Amit Kumat

Luck did not seem to favour Amit Kumat when he decided to become an entrepreneur. Despite working in the snacks industry for a decade, he chose to become a chemicals manufacturer. In less than a year, Amit was in Rs 6 crore debt. He shut the business, repaid his creditors, and contemplated his next move. One day, Amit hit upon the idea to replicate the success of Peppy Cheese Balls. He realised that Indore was an under-penetrated market for snacks and he could retail his own version of cheese balls in northern and western India. The logistics seemed available in Indore.

With this idea in mind, Amit and his brother, Apoorva, approached a friend, Arvind Mehta, in 2002. They asked him to invest Rs 15 lakh so they could start a snacks company.

This time, Lady Luck smiled on Amit. He had hit the nail on the head and figured out the true potential of cheese balls in the region. Despite working out of a small office, sales began to soar.

Prakash Snacks became the launchpad for potato chips and namkeen brand Yellow Diamond. In 2010, they incorporated Prataap Snacks, and soon brought Prakash Snacks under it. In 2017, the company was listed on NSE and BSE, and its IPO was oversubscribed 47 times. Today, Prataap Snacks is a large-scale snacks manufacturer that runs nine manufacturing facilities and has an extensive distribution network of 240 super stockists and more than 4,100 distributors.