Plastic fantastic: Sandeep Engineer

Had someone told a young Sandeep Engineer that India’s plumbers held the key to his success, you get the feeling he would have laughed in that prescient individual’s face. Fresh from graduating with a degree in chemical engineering, he thought he had his future mapped out for him — in the pharmaceuticals industry. But, as we all know, sometimes life steers us in a different direction, despite our best intentions. Life, or bureaucracy.

"In 1987, I started my own unit to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients," Sandeep says, recalling one of his earliest entrepreneurial activities. "In 1989, I wanted to expand the business but wasn’t granted pollution clearance in Ahmedabad." The prospect of such recurrent obstacles encouraged Sandeep to consider other business opportunities. Quick to spring to mind was his uncle, then the research and development chief at BF Goodrich Performance Materials (known today as Lubrizol) in the US. The company had recently developed an innovative polymer known as CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride).

"I decided it was time to try something different," he reflects, adding that he wanted to avoid PVC as he felt there were already enough players in that market.

"The initial process was very trying. People were simply not ready to accept that plastic pipe could do the work of its metal equivalent." – Sandeep Engineer

When used in piping systems, CPVC can withstand higher temperatures than its PVC equivalent. Sandeep could sense an opportunity to introduce this new polymer to an Indian industry so reliant on traditional galvanised pipes. "I decided to start my own CPVC plant in India," he says. Astral Poly Technik was established in 1999.

To say that he faced a challenge would be an understatement. "The initial process was very trying. People were simply not ready to accept that plastic pipe could do the work of its metal equivalent," he admits.

In 4 years, the market yielded very little. At breaking point, he sat down with his American partners. "I was almost bankrupt. The plastics business was not even breaking even. I had to keep pumping in money from my pharmaceuticals company to simply keep it afloat."

The crisis talks produced a resolution. "We decided it was time to target the plumbing industry." His enthusiasm renewed, Sandeep spent 2002 and 2003 travelling the length and breadth of the country, proselytising many. "The amount of work I did to rebuild the company, with my partners, was incredible," he says.

The company undertook a series of initiatives; including some smart price matching and training programs for plumbers. "As a completely new product, it was essential that the plumbers, the people installing it, understood it," he says. Finally, in 2004, his hard work produced results. "CPVC pipes finally started gaining acceptance to replace metal pipes, and since then we haven’t looked back."

Experiencing a growth of 40% plus CAGR, the decision was made to float Astral Poly Technik in 2007. Today, the company has a staff of more than 3,000 and plants in the north and south of India. It has also recently acquired interests in both the UK and the US. "From starting with nothing, we’re now a multimillion-dollar company," he says proudly. "We’re the biggest plastics company in India for the manufacturing of plumbing and drainage systems."

A little celebrity endorsement has also helped to create a brand identity Sandeep felt was lacking. "It was my son who came up with the idea," he explains. "There are many long-established companies in India, so we needed to create our own identity, our own story." Appointing one of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Salman Khan, as brand ambassador "really was the turning point for us," he says. Everyone, from rich to poor, from plumbers, to dealers, to distributors, is a fan. It helped us reach and get accepted across the country." A similar philosophy is behind its sponsorship of IPL cricket team the Gujarat Lions.

Sandeep is quick to emphasise the importance of conviction. "You really need to believe that something is going to work. And it will work," he says. "Had I given up and left plastics when I was technically bankrupt, I don’t think that CPVC would have been born in India. Failures may come, but they teach you a lot. If you take lessons from those failures, the doors of success will open."