Valentines Day wishes with Flowers: Do it

The world’s largest producer of cut roses hopes that love will conquer intolerance. Ramakrishna Karuturi, founder and MD of Karuturi Global, expects most Indians to defy threats of groups like Sri Ram Sene (Muthalik’s) this Valentine and gift roses to their loved ones. And as the economic gloom lifts over the rest of the world, he is more optimistic about a growth of over 30% this year.

Globally, Karuturi sells roses worth over Rs 650 crore. In India, the market is barely 50 million stems, but around 40% of sales is during Valentine’s Day alone. “Worldwide, majority of my sales are during Valentine’s day,” says Mr Karuturi.

This business is recession-proof, he says, because of the affordability of rose stems as a gift item. This means that you can buy a gift for around a pound, which can add great value to your Valentine, he says. This year, that is more of a draw for people whose parents have lost their jobs or who themselves have been hit by the turmoil. “Be it anywhere in the EU, we offer prices that are the best and affordable. And roses never go out of fashion,” says Karuturi.

This year, Karuturi’s rose-growing estates in India, Ethiopia and Kenya went flat out cutting stems and shipping them to markets in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. “The global crisis affected all businesses—the rose business was no exception. But things are looking up again,” he says. This time too, he has got orders for around 50 million stems for this one day alone.

This year, in India, Karuturi says he hopes to satisfy all his customers who want delivery on V-Day from his network of Flower Xpress retail outlets in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad. The company has launched a mail-a-bouquet service for V-Day.

The rose-with-pearl pendant offering has already been ordered 5,000 times and the company hopes to have more than 7,000 orders by the end of the season. His field near Bangalore, which along with nearby Hosur is the flower producing heartland of south India, cover 10 hectares, producing 18 million stems a year.

Around 40% of that produce is going to be sold to regional markets such as Japan, Australia and the Middle East. While other Indian growers might get Rs 6 per rose stem on the wholesale market, high-end exporters like Karuturi will get Rs 20 for the same 60 cm stem. “The same applies worldwide—our roses get a premium markup and we can earn more per stem,” says Karuturi.