ANGELS IN THE MARBLE

The Kishangarh factory of Stonex tells you how world-class products are made

- JAYASHREE KINI MENDES

Walk down Makrana road in Kishangarh and the street is lined with various companies dealing in marble. Huge blocks of while and grey marble dot the stretch of road. Marble dust is heavy in the air and suddenly looms a magnificient structure with beautiful landscaping, not to forget, distinctive sculptures that stand out within the campus. We are at the Stonex manufacturing facility - a company established in 2001 (brand Stonex in 2003), and today has a turnover of Rs 450 crore.

Set up by Gaurav Agrawal and Saurav Agrawal, aided by cousin Vikas Agrawal, the business began with selling natural stone before India discovered imported marble and which soon became a rage.

Gaurav says, “Our business grew exponentially because today development of new houses is not city agnostic. Early, metropolitan cities was where houses were being constructed. Today, tier-2 and 3 cities are seeing more houses being constructed and with money not being a issue, people want to build beautiful homes and what better than marble?”

Over the years, the Agrawal brothers have tried to bring in unique products and its white marbles are quarried from some of the finest quarries around the world such as Italy, Vietnam, Portugal, Namibia, Spain, Turkey, and Greece.

The company has experts in 30-off countries who pick the best of the quality of stone and brought to Stonex.

In 2015, Stonex opened its first out-of-town showroom in Ahmedabad and soon expanded to 14 other cities, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Surat, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Kanpur, and Lucknow. The fully automated plant at Kishangarh, Rajasthan, was set up in 2017.