http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/the-rise-of-dalit-enterprise-pravin-meshram/articleshow/9306082.cms
21 Jul, 2011, 07.10AM IST, Tapash Talukdar,ET Bureau
The rise of Dalit enterprise: Pravin Meshram
For five years, Pravin has been waiting for a final clearance from the
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to build a petrol pump near Amravati Road
in Nagpur. The company allotted the pump to Meshram's mother under the
scheduled caste quota, and Meshram has bought the land and completed
all formalities. "People from upper castes who applied with us are
running their outlet," says the 32-year-old.
"Since we are backward class, they don't pay attention to our
request." When they had applied, in 2004, Meshram was banking on the
pump for sustenance. He had gone through a series of business
failures, and the pump held the hope of income stability. Now, more
than economic value, its value is symbolic. Between his application
and now, Meshram has built a Rs 20 crore business manufacturing
electrical transformers, and he doesn't need the pump. "If it comes
up, I will be happy for my mother," he says.
FROM STRUGGLE...
Meshram grew up in an lower middle-class family in Nagpur. From a
young age, he wanted to have his own business rather than work for
another. As soon as he earned a diploma in mechanical engineering from
Nagpur University, in 1998, he set off on that pursuit. "My father had
a small electrical-repairing shop and I wanted to build it," says
Meshram. He joined the shop.
It's where he mastered electrical repairs and equipment installation,
and formed relationships that would shape his business. One of the
shop's clients was the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB),
which outsourced small repair and installation work for its plants and
offices. Meshram started repairing fans and lights, and doing part of
the installation work of generators, at the MSEB offices. The jobs
fetched him Rs 100-1,000. He asked MSEB for bigger repairing projects,
but was turned down. "Later, I realised my mistake was that I was born
to poor parents," he says. It was a hand-to-mouth existence as the
shop was the only income for the four-member family. Once, Meshram
recalls, he worked for 18 hours at a stretch to finish a small
project. "Had I not done it, my family would not have been able to
cook," he says. He wanted more. So, starting from 2000, Meshram
started looking at other businesses along with his brother, Rahul
Meshram , who is now 29. Between 2000 and 2007, the duo hurtled from
one failure to another. They booked advertisements for publications;
they dispatched plastic boxes for nearby factories; they tried their
hand at trading. After the last failure, Meshram went to work as an
electrician with a local firm, at a salary of Rs 2,000. "It was a big
struggle for me," he says. ...
TO TRANSFORMATION
Meshram still wanted his own business. This time, he chose something
he understood: electricals. In 2006, he happened to visit a
transformer factory run by a friend's relative. He worked parttime
there for six months, and understood the manufacturing process and the
business. He came to know that the MSEB bought transformers from three
manufacturers in Nagpur who had been around for decades.
In late-2007, he borrowed Rs 2 lakh from his father and Rs 1 lakh from
a friend to start a small transformer-manufacturing unit on the
family's ancestral land near Amravati Road in Nagpur. The first
transformer built by Bharat Electricals was rejected by MSEB. "That
helped me," he says. "I got their approval after two months. I was
thrilled that my family might have some security." The first
transformer he supplied to MSEB was of 25 kilovolts (Kv). The company
makes each piece by hand. "It gives jobs to a few people and they take
good care in every part of the process," he says. Within a year,
Bharat Electricals had crossed Rs 1 crore in turnover. Gradually, the
orders from MSEB became bigger, in transformer capacity and numbers.
In 2009, he procured orders worth Rs 10 crore from MSEB for
transformers of 200-650 kv. "Initially, people did not take me
seriously as they thought I would return to my repairing work. It took
years to build our reputation," he says. "And, trust me, it is not
easy." Today, on his one-acre plot, Meshram has the capacity to
manufacture 3,000 transformers of 25-1,000 kv capacity. About 80% of
this is supplied to the MSEB, and the remaining to the SEBs of
Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. His current order book stands at Rs
25 crore. "He delivers on promises," says AD Sahare, executive
engineer, MSEB, Chandrapur testing division, Nagpur. Meshram has two
immediate goals: foreign travel for his parents and a Rs 100 crore
turnover for Bharat Electricals.
The second goal is taking shape just behind the current factory. Over
an area of four acres, Meshram is setting up capacity to make larger
transformers, of 2,000-5,000 kv, which could potentially take his
revenues to Rs 50 crore in two years and deliver higher margins. It
could also add another 100 jobs. Meshram wants the new recruits to
come from the backward class and is even willing to train them.
Meshram is also talking to a Chinese company to partner him on this
project. While he handles strategy, and product development and sakes,
younger brother Rahul takes care of administration. "We are trying to
rebuild our fortunes," says Rahul. That, today, is an understatement.
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