Not learning Hindi was a Rs 1 lakh crore loss: Aircel founder C Sivasankaran's honest confession on Ranveer Allahbadia's podcast
In a rare, no-excuses moment of introspection,
Aircel founder C Sivasankaran
opened up about the regrets that still weigh on him, not missed deals or market crashes, but two brutally simple things: not learning Hindi and not moving to Delhi, Mumbai or even Chennai. Speaking on the podcast with
Ranveer Allahbadia
, the telecom veteran admitted that these mistakes early in his career may have cost him the fortune of a lifetime.
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'If I had learned Hindi, I would have attracted all 140 crore Indians,' he said. 'And if I had moved to Delhi or Bombay when I was younger, I would have definitely made Rs 1 lakh crore.'
Sivasankaran, who built
Aircel
at the age of 24, described how he made his first Rs 12,000 from a fabrication job, and never borrowed again in his life. 'I've never taken even Rs 100 in personal capacity,' he said. 'I don't want to take loans, I want to attract money. And when you do that, money flows.'
Aircel founder
C. Sivasankaran, better known as "Siva," is a serial entrepreneur and one of India's most unconventional business minds, known for spotting market inflection points long before they became mainstream. He began his business journey in 1985 with the acquisition of Sterling Computers from Robert Amritraj. At a time when personal computers were considered luxury items, Siva disrupted the industry by offering PCs at just Rs 33,000—far below the competition, catapulting Sterling into the ranks of India's top three computer firms.
But it was in telecom where Siva made his boldest bets. In 1992, he secured a five-year contract with
MTNL
, then a state-run
monopoly
in Mumbai and Delhi. His foresight told him that telecom would soon open up to private players. In 1999, Chinnakannan Sivasankaran founded Aircel from his native village of Kovilur in Cheyyar taluk, Tiruvannamalai district, Tamil Nadu. Starting with operations in Tamil Nadu, Aircel quickly grew into a dominant player in the region, becoming the market leader in the state. The company also expanded its footprint across key telecom circles in Odisha, Assam, and the North-East, establishing a strong presence in underserved markets.
Under Sivasankaran's leadership, Aircel carved out a niche in the competitive telecom space by focusing on regional strength and consumer affordability. However, after failed merger talks with Reliance Communications, the company struggled to sustain operations and eventually, it filed for bankruptcy.
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