He is driven by the constant pursuit of excellence in everything that he undertakes and that's his biggest inspiration. SK Arya, Chairman of US$1.2 bln JBM Group, has meticulously curated the organisation that he established, on the pillars of excellence since its very inception. "I consider people who have stood by me over all these years as my biggest strength. That has resulted to this success story today. It has been a learning and wonderful journey with them right from the start," he says.

Arya started his journey in 1983 by setting up a new venture, JBM Industries (formerly known as Gurera Gas Cylinders Ltd) as his first entrepreneurial venture which is one of the leading suppliers to Indian oil & gas companies. With the advent of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the foresighted Arya spotted the big opportunity in this sector and in 1986 he collaborated with MSIL to form a joint venture company called Jay Bharat Maruti Ltd (JBML). This was just the beginning and soon the JBM Group was also working with clients Ford, Mahindra, Honda, VW, and so on covering all major auto OEMs.

Of course, as Arya himself says, a business without challenges is not a business. "Challenges are core to business functioning and we have been able to address these challenges very effectively at every stage of the JBM journey." He knows that India is a cost sensitive market and that's exactly where the challenge arises. "Being economically viable and qualitatively superior is a constant norm we have to meet to be competent in the market today. We have been successfully able to adopt lean manufacturing processes to minimise the cost to a significant extent that has given JBM Group an edge over other players in the industry. We have also proactively been able to sense the future requirements of our customers well in time with regard to technology, innovation and systems and have incorporated the same to be consistently in sync with the customers' expectations," he says.