Vasanth & Co

People who hail from Tamilnadu are very well versed with the brand name "Vasanth & CO" since the brand occupies some part of your home in the form of an appliance. When you hear the term two things come to your mind - a pleasant smile of the owner Mr. Vasanta Kumar and his loyalism to Congress party by having a towel symbolizing Congress party on his shoulders. Interesting thing is firm is a trader and still they were able to build a brand which breaks the conventional formula that you have to be a Manufacturer to build your brand. Vasanth & co generates over 500 crores and has close to 3000 employees spread across the country in as many as one hundred stores (approximately). Beyond numbers they have touched lives of many especially the economically backward through their business model. They are pioneers in coming up with EMI model for Home appliances and what was a dream for many turned into reality through Vasanth & Co; One can easily say to control one's desires especially materialistic fantasies but some things such as Television, Fridge, Grinder and mixie has fallen into ordinary category from luxury category; What is wrong in owning a television and wanting to see your favorite programme after a hard day's work for a Carpenter/Mason ..What is wrong for a Bank clerk who gets pay of 10 K/month in owning a fridge to safeguard her food ? This is where Vasanth & Co stepped in and revolutionized the entire Home appliances industry. They buy in huge volumes from Manufacturer (multiple brands) and translate the same to the end user on top of offering payments in installments. For example they allowed people to pay 50% upfront and setup monthly payments for the rest of the amount and take the goods with them. "After sales service" is one phenomenon which is given great importance nowadays but then in the past it was one area which was overlooked and Vasanth & co established centralized after sales support through their network thereby being a liaison between the manufacturer and the end customer. They won not just the customer but also the market. 

Apart from the points mentioned above there are few other reasons that I love about the man Mr.Vasantha kumar and want to list them below (personal point of view)

1) Loyalty to your affiliation: As an Entrepreneur he always has a suit and as a politician he wears white and white with a towel representing congress party; He has never been shy portraying him as a member of Congress party and he is rightly called as Mr.clean for his ethics in political journey. Now let us assume we have an interview and it is natural for us to have a vibudhi in our forehead but our mind tends to think like 'what if the interviewer is a christian/Muslim so better go with plain forehead' ...This is all very natural since we just don't want to take any chances. Just look at Mr.Vasanthakumar sir ....running a Business there is every reason for him to believe business may be affected if he leans towards one major political party rather be neutral in your appearance. Just imagine do you think hard core BJP folks would patronize his business especially in a country like India where politics is interlinked with anything and everything ? This is where his loyalty comes into picture and he endorsed congress party no matter what consequences he had to face. He was MLA from Nanguneri constituency and then later went on to become MP of Kanyakumarai lok sabha constituency. 

2)  Relation with his Staff: His staff calls him 'Annachi' and he has a wonderful relationship with his employees. Firing employees is considered to be a shortcut to bring back the company's financial fortunes but many do not realize that practice kills the goodwill that is built between employer and employee thereby causing a dent in their relationship. Mr.Vasantha kumar never fires his employees and always made sure he protects their livelihood. He mingles with them so freely that at times you can even see his hand over a shoulder of an autorickshaw driver. His employees wept for his demise and 

3)Competitors paying their condolences: One thing which tempted me to come up with this blog is a Newspaper ad from all of his competitors informing about his death and paying their condolences ..wow ....when your competitors mourn for your death and speak high regards about you after you left this world that talks about your character. I was moved and recently happened to have a chat with an Entrepreneur who is doing big time business in Home appliances in Trichy area and the moment I said Mr.Vasantha kumar, he started pouring accolades and said he is a legend and helped the entire industry scale great heights. Right from PM Modi ji, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, CM of TN, opposition leader of TN, political bigwigs in both Congress and BJP conveyed their condolence to the bereaved family. I would rate myself as a good reader than a listener but few days back happened to listen to a gentleman's wonderful speech about Death. He said birth certificate and death certificate are pretty much the same with the death certificate holding an extra green signature (from an government official) and no matter how many titles you hold in your personal/professional/social life nothing is going to appear on your death certificate. Good deeds will be remembered by people and when you have touched many people's lives they are going to remember you. In that sense Mr.VasanthaKumar has lived a great life touching many lives thereby earning a rich legacy and reserving a place in Heaven. I have paid my tribute to this gentleman through my blog. 

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