PROFILE: Sameer Gupta, Managing Director- Jakson Group
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u 84 u APRIL 27-MAY 10, 2015 BUSINESS INDIA u THE MAGAZINE OF THE CORPORATE WORLD Executive Focus T he power generation scenario in the country has improved over the past few decades. But the ongoing industrialisation process will always ensure a demand-sup- ply gap. Alternative power backup is, therefore, inevitable. There was sea change of the power genset indus- try - from dependence on imported electrical goods in the beginning to indigenous manufacturing to intro- duction of sound proof genset with focus on engine technology. Right in front of this change is a closely held Delhi company, Jakson Limited, pro- moted by the Gupta family. Sameer Gupta, the eldest son of the family and an electronics engineer from Pune University, joined the busi- ness of his father Satish Kumar Gupta in 1990. He later did a short manage- ment course in IIM Ahmedabad and later at ISB Hyderabad. In the business, he began by taking charge of tender filling. Soon, for the first time, the company began to participate in ten- ders outside northern India. “My first order through tender was for the Kol- kata-based EPIL, worth `10 lakh. I was excited about it but when my father saw the purchase order he pointed out that we would lose money; how- ever, his advice was that the com- mitment must be honoured. So, the order was executed on time. It was a great learning for me,” recalls Sameer Gupta, managing director, Jakson group, now 48 years old. A young and energetic Gupta rea- lised that nothing big can happen if the company sticks only to the gen- set business. He fought against all odds to diversify into a turnkey proj- ect division in the field of powergen, attending all large tenders across India with focus on intuitional customers. His ‘oomph’ moment came when the company received an order worth `4 crore for a 4 MW diesel genset from the Faridabad-based Superior Air Products in 1995. “In those times, it was one of the largest orders in the segment,” Gupta says. “I, along with my brother Sundeep, stayed from early morning to late night at the site for almost a month. It was a tremendous learning experience in the domain.” In the late 1990s, as the competi- tion was warming up, Gupta used his business DNA and a canny sense to take Jakson slowly up the value chain and work towards backward inte- gration like control panels, switch- gear and other value-added items for genset manufacturing. There were big companies like Batliboi, Parry & Co and Escorts in this area but, by 2000, most of them had dropped out because of cut-throat competition affecting their higher overhead costs. “Our business strategy of backward integration, experience and assembly facilities, resulting in reliability, put us ahead of completion,” says Gupta. From `25 crore revenue with a sin- gle business vertical in 1990, Gupta has grown the business to `1,600 crore at present. Jakson, a diversified power solution company now, has 1,800 people in its rolls across India, Nepal and Bangladesh. And the group is today a leading business conglomer- ate with four verticals – genset manu- facturing, electrical EPC, solar energy and hospitality. But Gupta does not take all the credit. “My father is a repository of wisdom,” he says. “He, along with my younger brother Sun- deep, has given me constant sup- port to achieve the goal.” Sundeep, a computer engineer, is responsible for manufacturing, solar business, EPC and finance. Jakson’s track record in the indus- try, quality and engineering excel- lence have helped the company to become one of three OEM partners, along with engine major Cummins India, in 2000. Cummins holds about 50 per cent market share in the `6,000 crore genset sales in the country. Kir- loskar, Mahindra, and Leyland are the other big players in the industry. Gupta was the face of the company initiating the tie-up with Cummins. “Initially, my father had some reserva- tions about the deal, but when he saw the business growing at 23 per cent, his view changed,” Gupta recalls. “Jakson has been a close strategic partner to Cummins India for a long time. Over time, our association has broadened and deepened. The rela- tionship has been sustained on a foundation of shared core values and trust,” says Anant Talaulicar, chair- man & managing director, Cum- mins India. Looking at his business acumen and some of Gupta’s moves, which have brought good fortune to the business, his father gave him complete freedom to run the busi- ness. In 2001, Sameer Gupta became managing director of the company. His father, now 77, fully devotes his time for the social cause through Jak- son Foundation. A powerful vision Sameer Gupta MANAGING DIRECTOR, JAKSON GROUP Born: 11 December 1966 Education: Electronics engineer from Pune University; a short management course in IIM Ahmedabad and ISB, Hyderabad Career: Joined the family business under his father as in-charge of tender filling (1990); managing director of the company (2001) SAJAL BOSE
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Transcript of PROFILE: Sameer Gupta, Managing Director- Jakson Group
u 84 u
apr il 27-may 10, 2015
Busi n e ss i n di a u the m aga zi n e of the cor por ate wor ldExecutive Focus
the power generation scenario in the country has improved over the past few decades. But
the ongoing industrialisation process will always ensure a demand-sup-ply gap. alternative power backup is, therefore, inevitable. there was sea change of the power genset indus-try - from dependence on imported electrical goods in the beginning to indigenous manufacturing to intro-duction of sound proof genset with focus on engine technology. right in front of this change is a closely held delhi company, Jakson limited, pro-moted by the gupta family.
sameer gupta, the eldest son of the family and an electronics engineer from pune university, joined the busi-ness of his father satish Kumar gupta in 1990. he later did a short manage-ment course in iim ahmedabad and later at isb hyderabad. in the business, he began by taking charge of tender filling. soon, for the first time, the company began to participate in ten-ders outside northern india. “my first order through tender was for the Kol-kata-based epil, worth `10 lakh. i was excited about it but when my father saw the purchase order he pointed out that we would lose money; how-ever, his advice was that the com-mitment must be honoured. so, the order was executed on time. it was a great learning for me,” recalls sameer gupta, managing director, Jakson group, now 48 years old.
a young and energetic gupta rea-lised that nothing big can happen if the company sticks only to the gen-set business. he fought against all odds to diversify into a turnkey proj-ect division in the field of powergen, attending all large tenders across india with focus on intuitional customers. his ‘oomph’ moment came when the company received an order worth `4 crore for a 4 mw diesel genset from the faridabad-based superior air products in 1995. “in those times, it was one of the largest orders in the segment,” gupta says. “i, along with my brother sundeep, stayed from early morning to late night at the site for almost a month. it was a tremendous learning experience in the domain.”
in the late 1990s, as the competi-tion was warming up, gupta used his
business dna and a canny sense to take Jakson slowly up the value chain and work towards backward inte-gration like control panels, switch-gear and other value-added items for genset manufacturing. there were big companies like Batliboi, parry & co and escorts in this area but, by 2000, most of them had dropped out because of cut-throat competition affecting their higher overhead costs. “our business strategy of backward integration, experience and assembly facilities, resulting in reliability, put us ahead of completion,” says gupta.
from `25 crore revenue with a sin-gle business vertical in 1990, gupta has grown the business to `1,600 crore at present. Jakson, a diversified power solution company now, has 1,800 people in its rolls across india, nepal and Bangladesh. and the group is today a leading business conglomer-ate with four verticals – genset manu-facturing, electrical epc, solar energy and hospitality. But gupta does not take all the credit. “my father is a repository of wisdom,” he says. “he, along with my younger brother sun-deep, has given me constant sup-port to achieve the goal.” sundeep, a computer engineer, is responsible for manufacturing, solar business, epc and finance.
Jakson’s track record in the indus-try, quality and engineering excel-lence have helped the company to become one of three oem partners, along with engine major cummins india, in 2000. cummins holds about 50 per cent market share in the `6,000 crore genset sales in the country. Kir-loskar, mahindra, and leyland are the other big players in the industry. gupta was the face of the company initiating the tie-up with cummins. “initially, my father had some reserva-tions about the deal, but when he saw the business growing at 23 per cent, his view changed,” gupta recalls.
“Jakson has been a close strategic partner to cummins india for a long time. over time, our association has broadened and deepened. the rela-tionship has been sustained on a foundation of shared core values and trust,” says anant talaulicar, chair-man & managing director, cum-mins india. looking at his business acumen and some of gupta’s moves, which have brought good fortune to the business, his father gave him complete freedom to run the busi-ness. in 2001, sameer gupta became managing director of the company. his father, now 77, fully devotes his time for the social cause through Jak-son foundation.
a powerful vision
Sameer GuptaManaging Director, Jakson group
Born: 11 December 1966education: Electronics engineer from Pune University; a short management course in IIM Ahmedabad and ISB, Hyderabadcareer: Joined the family business under his father as in-charge of tender filling (1990); managing director of the company (2001)
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u 85 u
apr il 27-may 10, 2015
Busi n e ss i n di a u the m aga zi n e of the cor por ate wor ld Executive Focus
while visiting an exhibition over-seas, gupta realised that noise pol-lution would be a major issue in the future in the genset industry. gupta had been building up competency in manufacturing steel and insulation acoustic enclosures for sound-proofing since 1998 in noida. the great game changer for the business came around 2003, when government pollution laws made noise level regulation com-pulsory under pollution control laws. Jakson was ready to ride the boom and quickly opened new plants in daman to cater to the market growth.
“we were the first to introduce silent diesel genset in the industry,” claims gupta. it impacted the profit margin up by 30 per cent. the design of a single unit with acoustic enclo-sure and chassis also gave Jakson the ‘ready to use’ (rtu) gensets, which can now be found everywhere on the backs of trucks and are used in ‘plug and play’ power supply in minutes.
Jakson-cummins diesel gensets range from 7.5 kva to 3 mva, while the smaller gas-driven gensets vary from 40 kva to 2 mva. for power plant applications, these generat-ing sets can be configured to deliver power output even up to 200 mw. it currently produces 8,000 units of genset per annum. the company has three integrated manufacturing facil-ities, with acoustic production and genset assembly line at dhabel in daman, Kalsar in gujarat and Kathua in Jammu.
Jakson offers a complete turn-key solution to power houses and power backup facilities in apart-
ment buildings, offices, factories and any other establishment. they also provide power solutions for special application for the defence and oil sectors. the company has been the system integrator for sensitive areas like it facilities for fail-safe power. “we were the only india company who successfully designed, manu-factured and executed fire retardant silent generating sets for launching of rockets for isro,” claims gupta.
Jakson undertakes turnkey con-tracts which include extensive design, supply and erection of power handling equipment. it has its own
service network in 25 towns and cit-ies across its territories including being a sole distributorship to cum-mins and its own products in Ban-gladesh and nepal having a revenue of `300 crore and growing.
as the genset growth was hit by recession and growth rates slowed down. gupta had convinced the board to enter into the field of solar energy – a sunrise industry. he also hired ernst & young as consultant. “the situation provoked us to diver-sify into solar power segment in 2010,” gupta explains. “since we are in power business, solar was a natural choice for us.”
the company had commissioned the first ipp (independent power pro-ducer) project a 20 mw crystalline solar cell power generation plant built on a 100 acre area in Bap near the sun city, Jodhpur, rajasthan, cost-
ing `200 crore, under the Jawaharlal nehru national solar mission (jnnsm) policy phase i. the 20 mw of power produced is being sold to national Vidyut Vyapar nigam, an ntpc sub-sidiary, under a 25-year power pur-chase agreement (ppa).
recently, it has also commissioned a 10 mw solar ipp in lalitpur, uttar pradesh, at a cost of `85 crore. the company is shortlisted for another 30 mw power plant to be set up in Jhansi, uttar pradesh, and has already signed a ppa with the government of up before march 2015. the company plans to have 100 mw of ipp in the next 2-3 years. in the solar epc business, Jakson has successfully executed various solar roof-top and land-based projects. cur-rently, the company has an order book worth `150 crore in epc.
“gupta is a visionary,” says s. sun-derasan, former finance director of the company. “diversifying into the solar energy was a perfect decision at an appropriate time. it helped the company to balance the revenue. the company never felt the heat of the sluggish genset market.”
the company also manufactures solar products like mobile solar gen-erator, solar water purifier, solar home and street lighting systems in noida and has received overwhelm-ing response in the market. the solar business has demonstrated an encour-aging growth. in the next one year, it expects 50 per cent revenue from the solar segment.
“solar is a green power and the seg-ment is likely to play a major role for an energy-deficit country like ours. we want to be part of prime minis-ter’s vision to have 100,000 mw solar power country in the next 10 years,” says gupta.
however, Jakson has no plans to go public in the near future. gupta brought a major cultural change in the company, transforming it from a typically owner-driven unit to a professionally run company. “he is
transparent and believes in delegat-ing power,” says sundaresan.
Jakson has also ventured into the hospitality sector. it has set up the first hotel - Jakson inns in phaltan, 110 km from pune, with an investment of `50 crore last year. the 74-room, three-star hotel wants to cater to business trav-ellers. “pune is our first milestone in hospitality,” says gupta. “our next hotel will be at sanand in gujarat. our focus will remain on B towns.”
gupta has diversified into other businesses, but he keeps a clear focus on the core business of genset. ‘growth of genset market is inevitable, with the government’s move to rejuvenate industrial expansion,” says gupta, also chairman, cii, uttar pradesh.
a workaholic to the core, gupta does not find much time for socialis-ing. an avid reader of spiritual books, he and his wife Bhawana enjoy spend-ing time with family and friends. their two sons, ragav and siddhant are perusing studies in electrical engi-neering in the us.
u s a J a l B o s e
Solar is a green power and the segment is likely to play a major role for an energy-deficit
country like ours
