Vijay Mundra, Founder & MD, Mundra Steel, Indore

The man with steely resolve

Vijay Mundra once thought of selling his business. Today, his company Mundra Steel is into 5 different business verticals.He shares his entrepreneurial journey with YourStory

My StoryI had been in a regular job for 3-1/2 years in India and abroad. Then the opportunity for becoming an entrepreneur came up in 1995. I left the job, and along with my 2 brothers, I bought the current business completely and started my own company called Mundra Steel Re-Rolling Mill. The first 3-4 years were very difficult because of lack of right and profitable product mix and the shortage of working capital. Ready market was there. But, banks were unwilling to lend sufficient capital to new business without big mortgage and personal guarantees.

We were having all kinds of problem. We had even decided to sell the business and go back to our earlier jobs. My elder brother insisted on rethinking and redefining the whole process and to identify problem areas and improve the efficiency of the plant. We appointed best talent in our line of business as our employees and advisors.

Things were looking very bad, when suddenly we got a big supply of good raw material at very cheap prices. It increased our output dramatically with same time and resources. We haven't looked back since then. Thereafter, we have put our entire emphasis on the quality of raw material. Now after 13 years, we are into 5 different businesses and doing very well.

We specialize in manufacturing of M.S. Round and square bars, flats, angles, channels, TMT bars, Z-sections etc and have grown at 28% (YoY) last year.

We have created an output mechanism which is so flexible that we can scale-up and scale-down our facilities depending upon the market conditions. We don't fight with our competitors; rather we move away and change our product line very easily. We just keep a watch on the gross profit on a daily basis and try to maximize it since we are in the conversion business of secondary steel to primary steel.

Systematic and planned approach with regular reviews has led to improvements in all the aspects of business. We lay special emphasis on consistency, commitment and honesty while dealing with our customers and suppliers. Apart from our customers, our suppliers should be happy dealing with our company. They are the key to our business.

My advice to budding entrepreneurs is to never give up. Try to make realistic assessments and future projections. Don't make hasty decisions. Think before taking a decision and not after.