Story about Agarwal Packers and Movers DRS Group

by Agarwal Packers Agarwal packers and movers

Dayanand Agarwal was a rolling stone, but he gathered moss and also got polished In due course of time. A high school dropout,who moved from his native /nalwa village in Hissar district of Haryana to Kolkata, he started working in 1965, at the age of 14, in a pipe fitting workshop for a monthly salary of Rs35.agarwal packers and movers hyderabad DRS Group

And the stone continued to roll: the very next year, he moved to Bolangir in Orissa as a munim in a cloth shop. His pay jumped nearly three times, to Rs100. Changing his situation – both job and place of stay – again within a year, he went back to Haryana and started his first own business, a garment ship in Loharu town,about 50 miles from Nalwa.agarwal packers and movers Guwahati DRS Group

When Agarwal turned 18 in 1969, he married to shashikala. He however left his new wife – and growing family – at home and continued his nomadic life, opening a garments shop in Hissar in 1970, then joining thr Chunnilal Jindal group the following year, he moved to Nepal in 1972 and worked in the incometax department for two years, his longest stint till then. His stays in a single place got longer: he returned to Nalwa and worked in a grocery shop for five years.

In 1979, then 28, Agarwal got a job at Economic Transport Organisation (ETO) in Bengaluru at a salary that was ten times what he had started on 14 years earlier: Rs350 a month. A hard worker, he rose quickly in the company, getting transferred to Chennai (then Madras) in 1980 and to Hyderabad a year later. It was then that he finally brought his wife and children to the place where he worked. The family lived in a one-room rented flat. ‘’We had one room, with one bed in it,’’ Shahikala Agarwal remembers.agarwal packers and movers Vijayawada DRS Group ‘’We used to sleep on the bed – until, one day, it boker!’’ There were only five or six kitchen utensils, which she had to use alternately for cooking and eating. Her husband used to save Rs50 every month, one-seventh of his salary, for emergencies. He had a bicyle, on which he took the children to school, then went to the market to buy vegetables. It was a round a round trip of more than 10 miles (16 km). agarwal packers and movers gandhinagar DRS GroupThen he would go off to work, and come back late at night. ‘’But those were good days!’’ she says. ‘’I never thought I had a bad time. We must always look at people below us, who sleep on the streets. I tell my children too the same thing’’

Then disaster struck – but it was to be a blow that would lay the foundation for what is now the Rs250-crore DRS Group. In 1986, seven years after he joined ETO, the owner questioned Agarwal’s integrity – and he quit the job. ‘’I took this as an opportunity to start something of my own as it was always my aspiration to be an entrepreneur,’’ he recalls. He went to Hargoving Sachdav, who was then Loan Officer in State Bank of Travancore Raniganj Branch in Secunderabad, and asked for his help to buy a truck.

‘’He was in tears,’’ Sacgdev remembers. ‘’He wanted to get an F 207 TATA freight carrier, which was then pried at Rs80,000. This meant he would need to have Rs20,000 of his own an margin money, plus people to stand security for any loan my bank could give him. But when he opened the cloth bundle he was carring, he had only Rs10,000 in cash. Also, he did not know anybody who could act as surety. There was no way the bank could give him a loan. But he had full faith in my ability to perform a miracle.’’ But sachdev too had full faith in Agarwal’s and decided to do all he could for him. He convinced his bank’s branch manager to give him on Over Draft facility of Rs10,000, on the basis of which he could grant him a term loan for the remaining Rs60,000.

‘’I had never had cause to regret that spur-of-the moment decision,’’ Sachdev says. ‘’He and his father travelled in the truck day and night, picking up and delivering cargo across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and the neighboring industrial area. Every day, one of them would come in and deposit Rs600, Rs800, Rs1000 or Rs2000; and the paid off my loan in no time. In the next tow year, he bought 10 more vehicles.’’

Says Agarwal: ‘’ I am indebted to him. He not only stood personal guarantee to bu my first truch boosted me but also made me realize the risk was much higher now as I couldn’t let h im down. I will never forget his faith and kindness.’’agarwal packers and movers Guwahati DRS Group

Agarwal will also never forget that first vehicle, an F207 TATA fright carrier numbered ABt 812, which now occupies-warehouse complex. The registration number is also one that he considers lucky, and has tried to get for many of his later trucks too.

The new-born company Agarwal Tempo Transport of India’s first business model was to carry goods from Patancheru, the industrial area in the outskirts of Hyderabad, to the clients’ offices in the city at five paise a kilogram. The only such local service available at that time, it ran all night, lifting and delivering as many as 10 truckloads every night.

Clients appreciated this new business model, because it didn’t waste their daytime working hours. Agarwal himself oversaw the operation, physically working with his staff in loading to make sure his driver didn’t drop off to sleep. ‘’I used to work from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m the next day without any food.’’ He reminisces. ‘’I was lucky if I slpet four hours a day!’’ It is this hard work that made him grow quicker than he or anybody around him could imagine. As he says. “only doing new and different things can make one compete in the market and succeed quicker.’’

Agarwal would often take his driver and loaders hime in the middle of the night to eat.agarwal packers and movers jamshedpur DRS Group ‘’We had no telephone. So he could not warn me in advance.’’ Shashikala recalls. ‘’He would cook vegetables, dal and rotis for all of them. She agrees with philosophy: ‘’ Nobody must go hungry from our door!’’

‘’Money was still very tight.’’ Shashikala says. ‘’He used to give me Rs5 every day to buy fruits for us and the children.’’ But she adds: ‘’Kabhi Dukh ko dukh nahin samajhna, such samahke chalna!’’

Says Agarwal, whose firm now has a fleet of nearly 600 vehicles to move cargo and domestic goods: ‘’I didn’t own even a bicycle when I came to Hyderabad! But today these trucks are very dear to me., I feel they are alive and work for their owners with immense gratitude.’’ He says, however thatit was getting the first 10 vehicles that was a challenge. ‘’Thereafter, I was so busy honouring customer commitments, innovating new service ideas and exploaring more opportunities that I didn’t realize how my fleet grew from 10 to 600!’’ he adds.

Agarwal set up branches in Deli and Mubai. His brothers joined him, but moved after a few years on to run their own parts of the original business.agarwal packers and movers aurangabad DRS Group

The founder’s elder son, A.K Agarwal, joined in 1993 – and in 1995, DRS got a major break when it won a contract from Samsung India to provide new containerised vehicles. ‘’This was a turning point.’’ Says A.K Agarwal’’ We have since signed contracts with all the big companies in the electronic goods business, including BPL, LG, Panasonic, Philips and Sony.’’

The company kept passing fresh milestones on its highway of agarwal packers and movers nasik DRS Group growth in 1999, it got a breakthrough in tyre transport with a contract from MRF, followed by Bridgestone, Ceat, Goodyear and others.In 2001, it carried chocolates for Cadbury and Nestel, and biscuits for Britannia. Food industry as adaptability is a key factor to growth. This was highly appreciated and helped us pave way deeper to corporate business,’’ says A.K Agarwal

Dayanand Agarwal younger son Sanjay Agarwal joined the group in 1998. The same year, DRS’ home moving company, Agarwal Packers and Movers, introduced its portable home’ which gives customers a choice of container size depending on how much furniture and household goods they have,, then personally oversee the loading and even lock it themselves. This marked a shift to transshipment of containers, not goods. With no mixed loads, transit damage came down drastically. Today, the company has contract with 240 corporates in the country for movement of their employees.

DRS also introduced the first long-chassis container truck in India, a 32-foot (9.6metre) vehicle with a capacity of seven tones which had nearly two-and-a-half times the volume of a normal truckload. Leading change once again, it came in with the longest truck in the country, of 50 feet (10.5 metres).

agarwal packers and movers coimbatore DRS GroupAlways wanting to go the extra mile in providing value-added services, the company introduced many-centric offers. ‘’If the customer is happy he will not mind paying you the price you quote,’’ say Agarwal.

From providing a host of free services to clients like pick-up and drop, luxury hotel accommodation in transit, food coupons, air tickets, guidance in school admission, gas connections, a checklist for relocation and making them privilege members through DRS’ corporate membership programme, the company leaves in stone unturned to give its customers the best experience.

All their innovations revolve around making things easier for their employees and customer. ‘’Perfect bpox’’ is a classic example. Made from solid plastic, it protects customers’ valuables from getting wet.

‘’While I was taking a flight to Delhi I saw the ground staff put a ‘FRAGILE’ tag to a co-passenger’s bag and this sparked the idea of using stickers for boxes containing items like utensils, books, on OM sticker for Pooja Items, room-wise stickers, etc. This was a super hit a s customers found it very easy to unpack things – otherwise they would have to open every box to see what items were packed inside, We can learn from anywhere and anyone. We just need to be observant and open-minded.’’ says Agarwal. Such focus on customer service led to more relocation taking the business growth vertical.

‘’Work like an owner, apni company samajh ke kaam kaam karo toh aage badhoge’’ is Agarwal’s opening line when he addresses his staff. People are usually not fired in this organization unless an act of dishonestry is noticed. Loyaltry is bred and accountability developed, a big reason for the over 80 per cent retention rate of senior employees, And his packers, loaders and drivers say he is not just their employer, but like a father. Even today, heists down on the floor to have meal with them. ‘’Logon ko tayyar karna jarrori hai tabhi who acche se achha service de payenge. Training development of my team members has always been my priority. When their needs are taken care of, the will take care of the company. I was not qualified or trained to manage a large network like this – so we devided responsibilities between myself and my sons to independently manage departments of the organization. Collectively we were and will be successful,’’ says Agarwal

Ever the visionary, Agarwal knewthat for any logistics company so grow from good to great, it needed two assets: one was the fleet – which he had already built – and the second was warehouse. So the next venture was establishment of warehouses. DRSbuilt the largest werehouse across India, with 2.5 million sft (almost a quarter million sq.m) of storage space tos tore customers’ goods for periods ranging from 30 days to three years. Then came a workshop: everything a DRS truck needs in terms of maintenance and repair is done in-house. Next on Agarwal’s agenda was the fulfillment of a long-held dream, of creating an educational institution. ‘’When I first spoke about establishing a school, people laughed at me: ‘’Transporter bhiab school chaleyenge? This only strengthened my determination to establish one’’ he says So came DRS International School, established in 2003 with both his sons shouldering the responsibility of making it a success. ‘’I have fulfilled my dream so that other children can have access to the education I neverhad,’’ Agarwal says. ‘’Our school is very successful and has outgrown its vision as I had dreamt of only a small one. We have also launched MDN Edify as a franchise model, with more that 53 schools and 164 preschools all over India which are functioning very well.’’ As he says in a forthcoming biography, Miles to Go. His journey shows what is possible ‘’in a great country like ours, with the help of so many wonderful people.’’

The DRS groups turnover will hit Rs1,000 crore mark by 2020,with 10,000 employees, 1,200 vehicles in its fleet and 28,000 square metres of warehousing psace – a pan-India organization, with a presence in 10 other countries too From the current Rs250 crore in 2012-13, is exoected to double – Rs500 crore – by 2016, and grow progressively in steps of Rs100-150 crore a year. And all this will be only through organic growth. ‘’We are also looking at a number of acquisition,’’ A.K says ‘’But this will be only after settling down and consolidating the existing business. We need numbers, we must cross Rs500 crore in two to three years.’’ Like his father, he too has miles to go as he drives th DRS group forwards!