Brother Duo from Small Town Turns Rs 25,000 into Rs 300 Crore Turnover Business Empire

Siblings Sanjeev Kumar Gupta and Rajeev Kumar Gupta, who began their air cooler manufacturing business in 1992 with just Rs 25,000, have rapidly expanded over the years into a multi-product enterprise.

Today, they are the owners of two brands, Summercool and Thermocool, with a cumulative turnover of Rs 300 crore.

During their early days, Sanjeev and Rajeev used a scooty to visit home appliance dealers in Faridabad and market their air-coolers. As business picked up, they upgraded to a scooter.

Sanjeev and Rajeev rode around on a scooty to solicit business in the initial years (Photos: Special Arrangement)

Four decades later, they are manufacturing around 150 products, including ceiling fans, exhaust fans, room heaters, LED TVs, kitchen appliances, and other fast-moving consumer goods.

Based in Ghaziabad, UP, the company operates four modern factories, with around 200 employees on its rolls. Summercool has 250 distributors in 17 states of India and their products are available in around 4000 stores across the country.


The founder siblings hail from Uttar Pradesh, where their father ran a kirana store in the small town of Gulaothi in Bulandshahar district, while their mother was a housewife. Sanjeev is the eldest of five siblings and the family lived a modest middle-class life in Gulaothi.

Sanjeev finished his Class 12 in 1984 from Janta Inter College, Chhajjupur, which was about 5 km from his house. The siblings walked to the school and seldom took the bus.

After completing his schooling, Sanjeev, along with his younger brother Rajeev, moved to Ghaziabad (about 20 km from Gulaothi) to explore business opportunities.

Having witnessed their father struggle with the village kirana store, the brothers wanted to pursue something with the potential for growth and scalability.

Sanjeev completed his graduation as a private student after starting thebusiness

In Ghaziabad, the duo started a seasonal business by selling about 20 coolers, which they acquired on credit from wholesalers. They sold the coolers at a small profit margin, and once the sales were made, they repaid the wholesalers.

After some time, they borrowed Rs.25000 from their friends and started making coolers on their own. By this time, their families also shifted to Ghaziabad, where Sanjeev completed his graduation from UP University as a private student.

As Sanjeev recalls, “We used to buy aluminum sheets, do the cutting, and send them for welding. Once the body was ready, essentials like a motor, fan, and pads were added and the product was ready to be sold.

In 1992, they launched the coolers under the brand name Summercool, which were priced around Rs 1,600 at that time.

The duo encountered all kinds of challenges while setting up their brand. “The first hurdle was gaining the trust of the customer and also of the big multi-branded shop owners who were showcasing Summercool in their stores,” says Sanjeev.

However, affordable rates, good quality, and positive word of mouth worked in their favour.

Sanjeev and Rajeev with the other directors of the company

After their entire family shifted to Ghaziabad, the Guptas purchased a three-story building in Sector 23, Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad, UP. The building, with a combined area of around 1,000 square feet, had the shop on the ground floor, the manufacturing unit on the first floor, and the family residing on the third floor.

The company had around 8 employees including the two brothers during this time. In the first 10 years, the company grew at a rate of 50 X every year.

The company’s business model is simple. 80% of their products are manufactured in-house, except LED TVs and washing machines, whose production is outsourced.

90% of their business comes from offline stores whereas 10% comes from online marketplaces, like their own website, and leading ecommerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.

Out of the entire offline business, 85% comes from the various stores across India, 10% from Uttar Pradesh and various Central Government departments, and 5% from exports to Nepal.

The company has a mother warehouse in the industrial area of Ghaziabad. It is spread across four floors and covers an area of around 1 lakh square feet. The same place also houses the head office of Summercool.

Apart from this, they use Amazon and Flipkart warehouses in various states of the country to store their products for easy and quick delivery.

Penetrating the market is the hardest for a new brand, and Summercool was no different. “In the initial days, we requested multi-branded dealers to just display our products in their showrooms, without paying a single penny,” shares Sanjeev. “They were reluctant, but affordable rates, good quality, and trust helped us in expanding our business.”

In 2005, the company saw a major setback when they suffered huge losses due to a fire accident in one of their units. "It happened at our Meerut Road industrial area warehouse. We lost everything and couldn't figure out how to start from scratch again. At this time, our goodwill in the market came to our rescue,” recounts Sanjeev.

“The dealers and suppliers went out of their way to help us. The distributors gave us advance money and the raw material supplier gave us material on credit. That is how we pushed the restart button and are now manufacturing around one lakh plus products per month."

Summercool and Thermocool have dealers around the country

Sanjeev is the CMD of the company and handles the marketing. His younger brother Rajeev is the director of the company and handles the production and quality control. All four children from the family have entered the business now.

Asked about future expansions, Sanjeev says, “Our focus is on introducing products that are technologically advanced, efficient & sustainable. For this, we are investing significantly in R & D.”

Sanjeev married Rashmi Gupta in April 1992, and she is a homemaker. The couple has two sons, Abhishek, 29, and Ashutosh, 28.

Sanjeev’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is, "Work with complete honesty and never lose sight of your goal. Your focus should be as sharp as Arjun’s in the Ramayana. Always give your best effort and never shy away from hard work."

In his leisure time, Sanjeev engages in social welfare activities, participates in religious events, and is an active member of the Lions Club. - ©TWL