Transforming Spaces

Greenlam Industries Limited, which boasts a consolidated net revenue of R1030 crore from operations in FY16, was formed when Greenply Industries demerged in 2014. MARWAR talks to Saurabh Mittal, Managing Director and CEO, Greenlam, and son of Shiv Prakash Mittal, founder and executive chairman of Greenply, to understand the growth trajectory of the company, which is now Asia’s largest laminate producer.

- Debarati Chakraborty

Success should be measured by time, someone once said. This adage stands true when it comes to the journey of Greenlam Industries Limited. Although Greenlam laminates as a brand was launched in 1993-94 under the Greenply Industries umbrella, Greenlam Industries as a company was created in November 2014 after it demerged from Greenply.

Already the market leader in Asia and amongst the top three laminate manufacturers in the world, the credit of this rapid yet steady growth goes to Saurabh Mittal, MD and CEO, Greenlam. Saurabh’s training under his father right from his college days prepared him for handling and expanding Greenlam all by himself.

The beginning

Greenlam was started in 1993, before which Saurabh’s father, Shiv Prakash Mittal, worked for Kitply. “When I joined the business, I used to work out of a very small office in Paharganj, Delhi. Obviously the initial years were very challenging in terms of capital availability, team building, building the brand and setting up the manufacturing and distribution systems,” Saurabh says,

The Greenlam-Greenply combined was set up by Shiv Prakash Mittal, Saurabh and his uncle. Saurabh reminisces, “It was around 2004-05 when things really started turning around for us. We had made expansion plans, we had attracted private equity, we raised some capital and we had built a new plant. At that point it was a single company and we expanded the laminate division, started the veneer business and set up a large laminate manufacturing facility in Himachal Pradesh.”

The company grew by 20-22 per cent from 2003-04 to 2014, and became a clear leader in the laminate, veneer, flooring and plywood segments. Greenlam had started with just a one-production line plant in Alwar, Rajasthan, in 1993-94.