Balram Garg, 47
Jeweller
Even though PC Jeweller (PCJ) Ltd’s market capitalisation has touched the sky at over $1 billion, its managing director Balram Garg’s feet are planted firmly on the ground. He knows the value of success because he didn’t always have it. PCJ has 75 stores today, all run by professionals; not family members.
He has dared to look at the macro picture of empowering thousands of people by employing them to maintain the PCJ brand and take its showrooms to the smallest of locations in India.
Garg’s biggest battle was taking the company public. The process started in early 2011 and ended only in December 2012. He had to overcome the perception that a jewellery company cannot come into the public space and give returns to investors.
This trial to change their attitude was not easy, but he emerged victorious in the end. “We have not only paid out dividends to our shareholders but have also given them capital gains. Today my company is amongst the top 500 in the country,” he says.
Garg’s plans for the brand’s future are coherent. Reaching out to more consumers by opening stores across geographies will be an important aspect of it, but not the only one. They will make a concerted effort to win customers’ hearts and minds.
Enhancing manufacturing facilities and designing capabilities, along with discovering new ways to enhance customer experience, will be the objective for 2017. “We’re working on using technology-driven tools like virtual and augmented reality to enhance consumer experience,” says Garg, who has pledged to never stop. It’s a jewel of a thought.
