Second innings for Subash Menon; launches Kivar Holdings

Subash Menon's exit from Subex, the 100 million dollar telecom software company he founded, has not been without controversy. However, if he's dejected, he's not showing it. Menon instead has now plunged fulltime into his second venture- an environmental solutions company. Vineetha Athrey reports on Menon’s new venture.

Subash Menon, group chairman, Kivar Holdings (Bangalore) says, "I felt I had to step off at some point in time and I was then looking for a natural point. Restructuring of the bonds I felt was a very natural point."
Subash Menon has moved on. Within months of stepping down as the chief executive of Subex in September this year,  Menon has now turned his full focus to the second startup he founded three years ago- an integrated solid waste and waste water management company,  Kivar Environ. Now, there are some results to be shown. Kivar has won projects by the Municipal Corporations of Puducherry and Chattisgarh to manage solid wastes totaling around 1,050 tonnes per day. Kivar is also setting up waste processing units at an investment of Rs 250 crore in these cities.
Menon adds, "We have got four cities with us at this point in time; Raipur, Bhilai, Durg and Puducherry. We collect the waste from every generator of waste, be it a house, a restaurant, a hotel, commercial building, whatever. We transport that, we process that and we landfill that."
This is a process that earns Kivar revenues of Rs 1,900 per tonne of waste that it manages. Considering urban Indian cities alone generate approx 150,000 tonnes of solid waste per day, Menon believes that this market is huge.
"Last year we did about Rs 30 crore of revenues and that was our first or the second full year of operation. This year we are looking at almost Rs 100 crore of revenues and in the next five years we could potentially be looking at Rs 500-600 crore in revenue," he says.
These are the early years for Kivar, but Menon is already hoping to expand. The initial funding for capex plans will come through a combination of debt and equity in the ratio 70:30. Menon says, that should take care of Kivar's funding requirements in the near to mid-term.