Organization: Raunaq Group.
Achievement: He was one of the earliest entrepreneurs of independent India who was often known as “The Exporter” due to his inclination towards the export promotion of Indian industry. He also served as the president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Can you imagine a man with absolutely no money whatsoever going on to establish an empire worth over $525 million?
Well, that is exactly what Mr. Raunaq Singh did. This is the true story of a man who came to India as a refugee after the partition of India and started selling steel tubes, first on a bicycle and later from a small shop in Kolkata. Mr. Singh was an industrialist who took an early lead and built an empire from scratch.
That was a time when he could afford only a single paise a day for his meals, yet 40 years later he would go on to employ over 9,000 candidates directly and another 20,000 indirectly.
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 also held senior positions in the Exim Bank, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation and the Indo-German Consultative Group.
Raunaq Singh’s corporate journey from Lahore to New Delhi, first as a steel tube merchant, then as a steel tube manufacturer and finally as the founder of Apollo Tyres, has been the stuff of corporate folklore.
He started his corporate journey without a pedigree, higher education or money, essential ingredients for success in corporate India, making it possible for ordinary folks to dream big. He was among the first post-partition breed of businessmen who came to India after the creation of Pakistan with nothing to fall on.
Born on August 16,1922, at Daska in Pakistan, Raunaq Singh learnt the elementary lessons of business skills while being employed as a salesman of a steel pipes merchant in Lahore earning Rs 8 a month – a princely amount in those times. The seeds of entrepreneurship were planted when Raunaq Singh cashed in on an opportunity thrown up by the dearth of waterpipes in the areas around Lahore. The profits he, thus, earned were ploughed back in the form of setting up his own business in steel pipes.
Important Positions he Held
- He was president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Punjab and Haryana Chamber, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
- He was chairman of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, Engineering Export Promotion Council and various joint business councils.
- He was also a member of the executive board of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce for three years.
- The Apollo group of companies includes Bharat Gears, Raunaq International, Raunaq Automotive Components and Menarini Raunaq Pharma and has over 9,000 employees.
His son Kanwar Onkar Singh took over as the chairman of the Apollo Tyres when Mr. Raunaq Singh became chairman emeritus of the group.
Raunaq Singh died on September 30, 2002. On that day, India lost a charismatic first-generation entrepreneur.
