Khandekar - ONE STEP AT A TIME

HARI KISHAN PIPPAL HAD just received a loan of Rs 15,000 from Punjab National Bank (PNB) when his elder sister contacted him a day later. She needed to borrow Rs 2000 so her husband could visit Karoli, which has a temple dedicated to Kaila Devi, their family goddess. Hari Kishan responded, I dont really have the money. His sister asked him about the loan money, but Hari Kishan refused to give her a portion of it, saying that the money was for opening a business, not for a trip.

Hari Kishan had taken a loan from PNB for setting up a shoe manufacturing unitextended to him only because he was acquainted with the bank manager. When he used to work as a labourer at Jainson Auto Industries in Agra for a salary of Rs 80 per month, it was the same bank manager who had advised him to start something of his own. When Hari Kishan gathered enough courage to go meet him, the first thing he was asked was where he would set up his manufacturing unit. At the time, he didnt have any place other than his family home, and when the manager suggested that he take a room on rent, the idea filled him with doubt. He didnt take his initiative forward for two whole months, but eventually he gathered courage again, arranged for a room, returned to the bank and obtained the loan. For his family members, Hari Kishan had won the lotterythey did not understand the drive and resourcefulness it took to get the loan.

Hari Kishans sister had barely left after having been refused the money, when, in the evening, his elder brother showed up and informed him that it was the elders wish that there be a party. He wanted Hari Kishan to arrange for mutton and a bottle of alcohol, but he too was refused. They were so deluged with requests from their family that his wife Geeta said, Go and return the money to the bank tomorrow; we dont need this headache.

The next day, Hari Kishan left his family home. He kept his belongings at his in-laws place for a day, rented a room in the Gandhi Nagar locality of Agra and shifted his family there. Hari Kishan remembers that day in 1975 and says that if he hadnt left home, he wouldnt have been where he is now. Today, in Agra, his Peoples Group owns a hospital, a shoe export factory, a Honda dealership and a publication house. Their annual turnover is around Rs 10 crore.

Hari Kishan says that the Rs 15,000 bank loan changed his life. He never looked back after that. He ran from pillar to post to get an order for 10,000 pairs of shoes from the government-run State Trading Corporation of India Limitedthis order was for export purposes. In those days, foreign trade was not yet open and even shoes could be sold abroad only through a government enterprise. Hari Kishan worked day and night to complete the order on time.

The bank which had found it difficult to extend a loan of Rs 15,000 to him, increased his credit limit to Rs 3 lakh in a matter of months. Within three years, he had bought a place in the Jawahar Nagar locality of Agra, which he used as his residence-cum-workshop. Today, Peoples Export Private Limited manufactures 2.5 lakh pairs of shoes every year, which are sold in England, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. He says that there are many people in Agra who manufacture more pairs of shoes than he does, but he manufactures the most expensive onesHarrykson is the name of his brand.

It is a big thing to have ones own brand in the shoe business. Most big companies lend only their name to the shoes, but the manufacturing is usually done by someone else. After his initial success, Hari Kishan worked for Indias leading retailer and manufacturer of shoes, Bata, manufacturing their North Star brand of shoes. The company would give him the design and raw material, and Hari Kishan would complete the order. Bata was established in 1894 in Zln, Czech Republic. This company, which now has a presence in seventy countries, began its operations in India in 1932. Today, it sells 4.5 crore pairs of shoes and slippers every year.

When, in the 1990s, Bata decided to bring the well-known American brand Hush Puppies to India, it was Hari Kishan who got the order. The Hush Puppies team had come from the United States in search of a shoe manufacturer who fit their specifications. Hari Kishan had old relations with Bata, and the team came to inspect his factory and his product. It was around noon. The team had a look at the shoe and was not satisfied. But Hari Kishan was not one to give up easilyhe had observed the shoe size of John Best, the man heading the team, and three hours later, when the team reached their hotel after a visit to the Taj Mahal, Hari Kishan also arrived with a pair of shoes made especially for John. He requested Jaswant Singh, the Bata official, to arrange a very short meeting with them. John liked the shoe that had been made for him, and this is how the Hush Puppies order came to him.