Passion, determination, and willpower are three golden rules to success, and Havells is a firm believer in all. Havells was created with the vision to become a brand with a reputation for excellence, good governance, customer satisfaction, and treating all customers equally. The man behind this iconic brand is Qimat Rai Gupta, who paid Haveli Ram Gandhi Rs 700,000 in 1971 to purchase the brand name of the already-established company, Havells, and turned it into a million-dollar business and a must-have a favourite of the masses.
How Qimat Rai Gupta turned Havells into a successful business
Qimat Rai Gupta’s childhood was influenced by Indian quintessence and the Bhagwad Gita’s teachings. He was born in 1937 to a lower-middle-class family in Punjab, which was still undivided at the time.
He left his studies in Punjab in 1958 and relocated to New Delhi, where he established Guptaji & Company, an electrical trading business, with a capital of Rs 10,000 on Bhagirath Place, a wholesale market for electrical goods, as per Business Standard reports. This marked the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey as he opened a little electrical products store in Delhi’s Bhagirath Palace’s electrical market. He made financial investments to build top-notch manufacturing facilities all over India. The acquisition of a small electrical goods business in 1971 sparked a series of events that resulted in the establishment of the FMEG industry’s pioneering numerous trends.
His major break came in 1971 when he bought the Havells company. For Rs 700,000, Gupta acquired the Havells brand from Haveli Ram Gandhi, as per the Business Standard report. Contrary to popular belief, the name Havells was given to his switchgear company by Haveli Ram Gandhi, the grandfather of fashion designer Rohit Gandhi, when he founded it many years ago. He later sold the business to Gupta, one of his distributors. Gupta spearheaded the company to help it reach greater heights and never looked back after that. He expanded his business beyond switches to include cables, lighting, appliances, fans, and geysers.
Taking Havells forward
The chairman and managing director of Havells India Ltd. at present is Anil Rai Gupta. He began working for Havells in 1992, and with his father’s guidance, he advanced through the organisation. Anil oversaw the 2007 purchase of the German lighting systems manufacturer Sylvania and played a key role in the company’s recovery during the 2008 financial crisis. He received his MBA from Wake Forest University in North Carolina, the United States, and studied economics at Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi.
Havells India’s Qimat Rai Gupta passed away at the age of 77 from a cardiac attack, he was worth approximately $2 billion at the time of his death as per Business Standard.
