NIKHIL NANDA BIOGRAPHY
After spending his early years in Panipat, Nikhil Nanda, the Managing Director of JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited, moved to New Delhi at the age of 13. He completed his graduation in Political Science (Hons) from The Hindu College, University of Delhi. He further moved to Fore School of Management to pursue MBA.
Inspired by the MD of Gillette, where he was a summer trainee, Nikhil Nanda was drawn into setting up his own enterprise instead of continuing the job.
This led to the creation of Sunehri Svendgaard, an enterprise that manufactured FMCG products, in August 1997. The business is of Sunehri Svendgaard Laboratories Limited, Sunehri Oral Care, and Jai Hanuman Exports were merged into a limited enterprise JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited. Starting as a toothbrush manufacturer, JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited has expanded into a complete oral care enterprise. The company initially manufactured only toothbrushes, but later diversified into toothpaste and mouthwash as well.
Apart from working on its own brand, JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited also offers Contract Manufacturing Partnership to the brands in domestic and international markets. Amway India Enterprise Limited, Dabur India Limited, are some of the prominent brands for which the company has worked with in the past.
For JHS the turnaround phase came between 2014–2017, When the company settled its debt default. This one-time settlement made JHS debt free with only long-term vehicle loans outstanding. In 2014 Nikhil Nanda planned to launch his own brand, “aquawhite”. This was done to fill in the gaps in the oral care segment and to add more revenue line for the company. As the Managing Director of JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited, Nikhil Nanda has been instrumental in the growth of the company, defining the investment plans, business strategy, market orientation, and customer relations.
The production takes place in the two units of the company, set up at Noida Special Economic Zone and Himachal Pradesh (Kala Amb). The Noida unit is an export-oriented unit, which was established in July 2003 while the Himachal Pradesh is a tax-free location till 2020. The plants are automated, ensuring hygienic condition, and the product is not even touched in the whole production process. JHS has a team of over 60 highly qualified engineers, managers, officers, and supervisors to manage and maintain the plant effectively and efficiently. The company aims to expand PAN India and establish its feet strong in Indian oral care industry.
JHS receives 65% from its top 3 clients namely Patanjali, Dabur, and Amway. Nikhil Nanda feels fortunate enough to be working with Baba Ramdev and his company, Patanjali, which is the largest growing FMCG enterprise. Under the guidance of Nikhil Nanda, JHS Svendgaard has successfully partnered with Patanjali Ayurveda to open outlets in airports across India. The first store was unveiled at the T2 Terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport New Delhi, and the enterprise further aims to open 100 stores in the next two years. These stores are being set up under the supervision of JHS Svendgaard Retail Ventures, which is a part of JHS Svendgaard Group.
Nikhil Nanda is planning to expand the operations of his company to West India and South India, where the company doesn’t have much presence. He also identified that the toothbrush market is estimated to be around 700 million units, 70% of which comes from organized players. Also, the toothbrush replacement cycle in India is very low, where users change their toothbrush every 8 months, this cycle is where as of 4 months and 2 months in China and western markets, respectively. He also estimated the rise in growth from 9,000 Crores to 15,000 Crores by 2020??
Apart from this, Nikhil Nanda is also into a number of social and corporate philanthropy. The thoughts and views of Nikhil Nanda for the country are majorly in sync with the current Narendra Modi led BJP government. Along with his concern for the World Hindu Youth and the Demographic Dividend, Nanda is a pious devotee of Lord Hanuman. “Hanuman Ji has been the guiding light walking me through the ups and downs, the trials and tribulations of life,” Nanda said. Also, the HC Nanda Trust, constructed a statue of Lord Hanuman in Jakhu hills of Shimla, at an altitude of 8,500 feet above the ground. Nikhil Nanda, managing director of JHS, said on this occasion, ‘All my family members are huge devotees of Lord Hanuman. We laid the foundation of the statue two years back. And today it gives me immense pride to unveil it.’
As an entrepreneur, Nikhil Nanda aspires to raise the market share of its own brand, aquawhite. The company has a separate team that looks into marketing and branding. The company also aims to get into the manufacturing and production of other lines of product, namely shampoo and hair oil.
Nikhil Nanda has dealt with all the facets of the business ever since the constitution of proprietorship concerns to corporatisation of the same. His achievement includes exploring international markets for the company’s growth and is a lead source of product development. Nikhil Nanda has also mentioned that his own manufacturing brand, aquawhite is in no way competing with its clients, for which it has manufactured or is manufacturing. Therefore, the company’s product range is completely different from the ones that it is manufacturing for its clients.
Nikhil Nanda has been awarded as the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year 2013’. He has also been featured as a Young Turk in CNBC list of first generation entrepreneurs.
Nanda also believes that his company would successfully cater to the great Indian consumption boom, not only as an anonymous back-end for some other visible brand but as a proud visible player capturing a larger targeted share in the consumption boom.
