Apollo's Wheel of Fortune

The Rise of the Phoenix: The Apollo Tyres Story promises to be an insider's account of the business and marketing strategies that enabled Apollo Tyres to rise from its ashes like the Phoenix, having been singed first by the Licence Raj and then the navigational hurdles the economic reforms of 1991 posed for homegrown manufacturers. Author GANGADHAR UDAYAN DRAVID succeeds in penning credible business history

- OJASVITA TRIVEDI

TITLE: The Rise of the Phoenix: The Apollo Tyres Story AUTHOR: Gangadhar Udayan Dravid PUBLISHER: Not mentioned PRICE: Not mentioned PAGES: 345

APOLLO TYRES IS AMONG the homegrown wonders of India that have grappled with and survived, first the Licence Raj and then the transitional challenges of liberalisation of the Indian economy in the 1990s.

It has then, like many other successful Indian enterprises of its era, grown wings and spread its operations across the world. Apollo is among India's leading tyre manufacturers in a rather crowded marketplace. Apollo Tyres' “consolidated revenues from operations across geographies” as declared on the company website, grew three per cent during the financial year 2024-25 to reach Rs 26,123 crores. The company declared a hefty dividend.

The story of Apollo Tyres' meteoric rise from a struggling tyre manufacturer of the 1970s, battling the challenges of the Licence Raj and labour unrest to evolve as a global giant, has already been told by Tim Bouquet in his 2016 book, The Man Behind the Wheel: How Onkar S. Kanwar Created a Global Giant. Gangadhar Udayan Dravid's new book The Rise of the Phoenix: The Apollo Tyres Story, therefore raises curiosity. Are there perhaps, hidden cobwebs in a corporate closet that now need dusting?