interview2019 
Make In Odisha
In a state that doesn’t really have a culture of entrepreneurship, he stands out as a shining beckon. Tara Ranjan Patnaik, a first-generation entrepreneur who has built up his business empire from scratch, has blazed a new trail in a state that did not have too many names in the field of business to boast about.
Today, Falcon Marine Exports Private Limited, his flagship venture, is a name to reckon with internationally as the top marine products exporter in the country. The turnover has risen phenomenally over the years, reaching Rs … crores. But not one to rest on laurels,Tara Ranjan wants to make it a $1 billion company in the near future. Propelled largely by the stupendous success of Falcon Marine, seafood exports from Odisha has now emerged as a major area for exports, touching a whopping Rs 3000 crores by 2018-19.
Having earned his spurs in marine seafood export, he has now ventured into diverse sectors like steel, real estate and education and made a success of each one of them with his sharp acumen in sensing a business opportunity and an uncompromising commitment to quality in everything he does. It is a remarkable feat by someone who comes from a lawyer’s family in a small town and is just an Arts graduate. Not for nothing does this pioneering businessman describe himself as a ‘businessman by accident’!
For someone who has achieved phenomenal success in his chosen field, Tara Ranjan’s first foray into business was an unmitigated disaster. Prodded on by his friend and classmate J Rahmat, he ventured into the trawler business in the mid-1980s, buying four trawlers after taking a Rs 2 lakh loan from the Odisha State Financial Corporation (OSFC). But with little idea about how to run the business, his first venture failed badly and Tara Ranjan had to sell off his trawlers to pay off the loan.
Most people in such a position would have thrown in the towel and done something else. But far from being overwhelmed by the loss, Tara Ranjan stayed the course and began afresh. This time, he opted for the less risky area of procuring prawn directly from fishermen and supplying them to exporters. Having gained sufficient insight and experience into how the business works, he set up Falcon Marine Exports Private Limited, his flagship venture, in 1985.
After establishing Falcon Marine as the leading seafood exporter in the country, Tara forayed into the emerging steel business and set up Patnaik Steel & Alloys Limited in 2006 with an investment of Rs 200 crores.. He received a real shot in the arm when his son Parthajeet Patnaik, with an MBA degree from London, joined him in 2008. The same year, he set up an integrated steel plant in Joda, his home turf, at an investment of Rs 200 crores. Next on the line was Falcon Real Estate Private limited, the real estate arm of what had now become the large multi-business Falcon conglomerate. With a land bank of about 300 acres in and around Bhubaneswar, Falcon Real Estate has emerged as a trusted name in the sector within a short period.
But Tara Ranjan is much more than a highly successful entrepreneur. Having come up the hard way, he understands the need for employment in a poor state like Odisha. Falcon employs over 5000 workers. There is a philanthropist lurking inside the A list businessman. When the Covid 19 started wreaking havoc in the state , he was the first off the blocks and contributed Rs 1 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) and appealed to fellow entrepreneurs to chip in with generous contributions to go fight the pandemic.
There is no dearth of Odias who have made it in various fields. But Tara Ranjan belongs to that rare breed who has achieved enviable success in an area where there are very few success stories – and that too wirhout any business background. He is a true role model for aspiring entrepreneurs, not just in Odisha but in the whole of the country.
Written By : Dibyajit Sahu
