New Delhi – In the Indian marketplace, etched in the minds of consumers and adorning numerous homes and businesses, one brand stands out conspicuously: Kajaria Ceramics. With Bollywood megastars Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh as endorsers, the brand’s reputation for quality and luxury precedes it. Yet, the real star of the company is not as familiar to the masses as its celebrity ambassadors. He is an industrious visionary whose remarkable journey turned a simple idea into a mammoth 20,000 crore empire in India.
Ashok Kajaria, a man of undeterred ambition, left behind the pursuit of an engineering degree in the United States to take on the entrepreneurial path. Returning to India, he embraced the family profession, but his sights were set beyond the conventional boundaries. His story is about turning adversities into adventure, and challenges into sweeping change, a narrative of perseverance and potential unfurled.
As the King Maker of the Tile Industry in India, Ashok Kajaria stands at the helm of Kajaria Ceramics, the biggest and most prestigious manufacturer of ceramic tiles. His brand’s products are not only admired for their quality and design but also for their promise of environmental responsibility. His ingenuity has impressively set global standards within the industry.
The foundation of Kajaria Ceramics was hardly an overnight success. It was rather a monument built from consistent efforts, collaboration, entrepreneurial insight, and innovative thinking. Ashok Kajaria’s odyssey from a modest beginning to a flourishing enterprise is nothing short of inspiring.
Born into a lineage of entrepreneurs, Ashok was always marked out to continue the familial legacy. Nevertheless, a significant turn of events brought him back from the U.S. shores as he chose to pursue entrepreneurial dreams over an academic capstone in mechanical engineering. He stepped into his family’s cast trading business with a future brimming with untapped possibilities.
In what would be a chance encounter, Ashok met middle eastern cast buyers during a business trip to the Gulf. This meeting opened the doors to an opportunity that would shape his future. They took him to Spain to witness the lucrative floor tile manufacturing industry. With the spirit of an opportunist, Ashok plunged in headfirst, exploring around fifty factories, and gathering insights that would prove invaluable.
His relentless research and foresight led him to ally with Todagres, a leading Spanish tile company. This partnership was the cornerstone of Kajaria Ceramics, established in 1988 with its first manufacturing facility in Sikandrabad, Uttar Pradesh, sporting an annual capacity of 1 million square meters.
Aware that brand recognition was vital, Ashok invested in strategic marketing, and in 1989 the first advertisement for Kajaria Ceramics hit the public domain. The bold initiative propelled the company to market leadership within two years, earning the distinction of being the first Indian tile company to go public on the National Stock Exchange in 2008, despite navigating through turbulent market downturns.
Kajaria Ceramics has since seen monumental growth. By 2019, it achieved sales of Rs 2956 crore and profits of Rs 227 crore, commanding an authoritative 11% of the market share. The company’s capacity boasts of six plants with a combined annual output reaching a whopping 86.47 million square meters, making it the 8th largest tile manufacturer globally.
Ashok Kajaria’s trajectory from a fledgling company to a premier entity is laden with hard work, foresight, and innovation. His story is a touchstone for entrepreneurs worldwide, symbolizing that the seeds of a local initiative can indeed sprout into a worldwide legacy. Kajaria Ceramics, under Ashok’s stewardship, continues to pave the future, setting benchmarks in efficiency and elegance for the global tile industry.
