I always feel that writing about business in India is a gold
mine. There is a tale to be told in every corner of every city. What is
interesting about Indian business structure is the interlinking with caste,
community or even religious groups. In this light, journalist Nikhil Inamdar’s
second book
Rokda: How Baniyas do
Business is something of a read.
Hee, the focus, we are told, is on how this enterprising
community – the Baniyas – has managed to not be restricted to the usual
business areas it is connected to. It has gone beyond what people expect them
to be prolific into. You get a small pitch of the community in the book’s
introduction where Inamdar speaks of the community’s origins and how he
approached the topic and the entrepreneurs regarding an interesting topic
without sounding too focused on the caste aspect. The book comes out as how
that particular individual has come into the said business and has managed to
reach the position he is in and the struggles.
Inamdar has picked up five brands and the names behind it
which have changed the game in many ways. While reading each of them, one finds
them to be quite distinct in the way they approach their work, entry into the
field of business, their method of looking at each & every detail of work,
tackling success & failures and so on.
You are introduced to Neeraj Gupta, the name behind Meru
Cabs which changed the scenario of private taxis in India. His story comes
across more as a tale of someone who did business more with accidents opportunities
and was a mix of luck, looking for the extra kick and smart choices. You are
allowed to visualise Gupta’s start as a member of a family which strived to set
up their small-time eateries in Mumbai. What made Gupta reach his present state
is a certain attitude of taking life as it comes but jumping on opportunities
which stared at his face. One of them is his response to a tender by
Maharashtra Govt to set up private radio cabs in Mumbai as an answer to bludgeoning
public transport. His method comes out as a trial and error one where one see
Gupta accepting mistakes and also help. Inamdar has a certain method of
allowing you to decide to see if Gupta’s methods of business are correct or
just acts of over-confidence.
You go over to the two powerhouses behind the renowned
cosmetic brand Emami, the two Radheshyams - Radheshyam Agarwal & Radheshyam
Goenka. They are an earlier generation Baniyas with ideologies and business
skills of a different generation. Though they met during school, Agarwal is the
brilliant brain with a ‘photogenic memory’. But Goenka was no less. What
Agarwal thought, Goenka was able to put into action with greater success. While
travelling with them in their various ventures, takeovers and moves, it is
their friendship which probably is the star in the whole journey. Here you come
across the brains and risk-taking factor which has made this community such a
business success.
The story of Snapdeal is the one which might attract the young
generation as almost every her young one has done a ‘deal’ via it. Here again,
a different kind of business mind comes through which is young, well-educated
and willing to take calculated risk. IIT pass-out with a well-paying job, Rohit
Bansal comes across the quintessential young well-educated Indian who prefers being one’s own master over
a well-paying job. Bansal, along with pal Kunal Bahl, established Snapdeal in
2010, but the build-up for it began from Bansal’s life in a small town,
Mahlout. His family’s small fair price shop depended on weather meant that he
was witness to ups and downs. A certain force to do well made him take to Delhi
on a scholarship where he met his best friend and future partner, Kunal. Inamdar
keeps the narration more upbeat, keeping in mind the subject of this tale and
the fact that the duo are the representative of today’s India. Even while doing
the nesaccary to set up Snapdeal, you see them struggling with making internet
selling concept work for the Indian market.
I personally felt that the fourth case study was the typical
one representing the Baniya community, just like Emami’s Radheshyams. RK Somany
of HSIL which owns the sanitation business leading company Hindware, comes from
a family which had slowly made its way up in diverse businesses in Calcutta,
including arms & ammunitions. As part of his elder brother idea of giving
each sibling a business to run independently, RK got into sanitation ware
business. A small spark to get the best in this business made way for RK to not
just travel abroad and learn the best of technology but also hone his own
business acumen. Inamdar has been successful in getting RK’s tough nut acumen
with his efforts to understand the market.
The last one is one which I would call both an oddity and
also intriguing. It is an oddity because the said case study is not the
run-of-the-mill business tycoon. V. K. Bansal of Bansal Classes probably
changed the game in India coaching capital, Kota, Rajasthan. VK’s journey
started small from Jhansi in a poor family, but sheer grit made him reach
engineering and pass with flying colours. A happy marriedlife in Kota changed
when he was diagonised with Biocitis or muscular dystrophy. But where there is
a will, there is a way. From one student, his success as a teacher grew into an
empire which exploded the coaching classes scene in Kota like no other. His
sheer bull spirit to achieve the best without compromise on his teaching or his
students overshadowed his personal life. His story comes out more as a personal
battle than business acumen.
Throughout the book, the success of the community as a whole
comes in parts. It comes via their own personal grit towards going into
business. Inamdar’s choice of entreprenuers is intruiging. Only Neeraj Gupta
comes from India’s financial capital, Mumbai. The ‘Emamiwalas’ and RK Somany come
from Kolkata, a city which owes it financial success to the Marwadi families
residing their for ages. The northerners here are the two Bansals – Rohit
Bansal and VK Bansal. The case studies are also interesting from the point that
none of the names come from establised Baniya families but have created their
own presence. Even second generation enterpreneur RK started from a scratch at
the sanitation business.
Inamdar’s method of narration is presenting facts without
taking sides or trying to blow things out of proportion. He starts with an
interesting annecdote or story of the said people. It allows you slowly get
introducing to the protagonist. The only thing which stuck me as a little
bother is his rather neglect (in my views) to speak of the Baniya connection in
a separate chapter with each case study.
With
Rokda: How
Baniyas do Business, Nikhil Inamdar tries to bring out the spirit of the
business community who probably define Indian economy and business in their own
unique way. One should pick for a light business reading, if one must.
Book Title: Rokda: How Baniyas do Business
Author: Nikhil Inamdar
Publisher: Random House India
Price: Rs 175 (Paperback)
Photo Credit: www.businesstoday.in
