Talk about creativity to Arjun Ranga and you would hear him talk about fragrances. Be it the magic flash of early morning rainbow or the dewdrop that slowly sinks into the flower, Arjun can suggest a fragrance, a suitable smell, which he says “would match the enchanting experience of these captivating scenes.”

In a way, making fragrances is a creative act too and Arjun (33), Managing Partner of N Ranga Rao Group and an engineer by qualification, is happy to have inherited this unique form of creativity from his grandfather. Yet, as he wakes up to the brilliant, sunlit mornings, Arjun is consumed by the realisation that he has to balance his creativity with the responsibility of managing the best known family business in the state.

“As one of the famous brands in agarbathi business (the Cycle Brand), I know about 20,000 families depend on our company and we are responsible for their welfare. As I wake up to the new day, I am reminded of this responsibility more than anything else,” he says.

Added to this is the need to handle a business in transition. Arjun feels he is lucky in this aspect too: “Normally, a family business like this one will have problems in succession. In our case, rather than deciding about our ascension, our seniors have asked us to script their exit.”

Of course, it didn’t take too long for Arjun and his cousins to comprehend that even the industry is in transition. Agarbathis were once confined to the Pooja room, he says, but now, people want their entire home to smell good. And thus, focus in the last few years has been on the future. “The challenge for us is to retain our market share in the agarbathi business and see the suitable areas of expanding it,” Arjun says.

Apart from professionalising a few aspects of the business — such as adapting to the FMCG model of distribution of the agarbathis (done successfully by the seniors) — Arjun and his cousins (who handle different companies of the group) were willing to put their creativity to the best use with the able assistance from their respective fathers and uncles. The fragrances they make are now going into room and car fresheners, replicating the rainbow on the mountain and the freshness of the due.

“Both the art of creating fragrances and the large library of them have been handed down to us by our grandfather (N Ranga Rao), who continue to inspire us,” Arjun adds.

And so, the effort to translate an experience (‘any experience,’ Arjun corrects) would go on, once he and the other juniors start thinking about the concept. They would slowly sift through the smells, discover the one that exactly replicates the mood and start tinkering it up, until they are convinced that they have adequately fine-tuned it to convey the experience.

“The beauty of our business is that we should know the art very well, because this is quite literally the formula for success. Everything else comes next,” Arjun notes.

Of course, any talk of ‘assets’ will include the employees of his Rs 300 crore worth group, and the need to ‘care for their welfare.’ Arjun takes pride in upholding the values his grandfather stood for — caring for the employees and contributing generously for charity. All the employees are given housing and their children's education is completely provided by the group. The NR Foundation, the group’s charity wing, runs a residential school for visually challenged girls, apart from taking up several healthcare and education initiatives.

Arjun's interests go well beyond fragrances. He talks enthusiastically about his photography and his belief that Roger Federer would successfully win a fifth straight Wimbledon this year and would equal Borg's record.

And, hang on… he is a close follower of Golf, not so much Tiger and Mickelson, but Indians Jeev Milkha Singh and Arjun Atwal.