29-09-2014, PAGE 4. 40 YEARS AGO... AND NOW tury-old ayurvedic major, Zandu Pharmaceuticals, which has been yet another landmark and turning point in Emami’s his- tory. Before we nally bought over a control- Connecting ling stake of 68.9 per cent in Zandu for ~713 crore in 2008, almost all key players in the Indian FMCG business had tried their luck and failed. The Zandu takeover brought to our fold some of the popular and prominent brands like Zandu Balm, Zandu with the mass Chyawanprash, Zandu Kesri Jeevan, Zandu Pancharishta, Sudarshan and Nityam Churna. The Zandu business grew rapidly, and we became debt-free within two years of the deal. We also pioneered the concept of celebrity consumer brand endorsement and in-lm advertising to create a noise and make our products known in the market. Marketing gurus will always recall With the acquisition of Himani, Emami entered matinee idol of yesteryears — Rajesh Khanna’s A le photo of the Sri Lalji Store in Kolkata. This is where Kemco products were sold before Emami reel role as the managing director of Emami in the mainstream personal care category was born. Later, the store also sold Emami products the 1983 lm Agar Tum Na Hote. Over the years, our products have been in the late seventies realised we were on the right track. that could also act as stress buster. We came up endorsed by celebrated and acclaimed enter- People say the art of entrepreneurship lies in with a second plant at Pondicherry to ramp up tainment and sports personalities like Madhuri the capability of nding opportunities that others capacity. Navratna, the ~500 crore-plus brand Dixit, Sri Devi, Sonakshi Sinha, Kareena Kapoor, he late 1960s were ing power. That was the time we rolled out would not nd, nding solutions that others can’t today, is the market leader in cool oil category in Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav not the best of times Emami vanishing cream and Emami talcum create and nding a silver lining and making the country. Ganguly, Mary Kom and T to kick o one’s own powder. We did not taste success initially. But our some good out of chaos. And the same year (in We were on a roll and in 1995, Kemco so on. We are possibly the business venture. Certainly failures gave us the most vital insight —if you are 1978), we sensed a great opportunity in the cen- Chemicals, our rst partnership rm was only brand in the coun- not for two young boys, to capture the consumer’s mind space, there is no tury old, ailing Himani Ltd. Himani, which had a converted into a public limited company try to have both Amitabh who did not hail from a alternative but to stand out in the market. And strong brand equity in eastern India and a well as Emami Ltd. In 1998, Emami Ltd was Bachchan and Shah business family and who mind you, this particular market was dominated laid out factory in Kolkata, was up for sale and we merged with Himani Ltd Rukh Khan as endorsers were already engaged in by multinationals with deep pockets. took a somewhat revolutionary step by and its name was for the same brand, cushy jobs in a large and I must also add here that the idea of acquiring that company, notwithstand- changed to Emami Ltd as Navratna. Today, we are RS AGARWAL respectable corporate standing out in the market is easier ing the fact that inorganic growth was not per fresh certicate of a homegrown multi- group (Birla Group). But said than done. The task was even the order of the day for FMCG companies incorporation dated national with presence CO-FOUNDER & JOINT CHAIRMAN, then, if you love being the tougher because we were constrained in those days. September 1, 1998. in 63 countries. EMAMI GROUP boss rather than being by limited resources, a truly lean work- The nancial risk was also signicant. Our business strategy, With a group bossed around, if you have force. We had to put on several hats But eventually the move proved to be a over the years, has thrived turnover of ~8,000 a desire to be in control, things will always be dif- simultaneously — strategists, mar- turning point for us. Subsequent to our on continuous ideation, crore and a market cap ferent. And that’s exactly what happened with keters, door-to-door salesmen, pay- acquisition of Himani, we saw enormous innovation, spotting of of ~18,000 crore and me and my childhood best friend Radheshyam ment collectors and what not. We potential in the antiseptic cream market, the right opportunity and supported by a strong Goenka. So it was by choice that we left our jobs realised (and rightly so) that the only way to sur- which was then monopolised by Boroline. We on-time execution. When workforce of 20,000, and stepped into business. vive and grow would be through innovation and were aggressive and came up with our rst ag- fairness creams were we now stand tall, not The entrepreneurial journey has never been introduction of new products. For the rst time ship brand Boroplus antiseptic cream from the meant for women only only among Indian business conglom- smooth and certainly not in the initial days. We in the history of Indian FMCG industry, we intro- stable of Himani in 1984. Three years down the and our peers and others erates, but both Radheshyam Goenka had the toughest ride in the initial years. The duced products with imported French perfume road, BoroPlus, the only antiseptic cream with never thought that men and myself feature amongst the top greatest challenge was to get the right product and innovative packaging in plastic containers ayurvedic ingredients, became the market leader. might also desire to look Forbes 50 billionaires of India. line and control our losses. In 1974, we nally with imported Japanese labels that had golden The next decade (the 90s) was extremely ‘fair’, we realised that a whopping 30 per cent of But what is more satisfying, as the second set up Kemco Chemicals, an ayurvedic medicine motifs and printing. The strategy paid o and eventful for Emami and we started o with the female fairness cream users were in fact men generation promoter directors from our two fam- and cosmetics manufacturing unit with an initial shortly both the products became immensely launch of our next agship brand, another inno- who were actually closet users. Call it a market- ilies gear up to take this Group to the next level, capital of ~20,000. Well, that was the beginning. popular and by 1978, Emami vanishing cream vative product Navratna cool oil, again from the ing history or something else, in 2005, we is the fact over the last 40 years we did not have The mid-70s were marked by the story of ‘the became the market leader with 22 per cent mar- Himani stable. It was also an industry rst. The launched Fair and Handsome, the rst fairness a single day of labour unrest. great Indian middle class’ with its growing ket share and Emami talcum powder became market, dominated by traditional hair oils, actu- cream for men. The show, or shall I say, the battle to propensity to consume and increasing purchas- the No.2 brand in its category in India. We ally had a latent demand for a therapeutic oil Then came the acquisition of another cen- excel goes on. SOURCE: http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/40-years-ago-and-now-connecting-with-the-mass-consumer-114092800748_1.html able to handle pan-India in, say, the top 30 markets. But if I am a new player starting from scratch, and it is my only business, the simpler I The new and confident keep it, the better it is. It is an inter- (20-09-2014, BUSINESSLINE (BLINK), PAGE 5) nal choice and not market-driven. Every region of India will be as big as many countries in terms of market Indian customer size. What is the perfect recipe for a successful supermarket? The inside story of modern retail in India, the opportunities and the Worldwide, some of the largest food-led value retail chains tend to challenges for the seller be local. It is not about local owner- ship but about tuning into the local customers. I call India not just an rom Hindustan Unilever to cabulary of understanding.” The That is opening up opportunities ev- emerging but also a very assertive the Future Group, Damodar erywhere. Products, people and re- market, especially about her food SupermarketWala Mall has worked with some today’s observations and insights tailers need to be more imaginative preferences. Those who start by say- Secrets to winning of India’s biggest customer- on the confident Indian customer to to keep pace with what the consum- ing ‘the customer is right and I will consumer India faciFng companies. The CEO of Value people coming to the consumer er is ready for. Also, most products serve her’ are likely to be in a better Damodar Mall Retail at Reliance jots down his ex- goods and retail sector. Random House and services get designed for the sal- place with a shorter learning curve Non-fiction periences in modern retail and aried, ‘credit card’ India, and leave than those who start by saying ‘I ₹299 much more in SupermarketWala — Has the Indian customer evolved out the large and moneyed self-em- know what modernity is going to be an attempt to decode today’s “confi- or have her shopping preferences ployed — Gold Collared — segment.