While Maths and Science were being taught in class, this little boy craved to experiment and create rather than imitate. As he wrote his sums deligently, he dreamt of growing up and making a mark in free India as a businessman and contributing to the country's young economy.
He did acquire an engineering degree but, instead of seeking a job and marriage like most others his age, young Pradeep Kharkar also burnt the midnight oil to secure a diploma in Management from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute in Mumbai.
Confident Strides
The little boy of yesteryear is now in his 50s and CEO of Pune-based Rochi Engineers, which manufactures exhaust and emission control systems for the mining and construction industries. With an annual turnover of Rs 15 crore and an employee strength of 140, Kharkhar is expanding his company's global footprint from the US to Europe, Singapore and Russia. Post a joint venture with a global leader in the supply of diesel emission control products, Rochi has invested Rs 50 crore to expand its capacity and setting up a manufacturing and R&D unit.
Meeting His Match
They say when you want something really bad and seek it through honest means, the universe conspires to give you what you want. It did for Kharakar, when he met his match in Rohini Tipnis, daughter of Stayendra Tipnis, in the mid-70s.
Satyendra Tipnis was a director in the Department of Industries in Maharashtra and advising entrepreneurs on company licensing norms and the like. Although this was an arranged marriage, it was also a union of equals as Rohini, a mechanical engineer, harboured her own dreams of entrepreneurship.
Even before she was married, she was an integral part of the founding team of the family business, Rochi Engineers, then based in Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai. The company was then involved in metal fabrication for indigenous companies.
Kharkar, meanwhile, worked with Crompton Greaves, where he pulled off a near-miracle. He turned around the company's Nagpur unit, which was on the verge of closure due to labour issues and went on to increase its output four-fold.
A New Chapter
With new-found confidence, Kharkar joined his in-laws' business. When the husband-and-wife team seized the reins of Rochi Engineers, the country was on the brink of economic liberalisation and banks were far more open to offering loans to smaller companies.
Kharkar invested his life savings of Rs 2 lakh and secured term loans amounting to Rs 15 lakh, and moved Rochi Engineers to Pune to re-launch it in 1991. But they suffered a massive setback a few years later. "Our order books were filled mainly by Cummins, which suddenly acquired Nelson Industries in Stoughton. Since we had put all our eggs into one basket, we paid a heavy price," recalls Kharkar.
Instead of folding his cards, Kharkar picked up the pieces and went on a global client acquisition spree. His ambition was to add world-class products to the company's product profile and work to global standards.
Thanks to this steely will, Rochi now has tailor-made solutions for all its global clients and uses state-of-the-art technology that has considerably reduced the need to physically test its products.
What Lies Ahead
Kharkar's incredible acumen is matched only by his positive outlook. "Reduction of our carbon footprint as well as noise-reduction is a becoming a big concern worldwide, and European countries are taking exhaust and emission very seriously," he points out. He proudly says Rochi's exhaust products are Euro 5-complaint, the highest European emission standard, whereas the equivalent in India is Euro 4.
However, Kharkar believes it is only a matter of time before higher emission standards will be rolled out in India, and that's when he will take the next leap. "Already, exhaust and emission is no longer clubbed with the engineering divisions of large companies but is being carved out as a separate division."
The Legacy Continues
Pradeep and Rohini Kharkar have been good role models for their children and their sons and daughters-in-law are in charge of departments such as Development, Operations, Marketing and Human Resources. But Kharkar's old bugbear remains a potential challenge. "Pune is not as laidback as Nagpur once used to be. But the workers are easily excitable and can spell trouble," he says.
To pre-empt trouble, the Kharkars use an open-door policy and a one-on-one approach with workers, to do away with the politics of unions. Their workers believe they are stakeholders in the success of the company and are offered performance-based rewards. "We have gone to great lengths to assure our employees and labourers that they are our biggest assets and we are genuinely interested in not just their welfare but their professional growth as well," explains Kharkar.
Kharkar admits that entrepreneurship is not a bed of roses. Yet the satisfaction of having created something of his own and a legacy to boot is much more gratifying than he had imagined as a lad. To aspiring entrepreneurs, he says, "Stick to your guns. If you have a dream, persevere it to the end with honesty, and success will be yours."
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