Meet India’s Newest Billionaire Who Started With Just Three Workers, Worked With Sachin Tendulkar, And Now Owns A Company Worth Rs 95,500,000,000
If you’ve been skimming through the business pages lately, one name has started popping up everywhere — Shrikant Badve. His company, Belrise Industries, has become the latest darling of Dalal Street. The
stock has been on a stunning run, soaring over 80% since listing, and in the process, quietly pushing Badve into India’s ever-growing billionaire club. But what’s drawing attention isn’t just his net worth. It’s the story behind it — an engineer who refused to stop dreaming and, with his hard work and dedication, ended up working alongside Sachin Tendulkar while building one of India’s biggest automotive component companies. Sounds like a film? Right?
How It All Started: 1 Workshop, 3 People, and a Relentless Dream
Every great business story starts with dreams that look impossible, but few start like Shrikant Badve’s did. In 1988, while most of his colleagues were still chasing stability and steady jobs, he decided to take a risk. With literally three workers, he set up a tiny unit called Badve Engineering in Pune. The resources were limited, space was small, and the machinery was basic — but what Badve had was self-belief. However, this electronics and telecommunication engineer, had a clear vision: Build a company that could produce world-class automotive components. Later, he worked on his leadership skills with management training from IIM Ahmedabad.
Belrise: From a Small Garage to a National Powerhouse
Over the next three decades, the workshop grew, evolved, and eventually transformed into Belrise Industries, one of India’s leading names in the auto component sector. Today, the company supplies critical systems and metal components to some of the country’s biggest two-wheeler, passenger car, and commercial vehicle manufacturers. From that tiny three-person unit, Belrise now operates 17 advanced manufacturing facilities across India and employs over 8,000 people. The company’s turnover has crossed Rs 7,000 crore, and it holds nearly a quarter of the Indian market for two-wheeler metal components.
A Shared Platform with Sachin Tendulkar
Now here’s where things get interesting. Shrikant Badve isn’t just confined to business conferences and boardrooms. He’s also part of the Magnetic Maharashtra initiative, a flagship state programme that promotes industrial growth and investment. And he shares that space with none other than Sachin Tendulkar and Madhuri Dixit, who represent Maharashtra’s excellence in their respective fields.
The Billionaire Who Thinks Beyond Money
What makes Shrikant Badve different from the typical billionaire story is that his wealth is almost a by-product of his purpose. After 35 years of building, leading, and learning, he now owns 59.56% of Belrise Industries — that’s around 53 crore shares, worth nearly Rs 9,550 crore. But those who’ve met him say he’s remarkably grounded. He believes that companies thrive when people do, and he has built Belrise on that belief. Over the years, he’s led the company into green manufacturing, integrating sustainable practices and safety-driven innovations into production. He’s known for walking the factory floors, talking to engineers, and keeping an open ear to new ideas. It’s that hands-on leadership that has helped Belrise maintain its agility even as it scaled up.
A Mentor, Not Just a Magnate
Outside Belrise, Badve wears several hats — and all of them involve shaping the future of Indian industry. He serves on the Economic Advisory Council to the Government of Maharashtra, is part of the Board of Governors at IIM Jammu, and has been honoured multiple times for his contributions to entrepreneurship and innovation. Awards have come his way from both Indian institutions and international ones like the Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance. Yet, by all accounts, he’s not someone who flaunts them. Colleagues often describe him as quietly intense — someone who would rather discuss new manufacturing methods than talk about market valuations.
What His Legacy Really Means
When you trace Shrikant Badve’s story, what stands out isn’t just the scale of his success — it’s the spirit of it. He started with nothing fancy, built slowly but surely, and kept faith in Indian engineering excellence when many others looked abroad for inspiration. Today, his company is valued at nearly Rs 95,500 crore, but what that number really reflects is decades of work, resilience, and belief in people. Badve represents a new kind of Indian billionaire — not born into wealth, not obsessed with visibility, but driven by purpose. His story shows that ambition, when paired with patience and ethics, can build something that lasts far beyond market cycles.