Top stories this week: a digital court for MSMEs and decoding the journey of one of India’s oldest rice brands
This week, SMBStory spoke to the founder of Lord’s Mark Industries, which is foraying into the EV space, and why Gwalior-based Dennison India found it easy to make the overnight shift from offline to online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In undivided India, two brothers — Khushi Ram and Behari Lal — wanted to bring quality essentials for customers. In 1889, they set up a small business dealing in rice, edible oil, and wheat in Lyallpur (now in Pakistan).
However, as the differences between India and Pakistan widened, the brothers called it quits and made their way to India. They started from scratch and formed a company called (an acronym of their names) in Lahori Gate, New Delhi.
Like many small entrepreneurs, they had to hustle, struggle, and work against the odds to sustain the company.
At present, the small business from the pre-independence era stands as a roaring successful publicly-listed business, with revenue close to Rs 4,000 crore. It launched its IPO in 1998. Its flagship product ‘India Gate Basmati Rice’ has been serving its customers for over 100 years.
In an interaction with SMBStory, Priyanka Mittal, a fifth-generation entrepreneur and the Whole Time Director of KRBL Limited, discusses the operations of the family-owned business, which runs on the core ethics and vision of the founders.
She also talks about KRBL’s impact and how the brand has grown multifold, taking Indian basmati rice worldwide.
Solving the grievances for MSMEs digitally
The problem of delayed payments among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is a grave concern. Reports suggest that MSMEs have submitted nearly one lakh applications in the last four years, stating the non-clearance of their dues. It puts the financial health of these businesses at stake, which still need a lot of support from government institutions to come out of the traditionally-running shell.
Though the government has been urging the central and state departments, PSUs, and others to clear MSME dues within 45 days of receiving goods through its MSME Delayed Payment Portal - MSME Samadhaan, the problem has only been aggravated.
To resolve these issues, Raman Aggarwal started MSME Digital Court under in September 2021, one of the first ‘private digital courts’ for the private justice system, which is offering an out-of-the-court settlement, but in a digital way.
He says the issue is not just about payment delays, but also about non-payment by the parties. There is an addressable solution to delayed payment, but what if the party is in denial mode? In both cases, it gives rise to a dispute, which again has to follow a formal procedure of filing a complaint and running a case in the court by law, which takes a lot of time.
For this, Raman has developed one of India’s first digital courts to swiftly resolve the rising disputes among small to mid-level businesses and help with civil and commercial disputes through the private justice delivery mechanism.
Other top stories of the week-
Riding the EV boom
From startups to large businesses and companies seem to be rushing to cater to the EV segment to leverage the industry’s growth. This September, sold Rs 1,100 crore worth of its S1 electric scooters in two days.
Ecommerce major Amazon also announced e-mobility initiatives to contribute to reducing the carbon footprint. Players like , Scooters, , and Tata Motors have added to the boom.
Another company to hop onto the EV bandwagon is . Started in 1998 by Sachidanand Upadhyay, the Mumbai-based company is known for manufacturing health, pharma, and energy products such as LED bulbs, solar street lamps, and more.
Last year in October, the company rolled out its first product, a range of e-scooters — Lord’s Zoom and Lord Zoom - Li — that have a speed of 25 kmph and are available in four colours. Additionally, these scooters are GPS-enabled. While the base model has a lead-acid battery pack, the Li model has a lithium-ion battery pack.
Lord’s Mark’s foray into EV is not limited to vehicles only. It manufactures battery packs of lead-acid and lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4). It will launch EV charging stations by the end of this fiscal year.
The company is also open to partnering with OEMs. Going forward, Sachidanand says Lord’s Mark plans to launch scooters with greater speed, e-bikes, e-rickshaws, and even e-vintage cars.
Leveraging ecommerce to thrive
Years before the COVID-19 pandemic pushed retail businesses online, ready-to-wear menswear brand Dennison Garments was steadily building its online presence.
The Gwalior-based business’ digital investment paid off in 2020. , the garment company's online arm, was growing between 2014 and 2020. However, Dennison saw a jump in sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with revenue doubling from Rs 2.06 crore in FY20 to Rs 4.65 crore in FY21.
Dennison’s digital journey began way back in 2014, when Ashwini Seth joined his family business. An MBA graduate, Ashwini was sure that sitting in his father’s shop to wait for customers to arrive was not his cup of tea. He had been following the ecommerce trend since 2011 and knew that the space had the potential to grow.
Ashwini’s father, Rajendra Seth, set up Dennison Garments, which sells shirts and trousers for men, in 1988. Over three decades of existence, the business saw several changes. However, nothing could have prepared it for a pandemic.
Almost overnight, companies had to rethink operations to fit into the new normal. For Dennison, which was an early entrant in the ecommerce game, the shift was relatively easier to handle.
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Edited by Kanishk Singh