CEBBCO

Makes steel bodies for goods carriers. Promoted by Kailash Gupta and Ajay Gupta

Secret Sauce Technical knowledge that combines knowledge of motion technology and steel fabrication.

Financial Dashboard Jacob Ballas, which has New York Life as its anchor investor, has invested in the company at a valuation of Rs. 110 crore. Today the company is being valued in the range of Rs. 500-600 crore.

What the Smart Set Saw An entrepreneur who had built deep relationships within the heavy vehicles industry and who was nimble enough to adapt his business model in the worst of times.

Guiding Light To use knowledge and technology to be the largest player in fabrication for goods applications like trucks and railway wagons.

For Ajay Gupta, opportunity was born out of a crisis. Gupta had just invested Rs. 40 crore to automate his plant when the goods carrier market went into a cold freeze in 2008. "In adversity, you can either sit and wait for the situation to clear out or try and figure a way out. Ajay did the latter," says Vinay Shah, CEO, Mosaic Capital, whose firm also provides corporate finance advice to Cebbco.

Forced to look for alternatives, Gupta figured that Cebbco's fabrication strength and domain expertise could be applied to one sector that wasn't moribund: Indian Railways. He decided to move into the territory decisively. And in a short time, he established a successful business there.

Gupta took charge at Cebbco, his father-in-law's company, only five years ago when it was a Rs. 20-crore company making "bodies" for Tata trucks. Aided by low costs of conversion, Gupta took the business to Rs. 116 crore. The railway business is helping the fast ramping up.

 

There is a risk that it may get some tough competition for the wagon business. But Cebbco is going beyond just wagons and doing refurbishment for locomotives as well. His investors believe that Gupta should not take his eyes off the core business. "I think Railway business is great and it was commendable the way Ajay has gone out and got this business, but he should keep his core business extremely competitive," says Bharat Bakshi, Jacob Ballas.