How this salaried chemical engineer went on to build a nearly $6 billion company

"He risked everything, leveraging his personal assets to resurrect Astral from a company barely generating ₹10 million in profit in FY23 to a powerhouse projected to generate over ₹6 billion in profit by FY24, with a market capitalization nearing ₹500 billion," wealth management firm Marcellus wrote in a recent newsletter to its subscribers.

The person of interest here is Sandeep Engineer, a self-made billionaire owner—among India's top 100 richest people, has a net worth of $3.3 billion as of November 12—who founded the company, which is today called Astral Pipes and has a market value of over ₹50,000 crore (nearly $6 billion).

The company has been a steady wealth creator for its investors too. Anyone who bought shares of Astral Pipes around Diwali five years ago has made nearly four times the money by now.

Astral Pipes is part of the stocks recommended by Axis Securities for Diwali muhurat trading this year. It was part of ICICI Securities’ Diwali picks last year.

The success of Astral is intrinsically linked to the Engineer's life, hardships, and strong will to succeed against the odds with sheer grit. It’s also a story of keen observations by the founder, who was ready to spot opportunities and make strategic, timely pivots as and when needed.

Engineer decided to turn entrepreneur after a two-and-a-half year stint at Cadila Laboratories (later Cadila Healthcare and recently became Zydus Lifesciences), where he drew a salary of Rs 850 a month, according to The Unusual Billionaires, a 2016 book by Saurabh Mukherjea, the founder of Marcellus.

Engineer ventured into selling flavoured Isabgol, a home remedy for constipation, as a distributor across Ahmedabad. The venture didn't work out and had to be shut down in a couple of years.

In 1987, under Cadila Healthcare chairman Pankaj Patel's mentorship, Engineer tried his luck with active pharmaceutical ingredients by starting a company called Shree Chemicals. The venture didn't work as well and faced quality issues, eventually forcing the Engineer to move into another product line with a different company, Kairav Chemicals.

A chance discovery of CPVC (chlorinated polyvinyl chloride) in the US while working at pipes major Lubrizol (then BFGoodrich Performance Materials) made Engineer see its potential in India.

He returned and formed Astral Poly Technik, a plumbing and drainage systems maker, in 1998. It was the first company to get the licence to make CVPC pipes in India. Since then, it has expanded into adhesives (2011), bathware, and paints.

It wasn't easy initially. "When I launched CPVC pipes, no one accepted them; we had only brought the industrial CPVC pipe to India, not the plumbing one. And the market did not accept it for the first couple of years. We were hardly processing 5% of our total capacity. There were huge losses that kept mounting up,” a ForbesIndia article quoted him as saying.

Moving into the plumbing in 2001 helped Astral as plumbers started preferring CPVC over galvanised iron ones. The company had a 25% market share in CPVC pipes sold in India, according to Sharekhan, a Mumbai-based broking firm.

Under Engineer, Astral organised plumber meets, trained them in its use, and also cut down prices by 20–25% to churn out volumes.

Astral's growth exploded from 2003. Revenue nearly doubled in just a year. With a top line of ₹60 crore in 2007, Engineer took the company public and raised ₹35 crore from the initial public offering (IPO). The company’s annual sales stood at over ₹5,100 crore at the end of March 2023.

In 2011, Astral Poly Technik rebranded itself as Astral Pipes with the entry of Engineer's eldest son, Kairav.

To increase brand visibility, Kairav roped in actor Salman Khan as its brand ambassador in 2014. More recently, they also sponsored teams such as the Rajasthan Royals, KKR, and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

Astral's acquisition of British adhesive company Seal it Services for ₹44 crore (in 2014) for an 80% stake marked its entry into the adhesive space, an arena where Fevicol-maker Pidilite Industries has a near monopoly.

In 2018, Astral also acquired a 76% equity stake in the Kanpur-based Resinova Chemie for ₹212.8 crore, giving it the brand REsiQuick, an instant adhesive.

The combined sales of all adhesives in India is estimated at about Rs 18,000 crore, by the Mumbai-based ICICI Direct Research, and Astral had a 4.7% market share in the space at the end of March 2023.

Will double revenue between FY21 and FY26

The management has reiterated piping segment volume growth of 15% over the next five years against industry volume growth of about 10%

tank, faucet, sanitaryware, paint and valve will together generate revenue of Rs 1500 crore in the next five years

The company is working on rebranding and redesigning the paint product line. The segment contributed a revenue of Rs 216 crore (of the total Rs 5,100 crore) in the last financial year.