RS Goenka & RS Agrawal on Emami & friendship on Passion To Win

We started with a capital of only 20,000 rupees. We and Goenka were close friends in our school since, what you say, childhood friends. And we were friends, and then we would meet in our shop in the evening, even when we were doing our college, even when we were in our schools. So after we had completed our college, the question was more of meeting and less of business. Then the idea came that why not start a business so that through that business association we will be able to meet regularly. That's how the idea of starting business started. Since we used to sit in our shop where cosmetics, toiletries, etc. were being sold, we thought why not start a cosmetic business because the chances of losses are minimum and they do not require huge capital. That's how we got into the business of cosmetics. In the early '80s, however, they tasted their first real success. The turning point started from 1974 and then in 1978 we took over Emami Limited, which was a 100-year-old company at that time, but with very little resources. We took over that company and came out with the brand Boroplus. There, Emami Glycin was a leading glycerin soap in the country. Boroplus became an instant success. At that time, Borolin was the brand leader having more than 90% market share, and Boroplus we thought was a competitor, and our formulation of product was very good, so the acceptance of the product was very immediate, and that's how in three years' time we could get a sizeable market share.

Inspired by these successes, the two friends decided to diversify into other businesses as well. Emami is a 4,000 crore company, highly diversified into paper, we are into edible oil, we are into health care, we have got a chain of pharmacies, we are into retail, we have got a ballpoint pen tips factory, and we are going into these are the existing lines which we have, and then we are going into cement, power, we are thinking of hydro power as well, and we are in the process of acquiring some coal mines in Indonesia.

Left to me, perhaps I would have been able to manage the people, and the other thing I would not have been able to manage is money. Money is not my strength, though I'm a chartered accountant. Money, because I do not know how to conserve that. I know how to manage that. And we, Goenka and I, are the perfect complement to each other. And just like the certain music director duos like Laxmikant-Pyarelal or Shankar-Jaikishan, we are a great duo, but with one difference: only in our partnership there is no ego. It is oneness. We are not two, we are one.