From a labourer of Rs 15 daily wages to a businessman of Rs 1600 crores. Image Courtesy – Facebook
Sudip Dutta, a 16-year-old boy had nothing to do with the suggestions given by his friends to go to Mumbai. The boy with an empty stomach without a penny in his pocket, and with a more painful situation like sleeping at Dadar railway station in Mumbai was to come out of the shock of his father and brother’s death a few days ago.
The little boy belonged to Durgapur of West Bengal and his father was in the Army. His father got weakened after resuming bullets in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971. As a result of this, the elder brother was the only ray of hope for the family. But, this hope also ended when the family could not get treatment for his elder brother due to financial constraints and he died ultimately. Sudip’s father died due to the tremendous shock of the death of his elder son. His helpless mother was emotional support for that child, but she had as much responsibility as her four siblings.
The suggestion made by his friends was proved right when that child got a job of Rs 15 per day and a place to sleep. The sleeping place was in a room where 20 labourers lived. The room was so small that even at bedtime there was no place to move.
This child, Sudeep Dutta, would have to walk for 40 kilometres from his home at Mira Road to his factory at Jogeshwari and back. The only achievement in a troubled and tough life was that he could send the saved money to his mother.
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A new twist came after 2 years of work as a wage labourer when its owners decided to close the factory due to loss in business. Sudip decided to run the factory himself instead of finding a new job in such a difficult situation. He accumulated Rs 16,000 as capital from his saved money and borrowed some money from a friend.
A 19-year-old boy, for whom it was a challenge to feed himself, took the responsibility of running the families of seven other labourers. The amount of Rs 16,000 was too low to buy the factory, but Sudeep convinced his owners by promising to distribute the profits for two years. Sudeep became the owner of the same factory where he was a labourer till yesterday.
The aluminium packaging industry was going through its worst phase at that time. A few selective companies like ‘Jindal Aluminum’ were able to profit on the basis of their economic strength.
Sudip knew that better products and innovation would prove him better than others. Despite being a good choice, it was not easy to survive in front of people like Jindal. Sudip continued to explain the quality of his products to potential big customers over the years as well as running his company with orders from small companies.
He used to wait for hours to meet the executives of the big companies. His hard work and communication skills paid off when he started getting small orders from the big companies like Sun Pharma, Cipla, Nestle etc.
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Sudip had just tasted the success but he could not anticipate the challenges that were waiting. Anil Aggarwal, a global leader of the industry, bought a closed company called India Foil and made a challenge in the packaging sector. Anil Aggarwal and his Vedanta group have been among the few big companies in the world and it was an impossible target for Sudip to survive.
Being unaffected by a company like Vedanta, Sudip continued to improve his product. At the same time, he maintained a strong relationship with his customers. Ultimately, the Vedanta group had to succumb to Sudip’s tenacity and the India Foil company had to sell. Sudip was that person who purchased India Foil. After this deal, the Vedanta group left the packaging industry forever.
After this achievement, Sudip grew his company rapidly and made a mark among the pharma companies. He increased their production capacity by purchasing sick companies. He increased his capacity also by becoming a distributor of the Indian Aluminum Company. He had established 20 production units between 1998 and 2000.
Sudip’s company, SD Aluminum now is a leading company in its field as well as listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). He is also called ‘Narayan Murthy’ of the packaging industry due to his innovative thinking. His company, SD Aluminum has a market capital of over Rs 1600 crore.
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In spite of adverse circumstances, Sudip is running his business empire from his magnificent office in Kandivali. Today, his cabin is many times larger than the room where he used to live with 20 people. To save some money, he used to walk several kilometres at the initial period of his career. Now, he has several luxury cars like BMW and Mercedes etc. Despite attaining a lot of achievement in life, Sudip is still associated with his background. All the workers of his factory still call him ‘Dada’ (Elder Brother).
He has established the ‘Sudip Dutta Foundation’ to help the poor and needy people. This foundation is designed to provide new opportunities for the youth of rural areas. Youth coming from the less fortunate sections of the society often see significantly less potential and proper chance to do something better beyond their family and the local area. SD Aluminum is fully committed to providing such facilities to the younger generation.
This is an inspirational story of a common man who has established himself with a burning desire. He never lost his confidence in front of mountain-like obstacles and remained fearless. This is the story is of a man who has proved that to reach the target it requires only a big thought and determination to fulfil and a never-give-up spirit. Hope, people will be inspired by reading this story.
