Emami - Mathura

The journey

Tale of Two Families

From the days of hand pulled rickshaws to a network of over 2800+ distributors

Mr. R. S. Agarwal and Mr. R. S. Goenka, Founders, Emami Group, in their first rented office, Kolkata

A humble beginning:

The inception of Emami Group took place way back in mid-seventies, in West Bengal, when two childhood friends, Mr. R.S. Agarwal and Mr. R.S. Goenka left their high profile corporate jobs with the Birla Group to set up Kemco Chemicals, a cosmetic manufacturing unit in Kolkata, in 1974.

It was an extremely bold step in the early seventies when the Indian FMCG market was still dominated by multinationals. But against all odds with a vision for creating winning brands, the Company started its journey with a meagre amount of Rs. 20,000. A dream of reaching out to the Indian middle class consumers, a target audience, with a potential of increased consumption, the Company started manufacturing cosmetic products under the brand name of Emami from a small office (still retained) in Kolkata's business district of Bada Bazar. This business philosophy is reflected today in the mission statement of Emami Limited: "Making people healthy and beautiful naturally".
 

Differentiate or die. Innovate or perish

The philosophy of differentiate or die set the ball rolling when the partners launched Emami Talcum Powder, Emami Vanishing Cream in the mid - 70s followed by Emami Cold Cream and glycerin soap. The products over a few years emerged as highly popular brands with the quality conscious consumers.

The Company soon became adept in selling beautiful dreams to Indian women interested in finding their own identity. The signature tune of Emami, played over radio and television, became a household favourite.

In their early days, the two friends used to go around places and sell their cosmetics from shop to shop. They piled their goods on hand pulled rickshaws and went on distribution drives making their brand extremely popular, available and acceptable among consumers.

The first-grade quality of the products soon created a consumer pull and gradually some people were hired to work for them. A chain of distributors was established and the sale of Emami products spread from West Bengal to rest of Eastern India and gradually to other states.
 

Acquiring Himani Ltd

In 1978, Himani Ltd (incorporated as a Private Limited Company in 1949) had become a sick unit and was up for sale. Himani, almost a 100-year- old Company with good brand equity in Eastern India and a well laid out factory in Kolkata, was producing a number of cosmetic products. Mr. Agarwal and Mr. Goenka identified the opportunity and went on to acquire Himani. The acquisition was a tough task for a 'start-up' entity as it was very difficult to mobilize resources to takeover a sick unit and even tougher to turn it around into a profitable venture. The degree of financial risk involved was enormous considering the small capital base of the company in those days. However, they decided to go ahead with the deal which later on proved to be the turning point for the organization.
 

Introducing power brands - BoroPlus and Navratna

The two young entrepreneurs then thought of a winning combination of blending Ayurveda with the modern knowledge of science and technology. Production of various personal care products based on Ayurvedic formula had commenced at the Himani factory. Ten years after commencement of the Company, it launched its first flagship brand BoroPlus Antiseptic Cream under the Himani umbrella in 1984. Many additional brands followed BoroPlus including BoroPlus Prickly Heat Powder which was as a brand extension of the mother brand. Emami brands started selling in all states of North, East and West India. Soon, BoroPlus became not only the largest selling Antiseptic Cream in India but also in Russia, Ukraine, and Nepal. The brand continues to be the market leader.

Nineties was very eventful for Emami. The next flagship brand of the company Navratna Cool Oil was launched in the 90's under the Himani Umbrella and the second factory was opened at Pondicherry to expand production. Navratna went on to become the market leader in the cool oil category in India.

The introduction of new brands continued and the distribution network of the Company was extended to South India with Navratna spearheading the process.
 

Public issue

In 1995, Kemco Chemicals, the partnership firm was converted into a Public Limited Company under the name and style of Emami Ltd. In 1998, Emami Ltd was merged with Himani Ltd and its name was changed to Emami Ltd as per fresh certificate of incorporation dated September1, 1998.

In 2000, with a view to concentrate on its core FMCG business, Emami's investment undertaking was demerged and Pan Emami Cosmed Ltd. issued its fully paid up shares to shareholders of Emami in the ratio of 1:1. In 2003, a new plant was set up at Amingaon, Guwahati.

A Public Issue of 50 lacs Equity Shares of Rs 2/- each at a price of Rs. 70 followed in 2005. The issue was oversubscribed within few seconds of its opening with an overall over subscription of 4 times of the issue size.

The initial shareholder who invested Rs 1,000 for 100 shares and invested Rs 4,000 following a rights issue would presently own Emami shares worth around Rs 7.5 crore* - a 18780-fold return since inception.

As on 31st March 2022 (Price: Rs. 447/-)
 

Global footprint

Taking one-step at a time Emami went overseas and international business today contributes around 15% of the total revenue, growing at a CAGR of 10% over last three years.

mami has 8 international subsidiaries and its global reach extends to more than 60 countries including SAARC, MENAP, SEA, Africa, Eastern Europe and the CIS countries.
 

Beauty secrets and amazing array of ambassadors

In 2002 Emami roped in film actor Madhuri Dixit as brand endorser of a full range of its cosmetics including hair oil, sunscreen lotion, shampoo, fairness cream and talcum powder. The products were formulated after intensive research by Emami and inputs from Madhuri Dixit. The actor had been collecting beauty secrets from across the globe, and the company decided to brand the cosmetics under the brand name 'Beauty secrets by Madhuri' range. While it is yet another first in Emami's 'first' list it is also the first time in brand history that an endorser co-owned a brand.

Emami has successfully established its brands through strong celebrity endorsements. In a market where competition is intensifying, product lifecycle is shrinking and strategic management of a company is gaining pivotal position Emami's inclusion of celebrities as brand ambassadors established that it strictly relies on its own unique method of marketing.

It is the only brand in the country to have had both Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan as endorsers for the same brand, Navratna. The concept of brand endorsement by celebrities was successfully experimented in case of most of the brand launches. To name a few celebrated and acclaimed entertainment and sports personalities who have endorsed Emami products over the years are-

Entertainment industry - Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Varun Dhawan, Ayushmann Khurrana, Shahid Kapoor, Tiger Shroff, Sonu Sood, Kartik Aaryan, Vidyut Jammwal, Madhuri Dixit, Katrina Kaif , Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kangana Ranaut, Nushratt Bharuccha, Preity Zinta, Malaika Arora Khan, Yami Gautam, Juhi Chawla, Shruti Haasan, Shilpa Shetty, Bipasha Basu, Sonakshi Sinha, Parineeti Chopra, Kriti Sanon, Tapsee Pannu, Rekha, Dharmendra, Divya Bharti, Late Pt. Birju Maharaj, Jr. NTR, Mahesh Babu, Govinda, Chiranjeevi, Surya, Allu Arjun, and Upendra among others.

Sports fraternity - Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra, Virendra Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Milkha Singh, Vijendra Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Shikhar Dhawan, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar, Sania Mirza, The Great Khali etc.
 

A pioneering story - launch of Fair and Handsome

In 2005 Emami created a marketing history in India by launching Fair and Handsome, the first fairness cream for men. In a tropically harsh country like India, a fairness cream for men represented an unexplored opportunity. Emami created a completely new market segment by introducing India's first fairness cream customised for men.

Travelling the region and by interacting with a host of retailers and intermediaries Emami discovered that 30 to 35 per cent of users of fairness creams are men, with a growing interest in personal grooming. The sales of Fair and Handsome in its first year had touched around Rs 50 crore. Another feather on the cap was when Emami roped in Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan to endorse the brand, targeting the male fairness cream market in India which immediately made the brand even more popular and trusted by the consumers. Fair and Handsome is a category creator and is No.1 among men's fairness cream brands in India.
 

Consumer Healthcare Division

In 2006, the company decided to introduce a Health Care Division and a number of new brands of Ayurvedic OTC medicines.
 

Acquiring a heritage brand - Zandu

Emami Limited with an investment of Rs 730 crore acquired Zandu Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd on the basis of huge business synergy between Zandu and Emami. Post the acquisition of Zandu Pharmaceuticals, a century old household name in India, some of its prominent brands like Zandu Balm, Zandu Chyawanprash, Zandu Kesri Jeevan, Zandu Pancharishta, Sudarshan and Nityam Churna came under Emami's basket of brands.
 

Sustainable growth and excellence

In 2006, J B Marketing & Finance Ltd., the erstwhile marketing company of the Emami Group merged with Emami Ltd. and the total turnover of Emami including sales in domestic and export market stood at Rs 518 crores at the end of the fiscal year 2006-07.

Within more than four decades of its inception, Emami Ltd, the flagship Company of the diversified business conglomerate - Emami Group, today has a turnover of Rs. 3192  crore,

Emami Limited is led by Mr. R S Agarwal and Mr. R S Goenka with the help of the second generation Promoter Directors from the two families. Emami Limited has a team of over around 3200+ people running one of the leading and fastest growing personal and healthcare businesses in India.