Vijay Sankeshwar (born 2 August 1950) is an Indian businessman from

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the northwestern part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merged ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. He along with Anand Sankeshwar (managing director) is the chairman of India's largest logistics firm

VRL Group VRL Logistics Limited (formerly ''Vijayanand Roadlines Ltd.''), commonly known as the VRL Group, is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in Hubballi, Karnataka, India with operations in around 23 states and 4 union territories in the country ...

. He is also known for being the owner of the largest fleet of commercial vehicles in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He left BJP and founded the

Kannada Nadu Party Kannada Nadu Party was a political party in Karnataka, India, founded by Vijay Sankeshwar. It had contested elections in 2004. It later merged into Janata Dal (Secular). Sankeshwar started the party after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party t ...

. Later he joined the

Karnataka Janata Paksha Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) was an Indian political party based in Karnataka state. It was founded in 2012 and disestablished in 2014, merging with the Bharatiya Janta Party. It was headed by Chief Minister of Karnataka, Karnataka Chief ministe ...

of BJP outcast Yeddyurappa; the party eventually merged back with BJP. Sankeshwar was also a former Member of Parliament from North Dharwad constituency as a BJP member. Sankeshwar previously owned Karnataka's largest circulating newspaper, ''

Vijaya Karnataka ''Vijaya Karnataka'' is a Kannada newspaper published from a number of cities in Karnataka. The newspaper is published from Bengaluru, Hubballi, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Kalaburagi, Gangavathi, Belagavi, Davanagere, Hassan, Chitradurga. It was ...

'', until it was sold to Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. (

The Times Group Bennett Coleman and Company Limited (BCCL), d/b/a the Times Group, is an Indian media conglomerate based in Mumbai. Notable media properties owned and operated by the group include India's largest selling daily English-language newspaper ''The ...

) for an undisclosed sum in 2007. After the expiry of a five-year non-compete clause he launched '' Vijaya Vani'' in 2012. ''Vijaya Vani'' is now the #1 Kannada daily newspaper, with 8 lakh+ sold copies every day. Sankeshwar launched a new Kannada channel, Digvijay 24X7, on April 4, 2017. In 2020, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

honored him with the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, the fourth highest civilian award in the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

Personal life

Vijay Sankeshwar was born on 2 August 1950 in Betageri, Gadag Mysore State (now Karnataka) to Basavanneppa Sankeshwar and Chandrawwa. His father, was a businessman who established the printing press B G Sankeshwar and Co. (now Sankeshwar Printer Private Limited) in Gadag. Sankeshwar married to Lalitha Sankeshwar on 14 December 1972. The couple had three daughters and a son, Anand Sankeshwar, who currently is the managing director of VRL Logistics Limited.

Education

Sankeshwar obtained a commerce at Adarsh Shikshan Samiti, College of Commerce,

Gadag Gadaga-Betageri is a city municipal council in Gadag district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Gadag District. The original city of Gadag and its sister city Betageri (or ''Betgeri'') have a combined ...

Karnataka University Karnatak University (KUD) is a public state university in Dharwad, Karnataka, India. KUD was officially established in 1950 through the Karnatak University Act, 1949, passed by the legislature of the Bombay Province. The university is the s ...

Business career

Vijay got interest in transport business and in 1976 started the cargo business with one truck that he had bought by taking a loan of Rs 2 lakhs. Initially he suffered severe losses due to accidents, no communication, and competition. In 1978, Vijay Sankeshwar and his family shifted to Hubballi to expand their transport business and brought three more trucks for business. In 1983, started a transport company Vijayanand Roadlines Limited. In beginning of 1990 ''VRL'' had 117 commercial vehicles and had turnover more than crores. In 1993, starts the courier delivery across the Karnataka. Sankeshwar purchase 4 Passenger Buses in 1996, which carry passengers Bangalore to Hubballi.

Political career

In popular culture

In 2022, Anand Sankeshwar produced the biopic of Vijay Sankeshwar as '' Vijayanand'' released on 9 December 2022 in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam. The biopic will focus on Sankeshwar’s journey from owning a single truck to making it India’s largest logistics fleet.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sankeshwar, Vijay VRL Group Living people People from Gadag-Betageri 1950 births Lok Sabha members from Karnataka India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Karnataka Janata Paksha politicians People from Dharwad district Recipients of the Padma Shri in trade and industry