Mysuru's NR Group Adding Fragrance To Society
Karnataka Today|October 2017

The story of the N R Group of Mysuru and its Founder N Ranga Rao is inspiring. It’s not the typical “rags to riches” story but it comes close. His dedication, hard work and entrepreneurship qualities stand out in this story of grit and determination penned by R. Uday Kumar.

R. Uday Kumar
Mysuru's NR Group Adding Fragrance To Society
With the untimely demise of his father, NR Group Patriarch, N Ranga Rao was faced with the responsibility of raising a large family from a very young age. He had to work hard to earn a living in Coorg. In order to enhance his income, he started providing tuitions for his classmates and even seniors. When he was just 11 years old, he started selling biscuits to augment his income. This attracted his peers to the business and he faced competition. But his competitors didn’t bargain for Ranga Rao’s inherent business acumen. He attracted customers to his wares by providing peppermint along with the biscuit and beat the competition. That tradition continues as the third generation of Raos who now run the business seem to have inherited his business acumen. 

Like most people in those days, Ranga Rao too started his career, working in a coffee estate which is the lifeblood of the Kodagu District. But he was not satisfied with his employment. The entrepreneur in him urged him move on to other things. After independence, in 1948 he felt the time was right for him to start something on his own. Together with his family which included his seven sons Guru, Murthy, Vasu, Sridhar, Krishna, Venkatesh and Mohan, he moved to Mysuru with his modest savings of Rs:500. He started his success story trading in various products and then saw an opportunity in the Agarbathi industry.

Ranga Rao was a man of great vision, foresight and dreamt of building a value-driven business. Early on in life he realized the value of a brand and branded his incense sticks Cycle, which has the same meaning in all Indian languages. The logo also had a picture of a bicycle to match, and thus was born a brand which symbolised honesty and true value for money.

This story is from the October 2017 edition of Karnataka Today.

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This story is from the October 2017 edition of Karnataka Today.

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