THINK!

Ramakrishna Karuturi, a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, has gone global. Had he launched another IT (Information Technology) company, it wouldn’t be all that big a deal. The very fact that Karuturi launched a floriculture firm and then decided to take it global, is really news-worthy. Malini Bhupta of India Today reports, “Karuturi now has 325 hectares under cultivation, of which 100 are in Ethiopia, 185 in Kenya and 40 in India. The output in Ethiopia has grown by 100 per cent since the acquisition, and by December 2009, Karuturi Global will have 300 hectares in the country, making it thrice as big as the second-largest rose producer”. Today, Ramakrishna Karuturi and his ‘Karuturi Networks Limited’ is the largest cultivator of quality cut-roses in the world.

Karuturi 42, belongs to business family (Deepak Cables India Ltd.), dealing in cables and transmission towers. In 1994-95, he launched ‘Karuturi Floritech’ in Doddaballapur, near Bangalore, India. The annual capacity was to process 12 million premium cut roses at the state-of-the-art production facility. By 1999, Karuturi Floritech had increased the cultivation to 10 hectares and in 2003, it became the largest rose producer in India. In 2004, Ramakrishna Karuturi set up a wholly owned subsidiary in Ethiopia, Africa, Ethiopian Meadows Plc-to cultivate roses with a special focus on HT (Hybrid Tea) roses. The company has expanded to other related businesses.

Filed under: Corporate India Tagged: | 325 Hectares, Acquisition, Africa, Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering, Bangalore, Bangalore University, Business Graduate, Cables, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Cultivation, Deepak Cables India Ltd, Doddaballapur, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Meadows Plc, Floriculture, HT, Hybrid Tea, India, India Today, Information Technology, IT, Karuturi, Karuturi Floritech, Karuturi Global, Karuturi Networks, Karuturi Networks Limited, Kenya, Malini Bhupta, MBA, Mechanical Engineer, Ohio, Premium Cut Roses, Ramakrishna Karuturi, Rose, Rose Producer, Roses, second-largest, state-of-the-art, Transmission-towers, US, USA