Neeraj Kanwar (born 6 September 1971) is an Indian businessman. He is the

vice chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

and

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Apollo Tyres.

Education

Kanwar was educated at St. Columba's School, Delhi and thereafter graduated in engineering from

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, US.

Career

Kanwar started his career with a training stint at

American Express Bank American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation specialized in payment card industry, payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Man ...

in New York City. He thereafter returned to India and started Global Finance Ltd, a

non-bank financial institution A non-banking financial institution (NBFI) or non-bank financial company (NBFC) is a financial institution that does not have a full banking license or is not supervised by a national or international banking regulatory agency. NBFC facilitate b ...

which shut after three years. In 1985 Kanwar became the third generation of his family to join Apollo Tyres, which was launched by his grandfather Raunaq Singh and later taken over by his father Onkar Kanwar. His first position in the company was in the sales team. In 2002, Kanwar took over daily operations from his father. Kanwar is the force behind Apollo's international acquisitions. When the company announced its acquisition of

Dunlop Tyres Dunlop Tyres is a brand of tyres which is managed by different companies around the world. It was founded by pneumatic tyre pioneer John Boyd Dunlop in Dublin, Ireland, in 1890. The brand is operated by Goodyear in North America (passenger c ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in 2006 it simultaneously announced Kanwar's elevation as the company's Managing Director. The company later sold most of its South African operations to Sumitomo Rubber Industries in 2013, retaining one plant in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. In 2009, under the aegis of Kanwar, Apollo bought out Vredestein Banden in the Netherlands, thus giving the company a foothold in Europe. Apollo bought ''Reifencom GmbH'' in Germany in 2015, giving it access to distribution channels across Europe. After a failed takeover attempt of

Cooper Tires Cooper Tire & Rubber Company is an American company that specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing, and sales of replacement automobile and truck tires, and has subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck, motorcycle, and racing tires. W ...

in 2013, Kanwar decided to focus on organic growth by investing in new greenfield facilities in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, India and

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Hungary. The Hungary plant was inaugurated in 2017.

Personal life

In partnership with Amit Burman (vice chairman of

Dabur Dabur Ltd is an Indian multinational consumer goods company, founded by S. K. Burman and headquartered in Ghaziabad. It manufactures Ayurvedic medicine and natural consumer products, and is one of the largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) ...

), Kanwar bought an Italian restaurant called ''Scalini'' in London in 2014. Kanwar and Burman met during their University days in Pennsylvania and remained friends. Apart from his business activities, Kanwar serves as the vice chairman of the

British Asian Trust The British Asian Trust was founded in 2007 by Charles III, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and a group of pre-eminent British Asian business leaders. The Trust works to tackle the widespread poverty and hardship in South Asia to which mil ...

in India, a charity founded by Prince Charles. Neeraj Kanwar is the second son of Onkar Kanwar and has an elder brother, Raja. He married Simran Kanwar and they have two children, son Jai Karan and daughter Sayra Taru. In 2013, he relocated to London to focus on the attempted buyout of Cooper Tires. Though the deal did not work out, Kanwar settled in London to focus on Apollo's international operations and better manage its international investors. Kanwar resides in London's Mayfair neighbourhood.* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanwar, Neeraj Living people 1971 births Businesspeople from Delhi