CHENNAI: He started his retail sale of consumer durables in south in the late seventies. As a first generation businessman, he cut his teeth in retail business during his eight-year stint in the VGP Group from 1970 to 1978. For his brilliant acumen in trade matters, he had been awarded the prestigious IMM-Bajaj Award as an entrepreneur of exceptional talent in 1988.
The consumer movement created by him in the retail sector has made everyone sit up and notice his business model with envy. His company Vasanth & Co, a premium chain dealer in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile phones, is still considered to be a leader in the retail segment in south.
This extraordinary businessman is none other than H Vasanthakumar, CMD of Vasanth Group of Companies, and who also happens to be the MLA, representing Nanguneri constituency in Tamil Nadu.
Born in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, he chose Chennai for starting his chit business in 1978, going from door to door on a bicycle for collecting the chit amount from the people. When the chits matured, the subscribers were given utensils of various kinds for the amount that they had paid. Then he worked out a plan to supply colour TVs on an instalment basis to the employees of Ashok Leyand after a tie up with Sakthi Finance. Then came the big success that made him enjoy a household name in the world of consumer durables.
He also runs a popular TV channel — Vasanth TV. The TV channel is looked after by his sons - Vijay Vasanth and Vinod Vasanth.
Now, Vasanth & Co has 48 outlets — 46 in Tamil Nadu, one in Pondicherry and one in Bangalore. Plans are there to open four more showrooms — in Trivandrum, Theni, Marthandam and East Tambaram, at an outlay of Rs 10 crore.
In an interaction with this correspondent, Vasanthakumar said that his company Vasanth & Co sold products ranging from small household appliances to higher end electronics and branded items from global companies.
Stating that the retail business of the company stood at Rs 400 crore last year, he wanted this to go up to Rs 600 during the current year, though the ambitious plan would be to achieve a business target of Rs 1000 crore by 2014.
Asked about his plans to enter North India, he said, “I don’t have any immediate plan to go to areas beyond Tamil Nadu and southern states.”