Entrepreneurship Project on

Ambica Traders

Submitted by:

ABHISHEK KUMAR

Reg. no.: 15397001

Sec-A, DMS, SOM,

Pondicherry University.

DECLARATION FROM STUDENT

I hereby declare that the work incorporated in this report entitled ― “Entrepreneurship

Project on Ambica Traders” is the outcome of original study undertaken by me under

the guidance of Mr. Prashant Shrivastava, Ambica Traders, Ranchi, and none of the contents

are taken from any other source other than my physical interview with Mr. P.C. Shrivastava

and his two sons Mr. Prashant and Mr. Pramod.

I further declare that the matter in this report has not been submitted by me as a whole or in

part at any other University or Institution for the award of any Degree or Diploma.

Date- ------------------------------

Place- (ABHISHEK KUMAR) Reg. no.: 15397001

Sec-A, DMS, SOM,

Pondicherry University

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CERTIFICATE FROM CORPORATE GUIDE

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I. Introduction of the Enterprise

Ambica Traders

It was started in the year 1983 as a trader of Acrylic Plastic Sheets.

Two years later, the first factory was setup in Tipudana, Ranchi, Jharkhand in the year 1985

and started manufacturing Acrylic Plastic Sheets.

In the same year they started their current operations which is Printing, with opening a small

shop in one of the most prime areas of Ranchi, Upper Bazaar, now shifted to Lalpur.

The firm was started by Mr P.C.Shrivastava, and is now run by him along with his two sons,

namely Prashant and Pramod Shrivastava.

The revenue for the financial year 2014-2015 was Rs.5.10 Crores.

What they do:

In 1983, they started simply as a trader of acrylic sheets.

And after having an idea of how to manufacture the acrylic sheets they started their

own production factory in Tipudana, Ranchi in the year 1985 which ran for 20 long

years and currently in 2005 was shut down because of some undisclosed reasons.

In the same year Printing started. This was the time when the market was totally

untapped in terms of printing on vinyl, acrylic sheets and other such stuffs. Although

printing was going on from a long back on ply boards and other metal sheets but for

the first time people of Ranchi were witnessing such a revolution in the printing

business.

In 1990’s they started the business of cutting vinyl (via plotter) and Poly sheet Pasting

of vinyl which are used for signage, Name Plate, Billboards etc. This was another

kind of revolution altogether.

From those artistic drawings made on the walls and ply boards people were

witnessing a clear change in terms of printing and the variety available as well.

This firm can be given the credit of introducing all the latest changes and

advancements in technology in terms of printing to Jharkhand (then Joint Bihar), as

they are one of the most prestigious and the oldest Printing Enterprise in Ranchi.

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In 1990’s, just after the Economic reforms nationwide and the opening up of the

Indian economy, Flex Printing was becoming popular as entry of firms with latest

technology was made easy.

And for the first time in Joint Bihar it came into existence sometime around 1997-98

and once again it was first introduced by Ambica Traders in both the cities Patna

(current capital of Bihar) and Ranchi (current capital of Jharkhand).

And currently they are operating jointly with all the three operations started separately

along a period of time, which are :

Dealers of Acrylic Plastic Sheets (from 1983).

Printing of all other Signage items.(from 1990).

Flex Printing (from 2000).

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II. Introduction of the Entrepreneur

Name : Mr P.C. Shrivastava

Age : 64 years

Educational Qualification : Graduate

Started the firm at the age of : 32 years

First Job : Worked at a private firm in Kolkata.

Started the Enterprise in : 1983

Initial offerings:

Initially started with trading of Acrylic Plastic Sheets later manufactured the same and

started selling the sheets made by them.

Rates offered:

The entire printing business runs on a highly customised operation and hence all the

rates depend upon the customers’ requirement and the demand.

If the demand is in bulk definitely the customer will get a discount.

Currently they offer a rate of Rs.40 to Rs.400 per square feet on different materials.

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III. Origin of the Enterprise

Place:

Initially they opened a shop at Upper Bazaar, Ranchi.

Reason behind selecting this place:

The reason they give is that the spot was one of the prime spots of the city and hence

to make a market presence they chose this place which is too close to Mahatma Gandhi Road,

also known as Main Road, which use to connect almost all the parts of the city.

Initial Investments and Sources:

Mr P.C.Shrivastava had left his job at a private firm based in Kolkata, and was left

with a saving of Rs.60000. This was the only money he had and he took a risk of investing

the entire amount to his firm with a belief of getting success in the near future.

Although he tried his level best to get some more money from other sources like

private investors and friends, but in return he got nothing else than disappointments.

Partners:

Upper bazaar is known as the hub of investors and Seths (Marwari businessmen), but

despite of surrounded by such people and businessmen, Mr Shrivastava was not able to get

any partner for his firm, the reason being the business of acrylic sheets was entirely new for

the market. And hence he decided to play this game alone.

Till the time his sons completed their education he was the One Man Army for the

firm.

No. of employees:

Ambica Traders started its trading business with only 2 employees and gradually

moved to manufacturing of acrylic sheets and finally to the flex printing business with a

current no. of more than 100 employees.

The factory which is now closed from past 10 years, used to generate an employment

opportunity for almost 40 nearby villagers.

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Initial Customers:

The technology was new and so was the firm and the awareness level was very low

and hence the market was not so warm for the firm in the initial days.

So they used to serve any customer and any kind of demand. But gradually when the

market took up a pace they started standardising the rates and slowly people started accepting

the new technology. Many single screen theatres of those times such as Plaza Cinema,

Sandhya Cinema, Sujata Cinema, and Anjuman Plaza etc. became a loyal customer of this

firm. And hence Ambica Traders was able to spread its legs in the city.

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IV. History of the Enterprise

Idea behind Start-Up:

When asked for the strategy or the thought behind this start up, Mr Shrivastava replies

“Nowadays you kids think of a strategy or such technical stuffs but for a person like me, who

left his job, and was not having any other source of income, was forced to do something for

his survival. And this was my strategy, my Survival Strategy.”

Acrylic was a new product and was not available in the market till then, and here Mr

Shrivastava saw an opportunity for his survival. He simply started with the trading of Acrylic

sheets and currently he owns a big name in the market.

He was having a futuristic approach towards the coming phase of advertisements and

printing and this paid him in a much more proportion.

Problems faced in initial years:

Some of the problems which are still commonly faced by all the entrepreneurs were

even faced by him viz.

Investment Issues.

No creditors support.

Initially no demand then for a long time very low demand.

First Milestone:

Opening up of a new branch in Patna in 1990, is claimed as the very first milestone

achieved by Ambica Traders.

Financial Assistance:

Mr Shrivastava was able to generate a sound revenue and hence once he was

established he never turned back to arrange any of the finances. Every time he had enough

money to invest in his new projects.

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Infrastructural Developments:

First office was opened in Upper Bazaar in 1983 now shifted to Lalpur, Ranchi.

A factory was setup in the outskirts of Ranchi in 1985. Acrylic Plastic Sheets were

manufactured there; however this was closed in 2005.

A new branch of Ambica Traders was opened in Patna in the year 1990.

Thereafter they opened two more branches in Raipur (2000) and Nagpur (2005).

Currently they operate with all the four branches.

Ambica Traders claims to own:

A warehouse area of 12000 sq. ft.

Total machine area of 4000 sq. feet.

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Warehouses

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Pasting Area

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Fabrication Area13

Office

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V. Departments and their Functions

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Marketing Department

The major functions of the Marketing department are as follows:

Probing the clients with innovative ideas and solutions.

Getting Clients and work order.

Getting the work done.

Submission of Bills.

Have a check on proper installation of boards.

And all the other activities which require to be carried out in the field other than main

operating premises, is performed under the supervision of Marketing Team.

Finance Department

Finance team performs following functions, namely:

All accounts related activities.

Giving estimates to Clients.

Preparing Cost Sheets.

Maintaining Purchase order.

Payment of Employees as well as workers.

Operations Department

Operations Team comprises of:

Designers who design the banners, posters etc. as per the client’s demand.

Permanent Staffs which comprises of members of different teams.

Contractual Labours who contribute in the carriage and handling of different

equipment’s, Acrylic Sheets, Printed banners, posters, hoardings etc.

Back office staffs that are responsible for collecting on-site pictures, create

PowerPoint presentations, Send it for approval from clients, Issuing Purchase order

and sales report etc.

Human Resource Department

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As such no typical HR department exists in this firm.

Some of the activities like payment of staffs etc. are taken care by Finance Section,

whereas hiring is still done only by Mr Shrivastava and his two sons.

Training and Development activities are carried out only when there is a new

technology introduced in the operation.

Whenever a new machine is purchased, the producers of the machine themselves send

their expert trainer to train the employees about the installation and operation of the

machine.

VI. Competition and their Strategies

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USP: Standard Service Quality and on time delivery.

Competitors:

As per Mr Shrivastava the main competitors of Ambica Traders are two major firms

situated in other parts of the city, namely Creators (Kadru) and Mark-AD (Heenu).

These are the only two firms which, in recent times, have been able to grab some of

the big clients which were earlier handled by Ambica traders.

Different services and their rates:

Ambica traders now offers several services like Flex Printing, Vinyl Printing, Sign

boards, LED boards and other customized signage items.

And when asked for the rate chart they say “this business works on a highly

customised basis and we cannot set up a standard rate chart. Rates are decided based on the

customer’s ordered Quantity and be it a single piece or a 1000 piece order, Quality is never

compromised.”

Where other small players offer a rate of Rs.10 per square feet, on some matters,

Ambica Traders is still able to operate on a minimum offering of Rs.40 per square feet.

Promotion Strategies:

“We have a clear strategy, grab customers by our work” by saying this he clearly

mentions that he and his firm never go directly to clients and offer their services.

Rather the only way they get promoted and publicised is the very efficient and

effective medium of Word-of-mouth, and that too it’s free. Supporting this he claims that

“95% of our clients are bigger giants themselves and they will never believe in you until they

see your work.”

Also Mr Shrivastava told-“Initially for a long period of 15-20 years we used to serve

the local market as well. But since 2005 we only serve corporate giants and work in bulk.”

He further continues -“Also this business purely depends on the kind of technological setup

you have. We have latest machines and we are the only one to have such technology in both

the states of Jharkhand and Bihar”.

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Several big giants when invite tenders for such bulk printing they clearly mention

about the requirements of the machines and the setup for printing the specified quality prints.

This is where Ambica Traders enjoy an upper hand in terms of technology.

The major Machines used by them are shown below:

Jet-I

Mutoh Toucan

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Roy-Land

Value-Jet

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AXYZ Printer

Some of the current clients of Ambica Traders:

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Vodafone Sony Samsung

LG Telenor Idea

HTC

Government Agencies

Outdoor Hoarding Agencies

VI. Conclusion

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After completing my project work in this prestigious firm I came to a conclusion that:

Entrepreneurship, despite of not being an easy task, is an indispensible need for

Indian Economy.

Several barriers come in the way of an entrepreneur, but a person who has a zeal to do

something can change the entire scenario and make things happen.

And lastly I learnt that, if one has an appealing and unique business idea, and if he is

true towards incorporating the idea, sometime or the other, after hundreds of

difficulties, running from pillar to post, and after all such miseries, things work.

Yes things do work in the favour of one who makes them work.

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