IN 1981 A COMPANY WAS formed that, quite unbelievably, led to the creation of a modern car industry in India. The company was Maruti and its experiences have relevance far beyond the car industry, extending to the entire manufacturing segment. Its success is all the more remarkable as Maruti started out as a public sector company but with a Japanese partner, an almost certain recipe for failure given the cumbersome bureaucratic procedures and socialistic ideology that were prevalent. Moreover, the component industry needed to support its ambitious plans-100,000 cars annually-was fragmented and technologically obsolete.
Today India has become the third-largest automotive market in the world and a major exporter of cars. Maruti itself ranks among the biggest manufacturers and is set to double its capacity to 4 million cars by 2030. As R.C. Bhargava, who has been with the company from its inception, emphasises, Maruti’s learnings apply not just to one industry but, more crucially, to India’s growth aspirations. Manufacturing is the cornerstone of these, making Impossible to Possible one of the most important books to come out on the subject of management and development.