Unstoppable Read online

  SONU BHASIN

  UNSTOPPABLE

  Kuldip Singh Dhingra and The Rise of Berger Paints

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Contents

  Introduction: How Unstoppable Came About

  1984

  1.‘I Will Kill Anyone Who Tries to Harm Me’

  1957–61

  2.‘Your Father Is Dead’

  3.‘Kismat Bhi Kya Cheez Hai!’

  ‘DESTINY IS INEXPLICABLE’

  4.Taking Charge at Age Ten

  5.Back to Our Roots

  Up to 1957

  6.‘We Had More Than One Hundred Properties in Amritsar’

  7.‘London Badi Manhoos Jageh Hai’

  ‘LONDON IS A CURSED PLACE’

  1961–64

  8.‘Our Life Changed in Amritsar’

  9.‘High School Is Good Enough for a Shopkeeper’

  1964–67

  10.‘I Was the King of the College’

  11.‘He Would Not Lose Even an Argument’

  12.‘Our Factory Was More of a Shed’

  Six Months in 1967

  13.‘Poori Umar Te Dukaan Par Hi Baithna Hai, Thodha Time Hor De Do’

  ‘I HAVE TO SIT AT THE SHOP FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. GIVE ME SOME TIME’

  14.‘Those Girls Fought Over Me’

  15.‘There Is a Maharaja in Our House’

  16.‘We Asked the Policeman in Paris How to Go to India’

  1967–70

  17.‘I Was a Shopkeeper in Amritsar’

  18.‘Johny Was Such an Ugly Child . . . Ugh!’

  19.‘Girls Would Go to Hall Bazaar to Catch a Glimpse of Kuldip Bhapa’

  1970–78

  20.‘I Was Running a Small-Scale Factory Unit in Golf Links’

  21.‘We Got Married and the War Broke Out!’

  22.‘We Were Angry. How Dare They Demand Our Heritage?’

  23.‘Maal Nahin, Kuldip Ki Personality Bikti Hai’

  ‘KULDIP SELLS HIS PERSONALITY, NOT HIS MATERIAL’

  24.‘Vinu Ne Haan Kar Ditti Hai’

  ‘VINU HAS SAID YES’

  1978–84

  25.‘Papa Has Saved My Life At Least Three Times’

  26.‘Kuldip, Tu Bilkul Bewakoof Hai. Dafa Ho Jaa Yahan Se’

  ‘YOU ARE AN IDIOT, KULDIP. GET OUT OF HERE’

  27.‘I Knew Panic Would Not Lead Me Anywhere’

  28.‘I Came Back without a Single Order from Moscow’

  29.‘Our Guns Were Loaded and We Were Prepared for Any Eventuality’

  1984–90

  30.‘No One Ever Asked Me for a Bribe in Russia’

  31.‘I Gave the Russians the 2 Per Cent Bonus Scheme!’

  32.‘Russia Became the Favourite Child; Rajdoot Paints Became the Neglected One’

  33.‘Yeh UK Paints Kithon Aa Gaya Hai Exports Karne?’

  ‘WHERE HAS THIS UK PAINTS COME FROM?’

  34.‘We Were Given a Diplomatic Status in Moscow’

  35.‘Russian Export Business? It Is Only So-So’

  36.‘The Dalai Lama Told Papa Not to Deal in Arms’

  1990

  37.‘Berger Paints Is Being Sold and I Want to Buy It’

  38.‘Tussi Tan Dukaandar Ho, Company Kaise Sambhaaloge?’

  ‘YOU GUYS ARE SHOPKEEPERS. HOW WILL YOU MANAGE A COMPANY?’

  1990–92

  39.‘The BMW Came in the Dowry’

  40.‘Mr Dhingra Is a Super Salesman. He Sold Me the Job’

  41.‘The Root of All Acrimony in a Large Family Is Money’

  The 1990s

  42.‘I Did Not Know How to Deal with Listed Companies and Boards’

  43.‘I Wanted to Study More, Not Get Married!’

  44.‘Sapno Ke Rang, Bane Sang Sang’

  ‘YOU CAN MAKE THE COLOURS OF YOUR DREAMS YOURSELF’

  2000 Onwards

  45.‘Kuldip Is the Most Relentless Person I Have Met in My Life’

  46.‘Berger Has Been Turned Around with Almost the Same Team Kuldip Inherited’

  47.‘You Can Take Mr Dhingra Out of Amritsar but You Can’t Take Amritsar Out of Mr Dhingra’

  48.‘Even Though I Was Working for Him, Kuldipji Gave Me So Much Respect’

  Looking Back and Looking Ahead

  49.Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi

  LIFE IS LIKE AN EXPRESS TRAIN

  Footnote

  3. ‘Kismat Bhi Kya Cheez Hai!’

  Bibliography

  Acknowledgements

  Follow Penguin

  Copyright

  Advance Praise for the Book

  ‘The narrative of this biography is gripping, akin to a thriller. From start to finish, it is a story that captures all the hues of the truly “colourful” journey of Kuldip Dhingra. The transformational impact that this entrepreneurial businessman had on Berger Paints, with his instinctive style, is a story to cherish for all time’—Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG Enterprises

  ‘A refreshingly honest tale of what it takes to build a billion-dollar business—making mistakes and taking big risks. This is the story of one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs and leaders, candidly told and well captured. An inspiring read for those who set out to build and reshape the companies of the future’—Naina Lal Kidwai, chairman, Advent Private Equity, India Advisory Board

  ‘A subtle nuanced story of what it takes to build a large business in India, but more importantly, how to ensure to stay at the top . . . full of riveting human stories of the founder who has not shared this with anyone before’—Amit Burman, vice chairman, Dabur

  Praise for The Inheritors

  ‘Bhasin has deftly used her past expertise to create an editorial platform dedicated to family-owned businesses. Her writing style isn’t facile or superficial but true to complexities of family politics across successive generations’—Hindustan Times

  ‘This is a must-read book for every aspiring entrepreneur and there is a lot to learn from these pages. It is like a lesson in business management told through interviews and anecdotes. A well-compiled book!’—New Asian Writing

  ‘The author has brought alive the stories with her powerful writing style. It is descriptive and interesting. The whole narrative runs smoothly in front of our eyes as they roll on the flowing words. The coherence keeps the reader engaged’—Bookish Fame

  ‘The book [The Inheritors] is an easy read and the narrative is interesting for the most part, and would engage the layperson as well. The interviews are detailed, insightful and reveal many unknown aspects of the family, the business, successes, failures and strategies. It is easy to feel that the protagonists are sharing their fears and their deepest, heartfelt emotions with the readers’—Business Standard

  To the two men in my life—Juggi and Karan. You guys are my anchors in the choppy waters of life

  Introduction

  How Unstoppable Came About

  I was a bit flustered and anxious. I had a meeting with Kuldip Singh Dhingra, chairman of Berger Paints, the next day. But I had found nothing during my research on the Internet that would have helped me prepare for the meeting. All I had found were a few articles from business magazines that had profiled the company and had included the owners as part of it; some quotes from the Dhingras in articles about their factories and business. I could find no photographs of the family and nothing about Kuldip Dhingra personally. I was anxious that I would go into the meeting almost blind.

  This scheduled meeting was for my earlier book—The Inheritors—also published by Penguin Random House. I wanted to include in my book the story of Kuldip Dhingra and his brother, Gurbachan, as the inheritors of their paint business and had thus sought a meeting.

  My first meeting with Kuldip Dhingra, scheduled for an hour, stretched to well over double that time. I found him an extremely o
pen person who was willing to share details about his business and his personal life without any qualms. He spoke in a crisp voice, his conversation liberally peppered with Punjabi, about himself and his family. I expressed my surprise at the openness of the conversation and asked, ‘Why have you not spoken about your history and your story to anyone till now?’

  ‘No one has asked me these questions till now,’ came the pat reply. Simple as that!

  Kuldip and Gurbachan Dhingra both opened their hearts for the readers of their story in The Inheritors. My editor, Lohit Jagwani, at Penguin found the story as fascinating as I did. Both of us knew that, even at 16,000 words, the story was constrained by being just one chapter in a collection of stories.

  ‘Penguin would like to do a full biography of Kuldip Dhingra. Can you check with him about his availability?’ Lohit called up one day. I did check and Kuldip Dhingra did agree and thus Unstoppable was born.

  ‘Having been almost a recluse and keeping away from the public limelight, other than work, why are you opening yourself up now?’ I asked Kuldip during one of my conversations. He had spent the larger part of the hour talking about a period of his life which was full of contradictions and challenges. ‘Why are you now opening yourself completely for everyone to read?’ I asked again.

  ‘It is because of the future generations,’ said Kuldip seriously. He is a believer of legacy and had realised that no one outside his family knew of their story. Kuldip wanted to tell his story, the story of his father, his grandfather, his family and the business, so that the inheritors of any legacy, not only his, would learn from it. ‘I want the future generations, not only mine but all others too, to know how much of hard work is really required to become successful and then stay successful,’ said Kuldip seriously.

  One quality of Kuldip is that he may take some time to decide on a course of action but once he does, there is no stopping him. Having decided that he will go down memory lane and walk and talk through the various phases of his life, he was indeed unstoppable.

  Kuldip made time on Sundays, on other holidays, in the mornings and in the evenings to tell his story to me. Not one scheduled meeting was cancelled and not once was he late even by five minutes for our meetings. He was open in his conversations and encouraged others to be open as well.

  The following pages will tell you the story of Kuldip Singh Dhingra—the person. I have kept my role as a narrator and have refrained from commenting on the events, people or actions. Further, I have focused on the ‘human story’ and have kept away from the financials. Berger Paints is a listed company and the details of its growth, its products and its financial statements are available to anyone who may want to know more. I did not see merit in repeating financial figures that are in the public domain. I have chosen to focus on the person instead.

  My work on Unstoppable included meeting and talking to a cross section of people who know Kuldip. These include the immediate family, the extended family, other relatives, friends, business associates and employees. Each of the people I spoke with, as part of my research for Unstoppable, was keen to share his/her perspective of Kuldip Dhingra and had his/her own insights into what makes the man. They all had their memories, sometimes vivid at other times dimming a bit, about Kuldip and the years gone by. However, the common thread in all their conversations with me was the fact that they all had strong views about Kuldip. It was evident that, though happy at the success of Kuldip Dhingra, some of them were still incredulous at the level of success achieved by him! The memories, tucked away in their memory banks, came out tumbling fast as they were withdrawn with much speed and enthusiasm. I got used to my meetings shooting way past the scheduled time with each interviewee!

  My meetings with Kuldip too overran their scheduled time. He had no constraints when he spoke about himself or others. In the many, many hours that I spent with him I found him totally honest in his conversations. He did not mince his words when it came to himself. He spoke openly about his own shortcomings and was quite unapologetic about them. He may have been a bit more circumspect when he spoke of others though. ‘Unno bura lag jayega. Ki fayeda? [They will feel bad. What’s the point?]’ was his explanation each time.

  I was also struck, each time I met him, by the almost childlike quality of curiosity and naivety that he was not afraid to display as he talked of his family, his friends, his garden and his life.

  However, there was no naivety nor any childlike emotions when it came to his business. As he spoke about business through the ages—when he was a shopkeeper or an exporter or as the chairman of Berger Paints—there was a steeliness in his voice and deep intent in his eyes. Business is his life, he lives for his business and will not let anyone or anything come in the way. An outgoing and gregarious person at most times, and a generous host at all times, he is paradoxically a person who likes to spend his free time away from people. ‘I only spend time with people who are of use to me. I don’t have time to waste on frivolous matters,’ he admitted candidly.

  Unstoppable is the story of Kuldip Dhingra, an entrepreneur who is fiercely competitive and intensely passionate—about life, about family and the paints industry. Unstoppable is also about the spirit of entrepreneurship and the never-say-die attitude that is the hallmark of any successful businessman, especially a family business owner.

  As India moves purposefully to become the fifth largest economy of the world, it is the family businesses that will be key drivers of the incremental growth. Regrettably, the relentless hard work of the family business owners often gets eclipsed by the expansive lifestyles led by them. Unstoppable is an attempt to go behind this larger-than-life world of successful family business owners to focus on the sheer determination and grit that defines them. Unstoppable, through the story of Kuldip Dhingra and his family, also brings to attention the place of family values and relationships in families, especially in a family business.

  However, at the end, Unstoppable is the story of a man who, even today, lives the old saying: ‘It takes decades of sweat and toil to become an overnight success.’

  1984

  ‘Kuldip has a sharp mind and is ruthless when it comes to business’—Bishan Singh Bedi, ex-captain, Indian Cricket Team, and a friend of Kuldip Dhingra.

  One

  ‘I Will Kill Anyone Who Tries to Harm Me’

  ‘The mob was at the door but I refused to run away,’ said Kuldip Dhingra.

  It was 1 November 1984 and Delhi was under siege. Indira Gandhi had been assassinated the day before by her bodyguards. As news of her death spread, the shock of her killing was burdened by another one. Mobs were looting and vandalizing business establishments owned by Sikhs in Delhi.

  By morning, it was clear that Sikhs were not safe in Delhi. Plunder had given way to killing by organized mobs. Sikhs were targeted in their own homes, pulled out and attacked by frenzied hordes of people. Some neighbours sheltered Sikhs and protected them from the mob; others proactively pointed to and guided mob leaders towards Sikhs in their neighbourhoods. Delhi was engulfed in thick, black smoke billowing up to the sky as if it too wanted to escape the massacre and the fury of the mob below.

  ‘We had our home in New Friends Colony at that time,’ continued Kuldip. His younger brother, Gurbachan, and his family were in a house a couple of streets away in the same colony. Jaspal Sawhney, a close friend, also stayed in the neighbourhood.

  New Friends Colony was an upmarket neighbourhood then and remains one today. Large industrialists and business families, including that of Charanjit Singh, a member of Parliament and owner of Campa Cola and the Guptas of S. Chand & Co. had their family homes there.

  ‘We got the news that morning that mobs were coming to our colony,’ said Kuldip. After the incredulity of the news wore down, Gurbachan and he agreed to send their families to safety. ‘But I refused to run away. How could I? This was my home and how dare anyone come and harm it?’ said Kuldip.

  Kuldip has piercing eyes. His eyes got even more intent as he spoke to
me. He looked at me intensely, but I knew that he could not see me. His eyes bore deep, but he was watching a film reel of 1984. That day was streaming in his mind and it was that afternoon that his eyes were seeing. I did not break eye contact with him as I did not want him to stop seeing the film in his mind as he spoke. Kuldip’s neighbour from across the street came to him and offered refuge in his own house. Rajkumar, one of the first employees of Rajdoot Paints, Kuldip’s company, had reached the Dhingra home by then. He had also asked his boss to leave and go to the neighbours’ house.

  Kuldip had refused point-blank. He did not want to endanger the family of his neighbour as the news they were getting was even more chilling. The mobs were also targeting neighbours and people who were hiding Sikhs. Kuldip did not want to put anyone else’s life or property in danger.

  ‘But the main thing was that it was my house, my home, my family and my property. How could anyone come and harm even one little part of it? It was my duty to protect it,’ Kuldip said with eyes shining with fury.

  Those were the days of landline phones. Cellphones had still not arrived. Kuldip, Gurbachan and Jaspal updated each other periodically as news reached them. With Kuldip refusing to leave his home, Gurbachan and Jaspal got ready to face the mob. ‘I know it was foolhardy but passions were running very deep in me at that time,’ said Kuldip. All three had licensed guns and revolvers which had been used for target practice at the firing range. They pulled out their arms and got ready to protect themselves.

  ‘We kept getting the news: “the mobs are at the gate”; “the mobs are moving in this lane”; “the mobs are moving towards the next lane,”’ Kuldip remembered, his eyes boring into mine but seeing a body of people, amoeba-like, moving with canisters of petrol and knives and iron rods. ‘We had told our neighbours and others that we were prepared to die but not before we had killed some of the attackers as well,’ said Kuldip softly but in a chilling voice.