Headquartered in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Pratap Snacks Limited is the manufacturer of Yellow Diamond, one of India’s most renowned indigenous brands of chips. In its nearly 18 year old journey, the company became a regional giant in its segment growing from 3 employees in 2004 to over 3,000 directly and indirectly in 2021.
The driving force behind this success of a newcomer Indian brand is Amit Kumat, a market ruled by stalwarts, who himself tasted success only after three failed ventures.
An MBA from the United States University of Southwestern Louisiana, Kumat made three unsuccessful attempts at business in six years before setting up a snacks firm with friend Arvind Mehta and brother Apura Kumat. The trio started the journey from a room of 100 sq ft where the company closed the fiscal year 2021 with a net sales turnover of over Rs 1,000 crore.
From Indore, Kumat for the first time made its way into the Delhi market, capitalizing on the opportunity to take advantage of empty vehicle carrier trucks heading back to the national capital. To capture the markets of Delhi and neighboring Haryana, Kumat’s Yellow Diamond Chips offered more quantity in the same pack, which soon became the leader in the Rs 5 pack segment.
The next step was the markets of Pune and Mumbai in Maharashtra. At the close of 2012, the company claimed revenue of Rs 172 crore. Thereafter Pratap Snacks Ltd. secured investment from Sequoia Capital and Kumat started the next chapter of expansion.
The idea was to gift the consumer with each pack and Yellow Diamond placed a small toy in its Rs 5 snack pack to attract the customers. The idea failed to gain traction in northern India, but was a hit in Assam and the eastern region. This idea, which did not work in one place, was so effective in another that the yellow diamond had to set up two new factories to meet the demand.
In 2016, Kumat roped in Bollywood megastar Salman Khan as 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 business, which has become a household name for millions across the country.