India Inc mourns Raunaq’s death

With the demise of Raunaq Singh, another era of first generation entrepreneurship is over. Leading chambers have condoled the death of Rauna...

With the demise of Raunaq Singh, another era of first generation entrepreneurship is over. Leading chambers have condoled the death of Raunaq Singh by saying that ‘his death is a loss to entrepreneurship committed to industry association movement in the country’.

CII president Ashok Soota said ‘he was a visionary and his various achievement will serve as a role model for many young people’.

Expressing similar sentiments, Ficci said Raunaq Singh, was a ‘visionary who demonstrated a strong commitment to serve the larger common good and devoted time to enlightened business pursuits’. It added that he was one of the pillars who gave a definite shape and content to the international working of Ficci. PHDCCI president Arun Kapur also deeply mourned his death and said ‘he was the icon of our times and the nation stands impoverished with his passing away.

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His contemporary in business and the chairman of Hero Honda Motors Ltd Brijmohan Lall Munjal said ‘he was a real visionary and he could foresee future opportunities. Though he didn’t have formal education, with his sheer business acumen he made it so big in business.’

Singh represented the first group of post-partition businessmen in the country. Though hailing from an ordinary background and starting as a steel trader, Raunaq Singh went on to establish the Raunaq Group of Industries with a turnover of $525 million, employing over 9,000 people and diversifying into new sectors such as infotech, pharmaceuticals and finance.

Assocham also condoled the death of Raunaq Singh and said he was one of the industrialists who built his empire from scratch. Assocham president R.K. Somany said Singh’s success has tremendously motivated the youths and has helped in industrialisation.