SPEED, DESPITE THE BUMPS

NIRMAL KUMAR MINDA HAS SPENT NEARLY 50 YEARS NAVIGATING UNO MINDA THROUGH MANY A STORM AND COMING OUT ON TOP.

- BY RISHI KANT

PERSEVERANCE, PATIENCE, and adaptability make up the secret sauce responsible for the success of Nirmal Kumar Minda, the executive chairman of Uno Minda. A veteran of India's auto ancillaries industry, Minda has spent nearly half a century toiling in the space and navigated the licence raj, the entry of Japanese OEMs, liberalisation and deregulation of the industry, and the Covid-19 pandemic. “For me, every adversity has presented itself as an opportunity,” he says. Adversity is not new to Minda, who joined the family business—then called Minda Industries—at just 17, after his father spread himself thin running the business, which took a toll on his health. From a single factory in Delhi’s Wazirabad, the company now operates 75 facilities worldwide, expanding the footprint of a business that began from a workshop in Kamla Nagar in New Delhi, where it was established by Shadi Lal Minda, Nirmal Minda’s father, in 1958.

From revenues of ₹2 crore in 1982, the company has grown to ₹16,775 crore in net sales in FY25, with a three-year CAGR of 26.4%, and a PAT of ₹943 crore, with a three-year CAGR of 38.4%. Currently, the market capitalisation of the auto and ancillaries major—listed on the exchanges since 1996—is around ₹71,056 crore.

However, the three ingredients of Minda’s success have been put to the test in the past five years, as the industry navigated the Covid-19 pandemic, one supply-chain crisis after another, and more recently, being subjected to sectoral and reciprocal tariffs. “The learning from all these challenges is never to give up. For every problem, you need to have a solution. These kinds of challenges require a cross-functional team within the group, and as a leader, you must motivate the employees,” Minda says.