Neeraj Kakkar & Shripad Nadkarni || Paperboat || The New Rules Of Business

James Nuttall, Neeraj Kakkar & Suhas Misra

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Updated: November 19th, 2023

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James Nuttall, Neeraj Kakkar, and Suhas Misra established Paper Boat, a brand of traditional Indian drinks and culinary goods.

They launched the line of Paper Boat drinks in August 2013 to grasp the Indian packaged drink market. Paper Boat is a subsidiary of Hector Beverages, which started in 2009.

Neeraj Kakkar, the CEO of Hector Beverages and Paper Boat, was born and raised in Haryana, India. In 1998, Neeraj completed a Post Graduate Program in Management at the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon. In 2010, he completed a general management course, Master of Business Administration, from The Wharton School.

Initially, the founders thought of venturing into functional beverages. They noticed the demand for the ethnic drinks category in India. So they focused on creating beverages from ingredients passed from one generation to another.

Paper Boat Key Success Secrets:

Focusing on consumers who longed for a simple, uncomplicated life.
Tapping into a powerful human emotion.
Taking customer feedback and improving or introducing new flavors as per customers’ demand.
Innovation and making decisions quickly.
Market segmentation has helped the brand to stand out from the competition.

The company aims to conserve ancient recipes while creating innovative Indian beverages. Paper Boat goods include no artificial coloring or preservatives. N.R. finances the firm. Catamaran Ventures, Footprint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, among others, are led by Narayana Murthy.

Paper Boat has seen upward growth after being launched in 2013. The company claimed a 20% sales gain in the fiscal year 2020, which concluded in March last year. Revenue increased from INR 195 Cr in FY2019 to INR 235 Cr in FY20. They are currently expanding their business and launching new products in the market.