It is estimated that the business of snacks and chips in India will cross Rs 35,000 crores by the year 2020. This sector thus, can be regarded as a high-potential business area for the coming years. Many regional brands are coming forward to cash in on this opportunity.
These smaller brands are not only winning the hearts of the consumers with their unique taste but are also giving the international brands some hard time in the domestic market. In the process, they are also changing their fortunes by earning in crores of rupees.
Prataap Snacks Private Limited is one such regional brands from Indore that is making an annual turnover of Rs 850 crores. Surprisingly, not many of us even heard the name of this brand.
When two brothers Apoorva Kumat and Amit Kumat, along with their friend Arvind Mehta, started this business in 2003, they had no idea that one day their brand will become one of the leaders of the industry.
Their unique ring-shaped chips became highly popular among the kids making the brand a huge success. Currently, the company has over 168 storehouses and 2,900 distributors in 24 states across the country. The company also has four factories making their famous snacks 24×7.
After working for 10 years in a snack company, Amit decided to have his own brand. Initially, he thought of venturing into the world of chemical manufacturing and started a unit in 2001. But after one year, the company already had a debt of Rs 6 crores and had to be shut down. This initial setback was quite shocking to him.
He not only lost all his savings but also lost his respect among the fellow businessmen of Indore. He somehow managed to pay off the creditors by borrowing money from his relatives and friends.
Still, Amit did not give away the dream of having his own business. In the year 2002, he shared the idea of starting a snack business in the Indore region with his brother Apoorva and friend Arvind. They agreed to go ahead with the idea, but managing initial capital was not easy. They somehow managed to convince their respective families to arrange Rs 15 lakh and started their dream project Prataap Snacks.
I always wanted to be an entrepreneur and I was interested in the snack market because I was familiar with all the big brands. I realized that their reach was not great in cities like Indore and that is why I chose this location to start my business. – Amit
At the beginning of the business, Amit ordered a total of 20,000 boxes of snacks from a local food processing and manufacturing plants. During the early days, they used to buy the products from local manufacturers and focused all their attention on building a strong distribution network.
As their initial capital was low, they had limited equipment and there was not enough space to build their own factory. In the first year, the company made a total of Rs 22 lakh. In the second year, the profit reached Rs 1 crore and in the third year, the annual turnover crossed Rs 7 crores.
After the initial success, they realized the extreme potential of this sector and decided to expand their business in Mumbai in 2006. But during the period between 2006 to 2010, many domestic big brands like Haldiram and Balaji Wafers came forward and launched their own snacks.
The competition grew tougher at the national-level. In order to counter these brands, Amit thought of giving more emphasis on expanding his brand in one area rather targeting the whole country at the same time. In the year 2011, the company introduced its own manufacturing plant and launched the brand ‘Yellow Diamond’. As a result, the yearly turnover of the company reached Rs 150 crores.
The stock of the company continued to shoot up every year and from 2010 to 2015, and their market share increased from one percent to four percent. In the future, Amit wants at least 10 percent stake in India’s snacks market. To achieve this, Amit and his team is paying a lot of attention towards the quality of their products. Recently, the company has also taken out its IPO to join the billion-dollar club.
It is indeed heartwarming to see youths from a small town like Indore had the faith and determination to give such tough competition to the well-established multinational companies with their ideas and strategies. Their journey is truly motivational and inspiring and needs to be acknowledged.
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