Wednesday, March 16, 2011

NITIN AGGARWAL, DIRECTOR, PRAYAG EXIM INDIA LTD - HOW THE COMPANY MANAGED THE TRANSITION FROM AN UNKNOWN ENTITY TO A STRONG CONTENDER

How far have you been able to expand your market reach?
In Delhi/NCR our total sales are not more than 5% but our kit’s availability is shown from top to bottom and from west to east. For the retail market, we have our presence mainly in the South and North. Prayag’s products are mainly used in coastal areas.

What challenges did you face as a leader and how did you overcome them?
The company started with plastics and it took us around 7 years to convince the people about what the product was all about. Our plastics are of high quality and 6 times costlier than the normal ones. This resulted in an increase in the cost by about 4 times of the normal plastic taps, which in turn, are much more economical. It took us long to make people understand about our products’ value and importance. For that, we increased public awareness through railway stations and public utilities along with free installations and demonstrations.

Which segment has been the greatest contributor to your business?
Public places were the prime focus as Government was facing problems. They wanted a replacement after every 3 months. So from a company perspective, we gave the commitment of 7 years’ warranty inclusive of maintenance and the repairing cost. Our reputation mainly grew because of our “quality” which our customers saw. Even after 4 years, the products did not create problems, whereas in the metal products, the symptoms start showing after 4 months. Slowly, we started exporting to Kuwait, Oman, Dubai and Qatar.

What are your strategies of dealing in this industry now, as we are seeing prices of land rising, indirectly affecting the bath accessories industries demand?
In the early day, the ‘flat’ concept was government driven whereas it’s a completely changed scenario today. We have also started targeting big builders on contract basis for our products.

What are the core competencies and success factors driving you?
‘Quality” is the only factor driving our company as we believe that our customers should be getting the value for their money. The USP of the product is “Fit it and Forget it” as there is no maintenance.

Where do you see Prayag 5 years down the line?
Currently, we are in Top 10 companies of India and we are planning to enter the Top 3. The market is huge in nature and is shifting its gears towards being much more organised than it is today.


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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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