THE Roadmap of Kent ro

OVERVIEW OF THE
COMPANY
 The company has its manufacturing
base in Roorkee (Uttarakhand),
spread across 4,00,000 sq.ft and has
an annual production capacity of 1
million units. It sells more than
2,25,000 RO purifiers every year and
holds around 40% market share in
water purifiers. Kent is today also
competing with international brands,
outbidding them on basis of its
technology, innovation, better service,
well equipped distribution system and
good branding. The inspiration for it all
has been its livewire founder and
chairman.
 the founder & Chairman of kent
ro
 Mr. Mahesh Gupta the man behind Kent Ro was the first
member who dared to choose business over job in his family.
An IIT graduate from Kanpur in Mechanical engineering and
alumnus of Indian institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. Mahesh
started off his career working with Indian Oils in the sales
department in 1978.
THE ROAD TO
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 Mahesh decided to quit after
working for seven years and
refining his skills. He
believed in taking risks and
wanted to work on his own
ideas. His journey of
entrepreneur started in
1985, from a small room in
his house with just Rs.
20,000 which he had saved
from his job with IOCL. His
first invention was in the
field of petroleum
conservation instrument
where he earned fame and
half a dozen patents to his
credit.
STORY BEHIND THE
INVENTION OF
‘KENT RO WATER
PURIFIER’ 
His turning Point came with the
establishment of KENT RO
SYSTEM in the year 1998, when
jaundice gripped his son in a posh
colony of South Delhi. Knowing that
jaundice is a water-borne disease,
Gupta researched and analyzed all
the available water purifier in the
market. The purifiers available in the
market in those days worked on
ultraviolet (UV) technology, which
kills bacteria in the water. He knew
this was not good enough since the
water we drink also contains many
dissolved impurities, which cannot
be treated with this technology. He
wanted to develop a water purifier
that would also take care of the
undesirable dissolved elements,
while recognizing and retaining the
good minerals.
 DIFFICULTIES
FACED BY
KENT RO

 Mahesh in the consequent six months began to work on different models

and failed. At last, he discovered reverse osmosis(RO) technology which
gave him the assurance of clean drinking water. He then installed this set
up at his place and the successful results encouraged him to go
commercial with it. With an investment of Rs 5 lakh that he was able to
save from his previous venture, he started out. The garage of his house
was the office of Kent RO. He bought equipment and installation
machines. The other purifiers in the market were priced at Rs 5,000 but
Kent RO came around at the price of Rs 20,000 initially as they were
providing with superior technology, unlike others which made the market
price fair for the product. They did not have the budget for advertising or
other promotional campaigns. So, brand awareness and recall were nil.
 STRUGGLING
YEARS OF SALES

 In the first year, sales were a dismal 100 units, and they were
even accused of overcharging by some customers. Then, In
the first five years, Gupta had found it difficult to convince
customers to buy his product because of Aquaguard (Eureka
Forbes), whose UV purifiers literally ruled the market with
their over 70% market share. They also cost five-times less
than Gupta’s RO purifiers. But the very fact that the purifiers
available in the market did not remove dissolved impurities
like arsenic, fluoride or pesticides made it Kent’s USP, as its
product did remove them. “So initially, for about 6-7 years
they tried to sell there products without any major success,
and without much branding or publicizing effort. People were
buying their products but not in any large quantities.
 WORD OF MOUTH HELPED
KENT RO
 Thankfully, there customers realized
the superiority of the product and
sales started picking up through word
of mouth publicity by users. By 2001,
they had quite suddenly hit the sweet
spot of the potential market, with
customers beginning to like the
products and revenue generation
showing some upward movement.
He ploughed back the money he
earned from the sales and initiated a
brand campaign. They also put up
products at retail outlets and stores
that specialized in kitchenware,
providing shoppers the opportunity to
try the product and make on-the-spot
decisions.
TECHNOLOGY &
INNOVATION PLAYED A
MAJOR ROLE
Technology Differentiates
Kent From Others
 Kent’s pace of innovation will
always make it difficult for
other companies to catch up.
A lot of multinationals such as
Philips and Whirlpool entered
the RO market in the past but
wound up their operations
because they couldn’t
compete with the upgraded
technology of Kent RO. Every
year Kent come up with a
new technology, which
creates an entry barrier for
new players.
Renovation Helped In Inflating
The Growth Rate

 Gupta is always counting on Kent’s technical superiority and

innovation to stay ahead in the water war. Since he launched his
first RO purifier, the company has introduced 20 different models.
“They have filed five patents in the last five years or so, and three
have been granted. There products have been certified by the
National Sanitation Foundation and the Water Quality Association,
which have a very stringent certification process”. It is already
proved that RO is a must technology for every water purifier even
though it can be found in combination with other technologies.
Need Of Marketing
 Gupta knew that if the company
had to grow it would have to build
brand equity and educate
customers about RO technology.
Even in today’s world, the biggest
challenge is educating customers
about the importance of an RO
purifier. “The government doesn’t
want to educate customers
because if they do so, it will be
seen as their failure to provide
good drinking water,” says Gupta.
The company spends 15 percent of
its revenues on marketing.
 BRAND ENDORSEMENT
 They needed a brand ambassador – someone who is already
a well-known face and personality, who could easily slip into
the role of a mother with ease. Mahesh managed to convince
the dream girl of Bollywood – Hema Malini, to endorse his
brand. She was ideal for endorsing the brand as she was a
housewife, popular, and appealed to the ladies, but it was not
easy convincing Hema Malini. When approached in 2005, she
agreed to endorse it only after using the product.
 BRAND AMBASSADORS

 In 2005, when the turnover was a mere 30-40 Crore rupees, they had no
money to spend on television commercials. So they started with using
Hema’s photo in catalogues and print. It was only in 2006 that they could
create their first television commercial. This proved to be a turning-point for
Kent, it gained in volumes. It today sells around 450,000 units a year in a 1-
million-a-year RO market. With Hema, later joined by her daughters Esha
and Ahana as well as there brand ambassadors, the entire perspective
changed in 2006. The revenues got a boost through their promotional
campaigns and sales went up. Business took off to speed, functioning at an
altogether different level.
 HUMBLE INNOVATION NOW MAKES A
TURNOVER OF RS 800 CR
 Besides the lack of financial self-
sufficiency, a Rs.25 crore firm in 2005
to a Rs.800 crore giant in 2017, Kent
RO has grown immensely to establish
itself as a socially responsible &
trustworthy healthcare products brand
with the persona – ‘House of Purity’.
Needless to say, trust develops only
when the accredited certification
bodies endorse the product / brand
and when it comes to Kent, the
company is accredited by laboratories
of international repute like NSF, WQA
and more recently by Government of
India with an ISI certification.
Moreover, the company has also been
adjudged as the Best Domestic Water
Purifier for 'Kent Superb' at UNESCO
Water Digest Award.
 CONCLUSION
 An innovation is born out of necessity and a great
example is the roadmap of kent. Necessity is the
mother of Invention he believes. As Mahesh
Gupta did not have access to clean drinking and
potable water at home in 1998, when his son got
jaundice. Well, he could have bought one of
those water purifiers available that time, but they
weren’t good enough for him, he wanted
something better. So he ended up building an all
new water purifier for himself in his garage, using
the then bleeding-edge Reverse Osmosis (RO)
technology. Then, having done that, the now
sixty-something chairman of Kent RO Systems
thought what was good for him would be good for
others as well, and founded the company in
1999. Since then, backed by a good product,
global certifications, celebrity endorsements and
customer acceptance, Kent has created a new
category in water purifiers and has today
emerged as a multicrore megabrand.
Thank You