Some people inherit success. Some build it from scratch... Satyanarayan Nuwal belongs firmly to the second category - a man whose journey from a small village in Rajasthan to the helm of a global industrial giant is rooted not in privilege, but in perseverance. After all, not many industrialists can say they once slept on railway platforms because they could not afford rent. “I am an ordinary man,” Satyanarayan Nuwal Founder and Chairman Solar Industries India Ltd., says candidly while talking to VikasVaidya,Principal Correspondent,The Hitavada in this episode of The People’s Mic. Even today, despite immense success, he remains strikingly grounded. Hindi is the language he is most comfortable speaking. English was never his priority, and formal education never became the measure of his ambition. When he walks in, you are struck by his simplicity. There is no exaggerated flamboyance, no chest-thumping over his remarkable achievements during the two-hour session that we had with him. He comes across as a soft-spoken entrepreneur who still speaks like a man who remembers every difficult night life made him endure. Taking us down memory lane, he traces his period of struggles.

 

“My father was a Patwari, and my grandfather owned a small kirana shop. Ours was the smallest shop in the area, but the busiest and the most popular. That’s because of the way my grandfather treated his clientele - with immense respect,” says the down-to-earth gentleman, who started helping his grandfather when he was in the 5th standard. And it is from here that his real education started. “I learnt humility, I learnt how discipline plays a role in one’s life,” he adds. And at that moment one wonders at his remarkable growth trajectory - from a quiet obscure village in Bhilwara to building one of India’s largest explosives and defence manufacturing companies. As he takes us through moments of his life, one realises that real education is imparted by one’s struggles in life. “I dropped out of school, I did not even pass my Xth standard,” he stays.

 

That’s because his interest lay in business than in textbooks. When he was 13 he took a Guru mantra, and an year of his life he spent with his Gurudev in Mathura. And it is here that he learnt the value of patience. “That patience helped me survive the toughest phases of life.” When a couple of businesses that he dabbled in failed, he travelled to Ballarshah in 1977 looking for work. Failures did not weaken his resolve.What life had taught this young boy of 18 was that hard work always pays. “I had no money, no contacts, no security. I couldn’t even afford to pay Rs 3 as rent for staying in a lodge. And so it was the platform of the railway station that became my bedroom, and the canteenwala at a coal field was kind enough to give me food every day. I have seen days when survival itself looked difficult,” he says candidly, without trying to sugar coat the struggles that perhaps played a great role in honing him. After all, a diamond is honed by pressure and polished by perseverance, much like a person is shaped by challenges and experiences. Ballarshah was known for its explosives units, and here the young boy of 19, already married, lapped up everything that his astute mind could gather.

 

The turning point is his life was meeting Abdul Sattar Allah Bhai, who owned an explosives magazine licence but was no longer interested in actively running the business. Having realised the immense potential that this business had, Nuwal grabbed the opportunity.“But I had no licence, no warehouse, no capital. After negotiating with Abdul Bhai, who I think was a Godsend, I started the explosives business.” And slowly but steadily the business grew. “This journey was also a learning experience for me,” he says, adding that he learnt every aspect of the industry. History tells us that risk-takers are the ones who make a name for themselves in the world, and he took immense risk which paid off. “But discipline plays a great role and there are no short cuts in life or business,” is the core belief on which he had built his business empire. Today Solar Industries India Ltd., whose foundation stone was laid in Nagpur in 1995 is a thriving enterprise - the largest manufacturer and supplier of explosives to 90 countries, with a global presence. He didn’t want to rest upon this success.

 

He wanted more, he wanted his business to ultimately serve the nation. And this led him to take the plunge in defence manufacturing. “I was warned by many not to take a risk for this sector was government space.” However, he was perturbed by the fact that the nation was importing 70% of its defence products. “This is a precariously vulnerable situation for an independent nation to depend entirely on imports.” And thus began the Solar Industries India Ltd’s foray into the defence sector, and he will forever remain indebted to PM Narendra Modi, who, after interacting with Nuwal, was on the same page. This new venture also came with its ups and downs. “We faced failures. We faced doubts. We faced resistance,” he admitted. “But we never compromised on quality.” And today the world is aware of the efficacy of Pinaka rockets, multimodal grenades, Nagastra, BrahMos, drones that the Solar Industries is manufacturing and supplying. “Our vision is to emerge as a global leader in the manufacturing of industrial and military explosives and an innovative solution provider with a focus on safety, quality and reliability,” says Nuwal, whose deep-rooted conviction of credibility, competency and capability has played a huge role in the company’s growth. “If people cannot trust you, nothing lasts.

 

Competency means constantly learning and improving. And capability means being prepared to deliver when responsibility comes,” he avers. Technology, he believes, is another non-negotiable aspect of survival. “You cannot stay relevant without evolving,” he said. “The world changes rapidly. If you stop modernising, you get left behind”. Yet, despite heading a multinational corporation, Nuwal’s strongest emphasis remains on values. “Moral values and commitment matter, and success without ethics has no meaning,” is the statement that he repeated often during the interaction. Here was a man who had built a business empire from scratch, yet he spoke more about responsibility than wealth. “Business organisations have a social responsibility,” he said. “You cannot grow while ignoring society around you. Growth should contribute to communities and the nation.”

 

That philosophy, he explained, continues to guide Solar Industries even today. Today, Satyanarayan Nuwal’s estimated net worth stands at over USD 6.5 billion, and he features on the Forbes Billionaires list. But beyond the numbers, it is his simplicity that continues to leave people impressed. No dramatic speeches. No corporate polish. Just a quiet determination and unwavering resilience. “ I always believed that honesty, hard work, and patience can take a person very far.” And perhaps that faith is what truly built his empire. For more insights about the future of defence, technology, and innovation in India watch the full conversation on The Hitavada’s YouTube channel, @TheHitavada1911.