Company

Faith in God, Faith in Good taste

The makers of 'Balaji Group' brand wafers and namkeen food products has deep faith in God
& in good taste. Converting dreams into reality it leads them to the biggest potato wafers
plant of India. The Balaji plant covers over 85,000 sq. m. area in the outskirts of Rajkot city.
Its big taste revenue i.e. turnover touched to the crore rupees milestone. Balaji Group has
90% shares of wafers market and 70% shares of namkeen market in Gujarat. You are
invited to travel the past, present and the future or Balaji Group.
History
The journey of Balaji Group in year 1976 by the member of Virani family. For supplying wafers and
namkeens to local brands to the patrons of Astron Cinema, Rajkot. Due to the shore supply of that product
they decided to make their own product line in year 1982. By the overwhelming retail success they inspired
to set a semi automatic plant. Instead of preparing wafers by the traditional frying method this semi
automatic plant boosted the quality, taste and more sales also. The fame of taste reached to the whole
Gujarat hence it was time to takeover the whole Gujarat so that biggest automatic plant of Gujarat came in
to the picture. Quenching the demand of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan region Balaji Group is now
looking forward to march over India.

Network

The wheel of network is devised under the ideal distribution channel network. That ensures to supply fresh
product in any corner of Gujarat within 24 hours. You can have Balaji snacks in every 100 meters of are in
Gujarat. At Balaji is not just distribution but it is an euphemistic effort of team work.

Strategy
This simple mantra rocked and changed the definition of chip world. Winning the heart by quality and great
taste and distributing sufficient dealer margin is a winning strategy of Balaji Group. Its 'Value for money'
strategy enables even a kid to buy fresh & healthy food in small prices. Indeed in a neck to neck competition
ear one must implement new ideas and balaji group has developed the think tank who continuously update
strategy in the right direction. Think win-win & Stay ahead with us.

Future Plans
Balaji Group perceive in growth rather say development to touch the sky. The company will enhance its
product range by adding some futuristic and Indian traditional taste company will plan to some extruded
snacks and western products to their Global market. Recently company has acquired more space where its
entire namkeen unit will be shifed. The future will see more of Bhikubhai Virani as a Chairman, Mr.
Chandubhai as a Managing Director, Mr. Kanubhai Virani as a Technical Director & Mr. Keyur Virani as a R&D
Director. At Balaji progress is a life line.

Accolades
People's love is the most memorable achievement. Truly, that helped Balaji Group them to reach its fame
across the globe. Apart from this, Economic Time recognized Balaji Group as 'Sultan of Wafers' and
international magazine i.e. Asia Pacific food online published a special article with 'Chip Off the Old Block'
tag. Balaji Group is also a member of Snacks Food Association. Balaji Group believes in sheer performances
which win a accolades of people and media at the same time.

Infrastructure

The existing plant is the largest in capacity and with the sate of the are facility. In year 2003 Balaji Group
took pride to introduce this biggest fully automated Potato processing machinery plant in India which can
process 4500 kg. potato and make 1200 kg. of chips per hour. The namkeen and other product line has
separate departments and it is been produced in a same quality conscious processing system. Chips and
Namkeens made in bacteria free and stringent hygienic standard environment. That is the big advantage of
this big 'Balaji' Plant.

Chandubhai Virani, Chairman, Balaji Wafers

15 May, 2009
Every alternate Sunday, Chandubhai Virani drives down his Honda City to Dharmendra Road in Rajkot,
and spends some time watching a small shop that sells sandwiches. The chairman of Balaji Wafers, a Rs
350-crore maker of potato chips and snacks, takes evident pride in the hard work and struggles he went
through in his early years to build his business.
'I started in this 6x10 ft shop in 1986 with an investment of Rs 3,000, selling sandwiches,' he recalls. Now,
Virani visits just to ensure that the quality of sandwiches being delivered is still as good as before. Before
setting up the shop, Virani used to supply home-made wafers to cinema halls from 1974-1982.
As business grew, he bought 1,000 sq yd of land in 1989 to set up a small wafers-making unit, and 3,000
sq yd in 1999. His big moment came in 2002, when the Virani family bought 45 acres of land to set up
Gujarat's first large fully automated potato wafer making unit. It was rumoured food and snacks giant
PepsiCo had offered to buy out the company for Rs 500 crore.

What was founded with a capital of Rs 20,000 in 1982 by two brothers who came to
Rajkot from a remote village in Jamnagar district has grown into an empire with
revenues of Rs 1,200 crore. Multinationals like Pepsico and Kellogg Indiaare reported to
have shown interest in picking up a stake in the Rajkot-based wafers and 'namkeen'
(salted snacks) giant.
Says Chandubhai Virani, "We never started the business with the aim of making money.
We wanted to do something good and meaningful. Today, when we pass on our venture
to the next generation, we would like them to continue the business with the same
discipline."
In 1974, three sons of a farmer in Dhundoraji migrated to the nearest urban centre,
Rajkot. Armed with no more than a primary education and Rs 20,000 as initial capital
from their father, the Virani brothers - Bhikhubhai, Chandubhai and Kanubhai - came to
Rajkot in search of work. They had not much money, no references, and no prior
experience of working in manufacturing industry.
Bhikhubhai and Chandubhai began selling refreshments in Rajkot's Astron Cinema, and

in 1976, the cinema owner Govindbhai handed over the canteen to them on a contract
basis. Six years later, in 1982, the brothers decided to turn this into their core business
and invested around Rs 20,000 in it.
They began sourcing wafers from the only supplier in Rajkot, and also started selling
toasted sandwiches made at home by their wives. Potato wafers, they noticed,
constituted around 80 per cent of the refreshment sales, but the supplier was unable to
meet the demand. This got them thinking of ways to develop their business by inducting
new technology.
In 1989 the company set up a plant in Aji, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation's
industrial estate in Rajkot, investing Rs 5 lakh. Since then the company has invested
around Rs 500 crore in operations. The first year's revenue was around Rs 2.4 lakh.
Chandubhai and his brothers were quick to realise the importance of technology in
scaling up. In 1995-96 the company installed its first semi-automatic plant with a
capacity of 250 kg of potato chips per hour. By 1998-99 it was working at almost full
capacity.
Demand still exceeded what they could produce, and in 1999 Balaji Wafers installed
Gujarat's first fully automated potato chips plant, following it up with another in 2003-04
in Vajdi district with a capacity of 1,200 kg per hour. Sales continued to grow and,
between 2000 and 2006, Balaji captured a 90 per cent share of the potato chips market
in Gujarat, and a 70 per cent share of the namkeen category. Besides, its markets in
Maharashtra and Rajasthan were also growing.
Thus encouraged, they set up yet another plant in Valsad in 2008 with a processing
capacity of 8,000 kg of potatoes per hour, producing 2,000 kg of potato chips per hour.
The company now has a capacity to process around 450,000 kg of potatoes per day and
400,000 kg of namkeen per day. It generates direct and indirect employment for
250,000 people.
Recently, there have been reports of Balaji Wafers' promoters looking to dilute their
stake, and multinationals like Pepsico and Kellogg have shown interest. Pepsico is
believed to have exited the race because Balaji was not open to selling more than 15-20
per cent of its holding. However, Kellogg is learnt to have started discussions with Balaji
to pick up a 10-15 per cent stake. Balaji is now considering entering the northern and
southern Indian markets, and plans to set up manufacturing plants over the next two to
three years with an investment of around Rs 200 crore. The stake sale is likely to help
fund the expansion plans.
Chandubhai declined to discuss the stake sale issue, saying, "All decisions will be taken
by the next generation. Whichever way they want to run this company, I am with them."

The Wafer Sultan - Mr. Chandubhai Virani

They came to town three decades ago to run a canteen in a cinema hall on contract,
saw the immense potential for the fare they introduced and went on to conquer the
wafers market in the state.
This is the summary of the success story of Chandubhai Virani and his brothers
Meghajibhai, Bhikhubhai and kanubhai, whose Balaji wafers has a 90% share of the
wafers market in the state.
They come to Rajkot from Jamnagar district in 1982 with the dream of building up a
successful business and took the canteen at the Astron cinema on contract.
Chandubhai Virani, now the managing director of Balaji Wafers, with a

touch
of nostalgia remembers those days when the family sold roasted
groundnuts, sandwiches, and potato wafers to the cine- gores. Right from those days,
we believed in reasonable pricing & good quality. This earned good turnover, through
the profits where a little lower. This policy also won us many loyal customers. We
always received feedback from our customers about the quality of the stuff and stuck
to the highest standards of quality, Chandubhai says, during when I spend free time
with him.
As a demand increase, they stopped buying wafers from out and started making it.
They sold the wafers to the around the theatre also. This was the first step in setting up
their business. They had two helpers to assist in wafer production.

Chandubhai opened an independent retail outlet in 1983-84 to sell wafers and

sandwich brand named it Balaji Sandwich, which is successes outlet. Balaji wafers
now produces 9000 kg of banana and potato wafers and 7000 kg of other salted and
fried items (making) a day.
Chandubhai says quality is his primary concern which gets priority over taking on the

multi-national brands. Balaji wafers in stalled a semi- automatic plant in 993-94. The
plant had capacity to make 180 kg of wafers a day. When they started, their business,
they made just 60 kg of wafers a day, that too without the help of machines. They had
a keen competition in the market. They did not want to lose out on production and
compromise on quality. That is why they opted a semi-automatic plnt. It helped them
improve production and enhance the quality. At that time production division was
under the supervision of Chandubhai, while Bhikhubhai and kanubhai looked after
sales and marketing.
After conducting a research to find out how companies abroad stored the wafers fresh
they installed a modern automatic plant in 2000. The unit has a capacity to produce
450 kg of wafers an hours and packing in the latest technology bags. Balaji make
turnover of Rs 4 crore.
The fame of taste reached to the whole Gujarat hence it was time to takeover the whole
Gujarat so the biggest automatic plant of Gujarat came into picture in 2003. Now
production capacity was increase by three times. Today, production capacity is to
produce 1250 kg of wafer an hours and packing in the latest technology bags. Today,
You can have Balaji snacks in every 100 meters in Gujarat.
Quenching the demand of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan region Balaji group is
now looking forward to march over India.

Entrepreneur !?.

The early history of entrepreneurship in India reflects from

the culture, customs and tradition of the India people. To process of
entrepreneurship therefore passed through the potential roots of the society
and all those who accepted entrepreneurial role had the cultural heritage of
trade and business. Occupational pursuits opted by the individual under the

caste system received different meaning of value attached to

entrepreneurship. This is based on social sanctions. Vaishyas are considered
to venture in to business pursuits. As society grew and the process of
business occupation depended and the value work tended towards change
and the various occupational role interchanged with non-role group and subgroups. People from different castes and status also entered into the
entrepreneurial role. India needs more Entrepreneurs for its development so
lets understand the meaning of Entrepreneurship
The word Entrepreneurship is a French word and, literally translated,
means between-taker or go-between, But in Indian context Vyapaari or
Dhandhadaari.
I must say that Entrepreneurship is not the proprietary quality of any caste
or community. Many may possess the qualities, but are baffled with too
many questions why, what and how to get about starting new venture. Lets
try to understand the concept of entrepreneurship.
So, who does be an entrepreneur? I would say person who makes activity
which can generate money by anyway. I read somewhere that if he or she
wants to earn money, so they have to need a skill to earn, if you have that
art you are an entrepreneur. It may you work with your personal business or
work in any organization.
One day my friend come to me and asked me, how will I become successful
entrepreneur in a life? I replayed to him that by become selfish person,
develop good story creating skill (so you can communicate very well with
people) & play a roll as good player (leader & manager). After that His face
looked like childish, and he asked to me that why you say that become
selfish person & good story teller. I explain to him through my experience.
Because of become selfish people, if you are not selfish toward your self,
goal, work, investment, etc you can not become a successful entrepreneur.

WHO IS AN ENTREPRENUER
o He is a person who develops and owns his own enterprise.
o He is a moderate risk taker and works under uncertainty for achieving the
goal.

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He is innovative.
He peruses the deviant pursuits.
Reflects strong urge to be independent.
Persistently tries to do something better.
Dissatisfied with routine activities.
Prepared to withstand the hard life.
Determined but patient.
Exhibits sense of leadership.
Also exhibits sense of competitiveness.
Takes personals responsibility.
Oriented towards the future.
Tends to persist in the face to adversity
Convert a situation into opportunity.

THE CHACTRERISTICS OF A UNIQUE ENTREPRENEUR ARE:

o Need for achievement
o High need for power
o Independence
o Propensity to take risk

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Personal modernity
Supporter
Business enterprise
Leadership

According to Mr. Schumpeter The entrepreneurship is essentially a creative

activity or it is an innovative function.
Sociologists, Psychologists and Economists have all attempted to give a clear
picture of the entrepreneur. Sociologists analyze the characteristic of
entrepreneurs in terms of caste, family, social value and migration.
Psychologists on the other hand attempt to isolate entrepreneurs from
general population on various personality trials such as need for
achievement, creativity, propensity to take risk, independence leadership

etc.
Economists, lighted situational characteristics such as occupational
backgrounds access to capital business and technological experience and
managerial skills with economic gains considered as characteristic of
entrepreneur.
As entrepreneur by implication is one who ventures out, who prefers change
as a means of growth and it the process is prepared to take a calculated risk
while taking risks he is aware of the possibilities, success as well as the
consequence of failure.

Choosing entrepreneurial career is like choosing a life partner. The person has to be
there in the job forever and may have to continue in that chosen line for generations to
generation and grows in this process if it is matching; if it mismatches it goes the other
way round.
Considering this aspect he should always be governed by three basic qualitative
instincts to serve in the world of uncertainty. These are (1) Will, (2) Zeal, and (3)
Skill.