Onkar Kanwar (born March 1942) is an Indian businessman, chairman of Apollo Tyres. He is also the chairman of Artemis Global Life Sciences, PTL Enterprises and Premedium Pharmaceuticals Pvt Ltd.

Early life

Onkar Kanwar is the eldest son of Raunaq Singh (1922-2002), the co-founder of Apollo Tyres, and his first wife.

Career

After his undergraduate degree in business administration and industrial engineering, Onkar worked as a salesman in

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working on estimates for different government contracts for about six months. He then worked for Abbey Etna Machine Company in

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on the shop floor. The president of Etna Company after discussions with the Kanwar family and looking at the perseverance of Onkar invested money to start a new pipe factory in India. Kanwar has grown Apollo Tyres from a small single plant Indian company into a multinational with seven plants worldwide, and annual revenues in excess of US$2.8 billion. In June 2013, it was reported that Apollo Tyres would buy US-based

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for about $2.5 billion in a deal that would make it the world's seventh-largest tyre maker, but the takeover collapsed after legal battles. Kanwar also owns specialty hospitals under the Artemis brand in northern India. Kanwar was the president of

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. History Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla and ...

for 2004-05. He is the chairman of the

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Business Council, India. which was established during the Fifth BRICS Summit held in March 2013 in Durban, South Africa. Kanwar is the recipient of an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for India, in the manufacturing category in 2012. In October 2018, Kanwar was awarded with ‘

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

’ of Hungary, in recognition of his work towards strengthening Hungarian-Indian economic relations through the company’s investment in Hungary, thereby helping create new jobs in Hungary In November 2018, Kanwar was conferred with Japanese honor '

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

', Gold and Silver Star. The honor, awarded by Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Lib ...

in the presence of

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, was in honor of Kanwar’s contributions towards strengthening the economic relations between Japan and India and for promoting Japanese companies’ entry into the Indian market.

Personal life

Kanwar is married and has three children, and lives in Delhi. His eldest child is his daughter Shalini who lives in Singapore. His elder son Raaja runs a clutch of businesses in the logistics and international trading space, and his younger son

Neeraj Kanwar Neeraj Kanwar (born 6 September 1971) is an Indian businessman. He is the vice chairman and managing director of Apollo Tyres. Education Kanwar was educated at St. Columba's School, Delhi and thereafter graduated in engineering from Lehigh U ...

is vice-chairman and managing director of Apollo Tyres.

Honours

Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Class, Gold and Silver Star (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanwar, Onkar Singh 1942 births Businesspeople from Delhi Living people People from Sialkot Indian billionaires Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class People named in the Panama Papers