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When the truck driver and labourers failed to turn up, Dr Faruk G Patel had a choice: explain the delay to his customer or do the job himself.
He chose the latter.
The delivery was for Hazira Industrial Estate. Patel drove the truck, delivered the bricks and then began unloading them himself. He worked until almost midnight. His clothes were stained red with brick dust, and he suffered abrasions and injuries on his back from carrying the bricks.
"I have always believed in commitment. Once I give my word, I consider it my responsibility to fulfil it," Patel recalls in a conversation with India Today Digital.
At the time, he was running a small carting and material-handling business with limited resources and a handful of trucks.
Today, Patel is the Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of KP Group, whose three listed companies are KPI Green Energy, KP Energy and KP Green Engineering. The group currently cites a combined market capitalisation of Rs 10,964 crore as of August 2026.
The distance between those two points is not just a story of growth. It is a story of knowing when to work harder, when to walk away and when to bet on an industry that was still finding its feet.
Patel was born on March 24, 1972, in Saladra village in Gujarat's Bharuch district. In 1974, when he was two, his father, Ghulam Patel, was transferred from the Jhagadia GSRTC depot to the Adajan ST depot in Surat.
The family moved to the city and lived in a small rented home.
His father came from a farming family and worked as a bus conductor. Patel says that growing up without financial abundance taught him early to respect money and work.
"That environment instilled in me a strong sense of financial discipline and respect for every rupee earned through honest work," he says.
After Class 12, Patel did not follow a straight professional path. He worked at an optical shop, drove an auto-rickshaw and travelled to Mumbai to learn about the import-export trade.
He also underwent formal training in textile engineering in 1990, worked at a dress-material shop and experimented with a small retail business.
Then came another departure.
In 1991, Patel moved to the UK and joined Pizza Hut, eventually becoming a team leader. He experienced a different workplace and a more structured business environment, but the job also clarified what he wanted.
"Although working in the UK could provide financial stability, it would not fulfil my larger ambition of building something of my own and contributing to India's growth," he says.
He returned to India in 1993.
Back in Surat, Patel entered carting, material handling and small construction-related assignments. In 1994, he formally established the foundation of what would become KP Group from a small office at Fazal Tower, Adajan Patia.
His starting capital was approximately Rs 1 lakh.
The work involved transporting materials and taking up small construction assignments for industrial companies across Gujarat. Patel was close to every part of the operation, from trucks and drivers to customers, payments and deliveries.
The brick incident in Hazira came from that phase.
But there was another lesson in those early months that proved just as important.
Within six to eight months, Patel realised the business model was not aligned with the direction he wanted to pursue. Instead of continuing simply because he had already invested time and money in it, he handed over the trucks and business assets to his partner and returned to Surat to establish a more focused corporate entity.
For a first-time entrepreneur, walking away from a business can be harder than starting one.
Patel says the experience taught him that persistence does not mean remaining tied to one model.
"Persistence does not mean being attached to one particular business model. A successful entrepreneur must be willing to recognise when circumstances require a change in direction," he says.
That willingness to change direction would become a recurring feature of his career.
The next major opportunity came with India's rapidly expanding mobile communications sector.
KP Group entered telecom infrastructure and spent around 13 years working on mobile tower infrastructure across 16 Indian states.
Patel also explored a shared-tower model, allowing multiple mobile operators to use common infrastructure rather than developing separate towers.
The business expanded with the telecom boom. But the sector later faced major disruption following the 2G spectrum controversy.
Patel was once again looking for what could come next. This time, he turned towards renewable energy.
While working on a 105 MW solar park at Charanka in Gujarat, Patel says he began seeing solar differently.
Until then, his businesses had largely involved building or moving things for other companies. Solar presented the possibility of owning and operating an energy asset over decades.
"I got the inspiration that solar panels last for 25 years and provide assured income over that period, while also contributing to environmental sustainability," he says.
In 2008, he established KPI Global Infrastructure, now KPI Green Energy. KP Energy followed in 2010.
It was an early bet on a sector that had nowhere near the commercial familiarity it has today.
And people around him noticed.
"Many of my friends and relatives mocked me and made fun of me because they felt I was gambling with my future by getting into solar," Patel says.
That reaction did not stop him.
The solar business required him to think differently from the way he had operated in carting, construction and telecom. It involved land, capital, long-term projects and a market whose economics were still developing.
Patel says the early solar phase became one of the most difficult periods of his career.
The challenges were not limited to business decisions. Patel says the uncertainty, financial pressure and difficulty of building a new business took a personal toll.
"During this particularly difficult period, I experienced deep mental and emotional strain and went through a period of depression," he says.
He describes the period as one in which faith, focus and persistence helped him continue working on the business.
The solar bet eventually became the foundation for a much larger renewable energy business.
KP Group has since expanded into solar, wind, hybrid energy, engineering and related infrastructure. Its three listed companies are KPI Green Energy, KP Energy and KP Green Engineering.
The group says its renewable energy portfolio has crossed 9.2 GW and that it is targeting more than 10 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.
KP Green Engineering has also disclosed a first US export order worth Rs 23.02 crore for solar module mounting structures, while its manufacturing expansion in Bharuch includes a galvanising facility that the company describes as Asia's largest.
The scale today is far removed from the small office where Patel began.
For Patel, the lessons from those early ventures remain more important than any single business milestone.
He identifies speed, dedication, commitment and loyalty as principles that have shaped his approach.
"Speed is important because opportunities in emerging markets often do not remain available indefinitely," he says. "Dedication is required because building a business involves long periods when the results may not yet be visible."
His career has also repeatedly involved making decisions before the outcome was obvious.
He left the UK despite having a stable job. He moved away from his first business within months. He built telecom infrastructure during a period of rapid technological change. And he entered solar when people close to him thought the decision was a gamble.
His advice to young entrepreneurs comes from that same starting point.
"Start small but think big," he says. "You do not necessarily need substantial resources to begin; you need the conviction and resourcefulness to make the most of what is available."
Patel began with approximately Rs 1 lakh, a small office and a business built around trucks and material handling.
More than three decades later, the ventures that grew from that beginning include three listed companies and a renewable energy business targeting 10 GW by 2030.
The numbers show how far the business has travelled. The pivots show how it got there.
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