The very first floor tiles order that Bharat Flooring and Tiles (BFT) got was from Sir Cowasji Jehangir in 1923 for the Readymoney building in Fort, Mumbai. Ninety nine years later, that decorative cement tiled floor is intact and has inspired BFT, which is celebrating its centenary (it was founded in 1922 by Pherozesha Sidhwa) to adopt the tagline ‘Your Forever Flooring’.
Handmade marvels
“The walls may break, the ceiling may need repair, but our floors go on and on,” says Firdaus Variava, Vice Chairperson, BFT. He is valiantly trying to grow the company his grandfather Pherozesha (his mother Dilnavaz’s father) founded with Swadeshi zeal, upon the urging of Jamshed Nusserwanjee Mehta, a Gandhian tile maker, who later became the first Mayor of Karachi. The tiles were handmade and every tile had a map of undivided India at the back.
“My grandfather took a loan of ₹50,000 and started production in Uran in a disused family distillery shed with the help of Jamshed Mehta,” says Variava. He describes how his grandfather did not like the first tiles he produced for the Readymoney building and threw it in the sea. Later, when he travelled to Italy to understand tile making, he learnt that there was nothing wrong with the first lot of tiles – it only needed polishing.
Business boomed initially, with Bharat tiles finding its way into Raj-era buildings and even Umaid Bhawan Palace, and later in the iconic art deco buildings that dot Mumbai’s Marine Drive. But crisis struck during the world war years when cement got diverted for the war effort.
“My grandfather wondered what to do. He then started a grinding wheel company called Grindwell Abrasives in Uran in partnership with someone. He was never quiet, he was constantly innovative,” says Variava. Grindwell Norton is today a subsidiary of St.Gobain and a thriving company. The Sidhwa family also founded Monginis which was eventually sold in the 1950s.
Stormy years
BFT, however, had many bad years – during 1970 and 1999 especially, the company was on life support, says Variava, but being the very first company Phirozesha started, there was much love for it in the family and they tried to keep it going.
Luckily in 1999 when Variava’s mom Dilnavaz was in charge, the display of the original moulds of the company at the Kala Ghoda festival created a stir among restoration artists. BFT got a new lease of life as it was asked to floor several heritage buildings.
Silver lining
But, that is not where growth is coming from, says Variava. Today, the tough as diamond cement tiles are finding application in offices like Google, Intel and Wipro which want heavy duty, long lasting decorative floors. “Hotels, restaurants, public areas that get high footfalls and do not want a single day lost in tile maintenance are our clients,” he says.
Hundred years after it was founded, the balance sheet may show revenues of barely ₹20 crore, but Variava says, now that they have found a niche, they are targeting ₹100 crore in a couple of years. Old may actually turn gold for BFT.