7/31/2019 Meeting Onkar Kanwar and his son Neeraj in New Delhi

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Meeng Onkar Kanwar and his son Neeraj

in New Delhi

2012 CoolBrands Around the World in 80 Brands

7/31/2019 Meeting Onkar Kanwar and his son Neeraj in New Delhi

2/2

That is, if we make it in me for the meeng. How long do you think it will take to the Taj Mahal

Hotel? I ask the driver again. Our meeng is in 10 minutes.

The driver stops the car and looks back over his shoulder. That means you will be on me, sir, he

says, poinng out of the right side window. The Taj Mahal Hotel is just here.

We land at New Delhi airport in the early aernoon. The temperature is already approaching 35

degrees, but it feels kind of comfy. New Delhi is the current seat of government in India and isemerging on the global stage as a top city. There is a lot of acvity at the airport and I have the

impression that you can feel the buzz of the growing economy.

We are here at the same me as the annual BRICS summit, a conference aended by the heads of

government of the ve member states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These countries

are in a similar stage of economic development and the ve countries combined account for more

than a quarter of the worlds land area and more than 40% of the worlds populaon.

We exit the terminal building and hail a taxi. Please take us to the Taj Mahal Hotel, I say. The taxidriver shakes his head from side to side but I cant tell if its a yes or a no. We decide to get in the

car anyway.

Goldman Sachs has argued that by 2050 the combined BRICS economy could eclipse the rest of

the worlds economies. India has already entered the top 10 of the largest economies in the world

and has shown a huge growth rate over the last decade. This is primarily due to an increase in the

number of middle-class consumers and a large labour force.

The taxi takes the road to Gurgaon in the direcon of its hugely popular shopping malls. The trac

is geng denser and the taxi gets stuck between trucks and buses. Were kind of in a hurry, I say

to the driver. He swivels his head again, without answering.

But its not only an increase in size of the consumer middle-class or a large labour force, I say to

Anouk. There are also some intelligent entrepreneurs pushing the Indian economy upwards. What

Azim Premji did in the IT sector or Mial in the steel industry certainly adds to Indias gross

domesc product. And then of course there is the Tata group, Anouk adds.

The taxi exits the main road, turns le, then right and then le again and we see New Delhi passing

by from our car windows.

Is it sll far, the Taj Mahal Hotel? I ask the driver. We have a meeng with Mr. Onkar Kanwar and

his son Neeraj, I tell the driver, trying to convince him of the importance of the meeng, from

Apollo Tyres. The driver makes his signature head movement again in answer. Is that a yes or a

no? I whisper to Anouk. I sit back and look outside.

Mr. Onkar Kanwar has been the Chairman of Apollo Tyres since the ninees and is the chief

architect of the companys vision. His son Neeraj Kanwar now holds the reigns of this $2.5 billion

company and is leading it into the global arena. Were meeng them at the Taj Mahal Hotel to talk

about the worldwide expansion of the Apollo brand.

2012 CoolBrands Around the World in 80 Brands