Biting the Bullet
Bhargav Sundaram had always dreamt of a career in motorcycles. As the grandson of K.R. Sundaram Iyer, one of the visionaries who floated Enfield India Ltd, it’s not surprising! Bhargav grew up test-riding Enfield bikes, including the iconic Bullet, checking for acceleration, mileage, braking and stability until circumstances changed, and Enfield was sold to the Eicher group. This put an end to his hopes of joining the family business. Though he didn’t have the resources to start a motorcycle manufacturing facility, Bhargav was fascinated by the working of engines. This bent of mind and his hunger to lead an innovative entrepreneurial venture, motivated him to start a manufacturing unit for electric bicycles. He named the enterprise Callidai Motor Works, as an ode to his ancestral village – Kallidai Kurichi.
The Turning Point
Bhargav’s keenness to be seen as a trailblazer comes through in our conversation with him. “Even if I had to shut shop I wanted to be known as a pioneer in the field. Right from our products to our suppliers, I wanted everything to be different right from the word go. People with restricted mobility constituted 50% of our workforce. In fact, when the going got tough for the electric cycles business for Callidai, they were the ones to suggest an interesting alternative!” he reveals. Their physically challenged employees felt the need for a powered wheelchair that could simplify life for them. “At that point even hospitals had only manual wheelchairs and there were no sophisticated options available for the general public,” adds Priya, Bhargav’s charming, efficient wife and a great support on his entrepreneurial journey. Convinced that there was a market for powered wheelchairs, a prototype was created and tested at Callidai by their own employees with disabilities.
On the Right Track
With positive reviews from the test users, Callidai was ready to go-to-market with a brand new product. In 1998, true to Bhargav’s dream of being a pathbreaker and with Priya’s unstinting support, Callidai Motor Works became the first manufacturer of electric wheelchairs in India! “We thank our first few customers for trusting and choosing us,” says Bhargav. “Once Callidai delivered, they started believing that we could make any equipment to aid them. The requests kept coming. They wanted the wheelchair customised to suit their individual needs, to use in at home in their bedroom, kitchen and toilet. The designs ranged from wheelchairs convertible to beds, to moving seats to even a standing wheelchair too, to help paraplegics.”
Gaining Traction
With such customised orders, we wondered about product development and business feasibility. Bhargav agrees that it was very difficult initially and each order would result in material wastage and a number of iterations before delivery. With a thorough understanding of motors and electronics over the years, they have cut down turnaround time. They use various permutations and combinations to make the product now. Yet one size does not fit all. “You can see many different models being constructed at any given point in time in our factory. We see every new product we develop as an investment that may be commercially viable in the future. Though we have delivered over 25,000 wheelchairs, each of them has been customised to meet the special needs of our individual customers. ‘One product for all’ is not an option in what we do,” says Priya.
Negotiating Curves
Apart from regular wheelchairs they have designed and delivered over 300 unique ones over the years. Feature-rich wheelchairs need to be designed from scratch. “For an artist without arms, we’ve designed a wheelchair she can operate with her toes. For a customer who crawls for instance, we’ve designed a wheelchair with a seat that moves right down to the floor,” elaborates Priya. The design team also needs to study the spaces where the wheelchairs would be used including the width of the lift. “In the early days we had developed a wheelchair only to find that it wouldn’t fit into the customer’s lift! So we spend a lot of time understanding customer requirements before we begin work. We speak to caregivers, family members and physiotherapists to get a holistic understanding of the problem that needs to be solved,” she adds.
Scaling is just one of the many challenges that Callidai faces. “I would have made at least a hundred presentations to VCs when I started off. No one could understand the potential of the segment and even if they did they were not willing to back it. So we are completely bootstrapped. My family, including my mother, wife and sister, has put in a lot of money to make my dream come true. Even after 26 years of being in this business and making it a success, investors still look at it as a startup,” says Bhargav ruefully.
What has kept them going through the many ups and downs in their business? “When we see a highly specialised product that we’ve built accepted by the customer, the joy is immeasurable! The change we’ve made possible in their lives reenergises us. I am not running a business, I’m living my dream! And I’ve been lucky to have Priya by my side through this unpredictable, challenging journey. Between the two of us, I’d say she has easily contributed to more than 50% to the business for over 20 years now!” says a grateful Bhargav.
Driven by Purpose
Bhargav can be described as an adventurer, an explorer with crazy risk taking abilities. He was the first person to race a Maruti Suzuki at the Sholavaram races. Yet, his word of advice for startups is to keep going and work for the long term. “Most of the startups today are building to sell at the first available opportunity! Businesses should be built for the long term with some social content built into them. When a business is built to impact it earns the respect of the media, the government, banks and the public too. So it’s important to be driven by a larger purpose!” While helping the disabled is at the core of their business at Callidai, those who cannot afford a wheelchair are also helped through the Wheelchair Trust of India which is supported by family and friends. “We don’t give the wheelchairs free of cost but subsidise them heavily. We realise that if given free, customers abandon the wheelchair at the slightest setback. But when they’ve paid even Rs.5000 for a Rs.50,000 wheelchair they’ll bring it back for repair,” shares Bhargav.
Reaching for the Stairs
Callidai’s impressive list of products today cater to a wide cross-section of customers across the country : powered wheelchair, manual wheelchair, van lift, swimming pool lift, wheelchair lift, vertical lift and ramps. Through persistence and commitment they have steadily built a variety of offerings in the niche they have identified. Their focus for the future though is on one particular segment: The stair lift business. As a line requiring minimal customisation most of which is built in, Bhargav and Priya believe this line will be easier to scale up. They hope to sell 100 stair lifts a month pan-India by March 2026. We wish Callidai Motor Works the very best to keep making a difference.
