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SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS
OF INDIAN ORIGIN: A CASE STUDY
A THESIS
Submitted by
L. SURESH MALLYA
for the award of the Degree
of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
AUGUST 2011
2
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
(Reg. No. MNG 007 D 001), who carried out the research under my
reported herein does not form part of any other thesis or dissertation on the
DECLARATION
Research Institute University for the award of the degree of Ph.D is a bonafide
Dr. N.R.V. Prabhu. The contents of this thesis, in full or in parts, have not been
submitted to any other institute or university for the award of any degree or
diploma.
4
ABSTRACT
referred in this case study method. Out of the available entrepreneurs in India,
these few (fifty) successful entrepreneurs, who had their investment options
chosen is case study method; their history is studied in depth, the factors
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Supervisor and Guide, Dr. N.R.V. Prabhu, for his committed supervision and
guidance to acquire right perception and perspective for carrying out this
research. But for his patience and time spared for discussion, I would never
rendered by my wife.
Mr. A.C. Shanmugham, for his motivation and encouragement. I also owe
my sincere thanks to Dean (Research) for providing the infrastructure and help
department for their kind assistance at every stage of this thesis work.
L. Suresh Mallya
8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT iv-vi
LIST OF TABLES
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
4
1.3 Classification of Entrepreneurs
5
1.4 Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
6
1.5 Entrepreneurial scenario in India
6
1.6 Growth of Entrepreneurs
7
1.7 Relevance of study
8
1.8 Need for the study
8
1.9 Scope of the study
9
1.10 Expected outcome of the study
9
1.11 Methodology of the Study
9
1.12 Limitations of the study
2.1 Introduction 11
3.1 Methodology 58
References 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY 202
VITAE i-iii
11
12
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Ambani, Ruia, Azim Premji, Murthy, Siva Nadar etc. Scanning their personal
characteristics show certain prominent traits:
• Undying optimism for a future and not disturbed by others and follow their
own route.
• Good foresight to visualize the likely changes in the business and taking
timely actions accordingly.
• Ability to bring together all the resources required for starting the
enterprise.
corporation, the results have not been spectacular. This leaves the entrepreneur,
who frequently lacks both technical and business skills, to serve as the major
link in the process of innovation, development, and economic growth and
revitalization. The study of entrepreneurship and education of potential
entrepreneurs are essential parts of any attempt to strengthen this link so
essential to a country’s economic well-being.
The Indian entrepreneurs selected for study are based on the conditions
that they have started their career either as low level employees of some
organizations or started their venture with their own meagre investments. They
are their own masters, in the sense that they did not have back up from their
family members either in the form of financial support or inheritance of family
wealth. They started their own enterprise with a humble beginning, and slowly
and steadily picked up their business purely due to their entrepreneurship
qualities. They faced hardships in course of their growth, but never gave up.
The ingenuity and the spirit of entrepreneurship always kept up their hopes and
confidence and eventually proved to be successful entrepreneurs.
20
• To summarize the findings of the study and establishing as bench mark for
future entrepreneurs to be successful
CHAPTER 2
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Several studies have been made in India and abroad on specific aspects
of the field of entrepreneurship. The researcher is interested in presenting here
a few studies from India and abroad relevant to the objectives of the present
study, namely, to identify the success factors behind the successful Indian
entrepreneurs.
J.S. Saini and B.S. Rathore (2001) in their book titled Entrepreneurship:
Theory and Practice, deal with entrepreneurial philosophy, where the success
of entrepreneurs has been discussed. According to the authors, success of an
entrepreneur depends on the entrepreneur’s willingness to hold responsibility
for his own work. Though the risk of failure is always present, he takes risks
by assuming responsibility for his actions. Learning from past experiences will
help channel his actions to obtain better results and persistent efforts will yield
success for sure.
The above qualities sum up, what is usually implied from the phrase, the
“spirit of enterprise”. It is difficult to conceivers of a first-rate industrial
entrepreneur who is not adaptable to change, anxious to grow large and
improve technologically. Entrepreneurship appears as a personal quality which
enables certain individuals to make decision with far-reaching consequences.
The personal qualities that contribute to the success of an entrepreneur are
motivation towards achievement, creativity and clarity among others.
The findings of the research also suggested that most of these PECs are
cross - culturally common, irrespective of personal background of the
entrepreneurs, their social status, values, culture and the level of economic
growth of the society. This research showed strong evidence that the success of
an entrepreneur in a small business hinges upon these PECs which include a
cluster of competencies pertaining to achievement motivation – the concept
used by EDI-I in the selection adopted and spread to other parts of the country.
process. The dynamic and successful entrepreneurs generally create their own
opportunities; the government is, however, greatly instrumental in creating a
basic infrastructure and opportunities. The qualities of entrepreneurs may
further be sub-divided as under:
Characteristics Traits
A person may not have all these qualities, but the more one has, greater is the
chance of being an entrepreneur.
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5. Tends to be innovative
He had the will to conquer, the impulse to fight and succeed and a tendency to
prove himself superior to others.
Joseph Prokopenko and Igor Pavlin (1992) draw a rather not so rosy
picture about the entrepreneurship development activities in public enterprises.
In view of the limited entrepreneurial practices and opportunities inside the
public sector, in particular in socialist economies in the past, a systematic effort
should be made to develop endogenous entrepreneurship. Many researchers of
western business, among them for example, Peter Drucker, point out that
entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs can be developed through conscious action.
According to this view, the development of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship
can be stimulated by a set of supporting institutions, by deliberate innovative
action stimulating change, and above all charging the management of existing
corporations with the responsibility of new products and spin-off firms by
giving full support to capable individuals and entrepreneur groups. While the
role of the individual with innovative ideas and sufficient drive is still
emphasized, the purposeful and systematic management of this process is also
of key importance. As a result, different methods for the development of
entrepreneurship have been tried, ranging from entrepreneurial training courses
39
B.S. Rathore and S.K. Dhameja (2000) outline the challenges the future
entrepreneurs have to face in this century through their book Entrepreneurship
in the 21st Century. The future entrepreneurs will have to face considerable
challenges and severe competition not only from domestic industries, but also
from enterprises of global nature. With liberalization, the Indian entrepreneur
is facing competition from the global players even in such areas like consumer
products which recently had some protection.
On the final analysis, the role of the characteristics associated with the
success of entrepreneurship – personal, social and psychological, individually
or in combination, stands out significantly. And it appears possible and perhaps
necessary to develop ways and means of identifying potential entrepreneurs
who could be encouraged and supported on a selective basis. It is not suggested
that one could arrive at a universally applicable and invariant portrait of an
entrepreneur. But what is advocated is the view that in every society some
people possess entrepreneurial qualities to a greater degree than others. And
these people have to be involved to take advantage of developmental activity.
While entrepreneurial behaviour can be readily identified as a common pattern,
the underlying roots of such behaviour seem to vary from culture to culture. A
more conclusive picture will emerge only out of well planned research efforts
in different countries, individually and in coordination.
The clearer the goals are, the more likely they are to achieve them. Every
person is a unique individual and no two persons are alike. All people have had
different past experiences, are living in different life situations, have different
commitments and responsibilities, and have different life goals. The previous
experiences of an entrepreneur are usually broad and varied and determine his
present life situation. Most entrepreneurs have modeled themselves on another;
probably older entrepreneur and close identification with such a “role model”
will lead to the acquisition of entrepreneurial behaviour and skills.
The current job and the financial and family circumstance, as well as
other factors, help to determine the attitude towards being entrepreneurial. He
has various obligations and commitments to himself and to others, including
his family, employer and employees, friends and other community members. If
he has too many commitments and responsibilities outside his work, he will
find it difficult to be entrepreneurial. In planning for the future he has to be
realistic in determining those things that can be changed and those that cannot.
His past experiences should help him to understand better his present situation.
physical, financial and human resources needed to carry out projects; set goals
for themselves and others; and direct and guide others to accomplish goals.
The entrepreneur in this context is defined as one who could start a new
activity or a new enterprise which is a deviation from his traditional family
occupation or profession. Entrepreneurship can also be thought of as a creative
44
Social entrepreneur plays the role of change agents in the social sector by:
Mario Rutten and Carol Upadhya (1997) in their book Small Business
Entrepreneurs in Asia and Europe, Towards a Comparative Perspective,
highlight the general features of entrepreneurs engaged in Asia and Europe.
The authors quote Harvey (1989) and others who have argued that the growth
of small scale and rural based entrepreneurial classes throughout Asia and
Europe may be related to the profound transformation which has taken place in
the capitalist world system during the last two decades. Many of the small
enterprises, both manufacturing and service-oriented, are linked to larger
companies through sub-contracting relations.
46
In order to know at first hand the factors which have led to the
promotion of entrepreneurship in small scale industry sector, a study was
conducted by B.S. Batra (2002). This led to an in-depth analysis of the socio-
economic profile of entrepreneurs and the various factors of promotion,
success or failure of entrepreneurs.
G.R. Basotia and K.K. Sharma (1999) explain the role of entrepreneurs
in developing enterprises in their handbook on entrepreneurship development.
An entrepreneur has to coordinate and control various factors of production for
achieving a given objective. All factors are equally important for making the
enterprise a success. Various departments should work in coordination with
one another and organizational and financial planning should be properly
determined. Modern business has become complex and complicated. The
improvement in technology and changing consumer preferences are creating
50
This finding can be taken together with the third of the three significant
favourable factors, which was perception of business opportunities, those who
could see good opportunities were three times more likely to be an
entrepreneur than the rest. Another major factor influencing the level of
entrepreneurial activity was how easy or difficult it was to become an
entrepreneur – in other words, the level of official and administrative burden
that an entrepreneur has to cope with. Also other factors to be reckoned with
were costs an entrepreneur had to face, both at the start up and during the
operation of the business and the availability of funding for entrepreneurial
activities.
Dr. Vasanth Desai (2008) in his book Small Scale Industries and
Entrepreneurship, comments that the characteristics of an entrepreneur that
contribute to success are the result of his achievement motivation. A successful
entrepreneur is a person who has started the business where there was none
before. He is essentially an enterprising individual who is able to recognize the
potential profitable opportunity and who initiates to produce marketable
products by combining the various technologies and through organizing
together the people, finance, material resources marketing tools, in order to
ultimately translate the idea in the minds to physical realities. In short,
entrepreneur is a person who initiates, establishes, maintains and expands a
new enterprise. He is basically an innovator, creator and accomplisher.
According to research studies, there are more than fifty personality traits
and all these traits, attributes and attitudes constitute the characteristics of a
successful entrepreneur. Though all the characteristics cannot be found in a
single entrepreneur yet the presence of greater number of these characteristics
in an individual makes him an entrepreneur and only then it is possible for him
to be successful to achieve the goals of entrepreneurship. Some of the
characteristics or qualities of a successful entrepreneur are as follows: Need for
achievement, Risk taking, Need for independence, Sense of effectiveness,
Social consciousness, Need for extension, Optimistic, Open minded, Non-
fatalist, Low affiliation, Pragmatist, Aggressive, Commitment and conviction,
Capacity to analyze, Initiative, Hopeful, Efficiency, Technical competence,
Good judgement, Intelligence, Leadership qualities, Self-confidence, Energy,
Creativeness, Fairness, Honesty, tactfulness and Emotional stability.
knowledge stands a much better chance of success than his counterpart who
possesses low levels of these basic qualities. Brilliant men with first class
degrees from universities hesitate becoming entrepreneurs because one thing
they cannot be taught is coping with human emotions.
R. Setty (2004) draws our attention towards the potential and challenges
for women to become entrepreneurs. Woman has been the economic partner of
man in several fields but when it comes to entrepreneurship, man seems,
outwardly, at any rate, to dominate the entrepreneurial world. Entrepreneurship
is not simply a masculine job as army or navy. She, too, is equally endowed
with the psychological qualities and managerial abilities that matter in
successful entrepreneurship. Sometimes, the environment and opportunities are
56
the same for both man and woman. But interestingly, the entrepreneurial
activity in the traditional developing societies has been restricted to man.
are the push factors. In addition, special qualifications achieved for running
concern, identifying the demand for the market, external motivation,
employment to needy and destitute to set up an ancillary unit, business already
in the family, are some of the factors which give stimulus to women
entrepreneurs to start business.
Dr. Nagendra P Singh (1985) says there have been several studies which
highlight that the entrepreneur is a person who bears, innovates or initiates and
organizes the business. His existence can be justified with effective
performance of various functions related to his role. Entrepreneurial skills can
be acquired and inculcated among the entrepreneurs, provided he possesses
certain qualities identifiable through his overt behavioural manifestation.
Ratna Ghosh, Meenakshi Gupta and S. Dian Dhar (1998) in their article,
Women and Entrepreneurship in India, describe the research project
undertaken by The Centre for Management Development in Trivandrum titled
Management Skills for Rural Enterprises: A Field Investigation. The project
involved motivating, training and assisting men and women towards
developing independent business ventures. This study focused on the
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She is obliged to make her work and home environments fit to run smoothly
and pleasantly.
Dr. C.B. Gupta and Dr. N.P. Srinivasan (1999) quote Jeffrey Timmons
(1985) who conducted research on entrepreneurial traits and identified
following traits: Total commitment, determination and perseverance, Drive to
achieve and grow, Opportunity and goal orientation, Taking initiative and
personal responsibility, Persistent problem solving, Realism and a sense of
humour, Seeking and using feedback, Internal locus of control, Calculated risk
taking and risk seeking, Low need for status and power, and Integrity and
reliability.
Renu Arora and Dr. S.K. Sood (2004) in their book Entrepreneurial
Development explain that an entrepreneur should possess all such
characteristics with the help of which he can perform successfully. He should
be: calculated risk taker, innovator, organizer, creative, achievement
motivated, self confident, socially responsible, optimistic, quipped with
capability to drive, blessed with mental ability, human relations ability,
communication ability, decision making, business planning, visionary, ability
to spot and exploit opportunity and courage to face adversities.
from the older ones. If entrepreneurship is one of the hot labels today, it is
because the concept of being an entrepreneur has changed. 15 years ago, an
entrepreneur might have been described as a business version of a John Wayne
cowboy who steered his business through the rodeo of commerce without the
help of training or education and without the assistance of bankers or other
experts. Entrepreneurs were once seen as small business founders with a strong
independent streak and may be a flair for the dramatic actions. Entrepreneurs
were once born, not made.
Then Now
Small business founder True entrepreneur
Boss Leader
Lone ranger Net worker
Secretive Open
Self reliant Inquisitive
Seat of the pants Business plan
Snap decisions Consensus
Male ownership Mixed
The new entrepreneur comes from different sources too. Many of them
are corporate track drop outs, pushed out by downsizing or lured out by the
quest for status, big money, or control of their personal lives. Globalisation has
many small start-ups to compete against with big businesses.
Sathish Taneja and Dr. S.L. Gupta (2001) in their book Entrepreneur
Development: New Venture Creation explain the characteristics and role
demands of entrepreneurs. The wide range in the nature of business and the
entrepreneurs who have started and run them make generalisations about their
characteristics at best, risky and at worst, something misleading. For example,
product-oriented business is significantly different from service -oriented ones.
Technical entrepreneurs have been found to have different educational
background than non-technical and service entrepreneurs. Further, the
requirement to build a large enterprise are different and more demanding than
the personal requirements needed for setting up a small scale enterprise or even
a franchise.
Dr. Bhawna Bhatnagar and Ankur Budhiraja (2009) quote Vasant Desai
who has defined the modern entrepreneur. According to Vasant Desai, “the
entrepreneur brings in overall change through innovation for the maximum
social good. Human values remain sacred and inspire him to serve the society.
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He has firm belief in social betterment and he carries out his responsibility
with conviction. In the process, he accelerates personal, economic as well as
human development. The entrepreneur is a visionary and integrated man with
outstanding leadership qualities. With a desire to excel, the entrepreneur gives
top priority to research and development. He always works for the well being
of the society. More importantly, entrepreneurial activities encompass all
fields/sectors and foster a spirit of enterprises for the welfare of mankind.”
Organizer – Say
Visionary – Hisrich
Leader – Hisrich
Dreamer – Luther
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 METHODOLOGY
n= Za2 x S2
e2
70
Where,
n = sample size
S = standard deviation.
In the selection of the sample units for the purpose of the study, those
with less than 5 years of existence and not in business at present have been
completely ignored. It had also been ensured to give representation to different
types of business houses.
The data for the study have been collected mostly from the primary
sources. An elaborate interview schedule was prepared for administering
among the entrepreneurs. For the purpose of conversing the questions, one
entrepreneur for each business shall be selected irrespective of the fact that
some are partnership firms and some are private limited companies.
Apart from these, secondary data have also been collected from different
Government Departments like Department of Commerce & Industries, District
Industries Centers, Department of Economics and Statistics, State Industrial
Development Corporation, etc. The data so collected have been tabulated and
analyzed properly with their level of achievement.
2. The industrial growth in a state has been on low growth path mostly due
to more industrial failures in the small scale sector.
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3. Lack of demand for products, scarcity of working capital and above all,
infrastructure bottlenecks are the main factors for entrepreneurial
backwardness in any given state.
(i) The scope of the present study has been confined to Indian nationals only.
(iii) As the findings and conclusions of this study are based on data collected
from the selected entrepreneurs in the study area, it cannot be generalized
for the entire nation.
(iv) The methodology followed and tools employed in the analysis of the data
involved certain merits as well as demerits of their own and also reflect the
limitations of the database.
Environment and attitudes are not two different separable entities. The
former influences the latter and vice-versa. But the attitudes of people exert
more influence on the environment. Sometimes, man becomes a prisoner of the
environment of which he is the creator. Here again, the attitudes of man are not
static. They are ever changing. Man constantly endeavours to conceive new
and better ideas and indulges in experimenting on them. This process guides to
changed attitudes and changed environments.
the culture of the people of those areas in the past but which remained
backward. Even today, these states remain backward despite massive
investment in public sector projects there since the beginning of the era of
planning in India.
As such, of all the attitudes, innovation, risk taking and future planning
are the most important: from the point of view of industrial development. It is
the entrepreneur who acts as a 'spark plug' to transform the economic scene and
brings a sense of dynamism into it. Entrepreneurs like any other careerists are
not born but they are made. Career depends upon several factors other than the
attitudes of the careerist himself. The attitudes of others like his family
members, friends and relatives and the government would exert influence into
the career making. Entrepreneurship is no exception. Entrepreneurs are not
only a product of their ambitions, but also those of the aspirations of their
family members, friends and the nation.
Table 3.0
The study has been presented in five chapters: Chapter I deals with the
concept of entrepreneurship and its relationship with economic development,
the emerging trends of small scale industry, objectives of the study and
research design. The second chapter comprehensively reviews the literature
related to this study. Chapter III explains the methodology which is a
combination of the case method and the survey method (popularly known as
the case survey (method). In the next chapter, namely Chapter IV, provides
some empirical support for the paradigm of strategic choice (as opposed to that
of environmental determinism) underlying the theoretical model as proposed in
the earlier chapters. Following the discussions, in Chapter V, narrates the
process of identifying successful entrepreneurs with their entrepreneurial
heuristics and thumb rules so identified with findings and conclusions.
"To fulfill the desire of myself/my father/my wife" was the fourth
ranked ambition. The "other" ambition ranked fifth which includes the desire
to do something new or creative, self- employment to youths, etc. It is clear
76
from the above analysis that the entrepreneurs had mainly the ambition of
gaining independent living or self-employment, making money, gaining social
prestige and fulfilling the desires of himself and his family. It is also to be
noted that basically there was only a slight, just an inter-changing, difference in
the ambitions of entrepreneurs in respect of the top three ambitions.
Sometimes the compulsion rather than the ambition leads the man to
success. At times, the initial aspirations and the opportunities may clash with
each other. Then the destiny is shaped none other than by the compulsions
encountered by the individual. Sometimes, one may be thrown out of his job all
of a sudden or he may remain unemployed for long time after his education.
There are also cases of people who start as tiny industry as a diversification of
economic interests and ultimately making lakhs of rupees and providing
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Table 3.2 shows the compulsion number one that has compelled the
entrepreneurs was the diversification of economic interests (31.3 per cent).
'Unemployment' was the number two compulsion that has driven 23.5 per cent
of the entrepreneurs to the industry whereas 'dissatisfaction' with the previous
job held has shaped the destiny of 21.8 per cent of the entrepreneurs to become
industrialists. Compelling reason that ranked fourth is making use of idle funds
(12.6 per cent).
78
It is clear from the analysis that there are at least two important factors
facilitating entrepreneurship apart from a few others. They are previous
experience in manufacturing and encouragement of family members/ relatives /
friends. These two were ranked first and second most important factors.
Table 3.4 shows the distribution of the expectations. Even though a long
list of expectations is given to the entrepreneurs, 19.6 per cent (11 out of 56
entrepreneurs) and 28 per cent (14 out of 50 entrepreneurs) admitted that they
had no expectations as such. Many of the entrepreneurs (73 out of the total
106) expected financial assistance from State Government, State Industrial
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3.1.7 REFERENCES
CHAPTER 4
CASES STUDIED
Bose was awarded significant patents in two fields which, to this day,
are important to the Bose Corporation. These patents were in the area of loud
speaker design and non-linear, two-state modulated, Class-D, power
processing.
Wallaces Castwright. India Piston was established in 1949. Addison Paints and
Chemicals were established in 1947. With Indian independence and
Indianization of commercial establishments in the country, the Europeans in
the board left handing the company to Indians. Consequently,
Anantharamakrishnan became the Chairman of the Amalgamations group in
1953. Anantharamakrishnan died an untimely death on April 18, 1964 at the
age of fifty-nine.
Agarwal has travelled a long way, from the Patna lad who left school at
15 to founder, Chairman of the $10 billion conglomerate Vedanta Resources.
“One of the most thrilling moments of my life was the day I got my first
cycle,” reminisces Anil Agarwal, founder Chairman of the London Stock
Exchange-listed mining and metals conglomerate with a market cap of $10
billion. The cycle, a gift from his father, a fabricator of grills and gates in
small-town Patna in the 1960s, meant the youngster could ride to his municipal
school in style, instead of making the daily 10 km hike on foot. Much later,
Agarwal graduated to a Vespa scooter, but never made it to college. Agarwal
came to Mumbai as a scrap-metal dealer in 1976, going on to build an empire
in copper, zinc, aluminium and iron ore, recently venturing into power
generation.
Vedanta Resources was the only Indian group to go for a primary listing
on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 and its subsidiary, Sterlite Industries,
was listed on NYSE in 2007 in the largest IPO in the US by an Indian
company. The tipping point came in 2003. Frustrated with the licence raj
regime and the constraints of raising capital in India, Agarwal had earlier
moved to London. From a British newspaper he learnt that Brian Gilbertson,
the South African dealmaker who engineered the $57 billion takeover of BHP
88
by Billiton in 2001 to create the world’s largest mining group, had fallen out
with the merged leadership.
So Agarwal made a cold call, just like that: “I always take a chance. I
told Gilbertson that I would like him to help me list my company.” In turn,
Gilbertson asked about his hobbies, and Agarwal recollects, “I told him that
my hobbies are whatever the other man wants. Gilbertson said, ‘I do cycling.’ I
replied, ‘I do cycling too’.” The pair biked 60 km from Oxford to London,
with Agarwal trailing. Agarwal reflects, “Some strength helped me cover that
distance. Gilbertson came to India, checked out all our assets and was
impressed. I offered him a good package and he became Chairman.” Vedanta
subsequently attracted others on the board—P. Chidambaram, the late Sir
David Gore-Booth and Michael Fowle, Chairman, KPMG—and the company
successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange. With this, Agarwal became
a global player in mining and metals in less than a decade.
The person who has perhaps most influenced Agarwal’s recent thinking
is an American, Steve Elbaum, Chairman, Superior Cables, inspired Agarwal’s
2006 $1 billion pledge to set up the Vedanta University, a world-class
university, on a 3,200 ha site in Orissa. Says Agarwal: “I want to spend 20% of
my time on philanthropy, building lasting institutions the way American
industrialists have done. That’s my passion now”. His critics say the real
motivation is Vedanta’s interests in Orissa, which holds the world’s fourth
largest bauxite deposits—the mining of these has been opposed by some
environmentalists and tribals, resulting in Norway’s Government Pension Fund
divesting its small holding in Vedanta.
the hot seat, Wipro dealt with in hydrogenated cooking fats and later
diversified into bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps,
baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji
made a focused shift from soaps to software. Under his leadership Wipro has
metamorphosed from a Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to
a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology and process solutions on
a global delivery platform. Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest
independent R&D service provider in the world. Under his leadership, the
fledgling US$ 2 million hydrogenated cooking fat company has grown to a
US$1.76 billion IT Services organization serving customers across the globe.
In the past two years Wipro has also become the largest BPO services provider,
based in India. Wipro’s growth continues be driven by its core values.
Wipro was the first Indian Company to embrace Six Sigma, the first
Software Services Company in the world to achieve SEI CMM Level 5 and it
also became the world’s first organization to achieve PCMM Level 5 (People
Capability Maturity Model). Premji equates Quality with Integrity – both being
non-negotiable.
by constantly raising the bar and stretching yourself and your team”, Azim
Premji.
Fifth, we must create processes like Six Sigma, CMM or ISO that
enable excellence. Use them because they are based on distilled wisdom and it
is imperative that we use the most modern tools to keep processes updated.
• Build up self-confidence, always look ahead and have the best around you;
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd went public in 1973. Bhai Mohan Singh also
co-founded Max India with his youngest son, Analjit Singh. As a pioneer of
India's pharmaceuticals industry, 89-year-old Bhai Mohan Singh was the
survivor of many a courtroom and boardroom battles, be it to regain hold over
the company or to claim rights to products and patents.
Bhai Mohan Singh died on March 27, 2006. He was the ex-Vice
President of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC). For his
contribution in civic matters he was awarded the Padma Shri. For his
contribution to the industrial development of Punjab, the Punjab Government
named an industrial township near Ropar after him.
His journey began in 1944 at the age of 20. He along with his three
brothers moved from his birthplace Kamalia in Pakistan to Amritsar. The
brothers started supplying components to the local bicycle business. After
partition in 1947, the family was forced to move to Ludhiana. In 1952, Munjals
made a shift from supplying to manufacturing. They started manufacturing
handlebars, front forks and chains. In 1956, the Punjab state government
announced the issue of 12 new industrial licenses to make bicycles in
Ludhiana. The Munjal brothers cashed on this opportunity. Soon Hero Cycles
started giving well established players such as Raleigh, Hind Cycles and Atlas
94
Cycles a run for their money. The Hero Cycle was comparatively cheaper and
was sturdy and reliable. It gave the customers value for their money.
SEEDING A DREAM
The founder and patriarch of the $ 2.8 billion Hero Group is a classic
first generation entrepreneur. He is a man who started small, dreamt big and
used a combination of grit and perseverance to create one of the country's
largest corporate groups and the World's No.1 two wheeler company.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
When Brijmohan and his brothers started out, there was no concept of
organized dealer networks. Companies just produced, and most dealers
functioned like traders. Brijmohan changed the rules of the business by trusting
his gut instincts; introducing business norms that were ahead of their time, and
by investing in strategic relationships. "Thanks to the relationships that we
have nurtured so passionately in the Hero Family, the younger generations of
some of our bicycle dealers have become dealers of Hero Honda. These
relationships have survived through generations - through bad times and good
times'' the patriarch now reminiscences.
STAYING AHEAD
In the 1980s, when all two-wheeler companies in India opted for two-
stroke engine technology, Brijmohan preferred a four-stoke engine - a
technology that dramatically increased fuel efficiency and reduced
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maintenance costs. This technology was one of the biggest reasons for Hero
Honda's stupendous success.
A CORPORATE CITIZEN
By 1971, the Munjals had set up a rim-making division for Hero Cycles
and launched another company called Highway Cycles that would make
freewheels -- it was then that Brijmohan Lal restructured and streamlined
Hero’s rapidly expanding business. Within a span of 6-7 years, production at
the Hero Cycles plant doubled and in 1975 it became the largest manufacturer
of bicycles in India.
He worked on two premises; first that all four brothers, the original four
brothers, had an equal stake in all the Munjal companies. The second premise
was that any Munjal who wanted to work, had to have a business to run. Now
what did that mean? That meant that between the 1980s, 1990s and 2000, the
business began to expand and to diversify -- they went into textile spinning,
they went into financial services . . . although not all of these succeeded.
lows, rewards and backlashes have all been a part of the Hero Group's
corporate story, but downfalls did not discourage them, nor did losses kill their
spirit of entrepreneurship.
Chetan Maini began building toy cars and planes when he was eight.
And, with some nifty workmanship, he has turned his hobby into an innovative
business. He serves as Chief of Technology & Strategy Officer and Deputy
Chairman of Mahindra REVA Electric Vehicle Co Ltd. (alternative name is
REVA Electric Car Company Private Ltd.), a joint venture between Maini
Group of Bangalore and AEV LLC, USA. Mr. Maini has over 14 years
experience with electric vehicles during the course of which he has developed
over 6 electric, solar and hybrid-electric vehicles in India and US. At Stanford,
he served as the project leader.
In this regard, Chetan Kumar Maini, the former owner of Reva Electric
Cars is a lucky man to have built a remote-controlled toy car at the age of 8,
and won a school prize in the sixth standard. Later, he started building toy
planes and go-carts with a scooter engine. As a mechanical engineering
student, he built solar and hybrid cars. And, finally, he designed and built a
battery-operated car - India's first electric car, the Reva. He just takes three
weeks to put together a model. Today, Maini picks up most of his ready-to-
assemble kits from shops in Bangalore for Rs.6, 000 to 12,000 apiece.
"In my college days, we were four friends who were working on a solar
car together. We were always looking at starting a company, especially in the
electric vehicles space," he says. That is how he ended up working for a
company called Amerigon, which was working on the electric vehicle
technology. And that is where the idea of Reva was born.
When Maini introduced Reva in India in 2001, the auto market looked
at his electric car with amusement, some even indulged him by taking test
rides, but few took the car seriously. In late-2006, the company received an
investment of $20 million from Draper Fisher Jurveston and Global
Environment Fund to help Reva's strategic growth globally.
HDFC has reached where it is today because of sheer hard work and
shared vision.
Mr. Parekh was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2006 for his
contribution in the field of trade and industry. On January 24, 2008, Mr.
Parekh was awarded the lifetime achievement award by Finance Asia for his
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After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Ambani moved to Aden,
Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil
company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs.50, 000 and set up a textile
trading company. Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhirubhai built
India’s largest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from scratch.
Over time his business has diversified into a core specialization in
petrochemicals with additional interests in telecommunications, information
technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital
markets and logistics.
efforts helped create an ‘equity cult’ in the Indian capital market. With
innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly
became a favourite of the stock market in the 1980s.
Bombay Scottish School and later on joined Mithibai College. She was not
interested in academics and on the advice of her father ventured into TV serial
production at the age of 19. Her company has produced more than 25 serials
and each one is being shown, on an average, four times a week on different
channels. Ekta Kapoor’s serials have captured the imagination of the masses.
She has broken all previous records of TV serial production and popularity in
India.
She has traversed a long way, pushing through a host of odds that have
stood her way since her first musical game show Dhum Dhamaka went on air
around 1994.
Despite the popularity of her soaps, Ekta has received a lot of criticism
for her controversial and bold scenes, the portrayal of female characters, false
sophisticated sets and repetitive, frivolous plots. In the short span of her career
this young entrepreneur of India has achieved many awards and civic honours.
She was chosen to lead the Confederation of Indian Industries' (CII)
entertainment committee. Truly, it is not Ekta Kapoor alone for the bull's eye
success of Balaji Telefilms, rather there is a strong team of more than 300
professionals who are sincerely working behind the scenes and so the
familiarity must have gone to the company and its team and not Ekta alone.
CAREER
In 1981, one year later, his elder brother Mansukhbhai, bought a plastics
unit in Ahmedabad and asked Gautam to run it. This marked the beginning of
Adani's foray into global trading by beginning to import polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), a key raw material for manufacturing plastics. After the economic
liberalization, the import duty on various goods was slashed, and profits of
Adani Exports, then his flagship company, grew immensely.
In the first half of the 1990s, the American multinational Cargill and the
small Indian company Adani Group joined hands for a project to produce and
export salt from Gujarat. The Americans exited the proposed partnership citing
management and control differences, leaving the Indian partner with 5,000
acres of land for which it had no use. Gautam Adani could have been in
trouble. But he saw there an opportunity. Call it prescience, providence or a
good gamble. In place of the captive jetty to export the salt, now stands
Mundra Port, India’s largest private port. The surrounding land is home to the
largest multi-product special economic zone in the country. These crown
jewels on the Gujarat coastline stand testimony to Adani’s business
acumen. He started with an investment of Rs.5 lakh in 1988, and his group’s
current turnover is Rs. 7,000 crore.
his nephew and Managing Director of Adani Wilmar: “What separates him
from the rest is that he can see 5-7 years ahead.”
Ghanshyam Das Birla is the man who laid the foundation of the Birla
Empire. He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and advised Gandhiji on
economic policies. He was the most important pre-Independence contributor to
the Indian National Congress. He is also popularly known as the builder of
Birla Mandirs.
Born in 1894, G.D. Birla was a native of Pilani. His grandfather Shiv
Narayan Birla was a traditional marwari moneylender. Ghanshyam Das Birla
entered the business arena during the time of First World War. He established a
cotton mill in Sabzi Mandi, and later on established Keshoram Cotton Mills.
Along with cotton mills he diversified to jute business and shifted his base to
Calcutta city in Bengal, the world's largest jute producing region. He
established Birla Jute Mills in Bengal, much to the consternation of established
European merchants.
teachers of his time and picked up an abiding interest in history and economics.
Soon after his graduation, Rama Prasad Goenka became associated with the
Indian jute industry. At a very young age as Chairman of Indian Jute Mills
Association, he played a leading role in underscoring the need for modernizing
the traditional industries.
The RPG Group was set up in 1980 with jute, cable and carbon black,
with a turnover of Rs.70 crore. He, found time to have a stint at Harvard
University and later took pioneering steps to invite the renowned IMD at
Lausanne to India and set up the International Management Institute in Delhi,
where he continues as Chairman. Rama Prasad Goenka is a former Chairman
of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and
Chairman of the Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce &
Industry, where he continues as a Member of the Advisory Board.
During his colourful business career spanning more than five decades,
Rama Prasad Goenka served many public institutions. He is a former Director
of the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India, General Insurance Company of
India, Steel Authority of India and Industrial Development Bank of India.
Deemed University (IASE), Rajasthan has already honoured him with a D. Litt
(Honoris Causa) for his contribution to industry and his deep involvement in
social work.
DIVERSE BUSINESSES
Shri Om Prakash Jindal more popularly known as O.P. Jindal was born
in 1930 to a farmer late Netram Jindal of village Nalwa of district Hisar in
Haryana. Since his childhood the young Jindal had interest in technical work.
He started his industrial career with a small bucket-manufacturing unit in
Hisar. In 1964, he commissioned a Pipe Unit Jindal India Limited, followed by
a large factory in 1969 under the name Jindal Strips Limited.
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At present, there are twenty factories under the flagship of the Jindal
Organization, which are worth over Rs.17, 500 crores, under whose umbrella,
thousands of families directly or indirectly benefit themselves.
O.P. Jindal was the Chairman of the Jindal Organization. In 2004, Jindal
was conferred the prestigious "Life Time Achievement Award" for his
outstanding contribution to the Indian Steel Industry by the Bengal Chamber of
Commerce & Industry. According to the latest Forbes' List, O.P. Jindal has
been ranked 13th amongst the richest Indians of the country and placed 548th
amongst the richest persons of the world.
His life's mission was to help others particularly the common man in
every possible way. Shri Jindal was known for his unassuming generosity and
donates crores of rupees annually not only to known but also to needy
strangers. Numerous social and religious institution of India also received
liberal donations from Shri Jindal for noble causes.
LIFE
Born into a farmer family from north Gujarat, Karsanbhai finished his
B.Sc. in Chemistry at age 21 and worked as a lab technician, first in the New
Cotton Mills, Ahmedabad, of the Lalbhai group and then at the Geology and
Mining Department of the state Government. In 1969, Karsanbhai set up
Nirma, (named after daughter Nirupama) selling detergent powder. This was
an after-office business - the one-man company would bicycle through the
neighbourhoods selling handmade detergent packets door to door. At a price of
Rs.3 per kg, (one third the price of leading detergents), it was an instant
success.
After three years, Karsanbhai felt confident enough to quit his job. Later
he said: the lack of any such precedent in my family made the venture fraught
with fear of failure. But farmers from North Gujarat are known for their spirit
of enterprise. Karsanbhai set up shop at small workshop in an Ahmedabad
suburb. The Nirma brand quickly established itself in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The high quality and low price of the detergent made for great value.
Fueled by housewife-friendly advertisement jingles, Nirma revolutionized the
detergent market, creating an entirely new segment for economy detergent
powder. At the time, detergent and soap manufacture was dominated by
multinational corporations with products like Surf by Hindustan Lever, priced
around Rs.13 per kg. Within a decade, Nirma was the largest selling detergent
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in India. Since production was labour intensive, Nirma also became a leading
employer. Made without some phosphates, Nirma was also somewhat more
environment friendly.
AWARDS
HER DETERMINATION
Besides her hectic professional life, Mazumdar Shaw has also penned a
coffee table book titled 'Ale and Arty'. She has made sure that Biocon has an
active corporate social responsibility and is active in the field of public health
and education. She also heads the Vision Group on Biotechnology for the state
of Karnataka and was instrumental in making Bangalore a ‘Biotech Hub’.
Pantaloon's Kishore Biyani has become India's largest retailer, but still
has several aces up his John Miller shirtsleeves. And now that he has set
himself the task of retaining control of the largest retail space in the country, he
would not let anyone - suppliers or international promoters included - catch
him slacking.
The shift from manufacturing to retail was the critical point in Biyani's
career. Distribution costs were the reason brands were snuffed out in the
market, so Biyani decided to rewrite the rules of the game. In 1993, he
experimented with a small store format, and Pantaloon Shoppe was launched in
Panjim, Goa, "where we could make mistakes without anyone noticing them".
From the shoppe to the large store format in 1998 - this time in Kolkata
("If you can conquer Kolkata, you can conquer other markets too. Calcuttans,
contrary to perception, have money and are loyal customers. They are
emotional people and get emotionally attached to a brand.") - was a carefully
crafted plot. And he was proved right when the Kolkata Pantaloon store
became a raging success and Biyani stepped on to the turf as a super retailer.
The year 2004-05 has been eventful for Pantaloon Retail as it crossed
the Rs 1,000-crore target. But there have been other watershed years, such as
1997 when it launched its first departmental store, Pantaloons, in Kolkata and
2002, when it opened its first departmental store, Big Bazaar. Today,
Pantaloon is poised to don a new look with a new corporate identity. From the
`Knowledge Group,' it will be now known as the `Future Group' with a new
logo (a human palm print) with the message `India tomorrow.'
“I believe that the achievements of V-Guard group are not entirely due
to my abilities. I realise that our managers, staff and other associates have
played a major role in bringing V-Guard to this level,” he says. No wonder he
has set apart four percent of the equity for his 700-odd employees.
acquired the controlling interest in the Associated Hotels of India which owned
the Cecil, and Corstophans in Shimla, and the Maidens and the Imperial in
Delhi, and a hotel in Lahore, Murree, Rawalpindi and Peshawar. He thus
became the first Indian to run the largest and the finest hotel chain.
In 1959, the Oberoi group became the first group to start flight catering
operations in India. In 1965, M.S.Oberoi opened the first modern five star
international hotel in the country, the Oberoi Intercontinental, in Delhi. In
1966, he established the prestigious Oberoi School of Hotel Management,
recognized by the International Hotel Association in Paris. The Oberoi group
opened the 35 storey International Sheraton in Mumbai. Oberoi was the first to
employ women in the hospitality sector. Today, the Oberoi group owns or
manages 37 luxury and first class international hotels in seven countries. M.S.
Oberoi was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1962 and in 1972. He was also
elected to the Lok Sabha in 1968.
Life served his lemons regularly but with even greater regularity did the
Rai Bahadur make lemonade.
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The story of the Rai Bahadur is all the more impressive because there
was nothing in his background to suggest that he would be able to create the
world class ambience and sophistication for which the group is celebrated now
that he would be able to foresee India’s current positioning in the global
market, while doffing a deferential hat to history when it was demanded.
He has received many honours and awards. In June 2000, the Asia week
magazine featured him in a list of Asia’s 50 Most Powerful People. In 2001,
Narayana Murthy was named by TIME/CNN as one of the 25 most influential
global executives. He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal
and was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year 2003 by Ernst & Young.
The Economist ranked Narayana Murthy as eighth on the list of the 15 most
admired global leaders (2005) and he also topped the Economic Times
Corporate Dossier list of India’s most powerful CEOs for two consecutive
years - 2004 and 2005.
In the past five years Infosys has grown at breath taking speed: sales
grew at a compounded annual rate 74 per cent and profits by 78 per cent, a
performance that puts Infosys way ahead of its peers. It created history by
becoming the first Indian registered company to list on an American stock
exchange-NASDAQ–with an issue of two million American Depository Shares
that raised $ 70 million. Infosys pioneering step has paved the way for other
Indian IT companies.
of the seven partners of Rs.10, 000/- mostly borrowed from their wives.
Murthy’s HDFC- financed Shivajinagar apartment in Pune was the first
registered office.
In 1974, Naresh Goyal founded Jet Air Pvt. Ltd., to look after the Sales
and Marketing operations of foreign airlines of India. His mother sold her own
jewelry to give him money to start the business. He was involved in developing
studies of traffic patterns, route structures, and operational economics and
flight scheduling. His rich and varied experience made him an authority in the
world of aviation and travel.
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Today, the net worth of the Jet Airways promoter is over Rs.8, 100
crore, which makes him the sixth richest Indian as per the Business Standard
Billionaire Club.
Goyal, however, has not forgotten his humble past, a reason why he
remains modest and avoids the limelight. For e.g. minutes after announcing his
decision to buy Air Sahara for Rs.2,225 crore - a deal, which gives him control
over almost half of India's domestic aviation airspace - Goyal refuses to give it
much importance and said, "It's no big deal. I am neither happy nor excited.
Such acquisitions have been the way of life in the west."
The modesty has been interpreted in many ways. While his associates
say it shows that the man has his feet firmly on the ground, others say it's his
way of avoiding controversies. He has been doing precisely that ever since he
got into the civil aviation industry 36 years back. He also has clear ideas about
which way to go. For example, he thinks low cost airlines are just a myth in
India.
Along with Jet’s meteorite rise, Naresh Goyal also rose in the
entrepreneurial arena. He has won several honours and accolades. These
include Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Services from Ernst & Young in
2000, Distinguished Alumni Award-2000 for meritorious and distinguished
performance as an Entrepreneur, Outstanding Asian-Indian award for
leadership and contribution to the global community given by the Indian
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Apollo Hospitals proved that Indian doctors are no less than the best in
the world by successfully operating on a complicated cadaver transplant.
Having successfully steered Apollo hospitals in a number of locations through
out India, Dr. Reddy went on to expand operations throughout Asia. His more
recent initiative is to create a virtual Apollo centre, which is available
anywhere, at any time. This is a web based Apollo initiative. He successfully
implemented Telemedicine Technology in India which will be a key enabler in
transforming health care delivery in India.
The Apollo Group opened its first clinic in Dubai in 1999. He also has
plans for SAARC countries. He has plans for opening secondary health centers
in India. His new projects include 'Med-varsity'-a virtual medical university
providing total access to medical experts and 'MEDNET'-a hospital systems
management package. Dr. Reddy has many more dreams like setting up rural
hospitals. He recognized 23 sites in the semi urban areas. He started a clinic in
his native village to serve as a model for similar such projects for the Apollo
group to emulate throughout India. Dr. Reddy was awarded the Padma
Bhushan in 1991.
Spread across 2,000 acres, the Ramoji Film City is the biggest of its
kind in the world. The Film City where you can get ''everything from a pin to
an aeroplane’’ is Ramoji Rao's biggest project till date and is being developed
as the 'Disneyland' of India. He visualizes it as the ''gateway of tourism in
India''.
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His father had come out with the sachet concept, when he entered
college, a couple of years prior to his father’s demise. He felt liquid can be
packed in sachets as well. When talcum powder was only in tin containers, he
was the one who sold it in 100 gm, 50 gm and 20 gm packs. When Epsom
salt came in 100 gm packets, his father brought out salt sachets of as low as
5 gm.
After his father's death, his brothers took charge of the family business.
In 1982, when he joined them after his studies, they had launched Velvette
Shampoo. Within eight to nine months, Ranganathan left the business because
his ideas clashed with theirs. As he was in the manufacturing unit, he did not
know anything about marketing or finance but, his inferiority complex
notwithstanding, he was somehow confident of doing business better.
Ranganathan named it Chik Shampoo after his father. The product did
not succeed immediately; he learnt many things during the process. In the first
month, he could sell 20,000 sachets and from the second year, started making
profits. He moved to Chennai in 1989 but his manufacturing unit continued to
be in Cuddalore. It took him three years to get the first loan because banks
asked for collateral. But one particular bank gave him a loan of
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Rs.25,000 which he rotated and later upgraded to Rs.400,000, Rs.15 lakh and
so on.
“You know what the bank manager wrote in our loan application? This
person does not have any collateral to offer but there is something interesting
about this SSI unit. Unlike others, this company pays income tax. I must
say my business never looked back because I was very particular about
paying income tax”, he says.
When Chik entered the market, Velvette Shampoo was being marketed
aggressively by Godrej. But a scheme of his became extremely successful -- he
exchanged five sachets of any shampoo for a Chik Shampoo sachet, free.
Later, he altered the scheme -- he started giving one free Chik Shampoo
sachet in lieu of five Chik Shampoo sachets only. Soon, consumers started
asking for Chik sachets only. The sales went up from Rs.35, 000 to Rs.12 lakh
a month.
He continued with Chik Shampoo for seven years before venturing into
anything else. Meera Herbal powder was actually not his idea. Shaw Wallace
already had a herbal product but it was marketed very poorly. He felt there was
a demand for herbal products and he made a good product. In the third month
itself, he topped the market. In six months, he had 95 per cent market
share, while Shaw Wallace had only 4-5 per cent.
Ranganathan has great admiration for those who fight against all odds
and attain success. C. K. Ranganathan, is a successful entrepreneur and venture
philanthropist. He has set an ambitious sales target of Rs.5, 000 crore by 2012.
While a set of seven core values define the GMR Group’s distinct
organization culture, Rao has also spearheaded a “Family Constitution” model
for the group. In line with this, over a period of time, the members of the
family would provide only the strategic inputs and investment needs and
counselling for all the businesses and activities of the Group.
“Most of the people had no idea how to deal with that sudden turn of
events. But GMR decided to take advantage of a new growth area – the power
sector – and soon acquired the licence for a power project in Tamil Nadu, the
Basin Bridge power plant in Chennai, which became the first to be developed
by the group,” says BVN Rao, a long time friend and now chairman of the
energy vertical.
GMR, who cut his entrepreneurial teeth with a jute yarn facility in
Rajam, went on to display his talent in sugar and other agri-businesses, ferro-
alloys, IT and banking before he finally decided to zero in on infrastructure.
Setting up a jute yarn facility taught him a great deal about teamwork and
taking his fellow workers along. His banking experience is what he treasures
the most. “Turning around non-performing assets and building confidence
among customers after a total change in the top management was not easy. We
were dealing with public money,” he says.
about the family’s role in his companies, GMR has a confident answer: “It’s
run by family professionals. Almost 70% of the listed companies on BSE are
family-run businesses anyway.”
But even at 61, GMR, has merely written the preface of his
entrepreneurship story, it seems. He is now poised to enter the big league and if
early indications are anything to go by, getting awards too could become a
habit.
Having sold his wife’s jewellery for about Rs.8, 000 in Old Delhi’s
Chandni Chowk in November 1947, Singh went to Calcutta to try his luck.
Singh set up his office at 85, Netaji Subhash Road; first to start spice trade but
later founded Bharat Steel Pipes. The rise of Raunaq Singh is considered in the
corporate world as a rags-to-riches story. He related his pre-independence
enterprise to his friends, in Lahore, how he sold old pipes to a customer for
double its price that too by getting an advance from him. His trademanship
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could be seen in procuring water pipes without investing a single rupee. His
first deal of Rs.1, 000 was the beginning of his fortune in steel pipe trade.
Mr. Raunaq Singh laid the foundation of his tyre manufacturing empire
about 40 years ago and set the stage for India to become a major tyre producer.
As a doyen of the business community in northern India as well as due to his
expertise in the automotive sector, the Government decided to appoint him as
the first Chairman of Maruti Limited. He has also held senior positions in the
Exim Bank, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and the Indo-German
Consultative Group.
The CII President, Ashok Soota, said with Mr. Singh's passing away,
the country had lost an eminent and charismatic first generation entrepreneur.
Mr. Raunaq Singh represented the first group of post-partition businessmen in
the country. Hailing from an ordinary background and starting as a steel trader,
he went on to establish a group with a turnover of over $525 million.
Bhatia intended to get his engineering degree and go home to work. His
mother was a bank manager, and his father, Chief Administrative Officer at
Defense Research Organization. Bhatia grew up, like most Indian kids,
presuming that starting a company is impossible unless you are a superman.
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Bhatia and his colleague Smith quit their jobs at Apple Computer and
opened a tiny office in Fremont, California. By June, they were running out of
money, but the product would be ready to launch in a month. Another venture
capitalist, Dough Carlisle, was interested in investing, but Bhatia knew that if
he and Smith launched the service first, they would keep more control of the
company they created. He convinced a bank to loan them $100, 000.
In 1996, Bhatia and Smith launched their company, called Hotmail. The
morning of the launch, Bhatia and Smith wore hip beepers, programmed to
flash every hour with the number of new subscribers. The first users found
Hotmail all by themselves, then e-mailed their friends: a hundred users in the
first hour, 200 the next hour, 250 in the third. By the time Sabeer went back to
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Doug Carlisle to say in effect okay. Hotmail had 100, 000 subscribers and a
valuation of $18 million.
Hotmail began to deliver news and other internet content into the e-mail
boxes of its subscribers. This was nothing new, but the way the money flowed
was. The sites supplying the content took the position. “Hey, if you want our
news for free, then you would better pay us.” But Bhatia wanted the sites to
pay Hotmail for the privilege of having its content run. Surprisingly, the
businesses agreed to these terms, and soon Hotmail was growing so fast that
some content providers could not handle the traffic that came in from Hotmail.
Every morning, he scoured the internet for signs of competition. It was six
months before the first appeared.
Humble beginnings seldom pay. But Sarath Babu will not buy that. For
this young entrepreneur, rags-to-riches is not just another adage. It is his very
first foundation of success. From a slum in Chennai to the top echelons of
academia with an enrolment in chemical engineering at BITS Pilani and IIM-
A, and now as the steward of his Food King Catering business, Sarath has
come a long way. His humility perhaps made him reject several high-brow
offers from MNCs after his MBA. That, in a way, was the genesis of Food
King Catering - with paltry Rs.2, 000 seed money.
Today, his food business spans six locations with a Rs.9-crore turnover
to boot and set to clock Rs.20 crore by year-end. For Sarath, his mother, who
once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai and worked as an ayah, is a pillar
of strength. “Her sacrifice eggs me on,” says Sarath. Apart from bringing up
four children, Sarath’s mother worked as a cook for the mid-day meal scheme
for 11 years and got paid just a rupee each day.
Having completed SSLC, she moved on to teach under the same scheme
for five years. Even then, her salary was insufficient. So Sarath’s mom sought
refuge in the food business to supplement her meager income. As she rolled
dough in the form of idlis, dosas, bhajjis and appams, it was Sarath’s job to sell
them in the neighbourhood. “For kids living in a slum, idlis for breakfast is
something very special,” says Sarath even to this day.
Jumping-in to kick start a business right after college should have been
tough. But this bold mindset & compulsion came from his childhood perils.
Initially, his catering business, with two units in Ahmedabad, was Rs.2,
000-per -day in the red. “But I burnt the midnight oil literally to get a
solution,” Sarath says. It’s worth a mention here that Sarath spent most of his
childhood in the dark, without electricity. He focused on volumes rather than
spartan servings, and started taking contracts from institutions and companies.
He now envisions Food King’s Palace (food malls) across cities where
all kinds of Indian food would be served at “economical rates”. Is he really
worried about inflation or price-rise in food products? When most of the
restaurants have increased their prices, Sarath sees an opportunity to serve at a
cheaper price. “Sourcing from one place makes a lot of difference. I will tap
this opportunity,” says Sarath. Today, he drives a Chevrolet to take his mother
for a ride to oversee his business units in Chennai. “Next, I want to build a
house for my mother,” says Sarath.
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It was still the early days of the Indian mobile phone retailing. The
industry was highly fragmented and disorganized. Mobile handsets were
expensive, the grey market dominated and there were few showrooms around
to showcase mobile products.
Using his savings and some capital from the family, Sathish started
UniverCell in 2000 in Chennai. Since then, Sathish and UniverCell have spun a
success story to be the largest mobile phone retailer and among the better
known brands in India. Statistics are available to show that one out of every
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three handsets sold in the market is from UniverCell. Its customer base stands
at a vast 5 million, with 100,000 people buying its handsets every month.
Sathish Babu has promoted the brand through every available mass
media tool of advertising. Innovative marketing and a consistent presence
across media have been the hallmark of Univercell’s journey as far. Celebrity
endorsement is for instance a big part of its advertising campaigns with film
actor R. Madhavan as its brand ambassador. With effective advertising
campaigns and market promotion, Sathish Babu has made sure that UniverCell
is well entrenched in the hearts and minds of the buying public all over India.
The presence of large retail outlets, print, television, event promotions,
billboards and FM radio broadcast, are constant reminders to customers
existing and prospective keeping in line with the focus of aggressive
expansion, UniverCell has started SIS (Shop in Shop) model stress within
Music World of RPG group.
UniverCell has the distinction of being the first mobile phone retailer to
provide a warranty on every purchase, keeping in mind the stiff competition
the grey market poses. Recently UniverCell launched an exclusive Mobile
Theft and Damage Insurance along with Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. to cover
all risks not covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. It was also the first
mobile retailer to implement the touch and feel concept, besides offering
several exchange offers.
initiated five years ago has now resulted in a world-class retailing organization
that is powered as much by technology as by its people. The foundation for
growth well in place, UniverCell has its sights on replicating its success Pan
India. These same investments in technology and processes have earned
UniverCell the ISO 9000-2001 certification for quality management systems.
THE ENTREPRENEUR
Sathish and UniverCell have been cresting the wave of the Indian
mobile revolution from the retailing front, growing and evolving to become
India's largest mobile retailer and one of India's best known brands.
Sathish Babu is determined to go places. They are all set of move into
the next phase of expansion. With the Indian cell phone market still quite away
from reaching saturation, Univercell’s future looks bright.
STARTING YEARS
open to experiment with their clothes but they did not have choices at
affordable prices as designers in India were into haute couture and catering to
high profile individual clients. There was a need gap in the market. That is how
seeds of Remanika were sown. In 1994, I rented out a 100sq ft space in Kemps
Corner in South Mumbai and opened the first Remanika store selling ‘Go-
sexy’- trendy youth wear and club wear for women”, says Seema.
“When I started in 1994, I could not even afford shelves and hangers,
and all the clothes used to be displayed on the floor. I paid rent in the evening
on a daily basis from money generated through day sales. One fine day, with
barely few months into the business, I got notice to vacate the store. The
following one year was very stressful. There were times when I had to sell
clothes on staircases and loft of the mall. I had to sell my car and house to stay
put in the business. After some time I rented another 600 sq ft of space on a
different floor in the same premises. Thankfully, clients repaid my faith and
business grew steadily’ she says.
TURNING POINTS
The first store was opened in 1994 and then the opening of second store
in 1999. In 2000, she started retailing the products through Pantaloon, and later
from Shoppers Stop, K-Lifestyle, and Pyramid stores. She has now 10 self-
owned stores and retails her products through 80 other outlets. The employee
strength is 400 and has grown 100% over the years.
There are perhaps few others who can stand testimony to the truth of
these words, as Shahnaz Husain, India’s pioneer in herbal cosmetics.
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An entrepreneur in the truest spirit of the word, the lady has a whopping
80 percent of the domestic herbal market, and sales counters in the best stores
internationally, be it the Seibu chain in Japan, Bloomingdales in the US,
Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Harrods and Selfridges in London … it goes on.
“Though I was married at a very young age, I always knew that I was
made for something more,” begins Shahnaz.
Not prepared to sit back as a housewife and mother the age of 16, the
young Shahnaz set about writing for magazine to earn money so that she could
fund her education. Staying with husband Nasir in Tehran, Shahnaz found the
ideal opportunity in the international beauty schools there. After studying
cosmetic chemistry in international beauty schools in certain centres including
London, Paris and Denmark for close to eight years, Husain hit upon the idea
of exploring the 4000 year old Indian ayurvedic system, so that she could
research and develop herbal cures and treatments.
“I would go to a place for one day, offer free prescriptions and advice,
inaugurate the salon, and go back,” says Shahnaz. It worked – today, there are
more than 600m salons in India and abroad.
The strategy was one she applied with great success internationally as
well – at one point, during a makeup demonstration in Russia, Shahnaz was
asked to stop as the floor was caving in under the pressure of the people who
had turned up to watch. Interestingly, Shahnaz has never advertised her
products, a fact that had Harvard in the US wanting to use her marketing
system as a case study.
17 herbal lines, with many more in R&D, Husain is busy expanding her
empire by adding health resorts, signature garments, accessory lines and more
to her portfolio.
He is a man who has proud credentials of being the one to gift India its
first Bulletin Board System with e-mail services. He is also the one to establish
country’s first online real estate database that allows every property buyer and
seeker to enroll their needs and specialties - all for free.
ON COURSE TO MORE…
BORN LEADER
SMART THINKER
If his love for information technology and internet inspired him to venture in
the world of IT services at a meagre age of twenty, his ability to smartly handle
a situation is largely responsible for his success today.
Ably supported by his brother Shashi Ruia led the company into
businesses, like shipping, marine construction, steel, power, telecom, offshore
engineering and oil exploration, which were at one point dominated by
multinationals and public sector units. The brothers, who share a very strong
bond as well as the same office, seized on every available opportunity and
helped Essar pioneer many firsts in Indian corporate history. Essar, for
instance, was the first company to set up a sponge iron plant in the west coast
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of India, the first independent power producer and among the first to introduce
mobile telephony services.
Essar draws strength from the integrated nature of its various businesses
and their collective synergies. Shashi Ruia has been the driving force behind
this integration strategy. Widely regarded as one of the architects of modern
India, he has a passion for education and mentoring young talent. He considers
all employees of Essar a part of his extended family.
Ruia said he himself was 'not an MBA but only an MBB (Marwari by
birth),' but he imbibed the spirit of enterprise from his father who took him
along wherever he went to start a business. The lessons he learnt as an
understudy to his father were productive and helped in building the Essar
Group which now has a strong presence in steel, petrochemicals, telecom,
engineering and construction, he added.
Ruia said that young graduates could draw inspiration from great
entrepreneurs like Dhirbubhai Ambani and Ratan Tata. He said India has the
potential to grow stronger and that it was true China was far ahead especially
in the fields of steel, cement and automobiles.
With total assets of more than $5 billion, and annual revenues of more
than $2.2 billion, Essar Group has become one of India's leading and most
diversified private sector conglomerates.
The Group, under the watchful eyes of Ruia has been able to utilize the
synergy and propel its growth into a large business conglomerate. In fact, after
the successful completion of its multi-crore construction project of Sardar
Sarovar Nigam Ltd (SSNL), Essar is now working on a project for the state
government-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Limited (GSPCL) for
its gas pipeline project. And with Ruia as the guiding star, even scaling sky
will not be a difficult feat for the Essar.
It's no wonder that the Essar Groups under the leadership of Shashi and
his brother Ravi Ruia who is a Vice-Chairman of the company, was ranked
37th in the list of billionaires in the country.
Shiv Nadar has been the only entrepreneur in the last decade, apart from
Azim Premji of Wipro, to successfully manage hardware business and software
ventures. In fact Nadar has successfully straddled the entire spectrum of
Information technology: from hardware, software and services, to training.
The HCL Empire, which spawns from Japan in the east to US in the
west, was conceived in a garage in Noida near New Delhi when Nadar quit his
job with DCM and, armed with Rs.1.5lakh, started making and selling
calculators in 1976. His big break came when he ventured into the hardware
business.
Division. He was heading until he quit in 1975 and laid the foundation of HCL
group from an attic in Noida.
By this time the HCL team was able to gather in-house expertise for
developing the hardware, controllers, languages, systems software utilities and
even application software for its computers. Finally with the technology jump
in the next four years 8c became a museum piece, HCL was able to step in
with an advanced version, also developed in-house. This symbolized the
galloping pace of changes in the international market and HCL’s nascent
efforts to move along.
Kushal Pal Singh, with a net worth of $35 billion, is the fourth richest
Indian in the world. He heads the DLF Group, India's largest real estate
developer, which has interests in Delhi, Chandigarh, Kolkata, etc.
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In 1960, Singh quit the Indian Army to join the American Universal
Electric Company, a joint venture between Universal Electric Company of
Owosso, Michigan, and Singh's family. Later he established Willard India
Limited along with a Philadelphian company ESB Inc. He joined DLF
Universal Limited as the Managing Director in 1979. Singh's greatest
achievement is that he transformed Gurgaon, a barren village then, into one of
the favourite real estate destinations of India. Today he presides over closely
held DLF Group, India's largest real estate developer with an estimated land
bank of 3,000 acres in prime city locations. Singh, who owns 99.5% of parent
DLF Universal with his family, is worth, at least $5 billion.
Despite these odds, Bhasin never regretted moving. "We got the kind of
space, both in size and quality that just was not available in the center of Delhi.
DLF really understands what companies like ours need. They are quick, and
they deliver on their word," says Bhasin. Once GE took the plunge, DLF
landed other big-name corporate tenants, including Nestle, PepsiCo, British
Airways, American Express, IBM and Ericsson.
At a time when the industry practice was to sell and not lease, DLF
offered long-term leases, which suited companies that did not want to load
assets on their books. DLF benefited from the steady rentals during a market
downturn when property sales stagnated. Singh's refusal to cut quality corners
ensured that DLF could get premium prices for its properties.
In an interview Welch recalls, "K.P. was the igniter of the flame for GE
coming to India. He was the perfect ambassador because he opened our eyes to
a great country, and we fell in love with it."
The patriarch scrambled to enter the car battery and electrical motors
field, assigning K.P. Singh to make it work. Young Singh found a mentor in
George Hoddy, founder of Universal Electric in Michigan, a joint-venture
partner. Hoddy, recalls, "K.P. was not afraid to work hard. He followed
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Singh's leap of faith in Gurgaon paid off in spades. The average cost of
the 3,000 acres that DLF initially amassed in Gurgaon was $2,000 an acre--a
tiny fraction of today's market value.
"Gurgaon was deserted when K.P. first took me there to see it 25 years
ago. But he had the gumption to go relentlessly after it," says Deepak Parekh,
Chairman of home mortgage company HDFC, which started lending to DLF
early in its expansion drive. Along the way Singh insisted his buyers also be
on the up-and-up. Real estate in India is full of off-the-books transactions, the
better for tax dodges and to avoid once-prohibitive mortgage terms. Also,
builders flout codes and often see their handiwork ripped down.
In 2000, the Zee group of companies was positioning itself to tap the
tremendous business opportunity offered by digital communication services in
India. For instance, Subhash Chandra Goyal’s Siticable Company, which he
owns jointly with Rupert Murdoch, is gearing itself to transmit voice, video,
and data for entertainment and e-commerce purposes. Siticable, with six
million subscribers in 2000, eventually becomes the biggest provider of cable
internet services in India. Subhash Chandra Goyal is also launching a $755
million satellite telephony venture called Agrani (Sanskrit for "staying ahead"),
establishing a Zee Internet portal, and building 18 multiplex theater-cum-
entertainment centers, called ‘E-Citi’ in six states in India at a cost of over
$ 100 million. Subhash Chandra Goyal’s vision is to turn his broadcast
software operations into a media, entertainment, and telecommunications
conglomerate.
He has built the Bharti group, along with two siblings, into India's
largest mobile phone operator in just ten years. The UK based
telecommunication giant, Vodafone and Singapore's SingTel both own stakes
in the recently renamed flagship company Bharti Airtel. The group also has
partnerships with Axa for insurance and with the Rothschild family for
exporting fruits and vegetables.
ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES
In 1980 he sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to
Mumbai. In 1982 he became the exclusive dealer for Suzuki Motors's portable
electric-power generators imported from Japan. The importing of telecom
equipment was banned by the Indian Government as ITI (Indian Telecom
Industry) monopoly practices and sole OEM for Department of
Telecommunication.
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The turning point came in 1992 when the Indian government was
awarding licenses for mobile phone services for the first time. One of the
conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder has some
experience as a telecom operator. Mittal clinched a deal with the French
telecom group Vivendi. Two years later, Sunil secured rights to serve New
Delhi. In 1995, Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular
services under the brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the
first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. The
company is also instrumental in bringing down the high STD/ISD, cellular
rates in the country by rolling the countries first private national as well as
international long-distance service under the brand name IndiaOne. In 2001,
the company entered into a joint venture with Singapore Telecom International
for a $650-million submarine cable project, the countries first ever undersea
cable link connecting Chennai in India and Singapore.
Mittal has to his credit the breaking up of the 100 year old monopoly of
state run companies to operate telecom services in India. Now he heads a
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EDUCATION
a foreign education was to equip himself for serving the cause of Indian
agriculture. He returned to India in early 1954.
That was the breakthrough in the Green Revolution, but there was a lot
more work to be done. Indian farmers, immersed in traditional ways, had to be
convinced to grow the new wheat. In 1966, Swaminathan set up 2,000 model
farms in villages outside New Delhi to show farmers what his seed could do.
Then came the hardest part. He needed the government to help--specifically, to
import 18,000 tons of the Mexican seed at a time of fiscal hardship.
Swaminathan lobbied then-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. "He probably
thought nothing could be worse," Swaminathan recalls. "Famine was
imminent. There was a willingness to take risks." The first harvest with the
new seeds was three times greater than the previous year's.
But the revolution was still incomplete. Only Punjab state had the right
irrigation for the new technologies, the state-run food collection and
distribution networks were notoriously inefficient, and new fertilizers and
pesticides were needed, along with credit lines for small farmers. Political
leadership was vital to solve that tangle of problems, and Swaminathan found
it in Shastri's successor. "Indira Gandhi was a strong nationalist," he recalls.
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"She wanted an independent foreign policy, and food was a political weapon."
Gandhi bluntly asked him how India could be free of imports and gave
Swaminathan a free hand to organize a new agricultural program. Today, India
grows some 70 million tons of wheat a year, compared to 12 million tons in the
early '60s.
Dr. Swaminathan has long held that the key to enhancing the prosperity
of India-and many other nations-is to make agriculture the cornerstone of the
economy. By taking this new information to the farmer-at the farmer's level,
with field demonstration plots- Dr. Swaminathan bypassed the stumbling block
of illiteracy and converted a generation of Indians to a belief in the
effectiveness of modern agriculture.
Dr. Swaminathan has often been noted for his understanding of the
breadth of the entire food systems. His service in government is testament to
this: in several political leadership positions, he established programs of
ecological rehabilitation, rural development and technology transfer. His
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programs effectively helped subsistence farmers reap their fair share of credit
and income while conserving national resources. "Ultimately," Swaminathan
has stated, "it is the political will of the country to have policies in place which
will stimulate production by small farmers. Without it, all research,
technology...any external advice will go in vain."
Swaraj Paul was born in 1931 in Jalandhar. His father used to run a
small factory of making steel buckets and farming equipments. Swaraj was
educated at Punjab University and obtained a master’s degree in Mechanical
Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
He joined the Apeejay Surrendra Group, founded by his father after his
returning to India in 1953. It helped him to build up a diversified industrial
group.
The twist of fate came when Swaraj went to England in 1966 hoping to
find a cure for his leukemia-stricken two-year-old daughter, Ambika. Shattered
by her death, he took over the operations of Apeejay Overseas and relocated
permanently to London. He buried himself in work and there began his
spectacular business career in Britain.
industry and founded Caparo Group in 1978. Her Majesty the Queen knighted
Swaraj Paul in the same year, thereby making him The Lord Paul of
Marylebone and a member of the House of Lords the life peer.
Lord Paul reflects on the main events of his life in his memoirs,
‘Beyond Boundaries`. It contains the details of his business career, including
his attempted takeover of the DCM and Escorts group. It also portrays his
association with the famous and the mighty, including the Indian political
dynasty of Indira Gandhi and her sons Sanjay and Rajiv. Beyond Boundaries is
a window into the making of one of the most outstanding success stories of
modern times. He has also written the biography of Indira Gandhi and was
awarded the "Padma Bhushan" by her in 1983.
This strict vegetarian donated twenty lakh rupees to the victims of the
October 2005 earthquake in India’s Jammu and Kashmir. Swaraj Paul stepped
down from the management of the Caparo group in 1996, handing over his
empire to his three sons.
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Achievements: JRD Tata had the honour of being India’s first pilot;
was Chairman of Tata & Sons for 50 years; launched Air India International as
India’s first international airlines; received the Bharat Rathna in 1992.
JRD Tata was born in 1904 in Paris. His mother was French, while his
father was Parsi. JRD’s full name was Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and he
was popularly known as Jeh to his friends. His father Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata
and Sri Jamsetji Tata shared their greatness from the same great-great-grand
father, Ervad Jamshed Tata, a priest of Navasari.
JRD was the second son of four children. He was educated in France,
Japan and England before being drafted into the French army for a mandatory
one-year period. JRD wanted to extend his service in the forces but destiny had
something else in store for him. By leaving the French army, JRD’s life was
saved because shortly thereafter, the regiment in which he served was totally
wiped out during an expedition in Morocco.
JRD Tata joined Tata & Sons as an unpaid apprentice in 1925. He had
great interest in flying. In February 1929, JRD became the first Indian to pass
the pilot’s examination. With this distinctive honour of being India’s first pilot,
he was instrumental in giving wings to India by building Tata Airlines, which
ultimately became Air India. His passion for flying was fulfilled with the
formation of the Tata Aviation Service in 1932.
In 1938, at the age of 34, JRD was elected Chairman of Tata & Sons
making him the head of the largest industrial group in India. He started with 14
enterprises under his leadership and half a century later in 1988, when he left,
Tata & Sons was a conglomerate of 95 enterprises which they either started or
in which they had controlling interest. JRD was the trustee of Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust from its conception in 1932, which remained under his wings for over
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half a century. Under his guidance, this Trust established Asia’s first cancer
hospital, the Tata Memorial Center for Cancer Research and Treatment,
Bombay in 1944. It also founded the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, 1936,
the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, 1945 and the National Center for
Performing Arts.
JRD Tata cared greatly for his workers. In 1979, Tata Steel instituted a
new practice; a worker is deemed to be “at work” from the moment he leaves
home for work till he returns home from work. The company is financially
liable to the worker if any mishap takes place on the way to and from work.
Tata Steel Township was also selected as a UN Global Compact City because
of the quality of life, conditions of situation, roads and welfare that were
offered by Tata Steel.
JRD Tata died in Geneva, in 1993 at the age of 89. On his death, the
Indian Parliament was adjourned in his memory – an honour not usually given
to persons who are not Members of Parliament.
In 1990, Tulsi Tanti invested in two wind turbines and realized their
huge potential. In 1995, he formed Suzlon and gradually quit textiles. Suzlon
Energy is the fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and the
largest in Asia. It is presently building what will be among the world's largest
wind parks of its kind at 1,000 MW capacity.
"Clean, green power is the best option," has been Tanti's motto and he
has been working ceaselessly towards this goal. The internationally acclaimed
`Time' magazine has recently named Tanti as one of the global "Heroes of the
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At the time he was managing the family textile business in Surat, a city
in western India. The business was languishing, mainly because electricity was
extremely expensive for businesses and the power grid was plagued with
outages. It was a source of great annoyance for Tanti. In 1994, he ordered two
wind turbines from Danish manufacturer Vestas, essentially taking his factory
off the power grid.
There was only one problem. None of the four brothers, all engineers,
knew anything about wind energy. But as customers, they were all too familiar
with the inadequacies of the industry. The turbines were supplied by the
manufacturer, installed by another company and maintained by a third. By the
time a turbine was up and running, the customer was often at his wits' end.
Tanti, realizing that a change was sorely needed, came up with the idea
of offering a complete package of wind energy services. Suzlon would simply
handle everything. Customers would not even have to install wind turbines on
their own premises -- instead, a customer could buy a turbine at a faraway
wind farm and would then own that turbine's output.
WITHOUT A FIGHT
The innovative aspect of Tanti's idea had more to do with the service he
was providing than with any feat of engineering. But it was a concept that
would revolutionize the wind energy business.
give them an unbeatable competitive edge. But there was only one problem:
The leading European manufacturers were not about to give up their
engineering achievements without a fight.
Four years ago, investors urged him to sell the company. Tanti begged
off, telling them: "In a few years, Suzlon will be buying up the leading
European companies." As it turned out, he was right.
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Tulsi Tanti, till some years ago, was known for his achievements and for being
the 4th richest man in India. Now with a flourishing business and offices in the
US, Europe and Australia, he has soared even further. Suzlon Energy makes
wind turbines, which is the industry jargon for modern windmills used for
generating electricity. At present, Suzlon can be considered as being one of the
prime examples of India's manufacturing prowess.
Dr. Varghese Kurien is also called the Milkman of India. He was the
architect behind the success of the largest dairy development programme in the
world, christened Operation Flood. He was the Chairman of the Gujarat
Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF). And his name was
synonymous with the Amul brand.
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In 1965, the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National
Dairy Development Board (NDDB), under the leadership of Dr. Varghese
Kurien to replicate the success story of AMUL throughout the country. In
1973, Dr. Kurien set up GCMMF to market the products produced by the
dairies. Under Dr.Varghese Kurien’s stewardship, India became the largest
producer of milk in the world. During his illustrious career, Dr. Kurien won
many accolades and awards. These include the Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Community Leadership in 1963, The Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, Krishi
Ratna Award, Wateler Peace Prize Award of Carnegie Foundation, World
Food Prize Laureate, International Person of the Year, by the World Dairy
Expo, Madison, Wisconsin, USA and the Padma Vibhushan.
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In 2000, Vijay Mallya entered politics, took over as the President of the
Janatha Party and became a Rajya Sabha MP. In 2005, Vijay Mallya
established Kingfisher Airline. In a short span of time, Kingfisher Airlines has
carved a niche for itself. In 2010, it made acquisition of Air Deccan, the no-
frill airlines, the first of its kind in India.
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Vijay Mallya has other interests too apart from business. He has won
trophies in professional car racing circuits and is a keen yachtsman and aviator.
He has also won numerous trophies in horse racing including several
prestigious Derbies.
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CHAPTER 5
• Ajay Piramal took the company to a place among the top five
pharmaceutical companies in India through a string of overseas
acquisitions.
• Amar Bose first displayed his entrepreneurial skills and his interest in
electronics at young age, when, he enlisted school friends as co-workers
in a small home business repairing model trains and home radios.
• Anil is unafraid of risk; once he has defined his goal, he will go to do it.
That is how he has turned around his companies. More importantly, his
attitude is to plough back what he has earned.
• A pioneer who set India on the global metals and mining map.
• These are changing times. Yet in the middle of all the changes there is
one thing that constantly determines success. Some call it leadership.
But to his mind, it is the single-minded pursuit of excellence.
• "Don't dream if you can't fulfill your dreams'' Brijmohan Lal Munjal is
often fond of saying.
• “Have an idea that you absolutely believe in. Surround yourself with
people who share that dream and focus on areas that are actually your
weaknesses”, he says.
• He says “Till my last breath I will work. To retire there is only one
place, the cremation ground.”
• Remained on the top till the end by virtue of his ability to dream big and
translate it into reality through the strength of his tenacity and
perseverance.
• It was hard work, passion, and a fire in the stomach titanic struggle for
almost six long years which brought success to Ekta Kapoor.
• From the beginning she has worked, eaten and slept only with television
- thinking of concepts, casting, styling, selecting technicians, shooting
and scheduling, marketing and acquiring the new skills required to
succeed.
• Success has changed her completely. She is now craving for more, open
to improvement and determined to make it to the top.
• With his intense zeal and highly focused approach, Galla Ramachandra
Naidu propelled Amara Raja Batteries in the top league of battery
companies in India.
• He always took bold decisions. When the company was started, he made
a decision to depend heavily on fresh recruits.
• He values management expertise above all and has built a strong team
of professionals to drive the group’s rapid growth.
• He may use his instinct to spot an opportunity, but after that everything
is well planned.
• Throughout his life, Rama Prasad Goenka has taken keen interest in
building business bridges for India with leading countries of the world
and attracting technology and investments from abroad.
• He had a sharp business mind and made friends for life and kept his
word.
• Jindal's mantra was “where others saw walls he saw doors”. Then
whether it was opening doors or breaking down walls he always led the
way.
• Wavetel gave Chennai the concept of the first retailer delivering mobile
phones to doorsteps.
• They are also the first store (in the mobile market in Chennai) to get
ISO certification for all their chain stores.
• He brought in many innovative schemes like ‘buy one get one free’ in
the mobile industry and that sort revolutionized the trade.
• He is the first mobile retailer in the country to start a 24x7 call centre for
the customers which other dealers across the country followed.
• Dr Reddy’s Labs has been credited with turning the Indian bulk drug
industry from dependence on imports to self reliance and finally into the
export-oriented industry that it is today.
• He saw to it that the moment they got into a city, they started as many
stores as possible there. Only that made business sense.
• As founder and its Chairman, it is his fervent wish that the innovative
spirit shall endure and will be passed on to the successive generations of
chemists and others and that this will form the backbone of this great
institution.
• He believes that through efficiency, they are helping the consumers save
more.
• Apart from other educational institutions, Nirma has also set up Nirma
labs , which prepares aspiring entrepreneurs to effectively face the
different business challenges.
• He is the man you are most likely to ignore at the Pantaloon or Big
Bazaar store, as he stands in a corner observing the way you shop. But
make no mistake; what he may lack in sartorial style, he more than
makes up through his observation powers.
• Kochouseph had a clear vision and foresight about the market potential
for voltage stabilizers in the days to come because of the poor quality of
power available and the potential for electronic items.
• Oberoi can be aptly termed as the father of the Indian hotel industry.
• Certainly he did not give much of the credit to luck. True, he stood at
the right time at the right place to confront his destiny, but this was just
physical happenstance.
• Narayana Murthy had the vision to forge ahead in the computer and IT
industry and rightly picked up his colleagues who later became his
co-promoters of Infosys.
• The life lessons he has learnt are the importance of learning from
experience, the power of chance events, a growth mindset, and self-
knowledge what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in
oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities
which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.
• Following the bad times in the airline industry, Naresh Goyal joined
hands with his prominent rival Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines, thus
making Jet Airways-Kingfisher not only the largest market player, but
also enabling both the airlines that would otherwise head for a collapse
to economize and save. This shows his business acumen keeping
business interests above personal interests.
• Ramnath Goenka took over the loss-making Madras edition of The Free
Press Journal, drove the delivery van himself to dispatch the papers and
started publishing it successfully.
192
• He founded the Indian Express. Following this, both the Indian Express
and Ramnath Goenka openly challenged the British Raj.
• His critics believe that his passion for politics was the fire that led the
newspapers from Indian Express Group on a blazing trail.
• He knows that there is no substitute for hard work. ''I set a goal and then
go ahead with dogged determination till I have accomplished what I set
out to achieve.''
• He has the ability to take a risk and the ability to take a step forward.
193
• He would like to be known for creativity and for injecting and spreading
the 'I can' spirit.
players were left guessing how the numbers worked, he has a will to
win.
• “My father has always believed in focusing on one project till such time
that we secure it,” says G.M.Rao’s younger son. “This is why we have
managed to be successful in whatever we have taken up. Perseverance
and single-point focus is the clear message for all of us.”
• Passion for challenge has not only seen G.M. Rao scripting his own
story, but also changing his characters and goals to cope up with
changing scenarios.
• He strived to put the Indian industry on the global map and worked
diligently towards this goal until the last day of his life.
• Ask what he does, and he will tell you only that he works in hi-tech, just
like hundreds of thousands of other young people in the Valley.
• What really set Sabeer apart from the hundreds of entrepreneurs is the
gargantuan size of his imagination or dream.
• Food business is not just about selling but also taking care of quality
and the people associated with it, Sarath points out. And how does he
manage his team? “I ask them to write their dreams on a piece of paper
and advise them to think of developing themselves,” says Sarath.
• Have a long-term vision, and remember time is never lost for following
your passion.
• The lady invented a marketing style uniquely her own; she decided to
make the brand a personality-driven one, flying in to various cities to
lecture on herbals and Ayurveda, inaugurating Shahnaz franchises and
salons, and returning the same day.
• He performs silently and continues to let his works talk for them.
• Shamit faced every challenge that tried to hinder his progress with
inerrant determination.
198
• Shamit Khemka has a knack of playing the lead role in every activity
that he indulges himself in.
• To walk with the pace of time, and stay ahead of it, he garners
information by reading books and browsing through the net. He keeps
his eye on latest trends and styles and encourages every member of his
team to enhance their knowledge base.
• Like a true leader, he keeps his team aware of any impending challenge
and motivates them to achieve the newer height by conquering the
limits.
• Shashi Ruia imbibed the spirit of enterprise from his father who took
him along wherever he went to start a business.
199
• The story of great businesses in the history of world has not been
written by wealth but by innovation, enterprising attitude, skill and an
ability to see beyond the present. Shashi Ruia probably is one such
individual, who has written his own history by dint of his courage and
never-say-die attitude.
• Ruia has not only masterminded the group's business strategy but has
also consolidated a whole range of activities through backward and
forward integration.
• While most others prefer a hands-on approach, he is the man who does
the least himself, apart from strategic thinking or prioritizing and leaves
200
it to his team to find the best path to capture the objective. But is not
that leadership is all about.
• The bearded high tech entrepreneur nurtured HCL in his signature style
of decentralized management making it a billion dollar group with 100
offices worldwide. In the process, he created wealth for himself, his
associates and investors.
• In all these years, Nadar never lost sight of being a visionary. The
corporate restructuring he undertook over the years resulted in several
companies, each with a chosen professional head.
• DLF always aims for the very best from day one.
201
• Subhash Chandra Goyal was the first in India who sought to harness the
huge business potential of satellite television channels.
• It was Subhash Chandra’s vision that helped give birth to the satellite
TV industry in India and inspired others to follow suit.
• The company is the vision of a man who thinks he is the father of all his
employees.
• Subrata Roy believes he is the guardian of this family who has the right
to love and scold all members.
• The Sahara website says – “Our employees are not employees. They are
family members. All belong to Sahara and Sahara belongs to all.”
202
• Sunil Bharti Mittal was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify
the mobile telecom business as a major growth area and launched
services in India.
• ‘We are very fair to the people we work with (suppliers, buyers, staff).
We wanted to prove that even with meagre capital we could do bigger
things. Now a corporation, we are working to make it an institution.
There is no employee-owner situation here. Everybody is a co-owner
and now owns stock. It is a very enabling environment. There is no hire-
and-fire here’ he says.
• Dr. Swaminathan has proven that he is not only a brilliant scientist, but
a capable administrator as well.
• Lord Paul lives a very simple life despite being one of the richest people
in the UK.
• He is one of the very few people who are not money driven in their
cause but work round the clock to bring about a change for the common
man.
• Mallya is known for his myriad interests, his flashy flamboyant style of
leadership and his unorthodox style of management. His entrepreneurial
style, his trade acquisitions etc., reveal sharp business acumen.
• Under his dynamic leadership, the group has grown into a multinational
conglomerate of over sixty companies. During this process, UB
acquired several companies abroad.
207
SUGGESTIONS
(ii) Unutilized capacity of an industry is an index of its problems and all the
problems faced by industry leads to underutilization of installed
capacity. Power scarcity is the main reason for underutilization of
capacity. Every possible step should be taken to improve the power
condition of the state on priority basis.
(v) Unhealthy competition among the small units as well as large units
should be discouraged as far as marketing problems are concerned. The
state government needs to be active in this regard. As a sign of
encouragement to local entrepreneurs, government departments should
procure products produced by these entrepreneurs.
(vii) Both the central and state governments should give wide publicity so as
to reach the information to all the entrepreneurs about policies,
incentives, schemes, programmes, etc., relating to small scale industries.
(viii) As far as possible, in order to reduce the competition from the large
sector, the small scale industrial units should operate in the areas
reserved for them. Similarly, more number of items should be reserved
for the exclusive production of the small scale sector.
(ix) Law and order problems need to be tackled properly by the Government
so that there is a conducive atmosphere for the entrepreneurs to run their
businesses without any hindrance.
i) It is a common understanding that all who want bank loans are not
necessarily genuine entrepreneurs or businessmen. There are some who
want to get loan merely to divert it for non-productive purposes. It may
209
not be difficult for banks to identify such persons. But while doing so,
banks should not discourage genuine entrepreneurs.
ii) The financial agencies must treat loan seekers as customers and not
beggars.
iv) The commercial banks and financial agencies may establish more small
scale industrial specialized branches at least one in every district head
quarters to cater to the financial needs of small entrepreneurs.
vi) Design appropriate saving schemes suitable for the poor; these are
valued, and they are an important source of mobilising funds at rural
levels.
vii) Timely and adequate finance extending upto the operational cycle of
the activity must be available to the entrepreneurs.
ix) Banks need to re-think about their loan giving policies to the
entrepreneurs. Shortage of working capital is the main factor
responsible for slow commencement of an industrial unit. So, proper
handling of this problem is very important.
210
ii) The entrepreneurs should take proper training through the government
and non-governmental agencies before starting a unit; this enables the
entrepreneurs to protect their units from sickness.
vi) The spread of schooling has cut across the business of religion. None of
the entrepreneurial religions are placed in a disadvantageous position,
by comparison.
xi) Ambitions motivate men. It activates men, broaden their vision and
make the life more meaningful.
xii) Many of the entrepreneurs expect a lot from the state government and
other non-government agencies. But never expect its exact fulfillment.
xiv) For starting a venture, the availability of enough finance is the most
important factor. Without it, the idea to start business or venture will
always remain a simple wish.
xv) One should have some basic and essential managerial skills in the
functional areas like finance, production and marketing for entering into
industrial entrepreneurship.
xvi) 21-30 years' age group is the right time for starting an industry.
xviii) Labour should be given full opportunity of being trained. The problem
of absenteeism of labour needs to be looked into with a humane
approach. There should be employer-employee friendly relationship
inside the industrial unit.
212
xix) Entrepreneurs need to re-think about their banking habits. Banks are
here to help the entrepreneurs but it does not mean that these helps from
the banks are taken for granted. Timely repayment of bank loans is the
need of the hour.
xx) The small scale industrial units should maintain proper books of
accounts. Statutory obligation should be imposed on the units to
maintain and prepare their books of accounts by professional
accountant.
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WEBSITES
1. www.oneindia.com, Entrepreneurship
237
VITAE
PUBLICATION DETAILS
NATIONAL JOURNAL
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
NATIONAL CONFERENCES
1. 29th and 30th April 2011, Creating Indian Entrepreneurs – Thrills & Thorns,
National Conference on Developing a Modern Entrepreneurial Society,
Business School, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent University, Chennai.
4. 13th &14th August 2010, My days of research with Dr. MGR University,
National Conference on Academic Research, Department of Management
Studies, Dr. MGR University, Chennai.
10. 29th March 2007, Ancient Indian Advice for Modern Management,
National Seminar on Indian Ethos and Spiritual Values for Organisational
Management, Department of Management Administration, Annamalai
University, Chidambaram.
11. 8th March 2007, Employee Retention Strategies in the Changing New
Global Order, National Conference on Challenges to Globalization and
Strategies to Overcome them, Department of Management Studies, MNM
Jain Engineering College, Chennai.
240iii
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
4. 3rd & 4th April 2009, Global recession – Impact on Indian Human
Resources, International Conference on Transnational Business: Challenges
& Strategies, Department of Management Studies, Dr. MGR University,
Chennai.
6. 21st & 22nd September 2007, Exchange Rate Management Policy, Pros and
Cons to Indian Economy, International Conference on Global Business
Strategy in Competitive Environment, Sai Ram Engineering College,
Chennai.