How the Chaudhary Group (CG) Became the Largest Company in Nepal?
We all know what Chaudhary Group is. It is the Nepali equivalent of LG. Our own local LG. To some extent, it is LG as well. The electronic goods that this company sells are the patent products of the international brand LG. Now to know how this brand came to be and how it expanded. Here we will talk about how one of the biggest companies in Nepal, known as the Chaudhary Group, began and expanded its Business.
How Chaudhary Group was Started?
We all know that every business has to start from somewhere small. Regardless of how rich a person is, without the reputation and brand loyalty of the people, a business cannot grow. So where did CG start?
It all began in 1934 after the earthquake hit Nepal. In Juddha Sadak (present day New Road) a row of shops were formed. It was there that a businessman from India named Bhuramull Chaudhary began his small shop with a yearly rental fee of rs 200. It should be considered that back then a single paisa still carried value. Rs 200 back then, was similar to 20,000 and considering that the area of the shop itself was small, 20,000 is a large sum.
Afterwards the yearly rent increased to 500Rs. Back then Mr Bhuramull was doing a small business of import and export of Fabric. Due to this, and the need for better quality fabrics, he was among the few who were allowed to enter the Rana Palace.
He and his son were providing the Ranas with good quality fabrics and establishing a good relationship with them. In the meantime he knew back then that having a king on your side was a good business promotion.
This was back when there was no need for registration of the Business and as long as there was no bad image in the public, any business was good to go.
The take over by Lunkaran Das Chaudhary
After the passing of Mr Bhuramull Chaudhary his son, Mr Lunkaran Das Chaudhary took over his business. He was groomed from childhood and also had some great ideas of his own as well.
In 1965 a modern textile company was established. It should be noted that by this time, Mr Lunkaran Das had expanded his importing business from solely India to Biratnagar as well and had started to export them to the USA and Europe as well using the loyal connection that had been made by his father.
With the name known, the brand name of “Rhino” had reached both nationally and internationally. And thus began the expansion of Chaudhary Group. It should be noted that the business empire was just beginning so it was not known as the CG.
In the same year Nepal spinning, weaving and knitting Pvt. Ltd was established and he began to produce his own textile. Gathering the techniques from both within the country and from India as well.
By the year 1967 Mr Lunkaran had established himself as a well known fabric trader. Also around this time, the demand for steel utensils and furnishing were starting to rise. This was the beginning of the Industrial era in Nepal. He saw profits in the furnishing as there was no National industry which produced. Hence Ratna Stainless Steel was established. This was the second company in the line of many to come in the Chaudhary Group.
Expansion of CG
After the Ratna Stainless steel came Arun Impex in 1970 which became one of the center hubs of import and export. This was because there were virtually no restrictions on what it would import and export. Everything from foods and Spices to electronics and hardware was imported and exported here. It thus became the sole distributor of Loulinex from S.A. France which was the manufacturer of electrical and household appliances. Along with this Arun Impex also became the sole distributor of Max Factor, London which manufactured cosmetics.
He soon expanded into establishing Jor Ganesh Press in Balaju and Janakpur Cigarette Factory as well. This should be noted that this was the time when smoking was considered to be healthy. All of this was done under the name of United Builders
Later he also invested in the lord connecting Kathmandu and Trishuli. What this did for him was create a good will of people and spread his name.
Similarly, wherever he saw a chance of profit and good will, he invested his money and that paid out well for him. In the time where there wasn’t much roads or media for publicity, he expanded solely through the mouth to mouth good will of people. Thus the naming of Chaudhary Group was formed.
Present
Similarly, Binod Chaudhary also walked in the shoes of business from an early age and carried on the will and legacy of the Chaudhary Group. Now the Chaudhary Group has over 100 companies under its name. The investment is not small either as each year the group invests over 1billion US dollar in its company. This just shows how massive and expanded the group is. If you think that the expansion stopped after Mr Lunkaran Das you would be wrong.
Major projects
The following are the investments of the CG. In the meantime it should be noted that this list is only of the major companies that the CG has invested in and either has large shares in or owns.
Arun Emporium.
1970:United Builders.
1973:Pashupati Biscuits.
1991:Rahul Exim Trading Pvt. Ltd.
1992:Impact International, Himalayan International, Marketing Associates Pvt. Ltd., United Finance Pvt. Ltd.
1993: Power Development Nepal Pvt. ltd., United Insurance Pvt. ltd., Shree Mahalaxmi Nutritious Foods Pvt. Ltd and Chaudhary Investments Pvt. ltd.
1994: ABB Investments Pvt. Ltd, Himalayan Intercontinental Pvt. Ltd.
1995: Chaudhary Foundation and Shree Lunkaran Das Ganga Devi Academy for Arts and Literature.
1996: CG Education and Shree Lunkaran Das Ganga Devi Chaudhary Charity Hospital Pvt. Ltd.
1999: CG Developers
2003:CG Finco
2006:CG Energy & Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd (CGEI)
2012: FMCG, CG Biotech, CG Cement, CG Electronics
CG Financial Services which includes Bank, Insurance, Remittance along with CG Hotels & Resorts, CG Developers, CG Ayurveda and CG Education
2013: CG Telecom
By this you should be able to guess that the group has its head in every sector you can think of. From basic needs such as food to construction materials and from education to communication and medications.
This is the secret of how the CG started and expanded. They invested in every important sector of human life. However, there have been some failed investments as well but they are negligible. The fact that LG, one of the giant companies in the world, was satisfied enough to trust a company of a small country with their patent is proof of that.
