Jump to content
  • entries
    35,857
  • comments
    14
  • views
    423,725

Ramesh Chauhan: The Man Behind Thums Up, A Brand That Refused To Die & Sucked Foreign Competitors Dry


Do you know what happens when you add air to water? You'll get aerated water or carbonated water! But, this is no laboratory experiment and you are not here to perform one. So, read on and we'll get to why this analogy is important. 

Ramesh Chauhan, An MIT Graduate Who Came Back & Conducted His Own Experiments In India

So, this is what happened. In 1962 a 22-year-old man named Ramesh Chauhan returned to India after receiving a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to run his family business. He joined them and two years later his elder brother who was also the Vice President of the company passed away in a plane crash, leaving the responsibility of running the company, which was already going through a rough phase and declining sales, to Ramesh. 

The Incredible Story Of Ramesh Chauhan: The Cola Man Of India© guruprasad.net

Ramesh Chauhan honored by The President of India, Zail Singh

Unlike many businessmen's children who slip into the family business, slowly, over a couple of years, Ramesh was promptly set to the task and asked to build a soft drink plant at Andheri, in suburban Mumbai. And he successfully did so. Now, you will see what air plus water can make up together?

Now, it was Ramesh's turn to play his cards right and he did exactly that. Using his father's desi tactics and the groundwork he had learned at MIT, the company started showing an upward graph again.

When Coca-Cola Made Tons Of Money Taking Advantage Of Absence Of Any FDI Policy In India

1956: Nearly a decade after India's Independence Coca-Cola entered the Indian market and made fortune because India had no foreign exchange act in function till then. Coca-Cola made a ton of cash operating under 100% foreign equity. They invested just Rs. 6,00,000 against a whopping profit of 250 million rupees over a span of 20 years.

But then something big happened in Indian politics which also altered the faith of many and also the way businesses operated in India.

The Game Changing Scenario And The Rise Of Home Grown Fizz Market In India

1977: The Indian foreign exchange act was implemented in the year 1974 as Indira Gandhi came into power. The foreign exchange act stated that foreign companies selling consumer goods must invest 40% of its equity stake in India in its Indian associates. Coca-Cola agreed with investing 40% foreign equity but stated that they would still hold full power in technical and administrative units with no local participation allowed. The government then plainly asked them to comply or simply stay away and so Coca-Cola abandoned its operations in India.

The Incredible Story Of Ramesh Chauhan: The Cola Man Of India© Guruprasad's Portal

This turned out be a golden opportunity for the Parle brothers, Ramesh Chauhan and Prakash Chauhan, who along with then CEO Bhanu Vakil, launched Thums Up as their flagship drink, adding to their portfolio of older brands like Limca (lime flavor) and Gold Spot (orange flavor).

Now, the fizz market was all there to be ruled with little competition from smaller regional competitors like  Campa Cola, Double Seven, Dukes and United Breweries Group's McDowell's Crush, who did not have a vision like Ramesh had. 

Ramesh says his major takeaway from his time abroad was that there was a difference between bookish knowledge and execution on the ground. He believes that executing a project is more than just getting the job done. This can be seen in the way he handles his brands and employees. He always found a way of making brands a part of his consumers' lives.

His Ability To Connect A Brand Resembling The Youth Of India

Under his leadership, Thumps Up enjoyed a monopoly in the market for almost 20 years, connecting the youth of India with famous slogans like 'Happy days are here again' to 'Taste the thunder'.

The Incredible Story Of Ramesh Chauhan: The Cola Man Of India© guruprasad.net

He made the fizz stronger and marketed it like a more manly drink for the 80's and 90s youth. Cricket and Bollywood celebrities endorsed the brand. 

There is even a Thums Up pahaad(hill) in the Manmad Hills near Pune resembling its logo.

The Relaunch of Coca-Cola In India And The Beginning Of Downfall of Ramesh's Empire

But then, in 1993 Coca-Cola re-entered the Indian market after government approval under the new liberalization policies that were coming to India. Although Thums Up had 80% of the market share but was majorly dependent on a franchise model and those people were not very happy with the autocratic leadership of Chauhan so they started switching to Coca-cola. Eventually, in 1999, Coca-Cola bought Parle, India's top soft drink brand, which bottled Thums up, Limca and Gold Spot. It is rumored that Coca-Cola even tried to kill Thums Up but soon realized the brand name it was known for. 

The Incredible Story Of Ramesh Chauhan: The Cola Man Of India© MxMIndia

Bisleri, A Pawn That He Had Bought In 1969 Turned Into A Knight Three Decades Later

As per Chauhan, Coca-Cola missed their chance to buy Bisleri under the deal and by then Chauhan had learned his lesson. 1969, Ramesh had bought the mineral water company – Bisleri from the Italian entrepreneur Signor Felice Bisleri of Italy at Rs. 4 lakhs. Now, this paid off. Today Bisleri is on the top when it comes to the bottled mineral water. He saw a gap which no one else could. He asked himself why would anyone need a bottle of soda when one is traveling for maybe just half an hour or so. If it is not a long train journey, no one needs to dilute their whiskey. So he introduced 500 ml and 1-liter water bottles and today you can see them served in hotels, marriages, railways and everywhere else.

Ramesh has even bigger plans for bottled water and believes that only one thing could change the fate. He says, “our biggest competitor is our incompetence” 

Chauhan, the founder of brands like as Bisleri(acquired), Maaza, Thums Up and Gold Spot literally became the Brand Man of India.

It is incredible to see how well he understood the marketing and business side of soft drinks and thus has set a new standard in terms of connecting a brand that people can consider their own.

0 Comments


Recommended Comments

There are no comments to display.

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...