Many of the formidable private security firms including Tops Security Guards approached the government with a plea to eradicate this monopolistic and unfair act. These select security agencies were not given a hearing forcing them, to resort to the Honorable Courts of India for justice. The Supreme Court of India directed the Government of Maharashtra to conduct a special scrutiny of the private security firms in question and grant exemption to the companies/firms who were paying wages, allowances and benefits higher than the Security Guards Board for Greater Mumbai & Thane District.

After a long, tedious and pain-staking audit, 29 firms in Mumbai & Thane district including Tops Security Guards was given exemption from this act and legally allowed to conduct security business in Mumbai. Thus in the year 1990, these 29 companies were given the license after a long nine years of fighting and they all joined under the banner "Association of Exempted Security Guards Agencies".

The legal battles cost our business tremendously, the 'fight to survive' drained the resources and the reputation & brand of Tops was at stake. From being amongst the top security firms in Mumbai, Tops was relegated to a firm with a meager business of only 4 Lakhs a month and minimal or no market position at all. The private security industry as a whole had collapsed and the sick Tops needed a miracle to save it from being shut down. It is at this crucial juncture in mid 1991, that our young, dynamic and charismatic leader, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda took over the reigns of the company.

Enter Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda - Circa Mid 1991

Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda, prior to taking over the reigns of Tops was involved in managing and running a 1st class Chinese cuisine restaurant in Mumbai, called TUTKUKS. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda had to become a restaurateur by default as when Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda was 15 years of age, his father met with a paralytic stroke thereby rendering him bed ridden for over a year. Being the only son without any siblings, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda had to face the world of business headlong, when most of his peers were yet deciding what stream of education they intended to pursue. With a vision to excel in the business and become the best, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda invested his time and energy in learning the nitty-gritty's of the restaurant business.

When Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda took upon his onus the running of the restaurant business, he met with stiff external and internal resistance. Owing to mismanagement, the restaurant owed huge debts in the market and the quality of food, service and customer management was deplorable. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda set upon himself the arduous tasks of revitalizing the restaurant and increasing the business. At the time of entry, the business of Tutkuks was averaging approximately INR 10,000 per day. Within a period of six years, Tutkuks started averaging INR 1, 50,000 per day and grew by leaps and bounds to become amongst the top Chinese cuisine restaurants in Mumbai. The hallmark of the restaurant became the quality of food, personalized service and customer delightment.

Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda realized that the hospitality industry was not where he wanted to see himself in the future. In six years he realized the constraints of the hospitality business. Limitations of space and capital were a reality of this business. To make a successful career in the hospitality industry, besides professionalism, quality management and personalized servicing, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda realized, that he needed a huge capital to invest in new facilities, which, he did not have.

After a lot of soul searching and introspection, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda decided to enter the virginal service industry, which besides being more challenging for an extrovert and an aggressive man like Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda, had no space and much capital impediments as the restaurant business did. After examining and exploring various servicing industries options such as public relations, advertising, real estate broking, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda decided to revive the ailing family business of private security. The vision of becoming the best and proving his mettle in the servicing industry drove Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda to take-up the reigns of Tops, which was now at its lowest ebb. As a visionary, he saw a great potential for growth of the security business in India and he also realized that in order to stand out amongst the crowd of security agencies, he had to be different. Totally and radically different. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda was aggressive, self-confident and restless; taking-up the sick company in his hands and resurrecting it was the kind of challenge that excited him.

Another very important factor that led Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda to take this major risk of closing down the existing business of TUTKUKS and taking over the challenge of reviving the ailing Tops, was the thought that through this enterprise, he would be able to do more than just business; he would be able to fulfil a social cause by recruiting unemployed but able youth and feeding thousands of families which, TOPSGRUP is commendably doing today. The thought, the vision, the feelings of paying back to the society of Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda have led TOPSGRUP today to feeding and securing over 80,000 mouths in all parts of the country.

Being a born leader and a farsighted visionary, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda knew that with the advent of multinationals into India and the opening of the economy, the future of this industry was extremely bright. Only the attitude of the industrialists and decision makers towards this industry had to be changed. With the extensive damage caused by the unprofessional 'fly-by-night' operators to this industry at large, it was extremely difficult to change the outlook but not impossible.

Armed with nothing but a vision, a 2nd hand Jawa motorcycle and a monthly stipend of Rs. 600 p.m., Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda set out to compete in an industry dominated by players who openly violated laws, considered illegitimate business practices as healthy and who strongly endorsed 'strong arm' tactics. Perhaps, it may have been still easier for a 21 year young man to start a company as a 'Green field' venture but to rebuild a company and that too in an industry with no recognition, was certainly very difficult. Wherever Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda went for discussions, prospective customers always posed certain questions at him; the main ones being "Why should we opt for Tops and make a change-over from our existing security agency?", "You say you are a 22 years old company but we have never heard your name?", "Where all are you rendering your services?" and "Do you have any solid references to back your claims?". All these impediments further strengthened his belief to prove that Tops will one day emerge to become the top security company in India.

Some of the major hurdles faced by Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda were:

• The biggest impediment faced by Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda was that there was no industry per se. It was just not about selling the services of Tops or trying to increase the brand equity but trying to educate and increase the awareness of the security industry at large amongst the consumers and to make them desire a professional, ethical and quality conscious security provider.

• Nearly all the existing security players were working in an unethical manner and were openly flouting government norms like minimum wages, contract labour act, bonus act, provident fund and ESIS acts, etc. In an environment where competition was grossly undercutting and charging rates without consideration of the rules and regulations, it was difficult making customers accept professional rates that were higher than the rest.

• The concept of "Chowkidaars" existed and change was not accepted with ease. When Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda decided to do away with the standard olive green and khakhi uniforms so prevalent in the industry and replace them with colourful and bright uniforms, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda was chided upon by customers and peers alike. With a lot of persuasion and convincing skills, was the change effected and is today being endorsed by all security companies in India.

• The security industry is akin to the essential services of the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and the Police and as such, unionism in such essential services is not healthy. At the time of taking over Tops, unions were flourishing and nearly all security companies were unionised. 

Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda resented to recognizing an union as he believed that if he looks after his men well, remains absolutely transparent in his business working and eradicates politics from the work environment, unionism will not be required and would die a natural death in Tops. 

With a mere turnover of 58 lacs and 83 employees, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda set out to compete in an unorganized industry in an organised manner. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda wasted no time. He knew he had to revitalize the company, its employees and he had to work towards gaining respectability for the industry as a whole. He had to bring about changes and fast. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda vowed to offer quality service through trained and motivated personnel, run the business in an absolute transparent manner, pay its employees on time irrespective of whether the customer has paid Tops on time or not, comply with all government statutes and be accountable and answerable to all its customers. Ensuring 100% customer delightment, being innovative, establishing industry benchmarks and increasing the brand equity of Tops became Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda's mission.

Today, TOPSGRUP is the only pan Indian Security group in India employing over 65,000 employees and yet being union free.

Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda brought much more to Tops than just brand reputation and market share. He brought with him a spirit of innovation. A spirit that heralded Tops as the undisputed leader in the Indian Security Industry and the industry spokesperson in all facets of media. Today the TOPSGRUP brand is internationally recognized and respected amongst the peers and customers alike. The Advertising & Marketing Magazine (A&M 2001) recognized Tops as the NUMBER ONE brand in the security industry.

Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda's maverick approach to being the best, produced many innovations unheard of in the Indian Security Industry. Some of these innovations have been established as the industry benchmarks today. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda believed in setting standards for others to emulate and leading by example. Today, the services of TOPSGRUP match requisite international standards. Throughout its existence, TOPSGRUP has consistently adhered to a clearly defined purpose and a well-thought-out strategy for accomplishing it.

Besides adopting innovative and untried security and business management techniques and ideas, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda is credited with spearheading 13 industry FIRSTS in the country

At TOPSGRUP, the power of Technology is well exploited. Inspired by the technological advancement in the world and the necessary requirement of technology to improve efficiency and productivity, TOPSGRUP has developed a highly advanced web enabled software from a large software development house that assists the top management in MIS, on-line accounting and tracking & monitoring of our thousands of customers & employees across the length and breadth of India.

The newly launched website is in itself a prime idea of innovation. This website besides being truly exhaustive about company information, also educates the viewers on the latest international security trends and global risks such as narco-terrorism, bio-terrorism, cyber-terrorism, etc. Following the power of Transparency, this website displays the balance sheets of the company and the PF, ESIC, Service Tax and Professional Tax challans scanned on line. Besides it also has on-line reporting features, availability of our ISO 9001:2000 manuals in a readable & non downloadable mode with password protection, chat rooms, shopping for Tops services, products and memorabilia on-line and all features an international advanced website can boast of.

TOPSGRUP is perhaps the only security company who can claim of employing non-unionized guarding personnel throughout India. In the kind of business which we are in, it is very essential to employ the right man for the job and to keep him motivated and free of corruption. Every Topsman prior to induction has to be verified by the local police authorities and has to then undergo a training program ranging from 7 days to 27 days as a part of their career pathing.

Another strong USP of TOPSGRUP is that today whatever it has achieved or become in the last decade, is without any external borrowings. Today TOPSGRUP is proud to be a totally debt free company. The organisation has grown from 'what it was' to 'where it is' today only because Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda always believed in ploughing back all the profits of the company back into the company itself. At times, when consultants meet us for some management discussions or projects or we appoint new internal auditors, they stand quite amazed at our financial achievements and the way we effectively manage our finances.

Another reason for such a strong financial backbone is that we at TOPSGRUP have always remained focused on our core business of security and the funds have never been used for diversifications into any other business areas like entertainment, hospitality, etc. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda strongly believes in focusing on core competencies and investing wisely in his own company. At times, when people ask Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda whether he dabbles in stocks and to their amazement he replies in the affirmative by saying "Yes I do!! I invest in TOPSGRUP"