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When Swraj Paul met Maruti's R C Bhargava, setting stage for India foray

Bhargava said he (Paul) and his team decided to bring themselves as a JV partner and Caparo Maruti was born in 1994

Swraj Paul
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While Bhargava and Paul preferred to have lunch together, they never met in any social do. And he never asked Paul about his earlier experience in India. He did not have too many business friends. | (Photo: PTI)

Surajeet Das Gupta New Delhi
It was in the early 1990s when R C Bhargava, then managing director of carmaker Maruti Udyog (now Maruti Suzuki), had a business meeting with industrialist Swraj Paul, a London-based non-resident Indian.
 
Paul was scouting around to make a foray into India after his bitter and hostile bid to buy Escorts and DCM failed in the previous decade and was exploring whether he could get into the components business with Japanese giant Suzuki, a shareholder in Maruti Udyog.
 
“I don’t remember the exact year but he met me because he clearly saw a lot of potential in the country and