A Family Split Set Gopal Snacks On Road To An IPO — NDTV Profit Exclusive

Hadvani has built a successful Rs 1,400-crore business of traditional Gujarati savouries in Gopal Snacks Pvt. But two years ago, his relationship soured with his elder and shareholder brother Prafulchandra Hadvani, who exited to set up his own firm, Gokul Snacks.

Bipin raised Rs 540 crore in debt to acquire Prafulchandra's 26% stake in Gopal Snacks. And to repay that, the 25-year-old company is now looking to raise Rs 650 crore through an initial public offering in March. The promoter group plans to sell shares to raise capital in the maiden offer.

"Agar yah karj lie nahin hota, to hum IPO par dhyaan nahin dete (If it wasn't for the debt, we wouldn't have looked at an IPO)," Bipin Hadvani, chairman and managing director at Gopal Snacks, told NDTV in an exclusive chat.

Notwithstanding the family split, Gopal Snacks is the story of a small entrepreneur making it big in a market estimated to be worth Rs 80,000 crore and growing at a healthy pace.

With Rs 4,200 from his skeptical father, he cofounded Gopal Gruh Udyog in 1990 along with a relative, said the second-generation entrepreneur. Four years later, they decided to amicably part ways. In 1994, with Rs 2.5 lakh from his earlier joint venture, Hadvani and his wife Daxa set up Gopal Snacks. They began by making namkeens from their house.

Today, the company has three manufacturing facilities in Nagpur, Maharashtra; and Rajkot and Modasa, Gujarat. And it is the leader in the niche 'gathiya' business in Gujarat, competing with giants like Haldiram. Gopal Snacks, according to the IPO document, is also the country's fourth-largest brand by market share in the organised ethnic savouries segment.

Hadvani has built a successful Rs 1,400-crore business of traditional Gujarati savouries in Gopal Snacks Pvt. But two years ago, his relationship soured with his elder and shareholder brother Prafulchandra Hadvani, who exited to set up his own firm, Gokul Snacks.

Bipin raised Rs 540 crore in debt to acquire Prafulchandra's 26% stake in Gopal Snacks. And to repay that, the 25-year-old company is now looking to raise Rs 650 crore through an initial public offering in March. The promoter group plans to sell shares to raise capital in the maiden offer.

"Agar yah karj lie nahin hota, to hum IPO par dhyaan nahin dete (If it wasn't for the debt, we wouldn't have looked at an IPO)," Bipin Hadvani, chairman and managing director at Gopal Snacks, told NDTV in an exclusive chat.

Notwithstanding the family split, Gopal Snacks is the story of a small entrepreneur making it big in a market estimated to be worth Rs 80,000 crore and growing at a healthy pace.

With Rs 4,200 from his skeptical father, he cofounded Gopal Gruh Udyog in 1990 along with a relative, said the second-generation entrepreneur. Four years later, they decided to amicably part ways. In 1994, with Rs 2.5 lakh from his earlier joint venture, Hadvani and his wife Daxa set up Gopal Snacks. They began by making namkeens from their house.

Today, the company has three manufacturing facilities in Nagpur, Maharashtra; and Rajkot and Modasa, Gujarat. And it is the leader in the niche 'gathiya' business in Gujarat, competing with giants like Haldiram. Gopal Snacks, according to the IPO document, is also the country's fourth-largest brand by market share in the organised ethnic savouries segment.

Gopal Snacks is not just grappling with debt. Prafulchandra's exit disrupted the Rajkot-based company's sales, slowing its revenue growth. Its top line grew 3.3% in FY23, compared with 14% annualised growth in the previous four years. Revenues dipped 3% in the first half of FY24.

"Our revenue growth slowed in the last two years mainly because of the family split, but we have done a lot of repair work in the last six months," Mukesh Shah, chief financial officer at Gopal Snacks, said. "Our chairman has personally visited all the dealers to restore confidence."

The company has built a professional sales team over the last one-and-a half years, with several hires from consumer goods companies, he said. "We expect to see a decent double-digit sales growth in the next fiscal."

Shah says that the company is cash-positive, and it doesn't need fresh capex at this point in time. "Our utilisation is about 35-40% of the installed capacity, so we can double our revenue without major capex investment."

For Gopal Snacks, Gujarat is the core market that contributed 76% of its revenue in the first half of fiscal 2024. It had a 20% share in ethnic savouries and 8% in western snacks in the state as of March 2023. The company now plans to expand nationally, having identified Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh as regions to focus on.

"We have a scattered presence in ten markets outside Gujarat," said Raj Hadvani, the 28-year-old son of the founder and chief executive officer at Gopal Snacks. "But now we are planning to do deep down in these states."

The company is also expanding its range of local snacks beyond the mainstay 'gathiya', said Raj, by adding items such as bhujia, sev, murmura, and chivda. It has also diversified into adjacent offerings such as besan, spices, chikki, nachos, noodles, rusk, soan papdi, and washing bar. Growth, however, is faster in its western snacks portfolio including wafers and chips, which contributes 30% of the sales.

Gopal Snacks has one advantage over its peers that helps its costs. The company manufactures besan or gram flour and spices such as chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, and turmeric powder, all key ingredients for snacks. That reduces its reliance on suppliers, bringing down production costs.

Unlike most peers, Gopal Snacks also does not have a layer of super stockists in the supply chain. Its products are delivered to retailers via 617 distributors. The company will be adding more than 200 of them next year, he said.

And the maker of namesake namkeens has a fleet of 263 trucks to distribute products nationally and also boasts of the largest cold storage facility in the Indian snacks industry, according to the IPO filing.

There are no other players in the industry with such strengths, said Bipin Hadvani. A reason why he isn't worried about the growing competition in the fragmented Indian savoury snacks market that, according to Frost and Sullivan, is poised to grow at an 11% CAGR over FY23–27.

Western snacks like chips and snack pellets have a 51% share of the market, with brands like PepsiCo’s Lay’s and ITC Ltd.'s Bingo dominating retail shelves. Ethnic snacks including gathiya, namkeen and bhujiya, corner 49% of the market and the category is dominated by Haldiram (Delhi and Nagpur), followed by Balaji Wafers Pvt. and Bikaji Foods International Ltd.

Gopal Snacks, according to its filings, generated a return on equity of 39% and a return on capital employed of 43% in FY23. Those are the best in the industry.

The company's advertising spend is relatively low since it's mostly confined to the local market. But that could rise as it expands into other regions and may dent the operating margin that stood at 14% as of FY23.

Bulk of Gopal Snacks volumes come from low-margin stock-keeping units—70% from Rs 5 packs and 12% from Rs 10 packaging in the first half of this fiscal. That's in line with industry trends as, according to Frost & Sullivan, the Rs 5 pack is the most affordable and preferred price point for consumers.

The company wishes to offer higher grammage per pack in markets beyond Gujarat to gain market share, said Raj Hadvani. That may further put margins under pressure.

Moreover, as the company expands outside Gujarat, flavours and demand will change. Gopal Snacks, said Bipin Hadvani, is open to experimenting with newer offerings to match regional tastes.

"Maine bachpan se hi namkeen banaya hai to humare paas expertise hai (I have made namkeen since childhood, and we have the expertise)," he said. The new generation, he said, has a different taste and the company will increase its spending on research and development to cater to their needs.