Follow Chinese example, Jatin tells textile leaders of his ilk

20 Dec '11

9 min read

Jatin was first mentored by his uncle – Mr Mohan Gupta, a thorough marketing professional, under whom Jatin learnt the nuances of sales and marketing. Under one of his other uncle – Mr Shyam Gupta, he learnt the art of communicating with associates as well as manufacturing activities.

As a new joinee, Jatin used to devote equal time between the manufacturing floor and the head office in Surat. He says, “One has to learn from the floor level onwards, so as to be able to take quick decisions regarding any challenges that may crop up at the manufacturing stage. Secondly, no one can take you for a ride if you are well-versed with the production activities in your plant”.

Currently, Jatin looks after the export activities of the group and also overlooks the carpet yarn production and processing activities as well. Currently, the Gupta Group exports to Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Lebanon, etc. Currently, exports account for around 20 percent of group. Jatin wants to increase that share to 50 percent in the next 3-4 years.

He is very gung-ho on the global carpet industry. He informs, “The volume of yarn consumed by the global carpet industry is huge and as prices of cotton, wool, jute and other yarns like acrylic and nylon yarns had shot up at the beginning of the year, the industry moved towards polyester yarn, which was priced very economically in that period.

“Now the trend is shifting towards polyester yarn based carpets, since carpets made from polyester yarn are lint free, more durable, washable and consumers also have started accepting these carpets even in developed countries”.

Exports of the group have grown 10-fold, within the last 5-6 years and are now around Rs 1.50 billion. At the time when Jatin started looking after the export activities, exports of carpet yarn stood at around Rs 40 million, which now have touched Rs 600 billion. The target plan is to reach Rs 1.2 billion in the next 3-4 years just from carpet yarn exports.

The group now plans to venture in to power generation and add value-added products to its current product portfolio like industrial yarns. The Gupta group plans to double revenues by reaching Rs 25 billion in the next 4-5 years. This will be achieved by means of adding or even doubling existing capacities across various products categories of the group.

The third generation of the Gupta family too is involved in key decision making process. “Each of us, whether my uncles or our generation is handling individual and separate responsibilities, so there is no overlapping. But at the same time, each of us takes independent decisions for our own activities. However, when it comes to new investments or expansion, it is a joint family decision”, Jatin articulates.

The Gupta Group donates handsomely to charity and manages a school in Surat. They also donate to hospitals and various other colleges. They have also taken a conscious decision to invest in green projects and set up environmentally friendly projects. The captive power plant for example runs on gas. The waste heat generated from the plant is again recycled in to their textile units to generate steam.

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