Headquartered in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Prataap Snacks Ltd. is the maker of one of India’s most well-known indigenous brands of chips, Yellow Diamond. In its nearly 18-year-old journey, the company became a regional giant in its segment, going on from 3 employees back in 2004 to over 3,000 direct and indirect in 2021. The driving force behind this success of a newcomer Indian brand in a market ruled by giants is Amit Kumat, who himself tasted success only after three failed ventures.
Kumat is the managing director (MD) of the company, who has been the brains behind its unlikely success story. His story is one of observing and capitalising on opportunities that others wouldn’t notice, and taking risks that rivals won’t imagine.
An MBA from the United States’ University of Southwestern Louisiana, Kumat had three failed attempts at business in six years before founding a snacks firm with friend Arvind Mehta and brother Apoora Kumat. The three set out from a room 100 square-foot in size to begin the journey of where the company closed financial year of 2021 with a net sales turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore.
From Indore, Kumat first set his sights on the market in Delhi, capitalising on the opportunity to leverage empty vehicle carrier trucks going back to the national capital. To capture the markets of Delhi, and neighbouring Haryana, Kumat’s Yellow Diamond chips offered more quantity in the same pack, soon becoming leader in the Rs 5 pack segment. The next step was the markets of Pune and Mumbai in Maharashtra. By 2012’s close, the company boasted a revenue of Rs 172 crore. Prataap Snacks Ltd then bagged an investment from Sequoia Capital and Kumat set about on the next chapter of twist and turns in the expansion.
In 2016, Bollywood’s megastar Salman Khan became the face of the Yellow Diamond brand. Photographed here with Amit Kumar | Pic Courtesy: Twitter
The idea was to give a gift to the consumer with every pack and Yellow Diamond put a small toy in their Rs 5 snack packs to attract customers. The idea failed to gain traction in north India but was a hit in Assam and the Eastern region. The idea that did not work in one place was so effective in the other that Yellow Diamond had to establish two new factories to meet the demand.
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In 2016, Kumat roped in Bollywood’s megastar Salman Khan to be the face of the brand. The company went for IPO in 2017. Today, it is the largest snack company in the band of Rs 1000 crore turnover, having become a household name to lakhs across the country.
