The Kammas company blossoms as world’s biggest grower of roses

“After acquiring Kenyan company Sher Agencies, we now have 5.5% of the rose business globally” - Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, MD, Karuturi Networks

There is a school of thought that says that if you are going to get something done properly, then you have to do it yourself. It is a principle at the heart of many a great business and it is one that Ramakrishna Karuturi knows well.

He has risen to the top of the rose tree, becoming the world’s largest cultivator of the flowers, after Karuturi Networks, acquired the 188-hectare, Kenya-based Dutch rose farm Sher Agencies for US$73 million in 2007 and says it has plans to produce 1 million stems daily by March 2008.

KNL already has 50 hectares of rose fields in Ethiopia and has been allotted additional 450 hectares of land for its expansion by The Government of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is an ideal location for rose cultivation because of its climatic and soil conditions, cheap labor and better access to EU.

The mechanical engineer from Bangalore University, who returned to India from business school in Ohio in the United States a decade ago to run the family cables (Deepak Cables) and transmissions towers business, began his unlikely move into the flower industry one long, frustrating Valentine’s Day. Hunting for a rose bouquet for his wife across India’s IT hub, he drew a blank. Bangalore was a rose-free zone.

So he decided to start to grow them himself. In 1996, the entrepreneur opened two greenhouses on 3.2 hectares of land in the southern Indian city, which is renowned for its temperate climate, and began to export the flowers. Mr Karuturi’s roses are now sold in Africa, America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. With the Sher acquisition, the fourth outside India and a deal financed through foreign currency convertible bonds, Karuturi’s annual production has jumped from 130 million stems to 650 million. Its target is one billion stems by 2010. To achieve that, the company will build more greenhouses in Ethiopia and will seek further acquisitions in the highly fragmented global flower business. It is in advanced takeover talks with a nursery in Ecuador.

Mr Karuturi, 42, believes that there is a large market in India, where Valentine’s Day is being celebrated increasingly. “There is huge potential in India. When I came back from the US, Valentine’s Day was unheard of as a festival, but now even on Mother’s Day, gifts are exchanged. I was surprised how quickly Western events have been assimilated into the culture,” Mr Karuturi said. About 20 per cent of Karuturi’s rose business is domestic, but he says that can be increased to 50 per cent. The company has 100 flower shops in India.

“We produce enough rose to fill up one 737 and one 727 plane everyday,” says Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi, Managing Director of Karuturi Networks. “We account for 5.5% of the total rose business globally.”

Karuturi also supplies bottled gherkins to European, American and Russian supermarkets and provides niche software and IT services.

The quietude in the farm at Naranahalli village, about 60 kilometers outside Bangalore city, belies the activities of the little-known Bangalore-based Karuturi Networks, the world's largest rose-producer, with offices in Bangalore, Dubai, Amsterdam, Nairobi and Addis Ababa. Worldwide, though, cut-roses from countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, form the largest global suppliers.

An estimated 40,000 hectares of land are under rose cultivation world-wide, yet the biggest farm is no more than 200 hectares. Kenya has the world’s largest share of the rose trade - 4 per cent – because it has ideal growing conditions, including 12 hours of light a day. Horticulture is Kenya’s third-biggest foreign exchange earner, bringing about $100 million (£49 million) into the economy every year, with most flowers exported to Europe.

Valentine's Day (February 14) offer great potential to Karuturi Networlks because of climatic advantage during the period. Sale prices, usually around 20 US cents per stem off-season, sell for $3-4 per stem during the rose-happy holiday.

Comments

Kamma Cine Heroes

1) N.T.Rama Rao 2) Akkineni Nageswara Rao 3) Gattamaneni Krishna 4) Sobhan Babu (Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao) 5) Gummadi Venkatwsara Rao 6) Maganti Murali Mohan 7) Manchu Mohan Babu 8) Kongara Jaggayya 9) Giri babu (Yerra Seshagiri Rao) 10) Sridhar Surapaneni 11) Madala Ranga rao 12) Nandamuri Bala Krishna 13) SaiChand Tripuraneni 14) Akkineni Nagarjuna 15) Daggubati Venkatesh 16) Gadde Rajendra Prasad 17) Raja Sekhar (Kasukurthi) 18) Daggubati Raja 19) Bhagya Raj 20) Nandamuri Hari Krishna 21) Veeramachineni Jagapathi Babu 22) Meka Srikanth 23) Vadde Naveen 24) Tottempudi Venu 25) Gattamaneni Mahesh Babu 26) Junior. N.T.R 27) Sivaji Sontineni 28) Nandamuri Taraka Ratna 29) Nandamuri Kalyanaram 30) Yarlagadda Sumanth 31) Tottempudi Gopi Chand 32) Manchu Vishnu Vardhan 33) Manchu Manoj 34) Edara Naresh 35) Edara Aryan Rajesh 36) Ram Pothineni 37) Myneni Sarvanand 38) Daggubati Rana 39) Akkineni Naga Chaitanya 40) Nani (Ghanta Naveen Kum...

Kamma Movie Directors

List of Kamma Movie Ditrectors 1) Gudavalli Ramabrahmam 2) Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasad (LV Prasad) 3) Kovelamudi Bapayya 4) Veeramachineni Madhusudhana Rao 5) Kovelamudi S.Prakasa Rao 6) Kolli Pratyagatma 7) G.Sambasiva Rao 8) Tammareddy Krishnamurthy 9) Mannava Balayya 10) Tatineni Prakasa Rao 11) Tatineni Rama Rao 12) Tatineni Prasad 13) Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao 14) Gutta Ramineedu 15) Kolli Hemambaradhara Rao 16) Uppalapati Visveswara Rao 17) Tripuraneni Maharadhi 18) Tripuraneni Gopichand 19) Tottempudi Krishna 20) Madala Ranga Rao 21) Siva Nageswara Rao 22) Uppalapati Narayana Rao 23) P.Sarat 24) A.Mohan Gandhi 25) Bezawada Gopal 26) T.Kranthi Kumar 27) Maganti Vijaya Bapineedu 28) Tammareddy Bharadwaj 29) Akkineni Kutumba Rao 30) K.Vasu 31) Edara VV Satyanarayana 32) Muppalaneni Siva 33) Yalamanchili VS Chowdary 34) Theja Jasti 35) Sreenu Vytla 36) Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli 37) Vemulapalli Srikanth 38) AS Ravikumar Chowdary 39)...

THE MAN AND HIS LEGACY A portrait of PSG Govindasamy Naidu

Great legacies have mostly had humble beginnings. But, they have all been ignited by a grand dream. One such simple dream that has enriched generations in this entire region is the legacy of the PSG family and its institutions. Coimbatore today is known nationally for its industries and educational institutions, which were founded and patronised by its enterprising people. If one were to go into the past to study the origin of the early industries and educational institutions, the PSG legacy will weave a beautiful story. The founder The P.S.G. family, belonging to the Kammavar sect of the Naidu community, traces its history to Periya Veedu Venkatarama Naidu in the later part of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th centuries. The letter `P' in P.S.G. is derived from Periya Veedu, `S' after Sama Naidu, the third son of Venkatarama Naidu, and `G' after Govindadamy Naidu, the second son of Sama Naidu. The Origin of the family could be traced to its forbear Sri Venkatarama Nai...

LRG Naidu - A Socially Responsible Entrepreneur - Donar

Lakshminaickenpalayam Ramaswamy Govindasamy Naidu ( 1894 - 1970 ) was born as the fourth child to Ramaswamy Naidu and Chinnasamy Ammal on the 7 th of January 1894. L.R.Govindasamy Naidu was popularly known as LRG Naidu and he was an entrepreneur with a vision which encompassed several aspects of commerce and social life. He was closely associated with the Industrial Scientist GD Naidu from his early days. LRG Naidu married Ranganayaki Ammal and couple made Tirupur their home from the year 1924. The couple was blessed with four dynamic sons and a daughter Vijayalakshmi who was married to V.N.Ramachandran of Premier Mills. It was from Tirupur that he grew from good to great and he ensured that his enterprises and policies were built to last. His Vijayalakshmi Motor Service,City Mofussil Transports and Tirupur Karur Transports were headquartered at Tirupur and the other bus company Madura Public Conveyance from his stable had 40 buses and the operations where centered around D...

A road named after Veerasamy Naidu in Singapore

Veerasamy Road - Little India/ Singapore Veerasamy Road was renamed twice in its history; it was originally called Inche Lane, and was renamed Jalan Tambah in 1910. In 1927, the road was renamed again as Veerasamy Road, in honour of Dr N. Veerasamy Naidu (1865-1926), one of Singapore’s first Indian doctors and a leader in the local Indian community. Dr N Veerasamy Naidu was born in 1864. He was the son of Narayanasamy Naidu and Ramanuja Ammal. He learned Tamil from the age of four from his grandfather, Kuppusamy Naidu. He studied English at the Raffles School in Singapore and first worked at the lawyer’s office of Mr Cook. Unsatisfied in his job and drawn to the study of medicinal herbs, he decided to pursue an education in medical science and eventually worked in a hospital owned by Govindasamy Naidu. He set up his own clinic called Indian Dispensary in Rochor Road and derived effective scientific and traditional treatments for a variety of new diseases. He was the Presid...

List of Kamma Cine Heroes (Updated)

List of Kamma Movie stars: 1) Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao 2) Akkineni Nageswara Rao 3) Gattamaneni Krishna 4) Sobhan Babu (Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao) 5) Gummadi Venkatwsara Rao 6) Maganti Murali Mohan 7) Manchu Mohan Babu 8) Kongara Jaggayya 9) Giri babu (Yerra Seshagiri Rao) 10) Sridhar Surapaneni (Mutyalamuggu fame) 11) Madala Ranga rao 12) Nandamuri Bala Krishna 13) SaiChand Tripuraneni 14) Akkineni Nagarjuna 15) Daggubati Venkatesh 16) Gadde Rajendra Prasad 17) Raja Sekhar (Kasukurthi) 18) Daggubati Raja 19) Bhagya Raj 20) Nandamuri Hari Krishna 21) Veeramachineni Jagapathi Babu 22) Meka Srikanth 23) Vadde Naveen 24) Tottempudi Venu 25) Gattamaneni Mahesh Babu 26) Junior. N.T.R 27) Sivaji Sontineni 28) Nandamuri Taraka Ratna 29) Nandamuri Kalyanaram 30) Yarlagadda Sumanth 31) Tottempudi Gopi Chand 32) Manchu Vishnu Vardhan 33) Manchu Manoj 34) Edara Naresh 35) Edara Aryan Rajesh 36) Ram Pothineni 37) Myneni Sarvanand 38) Daggubati Rana...

L.G. Varadarajulu founder of ELGI Group (Asia's largest manufacturer of air compressors)

L.G. Varadarajulu (December 15, 1928 - May 19, 2010) was born to legendary businessman LRG Naidu and Ranganayakiammal on December 15, 1928 in Kalangal. After completing his studies in automobile engineering at the Arthur Hope's College in Coimbatore, he joined his father's bus transport business in Tirupur. He started manufacturing of automobile garage equipment and air compressors in 1960. He served as the Chairman of the ELGI Group of Companies — Elgi Equipments, Elgi Rubber, Elgi Ultra Industries, and LG Balakrishnan & Bros. ELGI is today, the market leader and Asia's largest and world’s seventh-largest manufacturer of air compressors and automobile service station equipment. ELGI's products are used in a wide range of applications in areas ranging from mining, defence, transport, pharmaceuticals, power, oil, railways, chemicals, textiles, printing to ship building, paper, electronics, telecommunications, medical, food & beverages and plastics....

G.D.Naidu, first generation Kamma Industrialist

G. D. Naidu (Gopalswamy Doraiswamy Naidu) was an Indian Inventor and engineer who is sometimes referred as the Edison of India. He is credited in manufacturing the first electric motor in India. His contributions were primarily industrial and span the fields of electrical, mechanical, agricultural (Hybrid cultivation) and automobile engineering. First of all he is a scientist but he studied up to only third standard. Naidu was born on March 23rd , 1893 , in Kalangal, near Coimbatore. He began his transport business in 1920 , with the purchase of a passenger auto-coach. He drove it for the service between Pollachi and Palani. In a few years, his United Motor Service (UMS) owned the most efficient fleet of public transport vehicles in the country. In 1937, the first motor to be produced in India, was brought out from G D Naidu's UMS factory. He invented an electric razor - Rasant - that gave users far more shaves than other existing options, in the international market. Among his ot...

Pharma Entrepreneur Chava Satyanarayana Joins Billionaire Ranks

India’s pharma sector, which has been in the spotlight during the pandemic, has just minted a new billionaire. Satyanarayana Chava , 60, founder and CEO of the $658 million (revenue) Laurus Labs —an integrated pharma and biotech company which makes everything from pharma ingredients to enzymes and proteins—saw his personal net worth cross $1.1 billion after shares of his company jumped this week. The stock has risen 176% in the past 12 months. Laurus Labs supplies pharma ingredients for drugs to treat HIV, cancer, asthma and diabetes. The company says that one out of three HIV-infected patients in low and middle income countries are taking meds with ingredients supplied by Laurus Labs. It has marquee clients, including some of the world’s big pharma players, who buy pharma intermediates, generics and contract manufacturing research services from Laurus. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, the company recorded a 70% uptick in revenue and a 286% surge in net profit to 9.8 billion r...

G.K. Devarajulu The textile city Architect of Coimbatore

The brothers who contributed substantially to the industrialisation of Coimbatore are G.K. Devarajulu and G.K. Sundaram . The sons of cotton merchant G.Kuppusamy Naidu, who also had a ginning unit, both evinced immense capability. Devarajulu, born in 1911, was a man with appetite for risks. He set up the Lakshmi Mills at the age of just 21. As the machinery for the cotton units were imported from Europe under the impression that those from Japan were substandard, Devarajulu visited the factory in Japan to study whether the machinery would suit Indian requirements. Consequently all the machinery for his unit were imported from Japan. He also introduced the administrative system he found good in Japanese units. When Devarajulu and Mr. Sundaram joined Textool as shareholders in 1940, the company produced its first ring frame. Devarajulu joined hands with R.Venkataswamy Naidu of Peelamedu to set up the South India Viscose for which he imported m...

Kammas World

Search This Blog