Dr. Karsanbhai Patel - NIRMA Man

Friends, this is an article that I found on Internet, Regarding the much told aboyt Mr. Karsanbhai K Patel by our SM Faculty, Mr. Das the man from dabur


A soap opera called Nirma



THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Karsanbhai K Patel

Chairman, Nirma



My hands are quite full at the moment. So, when ET came up with the idea that I write a piece for the special edition, I was rather sceptical. All these years, I have maintained a low profile and preferred to keep away from the media. “Should I write about Nirma's journey in a newspaper after-all?”



I wondered. Then, as an after thought I felt that some youngster reading ET in some corner of India may get inspired after reading my story, and think of the unthinkable, like I did 37 years ago. Nothing will be more satisfying if that happened. So, here I am.



I started making detergents way back in 1969. That was an interesting year: Man landed on the moon for the first time, Pele scored his 1,000th goal, and the Boeing 747 made its debut flight. I was all of 22, brimming with passion and a zest for life.



I came from a small village in North Gujarat, where my father was a small farmer. Hardships were aplenty. But my parents made us focus on our studies. The village school was miles away. But we were never allowed to relent. School done, I was sent to Ahmedabad for graduation.



After completing BSc, I got a job in the state mineral department as a lab assistant. But the salary was not enough to run the large household. So, I thought about doing something more. I started making detergents at home. I rode a bicycle to the market to sell my products-door-to-door. Trust me, it wasn't that easy.



Every success makes a modest beginning. I too started off in the backyard of my home, barely 100 sq ft big. All that I had with me then were some conservative, hand-mixing techniques, a few unique chemicals and soda ash, and, of course, the will to make a difference.



I realised that my product was innovative. The raw materials were different. Though the quality was at par with some leading brands, my production method allowed me to leverage on price. I was able to sell the product at one-third the price of other detergent brands.



In those days, the domestic market had very few players and was largely dominated by MNCs. The cheapest brand in the market came at Rs 13 a kg. I launched my product at Rs 3 per kg. My product became an instant hit.



Gradually, the market for my product grew, and something within told me that I could make it big. I decided to focus on my venture, and shifted the production base from home to a small unit in Vatva, an industrial suburb of Ahmedabad. I called my product Nirma, after my beloved daughter Nirupama.



I knew I had taken up a big challenge. There was no looking back. I worked more than 18 hours a day and did almost everything - from procuring raw materials, blending them and then marketing.



But I never felt I was slogging because every pack of detergent sold would give me immense satisfaction. In a short time, Nirma penetrated other local markets. My product mix was apt for the mass market. But we were targetting the densely populated rural and semi-urban markets that had for years been ignored.



Our competitive pricing and simple positioning was the growth strategy. We adopted a flat distribution structure against the industry's pyramid practice, and introduced cost-efficient poly-pouch packaging, when others were operating through boxes.



Soon, our products penetrated newer markets, winning market share, and mind-share. We backed our efforts on the ground with advertisements on the radio, in 1976, and newspapers, in 1980. The jingle 'Dudh Si Safedi, Nirma Se Aayee..' did the rest.



I was so confident that I even offered a 'money-back' guarantee to customers. That made it even popular. Soon, we were the dominating market player - a position Nirma has never since relinquished.



We rewrote marketing rules, forced the big players to have a re-look at their product strategies and pushed them to cut prices. Little did we realise then that some day, in B-Schools where they aspired to work with large multinationals, students would be told the story of Nirma!



I was never very ambitious. But yes, I always seized opportunities. That helped me grow. I never considered competition to be a threat. I knew their weaknesses and my strengths.



I identified markets where others saw none; I explored markets, where others failed. And I succeeded in converting them, where others felt that the consumer's mindset was difficult to change.



The bigger challenge came from the business environment of those days. During the early license raj days, I faced roadblocks in procuring basic raw materials and in availing logistic facilities, among others. But all these made me more resilient.



Some other decisions I took midway through the Nirma journey also helped us a lot. For instance, in the early 1970s, we established a Linear Alkyl Benzene Sulphonate (Labsa) and Sulfuric acid facilities.



We also built the Alfa Olefin Sulphonate and Fatty acid plants-all vital raw material for our end-products. In 1990, a glycerin plant was also set up. All these facilities were essential to optimise economies of scale and leverage through quality, quantity and pricing.



In 1985, we launched a detergent cake, and followed it up with Nirma Super detergent powder. By then, Nirma was already established as the market leader in the industry.



Then came the period of expansion and consolidation. In 1990, we forayed into the toilet soap segment, following the umbrella brand strategy. We launched a beauty-soap with high TFM content at an affordable price point, and followed it up with various new fragrance variants to strengthen our market position.



In a short span, Nirma gained the second position in the toilet soaps market. In 1994, we established a full range packaging facility to meet more than 1 crore soap rappers a day, and more than 30 lakhs poly-bags. We also established craft paper, corrugated box and ink producing units to achieve economies of scale.



In 1998, we established a unit to produce 75,000 TPA Linear Alkyl Benzene at Alindra, near Baroda. In 2000, we established a soda ash unit in Kalatalav, near Bhavnagar. Soda ash is again a key raw material for detergent and has various industrial applications.



The price of this product was going up globally. So it was essential to set up a production facility and keep prices under check. This way, by following a backward integration strategy, we installed huge facilities for vital ingredients for our end -products, making us self-reliant. At Kalatalav, we also developed one of the largest salt works of Asia, and launched Nirma Shudh - an edible, free-flow, quality salt.



Looking back, it's was not that easy to convert a product into a brand, a one-man show into a 15,000-strong magnum opus. There is no short cut to success. While you traverse that path, you will face roadblocks as well. But only he will survive who wants to make a difference in this world.



Currently, Nirma group is going through a phase of acquisitions and takeovers. The group recently acquired the Porbandar-based soda ash maker Saurashtra Chemicals. Nirma has also entered in healthcare domain by taking over global scale IV-fluid production capacities.



We are also exploring possibilities in the power and cements production sectors. I can only wish that if I could do it alone, Nirma's 15,000-strong manpower would be able to script a bigger story.