How Akshai Varde has made Vardenchi Motorcycles a

Rs 1 crore remodelling business

Amit Kumar, ET Bureau Oct 1, 2012, 08.00AM IST

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Akshai Varde

(For the past eight years,)

Akshai Varde may not be a rock legend like Jon Bon Jovi or Joe Satriani, but he's as inspired by
motorcycles. However, his tribute to these machines has found a different interpretation. For the past
eight years, Mumbai-based Varde has been designing customised bikes through his venture, Vardenchi
Motorcycles. Thumbing his nose at purists and using the Royal Enfield as a base, he has discovered the
massive and emerging market for customised bikes that cost a fraction of the western counterparts.

"I got my first bike when I was 16, not yet the legal age, and used to ride it in the inner lanes of the city,"
says the 31-year-old. His ride was a Yamaha RD 350, a legendary bike of the 1980s, but this was not the
first bike he remodelled. That passion came later; first he had to complete his education. After completing
a diploma course in hotel management from Sophia College, Mumbai, he joined Jet Airways as cabin
crew in 2001. Towards the end of 2004, he was bitten by the bike bug. He bought an old Royal Enfield for
about Rs 17,000 and decided to give it a makeover. "It grabbed a lot of eyeballs and my friends
appreciated my work. Soon after, Ash Chandler, a stand-up comedian and actor, commissioned me to
make a similar bike for him. That's how Vardenchi Motorcycles started," says Varde.
In April 2005, he rented a small place at Juhu to remodel his first customer bike, but did not leave his job.
"I did not quit because I had no idea if it would turn out to be profitable," he says. His work hours at Jet
Airways left him with enough time to remodel the bike, helped by the two workers he had hired. Five

months later, the bike was ready and was sold for Rs 65,000. Varde did not make any profit, but he was
hooked. During that year, he designed six bikes, making 10-15% of profit on each. Finally, convinced that
there was a market for his passion, Varde quit his job in December 2005 and focused on building
Vardenchi Motorcycles.
He put in Rs 2 lakh from his savings, spending most of it on getting basic tools like welding machines,
cutters, etc. Currently, he has a line-up of four custom-built models, starting from Rs 3.5 lakh and moving
up the scale, depending on the level of customisation. Alternatively, a customer can buy a Royal Enfield
and hand it over to Vardenchi for customisation for Rs 2.5 lakh.
He retains the engine, chassis, front suspension and electrical parts to ensure the client can savour the
Royal Enfield flavour. Depending on the customer's location in India and the level of customisation, the
delivery can take four to six weeks. His customers, including Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff and TV
personality Karan Grover, are delighted with the end result, and Varde is happy with an average of 2530% profit margin across all the models.
Through word of mouth publicity and media coverage, Varde's business is growing 20% year-on-year,
with Vardenchi's turnover hitting Rs 1 crore in the last fiscal year. With business booming, he has recently
shifted his workshop from the Juhu to a 2,000 sq ft space at Jogeshwari.
Varde is now looking forward to seeing his creation in Bollywood, having built a bike for Akshay Kumar's
upcoming movie Oh My God. Next on the cards is setting up a custom factory by year-end and he's in
talks with venture capitalists to finance it.