The first business that was attempted by the brothers Chandubhai, Bhikhubhai and Meghjibhai was in agricultural equipments. The business collapsed after two years. Then they undertook some minor assignments such as repairing cinema seats, gluing posters and a cinema canteen.
The brothers started selling wafers from a canteen at Astron Cinema in Rajkot in 1974 . The homemade potato chips soon became popular with the moviegoers. Demand grew rapidly. The theatre owner soon joined the business with Chandubhai and the brothers started to run three canteens and deliver wafers to 25 to 30 local shops.
In 1984 they decided on the name Balaji, based on the name of the temple of Hanuman in the same place as the canteen. Faith and locality had given birth to a brand.
Chandubhai was confronted with a substantial challenge as a result of the rise in demand of wafers. The production via handwork was not sufficient to keep the demand and the industrial machinery was very costly. So he resolved to make one himself.
With just ₹5,000 he purchased machine parts and assembled his own potato peeling and chopping machine. This assisted him in making regular wafers on a considerably bigger scale.
This self-help attitude characterized the company over decades. Investors and venture capital were not relied upon by the founders. They just resolved issues as they came by.
The first wafer manufacturing plant of the brothers established was in 1989 near Rajkot at Aji GIDC industrial area. Later on Chandubhai secured a bank loan of circa 50 lakh and constructed one of the largest potato wafer plants in Gujarat. The decision was risky as in those days there were few sources of financing available to entrepreneurs and they had to rely primarily on bank loans.
The Virani brothers formally formed In 1992 Balaji Wafers. The brand later began to compete with other large snack brands such as Uncle Chipps, Simba Chips, and PepsiCo. By 2002 the company had constructed one of the largest automated wafer manufacturing plants in Rajkot in India.
The three principles behind the success of Balaji were quality, pricing and distribution.
Pricing : The brand had more chips at the same price as its competitors. This was the best strategy to India with the price-sensitive customers.
Distribution : Balaji established a huge distribution network. The company has over 1,300 dealers today and penetrates over 4.5 lakh kirana stores in the western and central India.
Philosophy : Chandubhai was of the opinion that business makes profit and not the other way round. He was at the factory everyday to maintain uniform quality.
In 2014 PepsiCo is reported to have bid to buy Balaji Wafers at approximately ₹4,000 crore.
The revenue of the company was approximately ₹1,000 crore at that time. Numerous founders could have taken the proposal.
But Chandubhai Virani refused.
As soon as a person believed that companies should be sold like daughters at the time of their marriage, Chandubhai responded that the company was his daughter as well as his son and he would never sell his family. That decision was correct as, in a few years the company increased its revenue more than twice.
Balaji Wafers has been increasing with time.
Turnover in 2020 was approximately 2,400 crore and had a variety of factories and over 65 products.
By FY21 the company crossed ₹4,000 crore in revenue and employed around 5,000 people.
With FY23 revenues of over 5,000 crore and profits of over 400 crore.
In FY24 the company reported revenue of ₹5,454 crore and a net profit of ₹579 crore.
About 6550 crore annual revenue was achieved by FY25.
The company has been able to sustain good growth but using reinvested profits instead of external financing.
Balaji Wafers had been functioning without external investors in the decades. In 2026, the company increased the initial round of private equity funding. Though the value was undisclosed, the action signifies that there may be a subsequent IPO.
The reason why investors consider Balaji as a robust FMCG enterprise is due to its high margins and excellent regional brand strength as well as effective distribution channel.
Balaji Wafers has over 70 percent market share in the wafer market. In western India such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the company enjoys about 60-70 percent market share in some areas.
Nowadays with the help of several factories Balaji operates in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The company’s valuation is estimated between ₹29,000 crore and ₹41,000 crore.
Balaji Wafers is a testament that even without huge capital investment, celebrity promotion, and international investors, you can create a billion-dollar company.
The company has managed to thrive on a simple formula: low cost, good distribution in the country, reliable quality, and steady growth.
Starting with 20,000 borrowed by their father to a snack empire valued at tens of thousands of crores, Balaji Wafers is one of the most motivating entrepreneurial success stories in India.
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