Kartar Singh Thakral
Inaugural Excellence Award For Outstanding Entrepreneurship
Among the titans of Singapore, Kartar Singh Thakral stands out in the Indian community’s business fraternity. Rightfully, Thakral found a respectable place in the book ‘Not Born in Singapore — Fifty Personalities Who Shaped the Nation’ published in Nov 2015, by the Institute of Public Studies at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
In 1951, Kartar Singh, at the age of 19, was sent by his father Sohan Singh Thakral, a successful businessman in Bangkok to join his cousin Ajit Singh in Singapore. After about a year, Ajit was called back to Bangkok, and Kartar Singh was now on his own, given the responsibility to expand the business in Singapore. His father dreamed that Singapore would one day be the group’s headquarters, and Kartar Singh worked tirelessly to achieve that. He attributes his success to the practical lessons learnt from his father, uncle (Amarnath Thakral), and his elder siblings (Harbans Singh Thakral, Kuldip Singh Thakral and Cousin Ajit Singh Thakral).
From a small business outlet dealing with wholesale textile trading, in the corner of High Street where the Treasury Building currently stands, the family has successfully expanded the business to 25 countries and now runs a diversified portfolio of businesses.
A savvy businessman, Thakral turned a small local textile offshoot of the family into a roaring multinational empire. Though these defining moments were challenging, the patriarch of one of Singapore’s greatest business stories confesses with a smile that he enjoyed every moment of it. In his philosophical musing, he labels challenges as something to be relished for they are life’s best lessons.
However, it was what he did in the 1960s that took Thakral to the celestial choirs of fame and reverence. Most in the commercial and political world thought of it as heresy – at a time when many nations were eager to shun China and Russia over their political nihilism, Thakral forged enduring pacts with ‘Chinese Resources Ltd’. Apart from scoring a coup with Japanese textiles, the intrepid in Thakral sought distribution rights for Russian textiles which were in great demand by mass-market consumers in the region then.
The growth of Singapore also meant that the time was right to make a decisive move to make the city-state its regional headquarters in the mid-70s. The growth of his responsibilities now also meant the doubling of his determination to widen the company’s geographical reach. With the intention of expansion and diversification, the visionary Kartar Singh started bringing in professionals in the top levels of management across the group. Thakral started hand-picking professionals himself, and always tried to hire people who had complementary skills. Even today, many of Thakral’s businesses are run by teams of professionals, though the key policy and strategic decisions continue to remain in the domain of the Thakral family members.
In no time, the name of Thakral was on everyone’s lips. Soon there were bigger things to come. The company went public in 1994 and it was the first group company to cross a market capitalization of a staggering US$400 million.
Moreover, there was more to come. By acquiring a portfolio of seven major hotels in Australia, Thakral Group effectively became the largest foreign owners and operators of hotels across Australia. Thakral is every bit a real estate genius. Thakral Group Holdings Ltd(THG), then a listed company on Sydney Stock Exchange, had a portfolio of Hotel and real estate assets valued at over A$1.064 billion in 2012, when it was delisted. THG was regarded by most as being among the top hospitality and real estate players in Australia.
Today, Thakral’s business activities span across diversified interests, which include, but are not limited to property investment and development (across Singapore, Australia, India, and Japan, to name just a few countries), consumer electronics, IT products and services, technology consulting, yarn manufacturing, high-end garments, retail and distribution of lifestyle products, Apple retail outlets across the region, luxury timepiece showrooms in Indochina and Myanmar as well as auto-parts manufacturing in as far as Eastern Europe.
In 1995, Kartar Singh was awarded the ‘Businessman of the Year award ” and Thakral Brothers was ranked the ‘Top Private Company’ in Singapore in the first ever ‘Enterprise 50 List’ by Andersen Consulting and The Business Times. The Business Times wrote: “Being ahead has always been the name of Kartar Singh Thakral’s game”.
His achievements were also well recognised by the Singapore Government. In 1995, the Minister of Trade and Industry appointed him on the board of directors of the then Singapore Trade Development Board for a period of four years. He was also nominated as amember of the committee to promote enterprise overseas, as well as a member of Regional Business Forum.
Thakral’s alluring trait is his unassuming and humble demeanour. There is not the slightest trace of haughtiness. Rather, his identity is a function of divinity and guidance from his father which have counselled many of his decisions.
His contributions to business were also acknowledged by the Singapore Australian Business Association which conferred on him the SABC President’s Medal in 1998.