THE PIONEER

Starting from scratch, he built the Escorts empire

The legend goes that Har Prasad Nanda came to Delhi from Lahore with only Rs 5,000 and two cars. And yet he chose to stay at the iconic luxury hotel, The Imperial, to revive his business contacts. And the rest, they say, is history. In January this year, Nikhil Nanda, managing director of Escorts Limited, grandson of late superstar Raj Kapoor and visionary H.P. Nanda, shared an emotional note on his feisty and ambitious late grandfather, H.P. Nanda, who, if alive, would have been 96. He called him ‘tomorrow’s man’, with a visionary and instinctive approach to decision-making.

From being virtually penniless to building Escorts as one of India’s leading trading houses, Nanda tapped into the need for India to be self-reliant in food and established Escorts Agricultural Machines Ltd to market tractors and farm implements in 1948. Automotive expert and author Murad Ali Baig, who worked with the company for 18 years, recounted an incident for a news report, in which he stated that when Escorts engaged Ricardo of England in 2012 to suggest improvements to its Rajdoot motorcycle, Ricardo reportedly said: “This is such a beautiful piece of engineering, please don’t change it.” As the economy opened up, Escorts decided to explore newer areas and sectors, but by this time H.P. Nanda had withdrawn from active business, following the death of his wife in 1990.

Nanda’s two sons focused on different areas of the business. Anil focused primarily on auto components while Rajan led Escorts into software and telecom. The brothers have since parted ways, but the iconic Escorts lives on as a flag-bearer of innovation.