Onkar Kanwar is a big name in India for making tires. He helped start Apollo Tyres, a very famous tire company in India. Right now, Apollo Tyres is worth more than Rs 33000 crore!
People mostly know Onkar Kanwar as the boss of Apollo Tyres, but not everyone knows how hard he worked to make the business successful.
Onkar Kanwar is the oldest son of Raunaq Singh, who helped start Apollo Tyres. Onkar was born in Sialkot, which is now in Pakistan. His family moved to India during the partition.
Onkar Kanwar went to the US for his studies while his father managed a successful pipe business in India. After doing different jobs in the US, Onkar came back to India in 1964 and joined his family’s business. Later on, they decided to start making tires.
In the beginning, Apollo Tires did okay, but things got tough during an emergency period. At that time, Onkar Kanwar’s father wanted to sell the company for just Re 1.
But Onkar didn’t give up. He took charge and saved the company from big problems. He fought hard against tough competition, unhappy workers, and government rules. Because of his efforts, Apollo Tyers is now worth Rs 33000 crore!
Onkar Kanwar made Apollo Tyres grow from a small Indian company with one factory to a big company with seven factories all around the world. Besides making tyres, Kanwar also owns a special hospital called Artemis in northern India.
He was the boss of a big Indian business group for a year. He was also the head of the BRICS Business Council, in India, which started during a meeting in South Africa.
