 |
Pirojsha Godrej, 23
Son of Adi Godrej, Godrej Group
Schauna Chauhan, 27
Daughter of Prakash Chauhan, Parle
Malvinder Singh, 31
Son of late Parvinder Singh, Ranbaxy
|
In
the middle of June this year, 23-year-old Pirojsha Godrej paid a
visit to the Rs 4,500-crore Godrej group's sprawling Vikroli complex
in north Mumbai. It's a 56-year-old facility that the medium-built
Pirojsha knows only too well. After all, ever since he was a school
boy, he's been a regular visitor to the facility, which also houses
his father and Godrej group Chairman, Adi Godrej's office. But that
day of June, Pirojsha wasn't visiting Vikroli as the Chairman's
son. Rather, he was one of the 10 freshly minted management trainees
who had joined the locks-to-refrigerators group.
In a different day and age, Pirojsha may have
walked out of school or college into an office right next to papa's.
But this is the 21st century, where managing a global business isn't
just complex (think international currency risks, intellectual property
rights, environmental and technology issues, and regulations that
change from one market to another), but is watched over by hawk-eyed
investors, who insist on nothing but the highest standards of corporate
governance. So Pirojsha, who has a graduate degree in economics
from the Wharton School and a Master's in international relations
from Columbia University, must-like his sisters Tanya and Nisa who
are Director of (Marketing) and Manager (Corporate Development),
respectively-work his way up the corporate ladder.
After a three-week induction programme involving
introduction to the Godrej way of doing things, factory visits,
and outbound programmes on leadership, Pirojsha will start work
at the Rs 20-crore Godrej Properties. Although he can already find
people treating him a bit differently because of his surname, don't
expect that to cut any ice with the man who matters. Says Adi Godrej:
"Pirojsha's career will depend on his performance, as it would
for any new entrant in the group."
Pirojsha's case is typical of what's happening
across Indian business families-the Bajajs, the Kalyanis, the Murugappas,
the Piramals, the Munjals, among others-where a new generation of
men and women is all set to take over the reins from their fathers
and, in some cases, even professional CEOs. Profiled in these pages
are 25 of them. Obviously, this is not an exhaustive listing, simply
because it is not meant to be one. Instead, the idea is to look
at the larger business groups and find out who's getting groomed
for the top job and what they bring to their respective groups.
Like elsewhere in the world, the Indian business
families want their son or daughter (typically, the eldest) to inherit
their empires, but they are not willing to hand it to them on a
platter. The privilege must be earned and credibly so. It's not
just a sense of propriety that's behind it, but good business sense.
Should an ineffective scion run the business to the ground, it's
the family, as the primary shareholder, that suffers. For that reason
too, some patriarchs such as Azim Premji of Wipro would rather let
the most competent professional run their enterprise than hand it
to any of their offspring as a matter of right.
Then Now
Even a decade ago, the emphasis was on on-the-job
training of the heirs. |
 |
Kumar Mangalam
Birla
Son of Aditya Vikram Birla, the 37-year-old
Chairman of AV Birla group has brought in his own professional
style of managing the group |
The best of business groups have
always believed in putting their scions through their paces
before handing them a groupwide role. Take Reliance, for example.
When Mukesh Ambani returned from Stanford with an MBA in 1981,
he was packed off by father Dhirubhai Ambani to oversee the
construction of the petrochemicals facility in Patalganga. Similarly,
when Anil Ambani joined the family business in 1983 after an
MBA from Wharton, he was sent to work in the group's textiles
business at Naroda in Gujarat. After Dhirubhai had a stroke
in mid-eighties that left him partly paralysed, the brothers
took on greater responsibilities. Ambani Sr, however, would
still spend two to three hours every afternoon discussing important
issues with his sons and senior executives. Obviously, the sons
learnt well. Reliance group today is the largest conglomerate
in the country with interests in petroleum and telecom, besides
petrochemicals.
Like the Ambani brothers, Kumar Mangalam Birla was mentored
first-hand by his father. Unlike the late Aditya Vikram Birla,
who was a technocrat, Kumar Mangalam is a chartered accountant,
and an mba from the London Business School. "A lethal
combination to make a fellow a good manager," is how
his father had once described him. In true Birla tradition,
Kumar Birla spent his initial years of grooming as Aditya
Birla's understudy, sitting in on meetings and watching him
handle various complex issues and learning the nuances of
the Marwari 'parta' system. Yet, since 1995, when he took
over as Group Chairman, Kumar Mangalam has brought in his
own professional style of managing the group and stayed sharply
focussed on commodities.
-Roshni Jayakar
|
Certainly not by chance, the ageing Chairmen
and CEOs of India Inc. have a better putty to work with than what
their fathers probably had, say, 40 or 50 years ago. The new generation
of CEOs-in-waiting is professionally qualified (68 per cent of the
25 profiled have a master's degree; See GeNext By the Numbers),
has worked outside their own group companies (two-thirds have work
experience in excess of five years), has a global mindset besides
being technology-friendly, and in some cases has of its own accord
put off moving into the corner room for the sake of garnering more
of the appropriate experience. Like Krishna Mahesh, son of Sundaram
Brake Linings Chairman and Managing Director, K. Mahesh. Krishna
spent some two years working with Toyota in the US and last year
decided to get an MBA from Harvard before joining SBL next year.
Says Mahesh: "In my time, I also passed out of IIT, went to
work in England, but my role (in the group) was pretty much chalked
out and we were tradition bound. In Krishna's case, he made all
the decisions-the kind of higher studies he needed and the kind
of work exposure he needed."
If you are part of a business family, your
grooming starts almost as soon as you are born. Strategies are drawn
up and important issues discussed at every available opportunity:
the morning breakfast, the evening dinner, or a family gathering.
Like that of a guru and his disciple, the transfer of knowledge
between an entrepreneur father and his son is random, but continuous
and seamless. You learn not just how to beat a technology supplier
down on price, but also which politicians and bureaucrats to cultivate
to take care of everything from project approval to financing to
industrial relations.
While managing the external environment may
be less of a critical skill today, there are other far more complex
skills that an aspiring CEO-scion must acquire. In a market where
technology and products are changing faster than ever, he or she
must be adept at managing not just short-term versus long-term strategies,
but other issues such as employee motivation, shopfloor technologies,
quality systems, corporate governance, among others. In the ultimate
analysis, running a business is about smart decision-making. That's
the reason why some, say, Indian two-wheeler manufacturers haven't
just survived but thrived post break up with their foreign collaborator,
while some others have found it hard to claw their way back up.
 |
Anil (L) and Mukesh Ambani
Sons of Dhirubhai Ambani (Reliance Group),
Anil, 45, VC & MD, and Mukesh, 47, Chairman
& MD, respectively, were put through their paces before
they got larger responsibilities at the group |
A vastly more complex business milieu has prompted
several of the business families to put in formal systems of grooming.
The finest example of it is, perhaps, the Chennai-based Murugappa
Group. P.S. Pai, an outsider who heads the group's corporate board,
keeps tab on the family members (mainly the younger generation)
working within the group and gives regular updates on their progress
to board members, who comprise senior family members (the group
refused to share greater details of its grooming process). It is
said that Pai spends quality time with the youngsters at least once
a quarter, creating a clear and two-way communication channel.
Other groups such as Ranbaxy or Hero Honda
or TVS may have different styles of grooming, but they have one
thing in common: all of them are more or less effective. Their objective
is also identical, and that is to ensure that none of the scions
gets any group responsibility greater than his or her competence.
And on that count, this generation has gone out of its way to prove
itself. Says Arun Murugappan, a fast-climbing, 37-year-old scion
of the Murugappa group: "It's very difficult being a family
member and trying to convince that you are as much a professional
as the rest. If you get promoted, there's a general perception that
this was on account of favouritism. (As a result), one has to work
harder to get to the same level of recognition that the others get."
 |
 |
Ashish Bharat
Ram
Elder son of Arun Bharat Ram (SRF), Ashish, 36, worked
with Toyota Motors before joining flagship SRF |
Navin Munjal
Son of Vijay Munjal (Hero Group),
Navin, 32, is the
CEO of the
Rs 204-crore Hero Exports |
It's A Long Haul
Rajiv Bajaj, older of the two sons of Bajaj
Auto Chairman, Rahul Bajaj, would more than agree. He joined the
company in 1990 as an officer on special duty. Three years later,
he became a general manager (products) and two years thereafter,
Vice President in the same division. In 2000, he was named the company
President and last year appointed as the Joint Managing Director.
Next year, he will take over as the Managing Director.
Isn't 15 years a terribly short time to go from
an OSD to MD? Maybe. But in Rajiv's case, it's apparent that he
has earned the job. When he started off, Bajaj Auto faced competition
in the scooters business from LML. Then, it was confronted with
the problem of scooter itself as a segment shrinking and motorcycles,
especially the four-stroke variety, becoming popular, while Bajaj
was caught in the two-stroke market. It was Rajiv, then, who was
responsible for Bajaj's launch of successful four-stroke mobikes
such as Boxer, Pulsar, and CT100. While rival Hero Honda wrested
the No. 1 two-wheeler maker slot from Bajaj four years ago, Rajiv,
a master of science from the University of Warwick, seems determined
to reclaim the top slot.
 |
Rajiv Bajaj
Elder son of Rahul Bajaj (Bajaj Auto), Rajiv,
37, will take over as Managing Director next year |
Having emerged as the new leader of the group,
Rajiv is being helped by his young brother, Sanjiv, who did a brief
stint at Bajaj as a management trainee in 1992 and then joined the
company's finance department as the Vice President in 1997. Over
the last seven years, Sanjiv has been heading costing, accounting,
corporate finance and internal audits. The 35-year-old Sanjiv gets
help when needed from Bajaj Sr., who used to also oversee corporate
finance. Ask Bajaj why he waited for so long before elevating Rajiv
to the MD's post and he shoots back, "I didn't want to appoint
an MD who'd come to me for everything."
Some families, like the Murugappas, require
their scions aspiring for a role within the group, to go through
an elaborate grind. Arun Murugappan, for example, started off as
a shift supervisor in Tube Products in 1992, moved to Parry Confectionery
as a sales officer and then to TI Cycles where he spent five years
working as a sales manager handling CRM, in the process revamping
customer service at the cycles company. When he joined TI, it used
to take as much as two months for customers to get spare parts.
Arun brought in a 24-hour replacement concept, which generated a
Rs 25-crore parts business in the very first year. Soon after, he
became the regional head for Karnataka, Kerala and Goa, and last
year delivered the region's highest ever sales for TI Cycles. As
a reward, the family has finally given him an independent charge-of
Porodite Corrosives, "a Rs 20-crore company without any systems
worth talking about," says Arun. "I think I can make a
difference here," he adds.
Sons-in-law Also Rise
Not all business families believe in primogeniture.
Some even put the son-in-law above the son. |
 |
 |
Rajeev
Chandrasekhar (left), G.V. Prasad
Sons-in-law of T.P.G. Nambiar (BPL
Group) and K. Anji Reddy (Dr. Reddy's) respectively, Chandrasekhar
and Prasad play a crucial role in their groups |
It's not just sons of business
families who get to take the corner room. In some business
families, it's the son-in-law who has the place of prominence.
Take G.V. Prasad, for example. Son-in-law of Dr Reddy's Labs
founder, K. Anji Reddy, Prasad is the Executive Vice Chairman
and CEO of the company, while Reddy's son Satish is the MD
and COO. Both are professionally qualified. Prasad, 43, has
a Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Illinois
Institute of Technology and a Master's in industrial administration
from Purdue University, and is credited with the company's
transformation from a bulk drugs manufacturer to a research-driven
global firm. Satish has a Master of Science degree in medicinal
chemistry from Purdue University. In the Bangalore-based BPL
Group, it's son-in-law Rajeev Chandrasekhar, 39, who's the
public face, although founder T.P.G. Nambiar's son Ajit is
the CMD of BPL Ltd., the consumer electronics business, and
Rajeev heads the telecom business. The Rs 4,500-crore Godrej
Group too has a son-in-law, Vijay M. Crishna, 59, who today
is the MD of two group companies-Lawkim Private Limited and
Godrej Upstream. In Chennai, N. Venkatramani of India Pistons
and T.K. Balaji of TVS are two other prominent sons-in-law
who play key roles within their groups. But just like in the
case of sons, competence is a key requirement of the sons-in-law
too.
-Sahad P.V., Swati Prasad,
and E. Kumar Sharma
|
Another key member of the younger Murugappa
clan is Arun Alagappan, whose father M.A. Alagappan heads group
NBFC Cholamandalam Finance. For the past five years, Arun has been
working with the Parryware division of EID Parry, another group
company. He started as Senior Manager (Commercial), then moved to
the hr department and has risen to be its head. That apart, the
28-year-old Arun is in charge of sourcing and new projects at Parryware.
According to people in the know, Arun, just like his manager-peers,
goes through regular performance appraisals and on top of that is
also scrutinised by the family board. In due course of time, Arun
should end up as CEO in a group company.
But if you thought it was the manufacturing
groups that get their inheritors to rough it out, think again. Immediately
after he joined the family business in October 2001, 27-year-old
Jayanta Roy, son of S.K. Roy, Managing Director of para-banking
powerhouse Peerless Group, spent a year-and-a-half travelling to
the interiors of India, visiting 62 villages and 31 district centres
across north and south India, besides West Bengal. "I wanted
to meet as many of our network agents and customers as possible
to get their feedback on the company," says Jayanta. Today,
as the group corporate coordinator, Jayanta watches over the market,
the agent-driven sales system, and customer's response to brand
Peerless. It may be several years before Roy Sr. hands him the reins.
 |
Harish Lakshman
Son of L.V Lakshman (Rane Group), Harish,
30, is VP (Operations and Export) of Rane-TRW Steering
Systems, and is credited with putting together the group's strategic
planning process |
Cutting Teeth Elsewhere
For a variety of reasons, a whole lot of India
Inc.'s young inheritors, especially those who have professional
degrees from universities abroad, don't want to start off in a family
business. They would rather work in a large global organisation
before they head home. There are several advantages to doing so.
One, the scale on which a global corporation operates is vastly
bigger than what the GeNext's own companies back home probably do.
The systems and processes that a large MNC employs are exactly what
the scions would need when they get down to scaling up their own
operations. So, a stint outside the group is an inexpensive way
of picking up vital experience.
For instance, Malvinder Singh, older of the
two sons of Parvinder Singh and ceo-in-waiting at Ranbaxy Laboratories,
worked initially with American Express in Delhi and later with Merrill
Lynch in Singapore. "It was a 100-hour-a-week job," says
Malvinder of his investment banking days at Merrill. "My objective
was to prove myself outside (Ranbaxy)." With his father's health
failing, he had to cut short his Merrill stint. But Malvinder is
hardly the only one who felt the need to "prove" himself
outside of the family business. Harsh Piramal, the 30-year-old son
of late Ashok Piramal, spent a year at IndOcean Chase in Mumbai
before joining uncle Ajay Piramal's pharma business. Among the southern
business groups, besides Krishna Mahesh of the TVS family who worked
with McKinsey for two years and in 2001-02 with Toyota Supplier
Support Centre in the US, Harish Lakshman of the Rane group put
in time with collaborator TRW for two years after getting his master's
degree in management from Purdue University. After he came back
to India, Harish joined the Rane-TRW joint venture and helped put
together a strategic planning process system across group companies.
''Of course, I am on a fast track, but performance is a necessary
criterion to ensure that,'' points out Harish.
 |
 |
Amit Kalyani
Son of Baba Kalyani (Bharat Forge), Amit, 29, is responsible
for the company's global strategy and operations |
Arun Alagappan
Son of M.A. Alagappan (Cholamandalam Finance),
Arun, 28, is head of sourcing and new projects at Parryware |
Another scion who sports Toyota on his resume
is Ashish Bharat Ram, the 36-year-old son of SRF's Arun Bharat Ram.
In 1989, he joined the Japanese auto major in Tokyo and grew to
be part of the team that launched the Lexus range of vehicles in
the Middle East. At SRF now, Ashish heads finance and strategy.
Similarly, Amit Kalyani, who incidentally is married to Ashish's
sister and is the heir to the Rs 700-crore Pune-based Bharat Forge,
worked in the US for a while after he graduated from Bucknell with
a degree in mechanical engineering. Amit, who walks the shopfloor
twice daily, is now in charge of Bharat Forge's global strategy
and overseas operations. That's a critical role, considering that
the company in November 2003 acquired a German forging company,
CDP, for Rs 162 crore, and Chairman Baba Kalyani's stated ambition
is to make Bharat Forge the world's largest forgings company by
2008. Escorts Group scion Nikhil Nanda too put in a brief stint
with UK's earth-moving equipment maker J.C. Bamford after his graduation
from Wharton.
Some industrialist fathers can be harder to
please than others. Like Onkar S. Kanwar of Apollo Tyres. After
his younger son Neeraj returned to India in 1994 after a brief stint
with American Express in the US, Kanwar was not willing to start
him off at the tyres business straightaway. So for a year, he was
made to work in the investment banking division of Global Finance,
a family-owned finance company. When he was brought over to Apollo
Tyres in 1995, Neeraj had to hustle tyres dealer to dealer and even
sell to individual truck owners. "I even dropped my surname
to avoid being identified as the ceo's son," says Neeraj, who
has since become the Chief Operating Officer and is being seen as
a CEO candidate in the future.
Family versus the Professionals
Kinetic Engineering is an example
of how business families grapple with this tricky issue.
|
 |
Sulajja Firodia
Motwani
Daughter of Arun Firodia (Kinetic Group)
and Joint MD of Kinetic Engineering, Sulajja, 34,
has roped in a lot of mid-level professionals |
Even in the best of family-managed
groups, balancing the interests of owner-managers and non-family
professional managers is always a tricky issue. Promote a family
member over a professional and you run the risk of demotivating
the professionals, especially if the elevation is perceived
as undeserved. The Arun Firodia-promoted group had to contend
with such an issue last year, when more of the Firodia scions
took up key functions in the group. Sulajja Firodia Motwani
was already the Joint MD of Kinetic Engineering, when younger
sister Vismaya, 29, and brother Ajinkya, 25, were given corporate
communication and marketing, respectively, to head. Although
Ajinkya worked with JP Morgan in New York for two years before
joining Kinetic, the moves weren't received well by some key
professionals in the group. Arun Pande, Kinetic's MD, and Ajay
Kapila, Senior VP (Marketing), quit within a span of eight months
last year. (M.P. Khera, a professional, is still the Joint MD
of Kinetic Motors). But now, the morale seems to have improved.
Says a former employee who quit Kinetic recently: "In any
family-run business, a free hand is never given (to professionals).
But in this regard, Sulajja is better than even her father."
The 34-year-old Sulajja, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon, is said
to communicate regularly with her team and has inducted a number
of mid-level professionals. But obviously it will take more
to attract top-notch professionals to Kinetic. |
Schauna Chauhan of the Parle group has a similar
story to narrate. Soon after she joined father Prakash Chauhan's
business in 1999, she got involved in the company's infrastructure-related
work. And, of course, there was no cabin office either. But within
four years, Schauna, 28, had proved herself and was taken seriously
enough for Parle to launch a new product, Frooti Green Mango, that
she suggested. "Nobody had thought of introducing an unripe
mango drink, but today it's a hit," says Schauna, pleased as
punch. For her, the next big challenge is to take Parle's other
brands Frooti, N-joy and Appy to markets abroad.
Ranbaxy's Parvinder Singh too put the firm
above family when he handed over the reins of the pharma giant to
his able deputy D.S. Brar and not to son Malvinder. The young man
had to wait till 2001 even to get his first big break within Ranbaxy.
That was when Brar asked Malvinder, or Malav as he is known with
the group, to take charge of global licensing and business development.
It was then that Malvinder swung his first big deal (worth $42 million)
for outlicensing RBX 2258, a potential urology drug, to Germany's
Schwarz Pharma. With the management gaining confidence in Malvinder,
he was made the head of India operations late 2002. Result: marketshare
jumped. "It was more like a Hindi movie ending (read: happy),"
says Malvinder, who is set to take over from the current CEO, Brian
Tempest, in 2007.
No doubt, the other scions are working to a
script too. Will all their stories end like a Hindi movie? Hard
to say. If some do fail, it won't be because they lacked the opportunity.
It would be because they lacked the competence.
-additional reporting by Roshni
Jayakar, Swati Prasad, Abir Pal, Kushan Mitra, Arnab Mitra, Nitya
Varadarajan, & E. Kumar Sharma
|
|
 1.
Aditya Agarwal
Emami Group
Age: 29
Education: B.Com from St Xavier's College, Kolkata
Career Map: Worked in the group's Ayurveda division,
Sona Chandi and AMRI Hospital
Current Job: Director, Emami
The Group: Emami Group. A family-held FMCG marketer,
it focuses on personal care products, and has recently stepped
up its marketing push.
 2.
Arun Alagappan
Murugappa Group
Age: 28
Education: Schooling in Lovedale and an MBA from Cardiff
University in the UK
Career Map: Has been working in EID Parry for five
years. Started as Senior Manager (Commercial), then moved
to hr and became its head and graduated to sourcing. Also
worked for one-and-a-half years with GE Capital in India.
Current Job: Head (HR and Sourcing), Parryware
The Group: Murugappa. The Chennai-based group makes
everything from cycles to machine tools to sugar to fertilisers,
and fetched more than Rs 5,266 crore in revenues last year.
 3.
Rajivranjan Bajaj
Bajaj Auto
Age: 37
Education: BE (Mechanical), University of Pune; Master
of Science in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University
of Warwick
Career Map: Joined Bajaj Auto as an officer on special
duty in December 1990; became General Manager (Products) in
1993; Vice President (Products) in 1995; President between
2000-03. Took over as the Joint Managing Director in 2003.
To take over as the Managing Director in 2005.
Current Job: Joint Managing Director
The Group: With sales of Rs 5,580 crore, Bajaj Auto
is the second-largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the
country. It also makes three-wheelers.
 4.
Sanjivnayan Bajaj
Bajaj Auto
Age: 35
Education: BE from Government College of Engineering,
University of Poona, MBA from Harvard University, Master of
Science from the University of Warwick
Career Map: Joined Bajaj Auto as a management trainee
in 1991-92. As a member of the "Streamlined Manufacturing
Systems" team, worked in different production and service
departments within the company, including the shop floor.
Became Vice President (Finance) in 1997.
Current Job: Executive Director, Bajaj Auto
The Group: With sales of Rs 5,580 crore, Bajaj Auto
is the second-largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the
country. It also makes three-wheelers.
 5.
Ashish Bharat Ram
SRF
Age: 35
Education: Doon School, Bachelor's in Economics (Hons)
from Hindu College, University of Delhi, MBA from Johnson
Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, USA
Career Map: Worked as a management trainee in Toyota
Motor Corporation, Japan, American Express Bank, DCM Toyota
Ltd., SRF Overseas Ltd., Dubai, before joining SRF Ltd., India,
where he initially worked on launching the BPO venture. Has
now moved over to head the Finance and Strategy function for
the entire group.
Current Job: Head (Finance and Strategy), SRF
The Group: SRF. The Rs 1,150-crore group has a presence
in nylon tyre cord and refrigeration gases.
 6.
Kartikeya Bharat Ram
SRF
Age: 33
Education: Bachelor of Science in Commerce, Santa Clara
University, Masters in Business Administration from Johnson
Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, USA,
Career Map: Joined the group as Assistant Manager (Strategic
Planning ) and moved to Manager (Vision Care Division), COO
(SRF eBiz Ltd.) and VP (Corporate IT & HR), SRF
Current Job: Vice President (Corporate IT & HR)
The Group: SRF, a Rs 1,150-crore group with presence
in industrial synthetics, chemicals and polyester films.
 7.
Schauna Chauhan
Parle
Age: 27
Education: Bachelor's Degree in International Management
from the Business School of Lausanne
Career Map: Joined Parle in 1999. Was involved in the
launch of Frooti Green Mango
Current Job: Executive (Operations)
The Group: Parle International. The Prakash Chauhan
outfit is a big player in the tetrapack beverages market.
 8.
Pirojsha Godrej
Godrej Group
Age: 23
Education: Bachelor's degree in Economics from Wharton
School and Master's in International Relations from Columbia
University
Career Map: Summer internships during graduation at
Hillary Clinton's senate office in New York in 2001 as research
assistant and in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi,
in 2003. A new entrant in the Godrej group, Pirojsha has joined
as a management trainee and is likely to join Godrej Properties
in August this year.
Current Job: Management Trainee
The Group: Godrej group. With a turnover of Rs 4,500
crore, the group has interests in personal care, home appliances,
real estate, machine tools, among others.
 9.
Manish Goenka
Emami
Age: 30
Education: MBA from Cardiff University
Career Map: Worked in the group's Ayurveda division,
Sona Chandi and AMRI Hospital
Current Job: Director, Emami
The Group: Emami Group. A family-held FMCG marketer,
it focuses on personal care products, and has recently stepped
up its marketing push.
 10.
Shrivardhan Goenka
Goenka Group
Age: 26
Education: MBA from Kellogg School of Management
Career Map: Worked in tea packaging division, planning,
strategy, HR and budgeting
Current Job: Head of tea packaging division of Duncan
and Unimer Ltd
The Group: G.P. Goenka Group (also known as Duncan
Goenka Group). It has an annual turnover of Rs 3,500 crore
and has interests in tea and fertilisers, among others
 11.
Amit Kalyani
Bharat Forge
Age: 29
Education: Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering
from Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, USA
Career Map: After working for a brief period in the
US, joined Bharat Forge in 1999. Initially played the role
of an IT head and set up IT systems and processes. Then he
moved to manufacturing operations.
Current Job: Vice President and Chief Technology Officer,
Bharat Forge
The Group: Bharat Forge (sales: Rs 689 crore), a leading
auto parts company, it acquired a large forgings company in
Germany last year.
 12.
Neeraj Singh Kanwar
Apollo Tyres
Age: 33
Education: Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering
with Specialisation in Management Systems from Lehigh University,
Pennsylvania, USA
Career Map: Joined as management trainee in American
Express in 1993. Became Chief Investment (Banking Operations)
of Global Finance Limited, a group company. In 1995, joined
Apollo Tyres as Manager (Product Planning and Strategic Planning),
later moved up the ranks, first as Chief of Manufacturing
and in 2002 became Chief Operating Officer.
Current Job: Chief Operating Officer and Whole-Time
Director, Apollo Tyres
The Group: Apollo Tyres is the second-largest tyre
manufacturer in the country with Rs 2,320 crore in revenues.
 13.
Siddhartha Lal
Eicher Group
Age: 30
Education: Economics (Hons) from St. Stephen's College;
Post-Graduate Diploma Automotive Engineering, from Cranfield
University, UK; M.Sc in Automotive Engineering, Leeds University,
UK
Career Map: CEO Royal Enfield Motorcycles in 2001.
Before that he had a long career in Eicher. Established the
GIS and Digital Maps Division. Head of Product Marketing and
Development in Royal Enfield and Marketing Manager in Eicher
Tractors.
Current Job: Chief Operating Officer, Eicher Group
The Group: Eicher Group. The biggest part of its business
is tractors, although it also makes motorcycles and automotive
components.
|
 14.
Harish Lakshman
Rane Group
Age: 30
Education: DAV Higher Secondary School, Chennai, BE (Mechanical)
from BITS, Pilani. Masters in Management from Purdue University.
Career Map: Worked with TRW in the US for two years and
joined Rane TRW JV as Assistant General Manager in 1998. Moved
up to General Manager and became Vice President (Marketing)
in 2002 before shifting to operations and exports the same year.
Current Job: Vice President at Rane TRW Steering Systems
The Group: Part of the Rs 865-crore Rane Group that manufactures
a range of auto ancillaries.
 15.
Krishna Mahesh
TVS Group
Age: 29
Education: Schooling from Don Bosco and P.S. Senior
Secondary School, Chennai. BS and MS from Stanford University
Career Map: Worked for two years with McKinsey (1998-2000),
worked in Toyota Supplier Support Centre in US (2001-02).
Currently pursuing MBA at Harvard.
Current Job: Assistant Manager at Sundaram Brake Linings
(on sabbatical)
The Group: Part of the Rs 9,000-crore TVS group
 16.
Navin Munjal
Hero Group
Age: 32
Education: Lawrence School, Sanawar (1989). B.Com from
Government College, Ludhiana (1992), MBA from Huron University,
London (1994)
Career Map: Joined the international division of Hero
Cycles in 1995. Set up Hero ITES, a call centre in 2000. Moved
back to Hero Exports, the export arm of Hero Cycles
Current Job: CEO of the Rs 204-crore Hero Exports
The Group: Part of the Rs 9,000-crore Hero Group, the
largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the country. It also
makes auto components, among other things
 17.
Neeraj Munjal
Hero Group
Age: 37
Education: B.Com from Arya College (1987), Ludhiana. MBA
from Bradford College (1987-89).
Career Map: Son of Yogesh Munjal, he started as a trainee
with Majestic Auto Ltd in 1990 and became its chief executive
after four years. Became the CEO of Hero Exports. Set up Munjal
Auto Components from scratch in 1998, which manufactures gears
for Hero Honda.
Current Job: CEO of the Rs 50-crore Munjal Auto Components
The Group: Part of the Rs 9,000-crore Hero Group, the
largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the country. It also
makes auto components, among other things
 18.
Rahul Munjal
Hero Group
Age: 28
Education: Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University
of Rochester, USA
Career Map: Prior to founding EasyBill, Rahul, son
of late Raman Munjal, worked in different functions like Manufacturing,
Logistics, Sales and Marketing at Honda Motorcycles, USA and
Hindustan Lever.
Current Job: Chief Executive Officer of Easy Bill Ltd.
The Group: Part of the Rs 9,000-crore Hero Group, the
largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the country. It also
makes auto components, among other things.
 19.
Arun Murugappan
Murugappa
Age: 37
Education: Doon school; B.Com from Loyola College, Chennai;
MBA from California State University in 1991.
Career Map: Started as a shift supervisor in Tube Products
in 1992 and moved to Parry Confectionery as a sales officer.
At TI Cycles, he was responsible for Customer Relationship
Management, besides generating spare parts business of Rs
25 crore in 12 months and became the regional sales head for
Karnataka, Kerala, and Goa
Current Job: Head (Marketing), Prodorite Corrosives,
a subsidiary of Carborundum Universal, a group company
The Group: Murugappa group. The Chennai-based group
makes everything from cycles to machine tools and sugar to
fertilisers, and fetched more than Rs 5,266 crore in revenues
last year
 20.
Nikhil Nanda
Escorts
Age: 30
Education: BBA (Finance & Management), Wharton
School of Business
Career Map: Worked for six months with J.C. Bamford,
which makes earth moving equipment in UK. Joined Yamaha Escorts
Ltd in 1995 and was involved in switching over from a technical
collaboration to a JV agreement. Became Executive Director
of Escorts India in 2000.
Current Job: Executive Director of Escorts India
The Group: The Rs 1,200-crore Escorts group, which
has presence in tractors, construction equipment, and finance.
 21.
Harsh Piramal
Nicholas Enterprises
Age: 30
Education: BSc (Physics) from King's College London (1995),
MBA from London Business School (Class of 1999)
Career Map: Did summer internship with DSP Merrill
Lynch, and in 1995 worked with Ind Ocean Chase for a year.
Current Job: Director, Morarji Mills
The Group: Piramal Enterprises (Rs 2,500 crore). The
group is into pharma, healthcare, textiles, glass packaging,
engineering and lifestyle plazas.
 22.
Jayanta Roy
Peerless Group
Age: 27
Education: Majored in e-commerce and International
Business from Cardiff University, UK, with special emphasis
on how e-com can help retail finance
Career Map: Joined the group in October 2001 and spent
the next one-and-a-half years travelling to the interiors
of India, visiting 62 villages and 31 district centres across
North India, South India and West Bengal, getting to know
network of agents, meeting customers and receiving feedback
from them.
Current Job: Group Corporate Co-ordinator
The Group: Peerless General Finance and Investment
Co. It's a para-banking powerhouse, and mobilised over Rs
3,000 crore from investors last year.
 23.
Devdita Saraf
Zenith
Age: 22
Education: Bachelor's degree in marketing, University
of South California
Career Map: Launched Zenith PC Stores
Current Job: Director (Marketing), Zenith Computers
The Group: Zenith Computers. It's a home-grown manufacturer
of PCs and boasts of Rs 280 crore in revenues.
 24.
Malvinder Mohan Singh
Ranbaxy
Age: 31
Education: Doon School, Economics (Hons) from
St. Stephen's college, MBA from Fuqua School of Business,
Duke University, USA
Career Map: Worked as a Management Trainee with American
Express Bank in Delhi and Mumbai in 1993-94. Joined Ranbaxy
in 1994 as a Management Trainee and worked at different positions
in the functions of General Management, Sales & Marketing,
Finance and Business Development. Prior to being appointed
as President, he had led the India region operations as Regional
Director soon after his successful tenure as Director (Global
Licensing and Business Development)
Current Job: President (Pharmaceuticals) and Executive
Director, Ranbaxy
The Group: Ranbaxy. It is the biggest Indian pharmaceuticals
company and derives more than half its income from markets
abroad. Topline: Rs 4,530 crore
 25.
Shivinder Mohan Singh
Ranbaxy
Age: 29
Education: MBA (Health Sector Management) from Fuqua School
of Business, Duke University, USA
Career Map: Joined Fortis Healthcare since its inception
in 1997, and has also been deeply involved with SRL Ranbaxy
Current Job: Joint MD, Fortis Healthcare and SRL Ranbaxy
The Group: Part of the Rs 4,530-crore Ranbaxy Laboratories
|
| |
RAHUL
REMINISCES
"My Father Shaped Me" |
 |
|
Rahul Bajaj
|
My grooming process was very different
from what takes place today. Times have changed, India is no
longer a protected economy, there is tremendous competition
and companies are much more complex and larger in size today
than they were in the '60s when I started my working life.
Partly because I was born in a business family and also
because one often heard business talk whenever the family
was together, I knew from the time I was in my teens that
I wanted to be in industry.
After completing my senior Cambridge from Cathedral Boys'
School in Mumbai in 1954, I decided to do pursue Economics
(Hons) from St. Stephens College, Delhi. I chose St. Stephens
college because apart from the fact that it was considered
one of the best colleges at that time (and is even now), I
wanted to spend some time in a hostel. Also, one could graduate
from Delhi University in three years time instead of four
years at Mumbai. I chose Economics instead of Commerce for
my undergraduate studies because I wanted a broader education.
After graduating in 1958, I decided, after consulting with
my father, late Shri Kamalnayan Bajaj, to get training in
two group companies, Bajaj Electricals and Mukand Limited.
| What I learned from my father
was completely informal. He never told me what I should
or should not do |
To utilise my time better and get a flavour of law, I also
joined the Government Law College for morning classes in Law
and did my LL.B. in 1960. I worked for two years in Bajaj
Electricals and then for two years in Mukand. During those
four years, I worked as a junior staff member across various
departments, including the despatch department. In Mukand,
during my second year, I was the Purchase Officer of the company.
This provided excellent on-the-job training and very good
experience in negotiations and correspondence.
As I worked for a few months on the shop floor as well in
Mukand,, I developed a good grasp of engineering methods,
reading engineering drawings, and how a steel foundry, machine
shop, and a rolling mill worked. It had been decided from
the beginning that I would do my MBA from the US after getting
about four years of experience. I had made up my mind to go
to Harvard Business School (HBS) and hence I applied only
to HBS for admission to their management programme in 1962.
I passed out of HBS in 1964. HBS was a great learning experience.
Instruction was through the case method and one had to read
a great deal every day in order to be prepared for three cases
the following day. The two subjects I enjoyed the most were
Business Policy and Finance.
What I also enjoyed most was discussing three cases on different
subjects each day. With 90 students in each section, the discussions
were intense. Initially, it was surprising to find that for
the same case, there would be a certain number of students
with a particular view and as many with a completely opposite
view. What was important was not only the final decision,
but also the analysis leading up to the decision. One had
to clearly show one's understanding of the facts of the case,
give reasons for and against a course of action, and indicate
other alternatives that may be available to the person taking
a decision. One gradually developed a keen analytical ability
and became used to taking decisions even when facts were,
sometimes, not complete, i.e., under conditions of uncertainty.
On my return to India, it was decided that I will join Bajaj
Auto and did so on January 1, 1965. Though in a middle management
capacity, I was still getting on-the-job training till April
1968 when I took charge of Bajaj Auto as its CEO under exceptional
circumstances, which by themselves further contributed to
my learning process.
If I am asked what contributed most to my training till
April 1968 when I became the CEO (I was 30-years-old and the
company had an annual turnover of about Rs 7 crore), I will
mention three:
- My upbringing
- What I learned at the HBS, and
- What I learned from my father, especially between 1958-1972,
before he passed away in 1972.
My school, college and my upbringing helped me imbibe some
basic values. My family was a Gandhian family and my grandfather,
late Shri Jamnalal Bajaj, is considered the fifth son of Mahatma
Gandhi. In fact, it was at the invitation of my grandfather
that Gandhiji shifted his residence from Sabarmati near Ahmedabad
to Sevagram in Wardha in early '30s.
My father was brought up under the influence of Gandhiji,
Vinoba Bhave, and Jamnalalji. This had shaped his values,
character, and life. I am, of course, nowhere near Jamnalalji
and Kamalnayanji, but having grown up in that atmosphere,
I did imbibe some values. At HBS, I not only acquired knowledge
in the various functional areas of business, but, more importantly,
developed the ability to analyse and take decisions. One could
learn finance, production, and marketing anywhere. My stint
at HBS was extremely useful in my subsequent business career.
What I learned from my father during the period 1958-1972
is extremely difficult for me to explain. This learning was
completely informal. He did not write to me very often and
never gave me a lecture. He never told me what I should or
should not do.
My father used to be very busy with his business and social
commitments, apart from being a member of the Lok Sabha between
1957 and 1971. What I learned from him was during our informal
talks, which almost always used to take place whenever we
were together after dinner. My father's ability to think,
visualise, analyse, and anticipate events was phenomenal.
He also had extremely strong values, but never forced these
on others. I did not learn any specific subjects from my father
during our talks. But I was amazed at his abilities, abilities
that are essential to be a successful entrepreneur. He also
had strong views vis-à-vis business, customers, and
employees. There were many things he used to say in this connection.
A small thing that I remember is his strong belief in the
need to give excellent quality nutritious food at lunchtime
to all employees at a subsidised cost. He used to mention
what Gandhiji used to say about a customer being the most
important person for a business.
What does a business school teach its students? To motivate
employees and to be close to the customer and to know what
he desires. What my father used to say was no different, though
the words used were simpler and hence more effective. I must
emphasise that even after I became the CEO of Bajaj Auto,
I have continued to tread the learning path. Though I tend
to talk a great deal, I also try to listen as much. I try
to find out what the customers and employees desire.
I have, I believe, successfully completed,
the process of handing over the baton to the next generation
and a young team of management. The process started around
1997 and will be complete by April 2005.
Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman & MD of Bajaj Auto
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