Meditating to a Billion Dollars: Manu Agarwal of Naaptol

In 2008 Manu Agarwal had an epiphany—he was afraid of relationships. His fear stemmed from a childhood incident. Agarwal’s buddy changed cities and snapped all ties. Agarwal blamed himself. He was 10. The boy steeled himself to believe that a way to never getting hurt was to not invest emotionally in people. So, the founder of the online home shopping site, Naaptol, distanced himself from his father, family and work colleagues. Then Oneness University, a spiritual school based out of a Chennai suburb, happened. “My wife insisted that I enrol,” says the 40-year-old. Deeksha, a course comprising yoga and meditation sessions helped Agarwal identify emotions that were “holding him back” and reap more than emotional benefits. “It’s helped me manage Naaptol better. There’s little conflict in my office, politics is almost non-existent, goals are better defined and ideas are welcomed.” Naaptol earns about Rs 1.5 crore per day. It has 1,000 employees and does 5,000 transactions in a day. But, the best part isn’t productivity at work. “I am close to my dad now,” says Agarwal.