02 Feb 2023
Story Of An Auto Driver Who Became The King Of Transportation Industry
You may have heard the quote which goes, “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” Which truly represents the life of Mr Pyare Zia Khan.
There are tons of stories in which people say that they got success overnight. Still, nobody sees the struggle, hard work, the sleepless nights and the morning before the sun a person experiences for becoming an overnight success. It took 20 years for Mr. Pyare Khan to become “an overnight” success to which he always strived for.
The story is about a fruit seller who changed the flow of his destiny and beyond that. Pyare Zia Khan, who made his first earning by selling oranges at the Nagpur station, currently runs one of India's leading transport companies, Ashmi Road Carriers, which has a turnover of 400 crores. From selling oranges to getting appreciation from the Prime Minister of the country, the journey consists of many things so let's unfold this tale of his life.
Early Life:-
The story starts from the struggle of life; Pyare khan used to live with his parents and 3 siblings in the slums. His father used to go to the village and sell clothes while his mother had a small grocery shop. The earnings were only enough to get them the food twice. So in the summer breaks, when there was nothing, he spent the whole day doing various jobs, selling oranges, cleaning carts and many other things. He was saving Rs. 50-60 daily, but that was not enough. After failing in the 10th standard, he decided not to study because his family's condition was not allowing him to study further.
The Turning Point of Life:-
Things changed when he got his driving licence and started working for a courier company, but he had to leave that job because of an accident in Odisha when he was 18. After recovering from the accident in the late 1990s, he started driving a rental auto, but after a while, he realised that if he got a new auto, he would save more money. So, with his mother's help, who sold her jewellery for 11,000, Pyare Zia Khan purchased his first vehicle. But people who want to do something big in life will not stick to a thing for the rest of their life.
Pyare Khan used to play Keyboard in the melody makers group of Nagpur, so one day he thought that they always rent a bus for the programme tours. Pyare asked his boss,“if I buy a bus will you pay me for driving it and taking the group to the venues”? The YES word from his boss turned that auto into a bus. Pyare Khan sold his auto for Rs. 42,500 in 2001 despite getting a negative response from his mother. After that, the struggle to buy a bus started; he took money from some relatives, some given by the boss, and some were taken from the bank as a loan. Finally, he bought the bus, but that could not last long in his life.
The New Phase:-
Pyare Khan then decided to buy a truck in 2004; he decided to get a loan from the bank but living on the side of the city where people could not afford food three times, it was pretty hard to convince the bank for the loan. It took him one year to get the job done, but life is not an easy task for anyone. After some time, the truck met with an accident. It was disastrous, and everyone told him that he would not be able to get back the truck from the site. Still, after all those setbacks, he decided to get the truck repaired, admitted the driver into the hospital and made the bank understand his circumstances.
Pyare Khan started driving the truck again, took projects of the places where everyone used to refuse, and took consignments to Jammu and Kashmir, North-East. As a result of this willpower, he won the trust of the companies. After working for a year and having 10 trucks under his name, he decided to register his company and rest his history. After that day, he never looked back.
Never Ending Ambitions:-
There was a time in Pyare Khan’s life where he could not complete his studies and left the 10th standard unfinished, but the crave to do more never stops. In 2017 he completed his 10th as he wanted to open two fuel stations. You can not stop someone who is always honest towards himself and his work. He opened the biggest petrol pump of the area on a 2-acre land.
In 2018 when the automobile sector was watching a decline phase, he placed an order of 100 trailers of Mahindra & Mahindra; Anand Mahindra himself facilitated Pyare Zia Khan with the M-Power award. Earning money is not the only thing Khan has in him; from being an ordinary truck driver to having a company worth 400 crores in 2020, he still wants to create more jobs because this is what the country wants. He still believes that he wants to contribute more to the society and the people and mainly to the country.
The IIM and Beyond:-
From being an ordinary driver to having 300 trailers under his company’s name, for his exceptional dedication he got many awards, Even IIM conducted a study on his model. He said, “when they said IIM wanted to talk to me. I don't even know what IIM is”. But the professors were astonished by his wisdom which is not conventional and questioned every aspect of business from him and he tackled and answered them very easily. He is truly an entrepreneur who got all knowledge from his experiences. They said he has mapped all the works in his mind and has taken calculative decisions, his intuitive mindset helps his plans to get executed.
People’s Entrepreneur:-
When the country was going through a challenging period of the Covid19 virus, and oxygen supplies were affecting the whole nation Pyare Zia Khan was the man who stood up and created a passage spending Rs. 1 crore to provide the LMO( Liquid Medical Oxygen) to Nagpur and Vidarbha. The Government Of India praised his work, the Prime Minister of our country, Anand Mahindra, and many VIPs applauded his work.
Present and Future of Ashmi Road Carriers:-
Ashmi Road Carriers now has clients like Tata Steel, Tata Power, Jindal Steel and many more, and the work is not stopping; the company has started transporting the goods outside of the country like Nepal and Bhutan. His target is to make this company a 1000 crore turnover company, and he is working in that direction very hard. To take the business to new heights Pyare Zia Khan is working on the cargo-shipment business, and wants to add more businesses.
The overall truck industry has 3 big players and transports the total freights of 65000 tonnes, Ashmi Road Carriers contributes 80% in it. Khan has developed a good business model in which they have an in house service station by which they save huge money. He said, “ We save in large by stocking the fast moving parts and servicing the vehicle by self rather than getting an annual contract. Moreover none of our trucks are older than 5 years we sales them before they require high maintenance,”
The life story of Pyare Zia Khan, from being a fruit seller to becoming the person whom the Prime Minister praises was not easy; we can not become the next Pyare Khan. Still, we can take his learning about life and apply it to our daily routine. Success waits for hard workers, we need to knock on the door till it does not open for us.
You may be stuck in a phase where things look bad, then you can take inspiration from these stories and be back at the grind. Early failure in life can not decide who you are going to be, do not let these small things demolish the targets you have in your mind.
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