The Hindu Business Line : For Tulsi Tanti, it's 17th time lucky

Pune May 25 If there were to be a brand ambassador for the Never Say Die spirit, it would have to be Tulsi Tanti. The man from Rajkot who tried his hand at several businesses, including the family business of cold storage and construction, jokes that wind energy was his 17th attempt at business.

A ready reckoner on the person cannon balled from obscurity to the top of the super entrepreneurs' A-list (all in three years' time) would read something like this: 49-going-on-50, suffused-with-energy, jet-lag defying, alcohol-shunning workaholic whose only high comes from work. An addendum would include: Earthy, unassuming and laconic with a wry sense of humour. Ask him, as someone did, where he lives, and be prepared for "mostly in the aircraft''.

And if you really probed his other interests, don't be surprised if you drew a blank.

Fourth richest

Till yesterday, he was said to be worth $3.7 billion and billed the fourth richest man in the country. Today, with the Suzlon share spiralling, he is undoubtedly worth more. The runaway success and his projected bank balance notwithstanding, Tulsibhai (as he generally addressed) and three younger brothers Vinod, Jeetendra and Girish and their respective families live in adjoining rented apartments in one building in one of Pune's up-market localities.

They own no aircraft, flaunt no assets and stay quite clear of the glitterati circuit. The families make a ritual of having dinner together every night at one of the brothers' homes, and though Tulsi is an inveterate globetrotter who travels over 200 days a year, he makes it a point to be part of the annual family vacation to an exotic destination.

Suzlon's birth

If the Rajkot-based family came to call Pune `home', it was a case of default more than design. Around 1995 Tulsibhai discovered that his textile business in Surat was not taking off, largely because of the severe shortage of a primary resource - power. That was when the idea of developing wind energy took shape in his mind and Suzlon was born. A couple of years' on, the Maharashtra Government announced what a company insider calls as a "path breaking wind energy policy'' and set the stage for the genesis of a mega-star on the business circuit.

The Tantis moved to Maharashtra, put up a wind farm with a 250-MW potential at Vankusavade in Satara district (three-hours' drive from here), and decided that all-things considered, Pune was the most favourable location for headquarters. They operated out of a modest office at Yerawada, and added space as they added value. Today, though they have a global business centre in Europe, a Suzlon campus at Hadapsar is still in the blueprint stage.

Gujarati, the lingua franca at Suzlon, remains the language of comfort for Tulsibhai who holds a commerce degree and a diploma in mechanical engineering from the Rajkot College. In addition to his formal degrees and his business sense, his associates say he has a mind that thinks at least three years ahead. In the Corporate jungle, it is the quality that separates the men from the boys.

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