A landlord's son, Agarwal decided to change track-wanted to face challenges round the clock-the instinct catapulted him into an industrialist of repute within five decades. From humble beginnings in 1952, with few thousand rupees as co-founder of the Jindal group, trading in steel, pipes and tubes, Agarwal's venture has now grown into a company which registered a turnover of over Rs 600 crore this year.

Agarwal separated from Jindals in 1970 and established a manufacturing unit for steel pipes in 1972 at Bahadurgarh in Haryana. "It was a normal business affair. When a group grows, partners get separated to start their individual ventures," says Agarwal. But his real tryst with enterprise began ten years later when he diversified into the lighting business.

The company, Surya Roshni,has become the leading manufacturer of lighting products in India in less than a decade. Not only in the domestic market but Surya Roshni is also doing well overseas. Exporting its items to more than 40 countries, the company netted Rs 14.23 crore in 1997.

The decision to diversify, undoubtedly, has played a major role in Agarwal's growth. How did the idea germinate? "To do something new and enterprising is my nature. I did some research and found that the companies diversifying through lighting products have a high success percentage throughout the globe. This was the basic reason why I decided to diversify in this field," says Agarwal. Is it that simple? Isn't there something more to it? There are certain basic advantages too with the business. Points out Agarwal: "These products are an essential item for masses and locational, geographical and seasonal cycle doesn't affect their production. There is enough scope for improvement and innovation too." But there are many in the country who have failed tocapitalise on these advantages. Agarwal, who confesses that he never thought of reaching this level, combined his simple business ethics with the advantages to make it a success story.

Optimum capacity utilisation and backward integration are the key factors behind the rise and growth of Surya Roshni. "Other domestic companies didn't expand. They worked on low capacity with low profits and that is why they couldn't cope with the rise in production cost. We expanded each year and completed the phase of in-house component manufacturing called backward integration," says Agarwal.

According to him, backward integration acts as a panacea to all the ills associated with business. "It saves the production cost and enhances quality. The supply of components is regular and the cost of raw material also gets reduced substantially making value addition a logical conclusion."

Agarwal has ably supported this process through continuous technology upgradation. "We spend about half per cent of our total sales inresearch and development. We also attend international seminars and shows on lighting and bring new ideas from there," says Agarwal. In fact, Agarwal takes care of technology during the ground work itself before going in for any new product. "We buy plant and technology both. Now we are commissioning a new plant in October 1998. We have bought the technology and plant from DEMA Glass of UK, Chesterfield for quick production of bulb shells. The cost of installation is about Rs 100 crore," says Agarwal.

But the factor which may be termed as icing to Agarwal's cake is his eagerness to accommodate other's ideas in his scheme of things -- at if it comes from even his competitors. "We are even making one product in joint venture with Osram, our competitors in other items," says Agarwal. Moreover, he accepts with modesty that he has been greatly helped in his endeavours by the ideas given by S R Anand, noted lamp maker in the country. True to his spirit, success has not made Agarwal complacent. "We have to go along way. In this era of cut-throat competition one has to keep constant vigil on price and quality. My priority in future is to fine tune marketing techniques," he affirms.

Cost cutting is the mantra

The lighting division of Surya Roshni has international standard manufacturing facility at both its plants at Kashipur (UP) and Malanpur (MP). These ISO 9002 certified, fully integrated plants produce ultra-modern lamps and their components. All the components from filament to glass shells are manufactured in-house to ensure quality through 100 per cent vertical backward integration. Chairman-and-managing director Basudev Agarwal spoke to FE Enterprise about some finer points of the business.

What will be your guiding principles for rapid growth in coming years?The mantra in the next millennium is innovation for cost cutting, research and development, energy conservation, high quality products and better market penetration through reasonable prices.

What qualities should an entrepreneurpossess?

Vision, strategy, team work, clear thinking and sharp intellect are the assets of a successful entrepreneur. He should have imagination, guts and sagacity to overcome problems, Above all, an entrepreneur needs to look always beyond the shores and search for creativity.

How should a new entrant proceed?

One has to develop core competence and acquire in-depth knowledge about the working of the industry.

Will the economic situation improve in the coming months?

We have everything to excel. But, till the system is overhauled and bureaucratic hassles get minimised, nothing is going to change.