Converting wish into command

MEET YOUR ENTREPRENEUR

He is living his father's dream. G Vivekananda completed his medicine and was all set to fly abroad when his father put forward his wish "� to provide employment to as many people as they could through their industry. And Vivekananda changed course.

"I completed my medicine in 1985 and was all prepared to go abroad when my father asked me to stay back and start a plant which would manufacture asbestos," he says.

Thus started the journey of Visaka Industries Limited (VIL) with Vivekananda as its managing director. "We already had the licence to start the business which helped us make a smooth beginning," he says.

And how did they zero in on the name Visaka? "We planned to set up the unit in Visakhapatnam but due to some reasons did not go ahead with it. Then while setting up the plant, we decided to name the company Visaka and stuck to it."

It was also a coincidence that his father's, brother's and his names start with the alphabet V. Keeping with the tradition, the names of his four children "� two daughters and two sons, too start with V.

Initially, the company was into manufacturing of asbestos. In 1992, it diversified into textiles in Nagpur with an investment of Rs 30 crore.

"In the textile division, we manufacture yarns using state-of-the-art twin air-jet spinning technology from Murata, Japan, with 28 MTS machines equivalent to 50,000 ring spindles. We produce about 7,000 metric tonnes of yarn per year and currently export about 2,000 tonnes to countries around the globe," he says.

The company has asbestos plants located in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Midnapore in West Bengal and has a marketing tie-up with a Pune-based company. It is now looking further to spread its base across the country and has already embarked on a plan to set up a new unit in Rai Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.

"It was a strategic decision of the company to have a presence across India and that is why we are going in for the new plant. The company is investing Rs 25 crore for this purpose," says Vivekanand, who considers K V K Raju, founder of Nagarjuna Group, as his role model.

VIL is also expanding its textile division by setting up a garment unit at an investment of Rs 55 crore near Chennai, a weaving unit (Rs 53 crore) and a cotton yarn unit (Rs 93 crore) near Mumbai.

"The company would set up the garment and weaving units next fiscal and the cotton yarn unit in 2006-07."

Vivekanand expects his company's turnover to touch Rs 200 crore by the end of the current financial year. For the first nine months of the fiscal, the company's turnover was at Rs 153.97 crore and the net profit after tax was Rs 9.6 crore.

Apart from his business commitments, Vivekanand enjoys watching movies, television and working out in his personal gym.

"I also play a lot of golf and currently have a 16 handicap," he signs off.