Hello friends,

I welcome you all to the Spotlight series of the rise.in. I am Srijan Narayan. We are very excited to have Prashant Gandhi of Siddhi group who has joined us to share his incredible journey. He started with manufacturing of terrestrial TV antennas at 10, 000 rupees. Today they are suppliers to Brahmos and ISRO. They are the largest exporter of Cops.

 

Q: Namaskar Prashant Gandhi, do let us know about your start, how did you begin?

A: When I was studying mechanical engineering, my partner Bhagwat Patel and I were in the same class and lived in the same room in the hostel for five years. We had then decided that we would do something of our own. After about four years of working after our studies, with the courage of Mr Bhagwat Patel, we started this business. We had a clear purpose – we had decided that we would manufacture something unique at least in the state of Gujarat, that the product should be a better import substitute and should be exportable globally. We did a market survey for about six months, and we decided to put up a plant to manufacture aluminium precision-drawn tubes. We zeroed in on aluminium as it is 100 percent recyclable metal and we saw a lot of opportunities in the product in the coming days. Our core strength was mechanical engineering and the cold drawing process was our work experience.

Q: Once you selected aluminium-drawn tubes to manufacture, how did you put up your first plant, tell us about your first expansion.

A: When we wanted to set up the plant, we found the policies of the Gujarat government quite conducive. To be frank the total equity of both the partners was just ten thousand rupees. When we conceived the project, we had developed another product –using our engineering qualifications, we tweaked the design of book holders that made shastras (holy books) more accessible to read, and we gave it to four blind people to sell it, with this we collected about 40-45 thousand rupees. With this, we found the equity. The debt-to-equity ratio at the time was 3:1 and we had set up in a backward area where there was a twenty percent subsidy so even the one portion was considered part of the equity. So, we started with very less and we got the land under the new entrepreneur scheme, and we secured the loan as well and we could start from there.

Q: So, this manufacturing unit that you set up, which year was it?

A: We acquired the land in 1987, and after six months, in February 1988 our unit began. We had done a good survey of the market, so within three months we were running the unit for twenty-four hours by God’s grace. After three years, in 1991, we felt the need to expand, and we went for three times the manufacturing. We again received the government’s cooperation and we could expand.

Q. This is about your beginning, from there, tell us how you got the first contract from ISRO?

A: We had to take challenges in our manufacturing. The material that we used to manufacture was imported from Germany, Japan, and South Korea. So That is what happened in 2003, scientists from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre approached us after they got our reference from then Hindalco’s president AK Agrawala. They had a compulsion to get a few things manufactured in India itself and they were searching for a supplier. When we got the call, we told them that we did not know the exact specifications they were looking for, but we would try to manufacture with their help. And that is what happened, they came, they wanted to get the material made in their presence and with the help of our workers, within a week or ten days, we were able to supply them with the product. They were happy and there was no looking back after that. But we were grateful that we got the chance to serve ISRO Then next year, in 2004, when the first geostationary satellite was to be launched, they invited us to Sriharikota and participate in the pre-launch ceremony, After that we became dedicated and we decided even if ISRO’s requirement is of half a kg of material, we will manufacture it.

Q. This is quite interesting, I can see there is Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan poster behind you, do let us know from that beginning how you reached here.

A: The tubes that we manufactured for the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram from 2003, were rocket-related tubes. In 2006, the space application centre of ISRO in Ahmedabad where the majority of satellite payload work gets done, approached us when they learned we were suppliers to ISRO’s Thiruvananthapuram centre, they asked us to manufacture 1 Kg worth of waveguide tube which goes inside the satellite. When we supplied the samples, their group director visited us and saw that we had changed the material from brass or copper to aluminium and made it half the thickness of the imported tube which gave an advantage of weight reduction in the payload of the satellite, it also reduced the cost of satellite missions, after that they asked us to manufacture tubes of eleven-twelve sizes that they required, so now we supply twelve different waveguide tubes for every mission for space application centre.

Q: Sir This was about waveguide tubes, we learned that you manufactured two hundred-and-five-feet tubes for ISRO, how did you overcome the manufacturing challenges required to achieve this feat?

A: This was also a nice episode. This was a contract from Thiruvananthapuram, they had to create a simulator to assess the vibration when the rocket carries the satellite, which was one of the major projects. For that purpose, they needed a two hundred and five feet long rectangular tube without any joint. Our factory could manufacture the longest tube in India at seventy-five feet. We initially declined that we could not start the production, they had avoided the tender for us and a senior officer from ISRO kept visiting us every third Sunday to motivate us to manufacture it. Then the head of our plant Mr. Mukund, got the idea that it will cost ten-fifteen thousand rupees, but we can do it if we extend our manufacturing to the premises of a neighbouring plant, and then we will be able to process our manufacturing. Finally, we were able to get it made. About fifty people used to manage that tube,  The joy was the excitement of each of our workers that our product was reaching either of the two ISRO institutes. Even their family members were happy. This brought other developments – the workers became cohesive with our organisation. This place was bringing in work that brought satisfaction to the workers.

Q: This was about the manufacturing challenges, you also supply for critical institutions such as BARC, DRDO Brahmos etc, tell us about that.

A: The challenges we received whether it was from BARC or Brahmos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. or Bharat Electronics Ltd., there was always something new about them. There was no Indian company manufacturing these products. Some did not work on the alloy, and the sizes were challenging. If we look at Brahmos, it took us two years to complete the first tube they asked us to build. When their scientists associated with them, the most respected scientist on aluminium came and stayed with us and provided us guidance, we were finally able to complete the task with a joint effort. Bhabha Atomic Research centre needed a tube made of an alloy that was never manufactured in India, our raw material suppliers were also cooperative, and scientists from BARC also visited us, and kept motivating us, the dividend paid – the material that BARC used to manufacture on their own, we were able to manufacture the same material efficiently so they stopped producing those tubes except for emergency and the work shifted here. For Bharat electronics, we first developed the tubes for them in 2008 and we got their approval in 2014. All the material of their product was imported, and we made it functionally better than the imports, it took us time but now we have the patent for the product as well. And today we keep receiving their orders almost every year.

Q: When you were talking about patents – we learned you also got one in Israel, tell us about that, how many patents have you got and when?

A: We have applied for nine patents in all, and we got four of them and one of them is from Israel. Our partner Bhagwat Patel created a full-time innovation team in the factory about seventeen-eighteen years ago. He upgraded people from maintenance and made it a team that strives for improvement in the process, product, and equipment. It is a continuous job. Another wonderful innovation is that our karmyogis, those who work on the floor, are provided with a form that they fill out a day or two before the paycheque that comes on the seventh. The form they fill out is about the area where they work, the machine they work with and how to maintain cleanliness, how to increase the yield, and how to increase productivity, the suggestion of these four-five criteria is collected from each of them. This exercise conducted by karmyogis is more efficient than us and this itself brings out projects on innovation to make equipment better, products, and processes so that we deliver better and faster in a more efficient manner. These projects are passed on to the innovation team and from this much patent-related research also emerged and we could make these products viable in the market.

Q: There is a lot of question that is emerging in my mind, first I want to know who are karmyogis, are they contractual workers?

A: Right from the start since 1988, we have not had any contractual workers. We take the name of God every morning and evening, but we believe that the work we do for eight hours – should be our karma and the biggest contribution to the world. For those who work on the floor we are counting them as karmyogis clearly. We feel that their contribution is vital for them, for the company, for the industry, and the society.

Q: Thank you for the explanation, do let me know the employee count, your turnover and how many units do you have in total.

A: We have a total of two units employing over a hundred people, The market we have developed, in India and the thirty-four countries that we export – we supply directly on B2B model. Last year our turnover was twenty crore rupees including both the units.

Q: When you work for such critical institutions, how do you provide training to your workers, what do you do to make manufacturing technology better?

A: There is a dedication of people, and this has emerged out of the culture-building practices we have developed. Each practice that we have developed by design - has resulted in an unparalleled dedication from top to bottom. There are a total of forty-four practices that we follow. For example, we have dug a pit for negative thoughts in our factory. All the things that we think we are unable to do – from the owner to the security staff, we dump letter of things we are unable to do, this cleans our slate and what it does is that all the things that was considered impossible in the country, in our field, we are then able to carry them out properly. Another practice is of distribution of selected books in the local language – from owner to everyone receives a book, a total of 110 books have been distributed with the salary. We want to create a temple of books in every home. There are several such practices have made this organisation a learning organisation. On technology – we have developed the best technologies in-house since the size of our company does not allow us to go for a collaboration, and we wanted to keep our independence with us as well, so from 2001 till 2019, till Corona, in fact, we have continued this practice later as well, we invite experts from Netherlands and Germany, the world’s best experts of our field visit us for fifteen days almost every year. These retired experts visit us almost free of cost. They land at Ahmedabad airport, and we drop them back to the airport in fifteen days. We arrange for their stay as they say – Atithi devo bhava. There have been seventeen visits of experts so far in the past twenty-three years, each time they come, they take us notches up the ladder.

Q: You were telling us about the unique HR practices, you told me about the graveyard, and you distributed books, how did these ideas emerge Why did you create this graveyard of negative thoughts?

A: Our mission is to produce what is not manufactured in our country. We were looking for a solution for the requests we receive to develop what seems impossible. The book - Chicken Soup for Human Soul has one-page stories that are quite useful – in it, we read about giving input to young children so that they reach further and how to overcome the constraints of life, one story talked about twenty students who were asked to write a letter about all the things they can’t achieve and dump them in the pit of their school. And there was another set of twenty students who were not given this task. But for those who had put these letters and cleaned the slate of their mind, their survey twenty years later reflected that were at the top of their respective fields, the rest of the twenty were also working but did not reach a similar height as those who had put these letters. We then wanted to emulate this practice in our factory itself and it has worked wonders.

Q: Great, this is interesting, you took inspiration from chicken soup for the human soul, this is all about the present that you have talked about, how do you see the future? What is the expansion plan?

A: We have developed a lot of products in the space, aviation, and defence sectors slowly and steadily. We want this to be a bigger vertical – so far, we have kept ourselves limited to India, but the country has been encouraging defence exports in the past few years, and the tubes that we manufacture are used inside the defence systems. In the next five years, in the defence and space-related products, we want to develop more tubes since there are several kinds that are still being imported into our country. For example, Hindustan Aeronautical Limited still imports all their tubes, it is our endeavour and theirs as well that we manufacture the tube or related components in India as well as for export purposes. Secondly for various industrial segments – in automation, pneumatic cylinders, mining equipment, button industry, and robotics, these are various segments for which we have developed our products and serving them. For example, a unique segment is the Jaipur foot that used to be fitted to the specially-abled helping them walk, similarly, we are manufacturing a high-strength lightweight tube for an institution so that they can walk wearing this foot with minimal effort reducing the load in the muscles. These products are beneficial for humanity, and we want to expand in this field so that it is we do a good business and society at large benefits from these products. So, there is defence, there is industrial. Similarly in the waveguide tubes that we manufacture, we have now been given the technology by the space application centre, ISRO for its fabrication, and for the first time we have begun working with it, this has use not just in space but there are many segments in microwave and radio related frequency fields where this is used. It will be our effort to use it if needed, we will get some partners in the next five years. In India, for the first time, what hundred-two hundred companies are importing, they could get that material from us instead, and looking at technological parameters we will export them as well.

Q: This is about the future, tell us about your experiences, tell us about yourself when ISRO took your visit to French Guyana for the highest payload satellite, tell us about that experience.

A: We did not go to French Guyana, we went to Sriharikota. The largest satellite that ISRO sent to space last year, with a payload of 5400 Kg, they had used a large number of waveguide tubes we manufactured. They invited us to the space application centre to witness the opening of the satellite in two parts and we were fortunate to witness over nine hundred waveguide tubes that were installed in it. As far as the visit to Sriharikota is concerned, they had made arrangements three days before the launch of the first geostationary satellite, where we were taken to the lift that was put alongside the rocket, they took us twenty-nine metres on that lift, This was once in a lifetime experience – I will say this, alongside my marriage, is an experience that I will remember forever.

Q: Wow! This is very nice, we spoke about a lot of things, including the future, tell us what is your message for a young entrepreneur who has a similar spirit.

A: I think, if we keep to the work that we know, and we can earn a remuneration, and there is a societal benefit, if we keep these three in our mind, and a budding entrepreneur chooses such a field then the journey is enjoyable for a lifetime, which is very important. As a by-product we will get money, which also is the next important thing and the purpose of our birth, and all our stakeholders – our teachers, professors, and everywhere we receive cooperation for our growth, then it is important that we give back to the society if there is a synergy of these three things in our business then there is no stopping, we will face obstacles, and face challenges, but I believe challenges ultimately come to us as a goldmine after the challenges are over, one becomes so strong, then any further challenges seem smaller.

Q: When you see all of this in your life, and different implementations that you have made, apart from all of this do you see other ways that you want to contribute to manufacturing or something else, or you want to stick to this alone?

A: We are doing two things - one of the initiatives that was ideated at the Siddhi group – in India today, for the growth of MSMEs they need skills, manufacturing systems, and technology. We want to see technologies reach the MSMEs as several institutions work in isolation. The government has also worked wonders, normally there is a ten to twenty-five percent subsidy on capital equipment, but for example, the Gujarat government is giving a sixty-five percent subsidy on technological acquisition but there are only two or five who opt for the technology subsidy in a year if you look at the record. So, we, being part of the Gujarat Chambers of Commerce and Industry, on 5th May 2023 launched a technology transfer and experts’ platform and there is a lot of work being done. In it, Indian institutes such as DRDO, NRDC, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), such institutions have conducted programmes, and those who are interested have started to acquire technology from them. We took twenty people to the space application centre as well because today they have eighty-six technologies for dual use – for the use in society and if they incorporate these technologies, they can be suppliers to the ISRO as well. So, this is a platform for technology, next is experts – we are trying to tell everyone that these experts exist worldwide, please use them and these experts can visit individual units for fifteen days to six months. Similarly, I had a chance to be a part of all India leadership of the Indian Textile Accessory Machinery Manufacturer’s Association (ITAMMA), there, thirty-five experts from Germany and Netherlands have visited individual units, of the four hundred to four hundred and fifty members we have, out of that eight percent have taken this advantage. This technology platform that we have created in Gujarat, our chamber gave a proposal to the central government as well asking them to create such platforms across India. Today NRDC has two thousand useful technologies, people can use them for various purposes, similarly many other institutes like Bhabha Atomic Research Centre have created technologies in eight verticals till September 30th for which they have declared a discount of seventy-five percent, and many have gone to acquire these technologies after their presentation. In our company, we have taken an initiative for sustainability, the paper tubes used for yarn carriers are used in crores, and the paper tube is then scrapped after three-four uses, so we have started a campaign, and we are launching one product after another, and they are being commercialised that we manufacture products made of metal that is recyclable with a long life. So, per kg of yarn production cost goes down, the production cost that the buyer bears for yarn carriers becomes twenty percent and the paper tube, which is a deterrent in sustainability, we are trying to provide an alternative, we have put a line of that, and we are launching it.

Q: You are talking about the textile industry, so do you supply to that industry as well?

A: In one factory we manufacture aluminium precision drawn tubes, in the second unit we manufacture metal bobbins mainly for synthetic yarn – polyester, nylon, polypropylene, and HDP (high-density polyethylene), we have created various models and versions and in that unit, we export these products to thirty-four countries - mainly to Europe, America, Latin America and to the Asian tigers.

Q: You recently attended the programme of SMB connect in Ahmedabad recently, what is your feedback?
A: Programme as a whole was quite nice, the other speakers who spoke their content were nice. It was a very good value addition. When SMB Connect conducts these programmes countrywide, so for societal benefit, the technology transfer and expert platform that I was talking about, SMB Connect can contribute to this very well.

Q: Thank you, sir, we will definitely take your consideration.

Thank you, sir. It was a pleasure talking to you. Friends this was Prashant Gandhi from Siddhi Group who was sharing his days of struggle.He was sharing with us his achievements and his journey. We enjoyed getting inspired by him. I thank you all for watching the spotlight series on SMB Connect’s the rise. If there is any question you have for a business leader that you want to ask about your business, then do email us at info@smbconnect.in, and we will try to get the answers from our experts. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated with the SME ecosystem.
Thank you for joining us.  We will bring another stalwart in our spotlight series in our next episode.

Q: I hope you enjoyed talking to us.

A: I enjoyed a lot; all I want to say if I have hurt any sentiment then I apologize. Namaskar