38 Years of Toil

When she started her entrepreneurial journey in 1978, it was a road-less travelled. Come today, and she is not only exporting to EU and US, but also creating a culture of entrepreneurship amongst women in India.

Shivani Kapoor | March 2016 Issue | The Dollar Business

Rajni Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Ganpati Exports

For a married woman, who has a doctorate in education from Nagpur, getting into sales & marketing field during the late 70s was unimaginable. But this is how Rajni Aggarwal, Managing Director of Sears International Pvt. Ltd., Founder CEO of Ganpati Exports, and President of Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs (FIWE) started her career. As a first generation entrepreneur, her first venture was a marketing company.

“It was just five years after my marriage, that I first became the representative for North India for industrial plastics products in 1978. And I want to give credit to my husband for supporting me throughout,” she says. Subsequently she established manufacturing facility in Delhi for electronics and components. It was because of her excellent performance that she received a national award, as a small scale entrepreneur, from the President of India. She made quite a few transitions – exports of TV and related components, opening up a buffer assembly making unit for the Railways – before moving into exports of home furnishings and jewellery in 1996 through Ganpati Exports. Since then, there has been no looking back. Today, 50% of the company’s production are meant for exports to US and Europe. And she wants an even bigger tomorrow!

TDB: You have been in business for over three decades. What do you think has changed over the years?

Rajni Aggarwal (RA): The business scenario has completely changed. Earlier, struggles were related to small things like getting a telephone connection or seeking information on any subject. The challenges were related to infrastructure and information. Today, information is available at a click of a button. Technology has become so advanced that you can analyse everything on the Internet. But there are other challenges like fierce competition. There is so much competition that until one is fully focused on processes and quality, one cannot survive in this competitive world. You need to be apt with the latest technologies and trends in your field.

TDB: PM Modi, on many occasions, has promoted India as the next manufacturing destination. Your views. 

RA: Of course, India is one of the best places for manufacturing because of our manpower and resources availability. We have got skilled labour which is relatively low-cost as compared to other countries, even China. We should also look at the benefits the government is providing to the SME manufacturing zones like favourable rate interests etc. These are India’s strengths as a manufacturing destination and Ganpati Exports is taking advantage of it.

TDB: What changes do you expect from the government to boost exports of home furnishings from India?

RA: Government should give more incentives which, so far, it hasn’t been doing. Also, the raw material should be made available at competitive prices to the exporters. We can compete with Chinese exporters only when India comes up with similar policies as has been devised for them by their government.

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