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Sometimes back in 2001, one busy afternoon, Rajnikant Kothari was sitting in his office when he received a phone call from somewhere abroad, “Is this K.K. Cans?” the person asked and when Rajnikant Kothari confirmed, the caller said, “I have got your number from Atlantic International, Denmark. I need the Milk Cans for a firm in Jordan.” A real surprise for Rajnikant Kothari, a company in Denmark that was once a pioneer in manufacturing Milk Cans is referring his name to others; he was not only surprised but pleased as well. A successful man is he now!

Rajnikant Kothari tasted the fruit of success, but not before he underwent some very hard times in his early life. Migrating from Gujarat, Rajnikant Kothari started supporting his father in his food grain shop. Very ambitious from the childhood itself, Rajnikant Bhai, as people used to call this wonderful man lovingly, struggled hard but bravely faced the tough times with his father. Although fully involved in the small food-grain business, he always intended to do something big, “Kuch karne ki iccha thi mun mein”, says Rajnikant Bhai and adds, “Encounters with big people added fire to this desire. I was lucky to get the support from many people that helped me in strolling towards the landmark success. Akalmandon Ka Saath Milne Se Kaam Aasan Ho Jata Hai.”

And one day an idea struck into his mind to start manufacturing Milk Cans. Not a big deal, many had pooh poohed the idea then. Still he was firm and firmly, he started working for the success of his dream venture.

"Rajnikant Bhai took many initiatives for the benefit of Industries. He was very particular about the employee’s salary, not only in his own unit but in the whole MIDC. He had made it mandatory for everyone to make the salaries in time. Sometimes if an Industrialist did not have enough cash for the salary, he lent the cash to them without any interest or security. “No body has done to the Industry what Rajnikant Bhai has done here in Jalgaon”, observed Deepak Muchrikar, a fellow Industrialist in Jalgaon MIDC."

At the same time the Government was planning to set up MIDC area in Jalgaon. The area, which was supposed to provide the facilities to emerging Industries on low cost and subsidized rates, was still under developing stage. Rajnikant Bhai somehow managed to purchase a plot there at MIDC. In fact he was the first to do so. The MIDC area being located miles away from the actual city and no telephone lines being into an existence, it was a complete helplessness if one wanted to communicate to anyone.

Interestingly, when he failed to get appropriate machinery for his project as well in the market, he arranged the indigenous spare parts from here and there and assembled the machinery by his own. At last, he succeeded in manufacturing aluminum milk cans by 1975 and started selling them in the local market. The quality and the reasonable rates attracted the whole market immediately. K.K. Cans became a trusted brand in the industry. Reliance, NDDB (National Dairy Development Board), Nestle, Hudson Foods and you continue with the list, whoever was there in the milk industry, switched to K. K. Milk Cans.

And then came one more turn. In 1981, Rajnikant Bhai received the first export inquiry from Indonesia. “They did not have any problem with the quality of my cans”, Rajnikant Bhai recalled, “Instead, they wanted to have a look of our set up before placing the orders. They just wanted to check weather we are capable of fulfilling the volume or not”, he added. To do this, P.T. Globe Pvt. Ltd., Indonesia visited his plant in Jalgaon. “And the deal was finalized in one sitting. Since then from 1981, K.K. Cans is supplying milk cans to P.T. Globe Indonesia”, proudly recalled Rajnikant Bhai. For Rajnikant Bhai, exporting to P.T. Globe, Indonesia proved just a beginning. No looking back from then and K.K. Cans is now exporting milk cans and other milk industry products to more than thirty countries located in Far East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe and South America.

"Nowadays distributing books and notebooks to the needy students have become very common. Rajnikant Bhai was used to follow this practice when not many people were doing this. But whenever Rajnikant Bhai does anything, he does it in his own style. People still remember him carrying the newly bought notebooks in his car and distributing it to the needy, wherever he finds them. If he would go to the sabzi-mandi, he would ask the Sabziwali Bai ‘how many of her children were going to school’ and would give her immediately. For his social work Rajnikantbhai never considered on religious lines, whoever came to him got the help."

As if all these landmarks achievements were not sufficient to eradicate the competitions, the entry of the young bloods from his family into the business gave further boost. Amit, Prashant and Adarsh, the legatees of Kothari clan have really given a new dimension to their father’s business. “Value addition to the existing product line” is how Amit Kothari is describing his action-plan.

And now K.K. Cans is manufacturing a wide range of products that are used in milk industry including Bulk Milk Coolers, Milk Plunger, Sampler, Milk Measures, Funnel with Filters, Milk Collection Tray and Dairy Detergent and of course, a totally new kind of quality Milk Cans, far better than what they were producing twenty-five years before.

Moreover, as a final blow to any competition, they are now all set to go into a joint venture with a European Enterprise in couple of days from now, a timely move, which certainly would take K.K. Cans to new heights.

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