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'Let's work together and regain the lost glory of Indian textiles' – Varun Jiwrajka
12 Sep '11
10 min read
Major decisions relating to each of the divisions, is taken by the first generation Jiwrajka brothers, involving those from the second generation too. Varun reveals, “Opinions of the three of us from the second generation is also considered, when key decisions are taken”.
We veer around to his mentoring when he took the first steps of the business. His first training began under the tutelage of his Uncle - Mr Dilip Jiwrajka, Managing Director of Alok. Varun systematically went through each of the plants, departments and functions and learnt the basics first hand in 2007.
His first responsibility was H&A, which has grown from just 13 outlets in 2007 to 384 as of date. Along the way, he learnt a few important management lessons under his other Uncle, Mr Ashok Jiwrajka, the Executive Chairman. Since the last one year, he is being groomed for the polyester business, under his father – Mr Surendra Jiwrajka, the Joint Managing Director.
H&A was first initiated as an export surplus store division of Alok. But in the intervening years, H&A has evolved into a lifestyle fashion store chain and currently has fifteen brands and sells goods ranging from clothing to accessories and footwear and hopes to double revenues in current fiscal from the previous year. Varun hopes to optimistically reach 500 PoS points for H&A by the end of the current fiscal year.
His education in the US has helped him to a great extent in managing the H&A retail chain as in his final year; he also did a project on retail management. He also gives credit to his four-year education stay in the US, as it helped him look at life and business with a different perspective.
Varun is very optimistic of the clothing retail category and expects it to be a very interesting business in the future. He quotes a Technopak 2010 study which says that the domestic apparel retail market which was worth US $33 billion in 2009 will skyrocket to $100 billion by 2020.
He is of the opinion that to make retailing successful, the infrastructure has to be improved, as supply chain management is at the heart of a winning retail venture. He says, “For retail to be successful, one has to get 'the right product at the right price at the right time'. Logistics is a nightmare for the retail sector in India and till infrastructure is not improved, scaling up store numbers would be difficult”.
He says he gets a high from the polyester business. Initially retail was a passion and now he is also passionate about the polyester business. Although the polyester business has a CEO, Varun is involved in key decisions like on strategy, pricing, customer handling, expansions, new market segments, improvement of plant performance, etc.
He is proud of the fact that despite the fact that the Jiwrajka family is involved in the management of Alok, they have astute professionals and profit-centre heads managing day-to-day affairs of the various divisions of the textile major.
We veer around to his mentoring when he took the first steps of the business. His first training began under the tutelage of his Uncle - Mr Dilip Jiwrajka, Managing Director of Alok. Varun systematically went through each of the plants, departments and functions and learnt the basics first hand in 2007.
His first responsibility was H&A, which has grown from just 13 outlets in 2007 to 384 as of date. Along the way, he learnt a few important management lessons under his other Uncle, Mr Ashok Jiwrajka, the Executive Chairman. Since the last one year, he is being groomed for the polyester business, under his father – Mr Surendra Jiwrajka, the Joint Managing Director.
H&A was first initiated as an export surplus store division of Alok. But in the intervening years, H&A has evolved into a lifestyle fashion store chain and currently has fifteen brands and sells goods ranging from clothing to accessories and footwear and hopes to double revenues in current fiscal from the previous year. Varun hopes to optimistically reach 500 PoS points for H&A by the end of the current fiscal year.
His education in the US has helped him to a great extent in managing the H&A retail chain as in his final year; he also did a project on retail management. He also gives credit to his four-year education stay in the US, as it helped him look at life and business with a different perspective.
Varun is very optimistic of the clothing retail category and expects it to be a very interesting business in the future. He quotes a Technopak 2010 study which says that the domestic apparel retail market which was worth US $33 billion in 2009 will skyrocket to $100 billion by 2020.
He is of the opinion that to make retailing successful, the infrastructure has to be improved, as supply chain management is at the heart of a winning retail venture. He says, “For retail to be successful, one has to get 'the right product at the right price at the right time'. Logistics is a nightmare for the retail sector in India and till infrastructure is not improved, scaling up store numbers would be difficult”.
He says he gets a high from the polyester business. Initially retail was a passion and now he is also passionate about the polyester business. Although the polyester business has a CEO, Varun is involved in key decisions like on strategy, pricing, customer handling, expansions, new market segments, improvement of plant performance, etc.
He is proud of the fact that despite the fact that the Jiwrajka family is involved in the management of Alok, they have astute professionals and profit-centre heads managing day-to-day affairs of the various divisions of the textile major.
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