EPC. Admittedly, we’ve not been very successful in India yet. It has forced us to rethink our domestic operations and contracts that need a different orientation and plan because margins are razor thin. We were operating the way we did with international contracts—we didn’t minimise costs enough. However, we’ve learnt now and intend to concentrate on specific sectors such as steel and railways. Fortunately, the EPC business hasn’t been impacted by the global economic crises.
AKG: In our kind of business, you just have to
be patient—that’s the only way to stay in business. Growth is slow because individual projects take approximately three years to execute. Our first project came in 2001, five years after we began. The first five years were very slow. Sometimes work would be held up because we didn’t get our letters of credit.
At such times, what comes in handy is the trust of suppliers and credit-worthiness of the company; they make your reputation.
RANK
42
AKG: We are conservative and have deliber-
ately eschewed temptations to diversify in the early years. We wanted to be well-established before we spread. We let go of opportunities in commodities trading. Despite being a lowmargin business, it’s profitable. But we didn’t want to grow erratically. We like being under the radar. We don’t brand ourselves on social media. We’ve never felt the need to do that.
That doesn’t mean we won’t explore new
areas. Agriculture and mining are two growth areas for us especially in Africa. We
are in the process of acquiring agricultural land and gold mines. We’re also thinking of a public issue but that will happen after we have created value with our expansion plan. DKG: Most Indian EPC companies found their calling overseas especially in the west Asian and north-African countries due to the oil boom in the 1970s. The size of the construction contracts and the margins were also very big in those times. Moreover, these countries lacked the expertise required for executing large EPC projects. My experience at Cimmco enabled me to build a personal
Overseas operations are always challenging as governments there are slower in their response time. With technical and managerial skills not abundantly available in countries where we operate, especially west Asia, training and teaching takes time. You can’t be impatient. You cannot overbook yourself. AKG: In the next few years, we plan to get
into towers and cable manufacturing to expand our product range and at the same time, get into agriculture and mining. We intend to finish 2011 with revenues close to $250 million (approximately `1,125 crore). My father is 71 years old. But he hasn’t made any plans for retirement. Work is his reason for living. He’s still actively involved in all operations. We are trying to gradually take the load off him. september/october 2011 | INC. | 9 5
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Optimism: the most enduring ingredient of them all... Newspapers are full of worrisome news these days—whether it is
politics, or society or indeed, the economy and the environment. Inflation is the highest it’s been in recent years while foreign direct investment is at its lowest. Margins are under pressure, yet employees are done with salary freezes and are demanding “boom-time” hikes. Mid-sized companies are willing to borrow money to finance their growth, but interest rates climb every quarter. Problems abound, but—thank God—so do opportunities. That’s what our readers always manage to see and that’s precisely what makes watching and writing for Inc. India an energising experience. This “never-say-die” spirit is what attracted me, personally, to India’s entrepreneurs. Ten years ago, there wasn’t an obvious, “equal and opposite” positive to every “more-than-obvious” downside. Yet the all-pervasive entrepreneurial spirit charged on and wrote India’s growth story, often against all odds. And left me wondering about what makes them tick—day after day. At that time, my day job required me to work with large, established corporations. Intuitively, I knew there was a difference in what I saw in management behaviour versus entrepreneurial style. But without enough evidence to back my gut, it remained just that. I had no framework to assess the difference. Today, as an entrepreneur, I understand and live that distinction. Which is why I was delighted when I read an article in the February 2011 edition of Inc. titled How Great Entrepreneurs Think. The article is based on research carried out by Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. She carried out an experiment with a group that had at least 15 years of experience starting multiple companies, and had taken at least one company public. She asked the same questions of senior management in corporations like Nestle, Philip Morris and Shell to hypothesise the big differences. Saras has some insightful findings. Briefly, she says, and I rephrase below basis my own experiences: 1. Entrepreneurs rely on “effectual reasoning”. Being outstanding improvisers, they often don’t start out with concrete goals. Instead, they use their strengths and available resources to develop goals and react creatively as they progress. If I look back at 9.9 Media’s (the parent company for Inc. India) four entrepreneurial 9 6 | INC. | september/october 2011
years, we reflect this completely. By contrast, corporate executives—also enormously successful in their chosen field—use causal reasoning. They set a goal and diligently seek the best ways to achieve it. I suspect they avoid the troughs, but also the peaks. 2. That is not to say entrepreneurs don’t have goals, only they are in a hurry to get to market as quickly and cheaply as possible, a principle Sarasvathy calls “affordable loss”. Don’t wait for the perfect, else you may wait forever. The attitude is rooted in their belief that no one can really predict the future and by the time detailed research gets done, the reality has changed. In Saras’s words, the careful forecast is the enemy of the fortuitous surprise. 3. Expert entrepreneurs learn the hard way that “having even one real customer on board with you is better than knowing in a hands-off way 10 things about a thousand customers”. They invest in getting started with that one and view him as their top salesman. 4. Finally, they “sweat competitors later”. I agree. As entrepreneurs , we often see ourselves not in the thick of a market but on the fringe of one, or as creating a new market entirely. Like farmers, we care about our own little patch of ground. We just don’t have the time to worry about someone else. The focus is on continuously watching out for opportunities. In fact, we set out on a path almost expecting it to become bigger and broader as we tread it. But it’s not always “ready, fire, aim”. Planning, research and worrying about competitors gain in importance as you scale up. What stays rooted amongst us is an “eternal optimism”. It’s on this enduring quality that I want to focus. Business cycles, changing luck and attrition are a reality. We have to take it in our stride. The only ingredient that will ensure we stay in the game, and hopefully win is our ability to dip into our reserves of eternal optimism. Congratulations to all of you on another great year. Here’s to a future full of hope and winning...
Anuradha Das Mathur Publisher, Inc. India