Tapping the Untapped

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]“As we start catering to the demands of East-Asia, Africa and B2C segments in India, the aim is to achieve 25% growth,” said Nadeem Siddqui, CEO-Altret Industries Pvt Ltd during an interaction with Suprita Anupam [/box]

It’s been three years now since you joined the cleaning chemical Industry. Your experience…

Yes, we are on the brighter side. The perception of ‘cleaning’ is definitely getting changed amid rising awareness and growing infrastructure under policies like Swachh Bharat and Make In India. With 100 cities getting makeover under ‘Smart Cities’ and metros, roads & rails under construction, undoubtedly the cleaning industry is poised to grow at a higher pace.

How do you see the Indian cleaning chemical market segmentation?

One-fourth of the market share, or say 25-30% is captured by local manufacturers. While top chemical companies do have 20% of the market share, it is the remaining 50% where companies like us are dominating. We firmly believe that there is scope for all types of players, owing to the availability of diverse clientele in India.

What is your market strategy?

Altret’s business strategy heaps on its four major pillars – Altret team, suppliers, vendors and customers. The intent of our business is to let each of them benefit from our products.

We know the harsh reality of Indian consumers. Many consumers are still using phenyl as cleaning chemical, not because they are unaware of its consequence but because their pocket does not allow other chemicals. In spite of the ban across the globe, phenyl exists due to the affordability.

Indian cleaning market is highly price sensitive. Altret Chemicals are cost effective yet of high quality at par with global standards. To reduce the cost further, we are exploring the possible options without compromising on quality.

It is not possible to have manufacturing setups in all parts of the country, therefore the transportation cost escalates the price. Currently, we are looking towards creating hubs with refilling mechanism across all the four zones. This will help us transport fully concentrated chemicals; however what customers will get would be ready-to-use chemicals.

Also, we have started developing unique odour-based chemicals for specific clients. Suppose a company like ICICI bank collaborates with us for the consumables supply, then we will develop a chemical with a unique odour that one will experience only at ICICI branches. This will help strengthen the branding.

Innovations @ Altret

Altret has its own State-of-the-art R&D centre that helps formulate and develop customised products. In fact, a range of new and unique products has been developed. For e.g., Trends Solo Clean has been developed specially to clean solar panels which require frequent dust/ dirt cleaning. The solution has drastically lowered the maintenance cost of solar panels, increasing their life span.

Specially designed for polishing and crystallization of calcareous natural stones, Trends Mirage 90/91 is the only chemical available in the market for re-honing & re-polishing marble floors. It is safe to restore the crystals natural ability to reflect light evenly and provides a brilliant shine.

Then, we have developed some exclusive herbal sanitizers for children / soft skins. This is in the final stage of approval. These are some of the products that we are considering to apply for patents.

Trends SLR is another product that is unique and cost-effective solution for ceramic surface cleaning. It has also bagged the Clean India Award in best chemicals category.

Is there any plan to focus on B2C segment too?

Yes, our thrust is on B2C and we have started commercial production of some of products in small pack sizes of 500ml, 200ml and 50ml for ready-touse by customers. Though we are very new to this highly competitive segment, our channel partners and quality of our products have helped us to mark our presence in the market wherever we have launched these products. We started this last year and we did it pretty well without spending single penny on advertisement.

Any plan to export?

We are already exporting to various countries. This year our target is to reach out to East-Asian and African Countries. We are in discussion with potential channel partners from some countries for supply as well as Joint Venture.

What is your market strategy and growth performance?

Thanks to the channel partners, suppliers, consumers and Altert team, we have registered 20% growth this year too! This is also because we have not increased our product prices despite a huge increase in marketing cost. Going by the present market scenario, our goal is to make the growth rate 25%, considering the overall market growth at 15 – 18%.

[box type=”shadow” align=”aligncenter” ]Up, Close & Personal

I am a social worker at heart. On the similar lines of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), I have adopted Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) module whereby certain percentage of my earning directly goes to social causes taken up by NGO Human Welfare Society. At present, I am trying to fine-tune the healthcare infrastructure at Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. A 24x7hr ambulance facility which is free of cost for the entire society has been started. One ITI & Junior High School is running where poor & deprived are provided free education & uniforms. Nukkad Vidyalayas are imparting elementary education to Child Labour, School drop outs at their convenient time & location. I have also constructed an old-age & orphanage home with a small temple and mosque inside the ashram.

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