Apollo Tyres tread a tough path to success The tyre manufacturer rolled out a range of innovative products to power through a crucial crisis From being a company whose founder Raunaq Singh reportedly wished to dispose it of for just ₹1 at one stage, Apollo Tyres has grown to become the second largest tyre manufacturer in India. Raunaq Singh was an entrepreneur who shifted base to India after partition. After some initial struggle to make ends meet, he started a successful spice business in Kolkata. As fate would have it, a serendipitous encounter with a German businessman led to his establishing the ‘Bharat Steel Pipes,’with German funding, in Kolkata.