C. R. Bondre: the person!

C. R. Bondre with his wife Kunda Bondre
at the Vitthal Mandir in Pandharpur

So far on this blog, I have translated, edited and presented (along with some commentary wherever required) the interesting experiences of my grandfather, Mr. C. R. Bondre or Bapusaheb in developing and building up the exports of Kirloskar Oil Engines and creating a reputation of Indian made engineering products abroad. The extremely engrossing tales of his travels, struggles, sustained efforts, his successes and failures, highs and lows, trials and tribulations of those early years and primitive stages of the Indian manufacturing industry and the near zero presence of Indian engineering goods in the overseas market have been mostly written by him in Marathi, in an article series 'Kelyane Hoat Ahe Re' (Only when we do, we achieve!) published in 1991. His success story is unparalleled and it has been very satisfying for me to bring before the readers, the present generation, the corporate world and the Management educators, the real-life stories which actually have the calibre of being used as cases in Management curricula. Having said this, for me he was a grandfather first, a legendary export expert later! As a child, I knew little of his remarkable path-breaking efforts and his illustrious career as the pioneer of Indian engineering exports. For me and my elder brother, he was our Bapu!

C. R. Bondre presenting an impromptu musical rendition at a
social gathering

We of course knew he was an important figure in the corporate world of those days and even after retirement,  people  used  to come home to seek his advice on business issues. He was also invited to be on the Board of Directors of many reputed companies post-retirement. As a person, he was warm and magnanimous and had a great sense of humour. An avid reader, he took keen interest in a variety of subjects, often very different from his own area of expertise. Right from Philosophy to History, to autobiographies of successful people from various fields, his realm was vast. He was also a music aficionado and used to make it a point to attend concerts whenever possible. Although not formally trained in music, he could still dish out some melodious numbers on demand! He had a rare collection of classical music, instrumental and vocal, of some of the greatest maestros  that the country has ever produced, first as LP records, then as audio cassettes. That collection is his sweet memory that stays with us even today. However, as a grandfather, at times he was as intimidating as he was affectionate, mainly because of the discipline that he followed and expected others to follow as well!

C. R. Bondre with his wife, performing the
Diwali Laxmi Pooja at Kirloskar Oil Engines in 1976

Dressing well was one of his virtues, much like the old Shakespearean maxim of 'the apparel oft proclaims the man!' Outside the house, he used to always be in his trademark business suits, and at home, even as a retired person he was always impeccably dressed in crisp white kurta-pyjamas. Often, people would come unannounced to see him, but never did it happen that he had to change or tidy up his appearance before meeting them, such was his exemplary neatness and garb! His favourite Eau De Cologne adorned his graceful presence wherever he went. He always wore an HMT watch, as he felt that his job was to sell Indian made engines in the foreign market, and convince the foreign buyer of the efficacy of Indian made goods, and hence everything about him should be quintessentially Indian. If he himself wore an imported watch, he felt he would have no moral right to ask foreigners to buy Indian made engines. Similarly whenever and wherever possible, he preferred to travel by Air India. According to him, in those early years of independence when people abroad did not even know that Indians could manufacture engineering products and still believed that we were a country only of elephants and snake charmers, this served as a befitting example that emerging India was much different than what they thought!

It was after I started working in the Business Management Education field as an Economics faculty, that I started truly understanding the magnitude of his trailblazing work in pioneering the cause of Indian engineering exports. Very often, people in this field like Professors and Directors of B-Schools, CEOs of the corporate world, on knowing my name, used to ask me if I was related him. With my study of Economics, the economy of India in those early times, the Five Year Plans, International Economics and Trade, and later my study of Business Management, I could better relate with the humongous feat my grandfather had achieved in his lifetime. 

Niryat-Maharshi Shri C. R. Bondre Path

In due recognition of his pioneering work in Indian engineering exports, the Pune Municipal Corporation decided to name a byroad in Pune after Mr. C. R. Bondre to commemorate his birth centenary. He has left a legacy of hardwork, persistence, initiative and patience for all of us to follow. I hope his 'footprints on the sands of time' will continue to encourage coming generations with his inspiring life which stands as an example for us, and many more enterprising men and women to walk on hitherto untrodden paths and achieve the impossible! Very apt was the title of his article series which I have translated and presented on this blog because truly, we achieve something, only when we get up and do it no matter what the obstacles, and do, we must!

Tit-Bits: The highs, the lows and some lighter moments!

C. R. Bondre 

Mr. C. R. Bondre, my revered grandfather, led a rich life in terms of good experiences, adventures, trials and tribulations, successes and failures, on his journey to pioneer the cause of Indian engineering exports. In all the previous articles in this blog, I have translated and shared the accounts of his expeditions, his unending efforts and hardwork in quest of foreign markets and distributors for the Kirloskar engines. In this article, I share some tit-bits from his vast sea of experiences, penned by him in his much celebrated article series 'Kelyane Hoat Ahe Re' (Only when we do, we achieve!) published in MCCIA's Sampada way back in 1991. Detailed chronicles of his struggles to penetrate foreign markets at a time when India was grappling to find her feet just after independence, his endeavours to find foreign distributors for Indian made machinery at a time when Indian exports were restricted to agricultural goods, textiles, and raw materials, and his wonderful and lasting association with the legendary Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, have been already shared in the previous posts on this blog: C. R. Bondre: Memoirs. This articles shares simple tales of struggle, vigour, success and failure as well as some lighter moments!

So here we go...

The bold decision of engaging two jobless youths in Cyprus

"My search for distributors overseas, once took me to Nicosia, Cyprus. I walked through the machinery market there for two whole days, trying to locate suitable persons or firms, which could be potential distributors of our Kirloskar engines', describes Mr. C. R. Bondre or Bapusaheb, as he was popularly known, "but no one there was willing to take up our distributorship, and this was very disappointing for me. On the third day, I was scheduled to fly to Cairo in the evening. Meanwhile, I had happened to get a new reference of a company, and so that day, in the morning, asking for directions, I entered an electrician's shop. The shop was big, and the owner elderly. I told him about myself, about the Kirloskar company, our engines, and the fact that I was in their country in search of distributors for our engines. 'That company's reputation is not good', the man told me, 'instead, I have a suggestion. I have two sons-in-law, who are young, fit and goodlooking! But both of them do nothing and simply while away their time. Why don't you appoint them as your distributors?' For a moment, I thought whether it would be wise to appoint two jobless and inexperienced youths! 'Where are they? Call them here!', I said to the old man, my mind having several different thoughts at the same time. Immediately, two young, fit, and sharp looking youths came and stood before me, one was called Andrew, the other, Kiray Cross. One glance at them, and I was convinced they would do a good job, although I had no logical evidence to support this claim. 'Okay', I said to the old man, 'I will appoint them as distributors, but you will take the responsibility of the business for some days.' After that, the necessary paperwork was done and then Kiray Cross came to India for training in our factory for six months. We also sent him to our distributors in Solapur, for further training. When he returned to Cyprus after six months, a board of 'A. P. Loizu and Company: Kirloskar Distributors' adorned the small electrician's shop in Cyprus. In spite of being very near Europe geographically, A. P. Loizu and Company did a great job of selling Kirloskar engines, while facing tough competition from British and German made engines", concludes Bapusaheb with a feeling of great contentment.

Fortune, as they say, surely favours the brave; and wherever there is a will there is always a way!

***

In the Land of the Yankees

"It was in 1960", writes Mr. Bondre nostalgically, "that I was travelling to the U.S. for the first time. I had read a lot about this great country and was looking forward to visiting it. The plane landed at the LaGuardia Airport in New York, from where I had to take a connecting flight to Washington D. C. My work was mainly in these two cities, Washington and Columbus. I had meetings in the office of the American Aid Foundation, where I had to discuss the proposal of including Indian engineering goods in the 'Aid' project for supporting the less developed countries. I had a meeting with the officers of the American Aid Authority. We had made two demands, that engineering goods manufactured in developing countries for use in agriculture, should get a special status; and that there should be restraints on the developed nations for exporting such goods under the 'Aid' programme to the developing nations. Both these demands were accepted, and soon 19 developed countries officially restricted exports of primary engineering goods to the developing countries, and Kirloskar and other Indian manufacturers had surging sales in countries like South Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia."

"On finishing my work at Washington D. C., I went to Indiana, and from there, to Columbus, which hosts the Cummins Engineering Company. Since it is very close by,  a private jet of the Cummins Company had come to pick me up there. When I landed at Columbus, two employees of Cummins received me at the airport. 'I presume, you must be Mr. C. R. Bondre. Welcome to Columbus!', one of them said, shaking hands with me. 'You are very lucky!', he said as I looked at him curiously, 'Just a few minutes back, one of our planes crashed! We thought it was your plane! Thank God you are safe!' After this unusual welcome, I told them that I wanted to meet Mr. Bob Huthsteiner, President of the company. Mr. Huthsteiner was Shantanurao's contemporary from his Massachusetts Institute of Technology days, and Shantanurao had written to him about my visit to Cummins. Here another blow awaited me, the second in quick succession on my arrival: 'Oh, you are late! The President no longer works with us! He left the organisation just yesterday, but the rest of your programme stands.' He told me nonchalantly!"

C. R. Bondre (centre) with extended family and colleagues
just before leaving for the U.S. A. in 1960

"Cummins used to manufacture extremely high quality diesel engines of high horsepower. It had high sales and an equally high reputation in the diesel engines market in America and many other countries. However, Cummins did not manufacture engines under 100 horsepower. On getting this information, I suggested to Shantanurao that if the Cummins dealers could sell our low horsepower Kirloskar engines, it would not compete with their own engines, neither would the dealers have to incur any extra expenses on selling our engines; on the contrary, they would get another good source of income from our engines. Mr. Bob Huthsteiner was Shantanurao's friend and since 1957 they were into talks of starting a company in Pune in collaboration with Cummins. So I requested Shantanurao to write to him and ask him about dealership of our engines; and then it was decided that I would discuss this proposal with the Marketing officials of Cummins", explains Bapusaheb of this trip.

"I was at first introduced to Mr Irwin Miller, Chairman, Cummins and other senior executives. I then had a meeting with the Heads of Marketing, Research Statistics, Distributors' Holding, Advertising and Promotion, Credit Control, and so on. All of them appeared to have studied my proposal quite in detail. I put before them my viewpoint, and explained to them the benefits that would accrue to Cummins and to its dealers by distributing our Kirloskar engines. We discussed this proposal and several issues which emerged out of it, every aspect of it, very much in detail over two days. Finally, they concluded that our proposal was worth considering and that they would begin with a market survey and prepare a sales possibility and feasibility report for the Kirloskar engine, within two months, and then take it forward from there. The Vice President also complimented me on the way I presented the whole proposal and gave satisfactory answers to all their queries," writes Bapusaheb with a feeling of fulfilment.

"Soon afterwards, a copy of their feasibility report came in, which said that there was sufficient scope for the sale of Kirloskar engines by the Cummins dealers in America. This would be a complementary and supplementary business for the dealers, and in a short span itself, the sale of Kirloskar engines would become profitable. On reading this report, I was very happy that my efforts had borne fruit."

However, sometime later, Shantanurao received a letter from the President of Cummins, which read: 'Although the possibility to market Kirloskar engines in the U.S.A. is good and the venture is likely to be profitable, the Cummins Engineering Company Ltd., as a matter of policy, would not allow the dealers to divert their attention, energy, time and finance, to any product other than the Cummins engine. We regret our inability to be of any assistance to you in your efforts to market the Kirloskar engines in the U.S.A.'

Bapusaheb has left this article 'In the Land of the Yankees' on this note, writing nothing further of the disappointment that followed the sudden turn around of events; but while reading (and translating) it, I had the feeling of reading an O. Henry short story, with its trademark surprise ending!

***

When Thieves Take Over: An Episode in Nairobi

A press release from 1958 reporting

 about C. R. Bondre's travel to 

West Africa

"When I first travelled to Nairobi, East Africa in 1956," writes Mr. C. R. Bondre, "I had to stay at a lodge-style hotel. There was British rule there at that time and only whites were allowed at hotels and clubs. Asians had to put up with smaller lodges run by local people or Asians. I checked in at one such lodge owned by a Gujarati gentleman. It was among the better ones at that time. The next day, I traversed the city in search of distributors and carrying out meetings, and returned to my room in the lodge around 2 o' clock in the afternoon. I entered the room and was shocked to see that my suitcase, all my belongings, money, everything was lost! Absolutely anxious, I went and asked the owner and he took no time to shrug off his responsibility saying, 'Thefts are extremely common here! You should have taken care of your belongings.' I knew there was no point arguing with him. Luckily, my passport was with me, but all the travellers' cheques had gone. I was thinking what to do, when I suddenly remembered having learnt that there was a Maharashtrian person in the Bank of India branch in Nairobi. I immediately went to the bank and met this young Marathi gentleman who had newly been posted in Nairobi. I related the entire saga to him, and he immediately called up the American Express Office. Luckily, I had numbers of the travellers' cheques I had lost. In just ten minutes, he got new cheques issued for me, and I breathed a sigh of relief! This young Maharashtrian was Mr. B. V. Sonalkar, who later went on the become the Chairman of the Central Bank", reveals Bapusaheb.

***

Hotel Des Indes in Indonesia and the Night that Passed!

Bapusaheb writes, and I translate, about that night in Indonesia during the imposition of martial law during the 1950s:

'Welcome to Des Indes', the man at the reception said with a wide smile on his face!"
'I have a reservation here', I said.
'You had!', he said with the same cheerful grin on his face.
'What do you mean I had?' I said, starting! It was already close to midnight, and this strange humour perturbed me a little.
'Your booking got cancelled', he replied with the same tranquil smile on his face! 'The military has taken over this hotel, and all bookings have been cancelled.'

C. R. Bondre (extreme left) with his colleagues   

"I did not know what to do and where to go!" recounts Bapusaheb. "Just then, I recalled that Mr. Ram Daryanani, our dealer in Indonesia, had given me the address of a friend of his. With no other recourse in sight, I decided to go there. The night was dark and there was a striking silence on the streets, not a soul in sight. Quite scary, I must say! When I reached the address in the Indonesian cycle-rickshaw, the house seemed uninhabited with no person, no light to be seen anywhere. I rang the doorbell, knocked on the door, called out his name, but all in vain! Finally, a light appeared on the terrace and a stout looking Sindhi gentleman manifested from the darkness and spoke to me from the terrace.

'Kaun hai?' (Who is it?) he said with an air of suspicion.

'I'm Ram Daryanani's friend', I explained, 'He gave me your address.'

On hearing this, he came down and opened the door, which led me into his shop. Pointing at a bench there he said to me, 'Aaj ki raat aap ko yahi sona padega'. (You will have to sleep here tonight.) I walked inside and spent that night on that bench in the silent darkness of the room', reminisces Bapusaheb.

"At dawn, when it was brighter outside, the Sindhi gentleman entered the shop, and said apologetically with folded hands, 'Bondre sahab, aap ko kal raat bahot takleef hui, mafi chahta hu.' (Sir, I'm sorry last night you had to face a lot of inconvenience.) 'Never mind', I said. He then explained to me that he called Ram Daryanani in Singapore the previous night and confirmed that I was indeed C. R. Bondre. 'Abhi please upar chaliye. Kal raat mai majboor tha. Yahan ke halaat aise hai ki kisi par bhi bharosa rakhna mushkil ho gaya hai', (Now please come upstairs. Last night I had no other go. The situation here is so tense that it has become extremely difficult to trust anyone', he said honestly."

***

Our Iranian Distributor and his Constant Scepticism

"Ayub Yusuf Jade, our distributor in Iran, used to be forever suspicious of me. Once I asked him, 'Ayub, now it is 5 years, that we have been doing business with each other. Why do you still show so much mistrust in me?' His answer to this was quite intriguing. He said, 'I'll tell you an episode which dates back to the time I was 4 years old. Once I wanted to jump off the window, just as a thrill, but was feeling scared to do so. My father assured me that if I fell, he would catch me and asked me to jump without any fear at all. So, I jumped and fell down with a thud, and weeping went to my father, asking him why he had let me down. My father said calmly, 'Don't cry! This is the first lesson of business! Never trust anyone, not even your own father!' "

***

Tit for Tat!

"I had sent an engineer from India to our German Schule company in Hamburg. We used to send many engineers, mechanics, etc. to Germany for training in the 1950s. I had gone to Hamburg for some work, and flew to London the next day. While I was in London, this engineer called me. 'From where are you speaking?', I asked him, to which he gleefully replied, 'Sir, from the lobby of your own hotel!' Surprised, I asked him, 'But how did you get a visa? Had you already got one issued?' 'No, Sir, I got it on landing at the Heathrow Airport!' 'How come?', I asked him even more surprised, 'as it is difficult to get a visa like this on arrival!' To this he said, 'Yes Sir, the immigration officer simply refused to give me the visa, no matter how much I requested him. Finally, I quipped, 'You stayed in our country for more than 150 years, can you not let me stay in your country for just a weekend?' He got my point and gave me a visa for 6 months!' I was amused at this engineer's wit!"

***

The Distributors: Our Third Arm!

In all the previous articles in this blog, 'C. R. Bondre: Memoirs', I have tried to bring before the readers,  gems from my grandfather, C. R. Bondre's rich experiences while developing the exports of Kirloskar diesel engines, as early as the 1950s, when India was primarily known only as an importer of machinery and technology and exporter of sugar, cloth, et al. My grandfather's trailblazing work and pioneering efforts in the exports of Kirloskar Oil Engines, not only put the company on the global map, but also created a name for Indian manufacturers abroad, at a time, when people in foreign countries could never believe that India could manufacture engineering equipment. A close aide of the legendary industrialist, Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, C. R. or Bapusaheb as he was called by friends and associates, penned some of his most memorable experiences collected en route developing the exports, and shared some pearls of wisdom gathered on the way, most of which were published in an article series in 1991. It gives me immense satisfaction to translate and bring before the readers of this blog, yet another article from this series.

In this article, Bapusaheb shares his prolonged efforts in establishing dealer-distributor network in 42 countries, a humongous task which he accomplished in his 27 years at Kirloskar Oil Engines. He literally built up the monumental exports from zero, step by step, with painstaking efforts, encountering obstacles, battling suspicion and opposition for Indian goods abroad, while travelling the world, getting orders, meeting people, engaging them as dealers and distributors, training them and maintaining them.

"It was a beautiful February evening in 1964", Bapusaheb opens this narrative with this reminiscence. "At the famous Sun-N-Sand Hotel at Juhu, Mumbai, there was a decoration of colourful lights covering the beach with their radiance. An orchestra was playing serene music and the whole atmosphere was that of spirit and gaiety. People of various nationalities, enthnicities, and cultures were present in large numbers along with their spouses. On the dais, were Shantanurao (Mr. S. L. Kirloskar), the then Minister for Commerce and International Trade, Shri Manubhai Shah and other eminent industrialists. Speaking from the dais, Shri Shah said in a lighter vein, 'I knew that the Kirloskars manufacture great quality and efficient engines, pumps, electric motors and machine tools. However, today I got to know that they can also create an equally wonderful mini-United Nations!' And indeed, that day dealers of Kirloskar products from 42 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada, South America and Australia had gathered to celebrate Shantanurao's  61st birthday!"

"The most important, most useful, and essential link between the producer and the end customer is the Distributor", elaborates Bapusaheb. "The Distributor is indeed the extended Third Arm of the Sales Department of the Producer! In the mid-1950s, when we had just begun with exports, and I set out to find distributors for our Kirloskar engines, I realised that able, honest, efficient and trustworthy people to do the job, were very difficult to come by. There were lots of issues and obstacles in finding such people who possessed the qualities of integrity and efficiency. Similarly it was also extremely difficult in those days to locate such people or agencies which may be our potential distributors."

C. R. Bondre with the Kirloskar engine
circa 1955

"In those days, in the Western world, the responsibility of finding able distributors or local representatives, would often be taken up by banks and insurance companies. America's large commercial bank, the First National City Bank (now Citibank), Bank of London and the South African Lords' Bank had around a total of 2000 branches around the world. Similarly, Chambers of Commerce and Foreign Embassies used to promptly share the database of people or agencies which could be potential  distributors in various countries. Likewise, they also used to give reports of the internal political and economic environment of the countries in which they had branches, the laws of their land, import-export and foreign investment policies. On this background, an Indian company like ours, trying to export for the first time, had neither any takers nor any services like these available to us. Way back in the 1950s, Indian Embassies were just beginning to be established in different countries, and Indian banks and Chambers of Commerce were yet to understand the importance of Indian exports; so one could not except any help from them. As a result, I had no other option but to start a hunt for such potential distributors on my own", reveals Bapusaheb in his article written almost four decades later.

"Although, India had already attained independence then, many other countries in East Asia, Central Asia, East Africa and Australia still had British supremacy. The Philippines and Southern Africa had American economic control. Similarly, in some countries in Asia and Africa, there was German, French Belgian and Dutch dominion. As a result, if a certain superpower had political or economic control over any country, it also had the control of the country's imports and exports. These superpowers also managed to get concessions for their exports into these countries which they controlled. Naturally, it was difficult for an Indian manufacturer like us to penetrate these markets. On the other hand, State controlled economies like Eastern Europe and Russia had no place for private manufacturers and traders. The job of distribution was done by the State-run distribution agencies, which distributed products of homogeneous nature sold by similar kinds of exporters, so they were not interested in an Indian company trying to take the first baby-steps towards exports. There were some private individuals and agencies in Asia and Africa, who used to sell routine material like groceries, cloth, stationery and medicine, and along with that, equipment and machinery as well. I thought there was no point in naming them as our distributors."

"Moreover, Indian goods did not have a very good reputation in foreign markets", writes Bapusaheb candidly. "Indian traders had a reputation of cheating and swindling the customers on various counts: if it was grains, there would be small stones in it, if it was cloth, it would certainly be lesser in length and width than promised, if it was cashews, there would be worms: this was the perception that Indian traders had abroad; that they would show one sample and deliver another of cheaper quality, deliberately! So there was always a lack of trust for Indian goods, and moreover, no one could believe that India could ever produce anything apart from cotton, cloth, sugar and tea; leave alone engineering goods! And whenever I showed them pump-sets with our diesel engines, they would ask mockingly whether we imported parts from England and merely assembled them in India. There would be a tone of 'You are nowhere compared to countries like England and Germany, so why get into this?' They still felt India was a land of snake-charmers and elephants and it was hard to get them to see the skills and industrial development of our nation at that time. They knew of the cheap labour in India and had the demand that Indian goods should always be available at a low price. Although I convinced them of the quality of our engines, none of the foreign distribution agencies were willing to distribute our engines."

"To overcome this difficulty, I thought of engaging Indian traders settled abroad, who could take up our distributorship in addition to their main business of selling Indian textiles. However, the ones that I met, were unwilling to diversify into Indian engineering equipment, mainly because they thought there would be little monetary gain for them. The concept of Indian engineering exports itself was incomprehensible at that time, and that was my main obstacle. I finally decided that I had to break this vicious circle somewhere, and I could see only one solution: to create a new dedicated distributor for Kirloskar pumps from amongst the hoi polloi. Shantanurao agreed to this suggestion immediately, and we decided to develop our own distributors. These people could be anyone doing any small business, retailership or in general could be into any profession, but must be honest and hardworking, with a dedication to grow and earn."

C. R. Bondre wearing the
Arabian robe in Bahrain in 1958

"Once this was decided, I embarked upon this difficult journey of finding suitable distributors; but as I started putting concerted efforts in this direction, we started finding suitable persons from various communities, in various countries. As far as possible, we selected persons living in those countries, and we also created new distributors from amongst Indians settled abroad. Before becoming our distributors, their economic condition was ordinary, but they had an ambition, a desire to make it big, backed by willingness to work hard, and push themselves out of their comfort zones. They took the risk and became successful. They sold our engines in their respective countries, and earned name, fame and money for themselves. End-customers trusted these distributors as they did not have any set reputation. I used to constantly travel to all these countries to keep personal contact with them and tried to instil this faith in them that come what may, the company was steadfastly standing behind them for any support or help that they required. I used to take my sales executives with me, and whenever possible used to also request Shantanurao to come along, and he too used to make it convenient to travel with us whenever possible. I used to meet the Government officials, Ministers, big and small customers in these countries, and help the distributors in their work. We used to participate in international industrial exhibitions in these countries and put up our stall at our own cost. Every year, we invited them to India, paid for their travel and stay here, took them round the company to show them the utmost care and quality with which manufacturing was done. This not only established good relations with them, they also got to see for themselves the skill and craftsmanship of the Indian engineers and workers, the discipline in the organisation, the large number of capable employees working there; which they would never have imagined through only meeting with me or with Shantanurao."

"On the occasion of Shantanurao's 61st birthday celebrated at the Sun-N-Sand that day, we had warmly invited all these distributors from 42 different countries to India. These were the same hands which took our engines to thousands of small farmers, fishermen, small and medium entrepreneurs, across the world. This was indeed our extended long and strong Third Arm!" concludes the export expert, C. R. Bondre. 

C. R. Bondre and S. L. Kirloskar: A Long Association, Indeed!

When I started this blog on 19th May, 2016, the birth centenary of my industrious and foresighted grandfather, Mr. C. R. Bondre, I had promised to share his experiences with exports, sales and marketing. He lived in an era when engineering export from India to the developed world was unthinkable and many did not even understand the meaning of the word 'export', as Indians were used to be mere suppliers of raw materials and agricultural produce, a heritage of the era of the Raj, which continued even after independence. 

Mr. Bondre, a.k.a. Bapusaheb, as said earlier, was  one of the most close and trusted associates of the eminent Industrialist, Mr. S. L. Kirloskar. Bapusaheb led a life full of rich experiences; of travel to 42 countries way back in the decades of the 1950s and 60s, trying to get foreign orders for Kirloskar diesel engines, of creating efficient distribution networks in all these countries, getting salesmen trained in different foreign languages, and creating a reputation for India and Indian made goods abroad. Along with his never-say-die attitude, tenacity and persistence, Bapusaheb also had the gift of humour and style of writing by which he conveyed his thoughts in the most effective manner. I am lucky to have had an access to his writings, most of them also published as an article-series, 'Kelyane Hoat Ahe Re' (Only when we do, we achieve) in Sampada, the MCCIA publication in the early 1990s. In this piece, Bapusaheb writes (and I translate) about his long association of 27 years with Shantanurao, the legendary Mr. S. L. Kirloskar. He also gives us a quick glance into those 27 years, as he narrates the success story of penetrating the foreign market in those tough times.

"I still remember", writes Bapsuaheb, "my first meeting with Shantanurao sometime in November 1949. I was in search of a good job, and an interview was scheduled with Shantanurao at 11 a.m. that day. He had called me to his house and I was waiting since 10 o' clock that day to meet him. He came half an hour later and the interview, albeit an informal one, began. He asked me where I had worked before, and I told him about my stints at Hindustan Construction, the Indian Tea Board and then in the sugar industry. He asked me various questions about the sugar industry, sugarcane farming, management and cost accounting, water management, problems of seasonal business and so on, clearly indicating his knowledge about a variety of business issues. At the end of this interview, he told me, 'We have decided to have you in our company. You will get a formal letter of appointment soon.'"

Maharashtra Times (TOI)
of 28th February 1968
giving the news of the
appointment of
Mr. C. R. Bondre as the
Vice President of the Engineering
Export Promotion Council,
Government of India

As told to him by Mr. Kirloskar, Bapusaheb soon received a letter of appointment from Kirloskar Sons and Company as the Secretary of this Management Agency. His office was in the premises of Kirloskar Oil Engines at Khadki, near Pune. The entire anecdote of his early days with the Kirloskar group has been already shared in a previous article on this Blog titled, 'Export or Perish!...Or Export and Prosper!' Nevertheless, to put the reader back into the story, I will again give a little background: On joining the company, Bapusaheb soon realised that there was no specific work allotted to him and on asking Mr. S. L. Kirloskar about this, he had got an unusual response: 'We give work to clerks and workers. Persons in your position are required to find work for themselves to justify their existence. We only select capable people; we don't assign work to them!' The responsibility of justifying his existence now being upon himself, Bapusaheb started studying various Kirloskar Group companies with respect to their financial position, production, sales, labour relations, and so on as well as the new economic and business policies of the new Indian Government post-independence, and started giving detailed reports and notes to Mr. Kirloskar. At that time, the country was to begin with the Five Year Plans, and the First Plan was to be launched the next year, i.e. in 1951.

Bapusaheb reminisces in an article written in the early 1990s, "Shantanurao used to carefully read all these reports and would also ask me any queries or questions regarding their contents. 'Give me your opinions, your views. Don't bother whether these are right or wrong. Remember, I don't want you to simply echo my voice and please me. I want your independent views, ideas and opinions', he would say candidly. When the first plans and proposals of the forthcoming First Five Year Plan were published, I studied them and prepared a note about the future of diesel engines. Shantanurao read the note and asked me to prepare such notes about pumps, electric motors, machine tools, as well. After this, I started working closely with him and got to know him more."

"However, my real association with him started when I took upon myself the responsibility of starting the exports of Kirloskar diesel engines. The idea of exports came from the then Chairman of Kirloskar Oil Engines, Sir Lala Shriram, who suggested it as the only way to combat a falling demand for engines during monsoon, and due to the newly adopted Exim policy of the Government which led to tough competition from foreign-made engines. He gave the example of his own Usha fans, which faced the same problem of a fall in demand during winter. Shantanurao must have been thinking on these lines after hearing this advice from Sir Lala Shriram, but I had no inkling of it. I, however, started preparing for starting the exports from my end", writes Bapusaheb earnestly.

Kirloskar engines on their way to the U.K.
Mr. C. R. Bondre (extreme left) with Mr. S. L. Kirloskar
(second from left), his wife, Yamutai
and other team members.

"In this early preparation stage, I started collecting relevant information about the possible changes in Government policy relating to exports, export laws, marketing, shipping, transport, foreign exchange and issues relating to it. I carefully studied these points for almost one year. Then I prepared a proposal for starting exports of Kirloskar engines and gave it to Shantanurao, and asked him if I could start working in that direction. Shantanurao read the proposal carefully and then gave me the green signal. At that time, I was still the 'Secretary' of Kirloskar Sons; yet Shantanurao put the entire responsibility of exports of Kirloskar Oil Engines on my shoulders. I was given the entire responsibility and authority of representing the company and setting up and managing the 'Kirloskar Pavilion' at the first Indian industrial exhibition in Jakarta. Our export department started in 1956, and I was appointed its Head."

The first step was to tap the markets of South East Asia like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar and there were a lot of possible problems, hurdles and obstacles. "I did a detailed analysis of these issues and it was essential for the company to take a lot of important policy decisions, so I put a list of such questions in front of Shantanurao:

• What is the main purpose of starting exports: is it only to tackle temporary problems, or is to gain sustainable access to foreign markets?
• Entering foreign markets would mean facing tough competition from engines made by England, France, Germany and Japan.
• In order to compete with engines from these countries, we will have to prepare for improving the standard and efficiency of our engines, fix a competitive price, decide on a credit policy, post-sale service and maintenance, and set up a distribution network at par with that of foreign companies. 
• Export is a sapling which will grow slowly, day by day, and in these early times, there would be many mounting expenses which may not convert easily into orders. Expenses in terms of time, money and effort, on publicity, advertising, correspondence and creating a dealer-distributor network will have to be sustained till the time that we get a good foot-hold in the foreign market. 
• Every country, every market, is different and we will have to make the necessary changes in our engines before entering these markets. We may even have to innovate with new types of engines if the time and situations so demand. 
• Similarly, if demand for engines increases in India, and if we cannot step up production in line with the demand here, we will not be able to compromise on the foreign market. In that case, exports will have to be given preference over the domestic market.

It was important to have clarity on these and such other issues, and hence I posed them to Shantanurao", relates Bapusaheb, "He discussed all these issues with me in detail and said he would give his decision soon, on whether to really go in for exports or not."

C. R. Bondre (centre) with C. S. Kirloskar and
Mukundrao Kirloskar at Mr. S. L. Kirloskar's golden wedding
anniversary party in May, 1977

"Then one day, he called me and said, 'We have decided to go in for exports at all costs. All problems you have placed before me, will be solved. We will comply with all the requirements of exports. I am willing to make sustained expenditure and you will make sustained efforts. The ball is now in your court. It is for you to develop a suitable export organisation and succeed in building up an increasing sale of Kirloskar engines on a long-term basis. I feel that the whole world is my market, and India is a part, a very important part of it, and I will certainly give equal attention to all the possible markets in the world. I will step up the production to match the pressure of higher output to sell in the foreign market. There will never be any shortage of engines for exporting. You just do your job and manage to get orders.' After that, in the 27 years of my association with the company, never did it happen that there was a shortage of orders!" writes Bapusaheb with justified pride and contentment. "I lived up to the expectations and faith Shantanurao put in me and developed efficient dealer-distributor networks. When I retired in 1976, Kirloskar diesel engines were being exported to 42 countries with annual exports of Rs. 6 crores, which I was successful in building up from zilch. In the global market, excepting India, there were 1.5 lakh engines and 2.5 lakh pumps giving efficient service in 42 countries!"

No wonder, Mr. Kirloskar was always magnanimous in acknowledging the monumental contribution of Mr. Bondre in building up the exports of his company and putting it on the global map. In his celebrated autobiography, 'Cactus and Roses', he writes, 'Exporting wasn't easy for us, but we went about promoting our exports with a single-minded determination, such as our Mr. Bondre possessed. Mr. Bondre threw himself completely into the task, built up our export sales and developed our foreign sales division into an alert, efficient and zestful organisation.'

"Shantanurao gave me complete freedom to develop the Export Department the way I wanted. It was his inherent nature to give complete responsibility and authority and get work done from others. He never bothered anyone with unnecessary interference. He was indeed a hard task master and wanted to see results, always!", remembers Bapusaheb post-retirement. "After starting with our exports, I once went on a foreign tour undertaken to check on the markets, and on my return, I brought it to Shantanurao's notice that Kirloskar engines were lagging behind in terms of colour, packing and neatness as compared to foreign-made engines. In addition, our engines consumed huge amounts of grease and oil, thereby reducing their efficiency. He heard me out completely and with utmost attention, and then said thoughtfully, 'These deficiencies need to be worked upon immediately. But it is not possible to sell better quality machines in the foreign market, and lesser quality ones in the home market. So we will work on increasing the total quality of our engines.' This said, and within a short span, Kirloskar engines started improving in quality and efficiency, such that they became as good as the foreign-made ones."

"Shantanurao's ideas used to be always very clear. He was convinced that there would be a difference in the engine price in India and that in the export market. Initially, engines would have to be sold at lower prices abroad, however, he had told me upfront that within a given span of years, this difference in prices should be done away with, and exports must become profitable in the future. Also, in the event of a recession, exports must be able to keep the company afloat. And as luck would have it, in 1971, a recession did set in, and in those trying times in the domestic market, the company could manage to keep its business intact only due to our great efforts to get orders from all over the world!", writes Bapusaheb with a feeling of fulfilment.

Mr. C. R. Bondre (left) with Mr. S. L. Kirloskar

"Generally, overseas dealers of engine manufacturers knew only English, and all their literature also used to be in English. I put forth the idea to Shantanurao that our Kirloskar dealers should be fluent in various languages like German, French, Italian, Spanish, African, Persian and so on, and the literature: pamphlets, flyers, etc, should also be published in the languages of the respective countries. This again had financial implications, as the training of our executives in different languages, hiring trainers, translators as well as printing in these languages with different scripts in certain cases, would put an extra burden on the costs. Shantanurao, however, immediately perceived the significance and validity of my suggestion, and sanctioned the extra spending for this purpose. This was very helpful in increasing our outreach in these different countries and we could connect well with our customers."

Exports may well come in domain of Sales and Marketing, but as Bapusaheb was given the total comprehensive responsibility of developing exports from the scratch, he also had to look at the Operations, Finance and at times even HR functions. "Our sales executives were always on tour and their families used to be alone in Pune while they were away. So I suggested to Shantanurao that we should appoint a dedicated officer to keep contact with their families, try and understand their problems and offer help whenever required. This humanitarian suggestion was also immediately accepted, by Shantanurao, indeed a great visionary."

On reading this account, one realises the foresight and initiative of Mr. C. R. Bondre, at a time, when 'Business Management' as a discipline was not even taught in India, nor were there any courses of MBA with specialisations in Marketing, Finance, Operations, HR and International Trade! Mr. Bondre's life itself is a real example of a living legendary master of all these subjects! The genius of Mr. S. L. Kirloskar perhaps noticed these qualities in Bapusaheb on the first meeting itself, and he never scrimped on words or feelings while giving Bapusaheb his due credit. Bapusaheb recounts in this article, "Once at an event at the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce and Industries, many people showered praise on Shantanurao for the phenomenal progress of Kirloskar Oil Engines in the foreign market. When he rose to speak, he said earnestly and affectionately, 'The credit of our exports is not mine. It is the unending hardwork and pioneering efforts of this man here: Bondre!'"

Mr. S. L. Kirloskar's handwritten letter to Mr. Bondre warmly acknowledging his efforts towards the organisation

Seeing is Believing!

C. R. Bondre 

My grandfather, Mr. C. R. Bondre alias Bapusaheb was a man of great vision, and that led him to take Indian engineering exports to an unprecedented level. As a student and teacher of Economics and Business Management, I am extremely fascinated to read about his travels to 42 countries, trying to create a market for Kisloskar engines and thereby creating a niche for the exports of engineering goods out of India, even to the developed world. This was the time, when India was a poor developing agrarian economy and neither people here nor abroad could even imagine that India could ever manufacture engineering equipment, which would be as efficient was its western counterpart. At such a time, business legend Mr. S. L. Kirloskar took this great step forward, with the able support and complete dedication of his close aide, Mr. C. R. Bondre. As I have said in the introductory post of this blog, "C. R. Bondre: Memoirs", that I am hereby writing, translating and presenting his experiences, most of which have been inked by him during his lifetime. I am sure these will be greatly inspiring to anyone dealing with manufacturing, marketing, exports, sales and in general, business management. Having said this, I am sure they will be equally interesting to any common reader, as they are real life-time experiences of a man who worked up his way to reach where few others would dare to tread!

I will start this piece with an interesting anecdote quoted by Bapusaheb himself in his much famed article series published in MCCIA's Sampada in the early 90s. In this narrative, Bapusaheb shares his first international flying experience, a travelogue of his first visit to Indonesia and his experience of showcasing Kirloskar products at various exhibitions there. Born on 19th May, 1916 in Jalgaon in British India, this small-town boy had big dreams and aspirations, foreign travel being one of them! In those days, foreign travel was reserved for a select few affluent people and even air travel was the privilege only of the super rich! There were not so many frequent flights either. Ironically, some fortune-teller had told him in his early struggling years, that he would get everything in life, except the opportunity of travelling abroad! As a sharp contrast, travel became his middle name after taking over as the Head of the newly set up Export Department of Kirloskar Oil Engines in 1956 to finally retiring as Vice President, Marketing, Inland and Foreign Sales in 1976. Bapusaheb's pioneering efforts have been synonymous not just with the exports of Kirloskar engines, but also with Indian engineering exports. Naturally, he was a frequent flyer and the first international flying experience in his career did bring back some gripping memories!

C. R. Bondre (standing) officiating as Rotary
President in 1987

It was 25th July 1955 when on one dark night, when Mumbai city was engulfed by thunderstorms, unstoppable torrential rains and lightening, Bapusaheb set out on his first foreign trip. It was his first international flight (having flown to New Delhi earlier), and naturally in that scary dark atmosphere, he was feeling a little anxious. He waited for some hours at his friend, the then Rector of Mumbai University, Govardhan Parikh's Matunga residence. The two then set out for the then 'Santacruz Airport' and on their way in the taxi, there was no visibility on the streets. "Govardhan, air travel has now become quite safe, hasn't it?" He asked Parikh who was to drop him to the airport. "Yes! Provided you reach the airport safely by taxi!" quipped his friend.

On finally reaching the airport, Bapusaheb could not immediately complete the formalities of check-in, as there were two of his assistants who were to accompany him on his maiden journey to Indonesia. He waited for a long time, but the two of them were nowhere in sight. Finally, he decided to wait for 10-15  minutes more and if they still did not come, he would go ahead with the procedure, as now it was just one hour left for the flight to take off. Just as these thoughts were crossing his mind, he saw the two assistants entering the departure area. Bapusaheb breathed a sigh of relief! The two seemed visibly nervous of the foreign travel and rather uncomfortable in their newly stitched modern outfits specially for the voyage!

"The two assistants were complete opposites of each other", reminisces Bapusaheb. "The first one was the elderly Ramdin, a former chief mechanic at a factory in Bhivandi and the other one was the young John, who was a mechanic at Kirloskar Oil Engines. While Ramdin was reserved and reticent, John was gregarious and loved to talk; while Ramdin was of a serious nature, John was extremely boisterous; while Ramdin was a strict vegetarian, John, a strict non-vegetarian; Ramdin never touched any alcoholic drink; John, as far as possible, did not touch any other drink, except alcohol!" writes Bapusaheb in his impeccably humourous style. "I had to spend six weeks in Indonesia with these two queer individuals, so different from each other!"

"Soon it was announced that all passengers should go to the Immigration and Customs Section, and I asked both of them to follow me tither. After walking a few steps, I happened to turn around and was surprised to find that the two were again nowhere to be seen! I walked back and saw that they were surrounded by a sea of relatives, who purportedly had come to see them off; men, women, and children, who were hugging them tightly, one by one! I had to literally pull them out of these hugs and drag them towards the Immigration counter!", narrates Bapusaheb in this article written almost 33 years after the incident of his first flight from Mumbai to Indonesia, via Chennai and Singapore.

C. R. Bondre with an Egyptian Delegation
circa 1958-59

The announcement that the Air India flight to Singapore is ready for take off gave goosebumps to the the three first-time flyers in that intimidating Mumbai rain. Nevertheless, the journey uptil the first stopover, Madras, now Chennai, was quite comfortable.  However, the first journey had to be eventful and after taking off from Chennai, in a few minutes, the aircraft started swinging mightily from left to right, before it went down a few feet in a jiffy and again came up. "Even as John was fast asleep, Ramdin panicked, removed his seat-belt and started running towards the door, saying, "Sahab, mujhe age nahi jana! Mujhe chhod do! Mujhe ghar jana hai!!" (Sir, I don't want to go further. Please leave me! I want to go home!). The steward held him and got him back to the seat. I tried to pacify him, but in vain", relates Bapusaheb, "Finally, I told him, 'you cannot go home now after coming this far! Now this aircraft will land at Singapore, or in the sea!' I felt my ordeal in managing these two gentlemen was over, but on landing at Singapore, Ramdin was asked by the authorities to open his luggage and what came out of it was a 2 kg bag of some flour! 'What is this?' asked the Officer with suspicion, 'Sattu!', was Ramdin's innocent reply! 'What??' asked the Officer with more suspicion! Somehow I managed to convince him that it was nothing but some wheat and gram flour!"

"Garuda, the national airline of Indonesia took us to our destination, Jakarta. While on the flight, the Captain informed us that exactly at 11 hours and 22 minutes, we would be crossing the equator, and that those passengers crossing the equator for the first time in their lives, would be given a certificate, 'Crossing the Equator'! It was special at that time and by God's grace, after that, many times and at many places in the world, I had the opportunity of crossing the equator. Soon, we landed at Jakarta: the Amsterdam of the East!"

"A green country with 13367 islands welcomed us, and our associate Mr. Ram Daryanani took us to our abode for the next 6 weeks. He was a great help in working towards the penetration of Kirloskar engines in Indonesia. He was a well-educated, well-travelled person. He was aware of the possible surge in the demand for engines, pumps, electric motors in Indonesia after its independence from the Dutch rulers. He was also confident that the cordial relations between India and Indonesia would lead to good trade relations as well. He had come to Pune and met me personally for discussing possible business relations."

"Indonesia came across as a beautiful island country with bright sunshine. I got an opportunity to see dense forests, volcanoes, fruits of different shapes and sizes, like a 2 feet long banana and a bright orange coloured papaya, a speciality of East Asia. The cycle-rickshaws there were a little strange, with the driver sitting at the back, and the passenger in the front! The streets were full of traffic of various types of vehicles: bicycles, cycle-rickshaws, old jeeps, motorbikes, cars; and people did not seem accustomed to following any traffic rules!" Bapusaheb describes after more than three decades, Indonesia as he experienced in 1955. "Since it has canals like in Amsterdam, it was called the Amsterdam of the East", he explains.

C. R. Bondre (extreme left) with Mr. C. S. Kirloskar
in the factory

"It was in this sui generis country, that we got our first overseas distributor and the exports of Kirloskar engines to the entire South East Asian market started from Jakarta! The distribution of Kirloskar engines there, was taken up by the Dutch Bombay Trading Company. However, the fact that Indians could make engineering equipment as good as anyone else in the world, was something that foreigners could never believe, way back in the 1950s!" To get people over this notion, it was extremely necessary to show them the Kirloskar engines hands-on and give them demonstrations of how well they worked. This was possible only through industrial exhibitions, and such an opportunity presented itself in the winter of 1954", elaborates Bapusaheb.

The Federation of Indian Industries and Commerce, New Delhi took the initiative to organise an International Industrial Exhibition in the national capital. Kirloskar group companies participated actively in this exhibition and the responsibility of managing the entire show of diesel engines, pumps, electric motors  and machine tools in the Kirloskar Pavilion, from beginning to end was on Mr. Bondre, one of the most trusted associates of Mr. S. L. Kirloskar. "This event was very successful and the Pavilion was visited by the then President of India,  Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and other Union Cabinet Ministers", recollects Bapusaheb in this article, "Similarly  foreign leaders like Nikita Krushchev and Nikolai Bulganin of Russia also saw our display, in addition to businessmen and industrialists from Europe. "

"Now, Indonesia was the right choice for this next exhibition, as their President Sukarno and our Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru had extremely good relations and Indonesia looked up to India for improving their agriculture and to develop their industrial sector. This exhibition was arranged on a big ground near Jakarta. There was enough space to keep big equipment on display and also to start the equipment or machinery whenever required. All Kirloskar engineering products were on display inside the hall, but we had kept a pump with the Kirloskar diesel engine pulling up water in a small pond near the ground, so that people could actually see for themselves, its efficacy. There was a mini-fountain from which this water went back into the pond with great force. The exhibition was inaugurated by President Sukarno and he paid a special visit to our Pavilion and took keen interest in knowing about our various engineering products."

C. R. Bondre after his successful trip to Jakarta, Indonesia
July 1955

"Delegations of Government and Business representatives from England, France, Gemany, America, Japan and the neighbouring South East Asian countries had specially gathered at Jakarta to see this exhibition. People also poured in from various places in Indonesia specially for witnessing this event. Thanks to this exhibition, our Kirloskar engines got good publicity in the other South East Asian countries like Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, South Vietnam and Cambodia." Bapusaheb recounts, "Due to this publicity and the demonstrations, I could manage to get the first orders for our diesel engines on trial basis from these countries. Our engines had earned a reputation for themselves and after some years, there was a great increase in the demand from these countries."

"Participating in exhibitions is the only way of making people aware of your products and make them see with their own eyes the quality of your produce. After 1955, Kirloskar Oil Engines participated in many exhibitions across the world. Due to this, people all over the world got to know of Kirloskar engines. These exhibitions typically showcased engines from countries like England, Germany and Japan, and it was indeed interesting for them to see that Indian made engines were as efficient as those manufactured by these giants. Our distributors could also easily convince the buyer of the quality of our engines, thanks to the demos shown at such exhibitions. People realised that the engines were much more appealing in reality and practice as compared to simply the photographs printed on the pamphlets.  Truly, seeing is believing!"

Export or Perish!....Or Export and Prosper!

It gives me immense pleasure to bring before the readers of this blog, some heartwarming memories of my grandfather, Mr. C. R. Bondre, the pioneer of Indian engineering exports, while he took his first steps on this untrodden path. This account makes me feel proud, not only as his granddaughter, but also as an Indian; and I am sure every Indian would feel equally proud after reading these reminiscences which he himself had penned during his lifetime.

C. R. alias Bapusaheb Bondre

Mr. Bondre was an Intra-prenuer to the core: an employee who worked on this special idea just like an entrepreneur would. As mentioned already in my earlier post, he was considered the right hand and close associate of noted industrialist Mr Shantanurao alias S. L. Kirloskar and worked with him for 27 long years in developing the exports of Kirloskar Oil Engines into 42 countries, at a time when engineering exports from India into the developed world seemed like an impossible dream. But it was the sheer unending hardwork and pioneering efforts of Mr. Bondre, or Bapusaheb as he was known in business and social circles, backed by the unfaltering faith put in him by Mr. S. L. Kirloskar, that he could succeed in achieving the impossible, thereby creating a reputation for Indian made engineering goods abroad. 

"I first met Shantanurao in January 1949 in Pune. There was an advertisement that Kirloskar Oil Engines wanted a Cost Accountant and so I had applied for the post." Bapusaheb came from a simple middle class family in Jalgaon and after having completed his education from the famed Sydenham College in Mumbai and having worked with a few companies before, was in search of a good job. Kirloskar Oil Engines was a new company then, incorporated in 1946 and India was a newly independent country, trying to find its feet economically and industrially amidst several hardships. A few days after the interview, Bapusaheb received a letter saying, "We are glad to inform you that you have been appointed as Secretary at Kirloskar Sons and Company" signed S. L. Kirslokar, Partner. Bapusaheb was baffled to receive this communication, as he had given an interview for the post of 'Cost Accountant' and had received an appointment letter for 'Secretary', that too of a relatively lesser known partnership firm like Kirloskar Sons and Company! 

On receiving the letter, Bapusaheb tried to find out some more information about this unfamiliar company! He learnt that this company was responsible for the Management of Kirloskar Oil Engines, Kirloskar Brothers, Kirsloskar Electricals and Mysore Kirloskar! "During the British rule, many British companies bought tea gardens in India, established jute and cotton mills, as also trading companies, banks and insurance companies by investing their own capital here. In order to manage these businesses, the British companies would appoint an Indian representative or a partnership firm. This was the beginning of the trend of Managing Agencies in India. This trend continued later, even in the post-independence years. However, due to a change in the Company Law in 1957, this trend stopped." Bapusaheb explains in his then celebrated article series, 'Kelyane Hoat Ahe Re!' (Only when we do, we achieve!) in MCCIA's publication, Sampada.

Soon, Bapusaheb realised that Kirloskar Sons seemed like an 'absentee landlord', whose office on paper, was at Kirloskarwadi but the only main business of the company seemed to collect office allowance from every group company under its auspices and take the pre-decided percentage of profit from them at the end of every financial year! If the managing agency itself did not have much work, what work would its Secretary have, was a question which troubled Bapusaheb, a workhorse by nature! He felt that the Secretary was only an appointment to comply with the legal norms.

"I want work!" a perturbed Bapusaheb told Mr S. L. Kirloskar, whose reply to this was as intriguing as this entire anecdote, revealing the mark of a true genius! He calmly replied, "We allocate work only to clerks and workmen. Persons in your position are expected to find work useful for the company to justify their existence." This unusual response bewildered Bapusaheb no end! The onus of justifying his existence and finding meaningful work in the company now being on himself, he regularly started visiting Kirloskar group companies in Kirloskarwadi, Harihar and Bengaluru, studying each company's financial position, production, sales, labour relations; as well as the latest economic developments in the country, their possible impact on the business of these companies, and started preparing and submitting detailed monthly reports to the partners of Kirloskar Sons and Company. This proved to be extremely useful in the wake of new policies and business and economic decisions taken by the Government at that time.

C. R. Bondre as the Chief Guest at an event,
circa 1970

"However, finding meaningful work for myself wasn't that easy and I had to work my way up," he writes. "Around 1950, Harihar's Rajarampant Kirloskar's daughter, Padma was getting married to the then Chief Minister Morarji Desai's son, Kantilal and the whole responsibility of arranging the wedding function somehow landed on the work-less Secretary of the managing agency!" Though not very pleased to do the job of a 'Marriage Manager', it was his inherent nature to leave no stone unturned in putting in his best effort in anything that he did and the wedding took place in a very well-organised manner, in all pomp and glory. That was an era, when Event Managers were unheard of! "After that for some years, I was the chosen one for managing any such event in the Kirloskar family." However, very soon an opportunity presented itself and Bapusaheb got a chance to prove his credentials and efficiency. 

During his efforts to study the new economic policies of the Government, Bapusaheb happened to find a Government publication which read 'Recommendations for Amendments in the Company Law'. It had recommendations like putting an end to the office allowance of managing agents, reduction in the percentage of profit sharing and gradually doing away with the practice of appointing managing agents. "A blueprint of the upcoming First Five Year Plan was also published by the Government around the same time, and I started analysing the possible impact of all these current and future developments on the future of diesel engines. I prepared a note and gave it to Shantanurao. He liked it and asked me to continue this work of analysing any future developments regarding the business of pumps, machine tools, electric motors, etc."

"Around the same time, the Indian Government gave permission to import diesel engines into India and that was the reason why the domestic market for Kirloskar engines went down drastically, the only plausible reason being that people did not have the confidence that Indian made engines could be as good as imported ones! In addition, every monsoon, there used to be a huge drop in the demand for our engines, as these engines were primarily used in agriculture, in pumps used to provide water to the fields. If the inventory of these engines increased during monsoon, it meant locking the company's funds which could lead to financial problems in the future. But the biggest blow was the competition from the 75,000 foreign-made engines imported into the country." 

In such difficult times, a great piece of advice came from Sir Lala Shriram, Chairman of  Kirloskar Oil Engines, who suggested to Mr Kirloskar that the only way to survive in these tough times was to try one's hands at exports. It was at this point, sometime in 1952-53, that Mr. Bondre saw an opportunity to do something meaningful for the company and prove his mettle. He took the initiative immediately. "Can I start working on this idea of starting our exports?", he asked Mr. Kirloskar, who readily gave him the nod; and the rest, as they say, is history!

 C. R. Bondre (left)with Mr. S. L. Kirloskar at an event
circa 1970

In  1956, Kirloskar Oil Engines started its Export Department and Mr. Bondre was appointed as its Chief. From here, his real journey began, one which not only marked the entry of Kirloskar Oil Engines into the foreign market, but also marked the foray of Indian engineering goods abroad. As is well known, that was the era when India was an importer of manufacturing goods, technology and machinery, and an exporter of raw materials, semi-finished and agricultural products. It was indeed a great leap forward, one which if successful, could create history, if not, could spell doom! But as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave. Mr. Kirloskar gave complete freedom to Bapusaheb to develop the department the way he wanted, to plan ambitious policies and to see them through. The faith that Mr. Kirloskar had in the feisty C. R. Bondre has been well-documented in the former's autobiography, Cactus and Roses, as well as the latter's article series in Sampada.

Uptil 1956, while he was still the Secretary of Kirloskar Sons, Mr Bondre had travelled to New Delhi and Indonesia for the industrial exhibitions as Director of the stalls where Kirloskar products were exhibited. Later, he travelled to Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, trying to study their markets, finding distributors for diesel engines, and toiling hard to get the first orders for Kirloskar engines, and in these early times, was also fairly successful in getting them.

Bapusaheb shares an interesting anecdote of the first engine exported directly to the industrially and economically developed Germany! "Way back in the 1950s, sending engines out of India required permission from the Reserve Bank of India. Rules made during the World War II, were still the same, even as India had attained independence and had embarked upon the path of industrialisation, and the manufacture of diesel engines had already begun in India!", writes Bapusaheb. "That an engine of Indian make was to be exported to the extremely progressive Germany, that too in the industrial area, was something totally unimaginable and astounding for the Officer of the RBI!" 

In June 1952, while Mr. Kirloskar was on tour in Germany, a company in Dusseldorf had accepted to import from India, five engines of five horse power each on a trial basis. Immediately, he sent a telegram asking Mr. Bondre to send five engines for testing. He was himself going to be present there during the testing. "With great difficulty, I obtained permission from the authorities concerned to send engines to Germany and started preparations for sending them by air. Everyone in the company was very much excited and the entire staff, officers, engineers, supervisors and workers worked very hard to see that the Kirloskar engine emerges at par with the German made engine in efficiency and quality during the testing that was to happen at Dusseldorf. We did various tests at all stages and prepared every part with great care, and the engines scored well on each and every parameter. Everyone started feeling that the engines will now prove their efficiency at par with their German counterparts."

Mr. Bondre, however, was still not completely satisfied with the tests. He still had one doubt, and a very valid doubt at that. "We have tested the engines on all parameters, except one", he said to his Technical Advisor, "and that is the test of temperature! We don't know how these engine will fare in freezing temperatures as are common in the West!" It was then that the engines were kept in cold storage for 48 hours at the lowest temperature that the country had recorded till then! "48 hours passed, and the engines were taken out, and with all fingers crossed, they were started and they started with a bang and everyone present clapped with great excitement and contentment!" 

Mr. C. R. Bondre with Mr. S. L. Kirloskar and his wife 

in 1974, as Kirloskar engines were exported to England

Mr. Bondre decided to send the engines to Germany by Air India, as a symbol of national pride! He personally went to Mumbai and met the Officer in Charge at the Cargo Section of Air India. However, on learning of the packing size of the engines, the Officer said it wasn't possible for them to carry it. He also suggested to Mr. Bondre that the engines be dismantled for them to be able to carry them. Mr. Bondre came back disappointed that Indian engines, exported to Germany on their very first trip could not avail themselves of the services of the National Carrier. He then went to the office of the British Overseas Aircraft Corporation (BOAC) and narrated his problem and the officer there smiled, "We can carry an elephant! Just send your engines!" 

"And this is how the symbol of Indian engineering industry, the hallmark of the skill, expertise and hardwork of Indian engineers and workers, and a befitting example of the new creation of Indian business, the Kirloskar engine, took off to its foreign destination!"