Sanjeev Bikchandani – Man behind India's first internet startup

Sanjeev Bikchandani today is one of India’s top richest persons with a net worth of Rs 18,750 crore.

Sanjeev Bikchandani grew up in a typical middle-class household. His father was a low-paid doctor at a government hospital, and his mother was a housewife. In 1984, he joined Lintas as an Accounts Executive after completing his Bachelor of Arts with a focus in Economics. 

Sanjeev worked there for three years before moving to Ahmedabad to complete his PGDM in 1987 at the Indian Institute of Management. In 1989, he was hired as a Product Executive by Hindustan Milk Food Manufacturers (HMM)- GlaxoSmithKline (at present). He was sent there to oversee Horlicks' marketing. 

It all started in 1990 when Sanjeev left his lucrative management job at Glaxo Smithkline, where he was earning Rs 8,000 per month (which was great back then). The first ten years after he left his employment, he said, were the most hardest.

Sanjeev had seen that during his time at HMM, his colleagues (and companies) would often turn through Business India, a popular business magazine at the time, to look at the 35 to 40 pages of appointment ads shown in the magazine. They did it to keep their firearms loaded, not because they were unhappy with their occupations. They used to read the magazine from cover to cover. That's when he realised there was no single source for job postings.

They created Naukri.com in 1997 with 1,000 ads gathered from various sources. It was a resume, employment, and recruitment consultant database. It was intended to be a meeting place for job seekers and hiring managers. In 2004, the company had phenomenal growth, earning Rs 45 crore from new advertisements and earning Rs 8.4 crore in earnings. Naukri made headlines in 2012 when it joined the mobile market and released its first mobile app for smartphone users.

He is now one of India's wealthiest people, with a net worth of Rs 18,750 crore.

Recognition 

1. Sanjeev was named "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young (2008).

2. In January 2020, he received the Padma Shri Award, India's fourth-highest civilian honour.