Ajanta Brand Audit: Kolkata Family Footwear, Made in India

Ajanta is a Kolkata footwear brand run by the Banik family through two private companies at Ajanta House, 79/2 A.J.C. Bose Road. One makes the slippers, sandals and shoes; the other runs the shops. Neither is listed, and neither has a foreign parent.

The name is shared by businesses that have nothing to do with it, including a Gujarat clock maker and a pharmaceutical company. The directors of the two footwear companies, on the register mirrors, are Banik family members and one other director. This audit is about the footwear group only.

Snapshot

Maker and site operator

Ajanta Shoes (India) Private Limited, CIN U25190WB2011PTC166511, incorporated 18 August 2011

Retail arm

Ajanta Footcare (India) Private Limited, CIN U47711WB1999PTC090035, incorporated 10 August 1999

Control

The Banik family; promoted by Subrata Banik, chairman and managing director, per CARE Ratings

The brand’s own date

“Trusted since 1956”

Group income, 2024-25

₹501.22 crore total operating income, profit after tax ₹14.23 crore, combined, per CARE Ratings, 4 September 2025

Credit rating

CARE A-; Stable, reaffirmed 4 September 2025

Myntra brand listing

83 products at “Ajanta SHOES”, 22 September 2026

Price band in India

Budget — median MRP ₹999, median paid ₹409, all 83 Myntra listings, 22 September 2026

Declared country of origin

India on 40 of 40 Myntra listings read

Who owns Ajanta

Two companies carry the brand, and CARE Ratings treats them as one. Its release of 4 September 2025 says it has combined the two “as they operate under common management and are engaged in similar lines of business”. In CARE’s description, Ajanta Shoes (India) is the manufacturer, and Ajanta Footcare (India) “is the retail arm of the group and is engaged in trading footwear and other accessories”.

Both corporate identity numbers begin with U and end in PTC. That marks an unlisted private company, not a listed one and not the FTC form a foreign subsidiary carries. Ajanta Shoes (India) has ₹17.16 crore of paid-up capital and, according to TheCompanyCheck’s mirror of the register, 401 employees as of 9 April 2024. Ajanta Footcare’s paid-up capital is ₹4.999 crore.

The register mirrors list the same people on both boards. Subrata Banik, Soumi Banik and Sagnik Banik sit on each, with Sagnik Banik as managing director of the manufacturer and Soumi Banik named managing director of the retail company. Jaydev Chatterjee sits on both, and Vaishnavi Gurbaxani Banik joined the manufacturer’s board on 5 June 2025.

CARE says the family has been in footwear since 1956, under the late Rabindra Nath Banik, and the brand’s About page says the same: “the brand ‘Ajanta Shoes’ has a legacy dating back to 1956”. How the shares divide between family members and the two companies is not published in any source read. No outside investor, funding round or private-equity stake appears in any company page or press report found.

Register mirrors (Zauba Corp, TheCompanyCheck, Tofler); QuickCompany’s mirror of the trade-mark register; CARE Ratings releases of 9 September 2024 and 4 September 2025; ajantashoes.com About page.

Two dates in the published record differ. CARE’s 2024 release says the manufacturer was “formerly Banik Rubber Industries (India) Pvt Ltd, renamed April 2011”, yet the register gives its incorporation as 18 August 2011, four months after that rename. And the brand’s site says the retail company was “launched in 2003 as a sister concern”, while the register mirrors date its incorporation to 10 August 1999. Both readings are printed here; neither is chosen.

In July 2025 India TV reported that the company “plans to launch IPO” and has set itself a target of ₹1,000 crore revenue by 2028. That is a stated plan, not a filing, and this page treats it as one.

The money

The group’s figures come from CARE Ratings, whose releases quote audited results for the two companies combined. For an unlisted family business, the rating releases are the most detailed public record of its results.

CARE Ratings press releases; combined figures for Ajanta Shoes (India) and Ajanta Footcare (India). PBILDT is profit before interest, lease rentals, depreciation and tax.

The two CARE releases give slightly different figures for 2023-24, and neither says why, so both rows are printed. Neither release says whether sales between the two companies are removed before combining. On its own, the manufacturer’s 2024-25 revenue is ₹440.65 crore, up 7.00%, on what TheCompanyCheck’s register mirror carries. CARE gives the retail company’s 2024-25 income as ₹87.43 crore, with a profit of ₹0.33 crore, after a loss of ₹2.14 crore the year before.

CARE adds detail that matters for a buyer judging scale. The plants ran at 72% of capacity in 2024-25, up from 60% in 2022-23. About 57% of revenue came from West Bengal. Volume grew about 10.65% in 2024-25. India TV also reported the company’s claim to a 40% share of the slipper market in West Bengal; that is the company’s figure, not a measured one.

Who makes Ajanta shoes

Most of it, Ajanta makes itself. The About page names “three manufacturing units near Kolkata (Boralighat I & II, and Jangalpur)”, and CARE gives their yearly capacity as 180 lakh pairs of hawai slippers, 270 lakh pairs of EVA footwear and 157 lakh pairs of other footwear. EVA is the light foam used in most budget slippers. CARE’s 2024 release gave EVA capacity as 240 lakh pairs, so the figure has been raised since.

The range is rubber, EVA, polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) footwear, which CARE describes as “footwear (non-leather)”. The site also sells school shoes, steel bottles, flasks, wallets and laptop bags under the Ajanta name, and showed 543 products on 22 September 2026.

Not every pair comes from Kolkata. The product page for the “AJANTA Winter Slip On Shoes For Man”, read on 22 September 2026, names the manufacturer as “Italica International Plot No. 28, Sector – 17, HSIIDC, Footwear Park, 124507” and the packer as Ajanta Footcare India. That postcode is the state industrial corporation’s footwear park at Bahadurgarh, Haryana. At least some closed shoes, then, are made by an outside company in Haryana.

On Myntra the declarations are uniform. We read 40 records on the “Ajanta SHOES” shelf on 22 September 2026 — the block the Legal Metrology rules require, giving the country of origin and the company answerable for the goods. All 40 named Ajanta Shoes (India) Pvt Ltd, 79/2 A.J.C. Bose Road, as manufacturer, and all 40 declared India.

Ajanta’s own pages use no foreign place or foreign craft in describing the product. The brand’s line is “Trusted since 1956”, and the declarations say India on every record read.

Two businesses under one name on Myntra

Search Myntra for Ajanta and the brand filter offers more than one “Ajanta”. The plain “Ajanta” filter held 432 listings on 22 September 2026, and it is not a footwear shelf. Of the first 40 records read, 12 were clocks whose manufacturer line reads “AJANTA LLP (ORPAT GROUP)”, an unrelated business that shares the name.

On that mixed shelf the footwear records named Ajanta Footcare India as manufacturer on 21, and seven other companies once each. The seller of record was Ajanta Footcare India on 28 of 40, Supercom Net on 10 and Valencia Sales Pvt Ltd on 2. A 100-listing sounding of the mixed shelf mixed sandals with clocks and water bottles, so no price on this page comes from it.

What Ajanta costs in India

Ajanta has no market abroad to compare with, and a pair made in India pays no import duty, so duty plays no part in its price. The useful comparison is between the MRP printed on its own site and what it charges. Every page read marked its prices “Inclusive of tax”.

ajantashoes.com product pages, read 22 September 2026.

Every one of the five sold for between 32% and 43% of its MRP on the day. Both figures are printed as the site showed them, and neither is presented here as the real price.

Myntra told the same story. We read the whole “Ajanta SHOES” shelf of 83 listings on 22 September 2026. The median MRP was ₹999 and the median price paid ₹409, which is 40.9% of MRP. All 83 were reduced, across 15 distinct MRPs. Sandals made up 48 listings, casual shoes 20 and flip-flops 12.

Against the other Indian footwear brands read the same day, that is at the deep end. Alberto Torresi sold at 54.7% of MRP and Hitz at 57.8%, while Monrow held 92.2%. The price band here is Budget, computed from the ₹409 median actually paid on a shelf of sandals, casual shoes and flip-flops, the brand’s core line.

What the claims rest on

Few technical claims appear on Ajanta’s pages, but some do. We read the site’s product listings and About page on 22 September 2026 and set each claim against what is published beside it.

ajantashoes.com product listings and About page, read 22 September 2026; India TV, 17 July 2025.

The footwear itself is described as PU, PVC and EVA; leather wording appears only on the accessories. The waterproof loafer is the claim a buyer is most likely to test in a Kolkata monsoon, and the page gives nothing to measure it by. India TV also quoted the managing director saying the smart shoe gave “40 per cent better data than the best smartwatch”. No figure behind that comparison has been published.

One family group makes most of Ajanta’s footwear in its own plants near Kolkata, and every Myntra record read declared India.

Authenticity and the record

The site’s terms, privacy policy and product pages, read on 22 September 2026, give no way to check a pair — no code, hologram, QR or serial lookup — and no list of authorised sellers. Such pages do exist and can be found: Birkenstock publishes a counterfeit policy and a guide to spotting fake websites. The site’s store locator listed no stores when read that day.

That empty locator sits beside two published counts of the shops. The About page, undated, says the retail company “runs 120 company-owned showrooms” across Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and the Northeast. CARE’s 2025 release gives 114 showrooms, 110 rented and four owned, plus 49 franchise partners and 233 dealers in West Bengal.

The trade-mark register, on QuickCompany’s mirror, shows the “Ajanta (logo)” application 724938 for footwear, filed by Banik Rubber Industries on 3 October 1996 and now abandoned. Ajanta Footcare holds a registered mark, “Qiarra”, for bags and belts, valid to 16 February 2032.

A search of Indian Kanoon on 22 September 2026 for “Ajanta Shoes” (9 results) and for “Ajanta Footcare” with “trade mark” (22 results) showed no decided trade-mark, counterfeit or consumer judgment involving the brand. The same site finds both companies by name in other kinds of matter, so a judgment of that kind would be expected to surface. Treat it as nothing found rather than a promise that nothing exists.

Who Ajanta is actually for

Ajanta suits a buyer in eastern India who wants a cheap slipper, sandal or school shoe from a company that makes it and stands behind it. The maker and the seller are the same family group, the declarations are consistent, and the median pair on Myntra cost ₹409.

Anyone comparing it with Relaxo, Paragon, VKC Pride or Khadim’s is weighing one Indian footwear company against others, and the FA audits of each set out who makes and sells them. Ajanta suits less well a buyer who wants a waterproof or leather product on the brand’s word, because the pages publish no figure or certifier behind either.

Common questions

References

1. CARE Ratings, Ajanta Footcare (India) Private Limited, 4 September 2025 — the combined group, roles of the two companies, promoters, 2023-24 and 2024-25 figures, the quarter to June 2025, the retail company’s own figures, capacity, utilisation, West Bengal share, showrooms, franchisees and dealers, rating
2. CARE Ratings, Ajanta Shoes (India) Private Limited, 9 September 2024 — 2022-23 and 2023-24 figures, the 1956 start, the Banik Rubber Industries rename, earlier EVA capacity
3. Zauba Corp, Ajanta Shoes (India) Private Limited — CIN, incorporation date, capital, registered office (register mirror)
4. TheCompanyCheck, Ajanta Shoes (India) Private Limited — directors and appointment dates, employees, 2024-25 revenue (register mirror)
5. TheCompanyCheck, Ajanta Footcare (India) Private Limited and Tofler — CIN old and new, incorporation date, capital, directors (register mirrors)
6. ajantashoes.com, About us, read 22 September 2026 — 1956 legacy, three plants, “launched in 2003”, 120 showrooms, review and sales figures
7. ajantashoes.com, terms of service and privacy policy, read 22 September 2026 — the site operator and its address
8. AJANTA Winter Slip On Shoes For Man, read 22 September 2026 — manufacturer, packer, origin, MRP and selling price
9. ajantashoes.com product pages for articles EG3015, EK2011, EL4021, EL4022, EL3035 and the waterproof loafer, the full catalogue and the store locator, read 22 September 2026 — prices, claims, product count, locator
10. HSIIDC, Footwear Park Bahadurgarh — location of the park at postcode 124507
11. India TV, 17 July 2025 — the listing plan, the ₹1,000 crore target, the West Bengal share claim, smart-shoe claims and quotations
12. QuickCompany, application 724938 and application 5330265 — the 1996 Ajanta logo application and the Qiarra mark (trade-mark register mirror)
13. Myntra brand filters and product records for “Ajanta SHOES” and “Ajanta”, with the Alberto Torresi, Hitz and Monrow readings, 22 September 2026 — listing counts, the 83-listing shelf, 40 declarations each, manufacturers and sellers of record
14. Birkenstock, counterfeits policy — a brand-published counterfeit page
15. Indian Kanoon searches for “Ajanta Shoes” and for “Ajanta Footcare” with “trade mark”, 22 September 2026