Success India Magazine Team
Venkata Ramana – Chairman & MD, Garuda Group of Companies, Bangalore
In 2017, Garuda Group of Companies started its operations in multiple business verticals, mainly manufacturing, food & beverages, logistics & exports, ecommerce, and EV mobility. India is growing at fast pace and the country’s population needs quality products & services and not every company are committed to provide it. Especially the rural parts with tier 2 & tier 3 cities have excellent growth rate but most of the brands are struggling to maintain good rapport with the population. This is where Garuda steps in to cater the needs of every Indian consumer with quality products & services having global standards. Today it is a 50 Cr+ turnover company, steady growing to its popularity, with its customer centric approach.
Garuda’s founder, Venkata Ramana hails from Nellore and is an MBA in finance with high business acumen and strong leadership qualities. He started his career in 2002 by teaching college students and shifted gear towards managing financial products later. Having proved his mettle, he polished his financial talent and leadership qualities in the insurance sector and later did a stint in the marketing part of business by joining a company in Bangalore. Wherever he went, he shined in his roles and grown vertically in the corporate ladder reaching to the Regional Manager position by 2011. In 2017, he opened the first outlet of Garuda Mart India Pvt. Ltd. with his hard work and commitment towards his goals, and ensured his company to reach greater heights in its business. His belief in maintaining good relations with suppliers and customers obtained a unique identity for him and Garuda Mart in the society. His innovative ideas coupled with right decisions made Garuda Mart to become a 20-crore turnover organization.
According to him,
“I started Garuda Mart as a small trading company in 2017, in a small retail shop in Bangalore. I quickly identified that the real deal was in distribution and went into distribution. With the tier 1 cities being flooded with a variety of brands, I decided to focus on tier 2 cities to help the residents get an experience of lifestyle living at a moderate cost.”
Having a deep understanding of the customer NEEDS is the key to success, hence he focussed on Televisions. That was how he started the VYOM brand in 2017. To ensure higher customer satisfaction, Venkataramana not only ensured that they should have highly qualified technicians that offer service but also focussed on higher product quality at the manufacturing level. Despite the heavy competition in the segment, they were able to reach the customers through the right kind of dealer partnership and a rewarding sales program. The next step was to work on increasing the product line and for this he started working on ADJACENCIES. The question that he asked to self is that if the customers buy a TV, which would be the next product that he would look at?
Thus, started manufacturing and distribution of Washing Machines. Keeping in mind the target customers, the sole focus was on semi-automatic machines with good wash quality. Continuing the path of adjacency, he then decided to launch another brand dealing with small domestic appliances, GPLUS. GPLUS has already penetrated the southern market and enjoy a sizeable market share. It is heartening to note that the COVID pandemic disruptions didn’t dampen the demand for brand products. Today, 70% of the company’s business comes from its LED TV, and washing machine products.
Currently the company is on expansion mode and looking forward to open its G-DIGITAL retail chains across India with more than 500+ outlets. Expand logistics network across the country and aim for export network expansion in selected countries. Collectively there’s a mission of achieving 1500 cr turnover in next 3 years span of time.
This success of Venkataramana and his group of companies didn’t just happen without its share of challenges and hardships. His wife and parents pitched in with their savings too. Costs remained high, and the company’s margins remained low in the formative years of Gplus Home Appliance. But with customer’s liking for the brand, sales looked up and things became brighter. Today with the motto of serving people and building country’s economy Garuda Group of Companies are marching ahead with success. And this has been duly recognised by various industry bodies over last couple of years. In 2019, it won Eco sure Award of Excellence along with Indian Business Awards. The following year, in 2020, it bagged India 500 CEO Awards and India 5000 start-up Awards. 2021 was the year of India Best MSME Awards, National Achievers Awards for Business Excellence, Business Icon of India, and Indian Achievers Awards. In 2022, the company was felicitated with National Achievers Awards for Business Excellence, and Business excellence in manufacturing of consumer electronics. The latest achievement is the Signature awards for 2023.
