"I don't feel that India is a difficult country to do business", says Ajjay Agarwal of Maxx Mobile

Maxx Mobiles, an insipiring story of one of the local handset makers who shook up the MNC brands, dominating the space

According to World Bank's Doing Business 2014 report, India is considered to be one of the toughest places on earth to start a business. The country is ranked at 179 out of 189 economies, in the context. But, believing in a contrarian view is Ajjay Agarwal, CMD and founder, Maxx Mobile, who does not feel that India is a difficult country to do business. Rather he thinks, due to the huge population, the place make it easier to earn money.

From being a school dropout to entrepreneur
The tale of this 37 year old gentleman is a source of inspiration and aspiration. If going to school and getting degrees was the only mode of getting knowledge, then Agarwal would have never appeared on the list of successful entrepreneurs. Perhaps, going to school to make a living is just a thought of the mediocre and Agarwal was not born to follow the regular routine. Perhaps most of us who slog hours to pass our exams in flying colors are just nourishing a dream of being a technician who simply builds a job. Agarwal, on the other hand bore the genes of being an entrepreneur, who is an individual who builds an enterprise. " I think that to do business you need to have the right mindset and gut feeling. You should also know what you want to do in life and then that will help you reach wherever you want to. No education or degree can teach you all this," says Agarwal.
Agarwal failed and dropped out in standard IX. This was an opportunity for him, of course, an opportunity in disguise. "Since I dropped out, I kept myself busy in my father's business, understanding the nuances of the business and getting firsthand knowledge from my father," adds Agarwal. Later he completed his education through correspondence.

Steps towards the empire
Agarwal's father was in trading since 1991 and he entered into mobile accessories business in 1997.It was in 2004 that they planned of manufacturing mobile accessories in India due to challenges they were facing into trading. The company was registered as Maxx Mobiles and Phone Accessories. Since they had vast knowledge into the mobile accessories domain and knew the market trend well, they thought of getting into the mobile phone segment as well.

However, entering into the handset domain was not smooth sailing for Agarwal. "We launched our first product in August 2008. During this time, none of my team members and advisors were with me in this idea of entering into the mobile phone market as they thought they were comfortable with their existing accessories business and should continue with that," adds Agarwal.

Taste of Success
It was Agarwal's single minded faith in the business model which made him take the risk. And within a year Agarwal's Maxx Mobile tasted success and there were no lack of supporters henceforth. "The reason for our success is due to the fact that none of the other market players had come up with dual SIM phones and this was something that many customers seeked but could not avail. Second reason was the price difference. The MNC brands were very expensive and we were selling mobiles at 40% of their price. Along with that, we also acted as a solution provider to the customers who bought our brand by providing the best accessories compatible with the model," adds Agarwal. The firm's objective is to provide the best possible technology to customers at the lowest possible price. Also, it is the after sales service which has made Maxx Mobile remain competitive in the mobile handset business. It is the only brand in India having 1,095 active service centers across India. "We give topmost priority to after sales service. Any kind of issues faced by our customers is resolved immediately," adds Agarwal. The target market for Maxx Mobile is Tier 2 Tier 3 cities. Their mode of operation is through distributors and retailers across India. The mobile brands hold a current market share of 14.5%. Last year, the company clocked an annual turnover of 600cr INR and grew at around 45% from FY2012. The company is eyeing an ambitious turnover of Rs 1500 by FY17.

Innovating and Learning Still
For Agarwal self faith is his mantra to success. He takes his setbacks as learning steps. For example, Agarwal recently faced losses in the last fiscal. He had stocked a number of products which went out of fashion soon and became obsolete. This made him realizes that he had to monitor his goods and streamline operations effectively. Agarwal comments that "to tackle failure, you have to identify the reason for it."

There is much to learn from this persona who has emerged as a competitor to multinational brands in the mobile handset space."The source of sustainability always persists for which you have to keep on thinking innovative ways to deliver your product to the consumer. We kept on taking feedback from customers once a model is launched. When we realized that customers demanded languages incorporated in our products, we developed 20 languages in our product. Although with language incorporation, the products develop memory constrain but we had to overcome he challenges in order to meet the expectations of the consumer market," adds Agarwal.