DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

From 25 sewing machines in a dingy workshop to five manufacturing units in Delhi/ NCR with over 4000 state of the art machines and over 7000 skilled workforce producing 10 lakh units per month and a turnover of over `500 crore, Lilliput has grown phenomenally. Lilliput’s long journey has been a series of baby steps that began19 years ago.

Sanjeev Narula, Lilliput Kidswear Ltd.

It was in 1990 that Narula, a young graduate from Delhi University set up a small garments unit in Delhi’s Govindpuri area. He employed four people and hired tailors on contract to take up fabrication work for exporters. It required an investment of `1 lakh which came from his own savings and as a loan from his father. He closed the year with a turnover of Rs 8 lakhs which proved to be a turning point. It was around this time that India also liberalized its export policy and Narula moved to make the most of the booming economy.

As most of the orders had been from companies retailing in kidswear, Narula, by default became an industry expert. Upon surveying the market, he realized that there was a huge gap in branded garments for kids. The ones available in the market were either expensive or tacky. In view of the rising demand, he decided to take the plunge.

For his first store, he zeroed in on Delhi’s Greater Kailash market and opened the store in April 2003, entering domestic retail. Brand Lilliput was thus born.

With a concrete business plan and an aggressive growth strategy, he chose not to take the franchising route to grow. He booked shops in upcoming malls across the country and in seven years, the number of stores mushroomed to 250. As of now, the brand outlets are also there at 250 odd MBO’s like Shopper’s Stop, Lifestyle, Pantaloon, Reliance Trends, Central, Indiabulls, Globus across 153 cities, with over 35 distributors covering 350 shop-in-shop stores and over 1000 points of sale.

Understanding the market dynamics well, Narula opened the first international store in Bahrain in 2007, and since then there has been no looking back for him. Today, Lilliput has more than 30 stores in 10 countries apart from India. Lilliput holds the distinction of being the first Indian kidswear company to have made an international foray. Lilliput has now its presence in the Kingdom of Bahrain (2 stores), Cairo, Egypt (10 stores), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1 store), Quwait (1 store), Shanghai, China (10 stores) and Odessa & Moldova, Ukraine (2 stores), Sultanate of Oman (1 store), Yemen (1 store) Nepal (3 stores) and Abu Dhabi (1). It is shortly coming up in Qatar, Tunisia, Malaysia, Morocco, Brazil and the UAE as well.

Lilliput also happens to hold licenses of some iconic entities like Cartoon Network (Powerpuff Girls, Gali Gali Sim Sim, Thomas The Engine and Bob The Builder), BEN TEN, Disney and the international youth brand NO RULES.

While we tend to discount kids, who could have thought that kids could be so profitable and help build a venture worth several hundred crores. Sanjeev’s unique vision, conscientious initiatives and aspiration to create a lifetime mark is a coerce call for the youngsters of our country. And while the business is about kids, it takes much focus and determination. No Kidding Here!