Nikunj, with a decade’s experience in natural stones and marbles, believes that it is important to understand the customers’ requirements while keeping an open mindset.

Nikunj Rajgarhia is the owner of Maruti Granites and Marble Private Limited, a natural stone company located in the industrial area of Udaipur having a quarry of a unique fine-grained marble called Dazzle Onyx. Talking about this unique marble, Nikunj shares that it has the look and feel of imported marble with robust physical and chemical properties. It is being used in many prestigious projects in India including Udaipur. Having joined this business in 2010, Nikunj currently exports this marble to over thirty countries from Udaipur.

Nikunj did his schooling from St Paul’s School till the 6th standard and after that, since his family moved to Delhi, he completed the rest of his schooling from GD Goenka School, New Delhi. Thereafter, he completed his Bachelors in Computer Science from Bombay University and his masters from Cass Business School, London. For Nikunj, learning never ends and he makes sure to keep himself updated with the market. He recently joined BNI in Udaipur to connect with more people and is impressed by the organisation’s objective of networking and helping one another grow in business.

Talking about the scope of the natural stone industry, Nikunj shares that since technology across the world is changing and new stones are being discovered, the opportunities are immense in India as well as abroad. He shares that India is a market that every stone producing country is eyeing so there is a lot of competition from India and around the world. In such a scenario, it becomes important to cater to the needs of the customer and fulfil their requirements, says Nikunj. Discussing its relevance, he shares that the trend of natural stones has increased in the past six years. In the context of artificial products, Nikunj says that it has certain limitations when compared to natural stones which is a great option in terms of longevity and budget.

Talking about his struggles, Nikunj shares that owing to demonetisation and the increase in GST rate,  his industry took a hit and for some time it became tough to manage the quarry and factory operations and making the due payments.

Talking about the COVID period, Nikunj says that since his business was fundamentally strong, he managed to sustain during the pandemic by cutting down on certain costs. On the personal front, since he and his family took all precautions in terms of social distancing and maintaining a healthy life, fortunately, none of them contracted the virus. On the professional front, he didn’t witness any customers for six months and also resorted to paperless mode as a safety measure.

For aspiring natural stone professionals and business owners, Nikunj suggests focusing on customer experience and understanding their requirements along with having good communication skills.

He is inspired by Steve Harvey who had a difficult life, however, his passion drove him to take a plunge making him a multi-millionaire today. In his spare time, Nikunj loves to read and do outdoor activities like cycling and swimming.

His success mantra is to be truthful, open and try to get into the shoes of the customer. He mentions a motivational quote by Albert Einstein which says that “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and one by Robin Sharma which goes like “Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality.” Imbibing their footprints, Nikunj believes that with imagination and the right attitude one can easily climb the stairs of success.