Meet Kailash Katkar, the entrepreneur who created a Rs 187 crore anti-virus software business

I wasn’t interested in studies, had no special skills, only a small repair business… These may not be the right qualifications for being an entrepreneur, but it has turned out well for me. Twenty-two years after I started, I am the chairman and CEO of a Rs 187 crore business, Quick Heal Technologies.


In 1985, having barely managed to complete my matriculation, I took up a job at a local radio and calculator repair shop as I needed to supplement the family income.

The owner sent me to his Mumbai shop for a two-month training and, subsequently, I returned to Pune to work for him for just Rs 1,500 a month. I was only 19 and, over the next five years, I not only learnt a lot about fixing calculators and radios, but also picked up enough accounting skills to handle the books for my employer.

In 1990, I felt confident enough to start my own calculator repair business with a seed capital of Rs 15,000, which was drummed out of my savings. I leased a small 100 sq ft office in Pune and started a one-man venture.

In the first year, I managed a decent income of Rs 45,000, but I was not satisfied with the progress I was making. I realised that one way to scale up would be to capitalise on the ongoing software boom.

So I started reading about computer hardware, even enrolling for a short computer management course in 1991-92 to understand the basics of computer application.

The classes were held in the evening, so my business did not suffer, and once I was sure I had my basics in place, I decided to venture into computer maintenance. The idea was to take care of the entire repair work for an annual fee.

In 1993, I finally started a new venture, CAT Computer Services, while continuing with the repair business. Generating business was a huge challenge initially since I had no work experience in the field.

However, I did not lose hope and kept trying to woo customers aggressively. I got my first break a few months later when two families signed up for the maintenance of their personal computers for an annual fee of Rs 2,000 each. With some work experience to back me up, more work soon came my way.

In September 1993, I managed to breach the corporate domain by bagging the annual maintenance contract for New India Insurance, followed by another group a month later.

I managed to generate a turnover of Rs 1 lakh in 1993-94 and employ four people to manage and expand the business.

Around this time, my younger brother, Sanjay, who was studying computer engineering in Pune, began writing software programs. On my insistence, he started developing a basic model of antivirus software for us. In those days, the people involved in computer maintenance faced this problem and I realised that there would be plenty of takers for cheap and simple solutions.