Meet Paras Kumar who joined Hathi Brand at the age of 18, grew it into Rs 170 cr turnover business

Paras Kumar joined his family business when he was a teenager. He built  Hathi Brand into a Rs 170 crore turnover business.

It takes a lot of passion and effort to expand on your parents' foundation in a family business. When he took over the reins of Delhi-based Hathi Brand, the family-owned manufacturer of chana dal and atta (flour), at the age of 18, Paras Kumar did it extraordinarily well. At the time, he was doing his B.Com through Open School at Delhi University.

"I entered the firm with an expansion mindset and invested roughly Rs 20 crore to set up a semi-automatic maida factory," says Paras, detailing how he grew the company from Rs 50 crore in revenue in 2009 to Rs 170 crore in FY 2020-21.

The company has 150 employees at present.

"The facility began operations in 2010, and we quickly began producing and selling maida, sooji, dalia, besan, and poha."

When he started in 2009, the company only sold channa dal and atta. Hathi Brand has a history that dates back to before partition. Jugal

Kishore, Paras's grandpa, began selling gramme, pulses, and gramme flour in Lahore in 1942 and moved to Delhi during the partition. He established a flour factory on Lawrence Road, with a wholesale store at Lahori Gate in Naya Bazar. His son, Paras's father, Jagmohan Kumar, joined the company in 1972, when he was also only 18 years old.

"At first, we sold chana dal, and then we added atta."

I took the job seriously, when my father instructed me to oversee sales at the counter. After that I quickly became the brand's face. Paras

Kumar attended Mount St Mary's School in Delhi Cantonment and graduated in 2008 with a 68 percent in the Commerce stream. He then enrolled in Delhi University's B.Com Open School and joined Hathi Brand in 2009.

Paras says, "Wholesalers bought in bulk from our company until 2007, but my father planted the seed for B2C developments. He did it by launching  tiny packs of atta and dal in 2007, in addition to the gunny bags we sold to wholesalers."

Paras later added maida, sooji, dalia, besan, and poha to the list.

By 2012, the revenue had more than doubled to Rs 100 crore. Paras used a straightforward strategy to stay informed about market trends and competition.

He says, "I used to go to shops and malls and keep an eye on what was on the market."

Paras launched Hathi Brand dals and a wide range of items, in 2017. Today, the company produces moong in its various forms, along with arhar dal, masoor dal, urad sabut, mix dal, and a variety of other items.

"We are partnering for rice with two plants in Haryana. Production and packaging are outsourced at those plants."

Hathi Brand's market presence is strongest in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi NCR, where they have approximately 75 distributors. In addition, the company is expanding into Kolkata, Guwahati, and Rajasthan.

Paras says, "Hathi Brand is immensely popular in UP, as 60% of the state's namkeen producers buy from us."

Hathi Brand began exporting in mid-2018, accounting for 5% of their total revenue, but it has since slowed due to Covid.

As the Covid situation improves and the foreign market opens up, Paras is refocusing his efforts on exports.

Paras Kumar says, "We'll be attending the Gulf Food Festival in Dubai, where we've previously participated three times in a row. We'll set up a booth. Our brand is also registered in Dubai. We sell our products in Dubai, China, Thailand, Qatar, London, and Spain."Paras KumarParas says, "We'll be attending the Gulf Food Festival in Dubai, where we've previously participated three times in a row. We'll set up a booth. Our brand is also registered in Dubai. We sell our products in Dubai, China, Thailand, Qatar, London, and Spain."

Hathi Brand also sells online via the B2B Udaan app and through government-run Kendriya Bhandar stores, however these accounts for a very small fraction of their total sales.

Paras said, "Selling online turned out to be a bad idea since Amazon and Flipkart cater to A class clientele, but we focus on the B&C segment, individuals from the middle and lower middle classes."

He added that they use their items at home, which is located in the upscale Rajori Garden area.

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