SUCCESS STORY
Grandhi `Crane' Subba Rao and his son Kantha Rao
patience is the watchword and sky, the Limit
The year was 1957. Clutching a hundred rupee note given by his father, a youngster in Guntur started out on his supari business and an entrepreneurial dream. He believed that sticking to quality alone would help him find a place in customers' hearts. Today, his investment is Rs 35 crore. Grandhi Subba Rao (pic: above) alias `Crane' Subba Rao still clings on to quality though perplexed by the new-age marketing techniques. Quality in exchange of money, that has been his slogan.
Born on February 13, 1931, at a small village near Guntur, Grandhi dropped out of school in the sixth class. He started working with a beedi wholesaler, then set up his own shop before driven by his entrepreneurial quest. Now he owns the Virat Crane Industries. The man's old world moorings hamper his understanding of modern marketing. "Now quality has been sidelined. The first priority is publicity, the second attractive marketing, third dealer profit, fourth service and fifth quality." The new values have not affected his style of functioning. "I used to sell a supari packet for one and a half np, and now for a rupee," he said.
Grandhi's patience had slowly opened for him the doors of success. And it is in recognition of this quality he got the name crane, a bird that waits for hours on end for its catch, but does not let slip an opportunity. In the early stage of the supari business, he along with his wife and three daughters continued to live with his father without returning the borrowed hundred rupees. "Then there was a collective sense of ownership, and only honour and duty mattered." These very traits are reflected in his relation with his son Kantha Rao, who now runs the business. When Kantha (pic. below), who stays with his parents along with his wife and son, starts anything new the father is consulted. Like Grandhi, Kantha is also a self-made man. He started as tea boy of his father, married in 1979 and was off to Vizag in 1984. The seventh class drop out tried his luck at the Vizag market selling Crane supari. He distributed Triveni supari, Crane's competitor, free to bus and train passengers. "At the Vizag Municipal Corporation, one man told me that the fragrance of Triveni supari lingered while that of Crane didn't. I told him that natural flavouring would disappear over a period of time as it was the rule of nature," reminisced Kantha.
Kantha Rao pumped in RS 10 crore to start Virat Crane Industries and a gutka and fruit masala business. He was appointed vice president of the Andhra Pradesh wing of the All-India Pan Masala Association. Kantha Rao has diversified his business. He bought Durga dairy which was running at a loss and hiked up its business from RS 7 lakh to RS 85 lakh. Virat Crane Agritech Limited, an export oriented unit (EOU), was started on a tie-up with an Italian company Sasib Food S.P.A. It makes pulp concentrates of fruits and its factory is under construction at Berhampur. The company, which is a joint venture with the Orissa government, has an 800-acre orchard at Phulbani in Orissa for pulping.
Kantha is also into computers. Apex Data Solution Private Limited is a hundred per cent EOU with Apex, an American company, and converts printed data into electronic data. Two other businesses, in water filters and plastic drums, are on the anvil.
In keeping with family tradition, Grandhi did not help Kantha Rao with capital when the latter set out to establish himself. "If you give money to sons at an early age, they become lovers of luxury and over the years will turn beggars. They should be taught to earn and then entrusted with the cash box," he said.
Grandhi, who is a stock investor sceptical of investing in the banks, takes pride in his "griha parishrama" (labour), the quality that he believes, took him to heights. " I started from nowhere and am now the highest tax payer in Guntur," he said.
Grandhi says that he does not worry too much if the balance sheet showed a loss. "If there has been a loss of RS 1 crore this year, next year will bring in a profit of RS 2 crore," is his logic. Contributing to this philosophical outlook is Grandhi's deep interest in religion. Kantha, also religiously inclined, has an added interest in art. But it's not always that he finds time for his other interests. "I work 16 hours a day," he said. The results speak for him.
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