Miracle Group: A business that does a rethink on all things green - The Noel DCunha Sunday Column

The story of Miracle Group is a classic success tale of three brothers who turned their humble beginnings into an incredible real-life story. Through vision, courage, initiative, determination, passion, assertiveness, and a never-say-never spirit, the three achieved their goals and gave back to society, all while retaining a sense of humility.

“We were born to a family of limited means,” says Lokesh Agarwal, one of the three brothers. The two other brothers are Hemandra, the eldest and Amit, the youngest. “We started helping our father run a small grocery store after school. With limited means, we started looking for work outside to augment the family income at a very early age.”

Agarwal (Lokesh) enrolled for a DTP (desktop publishing) course and joined his uncle's wedding card printing business. Two years later, he left his uncle's workplace and began teaching children DTP in the morning and evening while working as a typist at an institute. With the help of Hemendra and the support of Amit, Agarwal started providing small enterprises with printing solutions for labels, leaflets, visiting cards, flyers, and billbooks, among others.

Seizing the moment
The three brothers set up a company, Miracle Group, about 17 years ago and began executing orders for cartons and labels for local brands in Rajasthan, a thriving market for edible oils.

Within no time, Miracle Group started executing large orders for edible and lubricant oil brands. Due to supply bottlenecks, the Miracle Group joined with local corrugators and printers to cater to the surging demand for these large orders. Eventually, the mounting business exhausted the production capacity of other vendors, leading to the Miracle Group starting an automatic corrugated plant in 2011.

“We acquired land for a factory and established Rajasthan's first automatic corrugated plant,” says Agarwal. The business started growing at 40% to 50% annually, and there was no looking back. This move changed the landscape of corrugated box manufacturing in the state, as Miracle Group's exploits brought confidence back into the market, leading the company to set up more such plants.

(l-r) Lokesh Agarwal and AIFMP president Baruah

Exploring new avenues
The company slowly moved to the manufacturing of mono cartons, flexible packaging, labels, blow-moulded jars, BOPP tapes, shrink sleeves, and many more. From its humble beginning in Jaipur, Miracle now has 10 plants across India. Its Punjab set-up, Miracle Coro Plast, was established in the middle of the pandemic in April 2020. The company deals with more than 500+ MNCs, and all their plants are audited and comply with the guidelines of BRCGS, Sedex, Greenko, ISOs, URSA, and similar certification bodies.

“We believe that packaging is not just a commodity but a service,” says Agarwal.  “We are building India's first packaging park, where the entire range of packaging-related material will be manufactured under a single roof to meet the needs of its brand owners. This Packaging Park is integrated with their strong in-house logistic fleet of more than 150 trucks, design studio, R&D centre, and a training centre to provide employment opportunities to young talent.” The company plans to set up such parks and units across India to serve customers without geographical barriers.

Today, Miracle enjoys a turnover of Rs 850 crores and a team of 10,000 strong employees across its 10 plants.

A significant milestone
In a strategic move to bolster its footprint across India, Miracle Group recently acquired Sattik Packaging, based in West Bengal, and Shivalik Container, based in Himachal Pradesh.

Sattik Packaging specialises in corrugated boxes, mono cartons, and rigid packaging, and Shivalik Container is well-regarded for its corrugated packaging solutions. The two new acquisitions will enable Miracle to offer a more diversified product range and extend its reach to new markets, thereby facilitating greater operational efficiencies and customer satisfaction.

Hemendra explains the acquisition. “These two companies have a well-established market in West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh. Their industry expertise makes them a perfect fit for our growth strategy. Further, it enhances our product portfolio and also bolsters our commitment to deliver complete packaging solutions across India.”

Social responsibility and sustainability
The three brothers, led by Hemandra, are quietly engaged in giving back to society what they themselves lacked growing up. “Among other things, we have set a goal of ensuring education for 200 underprivileged students each year,” informs Agarwal.

The Miracle Group's plants are built on the Green Framework, utilising 100% of roof space for solar generation, zero liquid discharge, usage of biomass briquettes for energy generation, 30% green area, and many more.

Agarwal believes anything can be achieved if one puts one's mind to it. “Our journey is a testament that nothing is impossible—in business or life.”

(Courtesy: MMS, Mumbai. Adapted from the MMS publication - The Hidden Gems, published on 5 April 2024)