Hari Krishna Exports

Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd., also known as HK, is an Indian diamond conglomerate, headquartered in The Capital, Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, India.[4] HK was established in 1992 by Savji Dholakia and his three brothers.[1] The company has manufacturing units at Surat in Gujarat and its marketing and sales office in Mumbai.

Hare Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd.
TypePrivate
IndustryDiamond Manufactures and Exporters
Founded1992 (1992) [1]
FoundersSavji Dholakia [1]
HeadquartersBandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, India
Number of locations
Mumbai
Surat
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Savji Dholakia (Chairman)
ProductsDiamonds and Jewellery
Revenue US$ 1.1 billion
(Rs. 7,000 crores) [2]
OwnerSavji Dholakia and family
Number of employees
6,000 (as of 2018) [3]
DivisionsRaw Diamond Procurement
Diamond Polishing
Diamond Marketing & Sales
Websitewww.hk.co

History

In 1992, HK started as a small-time diamond cutting and polishing unit in Surat with a few machines and employees. It later expanded to Mumbai to meet a growing demand for raw diamonds.

In 2005, HK launched its own jewellery brand - KISNA. Today, it is the largest distributed diamond jewellery brand in India, available in over 6,250 jewellery outlets. KISNA offers over 563 designs of rings, earrings, pendants, necklaces, bangles, bracelets and nose pins. It uses VVS diamonds and 18k hallmarked gold.[5] From 2007 until 2008 HK grew by 49% and recorded a turnover of ₹ 1,025 crores (US$ 260 million at the time).

Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. grew, strength to strength, over the next decade. In 1994 the diamond exports increased multifold after an Israel client's referral to the international clients. In 2001, the ambitious export company made yet another leap as it started to trade and manufacture diamonds of sizes ranging from 0.18 Carat to 0.96 Carat. In the fiscal year 2002-03 Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd. recorded a 200% growth.

Initially the export company started to trade and manufacture round diamonds with a value of less than 0.18 carats. The company recorded a turnover of Rs. 1 crore (10 Million) in its first fiscal year of operations to a US$975 million (INR 6,000 crores) in 2013-14 with customer friendly system & services in place. In a span of twenty two years, the company has traveled from being a small entrepreneurial outfit to the position of a Group with interests in domestic and international business arenas. The vertical integration process transformed the company from a mere diamond polisher to one that processes, manufactures and markets polished diamonds and jewellery in the domestic and international markets with affiliates in New York, Hong Kong and Antwerp and Dubai participating in achieving the task.

The vertical integration process transformed HK from a small diamond manufacturer to a complete mine-to-market supply chain with supply from miners like Diamond trading company (DTC),[6] Rio Tinto,[1] DDC (earlier BHP),[7] Alrosa.[8]

The company is also involved in diamond jewellery manufacturing and exporting H.K. Designs and Unity Jewels. Through H.K. Jewels Pvt. Ltd. the domestic market is being catered to. Kisna Diamond Jewellery is a pan India brand distributed through more than 480 distributors to more than 6500 retail outlets.

HK is exporting polished diamonds to 79 countries [2] Currently, HK manufactures over 40,000 carats of diamonds every month (500,000 carats every year).[5]

Controversy

The company received media attention for 'gifting' his employees cars, jewellery and homes as bonuses on Diwali. In 2014, it gifted 491 cars, 525 pieces of diamond jewellery and 200 apartments worth ₹50 crore (US$7.0 million).[9][10][11][12][13][14] In 2016, the company gifted 1260 cars and 400 apartments.[15] The company gifted 600 cars in 2018.[11] The claims were disputed by Mera News portal which reported that the employees are paid salary on the cost to company basis and the down payment of the 'gifts' are sourced from the amount deducted from the salary under the title of bonus. The cars are brought under the name of the company and the employees have to sign a job bond of 5 years. The company benefits from the bulk discount and tax credit on the cars.[16][17]

In December 2016, the company was issued notice by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) Surat regional branch for violating Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,  1952 and Factory Act after two years of investigation. The company had registered only 17 employees under Employee Provident Fund (EPF) despite employing 3165 people then. It had not paid EPF to employees for several years. The EPFO ordered the company to deposit ₹16.6 crore (US$2.3 million) with 12% annual interest and 25% annual damage penalty.[18][19][20][21]

Recognition

References
  1. "Rio Tinto's Select Diamantaire: Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd". Rio Tinto.
  2. "Why I gifted Cars, Flats: India's Most Generous Boss talks to NDTV News". NDTV News. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  3. "Amazing Story of a businessman who gifted cars, flats to Staff". Rediff. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  4. "The Overall Domestic Diamond Market seems to be going North". Rough & Polished. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  5. "Company Profile - Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd".
  6. "DTC Sightholder - Hari Krishna Exports Pvt. Ltd". De Beers Group of Companies. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014.
  7. "Hari Krishna Exports - Our Association".
  8. "Alrosa Alliance - Our Customers". Alrosa.
  9. "The desi Oprah who gifted 200 homes, 491 cars for Diwali". rediff.com. Rediff.com. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  10. "Diwali gift: Flats, cars, jewellery to `loyal staffers'". thehindubusinessline.com. The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  11. "Gujarat diamantaire gifts 600 cars, FDs as Diwali bonus to employees". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  12. "India diamond merchant boss distributes cars as gifts". BBC. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  13. "Meet the Indian boss who gave cars, apartments and diamonds to employees". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  14. Melvyn Thomas (21 October 2014). "Diwali bonanza: Surat boss gifts cars, flats and jewellery as bonus to his employees". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  15. "Surat businessman gifts 1,260 cars, 400 flats to employees!". The Financial Express. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  16. Dayal, Prashant. "Savji Dholakia didn't really gift 600 cars to his employees, there was a catch that everyone missed". MeraNews. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  17. Dayal, Prashant. "સવજીભાઇ ધોળકિયાને ખુલ્લો પત્ર: '1 કરોડની ઓફર કરનાર સવજીભાઈ તમે સત્ય અને અસત્યની વચ્ચે ઉભા છો'". MeraNews (in Gujarati). Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  18. "Surat diamond baron: Diamond baron who gifted cars to staff evaded paying EPF". The Times of India. 18 December 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  19. Sarkar, Asmita (18 December 2016). "Surat diamond merchant slapped with notice from EPFO for evasion of payment". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  20. Thomas, Melvyn (21 January 2017). "Employees' Provident Fund Organisation: Diamantaire who evaded provident fund of staffers gifts 1,200 cars to them". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  21. Thomas, Melvyn (14 January 2017). "Diamond firm may face action under EPF Act". The Times of India. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  22. "Kiran Gems Wins Top GJEPC Export Award". idexonline.com/. IDEX - International Diamond Exchange. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  23. "Hari Krishna Exports Receives GJEPC Award 2011-12". rapnet.com. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  24. "Hari Krishna Exports Receives GJEPC Award 2012-13". floroscent.com. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  25. "Hari Krishna Exports Receives Coveted Intl. Business Award by The Stevies". diamonds.net. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  26. "Hari Krishna Exports honoured with two accolades The Stevies 2014". diamondworld.net. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  27. "Company/Organization Awards Winners". http://stevieawards.com/. Stevie Awards, Inc. Retrieved 28 January 2017. External link in |website= (help)
  28. "Award recipient of: Outstanding Enterprise of the Year – India". jnaawards.com. UBM Asia Limited. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
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