Starting with just Rs 5 lakh, this entrepreneur is eyeing Rs 50 cr turnover from his chemical manufacturing business

After trying his hands in different businesses for twelve years, 48-year-old Srinivas M from Karnataka finally found success in the chemical manufacturing business.

Srinivas launched Panchajanya Enterprises, a chemical manufacturing firm in 2002, with an investment of Rs 5 lakh.

He says, “We manufacture products such as liquid hand wash, glass cleaner, liquid dish wash and toilet cleaner. We are an ISO 9001-2008 certified company and make products to maintain standards of quality.”

As the business saw success, around 2012, the company also advanced to manufacturing food supplements for animals. At present, it has two manufacturing units, employs nearly 30 people and is seeing a turnover of Rs 7.5 crore.

The beginnings

Before launching a successful chemical manufacturing enterprise, Srinivas had tried his hands in two businesses - one in the logistics sector and the other in trading chemicals. He says,

“I leave a business whenever I realise the growth has become stagnated.”

While Srinivas was into chemical trading business around 2002, he recalls coming across a newspaper advertisement about the MSME Ministry conducting a number of training programmes, including a training session for the manufacturing of chemicals.

Srinivas saw this as an opportunity of venturing into the manufacturing sector, which he knew could pay him dividends much more than a trading business ever could.

Hence, he decided to seize this opportunity and enrolled into the programme. After completing the training and attaining the required skills, he set up his own chemical manufacturing unit.

Building the brand

After resorting to door-to-door marketing over the years, Panchajanya has been able to build a considerable clientele comprising of food, pharma, hospitals and many government institutions in Karnataka.

“Our products are of supreme quality. That’s the reason we have been able to continuously sell for years to many pharmaceutical and food processing firms, which are extremely cleanliness sensitive,” says Srinivas.

Srinivas sees a huge potential in this sector and plans to achieve a turnover of Rs 50 crore in the next five years. He says it is possible only if all the public sector units in Karnataka comply with the government’s mandate of procuring 20 percent of their goods from MSMEs. He says,

“Despite meeting the quality standards at par with global giants like P&G and Reckitt Benckiser, most of the state-run units do not prefer us. In fact, we receive no response from them.”

According to Srinivas, his firm cannot match the brand value the global giants have already established, and that’s the reason why many established state-run enterprises don’t prefer their products. He says, “We do not have deep pockets to advertise like these big firms and establish our brand’s popularity.”

Future Plans

But Srinivas’s spirit to succeed remains unabated. He plans to aggressively resort to in-person marketing, which he says is his firm’s core strength, in the neighbouring states and subsequently take on global behemoths in the near future by investing into advertising.

“We have high hopes from our new animal supplement product. We have been increasingly getting government tenders too,” he says.

Speaking about his mantra for success, Srinivas says, “Providing quality products at affordable prices and customer satisfaction is what matters to be successful.”

(This story is published in partnership with the MSME Ministry to showcase success stories of SMEs)