But the first question at his exit interview dampened the spirits of the IIM-Lucknow alumnus, who was then 26 years old. “Tu kitna bana lega (how much will you make from this brand)?” asked a senior human resource (HR) official. The condescension towards an upstart was perhaps understandable. Despite a global buyout by Adidas in 2005, Reebok still lorded over the India market. “Who knows Puma here?” asked another HR honcho. “It won’t even be a ₹50-crore brand in five years.”
Ganguly was shaken. “I believe it’s a great brand and the Indian market needs it,” he said politely. It was clear that the historic rivalry between Germany’s Dassler brothers was about to play out in India. The duo founded sports shoe company Gebruder Dassler OHG in 1924 until, 24 years later, when the elder sibling, Rudolf, parted ways to start Puma. A year later, in 1949, younger brother Adolf (Adi) founded Adidas.
In India, Puma came after Adidas, and began with a modest revenue of ₹22 crore in 2006. Reebok by then had an imposing top line of ₹354 crore, ahead of Adidas at ₹186 crore and Nike at ₹99 crore.
This story is from the March 13, 2020 edition of Forbes India.
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This story is from the March 13, 2020 edition of Forbes India.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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