The spicy tale of Haldiram's success

The Haldiram saga started when the family patriarch Haldiram started selling bhujia, a popular crispy snack, to the locals of Bikaner (Rajasthan) in 1918. Over nearly a century, the popular branded packaged foods company has expanded steadily both in India and overseas, in the process surviving family factionalism, changing consumer tastes, increased competition and US regulatory heat. Bhujia Barons is both a story of family intrigue including a murder plot, and the growth of Haldiram’s into a 5,000 crore business empire. The following is an edited extract from the book authored by Pavitra Kumar. Notorious stories of bribes, blackmail and bullying abound in Hindi films and are often heard of in the form of gossip in business circles that most ordinary people are not privy to. One is always curious to read about businessmen, and the lengths they are willing to go to expand their empires. These leave us with a sense of amazement that they pulled it off, indignation that they managed to get away with it, and a mixture of disgust and admiration that they had the mettle to actually think of such deeds and carry them out. Prabhu Shankar Agarwal was one such businessman. Over the years Prabhu had received a lot of bad press for myriad reasons. Where the press was concerned, he had more than earned his disrepute. The journey to Kolkata to meet Prabhu, Rameshwarlal’s eldest son, was fraught with nerves and trepidation. In Kolkata, he was notorious for his boisterous ways and for allegedly being unafraid of bending the law to achieve his goals. The man seemed to have a lot of clout in the state and the thought of meeting him face-toface and asking him difficult questions about his life and business, was daunting. Prabhu, the 56-year-old owner of the famous Haldiram Bhujiawala business in Kolkata, has gained quite a reputation in business circles in Kolkata and nationally. On 5 June 2005 Prabhu was arrested for allegedly attempting to murder a teashop owner in order to gain access to his land, which was directly in front of a food mart that he was building. The charge sheet was filed a year later. Prabhu was tried in a fast-track court, declared guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by judge Tapan Sen on 29 January 2010. Spending several months in jail, however, did little to affect his business. Haldiram Bhujiawala, under the guidance of this dynamic leader, has continued to prosper. Prabhu was the proverbial elephant in the room during every conversation with the Haldiram family. In spite of being far from Bikaner and Delhi, he seemed to be present in spirit among them through words both spoken and unspoken. While newspaper articles had portrayed this businessman as a murderous convict lacking scruples, one naturally expected family members to defend and justify his actions. But it was not so. In fact, the members of the family in Delhi and Bikaner were distinctly uncomfortable about questions on Prabhu and made no move to defend him. With rumours abounding, and having heard multiple stories about him, it would have been really easy to form preconceived opinions about the man. Howeve

This article was originally published on August 06, 2016.