A flooring move that sparkled

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It was while working as a building consultant that G N Naidu, chairman and managing director of Regency Ceramics Limited, got the idea of starting his own company by providing a different type of flooring material.

"While I was a consultant, I got acquainted with the materials that were required for construction and also used to read a lot foreign magazines in office. In one of the editions, I noticed that the flooring material which they used was totally different from what we have in India and that is how I got the idea of starting a company," he recalls.

After discussing with other companies who used to produce ceramic wall tiles, he found that there was no company in the country, which manufactured ceramic floor tiles though the required raw materials were available.

After getting information on the various foreign suppliers and manufacturers, Naidu visited their facilities in 1983 and in a week's time after his return finalised the company from where he could get the equipment and the technology. "It was finally decided to go in for Welko, an Italian company," he says.

According to him, the initial choice for setting up the factory was at Sangareddy in Medak district. However, the lieutenant governor of Pondicherry, whom he had met on a certain occasion, offered some incentives and convinced him in starting the unit in Yanam.

"Apart from the incentives, Yanam also provides few raw materials like sea sand. So in 1984, with an investment of Rs 12 crore (Rs 8 crore debt and Rs 4 crore equity), the company started with a production capacity of 4,000 sq mts per day," recalls Naidu.

The company started operation towards the end of 1985 and in May 1986 was declared a 100 per cent export-oriented unit. Regency's exports at that time were mainly to the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries. According to Naidu, when the commercial production started, the cost was around $8 per sq metre as European companies also started exporting to these countries.

"This was a difficult time for the company as the stock was piling up. But when we approached the Union government to debond the unit in 1987, they agreed but said that 35 per cent of the production must be exported," he said.

After this, the company looked at new export opportunities and in 1992 started exporting to Russia. This was when the company expanded its facility by another 3,000 sq mts per day. At present, the company has a production facility of 70,000 sq mts per day.

Regency has set itself an export target of Rs 50 crore this fiscal, as compared to Rs 37 crore earned last fiscal. The company also expects a 20 per cent growth in turnover to Rs 250 crore this fiscal.

But for the 64-year-old entrepreneur, who hails from T Kamapalli in Kadapa district, more than his achievements as an industrialist it is the activities to help the society that interest him more.

"When I had set up the unit in Yanam, it did not have even a basic school. So we decided to provide the necessary infrastructure such as primary education initially," he said.

In 1987, the company started a school, two years later started a junior college, and today it has an engineering college too. "We also plan to start a software technology park, which would help students of the engineering college have hands-on experience, in addition to a medical college, for which the no objection certificate has been obtained," Naidu said.

Another concept that the company started three years back was to terminate any employee who took dowry. "In 2002, my general manager came to me saying that somebody wanted an advance to pay as dowry for her marriage. After sitting on the file for two days, I decided that any employee of my company taking or seeking dowry would be taken off the company rolls," he says.

According to Naidu the company also plans to set up a small power plant, which would cater to the needs of the people of Yanam. In his free time, Naidu likes to read about the industry and also play with his four grandchildren.