Father-son duos who have successfully established multi-crore business empires together

They say a father’s emotions are often unexpressed, but his care and support remains a pillar of strength for children throughout their life. Children often look up to their father and aim to accomplish their dreams but there are also many who have gone on to build on a dream with their father.  

On this Father’s Day, SMBStory curates a list of five father-son duos who have been successful in building business empires together.

Bikanervala

After the partition in 1947, Lala Kedarnath Aggarwal moved to Delhi from Bikaner to earn a livelihood, and started selling traditional sweets and savouries in a trolley in Chandni Chowk. His hard work and luck favoured him and the business soon took off. In a short while, he started a small tuck shop as ‘Bikaner Namkeen Bhandar’ in the same area, offering namkeens and snacks. 

In due course, the establishment gained recognition as ‘Bikanervala’ and became popular for delivering bikaneri bhujia and other foods of authentic Indian flavours. In 1965, Lala’s son, Shyam Sundar Aggarwal, joined the business to expand Bikanervala across and outside the National Capital Region. He also launched the packaged food brand- Bikano. 

Building on the legacy of Bikanervala, third-generation entrepreneur Manish Aggarwal joined the business in 2000. He says Bikano wasn’t making very big money and the turnover was very less. After entering the business, Manish helped his father to open up to more markets and acquire an exports licence. 

Bikano now offers different varieties of namkeens, cookies, sweets, papad, syrups, and flour-based foods like matthi and samosa. It has over 270 domestic SKUs and more than 320 international SKUs, with frozen foods forming the backbone of its exports business. It exports to 45 countries, including the US and the UK.

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Tops

In the early 80s, when the demand for Chinese food grew in India, BM Seth started GD Foods out of Rs 20,000, manufacturing noodles in a small facility in Delhi to meet the Chinese food demand in northern India. 

He formed the brand Tops and witnessed that in a matter of a few months, the demand for Tops noodles increased among households. In the mid-90s, the brand also zeroed down on pickles that were highly accepted by Indian consumers. 

Following his father’s footsteps, Nitin Seth joined the family business in 1996, a time when globalisation was setting in, and the adoption of western culture was rising among Indian citizens. He saw the rise of the breakfast category in the food industry, and he soon seized the opportunity by introducing jams, cornflakes, and instant mixes to bolster Tops position in the breakfast segment.

In 36 years, the brand has launched a plethora of SKUs, including jellies, custard powder, cake mixes, choco flakes, among others. Tops’ products are available in over 1.5 lakh retail outlets pan-India, raking in Rs 300 crore annual turnover. 

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Aakash Institute

JC Chaudhary, started Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL) in New Delhi by imparting lessons to a batch of 12 students to clear their medical exams. Out of the 12, seven cleared the test and this achievement earned JC praises.

Having worked in government schools and colleges in his early days, JC was familiar with the quality of education students were getting. He realised that they were not prepared to crack high-stake examinations.

In 2006, his son Aakash Chaudhary started working with AESL and was responsible for starting the operations in Mumbai. Recalling his past days, he says in the new set-up, many teachers had quit and he was left alone to read out chapters from books to the students. 

Started as a small coaching centre in Janakpuri, New Delhi, in 1988 with just 12 students, AESL has built careers of lakhs of students in a span of 31 years. The institute now clocks an annual turnover of Rs 1,200 crore.

Aakash currently manages all the business operations of AESL with JC actively participating in the core business decisions. 

In April 2021, Byju’s completed the acquisition of AESL Following which JC Chaudhry and Aakash Chaudhry, and Blackstone Group stand to become shareholders in BYJU'S, whose valuation is nearing $15 billion. 

Ekki Group

Founded by P Arumugam, KK Veluchamy, and MS Sundaram, Ekki Group was launched as Deccan Pumps out of a small workshop with only nine workers, manufacturing submersible pumps for farmers. 

Gradually, the small group diversified into manufacturing other products such as jet pumps, submersible motors, centrifugal monoblocs, borehole submersibles etc.

The company also underwent several changes as Arumugam acquired the group completely and became the sole owner in 2013, which paved the way for a larger holdings company called EKKI Group, which comprises four companies: Deccan Pumps, Deccan Enterprises, EKKI HOMA and EKKI Pumps. 

Today, the company is handled completely by Arumugam and his son, Kanishka Arumugam, who affirms that EKKI has evolved from being just a pump manufacturer to a water technology company.

According to financials available in the public domain, The consolidated revenue of the company is about Rs 100 crore. 

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Jaipur Rugs

After taking suggestions from a friend to try his hand in the carpet industry, Nand Kishore, borrowed Rs 5,000 from his father to launch Jaipur Rugs in 1978.

Beating the challenges and struggles of the caste system prevailing in Rajasthan, to facing a robbery, and bearing the financial crisis of 2008-09; Jaipur Rugs has come a long way. Nand Kishore’s son Yogesh joined the business at the age of 19 in 2006 and the duo together took off the business so much so that today the company employs more than 40,000 weavers and artisans from 600 villages across the country. 

Jaipur Rugs exports to over 60 countries, including the US, Japan, the Middle East, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, etc. 

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