The
journey of JMD Oils started from a smalldepartmental store in the residential colony of
Ramesh Nagar, West Delhi. Now the store has transformed into the JMD Group,
which is worth Rs 1,500 crore. Known mostly for edible oils, the group plans to
touch the turnover target of Rs 1,800 crore by 2014.
The company's refinery
in Kandla, Gujarat has a refining capacity of 1,000 TDP of edible oil per day.
In total JMD group has generated direct
employment for more than 3,000 employees. A plan to set up another refinery, of
a similar capacity is underway. Established by JR Dhingra, the group is now run
jointly by his sons Gulshan, Krishan, Naresh and Sanjay.
The
founder, JR Dhingra settled in Gharaunda, Karnal
after migrating from Pakistan after partition. It was in 1952 that Dhingra
travelled to Delhi on a bicycle from Karnal and started his departmental store
in Ramesh Nagar with a partner, who broke
away after four years.
The earnings of the
store went up from Rs 1,900 per day in 1984 to Rs 3 lakh per day in 1994. It was in 1987 that the family
floated the name, JMD Oils and ventured into the edible oil distributorship. "We started with the distributorship of
Kabra Agro Industries for their soy bean oil. Then we got the distributorship
of the Gujarat Cooperative Oilseeds Growers' Federation (GROFED) in the year 1988.
By the
year 2000, the company, still based out of Ramesh Nagar, had established a
dealership network so strong that it launched its own brand by the name of
'Lite' (palm olein oil) and 'Good health' (soy bean oil). And then came the reforms in
the duty structure on imported oil. "The government increased the taxes on
imported refined oil," They started importing crude oil, and
outsourced the refining process and sold it under their brand name.
By now, the four
sons of JR Dhingra had fully taken control of the business. The company had
acquired one of the brands, which it used to distribute. "Vital was a
brand owned by Britannia and later on sold to SM Dyechem. In 2004, they
decided to set up a refinery of their own. In 2005, the company established
their own refinery in Kandla district of Gujarat using German technology and
machinery.
It was in 2008 that
the company gave up the distributorship of all brands it was working for.
"It was all because of backward integration. We set up market and
distribution network so that there would be enough customers. The company has not limited
itself to edible oil. In the year 2004, the group diversified and set up a
plant for packaged drinking water and aerated drinks under the brand name of
'H2GO'. The group also manufactures salt by the name of Good Health, laundry
soap, club soda and cola drinks. Today it has a distribution network of 1,200
distributors across the country and 22 depots along its length and breadth. It
is celebrating the completion 25th anniversary of its inception.
Quoting
former president, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Naresh concluded, "Dreams are not
those which are seen while you're sleeping. Dreams are those which don't let
you sleep."
Cheers
Vivek
