Our Goal is to Take “Grah Shanti” to Every Household: Bhushan Kakkar
ANUPAM KHER to Elevate Grah Shanti’s Brand Presence
Grah Shanti Dhoop Agarbatti is rapidly gaining popularity across North India. The company has recently appointed renowned actor Anupam Kher as its brand ambassador with the aim of taking “Grah Shanti” to every household. Known for its quality, attractive packaging and affordable pricing, the brand has become highly popular in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.
The company has recently started supplies in Bihar and has also established a depot in Patna. Similarly, it has opened another depot in Kanpur to strengthen supplies across North India. In an exclusive interaction with Sugandh India, Mr. Bhushan Kakkar, owner of Grah Shanti Dhoop and Agarbatti under Bhushan Enterprise, said that a major turning point brought him remarkable success in the incense stick and dhoop industry. He shared that he has been associated with the agarbatti industry since 1995 and began his journey with the production of raw wet dhoop. He supplied wet dhoop to several agarbatti manufacturers, but there came a time when he moved beyond raw dhoop production and established himself as a brand owner.
Mr. Bhushan Kakkar told Sugandh India that in 2016, the owner of an agarbatti company offered him the opportunity to take over the business. At that time, the company’s sales were only around ₹7–8 lakh. It had a large inventory of raw materials and finished products, but everything was based on outdated fragrances, old technology and obsolete packaging. “We shut the company for six months because although we were experts in raw dhoop production, we had very little understanding of agarbatti packaging,” he recalled. Finally, in January 2017, they restarted the company. However, since almost everything was outdated, even after tremendous effort they could increase its sales only to around ₹20 lakh by 2020. He further said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when business remained completely shut for several months, they re-evaluated their entire strategy, spoke to people across the industry and carried out extensive research. After that, they rebuilt everything from scratch and appointed film actress Mahima Chaudhry as the brand ambassador and later Govinda.
Mr. Kakkar further told Sugandh India that another major turning point behind launching their own incense and dhoop brand was their raw dhoop supply business. Whenever a new company started from scratch, purchased material from them and gradually reached sales of 40, 50 or even 100 tonnes, it would eventually install its own machinery and begin manufacturing raw dhoop. As a result, they would once again find themselves back at square one. Their machines, production unit and workforce would remain underutilized. This prompted them to introduce their own brand in the market, as a brand is something customers do not abandon easily. Grah Shanti’s popularity is driven by its quality, packaging and competitive pricing, but the company also focused heavily on brand promotion. “Whenever we visited the market with Grah Shanti products, distributors and retailers would start showing us other brands because they had never even heard of Grah Shanti,” he said. That is why, after Mahima Chaudhry and Govinda, the company has now appointed Anupam Kher as its brand ambassador.
Mr. Kakkar said that quality and packaging alone are not enough to build a successful brand. To take any product to the market and ultimately to consumers, people must first become aware of it. That is why the company started advertising on television, FM radio and in newspapers. Speaking about marketing schemes, he said there is a long-standing market practice whereby dealers and distributors begin lifting stock from July 1, as nearly 95% of agarbatti companies announce promotional schemes during July. Therefore, every company has to offer schemes to remain competitive. Explaining the decision to appoint Anupam Kher as brand ambassador, he said they chose him because of his clean image and his popularity among people of all age groups across the country. In addition, he enjoys a strong familyoriented and religious image, which also strengthens the brand’s identity. He added that products from the incense industry are primarily used for religious rituals and worship, and this association has worked in the company’s favour.
Speaking about the challenges of supplying raw materials to companies through job work while simultaneously building their own brand, Mr. Kakkar said they are gradually reducing their raw dhoop supply business because demand for their own brand has been growing steadily. He explained that manufacturing wet dhoop is a difficult and challenging task, but they have over 30 years of experience in it, as that is where their business journey began. Today, many manufacturers prepare dhoop using areca nut, almond, sandalwood and kassa powder, but the quality of a good dhoop product ultimately depends on the quality of its raw materials. He added that around 80–90% of the manufacturing process remains similar across the industry, while the remaining 10–20% reflects each company’s own expertise and experience. Their longstanding experience, he said, enables them to produce dhoop of superior quality compared to many other products available in the market.
When asked which Grah Shanti products perform best in the market, he said that agarbatti, dhoop, dry sticks and cones across the ₹10, ₹20, ₹50 and ₹100 price segments all enjoy strong demand. Some brands offer 200 grams at ₹50, while others provide only 100 grams, depending on the quality. Grah Shanti also offers products in 200gram and 100-gram packs at ₹50, as well as 400-gram packs at ₹100. Their objective is to ensure that a middleclass family can meet its monthly incense requirements within a budget of ₹50 to ₹100.
He further stated that the company’s flagship products are 3 in 1, Ramlala and Grah Shanti Gold. These products are available across agarbatti, wet dhoop, bamboo-less incense, dry dhoop and cone segments. The 3 in 1 range comes in orange packaging and is popularly known in the market as the Bhagwa Colour or Yogi Colour agarbatti. He added that the Ramlala product comes in blue packaging, is completely unique and has also been patented. Speaking about the future of the agarbatti industry, Mr. Kakkar said it is a rapidly growing business, which is why both his sons, Bhavya Kakkar and Lakshya Kakkar, have now joined him in the company. His elder son, Bhavya, looks after marketing, production and perfume development. Although he joined the business only seven to eight months ago, operations have improved considerably. “Our biggest challenge was that we could never keep pace with market demand in terms of production.
Since he took charge, we have been maintaining advance production levels,” he said. The company has also introduced several new initiatives in automation and fragrance development. Similarly, his younger son, Lakshya, manages the depot operations and has significantly improved the company’s supply system. Through the Patna and Kanpur depots, he ensures that orders from the market are supplied within two to three days of receiving demand. Speaking about future plans, Mr. Kakkar said their goal is to reach every household and ensure that Grah Shanti becomes a part of every home. To achieve this, the company will continue strengthening its supply network, maintaining high standards of packaging and superior product quality, while introducing new fragrancebased products to the market.
