The SIS story: How an accidental entrepreneur from Bihar created a global services conglomerate

by Prince Mathews Thomas

English 296 pages 1 edition

‘Ravindra, these ex-servicemen have dedicated their lives to the safety of our nation and now they need the nation’s support and care. I am hopeful that you will find a way to do something for them.’ In 1973, inspired by popular socialist leader Jaiprakash Narayan, Ravindra Kishore Sinha, a journalist earning a meagre salary of INR 250/-, quit his job and set up SIS (Security and Intelligence Services), a private security firm aimed at helping ex-servicemen get employment as private security personnel. Today, SIS is a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate and ranks among the top ten private employers in India with more than 3 lakh employees, and over 22,000 clients across various sectors, including security, facility management and cash logistics. So how did an accidental entrepreneur, without any formal management education, create one of the largest global companies in its industry? And how does SIS keep its employee-centric culture intact despite rapid scaling? What’s the secret behind its high-risk acquisitions of global companies and turning them around successfully? In The SIS Story , journalist and author Prince Mathew Thomas captures this incredible spirit of entrepreneurship from the era of License Raj to economic liberalization to the present. The shaping of an industry, the forging of a unique work culture and the complex passage through professionalization and generational transition-SIS has seen it all in its fifty-year journey. This inspiring tale proves that anything is possible if you dare to dream and match it with passion and purpose.