The All New Fmcg Juniors ; They Are Acquiring Manufacturing Facilities Abroad, Cracking Open Consumer Markets Outside India, and Mulling More Launches at Their Unbeatable Price Points. Fmcg's Hll Wannabes Have Caught Their Second Wind.

Summary

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Life has been extremely hectic for Girish Patel over the past two decades and it shows no signs of slowing down yet. The 46-year-old Chairman and Managing Director of Ahmedabad-based Paras Pharmaceuticals, a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, works over 12 hours a day, six days a week. The result of his unrelenting schedule is that the company that he and his father had started in 1987 with a capital of Rs 57 lakh now has sales of Rs 330 crore and a presence in 40 countries. Yet, Patel insists he has a long way to go.

Indeed, he does. Paras Pharma is still a minnow compared to the Indian arm of FMCG whales like Hindustan Lever (Rs 12,000 crore) and Colgate-Palmolive (Rs 1,200 crore). So Paras's workaholic boss has raised the bar for his company: he wants it to become a Rs 1,000- crore entity within five years. "When I started two decades ago, I had nothing to lose. Today, I cannot afford to lose. A lot of grit and toil have gone into creating what we have now," says Patel.

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The All New Fmcg Juniors ; They Are Acquiring Manufacturing Facilities Abroad, Cracking Open Consumer Markets Outside India, and Mulling More Launches at Their Unbeatable Price Points. Fmcg's Hll Wannabes Have Caught Their Second Wind.

Patel's story epitomises what is happening at a slew of small (and some not-so-small) Indian FMCG companies like CavinKare, Jyothy Laboratories, Emami Group, Kanpur Detergents, Himalaya Drug Company and VVF. Most of these companies hit the FMCG mainstream just a couple of decades ago with nothing more than a steadfast determination to make it big. Himalaya and VVF have a hoarier history but even they entered the consumer markets as recently as the newer crop.

It has been a tough journey. Pitted against strong national brands from their much bigger competitors, the small FMCG players have had to fight to capture the ...

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