Garnering Confidence

Please take us through your journey so far. 

I started business in the year 1999 with a seed capital of Rs 1 lakh. My education took place in a distant village in Gujarat, the population of which I believe would not have crossed 3000 even today. I came to Mumbai in the year 1993, and I am involved with the lingerie and the nightwear industry since that time. So it is a span of 20 years now. Previously I was engaged in retail and when the first lingerie store in India opened at Napensea Road, I worked there as a sales staff. Then I became the working partner and then I launched my own brand. I believe that our brand Valentine is the number one in the night wear segment and I do not think that anybody in the world is offering the intimate wear basket that we offer. 

What are the difficulties that you have faced in your journey so far? 

The main hurdle or difficulty that any business faces is managing the finances. If you have the products, and if your finances are managed well, then growth of your business doubles. But frankly speaking, I have not faced any such problems in my journey so far thanks to the support of my family. To become a Pan India brand is a hectic task. You have to remember that the taste changes with every state. Brand building and advertising process is also a difficult task.

What made you list on the BSE SME platform? 

Well I had a lot of PE offers which were much more that the rate at which I brought my public issue. But it depends a lot on the mindset of people. The part of the country from which I belong to does not believe in partnership businesses. Therefore, doing business with PEs become a bit difficult. Public is also a partner, but it is much different from PEs. Our sector seems to be the hottest now, if you notice, Page Industries is trading at 25x, the case is almost same with Lovable. In the night wear segment there are no brands that are listed on any of the platform except for our brand. This is an additional advantage in the offing and we took that opportunity and we were right. We brought the issue at Rs 40 six months ago and now we are trading around Rs 100 per share with better volumes. 

When you decided to go public, didn’t you feel that you are parting away with your ownership and the listing would need you to increase the transparency of your business? 

I am doing business since 1999, and I am proud to say that I have not done a single transaction in black. So there were no issues with transparency. On the ownership front, whenever you are coming out with an SME issue, then it is subscribed by those who you know closely including your friends, relatives, suppliers and buyers. As a matter of fact, the mindset of people is that there will be less volumes in the SME and then there is a lot in which our shares trade. So at that time only those who know you and your business better will come to subscribe. 

Have you felt any change in the mindset of your suppliers or your banks since you got listed on the BSE SME platform? 

Our relations with the banks have remained unchanged on the better side as I consider my bank to be a partner of my business. On the supplier and buyer side, the difference that plays its part is on the valuation side. 

What is the overall impact of the current economic scenario on your business? 

In India there is a trend that you control inflation by controlling the demand. I do not believe in this, I may have believed in it if this had happened 10 to 15 years back. You have to understand one thing that whenever the cost rises for any supplier then he has to pass on the costs. Where will they pass it, the answer is simple, to the consumers. Therefore, whenever, the costs are passed on to the consumers inflation is bound to move up. I feel that it should have been the other way round, that is to control cost and increase production.