From offering cloaks and sweaters to building a Rs 17 crore turnover business, he has seen a few promising and less promising times throughout everyday life

From selling cloaks and sweaters while doing his designing in Bengaluru, Amritsar-conceived K S Bhatia, 50, Founder and CEO of Pumpkart and Figgital has made considerable progress. Pumpkart is a web-based B2B stage that sells water siphons and rural gear, while Figgital is a chain of gadgets stores that sells various products going from PCs, mobiles, and TVs to clothes washers.

From selling shawls and sweaters while doing his engineering in Bengaluru, Amritsar-born K S Bhatia, 50, Founder & CEO of Pumpkart and Figgital has come a long way. From selling shawls and sweaters while doing his engineering in Bengaluru, Amritsar-born K S Bhatia, 50, Founder & CEO of Pumpkart and Figgital has come a long way.

Pumpkart is an online B2B platform that sells water pumps and agricultural equipment, while Figgital is a chain of electronics stores that sells a variety of goods ranging from laptops, mobiles, and television sets to washing machines. Pumpkart is an online B2B platform that sells water pumps and agricultural equipment, while Figgital is a chain of electronics stores that sells a variety of goods ranging from laptops, mobiles, and television sets to washing machines.

He also had to shut down Air Fluid, the first company he had started in 1998 in Chandigarh. Air Fluid offered consultancy to up sewage and effluent treatment plants for industries in Ludhiana. Later he started trading in different brands of water pumps and founded Grow India Ventures India Private Ltd., under which Pumpkart.com was started.

However, it took a beating over the years and Bhatia decided to shut the company as he struggled to even pay the salary of his employees. I was planning to tell my employees on Monday that I would be closing the business, recalls Bhatia. From distributing different brands of water pumps, he came out with his own brand – Panatech and Wi-Fi (with the models named 2G, 3G, and 4G).

In 2019, Bhatia decided to bring more products to the Pumpkart platform and began to sell electronic items as well. Bhatia re-entered the electronics business in June 2020 by launching Figgital, a chain of modern retail consumer electronics stores. In September 2020, his company was selected under the Samruddhi scheme of the Government of Karnataka which aims to promote entrepreneurs in the state.

Bhatia’s company has bagged the order to open around 100 franchise stores of Pumpkart and Figgital across the state with a funding of Rs 10 lakh per store from the Karanataka government. In January this year, Bhatia also started ‘store on wheels’ which takes the retail experience right outside the consumer’s door, especially in Tier III and Tier IV cities and rural areas. “We are also planning to launch tractors as stores on wheels for agricultural products,” he says.

“It was my father who told me to always use the word entrepreneur instead of businessman,” recalls Bhatia. “As Bengaluru experienced chill weather from October to January, I decided to bring shawls and sweaters from Ludhiana,” he says.

Every day, from 4 pm, Bhatia would set out selling sweaters and shawls by putting some on his shoulders and some in the bag. “I couldn’t sell even a single sweater for 20 days. Bhatia then met a retailer in Koramangala who bought the shawls and sweaters from him.

In 1998, he set up Air Fluid, his first business venture, with his PF savings of about Rs 49,000, in Chandigarh. Starting with consultancy to set up sewage and effluent treatment plants, he later began to trade in water pumps as well. In 2014, he launched his website for selling the pumps, which got the attention of Sundar Pichai.

With his company clocking a turnover of Rs 17 crore in FY 20-21, Bhatia has made an ambitious projection of Rs 40 crore for 2021-22, having crossed Rs 12 crore by September. “My vision is to make Pumpkart and Figgital unicorns,” says Bhatia, who has around 35 employees working for him spread across Delhi, Chandigarh, and Bengaluru.

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