Business
Today
17
July 2005
the editorial | bio
sketch | Kumar Mangalam's
empire | Kumar Mangalam's
A-team | not just his father's
son
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to the article
Kumar
Mangalam Birla, the man featured on this issue's
cover, is just 38 but he is almost always
considered as being in the same league as
people like N.R. Narayana Murthy, Deepak Parekh
or Ratan Tata, men who are 20, 22 and 29 years
older than him, respectively. Perhaps that
is because Kumar Birla has already been at
the helm of one of India's largest and most
successful conglomerates now for nearly 10
years, since his father's premature demise
in 1995. And, of course, because of his achievements
during this period. Under Kumar's charge,
the Aditya Birla Group has changed and grown
dramatically and much of it has been possible
because of one young man's ability to lead
and manage in a manner that belies his age.
It
is no surprise, therefore, that Birla makes
it to this year's Business Today Young Super
Performers trio in the CEO category.
Sanjoy
Narayan
Editor, Business Today
Bio
sketch of Kumar Mangalam Birla
| Born |
|
14 June 1967 |
|
Education
|
|
::
|
1992 |
| |
Masters
in Business Administration, London Business
School |
|
::
|
1988 |
|
|
Chartered Accountancy |
|
Work:
1995 |
| Took
over as Chairman of the Aditya Birla
Group |
|
Into |
| Hindi
movies |
|
Obsession |
| Measurable
goals, even in his spare time |
|
Role
model |
| Father
Aditya Birla |
|
Car |
| BMW
5-series |
|
Business
slogan |
| Taking
India to the world |
|
Other
side |
| A
passion for quality education. His pet
project is a premier academy for boys
in Bangalore — the Sarala Birla
Academy |
|
Awards |
|
::
|
2004 |
| |
Named
Young Global Leader by the World Economic
Forum (Davos) — 273 worldwide finalists
were drawn from a pool of 8000 |
|
::
|
2002 |
| |
Ranked
among the top five Asian business leaders
in the CNBC/ Insead Asian Business Leader
Award |
|
Life's
ambition |
| To
build a world-class Indian MNC |
|
Worst
nightmare |
| Ordeal
of his father's death |
| Marital
status |
|
Married to Neerja, who enjoys being
a homemaker best and has her "hands
full" with three kids. In her spare
time, she is involved with the Birla
Academy of Art and Culture, a body for
the promotion of young artists in the
country |
The Kumar Mangalam empire
His
conglomerate is into everything from metals
to movies
| Company |
Businesses |
Revenues+ |
Profits |
Market
cap* |
| Hindalco |
copper
and aluminium |
10,383.34 |
1,329 |
11,082 |
| Grasim |
viscose
staple fibre, cement, sponge iron, chemicals
and textiles |
9,750.79 |
886 |
10,048 |
| Indian
Rayon |
viscose
filament yarn, garments, carbon black,
insurance, insulators, IT and ITES |
3,208.69 |
114 |
2,560 |
| Indo
Gulf |
fertiliser |
678.35 |
57 |
564 |
| UltraTech |
cement |
1,955 |
(53) |
4,225 |
| Applause
Entertainment |
movies,
TV software |
NA |
NA |
unlisted |
all
figures in Rs crore
+consolidated turnover
*as on 23 June 2005 on the BSE
NA: not available
^ does not list subsidiaries and JVs overseas
of which there are at least 25 in countries
ranging from Thailand to China to Indonesia
to Canada
| (in
alphabetical order of their names) |
| Bharat
Singh |
| Heads
groupwide corporate strategy and business
development. A grad of IIM Calcutta,
he came on board in 1996 |
| Debu
Bhattacharya |
|
This
chemical engineer from IIT, Kharagpur
has been with the group since 1998 and
is the MD of Hindalco Industries |
| Deepak
Mittal |
| Is
the Group Director (acrylic fibre and
textiles) and located in Bangkok |
|
S.K Mitra |
| Joined
in 1994, is Director (Group Financial
Services) |
| Sanjiv
Aga |
|
The
IIM Calcutta grad joined the Group in
1998 and now is the Managing Director
of Indian Rayon |
| Santrupt
Misra |
|
An
HR ace, Misra came on board in 1996
and is credited with helping professionalise
the group |
| Saurabh
Misra |
| Group
Director for the cement business; joined
Birla's team about five years ago |
|
Shailendra
Jain |
| An
alumnus of MIT, Jain is the head of
pulp and staple fibre business and has
been with the group since 1965 |
| Not
just his father's son
|
Kumar
Mangalam was first formally introduced
to the media less than a year before
Aditya Vikram Birla's death in October
1995. By then, Kumar Mangalam was already
deeply into running the group businesses.
He had independent charge of Grasim's
cement division, the fertiliser business
of Indo Gulf, and also a newly set up
carbon black unit in Egypt. Back then,
the media did not know of Aditya babu's
prostrate cancer, although the family
was aware of it. With time running out,
Aditya babu set about teaching
his son everything he knew about running
a business. A chartered accountant by
education, Kumar Mangalam quickly learned
the ropes, and by the time he became
the group Chairman in 1995, he was ready
to make his big moves.
Even as a 27-year-old, he had remarkable
clarity of mind. In his first major
media interview, Kumar Mangalam said
that the group's "core focus is
always to be in process industries and
textiles" and how he wanted "a
pre-dominance in the industries that
we enter. The objective is to be a low-cost,
high-quality and global-standard player".
And asked if he thought his father's
image overshadowed him, he snapped back
saying, "Why are you asking me
a hackneyed question? It's not an issue...
My father has given me enough space
and freedom to operate independently."
Even to this day, while Kumar Mangalam
gives a patient ear to his top executives,
he's pretty much his own man. |
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