Anubhav Gupta
Chief Strategy Officer
In an in-depth conversation with CEO INSIGHTS, Anubhav shares his professional journey so far and how APL Apollo has been able to grow consistently in the highly competitive Indian market landscape.
Tell us about the initial days of your professional journey that was crucial to your success in the industry?
It’s been 12 years since I finished my studies and I started my career as an investment banker doing research on various mid-cap companies and understanding their business models. I have also worked on investment banking deals with promoters who have created successful business models and I had the opportunity to learn from them as well as from other successful entrepreneurs.
By facilitating investment banking deals and by working with varied number of companies which are listed on Indian stock exchange, I have also contributed to their growth. I have helped them to raise funds at various intervals for expansion as well as for debt reduction. In investment banking, I was covering equities and I was
consistently ranked in the top three equity research analysts in the country when it came to mid-cap coverage according to Asia Money Polls.
Tell us more about your educational and professional background?
I am a computer science degree holder and then I joined my father’s business which was into automobile spare parts. Then I decided that I need proper education in management before joining the business and so I did my MBA. During my MBA I got a chance to work with Singaporean investment banking firm Kim Eng Securities.
It was a three-month summer training program and I got to interact with a lot of budding entrepreneurs from the Indian real estate sector as Kim Eng had the mandate to invest private equity funds into the Indian real estate sector. Then after finishing my MBA, I joined the same company. In 2007, they had decided to set up an office in Mumbai and I was the first employee of Kim Eng India.
Right from the start, I was involved in the setting up of business to dealing with regulators, and getting all the necessary licenses. Then in 2008, I became part of the research team and that’s how I got my foot into investment banking and equity research. Four years later, Maybank which is Malaysia’s biggest bank acquired our group and we became part of Maybank India.
In 2016, I moved to Emkay Global and this was a boutique equity research firm but the primary focus was on mid-cap companies. So, I joined as the head of mid-cap research and I prioritized on working
Tell us more about your educational and professional background?
I am a computer science degree holder and then I joined my father’s business which was into automobile spare parts. Then I decided that I need proper education in management before joining the business and so I did my MBA. During my MBA I got a chance to work with Singaporean investment banking firm Kim Eng Securities.
It was a three-month summer training program and I got to interact with a lot of budding entrepreneurs from the Indian real estate sector as Kim Eng had the mandate to invest private equity funds into the Indian real estate sector. Then after finishing my MBA, I joined the same company. In 2007, they had decided to set up an office in Mumbai and I was the first employee of Kim Eng India.
We are India’s largest structural steel tube company with 50 percent of the market share and globally we are in the top five. We have also grown at a sales volume CAGR of 27 percent in the last 10 years
Right from the start, I was involved in the setting up of business to dealing with regulators, and getting all the necessary licenses. Then in 2008, I became part of the research team and that’s how I got my foot into investment banking and equity research. Four years later, Maybank which is Malaysia’s biggest bank acquired our group and we became part of Maybank India.
In 2016, I moved to Emkay Global and this was a boutique equity research firm but the primary focus was on mid-cap companies. So, I joined as the head of mid-cap research and I prioritized on working
with the mid-cap gems and working closely with the promoters to help them with fund-raising and to maximize their shareholder value. After working for 3 years in Emkay, I decided to work closely with a promoter by becoming part of his core team and learning business skills.
Brief us about APL Apollo and what makes you stand apart from the rest of the competition?
We are India’s largest structural steel tube company with 50 percent of the market share and globally we are in the top five. We have grown at a sales volume CAGR of 27 percent in the last 10 years. No building material company has grown at such a high rate during the same period in India. This is because we have been innovative to find new products and new applications for steel tubes.
“Right from the start, I was involved in the setting up of business to dealing with regulators, and getting all the necessary licenses”
Owing to this we have been creating a new market for ourselves and our products have extensively replaced conventional construction products. We have also created a huge distribution network and we are selling our products to 800 distributors and 50,000 retailers pan India. We also have fabricators in the value chain like plumbers, carpenters and our products are brought by 400,000 fabricators pan India. In steel tube manufacturing in India, we are the pioneer when it comes to bringing in any new technology.
What is the road ahead for APL Apollo?
For us, the next two-three years will be years of consolidation and we are going to heavily focus on rural areas. We are also looking to increase our value added product portfolio and for that, we are going to come up with new products and applications.
Anubhav Gupta Chief Strategy Officer, APL Apollo
Anubhav is a firm believer of the concept of ‘learning on the job’. This coupled with his avid reading and his ability to adapt to the changing scenarios has helped him to develop into a unique entity in the Indian corporate realm.
Brief us about APL Apollo and what makes you stand apart from the rest of the competition?
We are India’s largest structural steel tube company with 50 percent of the market share and globally we are in the top five. We have grown at a sales volume CAGR of 27 percent in the last 10 years. No building material company has grown at such a high rate during the same period in India. This is because we have been innovative to find new products and new applications for steel tubes.
“Right from the start, I was involved in the setting up of business to dealing with regulators, and getting all the necessary licenses”
Owing to this we have been creating a new market for ourselves and our products have extensively replaced conventional construction products. We have also created a huge distribution network and we are selling our products to 800 distributors and 50,000 retailers pan India. We also have fabricators in the value chain like plumbers, carpenters and our products are brought by 400,000 fabricators pan India. In steel tube manufacturing in India, we are the pioneer when it comes to bringing in any new technology.
What is the road ahead for APL Apollo?
For us, the next two-three years will be years of consolidation and we are going to heavily focus on rural areas. We are also looking to increase our value added product portfolio and for that, we are going to come up with new products and applications.
Anubhav Gupta Chief Strategy Officer, APL Apollo
Anubhav is a firm believer of the concept of ‘learning on the job’. This coupled with his avid reading and his ability to adapt to the changing scenarios has helped him to develop into a unique entity in the Indian corporate realm.