While Mr. S Moolgaokar (SM) was the Producer-Director of Telco’s amazing automobile script, the lead actors comprised of Rao Sahib N Annaswamy (NA) as its General Sales Manager and Mr. Hans Stoehr (HS) as Divisional Manager of the Auto Division. They constituted the impressive triumvirate with SM as its ‘head’, NA as its ‘heart’ and HS as its ‘hands’.

In the initial stages, TELCO’s battle was on two fronts – against lower priced products of lesser quality and against known brands such as Bedfords making a renewed drive to capture greater market share. Waging a successful battle against these odds were SM, NA and HS the formidable think-tank All were intensely concerned with business ethics and had extraordinary far-sightedness.

NA who established a sound network of dealerships all over India, and when in Jamshedpur, spent several late evenings at HS’s office discussing strategies. His efforts ensured that there were only TMB’s on the road and captured a then staggering 85% of the total all-India vehicle market.

One remembers the effective ad campaigns those days. . Ads such as “Yeh, Sona hai, Sardarji, Yeh Sona hai”, “The Star that Hauls a Fortune” and “The breadwinner of the family” -- These ads with their eye catching headlines positioned the TATA truck as an ‘ideal breadwinner of the family’ appealing to trucking fraternity, women in particular.

NA also brought about several innovative sales policy norms. In 1957, he proposed to his dealers what is famously known as “One Mercera (L325/46) for 10 Mercedes (L-312/42)” at 1:10 ratio that quickly disposed off a large import of Mercedes-Benz fully built up L325/46 – 7-1/2 ton trucks from Germany. This experiment proved to be very far sighted. This also saw the establishment of a Bureau of Hire Purchase Credits within the Sales Department – the first automobile manufacturer in independent India to offer finance facilities for TMB customers that gained access to a larger market.

Another important happening in the late 50’s was a delegation of select TMB dealers who accompanied NA on his trip to Daimler-Benz, Germany. The delegation comprised of the ‘big five’ a phrase that denoted five top performers – these were P S Jain from the North, Sohanlal Sanghi from Central India, HC Gupta from North Central India, F G Shoobridge from West Bengal and NK Sanghi from Western India. This was another first for the Indian automobile industry where a dealer group visited its Principal’s overseas collaborators.

NA and his deputy often frequented a restaurant just across the road opposite their office in Army & Navy Building, Mumbai for their afternoon lunch/snacks. Once an assistant in the Sales Dept., told NA, “Sir, why do you go to that restaurant – it’s a cholera bhavan’. A smiling NA answered ‘Yes’ and in good humour added, ‘Where do you want me to go to – typhoid bhavan?’

NA graced the office of GSM with simplicity, dignity and elegance. He retired from Telco just a few days before the launch of the 100,000th TATA truck in June 1965.

He would indeed be happy to see Tata Motors continue in the same fine traditions that he lived and followed.