For Adani, customers are brand ambassadors

Pranav Adani

Pranav Adani, Managing Director of Adani Wilmar Ltd

Chennai: The Adanis do not seem to be in favour of brand ambassadors. Or atleast, that’s what Pranav Adani, Managing Director of Adani Wilmar Ltd, one of the key players in the edible oil industry in the country, feels.

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“The brand itself must attract large attention rather than the brand ambassador. For us, customers are brand ambassadors. Hence, we are not looking at specific ones for our products,” says the 31-year old Boston University management graduate.

If one has to be a pan-India player, it’s better to keep away from brand ambassadors, especially regional film stars, says Pranav. “A brand is larger than any brand ambassador,” he adds.

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Pranav’s foresight, persistence and unique strategy have enabled the company to become the largest selling edible oil brand in the country. Exported to over 15 countries, the company’s flagship brand Fortune currently sells 1.4 million tonnes per annum. The edible oil major plans to scale this up to 2.5 million tonnes by the year 2012.

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With an enhanced focus on moving towards the hinterland, the company plans to invest Rs 600 crore over a period of one year. "We are open to both greenfield and brownfield expansion,” Pranav says. With a tinge of pride, he quips that all the existing 10 plants of the company across the country are world-class facilities.

Proclaiming his disinterest in tapping the markets, Pranav denies any plans for an IPO in the next three years “as the funding requirements are taken care of internally”.

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The company has revamped its existing range of brands (including Fortune brand of sunflower oil) besides launching new ones such as Raag Gold (palm oil), Bullet (mustard oil) and King’s (cotton seed, soya, mustard and sunflower).

Under Pranav’s stewardship, Adani Wilmar has registered an exponential growth in the last nine years. From one refining location in Mundra (Gujarat) with 600 tonnes per day (tpd) capacity in 2000, the edible oil major now has ten facilities spread all over India with a total oil refining capacity of 5,000 tpd.

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Taking into account the market dynamics, the company has revamped its distribution channel and by the year 2012, the company plans to triple the number of distributors as against the existing 5000. “We will reach every customer at the remotest part of the country and we will spend one per cent of the total revenues towards marketing activities,” Pranav says.

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