Rice & Fall of Kohinoor Basmati rice: Acquired by Adani Wilmer Ltd.

Yogesh Dawda

May 10

Satnam Arora, Gurnam Arora, Jugal Kishore Arora original founder of Kohinoor Basmati Rice.

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Kohinoor brand was the brain child of Satnam Overseas, New Delhi. It was considered to be No.1 brand in India competing with Lal-Quila, Sadhu, 817 brands, today's top brands like Daawat, India Gate hardly existed. Worldwide Kohinoor was competing Tilda & Veetee rice in United Kingdom as well in USA. Apart from domestic market they were one of largest exporters of Basmati Rice from India.

Kohinoor was one of the early entrants in the branded basmati rice in the 1990s in the country. It ranks among the top players in branded basmati segment. It was founded by Satnam Overseas partners - Satnam Arora into international business; Gurnam Arora looking after domestic business & elder brother Jugal Kishore Arora was handling purchases and running rice mill in Murthal, Harayana.

They also ventured into Kohinoor ready-to-eat curries & meals, I use to have their Dal Makhani, Rajma & Sarson-da-saag, it was always remained in short supply due to good demand, in 1990s if I remember correctly the brand value of Kohinoor was around ₹2000 crore.

Since I was into rice business since 35 years, I have seen the rise and fall of Kohinoor, I was sad to learn when this brand was sold to some foreign entity and recently it is acquired by Indian company Adani Wilmer Ltd.

The brand portfolio comprises "Kohinoor" for premium Basmati rice, "Charminar" for affordable rice, and "Trophy" for the hotels, restaurants, and catering.

After this acquisition, AWL will strengthen its position with a 12 per cent market share in basmati rice. AWL's Fortune had a 6.5 per cent market share and Kohinoor 5.2 per cent.

However, even after the buy, the combined entities will trail the market leaders India Gate, which has a 33 per cent market share, and Daawat, which has about 23 per cent market share.

Succession plan:

The thumb rule is that the second-generation entrepreneurs should enter the family business at a mid or senior-management level, and it is only after they hone their skills and demonstrate their abilities hands-on then it should be handed over the reins of the business to coming generation.

In India their is no succession plan, there has to be strategic document that outlines the process that boards and committees must follow when replacing board members, board leadership, or the executive director. These plans can help fill an existing vacancy or plan ahead for a future vacancy in one of these positions.

That is the main cause of the failure of big business houses unable to handle over the reins to second generation which is due due to no succession plan in place.

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