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Spinning a 
10 billion textile business in 15 years
Monday, 13 October 2003, 19:30 IST
CHANDIGARH: "Perform or perish", reads a plaque on the wall of his office. And perform Arun Grover did.
As managing director of Amartex Industries Ltd., Grover has pushed his Haryana-based textile unit from a non-descript firm to an entity worth 
10 billion within a span of 15 years.
And it hasn't been a cakewalk for Grover, 41, who started with only four indigenous looms at Panchkula in Haryana with a sum of 1 million handed over to him by his father.
Initially, he had to face quite a few roadblocks. It was not easy being the first in his family of traders to make a foray into manufacturing, he recalls.
"I rubbed shoulders with the workers and got training in manufacturing and entrepreneurship at the Synthetic and Art Silk Manufacturing Institute in Mumbai. Equipped with state-of-art textiles technology, I took the leap.
"The biggest problem we faced was absence of trained labour in this region. There were no processing facilities available in this region. We had to hire young boys and get them trained elsewhere," Grover told IANS in an interview.
Grover said he had to build his team from scratch and had to train them by hiring textile experts from Mumbai. "I owe my achievement to this team."
Today Grover boasts of having seven manufacturing units spread across northern and western India, 36 high-tech Swiss looms producing three million metres of fabric a month and 15 showrooms in northern India that market readymade garments.
His seven units -- two each in Punjab and Gujarat, and one each in Panchkula, Mumbai and Delhi -- employ about 600 people and stock the latest machines.
"During the last few years, the average annual growth rate of my company has been 20 percent," said Grover, whose hobby is to read success stories of famous personalities.
And enthused by the rapid growth of the company in the last few years, this self-made entrepreneur is now all set to tap the stock market.
"We are planning our initial public offering of 1 billion early next year as we plan to expand our weaving units, export a process house for cotton fabric processing and complete the Baddi unit (in Himachal Pradesh)," said Grover.
"My motto is to make profits from volumes without sacrificing quality. We have eliminated middlemen and have direct contact with our customers," he said.
The industrialist, patting his German Shepherd dog Tiger, who accompanies him to work, confidently claims: "We are fully prepared for the situation in 2005 when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) directives will be implemented.
"As far as textiles and readymade garments go, it will be to our advantage. I believe it's going to reap benefits for us. No quota system, no licences. We can straightaway have a warehouse and open our stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe," he said.
"But," he cautioned, "only companies with solid infrastructure and a strong research and development division, with the latest designs and perfect software to control inventory levels, can take advantage of the situation."
Grover, who only wears clothes with the Amartex label, explained: "All the manufacturing processes, from weaving, washing, dyeing, polishing to stitching, are done in-house.
"We also avoid the eight stages of marketing and sell our products only through our showrooms."
Said Grover: "Our 15 showrooms in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh are family stores. You will get clothes for the entire family as well as fabrics for furnishing. We will appoint 50 more franchisees by the yearend."
He said he and his team are working on state-of-the-art units in the Baddi industrial area of Himachal Pradesh that would be completed in 2004-05.
"The 21st century is totally customer-oriented. If you cannot satisfy your customer, you have no right to exist in business."
A father of three teenaged boys, Grover is also helped in business by his wife Sangeeta, who looks after designing in readymade garments section and also looks after some segments of retail marketing.
"The logo of my company is a horse. It symbolises sincerity, hard work and energy. We have a long way to go and, like a horse, can even sleep standing," said Grover.
Source: IANS
10 billion within a span of 15 years.
And it hasn't been a cakewalk for Grover, 41, who started with only four indigenous looms at Panchkula in Haryana with a sum of 1 million handed over to him by his father.
Initially, he had to face quite a few roadblocks. It was not easy being the first in his family of traders to make a foray into manufacturing, he recalls.
"I rubbed shoulders with the workers and got training in manufacturing and entrepreneurship at the Synthetic and Art Silk Manufacturing Institute in Mumbai. Equipped with state-of-art textiles technology, I took the leap.
"The biggest problem we faced was absence of trained labour in this region. There were no processing facilities available in this region. We had to hire young boys and get them trained elsewhere," Grover told IANS in an interview.
Grover said he had to build his team from scratch and had to train them by hiring textile experts from Mumbai. "I owe my achievement to this team."
Today Grover boasts of having seven manufacturing units spread across northern and western India, 36 high-tech Swiss looms producing three million metres of fabric a month and 15 showrooms in northern India that market readymade garments.
His seven units -- two each in Punjab and Gujarat, and one each in Panchkula, Mumbai and Delhi -- employ about 600 people and stock the latest machines.
"During the last few years, the average annual growth rate of my company has been 20 percent," said Grover, whose hobby is to read success stories of famous personalities.
And enthused by the rapid growth of the company in the last few years, this self-made entrepreneur is now all set to tap the stock market.
"We are planning our initial public offering of 1 billion early next year as we plan to expand our weaving units, export a process house for cotton fabric processing and complete the Baddi unit (in Himachal Pradesh)," said Grover.
"My motto is to make profits from volumes without sacrificing quality. We have eliminated middlemen and have direct contact with our customers," he said.
The industrialist, patting his German Shepherd dog Tiger, who accompanies him to work, confidently claims: "We are fully prepared for the situation in 2005 when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) directives will be implemented.
"As far as textiles and readymade garments go, it will be to our advantage. I believe it's going to reap benefits for us. No quota system, no licences. We can straightaway have a warehouse and open our stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe," he said.
"But," he cautioned, "only companies with solid infrastructure and a strong research and development division, with the latest designs and perfect software to control inventory levels, can take advantage of the situation."
Grover, who only wears clothes with the Amartex label, explained: "All the manufacturing processes, from weaving, washing, dyeing, polishing to stitching, are done in-house.
"We also avoid the eight stages of marketing and sell our products only through our showrooms."
Said Grover: "Our 15 showrooms in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh are family stores. You will get clothes for the entire family as well as fabrics for furnishing. We will appoint 50 more franchisees by the yearend."
He said he and his team are working on state-of-the-art units in the Baddi industrial area of Himachal Pradesh that would be completed in 2004-05.
"The 21st century is totally customer-oriented. If you cannot satisfy your customer, you have no right to exist in business."
A father of three teenaged boys, Grover is also helped in business by his wife Sangeeta, who looks after designing in readymade garments section and also looks after some segments of retail marketing.
"The logo of my company is a horse. It symbolises sincerity, hard work and energy. We have a long way to go and, like a horse, can even sleep standing," said Grover.
Source: IANS