Back

Meet the man from Tamil Nadu who has helped 10 lakh underprivileged girls. 1. Born in Kalliampudur Village of the Erode district in Tamil Nadu, KP Ramaswamy had to drop out of college and return to his village. His father, a farmer, could not afford education for all four sons, so he had to do something to survive. 🤔 2. Ramaswamy started manufacturing clothes with a single-power loom and borrowed Rs 8000 from his mother's uncle to add more looms in 1972. Soon, his two brothers joined, and he decided to start a clothing company under his name. In 1984, KPR Mill was born. 🚀 3. After much thought, KPR had a simple idea ⏩to manufacture fashion apparel for export. To realise this idea, he expanded to manufacturing facilities in Coimbatore, Sathyamangalam, Perundurai, and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. But something was still missing. 🤔 4. KPR needed a spinning unit to turn its fibre into yarn. In 1995, he set up the first spinning unit at Sathyamangalam with 6,000 spindles to produce cotton hosiery yarn and outsourced washing, dyeing, printing, and embroidery to reduce costs. And the idea worked. ✅ 5. Despite frequent power cuts, KPR scaled to a second unit and set up a spinning mill at Karumathampatti with 30,240 spindles, a knitting facility and a green power windmill. Since wind energy was only available for six months, he tapped a power generator from Karnataka for the other half of the year. KPR was not going down. 🙌 6. By 2006, KPR mills had earned 140 CR in export sales and installed 12 windmills with an aggregate capacity of 19.8 MW. It had scaled to 1,10,000 spindles and raised 105 CR from PE players like Brandot and Blue Rivers, making it worth 450 CR. 💰 7. And the watershed moment came. On 28 August 2007, KPR Mill went public and raised 133.02 CR from its IPO. It became a global company supplying readymade apparel with cotton knitted fabric to players like Carrefour( France), C&A (Germany), Mother Care (UK) and Grouppo Industry Moda SPA (Italy). 🌍 8. KPR grew and scaled to a revenue of 2402.06 CR and a profit of 298.38 CR by 2014. It also entered the sugar industry with a Co-gen Cum Sugar manufacturing unit of 30 MW and made a turnover of 331.09 CR in the first year itself. By 2021, it became a unicorn worth 17,622 CR. 🦄 9. Today, KPR Mills has a revenue of 6126.94 CR and a profit of 1040.39 CR. It exports high-quality garments to 68 countries and serves brands like Walmart, H&M, and Marks and Spencer. It is worth 29,724 CR. 📉 ➡️ The best part is that KP Ramaswamy has not only employed over 10 lakh girls from underprivileged backgrounds but also provides them with free food and education. They rightly call him "Appa." 🙏