
How Vivek Singh of Procam transformed India’s running culture

Summary
The joint MD of Procam International on catalysing a long-distance running culture in the country, holding a marathon soon after the Mumbai terror attack of 2008, and the power of graceThere were about seven weeks left for the Mumbai Marathon in 2008 when the city faced a synchronised terror attack. One of the sites of the attack was the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the start and finish of the race; another was the Trident Hotel in Nariman Point, the marathon’s official hospitality partner. By the time the terror siege began on 26 November, about 30,000 people had already signed up to run in January 2009, besides approximately 50 of the world’s top marathoners.
In their office, barely half-a-kilometre from the Trident, Vivek and Anil Singh, brothers and partners at sports management company Procam International, the race organiser, huddled in despair. Registrations were already closed and cancellations would have crippled their dream project.
Much to their surprise—and awe—Vivek, the company’s joint managing director, says now, “Not one person cancelled, even though we offered free refunds. From contracted overseas athletes, no cancellations. The state, the police, the municipal corporation—all refused to bend." The race went ahead as planned, recovering from a tragic crisis into a moment of triumph. “During the Dream Run," adds Vivek, while talking about the shortest event category of under 7km, “people stopped at the Trident and sang the national anthem."
“It was just like that and it had nothing to do with us."
Procam International, however, did have a lot to do with marathons in India, catalysing a long-distance running culture in the country, especially Mumbai. What started as an ambitious—even audacious—dream with Mumbai in 2004 subsequently added on other venues. The Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM), which celebrated its 20th edition on 19 January (there were no races in 2021 and 2022 owing to the pandemic), made the people of a city with broken roads, uneven pavements, dust and smoke, heat and humidity, and constricted spaces, just come out and run.
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Over the years, the number of runners has increased from 20,855 in 2004 to about 65,000 (on-ground and virtual) in 2025 (virtual runners have to be registered on the TMM app and can run anywhere within certain timeframe and guidelines). Women participants have gone up from 5,851 to 16,180, competitive marathoners from 800 to 10,711. Last year, 766,846 people pounded, trotted—or staggered—on the streets of the city across a route that’s evolved over the years to include the scenic sea-link that connects Worli to Bandra.
On average, runners from 40 countries enter the field while non-runners, friends and families of participants, line up the streets with encouraging hollers. In a rare instance, a city that has no patience for chit-chat comes together in mass participation and camaraderie.
“We want to make people happy, provide an active lifestyle… We want to be the go-to place for active living, health-conscious individuals," Vivek states the company’s ambitions.
He has just returned from a trip to Vietnam, fresh from a 10km-run on the Ha Long Bay. Seated by the poolside of the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai, on a crisp winter morning, the 58-year-old orders himself a bowl of fruit and a cappuccino after exchanging courtesies with a few regulars at the club. He has never participated in the TMM himself because, “we only get an opportunity to run around, not to run in", he says.
Born and raised in Mumbai, Vivek went to Campion School in Fort and then studied economics at HR College, all in about a 2km radius to where he lived—this includes his current office. His Sikh father was in the Indian Army, his mother a Parsi from a prominent family, making Vivek, by his own admission, “completely nuts from both sides".
Anil, older by eight years, was a big influence in Vivek’s life and career. “He (Anil) decided early on that he didn’t want to work in his life," says Vivek with a wide smile. “But we are not trust fund babies, right? What is the one thing he could do for the rest of his life that did not feel like work? That is sport."
Procam started as a sport and talent management company in 1988, seeded with initial investments from friends and family, with Anil and his tennis-playing friend Enrico Piperno, a former India No.1, as partners. The company did its first tennis coaching clinic the following year, then a tennis tournament. The two directors needed a reliable pair of hands, which is where Vivek came in even before his final year college results had come out.
“People don’t know what India’s sporting ecosystem was in 1988. There’s a certain glorification and romanticism of the amateur, the struggles of it, isn’t it?" Vivek says. “It’s all wonderful to say ‘I slept on the floor,’ but that’s hard to do. At that time, there was no recourse of complaint." He stops before adding: “If you complained, you didn’t exist in the system anymore."
In 1992, the founders had a “brainwave" that since the British had left India with a legacy of squash, there should be a world-class event in the country. There was only one problem, Vivek says. There were no squash courts of that standard in Mumbai.
The brothers found a maverick Welshman who “had a squash court that flies", a portable one. Air India helped bring it in, the Bombay Gymkhana (for one year) and then the Cricket Club of India (for four years) gave their lawns for its use. A transparent squash court was built in the middle of a cricket stadium. Adman Bobby Sista called it the Thunderdome; Pakistan’s legendary player Jansher Khan among others showed up for the Mahindra International Squash Challenge that ran from 1993-98.
In 1997, the sport’s governing body, Professional Squash Association (PSA), sanctioned a World Open to Procam. The 1998 Mahindra International Squash Challenge was all set to take place in Mumbai when the local political party Shiv Sena declared that Pakistani players were not welcome in India. Many of the world’s top players at the time were from Pakistan. The PSA helped move the event to Doha, Qatar, but the idea of finding a new venue for every edition did not make sense and Procam gave up the event.
What also didn’t make sense—but Procam went ahead with it anyway—was a beach volleyball event in India, a country with no prior history of the sport, in 1998. MTV came on board with the idea of extending the tournament into a beach party, stands were put up at Girgaum Chowpatty near Marine Drive. “Then, we ran into a small issue," says Singh, grinning in anticipation to what he was about to reveal next. “Beach volleyball attire is of a certain kind, and let’s say certain people were not impressed with that. We were told that Girgaum Chowpatty is the bastion of middle-class morality. You cannot do this there."
“So overnight," he adds, “we made short pants and T-shirts for the (female) players. We had a 11-country Asian beach volleyball championship successfully conducted."
“Yeah. We never gave up. Never."
The event was subsequently not held in Mumbai.
By the late 1990s, the brothers had started to believe that a running event that could capture people’s imagination is a panacea for society. It took six years before the first marathon event was held in 2004.
The task of clearing a part of the city required the cooperation of the local municipality, the police and the state government. The home minister of the time, Chhagan Bhujbal, had already organised a Mayor’s Run from Shivaji Park, so he was familiar with the concept. A meeting with 17 government agencies, Vivek remembers, was organised in which one of participants asked the brothers a question that had them flummoxed.
“He said, ‘who are you?’" He didn’t ask me about how, what happens here, etc. “He said, ‘I have a (guide/rule) book. For the President of India, there’s a 2km rolling road closure. Above that (the President), there’s nobody else’s name. Now you are saying we have to shut 25-odd kilometres for six hours for you? So, who are you?’"
An eerie silence followed in the room. “Bhujbal realised that something was going off. He thumped the table and said, ‘Tokyo, New York, London. Why not Mumbai?’"
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“There is some method in this madness," Vivek says. “The way we carry people is our greatest strength. People coming together, agencies working together, celebration, inclusion… It’s been sheer magic."
When Procam went to Delhi the following year for a half-marathon, 15,000 people showed up though less than a hundred of them were women. Two decades later, the Vedanta Delhi half-marathon had around 15,000 women. Delhi was followed by Bengaluru (now the Tata Consultancy Services World 10K) in 2008 and then Kolkata (now, the Tata Steel World 25K) as other metros got added as venues.
“How to make somebody a marathoner is not understood easily," says Vivek, who has evolved from playing sports like rugby and tennis to running long distance. “It’s six months of commitment, one less meal, one less dessert, one less drink, one hour less of sleep. Why? Because he is working, he has to punch in the office and if he doesn’t clock the mileage, he ain’t making it to that start line."
With an equity infusion of an undisclosed sum from Florintree Advisors in 2022, Procam, which also has a stake in production company Initium, wants to focus on more large-format events, and use technology to pivot from a “brick and mortar company to a click and mortar company". The company that employs about 95 people would also like to see about 20,000 people finish the marathon as opposed to the current number of 11,000-12,000 registrations.
Over the years, Vivek says he has found life-altering solace with the Art of Living practice. With his wife Sangeeta and daughter both working in the non-profit sector and son studying chemistry in the US, he has been able to devote some time to teaching meditation, Sudarshan Kriya, as well. “It’s part of the happiness programme, the most powerful breathing technique in the world. That has allowed me to expand my abilities, brought in empathy and dynamism. It’s the grace that works. The Mumbai Marathon," he says, softening his voice, “gets delivered by grace."
Arun Janardhan is a Mumbai-based journalist who covers sports, business leaders and lifestyle.