Autopress India: From contract manufacturing to a top cookware brand
Autopress India Pvt Ltd is carving a niche for itself in the rapidly-growing premium cookware market. The Pune-based company, which has been carrying out contract manufacturing for global and Indian cookware/home appliances companies, such as France’s Groupe SEB (brands: Tefal, All-Clad, Simplastic and Lagostina), Howkins and Racold, had launched its own premium cookware brand – Stahl – in 2013.
In just over a decade, Stahl has emerged as one of the most sought-after premium cookware brands, with pan-India presence. It is the first brand to make Triply cookware in India and has the largest range of Triply pressure cookers in the country. Apart from cookers, the brand boasts of an extended portfolio of premium triply stainless steel cookware across categories like kadhais, frying pans, tawas, saucepans and kitchen knives. The home-grown brand has today reached about 3 million households and is all geared up to go further to 15 million households by 2030. In the last seven years plus, the company has grown at a CAGR of 45 per cent. It is looking to clock a topline of about Rs500 crore in the next four years.
Backed by 50+ distributors and over 3,000 retail counters, the brand, known for its high-quality, innovative products, has created its presence across 21 states in the country. Moreover, the company is exporting to countries like Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UAE and Sri Lanka. The company, employing about 250 people (47 per cent women on the shop floor), has two manufacturing facilities (capacity: 120,000 pieces per month) in Pune. Apart from traditional trade channels, Stahl cookware range is available across e-com channels like Amazon, Flipkart, Jio Mart, Shopify and Tata CLiQ. Over 20 per cent of its sales come from online channels.
“Our mission is to enable the best cooking experiences for anyone by creating thoughtfully crafted user-centric products,” affirms Dhruv Agarwal, 39, director & CEO, Autopress India. “At Stahl, we are dedicated to crafting world class products that elevate the art of cooking. Each piece of cookware is thoughtfully designed with the customer's needs in mind – ensuring that it performs seamlessly, feels great in one’s hands and stands the test of time. We want to be a global aspirational personal product brand by finding and solving unique problems that people care about, deep user understanding and fearlessly creating new categories”. Autopress was set up in 1991 by Agarwal’s father, Rajiv Agarwal, 58, who is now CMD of the company. The company was initially set up as a sheet metal processing unit, catering to defence.
World-class kitchenware
Dhruv’s inspiration behind the brand was the robust cookware that he found in Germany, when he was a student there. Seeing a space in the Indian market for quality cooking utensils, the entrepreneur, who always had a penchant for problem-solving, wanted to create world-class kitchenware in India that could compete with international standards of quality. An astute business thinker today, he studied International Business at the prestigious Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm in Germany, where he won the DAAD prize for outstanding academic achievement.
The company, competing with brands like Hawkins, Vinod Cookware and Bergner, is looking to maintain its momentum, going forward as well. Apart from expanding its capacities recently, the brand has strengthened its market presence with 45 per cent of its sales coming from the western region, followed by 25 per cent from the north and 25 per cent from the south. The company is also looking to expand its portfolio further and enter into other categories, such as electric cookers and kitchen tools.
In 2015, when the company introduced Triply stainless steel cookware products in the Indian market, it was the first company to do so. Today, over 95 per cent of its portfolio comprises Triply products. Triply cookware offers several advantages due to its construction of three layers (stainless steel, aluminium and, again, stainless steel). These benefits include even heat distribution, durability, faster cooking times and compatibility with various cooktops. Triply cookware is easy to clean and maintain; and is a safe and healthy choice for cooking due to its non-reactive nature.