Ready for a perfect takeoff
Anmol India was incorporated with a vision of making available the underutilized Coal resources of Eastern India to the Brick Kiln Industry of Northern India. It was an outcome of Mr Vijay Kumar Goyal, who observed the brick kiln industry in Punjab from close quarters and saw an opportunity. Basically Anmol India Ltd. is a coal trading company whose objective is to fulfill fuel demand of the Goods manufacturing sector of the country. Mr Vijay Kumar has followed one formula for success: to learn and grow steadily by forming fruitful alliances. From 1985 to 1998 he followed this mantra, gaining experience and market share by forming alliances with people who were already in this trade. Over the years the Company has witnessed exponential growth. Once a domestic coal trader, the company today is known for its Bulky imports of coal from overseas and steel grade coal procured from Coal India Limited.
The Company is ready to hit the markets by making its presence on the BSE SME platform soon. Indian Economy & Market met with the promoters Mr Vijay Kumar Goyal and Mr Chakshu Goyal to understand the future strategy of the Company.
Let us know the journey of the Company over the years. It must have been a gigantic task as the business rules were not liberal when it all started.
You are right. Those days were really tough. It all started when I observed the brick kiln industry in Punjab. The coal that was supplied to this industry was being brought in from Meghalaya. I decided to seize this opportunity and promptly shifted to Assam and formed a sales team in Punjab. The hardships were many. The coal was highly taxed and had to be unloaded and reloaded approximately 3-4 times during its journey from Meghalaya to Punjab as most transporters were not ready to cover that long route. But I kept developing infrastructure to counter the same.
In 1998, I formed Anmol India Ltd., and loaded our first rake of coal. This was a big turn as earlier we had never moved this quantum of stock. But relations with the customers helped us, and the rake was sold instantaneously. After that there was no looking back.
In 2000, as the business grew Capital Small Finance Bank provided financial support and seeing the expanding scale kept increasing credit limit manifold every year. In 2001, the Company started procuring coal from Coal India Ltd. With this it was able to target more diverse industries. It was a tough decision as the procurement was capital intensive and all payments were to be made around one month in advance.
How and when you got associated with USA coal?
In 2012, we found that USA Coal could be more viable than Meghalaya Coal because of its better quality and price. So we started approaching coal exporters from Indonesia, and USA. The customers were more satisfied with USA Coal and we got associated with prominent established importers of USA Coal. It was vice versa as USA Coal companies were also happy to be associated with the Company. Over the years we started importing coal from USA directly while also procuring it domestically. In 2014, we decided to shift the management to Ludhiana as there was a transitional shift in the industry. It was this prompt decision that helped the Company to survive at a time when most coal traders were wiped out.
Since 2016 we see the Company taking a big leap forward.
Yes. By that time we had settled. In 2016, Chakshu Goyal also joined the business after completing his studies from Indian School Of Business, Hyderabad and he has brought various structural changes. He introduced the Anmol Coal Mobile application which soon became the benchmark for USA Coal price in India. The customers were happy with this kind of transparency. He also increased the demographic reach of the company and today the company has its presence in almost half of the country including South India. He has developed a unique retail customer base which is very valuable during bearish market as this customer base is lesser price sensitive than coal traders and corporate.
The company has incorporated various modern business practices. For instance, Neelam Goyal, (director) interacts with employees regularly especially female employees and in her own capacity is the informal HR of the Ludhiana Branch. Another director Mr Tilak Raj’s market knowledge, social network and business acumen has benefitted the company immensely.
What all the types of Industries the Company presently cater to?
The company serves a wide array of industries like Brick Kiln industry, Steel Rolling Mills, Textile Industry, Coke Manufacturing Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry, Paper Mills, and Dyes Industry etc. The company also serves coal traders.
You are also into trading of both Coal and Pet Coke. How much these contribute to the top line?
Our primary product is USA Coal. But as we said previously that our asset is our customers and we are always ready to serve the product that our customers want. A few years back when falling pet coke prices made it a lucrative fuel for some industries, we quickly delved into the petroleum coke import business. We quickly increased our sales of petroleum coke. Today we are also trading good quantity of Indonesian Coal. Our revenue for the last financial year is `298 crore which is more than 55% increase from the FY2016-2017. Our sales for the first two quarters of this financial year (2018-19) is more than double of the first two quarter sales of last year (FY2017-18).
What are your immediate future plans after the IPO and the kind of financials the Company targets to achieve?
Currently the demand for USA Coal has boomed, as more and more industries are starting to use it as a fuel. This is the right time for us to increase our volumes given our expertise of this commodity. Our IPO will also help us in this endeavour. At the same time we also intend to import newer variety of coal strategically. For instance, the USA Coal we supply has certain caking properties which allow it to be used in cokeries for blending. We have tapped this market and connected with clients (cokeries) who require coking coal and in future we intend to supply them coking coal as well. Thus, developing a customer base for a commodity before we even supply it to them is our core strength. In future we also intend to import on more Indian ports.
