'Havells Is A Mass Premium Brand'

HAVELLS PROMOTER ANIL RAI GUPTA speaks to BW Businessworld’s SUMAN K JHA and AVISHEK BANERJEE and shares interesting insights about the company’s evolution and projections. Excerpts:

- Suman K Jha And Avishek Banerjee

The genesis of this group was with your dad in New Delhi’s Bhagirath Palace in 1958, and he bought the Havells brand in 1971. How has the journey been since then?

I think the journey has been very satisfying. We’ve seen ups and downs along the way. Overall, I would say that it has been quite a forward-looking journey. Though it was full of challenges. But ultimately, if you go back to the beginning, then you realize that it’s been a great journey. The fact that we were nobody is a true testament to the entrepreneurial journey that was started by my father. It’s also a testament to the fact that India provides opportunities to entrepreneurs where they can start from almost zero capital. They are able to build on the business and become a meaningful player in that business. I would say that we are the pioneers in the electrical industry. This is also something that could be possible in a country like India where the so-called big did not always become bigger. It about an opportunity that was given to a small man and he grabbed it by the horns. So that way, it has been a very satisfying journey.

You spent some 22 years with your father in the company after finishing your MBA. Then you inherited the company in November 2014. So how has the journey been since then?

I would say that because I had spent 22 years with my father, I had, to a great extent, imbibed his entrepreneurial qualities. I always say that I have been trained as an entrepreneur by a born entrepreneur. And I imbibed those qualities and thankfully we shared a common ethos and also principles of doing business.