Meet Atul Garg, MD, GRM Overseas, one of the most successful Indian entrepreneur

New Delhi: From humble inception in 1974 to redefining itself in the form of GRM, GRM Overseas Limited, today an NSE and BSE listed company is one of India’s leading basmati rice exporters and a growing consumer staples player.

GRM Overseas has travelled a long way since then. Gradually expanding its reach, under the leadership of Mr. Atul Garg, Managing Director, GRM Overseas has developed a market for its rice in more than 45 countries, thereby achieving the title of the 3rd leading Rice Exporter in India. GRM has three rice processing units with an overall annual production capacity of 4,40,800 MT-based out of Panipat (Haryana), Naultha (Haryana) and Gandhidham (Gujarat). Additionally, the Company has a warehousing facility of 1.75 Lakhs sq. ft space adjacent to the Gandhidham plant facilitating speedy shipments from Kandla and Mundra ports.

GRM produced ~1,50,000 tonnes of basmati rice in FY22 and registered 30% CAGR during FY2018-22.

GRM sells products under its brands, namely "10X", "Himalaya River" & "Tanoush," and also sells through private label arrangements under customers' brands. GRM has endeavored to reach consumers directly with its brands and products in recent years. By placing its products on the shelves of several major retailers in India and abroad, GRM has ensured that the end consumer always has easy access to their high-quality products.

GRM Overseas has strengthened its product portfolio by successful introduction of 10X Basmati Rice, 10X Zarda King Golden Sella Basmati Rice –1121, 10X Biryani Kit, 10X Shakti Chakki Fresh Atta in the domestic market.

Champion Shuttler Saina Nehwal is the Brand Ambassador of the Company for endorsement of Company’s Products / Brands and promotional appearances.

Sheer passion and broader vision to see their company as one of the largest exporters Mr. H.C Garg started GRM company about 4 decades ago where he was working for government contracts. Though rice was their family business, but Mr. H.C Garg, a visionary advanced along the supply chain using forward integration. His first export consignment was to Saudi Arabia in 1989, and it remained GRM's key destination till 2001 when other Middle East markets started gaining prominence.

After graduating from Thames Valley University and with an MBA degree in International marketing, Mr. Atul Garg, started his career on the shop floor of his company GRM understanding the basic processes of milling and quality control as that is the first step towards building a world class brand of rice that is unparalleled in taste and quality.

The value system became the basis of the core thinking of Mr. Atul Garg which also helped him develop as a person that he is today and thus the strong base upholding GRM.

In his initial years Atul Garg was able to successfully shift the legacy business into large conglomerate and soon with the correct value system and progressive thinking was able to achieve the milestone of Rs. 1150 crore turnover, a remarkable milestone for all – the management, staff, distributors, investors. And increased their profits by developing a large customer base.

Mr Atul Garg had a knack of understanding the consumer deeply and developing products as per the need of the hour which gave rise to a subsidiary company FoodKraft and the leading brand 10X.

The company’s varied clients all over the world gave them the right exposure of spreading their wings, thinking large, out of box and successfully implementing the strategy into success.

Over the years, the company has grown from just being a rice exporter to an associate partner of major global consumer brands across 45 countries.

GRM have plans to unveil more high margin products in coming quarters under our 10X brand which will further strengthen our presence in both the general and modern trade.

Being one of the leading basmati rice exporters, the company has transformed itself into a major consumer staples player with a focus on improving its brand visibility and aiming to create India’s largest and trusted standalone consumer staples brand.

Thought process…..

A brain child of its MD, Mr. Atul Garg, GRM’s brand 10X depicting immense power is bringing the concept of Back to Basics and thriving on the age-old staples such as rice, wheat and other FMCG commodities. The company is thrilled to uproot the myth that RICE and WHEAT are mere carbohydrate and should not be used in extreme health conditions.

Using a customer centric strategy, he is leading the team to acquire the instantly actionable learning about their target consumer, by questioning how, when and where can their products and services make their best customers even better

GRM in their new Avaatar, is focusing on new solution development and customer experience management in terms of the understanding the eating habits of their consumers and making them easily available to them.

Their main focus now is on the segments of RTC and RTE which includes Ready to cook Biryani kit in multiple flavours, rice noodles with low percentage of saturated fat, rice flour, ready to eat Biryani in different flavours, rice phirni and the delectable Sushi.

The radar of GRM has broadened and is now ready to take on the food side of India’s most flourishing FMCG market. The quest for excellence into every new product is based on an extensive R&D by GRM before any new product is launched.

By 2025 GRM sees themselves as the leading domestic brand 10X and a very committed company for providing FMCG goods into the Indian market through FoodKraft taking over a considerable market share in consumer staples.

By 2030 the company sees itself as one of the premier consumer staples brand – Foodkraft committed to customers, community, employees and Investors. GRM’s vision is to be the most preferred company of choice for all our customers, in India and abroad, and to continuously render service excellence to surpass their expectations.

With extensive interaction with customers abroad and in India, Mr. Atul Garg has been working incessantly on the changing food habits of the Millennials and the Generation Z. The quest for health despite of indulgence has been the mantra of this growing economy especially after the pandemic.

The company’s focus is on understanding the change in eating habits of the consumer and with the rise of health and wellness segments, GRM take pride in working on Innovation over competition.

Futuristically…

There is a parallel research response from GRM team on the ever-growing problems of Type II Diabetes and gastritis. Our team is working hard on making products which are compatible with this epidemic that India is faced with. We not only want every Indian to have their meal without worrying about the fat and the starch content in their food but also accept rice in its original form. This concept is once again derived from our back to basics approach where our ancestors thrived on the staple food of India which is once again- our good old rice.

Collaborations and Growth

GRM takes pride in their soon to be collaboration with GOKHANA. India’s answer to digitize corporate cafeterias and tech park eateries solving problems for employees, caterers and the corporate.

It will not only add to the already fast-moving growth of 10X but also will help us to get involved into benefits of technology.

It will act as another platform for marketing our developing RTC for Horeca and RTE segment amongst corporates.