In the year 1970, Major(Retd.) R.C. Nanda, the Vice Chairman of the company, took voluntary retirement from the Indian Army & established a proprietorship firm called Tops Security Guards (TSG). The firm started conducting its business in an era when private security was unheard of. Slowly & steadily the firm grew on to become a leader in the security industry in the city of Mumbai & Ahmedabad.
Many of the formidable private security firms including TSG approached the government with a plea to eradicate this monopolistic & 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 & grant exemption to the companies/firms who were paying wages, allowances & benefits higher than the Security Guards Board for Greater Mumbai & Thane District.
After a long, tedious & pain-staking audit, 29 firms in Mumbai & Thane district including TSG were given exemption from this act & 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 & 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 & the reputation & brand of TSG was at stake. From being amongst the top security firms in Mumbai, TSG was relegated to a firm with a meager business of only 4 Lakhs a month TSG minimal or no market position at all. The private security industry as a whole had collapsed & the sick TSG needed a miracle to save it from being shut down. It was at this crucial juncture in mid 1991, that our young, dynamic & 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 TSG was involved in managing & 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 & become the best, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda invested his time & 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 & internal resistance. Owing to mismanagement, the restaurant owed huge debts in the market & the quality of food, service & customer management was deplorable. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda set upon himself the arduous tasks of revitalizing the restaurant & 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 & grew by leaps & bounds to become amongst the top Chinese cuisine restaurants in Mumbai. The hallmark of the restaurant became the quality of food, personalized service & 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 & capital were a reality of this business. To make a successful career in the hospitality industry, besides professionalism, quality management & 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 & introspection, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda decided to enter the virginal service industry, which besides being more challenging for an extrovert & an aggressive man like Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda, had no space & much capital impediments as the restaurant business did. After examining & 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 & proving his mettle in the servicing industry drove Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda to take-up the reigns of TSG, which was now at its lowest ebb. As a visionary, he saw a great potential for growth of the security business in India & he also realized that in order to stand out amongst the crowd of security agencies, he had to be different. Totally & radically different! Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda was aggressive, self-confident & restless; taking-up the sick company in his hands & 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 & taking over the challenge of reviving the ailing TSG, was the thought that through this enterprise, he would be able to do more than just business; he would be able to fulfill a social cause by recruiting unemployed but able youth & feeding thousands of families which, TOPSGRUP©SM is commendably doing today. The thought, the vision, the feelings of paying back to the society of Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda have led TOPSGRUP©SM today to feeding & securing over 45,000+ mouths in all parts of the country.
Being a born leader & a farsighted visionary, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda knew that with the advent of multinationals into India & the opening of the economy, the future of this industry was extremely bright. Only the attitude of the industrialists & 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 h& Jawa motorcycle & a monthly stipend of Rs. 600 p.m., Dr. Diwan Rahul Nandaset out to compete in an industry dominated by players who openly violated laws, considered illegitimate business practices as healthy & 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 & 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 TOPSGRUP©SM & 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?" & "Do you have any solid references to back your claims?". All these impediments further strengthened his belief to prove that Tops Security Limited©SMwill one day emerge to become the top security company in India.
Some of the major hurdles faced by Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda were:
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 Security Limited©SM or trying to increase the brand equity but trying to educate & increase the awareness of the security industry at large amongst the consumers & to make them desire a professional, ethical & quality conscious security provider.
Nearly all the existing security players were working in an unethical manner & were openly flouting government norms like minimum wages, contract labour act, bonus act, provident fund & ESIS acts, etc. In an environment where competition was grossly undercutting & charging rates without consideration of the rules & regulations, it was difficult making customers accept professional rates that were higher than the rest.
The concept of "Chowkidaars" existed & change was not accepted with ease. When Dr. Diwan Rahul Nandadecided to do away with the standard olive green & khakhi uniforms so prevalent in the industry & replace them with colourful & bright uniforms, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda was chided upon by customers & peers alike. With a lot of persuasion & convincing skills, was the change effected & 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 & the Police & as such, unionism in such essential services is not healthy. At the time of taking over Tops Security Limited©SM, unions were flourishing & 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 & eradicates politics from the work environment, unionism will not be required & would die a natural death in Tops Security Limited©SM
With a mere turnover of 58 lacs & 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 & he had to work towards gaining respectability for the industry as a whole. He had to bring about changes & fast. Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda vowed to offer quality service through trained & motivated personnel, run the business in an absolute transparent manner, pay its employees on time irrespective of whether the customer has paid Tops Security Limited©SM on time or not, comply with all government statutes & be accountable & answerable to all its customers. Ensuring 100% customer delightment, being innovative, establishing industry benchmarks & increasing the brand equity of Tops Security Limited©SM became Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda's mission.
Today, TOPSGRUP©SM is the only pan Indian security group in India employing over 45,000+ employees & yet being union free.
Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda brought much more to Tops Security Limited©SM than just brand reputation & market share. He brought with him a spirit of innovation. A spirit that heralded Tops Security Limited©SM as the undisputed leader in the Indian Security Industry & the industry spokesperson in all facets of media! Today the TOPSGRUP©SM brand is internationally recognized & respected amongst the peers & customers alike. The Advertising & Marketing Magazine (A&M 2001) recognized Tops Security Limited©SM as the No. 1 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 & leading by example. Today, the services of TOPSGRUP©SM match requisite international standards. Throughout its existence, TOPSGRUP©SM has consistently adhered to a clearly defined purpose & a well-thought-out strategy for accomplishing it.
Besides adopting innovative & untried security & business management techniques & ideas, Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda is credited with spearheading 19 industry firsts in the country.
At TOPSGRUP©SM, the power of technology is well exploited. Inspired by the technological advancement in the world & the necessary requirement of technology to improve efficiency & productivity, TOPSGRUP©SM has developed a highly advanced web enabled software from a large software development house that assists the top management in MIS, on-line accounting & tracking & monitoring of our thousands of customers & employees across the length & 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 & 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 & the PF, ESIC, Service Tax & Professional Tax challans scanned on line. Besides it also has on-line reporting features, availability of our ISO 9001:2008 manuals in a readable & non downloadable mode with password protection, & all features an international advanced website can boast of.
TOPSGRUP©SM 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 & to keep him motivated & free of corruption. Every Topsman & Topswoman prior to induction has to be verified by the local police authorities & 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©SM is that today whatever it has achieved or become in the last decade, is without any external borrowings. Today TOPSGRUP©SM 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 & the way we effectively manage our finances.
Another reason for such a strong financial backbone is that we at TOPSGRUP©SM have always remained focused on our core business of security & 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 & investing wisely in his own company. At times, when people ask Dr. Diwan Rahul Nanda whether he dabbles in stocks & to their amazement he replies in the affirmative by saying "Yes I do!! I invest in TOPSGRUP©SM"
