AIMING FOR THE TOP

As part of the team behind Responsive Industries’ extraordinary growth during his early years in the business, Rishabh Agarwal has all the experience that it takes to lead the company from the front, as he is now doing.

- Joseph Rozario

As a business family, the Agarwals of responsive industries have come a long way from the ‘70s, when the group’s nonexecutive chairman rishabh Agarwal’s grandfather, Satyanarayan Agarwal, now 89, became one of the first entrepreneurs to bring power looms to india for his textile business. With changing times, the Agarwals switched to other lines of business such as chemicals, specialty threads and fabrics and then synthetic ropes in the late ‘80s. And then, in the early ‘90s, the Agarwals forayed into PVC flooring business as well. rishabh Agarwal, however, stepped into the family business in 2008, after graduating from Carnegie mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, where he studied mechanical engineering and business administration. he then worked for a year as a strategy consultant at Boston Consulting group, in Boston, USA, before returning home to join the family business.

Leading players

Coming back to responsive industries’ businesses, specifically the rope and PVC businesses, over the last 30-40 years, the Agarwals have entrenched themselves firmly to be counted among leading players in these sectors in the country. While the PVC flooring business, which also has synthetic leather as one of its products, is handled by responsive industries Ltd, the rope business operates under the subsidiary Axiom Cordages Ltd. Besides being the non-executive chairman of responsive industries, rishabh Agarwal is also involved in Axiom Cordages, and thus he plays key roles in both the companies.