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