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Banks rejected his loans, so his wife handed over her jewellery - today, his business is worth ₹2,000 crore
Subhasish Chakraborty recalled being repeatedly denied bank loans while trying to secure funding for DTDC.
When banks refused to fund his vision, Subhasish Chakraborty turned to an unlikely source of support. His wife, Tapasi Chakraborty, mortgaged her jewellery to help launch his startup. Today, that small venture built on door-to-door delivery has grown into DTDC, a ₹2,000 crore logistics empire with over 16,500 partners across India.
“What do you do when every bank says no? For me, the answer came from home,” Subhasish Chakraborty told Humans of Bombay. The Chairman & Managing Director at DTDC Express Limited recalled that he wanted to earn when he was still studying. However, his father wanted him to choose between education and business. That is when he left home with a promise that he would return only when he “succeeded at both”.
Looking back, the founder shared, “I started with a chemical distribution business, but one problem kept bothering me. The products reached customers before the paperwork did. That gap made me see an opportunity. Then came another setback. Banks refused to lend me money.”
That is when his wife stepped up, helping him launch a startup that has now turned into a ₹2,000 crore empire. “That’s when my wife quietly mortgaged her jewellery and told me to start again. That belief became the foundation of DTDC.”
Then started his journey to create DTDC from a small office and limited capital, with a “simple belief in door-to-door delivery”.
“We started building what would eventually become one of India’s largest integrated logistics companies. When we couldn’t expand with money, we expanded through people, becoming the first logistics company in India to adopt the franchise model,” Chakraborty shared.
He continued, “Today, DTDC has 16,500+ channel partners, has offices in 7 countries, and reaches 96% of India’s population. On any given day, nearly 100,000 DTDCians are on the ground, delivering close to 190 million shipments annually. But the part I’m most proud of is that those 16,500+ partners represent thousands of entrepreneurs who built something of their own.”
The entrepreneur offered advice to struggling business owners striving to take their ventures to the next level.
“If you’re facing rejection today, don’t mistake it for the end of your story. Sometimes, all it takes is one person who believes in you, until you learn to believe in yourself.”
What did social media say?
An individual wrote, “This is so inspiring.” Another added, “Great partnership. I always believe good partnerships make impossible things possible one day!”
A third expressed, “Wow, what an inspiring journey. Incredible.” A fourth commented, “Thanks for creating one of the few courier companies that are trustworthy.”
Subhasish Chakraborty’s post on his wife:
In an earlier post on LinkedIn, the founder recalled how his wife was his company’s first investor.
“Did you know the first ever investor in DTDC was a woman? Yes, my wife, Tapasi Chakraborty. When DTDC Express Limited was just an idea and a dream that felt bigger than my circumstances, she sold her jewellery and gave me the seed money to start this journey. But more than the capital, she gave me something far more valuable, belief,” he wrote as part of a post.
