The Kirloskar Saga

While Forbes might just be a magazine for a few of us, topping the influential list chart might be a dream for many. While liking an image where a person is enjoying his vacation in the Maldives, some of us might feel that the guy is lucky, but only the intelligent ones can sense the amount of struggle that the guy went through to enjoy the sun-tanning on a beach chair.

A stamp by the Government of India in honour of Laxmanrao Kirloskar; Source: Wikimedia Commons

Rags to Riches. What does it exactly signify? A person wearing a burlap sack “suddenly” starts wearing an Armani suit. While this answer might be correct, the word “suddenly” crushes the entire meaning of it. Nothing in this world happens suddenly. It takes more time and patience than anybody can ever imagine. A kid collecting trash with no shoes to cover his feet “might” become a billionaire. Yet again, the word “might” might confuse us.

A kid driving a Tanga in Delhi to earn a living has become the founder of MDH spices, a company worth over 500 crores. Well, this did happen in the case of Dharampal Gulati but it might not happen in the case of the kid collecting garbage. It is because every person who wears a burlap sack doesn’t necessarily wear an Armani suit when he grows up.

While the majority of people coming from poor backgrounds made a huge name in the world of money and finance, it did not happen suddenly. It is the hunger for success, patience for profits, coping strategy for losses, and push for fulfilling the dreams that made them rich and successful.

One such man hailing from the family of Pandits made it to the top by taking a road he was never expected to take. With dreams and aspirations that were quite broad as compared to those narrow streets of Belgaum, here started the story of Laxmanrao Kirloskar.

Born in a small village of Belgaum district in the house of a Vedant Pandit, the society expected him to wear gerua vastra and follow the footsteps of his father. Laxman had different plans. Attracted to machines and empty canvases, his life revolved around these two objects. Against his father’s wishes and financial support from his elder brother, Rao enrolled himself in JJ School of Art in Bombay. Everything shattered when he was diagnosed with colour-blindness.

Quitting his dream after two years, Laxman decided to follow his passion for machines. While colours did betray him, black and white were the only colours that excited him. With a pencil and paper in his hand, Rao went on to the field of mechanical drawing. Impressed by his drawing skills, Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute hired him as an Assistant Teacher of Mechanical Drawing on a salary of Rs. 45 per month.

Though his life was going on track, something was missing. Rao realised that he could earn more money by starting something of his own. In the 1890s, he decided to start the business of a bicycle dealership wherein he would buy bicycles from Bombay and send them to his brother in Belgaum where he would sell them. A true businessman as he was, he would sell the bicycles at the rate of Rs. 700 to 1000 and would also charge Rs. 15 for teaching how to ride it.

After a profitable business of selling bicycles, Kirloskar decided to make iron ploughs for the ease of the farmers. But the belief that iron ploughs would destroy the quality of soil and make it infertile made it difficult for the Kirloskar brother to sell their products. Somehow, they convinced the farmers and yet again the sales rose dramatically.

The Kirloskar Saga began in 1910 when the situation of leaving his hometown arose. When the Municipality of Belgaum ordered them to vacate their residence, the Ruler of Aundh came to their rescue and offered them a 32-acre land by the side of a renowned railway station called Kundal Road. Full of cacti and cobras roaming freely assuming the land to be their territory, Rao and his elder brother transformed it into a full-fledged village.

Employing people from all spheres of life, the barren land was transformed into India’s first industrial township and was named Kirloskravadi. An excellent businessman as he was, Laxman was no less than a social reformer and trusted the goodness of man. An unsuccessful student became a manager and treasurer, a school drop-out became an engineer, convicted dacoits became trusted guards and whatnot. His factory became a hub house of uniqueness.

From a small cycle shop in Belgaum, today Kirloskar Brothers are a 1.20 billion US dollars engineering conglomerate. Their specialization ranges from power, construction, agriculture, mining, environment protection, and many more.

This was Laxmanrao’s rags to riches story. It was not sudden. A process of constant failures and rejections finally made him successful. Though Kirloskar Brothers is now an international company, its roots are well emersed in those narrow streets of Belgaum.