Saturday, August 4, 2012

Dr Anil Jindal: A lay milkman from Haryana who made millions

Dr Anil Jindal, born to a milkman's family, is one of those selected businessmen who are able to turn their vision into reality. From delivering milk door-to-door, the man was able to build an empire worth over Rs 500 crore. 

Jindal's dream - the SRS Group (an acronym for Sab Raho Saath) has an annual turnover of Rs 3,500 crore. His companies have over 3,000 direct employees and create indirect job opportunities for a workforce of around 2,000 people. 

SRS now has presence in various sectors such as, gems and jewellery, realty, entertainment, retail, food and beverages, hardware and healthcare. He still holds the distinction for giving Haryana its first multiplex -SRS Cinemas-which became operational in 2004 in Faridabad. 

EARLY STRUGGLE 

"Initially, I used to help my father by delivering milk to customers whose homes were falling on my way to college," recalls Jindal. 

After completing his post-graduation in commerce, Jindal started his coaching business, which clicked instantly. Soon his coaching centre crossed 100 students. Jindal was earning more by coaching students and wanted to take it up as a full-time job. 

"I had no option but to agree to his decision because at that time he was earning much more from his coaching than my milk busine Being a businessman, I appreciated his decisionand allowed him to go ahead," recalls his father, GS Jindal, who hired someone to replace him in the milk business. Thus began the younger Jindal's entrepreneurial journey. 

"In 1985, I decided to enter the financial solutions business with a seed capital of Rs 10 lakh-my savings," says Jindal. "I started with vehicle finance and later on diversified to all kinds of financial intermediaries. That's how my first company BTL Investment Ltd. came intoexistence," he says. 

THE BEGINING 

Post 1985, Jindal started buying land from his savings, which was a blessing in disguise. "By the beginning of the year 2000, my firm had a land bank of around 40 acres," says Jindal, and adds, "By the end of 2000, there was a rise in finance business as some more competitors came into the fray, this gave birth to unhealthy competition and recovery became difficult." 

Fortunately in the year 2004, there were some realty projects coming up in Faridabad, which escalated property prices. "The realty developmental projects resulted in skyrocketing ofproperty prices in the region and suddenly the land which was priced a few lakhs became worth a crore," reminisce Jindal. 

Around the same time Jindal went abroad and got familiarised with the mall culture. "I studied its effect on the local economy and retail market," recalls Jindal. And soon Jindal decided to enter the retail and realty business and by the end of 2004, he opened SRS Cinemas in Faridabad. 


FURTHER GROWTH 
By 2004, Jindal was convinced that he needed to diversify to sustain his business."I realised that the retail market was the growth engine of the future economy. Hence, we started designing and marketing jewellery," says Jindal. Today, around 60 percent of the turnover of our company is generated from this segment. 

"Out of an annual turnover of around Rs 3,500 crore, about Rs 2,100 crore comes from our jewellery business. Apart from this, we have presence in realty, entertainment, retail, food and beverages, hardware, healthcare and financial services." 

About thirty percent of the annual turnover is generated from SRS' realty business. "We generate around 30 percent of our annual business (near Rs 1,050crore) from our real estate segment while the entire group is generating around 5,000 job opportunities." 

Elaborating about his business potential, Dr Jindal says, "We have 33 screens in place at our multiplexes in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Indore. We have food courts in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Sonipat." 

Besides all this, SRS Group has a land bank of around 500 acres in Faridabad, Palwal, Rewari, Panchkula, and Karjat (in Mumbai). 

Recalling the listing of his company on the Bombay Stock Exchange and NSE, Jindal says, "Our SRS Ltd IPO got listed in August 2011 at NSE and BSE. It generated around Rs 203 crore which I think was one of the major achievements because the successful listing of the IPO is an indication that people have faith in our firm."


From delivering milk door-to-door, the man was able to build an empire worth over Rs 500 crore.

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