among 100 richest Indians. Figuring on the Forbes India magazine’s December 23, 2022 cover page, Nuwal ranks 72nd among the richest Indians, with a net worth of $3 Billion. The story of this business leader from the city inspires many. Speaking to ‘The Hitavada’, Satyanarayan Nuwal said that it was an honour to be on the front page of the prestigious magazine. “They have recognised our group’s achievement. Some of our products in Defence sector are game-changers and have immense export potential. The job we do is challenging but it brings out excellence in us,” he said, with happiness in his voice. Featuring on the cover page of the Forbes India magazine takes the name of Solar Group as well as Nagpur to international level.

The magazine’s ‘2022 Rich List’ has nine new entrants, of whom two, including Nuwal, have featured on the five covers of the special issue. The magazine carries a special article titled ‘The Explosives Billionaire’ highlighting how Nuwal rose from humble beginnings, turned the tide with hard work and enterprise.

Nuwal is a philanthropist and has a presence in social circles too. He is also the Chairman of Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Nagpur. The long list of achievements of Satyanarayan Nuwal, with his visionary leadership, has earned him space on the cover page of Forbes India magazine.

Currently, Solar Group has order book of around Rs 4,000 crore. Now, the company’s market capitalisation has risen from Rs 1,765 crore in 2012 to over Rs 35,000 crore as of November 2022.

Nuwal, who hails from Bhilwara in Rajasthan, started small business for chemicals and trading at the age of 18 years. Though he could not succeed, he learned a lot. After marriage, he moved to Chandrapur in 1977 and forayed into renting out magazine where ammunition and other explosives were stored. In a few years, he rose to become a consignment agent for explosives. In 1996, he set up a small-scale manufacturing unit in Nagpur. After he began to manufacture detonators and bulk explosives, Coal India Limited became his single biggest client. By 2006, he had turned the tide and Solar Group decided to go public.

Since then, Nuwal never looked back. He set up 13 manufacturing plants, and gradually expanded manufacturing facilities to 29 cities across India, apart from six overseas facilties. The expansion programme is still on. He entered the ammunitions manufacturing. In the growth trajectory, his company has earned reputation in manufacturing of HMX and HMX-compounded products, propellants, warheads. SIIL attracted the wider attention when it became the first private sector company to have got an supply order for multi-mode handgrenades. It makes propellants for Akash missile, Pinaka multiple rocket launcher, supplies boosters for Brahmos missiles. The company is the first to qualify for manufacturing Pinaka rockets. It has earned high place with counter-drone system.

A few years ago, it invested in Skyrot Aerospace. Earlier this year, Solar Group made propellant system for Vikram-1, India’s first privately built satellite launch vehicle.