In Top Gear

“I had finished my higher Secondary Examination at 5pm on a Friday evening and had a holiday in mind. The next morning, however, my mother beckoned me and asked me to start helping out in the family business. This was way back in 1966,” recounts Ravi Poddar, the chairman of Ravi Auto Group, a nearly 50-year-old conglomerate that has had diverse interests in real estate, non-banking finance and paint manufacturing, apart from its core automotive distribution business. “Most businesses go by their family name but I decided to lend my first name to my company and the building out of which we are headquartered, as most people know my flagship automobile business as ‘Ravi Auto’,” he explains.