A.K.Ahmed honored with BCCI Business Excellence Award
From a timber loader to setting up one of the biggest plywood companies of India
Mangaluru : A K Ahmed, Founder Chairman of prestigious AK Group, was honored with the Business Excellence Award by the Bearys Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Friday at the Beary Mela that is being held at Townhall, Mangaluru.
Home Minister M B Patil, Urban development Minister U T Khader and many other dignitaries were present during the event.
M Ahmed - an inspiring story of timber loader going on to set up one of the biggest plywood companies of India
M Ahmed, better known as A K Ahmed is the founder chairman of AK group of companies and also the founder chairman of Highland Educational cultural Centre .
AK Group was established under the able guidance of M. Ahmed more than 3 decades ago in the year 1984.Before establishing the company , M . Ahmed was with his father late Abdul Khader Moopa by loading sawn timber in his initial career .
By then came the news of availability of Timber in Perambavoor, Kerala which was suitable for Plywoods and blockboards but was been used as fire wood there. Having understood the potential very quickly ,one of the first frame manufacturing and Peeling machine was established there with PG group .
Later he established his own company in Mangalore in the year 1984 and quickly made its mark in the national and international level .
Ahmed has reached great heights in business because of the virtues and values developed and nurtured in his early life. If one takes a closer look at his journey, three distinct virtues pop up besides perseverance and hard work. These are pioneering spirit, willingness and the most important of all is value for time, for all those people who have closely associated with Mr Ahmed will know the importance of being punctual.
From a humble frame manufacturing unit in 1984 the company has grown across many manufacturing firms which includes plywoods, formaldehyde, particle boards, compress ply, fire rated ply and fire rated doors and even established a manufacturing unit in Myanmar and Vietnam solely for wood based products.
Today AK plywood is considered as one of the best plywood manufacturers in whole of India and the largest from South India. The company is holding one of the widest product range and is in the process of expanding the range even more. Under his able guidance, the company has itself established as a leading supplier to all the leading hotel chains like ITC, taj, raddison, Hilton and many more.
AK group was karanataka’s first plywood company which was ISO certified and holds many certificates for its products. AK group was awarded as rising stars power brands in London in the year 2017 and best manufacturer by MSME in Karnataka in the year 2018.
Apart from plywood and wood based industry , AK Group is expanding its business towards marine food industry, pharmacy, hyper markets in India and UAE , food industry in Indonesia and construction materials also in UAE.
AK Group was started in 1984 with just 18 employees. Today it employs approximately 3000 people in India and around 400 out of India.
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School enrolment drops for third consecutive year: Government data
New Delhi: School enrolment in India has declined for the third year in a row, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Education, highlighting a concerning trend in the country's school education system.
The latest figures from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), as cited by Scroll on Friday, reveal that total school enrolment stood at 24.6 crore in 2024–25, down from 24.8 crore in 2023–24 and 25.1 crore in 2022–23. This marks a drop of 11 lakh students in the most recent academic year.
The data indicates that the decline is primarily concentrated in government and government-aided schools, while private schools continue to see an increase in enrolment. Between 2022–23 and 2024–25, enrolment in government and aided schools dropped significantly from 13.6 crore to 12.1 crore. In contrast, private school enrolment rose from 8.4 crore to 9.5 crore during the same period.
As a result, private institutions now account for 39% of total enrolment, the highest share since 2018–19. The shift in preference is also reflected in the number of institutions: government schools fell slightly from 10.18 lakh in 2023–24 to 10.13 lakh in 2024–25, while the number of private schools grew from 3.31 lakh to 3.79 lakh.
The sharpest decline in enrolment was observed among children aged 3 to 11 years where enrolment dropped by 25 lakh in 2024-25 compared to the previous year. However, modest increases were reported at the pre-primary, upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels.
This trend aligns with findings from the 2024 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released earlier in January, which also highlighted a post-pandemic decline in government school enrolments.
