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Informed InvestoRR
Think back to the days when life was simpler, when Sundays meant family, evenings meant playing outside, and footwear meant just one thing: the trusty Hawai chappal. It was soft, sturdy, and always there, lying by the door, ready to slip on whether you were heading to the market, the terrace, or just nowhere in particular.
Long before sneakers became status symbols and brands became battles, this humble rubber slipper quietly walked through every Indian household — unassuming, unshakable, unforgettable.
But for two brothers from Delhi, it wasn’t just footwear. It was the beginning. With ₹10,000, a rented space, and a dream larger than their means, they built something no one saw coming – a ₹10,428 crore empire.
Ready to walk down memory lane and see how far a simple slipper can go? Let’s begin.
New Roads
The story kicks off in the early 1970s. The Dua family was juggling businesses, cycle parts, footwear, and trading until a split in 1971 changed everything. Ramesh Kumar Dua and Mukand Lal Dua’s father was left with an unsettled debt of ₹1 lakh. No one repaid.
Instead of giving up, the family chose to start afresh and started small. They rented out a property for ₹350/month, took a ₹10,000 deposit, and turned it into their starting capital. The product of choice? Rubber slippers.
Resolve
Here’s where the story takes a sharp turn. Despite having a commerce degree, Ramesh Dua knew success meant understanding rubber, the lifeblood of the product. He applied to the UK-based Plastics and Rubber Institute. They rejected him. No technical background, they said.
So he wrote again. Let me attend, not for a degree, just to learn.They agreed. That persistence, the same rubber-meets-road grit, would one day define Relaxo.
Everything.
In those early days, small-scale units ran under scattered names, as government policy capped growth. But even then, Dua was dreaming big. He believed in branding, not just as a label, but as protection. During the emergency, he noticed that shops could remove generic products overnight, but brands lingered.
So he coined one.
Relaxo.
Simple. Sticky. Memorable.
A brand people could ask for by name.
The Footprint Widens
Liberalisation opened new doors in the ’90s. In 1995, Relaxo went big, setting up a plant with a daily capacity of 50,000 pairs. A ₹7.5 crore investment, fueled by an IPO, savings, and a bank loan, marked its transition from hustle to enterprise.
India was changing. The economy was buzzing. And people needed affordable, quality shoes. Relaxo stepped in. Quite literally.
to ₹100-Crore Campaigns
In the early years, Relaxo’s marketing budget was a modest ₹100 spent on radio jingles. But Dua knew the power of repetition and recall. Over time, that small spark turned into a full-blown firestorm of advertising.
Today, Bollywood icons like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Sonakshi Sinha represent brands under the Relaxo umbrella — Bahamas, Flite, Sparx, and Schoolmate. For India’s growing middle class, these aren’t just slippers. They’re statements.
Profit
By 2012, the business had grown, but scale was outpacing structure. That’s when Relaxo brought in Accenture. The goal? Turn volume-focused hustle into profitable growth.
KRAs were defined. Demand forecasting got smarter. Employee stock options were rolled out. Even underperforming brands like Sparx were reinvented, reengineered and repriced to bounce back.
The lesson? Sometimes you don’t need to increase prices. You need to increase purpose.
Every Home
A pivotal moment came in 2005 at the India International Trade Fair. People loved Relaxo’s range, but didn’t know where to find them. That insight birthed Relaxo’s Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs).
Today, Relaxo boasts over 50,000 retail touchpoints, including 402 EBOs. No longer dependent on distributor feedback alone, the brand gets direct insights from the floor, what sells, what doesn’t, and why.
Always
Despite its billion-rupee scale, Relaxo still runs like a family. Ramesh Dua’s sons and nephews are actively involved. Mukand Lal Dua, now in his 60s, continues to serve as a full-time director. Ritesh Dua leads finance, HR, and exports.
Their working style is grounded, humble, and consistent. Suppliers are paid on time. Relationships are long-term. Headquarters had remained a modest building on New Rohtak Road for years.
Success never got to their soles.
Not Just Footfalls
From a small rented room to boardroom recognition, Relaxo’s journey has been marked by quiet but meaningful wins. Over the years, it has earned a place among India’s Top 500 Companies, been listed on NSE and BSE, and awarded the Three Star Export House status.
Accolades like the Northern Region Export Excellence Award and second place for Manufacturing Export Performance aren’t just badges — they’re milestones of trust, built over four decades of walking the talk.
Not the Spirit
In FY25, Relaxo didn’t just sell more shoes. It stepped up on every front. Revenue came in at ₹2,790 crore, while profits came in at ₹170 crore.
In the year before that, margins had improved, costs were optimised, and every number pointed to one truth: that growth, when rooted in purpose and discipline, creates impact far beyond the balance sheet.
Still Under Construction
Even at ₹10,000+ crore in value, Relaxo isn’t done building. It’s pushing forward with smarter designs, stronger digital presence, and deeper customer focus.
With every step, the brand stays grounded in its core promise: affordable comfort, built to last. The road ahead is full of opportunity, and Relaxo is lacing up for the long haul.
From Footpath to Fortune
The story of Relaxo is not just about footwear. It’s about footing, holding your ground when everything seems uncertain, and taking the next step anyway.
From ₹10,000 and a rented space to a ₹10,428 crore empire, Relaxo is proof that even the simplest product, when backed by persistence, humility, and vision can leave the deepest footprints.
And this chappal?
It’s still walking…
Yash Vora is a financial writer with the Informed InvestoRR team at Equentis. He has followed the stock markets right from his early college days. So, Yash has a keen eye for the big market movers. His clear and crisp writeups offer sharp insights on market moving stocks, fund flows, economic data and IPOs. When not looking at stocks, Yash loves a game of table tennis or chess.
