The father and son duo of Onkar and Neeraj Kanwar are staking their firm’s future in Europe, the grazing ground of the biggest global brands
Back in 1994, Neeraj Kanwar honed his skills in the family’s tyre business on the streets of Piragarhi, on the outskirts of Delhi. Apollo Tyres, which till then mostly sold tyres for trucks and buses, had ventured into serving the two-wheeler segment. Apollo had just introduced a new brand called Black Cat for Bajaj Motors’ ubiquitous scooters. The younger son of Chairman Onkar Kanwar was asked to make the brand known to its customers. Neeraj was up to the task. Every time the traffic signal at Piragarhi turned red, Neeraj would run and change covers of the scooters’ spare tyre. The new cover would have the Black Cat visual on it, of a scooter driver about to skid but saved by two “black cat commandos.”
The initiative did not take off. Old timers believe that the brand could not survive by itself due to “the lack of focus on the mother brand.” The Gurgaon-based company never ventured into the two-wheelers segment again. But it has emerged as the second largest tyre manufacturer in India.
Getting Started
(This story appears in the 28 January, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)