Vijay Sankeshwar is an Indian businessman. He along with Anand Sankeshwar is the chairman of India's largest logistics firm VRL Group. He is also known for being the owner of the largest fleet of commercial vehicles in India. He left BJP and founded the Kannada Nadu Party. Later he joined the Karnataka Janata Paksha 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, until it was sold to Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. 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 honoured him with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
Education
He completed his graduation in Commerce and was educated at Adarsh Shikshan Samiti, College of Commerce, Gadag, Karnataka University, Dharwad, Karnataka.
VRL Group
Sankeshwar founded VRL Group in 1976 in Gadag, a small town in North Karnataka, with a single truck which he bought with the help of a money lender. VRL soon expanded its service to Bengaluru, Hubballi and Belagavi. From this humble beginning VRL has grown into a nationally renowned logistics and transport company that is currently the largest fleet owner in India, with 3579 vehicles as of 28 February 2014. VRL is mentioned in the Limca Book of Records as the single largest fleet owner of commercial vehicles in India in the private sector. Over the years VRL has pioneered providing a safe and reliable delivery network in the field of parcel service. It has spread its operations to courier service, express cargo and air chartering to meet the growing demand of the burgeoning customer base. 3PL and warehousing solutions offered by VRL are tailor-made and cater to the needs of various customers of the industry. With the largest network in India, the VRL parcel service is indispensable for a large number of corporate houses. This network spans the length and breadth of the country and is supported by a large number of transhipment hubs. VRL operates through a network of 859 branches and franchisees. VRL is expanding its service to reach even the remotest locations of the country.
