Winning all the way

They lived very close to the border. War was imminent. Exchange of gunfire was very loud and near. Finally they decided to leave their hometown and traveled all the way to settle down in Chennai (then Chenna
Patnam). 

"It was pre-Independence period and the year was 1947, my grandfather decided to leave Jodhpur (Rajasthan) fearing war and settled down in Chennai with the family. Our only source here were some relatives who had settled down here much before us. We came here with some money to start a finance business," says Nitesh Bhandari, Partner of the family-run business--Texonic Instruments. Today, the Jain family has emerged as one of the key business-families in Chennai and Texonic Instruments is a leading name in the industrial electronic components and IT business, with a turnover of over Rs 35
crore.

Soon after moving down here, Nitesh's grandfather started a finance business mainly for imported cars and also got into trading of cars. However, Mahaveer Bhandari (Nitesh's father) was more interested in studies and took up engineering course in electronics from MIT-Chromepet. Doing graduation in engineering, Mahaveer started practicing assembling components on a printed circuit board for radio and industrial devices. This gave birth to Texonic Instruments in 1967. The 35-year old company stands strong today in the market with offices and showrooms in Chennai, Bangalore and
Coimbatore.

Nitesh Bhandari, the key person of Texonic's IT division, was born in 1974. Nitesh had his elementary schooling in Adarsh Vidyalaya in Royapettah. "I studied only upto fourth standard here and moved to Asan Memorial in Egmore from fifth standard. Being there up to eight, I decided to take up hostel life," he said. So Nitesh's father put him in the boarding school at Kodaikanal. Nitesh completed his higher secondary from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kodaikanal. He says, "Life in hostel has taught me many things. First the discipline, second self-reliance, third kindness and more. I have picked up a lot of lessons from being there."

One thing which Nitesh couldn't forget in his hostel life is jumping across the hostel compound wall to watch a movie (Night Show). He and his friends got caught with the hostel warden on returning from the movie and they were severely warned for such practice.

Nitesh came back to Chennai in 1991 to join college here. He got admission in BA Corporate Secretaryship in DG Vaishnav College. "Although I had a liking for accounts subject, Math was not too interesting to me. Overall, I am an average performer in studies," he said.

Before Nitesh could support his father in business, Naveen Bhandari, the elder brother of Nitesh, got into the company activities of Texonic. So, Nitesh, who always wanted to do something different, had the idea of doing some business related to the music industry, because of his basic interest in music. However, his father and the family wanted him to get into their own traditional business. Agreeing to it, he joined his family team and he was managing a showroom located on Mount Road.

In 1995, Texonic went for a major diversification and it tied-up with AT&T and D-Link for IT and telecom products. As Nitesh was the key person behind this move, he started taking up the whole responsibility and, IT and telecom business was given to him. "IT was a new ball game altogether for Texonic and it was quite challenging. Today, IT contributes close to 75 percent of the total turnover of Texonic," he claims.

Nitesh who is active in business maintains a healthy personal life. Recalling his younger days, he says, "I was hardly 18 years old when I met my wife at the Rajasthan Youth Association (RYA). Both our families are members in the association." 

Nitesh got married in 1995 and now has a two-year old son, called Anish, whom he dotes on. "I love spending time with my family but business does not permit it. However, I manage to go on a vacation at least once a year to new places. I love visiting new places and exploring new terrain both in India and abroad," he added.

Nitesh aims to make Texonic a leading name in South India and says customer satisfaction is the key to success in business.