Where Kalam was beckoned

There is more to N R Puri than advanced research.

Nathu R Puri has come a long way. From studying in a school where rains spelt holidays, he is heading the UK headquartered Purico Group, which runs businesses worth $750 million.

He is also the man behind the prestigious Indian Institute of Advanced Research, set up near Gandhinagar through the Puri Foundation floated by him.

Inaugurated by President A P J Kalam recently, the institute "will look after needs of both pure and industrial biotechnology. Maybe we will soon find a solution for diseases like Parkinson's," he says hopefully, adding that he wants the institute to be the best in India and also to find its rightful place in the global arena.

Hailing from a small village Munnapur near Chandigarh, Puri began life by doing various odd jobs like truck driving to working in mines. "I was literally living in the truck. Once you start driving, you cannot sit tight at one place," he says.

After graduating from Punjab University, Puri did a one year crash course in air-conditioning and refrigerator repairs and then joined F G Skeritti in UK.

"I was soon succeeding where others weren't. Maybe their approach was more methodical," says Puri. He left the company in 1975 only to acquire it in 1983.

He started the Puri Foundation in 1987 with £1 million which now generates an income of £400,000 annually. "Since I cannot run business in India from a distance, I always wanted to give something back to my country," Puri says.

He has also initiated the single teacher school concept in collaboration with AKR Vidyalaya. "Like the Green Revolution in Punjab, we need another such revolution for education," he says.

As far as commercial ventures go, Puri has a strong presence in China. Cadmus "" the largest company in his group "" has a paper factory in China. He also has three hotels in China and one in UK, in addition to plastics, steel, paper and engineering services business.

"We are the largest producers of scientific, technical and medical journals in the world with a 43-44 per cent share," he says. The group employs about 7,000 people across its offices in UK, Germany, Hungary, Malaysia, China, Poland, Russia and Mexico.

Puri intends to retire in some time and "spend a bit more. I don't want to leave too much money behind for my son," he quips. Now, that's a novel thought.