On first impression, Aditya Gupta, founder, The Furniture Republic, doesn’t look the part of a thrill-seeking adventurer. Gupta, also the promoter of his family rugs export business, Sharda Exports is an avid mountaineer who has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the Island Peak in Nepal, and Mount Mutnovsky in Russia. But, his approach to his adventure trips certainly seems to be much like his approach to business—studied, determined, and meticulously prepared for. His business hike over the past 22 years has been paced well. His basecamp was growing Sharda into a leading Indian exporter. That success led to more ambitious treks—first, building the IHDP, a business park for home décor brands in India in 2004, and then launching The Furniture Republic, a retail home furniture and décor brand, in 2012, which he hopes to weave into a national brand of 50-plus stores, and sales of more than Rs500 crore through retail, e-commerce and wholesale by 2017. Will it be Gupta’s crowning summit?

The Backstory 
Aditya Gupta’s entrepreneurial journey begins with his family. Growing up in Meerut, he saw his parents strive to run a cold storage company. But, the 1970s and 1980s were tough times for the cold storage business because it was crippled with unfavourable government policy and low returns. His parents saw the writing on the wall, and began manufacturing carpets in 1983 out of the cowshed in their huge home. “I was in Class X then. So, we kind of grew up with rugs but it was a very, very small business, and certainly not one we could bank upon for the rest of our lives,” recalls Gupta. His parents stressed on education. “Become a man before you become a businessman, my father would always tell me.” A good student, Gupta got into an engineering bachelor’s course at the University of Roorkee, from where he graduated in 1990. “That changed the course of my life.” Gupta followed that up with an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. He gave a miss to the job offers that came his way, thanks to a testy conversation with his mother who told him she’d rather have her son be a job creator than a job seeker.  

The window of opportunity in any business is quite small, you can't wait or strategise endlessly.

The First Success 
In 1993, when Gupta joined Sharda, it was a small family business with about Rs35 lakhs in annual sales. His younger brother Ashish Gupta joined the business a year later as well. Unlike many traditional business families, their father exited immediately and the brothers fashioned an impressive growth story by aggressively focussing on exports. In 1992, they exhibited at Domotex, the global trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, in Hanover, Germany. “It was the first time somebody in our family was going outside of India. My father was dazed, but he trusted me to do this,” says Gupta. Several other exhibitions followed. By 1998, the brothers grew Sharda to annual sales of around Rs50 crores. “That was almost a 100X growth from what we inherited from our parents,” Gupta says. A combination of being creative and reliable worked in their favour, he adds. At that time, foreign buying agencies were forced to deal with unprofessional Indian manufacturers. Delayed consignments, shoddy quality and an inability to position oneself ailed the Indian furnishings export business. Gupta ensured his business wasn’t any of that, and got top retail brands such as IKEA, William Sonoma (which owns Pottery Barn), Germany’s Otto Group and Marks & Spencer buy hand-tufted rugs, hand-woven rugs, bath and leather rugs, poufs and stools from them. In fact, the Swedish retail giant IKEA played a key role in their growth. An IKEA catalogue once featured a Sharda rug on its cover which became their bestseller. “From 80 pieces a month, they asked us to supply 2,500 pieces a month.” Their success was steep but steady. In 1996, they were recognised as being the largest exporter of carpets from India by the Carpet Export

Promotion Council. The awards have kept coming, including the Trend towards Veracity Award at the AIT-Trendscoutng Heimtextil in 2012 for innovative re-use of materials like leather residues, flip-flops, jeans labels and old zip fasteners. By 2001, Sharda breached Rs100 crore in annual sales. At that point, Gupta began to realise that this business would soon plateau out. “See, after a certain size in this business, there comes a supply side constraint. We were already working with the best manufacturers, and using their highest capacity. It didn’t seem we could multiply that exponentially. The Rs100-Rs.120 crore in sales was a sweet spot for this business.” Also, by this time the home textiles export market had become crowded with a mushrooming of buying agencies, export agents and small exporters, many of which survived because they cut on price. “I didn’t want to continue working for high-volume, low-price brands, like Walmart, Target and IKEA.”  exhibited at Domotex, the global trade fair for carpets and floor coverings, in Hanover, Germany. “It was the first time somebody in our family was going outside of India. My father was dazed, but he trusted me to do this,” says Gupta. Several other exhibitions followed. By 1998, the brothers grew Sharda to annual sales of around Rs50 crores. “That was almost a 100X growth from what we inherited from our parents,” Gupta says. A combination of being creative and reliable worked in their favour, he adds. At that time, foreign buying agencies were forced to deal with unprofessional Indian manufacturers. Delayed consignments, shoddy quality and an inability to position oneself ailed the Indian furnishings export business. Gupta ensured his business wasn’t any of that, and got top retail brands such as IKEA, William Sonoma (which owns Pottery Barn), Germany’s Otto Group and Marks & Spencer buy hand-tufted rugs, hand-woven rugs, bath and leather rugs, poufs and stools from them. In fact, the Swedish retail giant IKEA played a key role in their growth. An IKEA catalogue once featured a Sharda rug on its cover which became their bestseller. “From 80 pieces a month, they asked us to supply 2,500 pieces a month.” 

Gupta began a lookout for the next frontier that would present an opportunity for growth as dramatic as he had got at Sharda through the 1990s.

The What-Next's
His travels across Europe and the United States made him think that a design and business park specifically for garment exporters was something India needed. “All good exporters could be in one place which would make it easier for buyers to come and source at one go. Every important buyer comes to India a couple of times a year, but they’re not able to find the best vendor. So, I thought if we could create a junction to facilitate a meeting, it would really help both the buyers and the good exporters.” That idea led to the IHDP Business Park, a five-acre office complex in Noida, which could cater to ambitious exporters, and help them attract foreign buyers. The 4,00,000 sq ft building came up in 2006 at a total investment of Rs100 crore. But, Gupta was disappointed that he couldn’t generate enthusiasm amongst exporters. “The big exporters didn’t come because they felt they had more buyers than they could handle. The small players felt if the big players aren’t going, how can we afford it? There was a lot of scepticism and cynicism about anything at the industry-level. People were worried their customers and clients would be poached by others, and the few carpet exporters who set up office at IHDP didn’t bring their customers here which beat the whole purpose! Plus, exporters and businessmen weren’t ready to shell out the rents we were asking.” Gupta admits, he went hoarse trying to build a community of exporters for the IHDP. Eventually, he gave up and rented out the space to corporate offices. “I doubt I will try and do anything again at the industry level. I don’t have it in me to struggle for people who don’t care about what I’m trying to do for them.” Fortunately, the IHDP investment didn’t result in financial losses. In fact, its prime location on the Noida Expressway ensured its value has appreciated exponentially. “The regret is what it could’ve been. It hurts more because I gave it undivided effort for a couple of years. But, when the corporates came in, it freed my time.”  

“Become a man before you become a businessman, my father would always tell me.”

A New Ascent
The free time got him to start thinking about the new “what-next”? In any case, his brother Ashish was at the helm in Sharda, and was doing a great job of managing it (although the brothers have since then realigned and restructured their shared businesses). “I wanted to invest in a business which had two parameters. It could grow in a modular fashion, and it had the capacity for massive scaling up. I eventually came up with three ideas—a chain of restaurants, a mini-gym for women, and a furniture retail arm which was an extension of our understanding, and global network in this business.” It is how The Furniture Republic, a retail chain of home furniture and décor, came up. “It made sense. We’ve been to the best trade shows, and worked with the best brands in this business.” The Furniture Republic opened its first showroom—30,000 sq ft across three floors—in Noida in January 2011. Another sprawling store came up in January 2012 on MG Road in South Delhi. “We are value-oriented player with a sense of style. See, in India right now, there is either a mass brand such as HomeTown, or several exclusive, luxury furniture studios. There is no middle ground for people who have good taste but can’t pay the moon for home décor. That’s where we fit in.” Gupta has invested Rs25 crore in the business, and claims the response has been encouraging. More than 4,000 customers have resulted in sales worth Rs22 crores across the two stores, he says. The aim is to scale up to 50 stores and Rs500 crores by 2017 on a hub and spoke model. He is aware of the challenges—right real estate, training to give customers a good brand experience, and a steady stream of new products. On the heels of The Furniture Republic, Gupta has also launched The Rug Republic, a catalogue-style rugs business which allows their B2B customers to choose rugs from a year-round collection. He believes the combined strength of the three brands, The Furniture Republic, The Rug Republic and Sharda provides him a chance to grab the potential in four verticals of the home furnishings and home décor market—B2B wholesale to smaller sellers, retail for urban consumers, an e-commerce platform, and our global network. “Basically, this blended model gives us the ability to move products fast. We can continuously use up our inventory, and have a fresh, new collection all the time.” Will these plans carve out a path to a new business peak for Gupta?