MR VASANT KINI

ANAND POLYMERS
MIP Phase Visit Report
Group C1

Aasma Bhasin-14F301
Akshay Jain-14F304
Anasuya Chanda-14F306
Atithi Rath-14F312
Azhar Makhani-14F313
Devang Bhatia-14F316
Dheeraj Kumar Singh-14F317

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are very thankful to Mr. Vasant Kini at Anand Polymers for his valuable inputs that
helped us in our project. His insights gave us an opportunity to understand business
nuances better. His immense interest in helping us understand the details helped us in giving
the best deliverables for our report.
We would also take this opportunity to thank the Omega team who gave us an opportunity to
visit Anand Polymers and understand the details of a business enterprise.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Anand Polymers is an 11 year old, polymer-based water tanks producing, medium size
company situated in the industrial area of Manipal. It is a family owned business. It caters to
the customers within 150 km radius.
MIP phase visit is designed for students to get the insight of how an industry works. A visit to
Anand polymers plant and a detailed-interview with Mr Vasant Kini helped us to understand
the working of the plant, knowledge about the business and overall the industry scenario. Mr.
Kini himself showed around the plant explaining the processes like preparation of raw
material, and operation of machines to mould or build and then cool water tanks.
The area of the plant is 1200 sq. feet which is used to manufacturing and storage of tanks.
The business is capital intensive. The capital investment on machinery is 35 lakhs and its life
is 20-25 years. The industry is seasonal: the sales are low because of high rainfall in the
months of June till October. Also because of the nature of production, supply of generator is
a pre-requisite to continue the moulding process in case of the power failure in between.
According to the interaction, approximately 70 percent of the population in and around
Manipal uses the polymer tanks and rest uses brick and mortar tanks. The life of these
polymer tanks is 10-15 years. They are maintenance free and offer cheaper repair. A great
deal of power lies in the hands of suppliers of raw materials as there is monopoly at that end
and the dealers who are responsible for the major chunk of sales as customers trust and buy
from dealers. The main raw material is LLDPE and the competitive advantage Anand
Polymers has over its competitors is over pricing. However the coverage area is limited to
and around Manipal under this company due to the delivery and transport charges of its
volumetric products.
Apart from transport, there are two other main challenges faced by Anand Polymers, which
is marketing the product and convincing the dealer. The dealers not only keep their products
but their competitors as well. Even the factory next door is a competitor names Rainbow
polymers, they also produce water pipes.
The lids of the tanks are outsourced. They are also into manufacturing dustbins on orders.
They have another polymer plant nearby where they manufacture tanks with more than 1000
lts of capacity. The website for Anand polymers is also outsourced. The accounts maintained
are all computerised. Most of the business payments is credit based.
Anand Polymers has a good hold of Manipal market. Over the 12 years since its inception, it
has established good relationship with dealers and customers. With new products in line, it is

on its way to diversify its product range. There is huge potential in terms of expanding its
radius and catering to new customers to increase business.

INTRODUCTION
Anand Polymers started in the year 2003.It had 25 years of experience in the field of plastic
bags before starting its business of water storage tanks. A family owned enterprise, Anand
polymers started its business with one paletiser to colour the plastic granules and deliver
water tanks across a diverse product line with various storage capacities. Since Anand has
been a family enterprise since its inception there has been no formal organizational
structure. Started by Mr. Vasant Kinis elder brother this enterprise has been handled by the
siblings since then.
After studying the business model of Anand Polymers a closer look could give us some
insights on the areas of appreciation & improvement of the company. The SWOT analysis is
as follows:-

S1O1 Using its 11 years of expertise in the storage containers making and plastic making it
can tap into other close by markets.

S1T2 25 years of experience in plastic industry would have been a successful relationship
model for Anand Polymers business hence it can build a stronger distribution network to
canvass its offerings. The dealership network needs to be strengthened to have an edge
over its competitors in market.
S2T1 Many of its existing customers have been moving to also keep competitors products.
Since the quality of Anand Polymers has been a great strength it can leverage the same.
The quality certification should also be share with its customers to distinguish their offerings.

ORGANISATION STRUCTURE:
The family business is headed by two brothers. The decision making is highly formalised and
rests with the owners. There is no formalised hierarchical structure present in the
organisation. There are in total of 8 workers in the organisation including 1 accountant.
The labour force availability is scarce as people are not willing to work in such an industry as
most of the people in Manipal are literate. Even, the skills required for operating the
machinery are not difficult to acquire and thus labour force can be replaced at a lower cost.
Some points highlighting the employees related policies

Working 6 days a week

14 CLs allowed per year
Yearly bonus @8.3% of salary
Medical insurance for the employees

PRODUCTS AND MARKETS

Products:
They have two products, namely: Water storage tanks and Loft tanks. Both having similar
product features. Anand polymers major product is 2-3 layered large water containers. The
features of the tankers are listed below:

Odourless and Corrosion resistant

Robust body with uniform body thickness
Stress and crack resistant
Light weight, easy to install and maintenance free
Virgin material used, ensuring uniform distribution of properties

Procuring the raw materials is very crucial to the company. Manipal is known for heavy rains.
They cannot start working with wet raw materials. The coloring of the product becomes

difficult. Hence, the raw material is first let out to dry and then placed in the process of
production.
Their production can be categorized over four major heads:
1. Procurement of raw material; it comes in as the master batch. It needs to be dried out
naturally before it is put in production. LLDPE, carbon black and other colorants are
the basic raw materials required
2. Extrusion; the raw material is loaded for a full profile extrusion facilitated by an
extruder and granulator
3. Pulverization; the extruded granules are then pulverized and colored (if required).
This process is facilitated by pulveriser and vibro-screen
4. Molding; the material is then forwarded for getting molded into tanks as required. The
process is facilitated by rotational molding machine
The tank thus obtained is then cooled and checked for any damage or leakage. If none
found, is identified as final product.
They differentiate their products on the basis of glossy finish. They use stainless steel
moulds and virgin materials that add shine to the product. This helps them place their
product differently in the market. The water containers are available in ranges between 200
5000 liters whereas loft containers are limited to 300 500 liters

Competitors:
Over the years, Anand Polymers has identified its major competitor as Sintex water tankers,
Rainbow Industries (local) and some other local players. Although they have been pretty
successful in placing their products above Rainbow on account of good dealer network,
Sintex however is still a market leader in manipal. Anand can provide 21 kg at Rs 5/litre
whereas Sintex provides 18 kg at Rs 8/litre, still Sintex control the market share of Water
tankers in Manipal and surrounding areas.

Supplier and Customer Relationship Management

Anand Polymers share a very loyal relationship with both customers and suppliers. They
have been dealing with both the parties for years, i.e., for almost 11 years. Anand has been
successful in retaining almost 95% of its customers over the years.
Same with suppliers. Sun Polymers has supplied Anand the lids for the tanks that Anand
produce for the past 11years.

Regarding supplier of materials, not much depends on relationship with suppliers as

Reliance enjoys monopoly in the raw material market. As a result, Anand has to accept
whatever Reliance offers without having much choice to negotiate.

Marketing Practices
The management of Anand Polymers is not too keen on advertising Anands products. Once
they did try to advertise through painting ads on the walls, but that did not create the desired
response. So they decided not to spend much money and effort in advertising and marketing
their products to the customers. Anand retains its customers through good service and
attracts new customers through word-of-mouth. Anand does not generally sell directly to
customers, but through dealers. So Anand maintains a good relationship with them and
keeps a daily tab about how the products are doing in the market and what is the customers
response.

Customers Buying Behavior

In this industry, there is little connection with customers directly. Customers mainly depend
and trust dealers choice. Same is in the case of Anand Polymers. This is why Anand targets
the customers less and the dealers more.

FINANCIAL PRACTICES:
The company was secretive about sharing the finance sources and requirements directly as
such. However, it is an industry which requires one time capital investment as the machine
costs approximately Rs. 35 lakhs. The useful life of machine is generally 20-25 years. Other
major investment was in the land (1200 sq. ft.) but as it was acquired before a long time, it
didnt have much impact on capital requirements.
The conduct of business is mostly credit based and thus shares cordial relationships with the
customers. In 10 years, 95% of customers have been retained. As it is located in Manipal,
which experiences torrential rains, the production is also affected by monsoon. The raw
materials are difficult to put color on if they are wet. Thus, the production is slowed down
during monsoon. This affects the cost structure for the whole year as more working capital is
required during other seasons.

Recommendation:
Improve supplier quality measurement
Improve the website UI and functionality
Develop a more broader and generic infrastructure to cater to a large segment of
customers
Effectively use marketing tools and techniques to reach out to more comprehensive
and prospective clients
Sign agreements with suppliers to avoid any kind of dramatic price variations
Assign relevant responsibilities to particular person or department for more organized
HRM
Divulge into more segments like pipes, tube wells etc.
Expand their distribution channels outside 150km radius.

Anand polymers is only operating in a 150km radius of Manipal where it has a loyal
customer base. In this region, it is a direct threat to syntax which is one of its main
competitors. Its product quality is better than its competitors and also comes at a cheaper
rate. So now the question arises that why only Karnataka? Why not expand into different
regions? It can leverage on its excellent product quality and low cost of production and think
about expansion. We would recommend that Anand polymers look at one more state to
supply its product.
There would be a lot of hurdles in doing so. One of the many challenges in doing this could
be the need of financial support. To this we would say that it can borrow some money from
the bank. At this stage, Modi government is supporting the make in India campaign and a
rate cut from RBI is also expected. This would surely decrease the rate of borrowing and
also setting up a new plant in a new state wont be a problem because of the government
support.
One more hurdle could be the high cost of transport and the procurement cost of raw
material at the new location. Here, choosing a new location will have to be done very
carefully. Anand Ploymers will have to choose such a place where transportation of goods
from the old facility to the new one is easy and viable. They should also keep in mind that
the new location is such where raw material is easily available.
Developing a customer base in a new market will be tough at first but we are sure that
Anand Polymers will be able to develop a significant market share in a couple of years owing
to the fact that it supplies the best product in the market at such a low rate.