How Symphony Got Its Rhythm Back

Achal Bakeri learnt the hard way that diversification is a double-edged sword. He focussed on one single product and has brought innovation and growth back to his company.

- Aveek Datta

What’s common between a wealthy private-sector banker, a leading film actor, a Walmart store in the U.S., a Whirlpool factory in China, the holy shrine complex in Mecca, and several middle-class families in India? All of them use air coolers of one shape or another, made by Symphony, the world’s largest seller of air coolers.

A Mumbai-based banker enjoys some cool breeze, courtesy Symphony, when he sips his morning tea, sitting in the terrace garden of his luxurious apartment. A film actor, a leading man of many yesteryears’ blockbusters, has a Symphony air cooler installed in—believe it or not—his bathroom. The Walmart store, Whirlpool’s factory, and the shrine complex in Mecca use Symphony to cool their large premises, where installing air conditioners (ACs) just didn’t make sense. And middle-class families get some respite from the scorching Indian summer using Symphony’s air coolers, a much cheaper alternative to ACs.

An impressive and diverse clientele, isn’t it? By assiduously focussing on innovating and selling one product, and one product alone, Symphony has become synonymous with air coolers in India and around the world, and built a profitable business in the process.

The Ahmedabad-based company ended fiscal year 2017-18 with a turnover of 854 crore—a six-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.27%; with a profit after tax of Ì€ 193 crore— a six-year CAGR of 24.04%. Symphony’s market capitalisation is close to 8,900 crore and its stock price has tripled over the past five years. Based on its revenue, Symphony rose to number 325 on the 2019 Fortune India Next 500 list from 369 in the previous year’s list. But if one were to look at Symphony’s relative position among all listed companies in India vis-à-vis profitability and market value, Symphony ranks as a top 500 company on both parameters.