“I went to Hyderabad and made a Rs 5,000 profit, by selling the bangles to a jeweller,” recalls the Marwari businessman. “I realised then that there was a market for well made jewellery, and I built my business, step by step, working from early morning to late night.” Today, he has nine jewellery showrooms in south India with an annual turnover of over Rs 8,000 crore, emerging as the largest manufacturer and wholesaler of jewellery in the region. “Only hard work and clear vision can give an edge,” he adds. 

The work he put in involved sleepless nights, perseverance, learning to handle people and resources and mastery of  other life skills. Life then was one huge routine of sitting with goldsmiths while they made the chains, bangles and necklaces and keeping a vigilant eye on the process. “Whatever money I made in the early days, I re-invested it in gold and took it to goldsmiths. They added their portion -- sometimes 80 per cent -- and it was up to me to make sure that they finished the job and delivered the jewellery,” he says.

He would use public transport to meet goldsmiths, his itinerary covering Nellore to Hyderabad and then Chennai, to sell his items. He would use private vehicles only when transporting the finished products, a practice that he continues to this day. “All this helps me pass on more benefits to the customer,” says Kiran, who revolutionised the jewellery market by declaring a highly competitive wastage charge much against the market trend. While others were charging over 33 per cent as wastage, his chain of stores charged in single digits. “I strongly believe in ethical profit. I am happy if I make just 1.5 per cent profit,” he says.

The shift to the big league happened when the original Lalitha Jewellery, a household name, went bankrupt and the owners decided to sell out. “They supported me in my early days when I was selling my jewellery and did not  have any  money. I bought their liabilities, but decided to retain the name,” explains Kiran. “In business, much is about branding, and if you change it; it will not always work,” he says, sounding like a top B-school alumnus. Customer recall value of Lalithaa Jewellery also gained from brand Rajinikanth. His film, Lingaa, was shot in the store, which figures for a good 20 minutes in the movie.

For a self taught businessman, Kiran is completely at home in financial corridors, being known to pick up shares in major companies that are on the threshold of making good gains. It was acute business sense that made him pick up a 17 per cent share in DC Design, Pune, a company that makes cars that are admired the world over. When the original promoters wanted to sell out, Kiran emerged as the largest shareholder, and a majority stake in the company. He will next be entering the highly stylised UK automobile market this year, only the second Indian after the Tatas, to venture there.

Kiran, who rubs shoulders with the crème de la crème of the business, entertainment and sports worlds, says he has no role model?  “I am self-driven,” he says, from the driver’s seat of his Avanti car, made by DC Design.