Forbes India - The 100 Richest Indians (Collector's Edition)

Mexy xAVieRBold, stRAtegic Acquisitions hAVe shAped the foRtune of VedAntA ResouRces chAiRMAn Anil AgARwAl, who is now focussed on chAnnelling his Billions foR the gReAteR goodBy Varsha Meghaniindia’s Minesweeper

a s he strides across the living room of his residence in South Mumbai, Anil Agarwal looks into the distance where leafy greens give way to sweeping views of the Arabian Sea. “It is often said that what you take from the Ganga, you must return to the Ganga,” says the billionaire boss of Vedanta Resources. Dressed in a sober blue suit and rectangular-framed glasses, Agarwal is a towering figure in India Inc. Not just because he’s almost six feet tall, but also because the self-made industrialist’s London-listed natural resources conglomerate, which turned over $11.5 billion last fiscal, is the sixth biggest in the world (by Ebitda). And with a personal fortune of $3.2 billion he is ranked 44 on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List. (Up from rank 63 and $1.86 billion last year.)Yet the description of a billionaire disappoints him. “I have pledged most of my wealth. Where are the billions?” he says referring to his promise to give away 75 percent of his fortune to philanthropy—a decision he took with his family in 2014. In fact, even getting this interview with him was difficult. Time constraints aside, Agarwal is disconcerted about being profiled among India’s richest, as this issue of Forbes India sets out to do. “Money is important. It gives you confidence. But I never came from that background, so it makes me uncomfortable,” says Agarwal, whose shaven head and light grey stubble lend him a more rough-and-tumble look. In his early years growing up in the constricted bylanes of Goria Toli in Patna, Bihar, life was hard, recollects Agarwal. He schooled till the age of 14, barely learning a word of English, and dabbled in his father’s aluminium conductor business. When his ambitions outgrew what Patna could offer, Agarwal, aged 19, journeyed to (then) Bombay to make it as a scrap metal dealer. That was in the mid-1970s. “At that time my only purpose was to make money, to succeed,” confesses the 64-year-old in still patchy English, despite having lived in London for 19 years. Today, having grown Vedanta Resources into a global giant with operations in aluminium, zinc, lead, silver, power, copper, iron ore and oil and gas crossing four continents and a market capitalisation of around $3.1 billion, Agarwal’s ambitions have changed. The founder, chairman and, with his family, owner of a 69 percent stake in the company, still wants to grow Vedanta and has long talked of turning it into the next BHP or Rio Tinto. But through that growth he wants to give back. By developing India’s natural resources sector, he believes, jobs will be created and poverty eradicated. “India needs many more companies like ours,” he says. In turn, Vedanta’s growth fuels Agarwal’s philanthropic ambitions. He recalls a time about ten years ago when his late grandfather took an oath from him. “He wanted me to pledge 90 percent of my wealth. I negotiated and we settled on 75 percent,” he says, chuckling infectiously. From the outset when Agarwal worked as a scrap metal trader in Kalbadevi—the heart of Mumbai’s metal market at the time—Rasiklal Shah, an established metal merchant, recalls the young Agarwal’s fiery grit. “He was very clever and always set his sights on the big picture,” the retired 89-year-old says in Gujarati. Back then Agarwal worked out of Rasikbhai’s compact office using a small desk and a shared telephone line. He would collect scrap metal from cable companies and sell it to other traders, including Rasikbhai who became his trusted business partner. When the chance to buy Samsher Sterling, an ailing Mumbai-based cable making company, came up in 1979, Agarwal jumped at it. He didn’t have the money for it, but no opportunity was too outlandish to pursue. He recounts sitting at a local bank for days until the bankers relented and gave him the money he needed. “After he bought the factory, there was no looking back,” says Rasikbhai. And so it was. Agarwal ran Samsher Sterling for several years, but those were difficult days. “I learnt how to deal with unions, banks, people, customers, machinery, and crises. When you struggle, you learn a lot,” he says. He realised that in order to grow the business, he would have to look at backward integration. Since copper and aluminium were needed to make cables, Agarwal decided to set up a copper smelter—India’s first—in Tamil Nadu. In 1988, he floated his company—what came to be known as Sterlite Industries, named after one of Samsher Sterling’s popular cable brands—and a series of acquisitions followed. In 1995, he acquired Madras Aluminium Company, or Malco, setting foot in the aluminium business, and further expanded his copper business by snapping up mining assets in Australia in 1999. “I wanted to keep growing,” shrugs Agarwal.At the turn of the millennium when the government was looking to privatise its loss-making mining assets, 52 | forbes india december 29, 2017Anil AgArwAlfounder and chairman, Vedanta ResourcesAge: 64rank in the rich listnet worth: $3.2 billionSignificant Business Development last Year: Agarwal completed the merger of cash-rich oil producer cairn india into parent Vedanta limited in April. this has helped Vedanta Resources pare its debt and improve profit-ability. Agarwal also upped his stake in Anglo American from 12.4% to 20% in september to become the miner’s largest shareholder The way Forward: Agarwal wants to trans-form Vedanta Resources into a global natural resources giant rivalling the likes of Bhp and Rio tinto. he plans to invest $10 billion over the next 3-4 years to further ex-pand Vedanta’s verticalsat a glance44Richest IndIans 100 The

Agarwal swooped in. He bought a 51 percent stake in Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) on the cheap in 2001 and orchestrated a turnaround. So also with Hindustan Zinc. At the time wholly owned by the government, the company was in the red and its zinc-lead mines spread across Rajasthan were believed to have reserves to last for only five years. But Agarwal spotted an opportunity. “He is a man of instinct. He goes by his gut,” says HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh, who serves as an independent non-executive director on the board of Vedanta Resources. Agarwal acquired a 65 percent stake from the government in 2002 and infused fresh funds, expertise and technology into the ailing entity. This helped lower costs and boost productivity, making the once uneconomical company essential: Today Hindustan Zinc meets more than 80 percent of India’s demand for zinc. It is the second largest zinc producer in the world after Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore and its cost of production is among the lowest in the world. It has reserves to last another 25 years and is also Vedanta’s most profitable unit. “If I find things are in range, I never take time to shoot,” says Agarwal of his acquisition-led strategy. But it’s not just undervalued assets that he zeroes in on. Vedanta’s purchase of a majority stake in Cairn India, subsidiary of British oil company Cairn Energy, for more than $8 billion in 2011 was an expensive one, says Agarwal. But it was important as it marked Vedanta’s entry into the oil and gas market. Plus, with the merger of the cash-rich energy business into Vedanta Limited (formerly Sesa Sterlite)—the debt-ridden Mumbai listed entity that is 51 percent owned by Vedanta Resources—earlier this year, Agarwal not only streamlined the group’s debt but also came closer to his “dream” of creating an integrated resource major out of India. “BHP is from Australia, Rio Tinto from the United Kingdom, Vale from Brazil. India, too, must have its own natural resources company,” he says. In fact, some say Agarwal’s purchase of a 12.4 percent stake in Anglo American for $2.4 billion, through his family trust Volcan Investments in March this year, and his upping it to 20 percent for another $1.5 billion in September, is also aimed at furthering that pursuit. Agarwal insists that it’s a personal investment but given the Johannesburg- and London-based miner’s assets, including its ownership of De Beers, the world’s biggest diamond producer, it seems unlikely that he will remain a passive investor. Besides, in the months since Agarwal’s first investment, Anglo American, which was among the hardest hit miners in the commodity price slump of 2015 and 2016, reported healthy results and even beat its debt reduction target. Back in Agarwal’s seafront villa, he launches into a spirited monologue about India’s potential. The country’s geology, he says, is similar to that of mineral-rich North America, Latin America, Australia and South Africa. Yet we produce only 20 percent of our natural resource requirements. More than a third of India’s import bill—now at around $500 billion—is spent on petroleum products. This is around 10 percent of the GDP. Oil and gas aside, India also purchases large quantities of gold, silver, coal and fertilisers from abroad. “Instead of extracting and utilising our natural resources, we are spending billions of dollars to import them. We are eroding our national income,” says Agarwal. His purchase of Cairn India, he points out, was with the view of making India self-reliant. The energy business currently meets 26 percent of India’s crude oil requirement, which Agarwal aims to increase to 50 percent over time. A country that doesn’t produce 50-60 percent of its energy requirements cannot survive, he contends. In fact, Vedanta meets more than 80 percent of India’s zinc requirements, 95 percent of silver, Vedanta Group structureVedanta ResouRces PlcVedanta limitedZinc indiaBhaRat aluminium (BALCO)WesteRn clusteR (LiBeriA)Zinc inteRnational talWandi saBo PoWeR malco PoWeRaustRalia coPPeR minesKonKola coPPeR mines50.1%64.9%51%100%100%100%100%100%79.4%sesa iRon oRealuminium (Odisha aluminium and pOwer assets)caiRn india(Oil and gas)steRlite coPPeR (tuticOrin)PoWeR (600 mw Jharsuguda)s ubsidiaries O f Vedanta l imitednote: shareholding post cairn mergerlisted entitiesunlisted entities Source: Company dataVolcan inVestments69.4%sdecember 29, 2017 forbes india | 53

50 percent of aluminium and 35 percent of copper, through its various subsidiaries. The group plans to invest $10 billion in the next 3-4 years to grow (and streamline) the existing businesses, as well as launch new ones.But in its quest to grow, Vedanta has suffered setbacks. An 18-month-long industry-wide mining ban in Goa in 2012 crippled Sesa Goa—Vedanta’s iron ore division which it acquired in 2007. A gigantic, $7 billion aluminium facility in Odisha was held up after local tribals rejected Vedanta’s plans to mine bauxite—the raw material needed to make aluminium—from their lands. The dispute drew criticism from environmentalists and activist investors, but Agarwal appears unruffled. “This is an absolute myth that when mother earth has oil, gold, silver and other resources, you don’t take it out. It’s like taking out milk from a cow—you have to do it sustainably, with heart and soul to make sure you’re not exploiting it. There is a thin wall,” he acknowledges. “And I exactly understand that.” Currently the aluminium facility uses bauxite from other areas and works on 60 percent capacity. Moreover, complicated as Vedanta’s structure may be—holding company Volcan owns 61 percent of the London-listed Vedanta Resources, which in turn owns 51 percent of the Mumbai-listed Vedanta Limited, which in turn owns various subsidiaries—Agarwal insists that operations are kept simple. Management is left to professionals —son Agnivesh, 34, runs his own scrap metal recovery business in Dubai—while Agarwal helps with strategy and “big picture thinking”, says HDFC’s Parekh. Agarwal for his part ensures that his CEOs have a plan for the future, the ability to develop teams and a knack for working with the government. “We have a world-class team. They are all fully empowered. I’m actually the one who works the least,” he laughs. But Agarwal’s self-effacing humour hides a shrewd sensibility; that of hiring the right people to get his work done. Take the case of Vedanta’s float on the London Stock Exchange in 2003. No Indian company had done so at that point in time, yet Agarwal, short of growth capital for his expanding business, was clear that London was the place to list. “That is where most metal and mining companies are listed,” he explains. But he couldn’t do it himself. He needed an internationally known industry veteran to lead the charge, so he hired former BHP boss Brian Gilbertson. The strategy worked. The listing raised $875 million, making it the second largest initial public offering (IPO) of the year. And suddenly Vedanta was among the large mining companies of the world. “The Vedanta IPO showcased India’s potential as a producer of commodities. Before that it was just seen as a consumer,” says Gilbertson, who resigned shortly after in 2004 after equations with Agarwal turned sour. He now chairs London-based mining firm Pallinghurst Resources. Just as his vision for India, Agarwal’s philanthropic endeavour is hugely ambitious. “Children are our future,” he says. And to that extent he has entered into a public-private partnership with the Indian government’s women and child development ministry to set up 4,000 “nandghars” across rural India. The 400 crore investment will entail `modernising India’s anganwadis or kindergartens such that children till the age of seven will have access to quality health care, nutrition as well as pre-primary and primary education. Already over 100 nandghars across three states in North India have been piloted. “They have shown a marked improvement in school readiness among children,” says PR Sharma, deputy director, industries and CSR, government of Rajasthan. These nandghars, says Agarwal, double up as vocational training centres for women. Entrepreneurship training, including credit linkages to start their own micro-enterprises, will be on offer, he says. It’s clear that Agarwal brings forth the same entrepreneurial enthusiasm and foresight to his philanthropy as he does to his business.“Education is the biggest thing you can give to people,” stresses Agarwal and so his idea of building a world-class university in Puri, on the coast of Odisha, to rival Harvard, Stanford and other great institutions, took shape. “It will not just be a university, but also a powerful research centre, almost like a think tank,” he says. Spanning areas of technology, material and space research, the liberal arts and political science, Agarwal believes Vedanta University—which will be constructed on a 3,800-acre site and will cater to 100,000 students when completed—will help develop future leaders. Initially slated for a 2025 completion, the 15,000 crore `project has been held back due to a land acquisition imbroglio. But nothing seems to deter Agarwal. He knows his mind and he knows how to get there. “My grandfather always told me to adjust with people and get adjusted. That’s how you get your work done,” he smiles. 54 | forbes india december 29, 2017 Vedanta resources is the first indian company to be listed on the london stock exchangeRichest IndIans 100 The



By Sayan ChakraBortya Brief history of SuccessBy selling Jockey products in india, the genomals altered the way indians perceived innerwear and changed their own fortunes in the processIn the summer of 1993, it was business as usual for 40-year-old Sunder Genomal in Manila—where he ran his family business of manufacturing and distributing Jockey products in the Philippines—when Rick Hosley, then president of the US-based innerwear brand, made him an offer. Hosley wanted Genomal to become the brand’s exclusive licensee for manufacturing and distribution in India.Genomal had not seen this coming despite having accompanied Hosley to India a few months earlier to help him scout for a partner to operate in the country. Hosley’s reason to fall back on Genomal isn’t far to seek. The company was making a second attempt at entering India. Constrained by regulatory requirements under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (Fera), which required multinational companies (MNCs) to dilute their ownership in Indian ventures to 40 percent, Jockey had to end its decade-old manufacturing and distribution partnership with Associated Apparels in 1973. Now, in 1993 (post-liberalisation, Fera rules were relaxed to allow MNCs at least a 51 percent stake in their Indian ventures, and were eventually repealed in 1998), Jockey was looking to enter the market again, and Genomal—whose family had a similar relationship with the brand in the Philippines since 1959—could be relied upon to be the trusted lieutenant. “Jockey was approached by some well-known large companies for the licence in India. They surprised us by asking if our family would be interested in taking the licence since they did not sense the right quality and marketing culture in any of the companies that showed an interest in the brand,” recalls Genomal, managing director of Page Industries, the company he founded in 1994 to manufacture and distribute Jockey products in India.Although Hosley saw merit in entrusting Genomal with the task, Genomal himself dithered. The size of the Indian market was daunting; it was 10 times the area and 14 times the population of the Philippines in 1993, and would be a different demon to tame. Besides, the Genomal family—although originally from sunder genomalHyderabad—had never had any business in India. “We had neither lived in India nor done business there. They [Jockey] said we can live with that, and have partners whom we know and trust,” says Genomal, sitting in a conference room at the company headquarters in Bengaluru, where the walls are adorned with plaques and certificates from business partners.In the 23 years since its launch, Page Industries has dwarfed Indian innerwear brands. The company’s profit last fiscal, 266 `crore, was more than the cumulative profit clocked by VIP Clothing Ltd (loss of `5.79 crore), Rupa and Co Ltd ( 77 crore), Lux `Industries ( 63 crore) `and Dollar Industries ( 43.47 crore). Its `revenue of 2,154 crore `was more than double of what any of these companies posted. Among one of the most expensive stocks to trade on the bourses, Page Industries has seen its share value Sunder Genomalmanaging director, page industriesage: 64rank in the rich listnet Worth: $1.75 billionSignificant Business development last Year: page industries’ revenue grew by 20 percent in fy17, while net profit surged by 33.6 percent. the company opened more than 100 exclusive brand outlets for Jockey, and increased produc-tion capacity. it has set up a new dyeing unit in hassan, karnataka, for the women’s segmentThe Way Forward: the company wants to significantly grow the performance and casual outdoor wear segments, and launch a new line for girls. new production units outside karnataka are being planned to double production capacity to 400 million pieces by 2020at a glanCe8756 | forbes india december 29, 2017Richest IndIans 100 The[p r o f i l e s]

Bmaximagesunder genomal believes the best of page industries is yet to comedecember 29, 2017 forbes india | 57

appreciate by 55 times to about `20,011 since going public in 2007 at `360 apiece. Earnings per share (EPS) for FY17 were 238.74, more than `the combined EPS of information technology majors Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services.In the process, the Genomal family’s fortune has grown manifold. Led by brothers Sunder, Ramesh, 68, and Nari, 76, the promoters hold a 49 percent stake in the 22,320-crore `company, culminating in a net worth of 11,360 crore ($1.75 billion). Sunder `Genomal and family are ranked 87th on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List. the association between the Genomal family and Jockey dates back to the 1950s, when Sunder Genomal’s father Genomal Verhomal ran a textile and garment import and wholesale business, V Lilaram & Co, which, among others things, imported Jockey innerwear to cater to the US military personnel stationed in the Philippines. It wasn’t long before the brand caught the fancy of the locals, prompting Jockey to offer Verhomal a manufacturing and distribution licence in 1959.An astute businessman, Verhomal ensured that his sons, Nari, Ramesh and Sunder, got a solid understanding of the business before they took over; whenever the boys would get time off from their studies, they would be at the offices and shop floors of the business. Genomal recalls stepping into a Jockey manufacturing unit owned by his father when he was 10, and spending his teenage years running errands—packing cartons, taking stock of the inventory, and going on sales rounds. After completing his engineering in industrial management from De La Salle University in the Philippines, Genomal formally joined the family business in 1976.In 1993, it was time to make all this experience count by entering an unchartered territory like India, where the women’s innerwear segment was dominated by brands such as Lovable, Daisy Dee, Libertina, Neva and Feather Line, among others, and men had to choose from among mass-market brands such as VIP, Rupa, Amul, Lux Cozi and Dollar. Jockey aimed to fill the void in the premium segment. Back then, retailers barely focussed on innerwear. More often than not, stocks were piled in store rooms or shoved under a counter. There were limited design and colour options. Let alone in-shop advertisements, even displaying the products alongside apparels was unthinkable.This was the market that Genomal entered with the aim of selling a brand that was high on design, packaging and marketing. Founded by Samuel T Cooper in 1876 in St Joseph, Michigan, Jockey claims to be the first innerwear brand to display products on the sales floors of major retailers in the 1910s, and the first innerwear brand to be endorsed by sports stars such as baseball legends George ‘Babe’ Ruth Jr, Jim Palmer and Peter ‘Pete’ Rose; it even hosted an innerwear fashion show in 1938, and introduced the concept of stitching the brand name onto the waistband of products.Genomal had to find distributors who would buy into his dream; those who would devote time and resources to meet Jockey’s global marketing standards. “We couldn’t have our products displayed and sold the way innerwear was being sold at that time. My biggest fear was how retailers in India would accept our model for selling and marketing the brand,” he says.Genomal started by employing consultancy firm Marg to conduct a market research, based on sample products he sent to India from the Philippines; Marg’s report contained rave reviews of the products. Genomal’s brothers-in-law and their acquaintances, who ran businesses in India and were familiar with the textile industry, helped him understand the supply chain complexities in the country.By early 1994, Genomal had laid out the blueprint of setting up shop in India. Page Industries (then called Page Apparel Manufacturing) would source raw material, operate their own manufacturing facilities and supply finished products to distributors across the country. Over his frequent trips to India, during which Genomal would visit factories and fabric manufacturers, he had identified Mumbai as the city in which to set up the company’s headquarters. But that was not to be.On one such trip to India in June 1994, this time accompanied by his wife Madhuri, Genomal decided to visit his sister in Bengaluru for the first time. What was initially planned as a two-day break from work, stretched to 10 days. Genomal spent most of the time in identifying a location for a factory and stitching deals with suppliers of raw materials.“Real estate was much cheaper in Bengaluru than in Mumbai. You could get sprawling properties here, which would be just 35 to 40 minutes away from the centre of the city. In fact, we were also planning to source a lot of raw material from down South, from Tiruppur, Chennai, Bengaluru 58 | forbes india december 29, 2017Richest IndIans 100 The Since its launch in 1994, Page Industries has dwarfed Indian innerwear brands

december 21, 2016 forbes india | 59and Hyderabad. Labour was also plentiful here,” says Genomal.By early 1995, Genomal’s core team, led by his first hire GP Albal, who now serves as an independent director on the company’s board, had covered enough ground to mark Jockey’s re-entry into India. The suppliers had been identified, the factory at Bommanahalli on the outskirts of Bengaluru was fixed with state-of-the-art equipment from Japan and an army of women workers—a rarity in India’s garment factories of the 1990s—was hired. (In the Philippines too, Genomal hired only women at his factories. “We hired only female operators because their hands are more nimble, and it is easier for them to handle smaller garments,” he explains.) Factory managers from the Philippines were also flown in to train the local workforce. Meanwhile, Genomal organised conferences for top retailers in seven cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, to gauge their interest in selling Jockey products. The response was “overwhelming”, he says. The company was set to roll with about 10 distributors and 120 retailers. The factory started commercial production in August 1995, with Jockey products reaching Bengaluru stores in November, followed by Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. In December, the brand made an ad splash in newspapers: “Burn your briefs, Jockey has arrived.”But that’s not quite what happened. Jockey was expensive. While an average Jockey product was priced between employees work at page industries’ facility in hassan, karnataka. the company says it only hires women at its factories as their hands are more nimble

`50 and 60, with the highest price `tag touching 120, local brands sold `for about half the price. The company earned 2.3 crore in 1995-96, and `sales weren’t growing very fast. But the next decade was one in which the purchasing power and patterns of middle-class India saw a dramatic shift. Between 1996 and 2006, India’s per capita gross domestic product doubled from $396 to $792, and urban Indians began to flock to multi-brand retail outlets (MBOs) such as Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle. Consumers were willing to spend more for global brands.“Around 2004, we were able to stock in MBOs. It was a turning point, in the sense that since we were in MBOs, the hosiery stores started respecting us a little more. They realised this was not regular innerwear that we were selling,” says Vedji Ticku, a Page Industries veteran since 1997 and the current chief executive officer. “It wasn’t very easy even then. It isn’t easy even now. You need to reach a threshold point where you are well accepted as a brand. It was between 2004 and 2006 that things started changing.” It was a decade after starting out that Page Industries crossed the 100-crore sales mark.`“Jockey has successfully created a mid-to-premium segment in the urban area, which was a virgin space. This is unusual because for any other category, this is the most crowded segment, as far as a branded play is concerned. As incremental urban demand got created, Jockey ended up occupying that space,” says Ankur Bisen, associate vice president of retail and consumer products at Technopak Advisors.Buoyed by the spurt in revenues, Page Industries floated a 100-crore `initial public offering (IPO) in 2007. Back then, the company had three manufacturing facilities and a presence in 14,000 retail outlets and 17 exclusive brand outlets. Flush with funds, the company embarked on an aggressive marketing drive and spent the next few years in increasing manufacturing capacity—it now has a workforce of 20,000 people, 15 manufacturing units with one in Tiruppur and the rest in Karnataka—and expanding into smaller towns and cities.Talking about the experience he gained from the Philippines business where he, along with brothers Nari and Ramesh, continue to be shareholders, and which was renamed GTVL Manufacturing Industries in 1987, Genomal says: “The experience and expertise that evolved over five decades in this business [in the Philippines] has given us our fundamental strengths, both in the back end, where we have mastered the manufacturing processes by maximising operational efficiencies while producing the very best quality products, and in the front end where we are very strong in product design and development, innovative marketing and retail and distribution.” And he hasn’t looked back since the 2007 IPO. Annual sales have grown by 21 times between FY06 and FY17. Today, Page Industries works with 900 distributors and has a presence in more than 50,000 retail outlets and 370 exclusive outlets. It has also expanded to Sri Lanka (1997), Nepal (1998) and the UAE (2012). “Page Industries has taken time, and has gone through the struggle of building a brand. But they stayed on course and built the fundamentals of the business, which are product quality, distribution network and brand building, without looking for shortcuts,” says Hemchandra Javeri, chief executive at Forum Synergies (India) PE Fund Managers. “It takes time to build a brand that consumers like, especially one with the scale and size that they have today.” Genomal—who made Bengaluru his home in 1995 and lives there with his wife and two sons—has been at the forefront of the company’s growth into the largest licensee for Jockey, a brand that sells in at least 147 countries, and standing firm in the face of stiff competition from innerwear brands such as Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Tommy Hilfiger, FCUK and Calvin Klein, as well as apparel brands like Levi’s, US Polo Association and Van Heusen which launched innerwear. In 2012, the company partnered with swimwear brand Speedo, a 34.5-crore segment `until FY17, which is overseen by Genomal’s elder son Shamir, 33, the chief strategy officer at Page Industries; younger son, Rohan, 25, is part of the business excellence team.“The MD is a visionary. He makes investments at the right moment and ahead of time. It takes 12 to 18 months to create infrastructure. Once the investments go in today, products will come out in 18 months. At that time, we should be ready to sell them. He has the vision to understand that. Today, we are already planning till 2020,” says Ticku.Today, at 64, Genomal runs Page Industries with a fervent zeal. “I tell my team, keep reaching for the stars but keep your feet on the ground. I truly believe the best of Page Industries is yet to come,” he says. Page Industries has a presence in over 50,000 retail outlets and 370 exclusive stores60 | forbes india december 29, 2017Richest IndIans 100 The



62 | FORBES INDIA DECEMBER 29, 2017By SALIL PANCHAL & SAMAR SRIVASTAVAMind On, Hands OffIT’S BEEN THREE YEARS SINCE HARSH MARIWALA ENGINEERED A SEAMLESS TRANSFER OF EXECUTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES TO PROFESSIONALS AT FMCG GIANT MARICO. BUT MAKE NO MISTAKE, THE INQUISITIVE ENTREPRENEUR IS FAR FROM HANGING UP HIS BOOTSO ne would think that in the constantly variable world of retail consumption, where products on demand can fly off shelves in the twinkling of an eye, the promoter of a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company of considerable repute and size might also be constantly on the edge, surrounded by MIS reports and product presentations.Yet, there is an air of calmness when one steps into the chamber of Harsh Mariwala, the founder of the 40,000-crore (by market `capitalisation as on October 11) Marico, whose flagship Parachute hair oil and Saffola cooking oil brands touch the lives of one out of three Indians.A few folders lie on a pristine long table, set against several wall shelves and a desktop computer, in his office at Mumbai’s bustling business district of Bandra-Kurla Complex. It’s been over three years since Mariwala, 66, decided to take his foot off the pedal (he pulled out of executive responsibilities, stepping down as managing director of Marico in 2014). But he has not lost his mojo despite battling rivals—Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL), Dabur India and Emami Ltd—for over 20 years and expanding business operations to 25 countries across Africa and Asia.Do not also be deceived into thinking that Mariwala—ranked 33rd on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List with a net worth of $4.2 billion (around 27,000 `crore)—has hung up his boots. He serves as chairman on the board of Marico, is on the cusp of launching a new venture and has found time to pursue goals beyond professional work, particularly in giving back to society in a stronger way than in previous decades.Each day of his is well -chalked-out: From the review meetings of the initiatives he is involved with—Marico, Kaya Ltd, Marico CSR, Marico Innovation Foundation, Ascent, Mariwala Health Initiative and the family office—to his daily workouts at the gym and golf over the weekends.Mariwala could not have timed the transition at Marico better. The key businesses (barring the skin care services business Kaya) were in sound financial health, the board, audit committee and the mentoring of the top management were operating like well-oiled machines and his two children, Rishabh and Rajvi, had found strength in their respective professional spaces.There is a real assurance that Marico—set up by Mariwala in 1990 after breaking away from the family-owned Bombay Oil Industries Ltd—has transitioned seamlessly to a professionally-managed company from a family-led commodity business. In ensuring the change, Mariwala would owe some credit to a Marico faithful and now CEO, Saugata [p r o f i l e s]harsh mariwalaAT A GLANCEHARSH MARIWALAChairman, Marico LtdAge:66Rank in theRich List:Net worth:$4.2 billion Significant Business Development Last Year: Marico has expanded and strengthened its position in the male grooming segment, with two acquisitions in 2017—Isoplus and BeardoThe Way Forward: Mariwala is launch-ing a new business which would be a network of com-prehensive water therapy treatment centres for spinal and knee ailments, along with a team of expert doctors33Richest INDIANS 100 The

PRASAD GORIHarsh Mariwala has found time to pursue goals beyond professional work, particularly in giving back to society in a stronger way than in previous decades

group) and their board of directors has come under criticism, Marico’s case stands apart. Mariwala has found the right balance of dealing with the board, the CEO and his team.These days he prefers to talk less about Marico and more about macroeconomics and building institutions. We throw a query regarding the strategy for a Marico product, for instance, and Mariwala steers the conversation towards other critical issues—“How does one transition from an active role and hand over the reins to professionals?”On that, Mariwala does some straight talking. “I look at Infosys… if they [the founders] had some alignment with the board of directors and decided on the values that had to be incorporated, things may have been different. If there is an unclear alignment [between the founders and the board]—or even if there are no problems—it is best to sit down and decide on issues, rather than go public,” he says.“I have shed some responsibilities but not abdicated them. Saugata is more accountable but I am also accountable. Each one of us has different ways of seeing how the company is faring,” he says. “My mind is always on, but my hands are off.” This is clear from the fact that Mariwala usually has a brief chat with Gupta every day, but there is no obsession to track daily sales charts.Mariwala shows us a register, which explicitly outlines his role as 64 | FORBES INDIA DECEMBER 29, 2017Each month, Mariwala (extreme left) meets a set of new entrepreneurs, where they discuss challenges and assess outcomes Mariwala has found the right balance of dealing with the board, the CEO and his teamMEXY XAVIERRichest INDIANS 100 TheGupta, who joined the company in 2004 and has been firmly holding the reins of the day–to-day business in a competitive environment.Personally, though, the shift was not easy for Mariwala. “Suddenly I went from [working] full time to about 30 percent; I had to do new things and reinvent myself,” he tells Forbes India. “I took about six to 12 months to prepare to step back… Saugata had to be mentored and we had to tell the board. I always believed the interests of the organisation came before the individual, so I was ready to go,” says Mariwala.The process of handing over the baton was methodical. Mariwala codified both his and Gupta’s roles in the new scheme of things. “Saugata and I wrote down what we thought our roles should be and then we compared notes before presenting it to the board,” recalls Mariwala. At a time when friction between founder-promoters of many companies (read Infosys and the Tata

chairman. A quick read of this reveals:• Strategic business planning: [Provide] visionary and strategic inputs to the top team for the process of creation of business strategy; critique of the business strategy created by the business, focus on new category entry, new brands and extensions, etc.• Leadership development:Mentor the MD and CEO.• Acquisitions and divestments:Review and guide initiatives.• Strengthen Marico’s board:Creation of a board agenda and anchoring the business strategy, risk reviews and internal governance.• Crisis management: Resolve critical issues during a crisis.Explains Gupta: “The process of transition probably started in 2012-13. We had a comfort level. I was at that time in my ninth year at Marico and came up with our ‘roles’ paper. This ensured that there were no grey areas. The journey has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary.”The growth of Marico to an FMCG giant from a business dependent on commodity prices in the form of copra (for Parachute coconut oil) and safflower seeds (for Saffola oil) between 1990 and 2000 has also been evolutionary. In the course of its journey, Marico has picked up brands (it bought the Paras personal care brands Set Wet, Livon and Zatak from Reckitt Benckiser in 2016 and also the Nihar hair care brands from HUL in 2006) and also recently acquired companies in the male grooming space (Zed Lifestyle and Isoplus) where—despite the presence of international brands—market penetration is still in single digits.Marico has also expanded its presence to international markets, including the Middle East, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Mariwala explains some of the learnings while expanding overseas. “It is difficult; normally there is the temptation to hand over operations to an Indian distributor but you need to have a separate dedicated resource to evaluate consumer behaviour and trends—each territory has a different culture.” There are also learnings in terms of product portfolio in each territory. When Marico expanded operations to Egypt—a market with a strong focus on costs—it applied some of the cost focus to Indian operations.And large shareholders are happy with how Marico has matured. Rahul Bhasin, founder and managing director of Baring Private Equity Partners India, has been a Marico investor in his personal capacity since a little after the company’s IPO in 1996. ( 100 invested at the time of the `IPO was worth 14,150 on March 31, `2017, implying a CAGR of 27 percent.) Bhasin recounts his first meeting with Mariwala, when the IPO was set to be launched. “I met him at a time when there was a lot of negative publicity around the company [there was apprehension as the company’s key brands Parachute and Saffola were owned by Bombay Oil Industries at the time].” But Bhasin was so impressed by his value systems that he bought into Mariwala’s verbal assurance that he would “get it done”. Bhasin bought a block of Marico shares for himself and family which he has never divested. True to Mariwala’s word, Marico acquired the Parachute and Saffola brands from Bombay Oil Industries in 1999.“I found an inquisitive entrepreneur with an open mind. He has been among the most outstanding entrepreneurs I have seen over the past 20 years with the ability to translate innovation into relentless excellence in execution,” says Bhasin.Bhasin candidly admits that Mariwala’s decision to step back in 2014 did get him a bit worried, “but he plays a very active and effective role as chairman”. “The company has a very explicit and strong value system. Harsh has had this hunger to keep getting better; every time I chat with him, he is reflecting on a new idea,” says Bhasin.Marico continues to follow some of the mantras that Mariwala had spelt out earlier—choose categories where the company believes it has a ‘right to win’ (where it has already won market leadership and is expanding), do not enter segments which are highly penetrated (such as soaps) and rebrand or carry out brand extensions where possible (Saffola oats, Saffola multigrain flakes) in the form of in-between meals and breakfast foods.CEO Gupta is confident that there is room for growth even with already well-established brands: For instance, the company hopes to expand Parachute in rural India, from where comes 42 percent of the brand’s sales with the balance in urban India. Marico, which this year made two acquisitions in the male grooming space—a 45 percent stake in Beardo’s parent firm Zed Lifestyle and hair styling brand Isoplus—is confident that this segment will witness strong growth in the coming years.Marico’s business and its CSR activity take up over a quarter of Mariwala’s time, he says. He also devotes equal time to the skin care business Kaya. Over 15 years after opening the first Kaya Skin Care clinic in Mumbai and listing it as a separate company, the business reveals loose ends which have yet to be dealt with.In 2014, Kaya Ltd merged “I believed the organisation’s interests came before the individual, so I was ready to go.”DECEMBER 29, 2017 FORBES INDIA | 65

66 | FORBES INDIA DECEMBER 29, 2017with its parent Marico Kaya Enterprises Ltd (MaKE), with the former being listed separately. Kaya Ltd reported a net loss of `8.62 crore in FY16 and 17.76 crore `in FY17. There are 101 Kaya skin clinics in India, 23 in the Middle East and 137 Kaya Skin Bars.The focus of Kaya’s India business would be to drive specialised doctor-led services such as anti-ageing, fairness-pigmentation and hair care. For the Saudi Arabia business, the focus for the next year would be to improve the business and to bring it back to single-digit growth. “We have an internal challenge for Kaya in India; there are both leadership and execution issues,” says Mariwala. He says ensuring that talent does not leave remains a key concern. “We have to improve customer service, offer something that investors want, invest more in technology and sell more products. I have confidence that it will turn around but we have to do it in the next one or two years,” he adds.A New VentureMariwala knows the challenges of building a business and taking decisions as an entrepreneur: After all, he took over his family business (Bombay Oil Industries) in 1971 and managed to turn it around by building brands and marketing concepts, before starting a separate company. “It [Bombay Oil Industries] was completely family-managed: No professionals, some supervisors, and a few family friends working for the family,” Mariwala had told Forbes India earlier.After starting Marico, in the initial phase, the company relocated its corporate headquarters (from Masjid Bunder to Bandra in Mumbai), expanded manufacturing facilities and opened centres for research and development and product quality. In the next phase, came acquisitions (Nihar, Camelia, Manjal and Paras), product innovations (Safflower oil blends, oats and value-added hair oils) and attracting top talent.Saurabh Mukherjea, the CEO of Ambit Capital who has studied Marico in his book Unusual Billionaires, says the company took steps such as advertising and promotional spends for product campaigns, keeping buffers to safeguard against unexpected costs and improved demand forecasting which helped it plan its copra purchases better.Entrepreneurship and strategising come naturally to Mariwala. He continues to spend a significant portion of his time in entrepreneurship-related activities, whether it be at Ascent Foundation, a peer-to-peer platform which he created in 2012, or even meeting budding and new entrepreneurs separately.Each month, Mariwala meets a set of new entrepreneurs, where they discuss challenges and carry out follow-up meetings. Mariwala also spends time with his daughter Rajvi’s venture Mariwala Health Initiative, which helps organisations play a catalytic role in solving mental health problems. He also works with the Marico Innovation Foundation, which serves as an incubator for Marico’s social aspirations, including the health foundation.Mariwala’s son Rishabh was instrumental in advising his father to create a family office—Sharrp Ventures—in an effort to de-risk their portfolio, considering that all of Mariwala’s wealth was in the form of Marico shares. Rishabh looks at this venture besides his own Soap Opera N More, which makes ‘non-toxic’—herbal and handmade—soaps.With much satisfaction, Mariwala suddenly says, “I am now setting up a new business.” More towards achieving a social cause, Mariwala is building ‘Aqua Centric Pvt Ltd’, a water therapy treatment centre, with Dr Amit Kohli, a renowned physiotherapist, for aiding in the recovery from spinal and knee injuries. The health care venture is set to be launched in December this year.“It will be a comprehensive centre—with a large swimming pool, built-in treadmill, a team of specialist doctors, including paediatricians, gynaecologists, neurosurgeons and physiotherapists, to deal with back- and knee-related issues.” The first clinic will open in Andheri, Mumbai, with at least another three centres planned for the city. At this stage of the interview, Mariwala gets a bit impatient, getting ready for a review meeting for one of the businesses. After nearly 46 years of professional life, Mariwala’s strengths could be listed—disciplined and focussed with a willingness to learn. All these played a part in building Marico as a brand. Gupta has an eye on strengthening the new brands which Marico has acquired, for it is clear that the nature of the company’s original businesses—food and nutrition—are not evolving dramatically in India. Distribution models are, however, changing and Marico will have to deal with it. But the new guard at Marico may not have much to worry about as Mariwala’s vision, well-outlined processes and an open-door policy of meeting investors and shareholders,will remain pillars on which the company stands. Mariwala’s well-outlined processes and vision are pillars on which the company standsRichest INDIANS 100 The



68 | forbes india december 29, 2017By Sayan ChakraBortyMr Congeniality His natural affability Has Helped nandan nilekani bridge many divides. perHaps His greatest test lies in His latest role, as tHe non-executive cHairman of infosys, tHe firm He co-foundedW hen Naman Pugalia first wrote to Nandan Nilekani in the summer of 2009, he did not expect a response. After all, Pugalia was a nobody, fresh out of Brandeis University, Massachusetts, in the US, hoping to work with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), an organisation that Nilekani chaired. People of Nilekani’s stature had no business responding to cold emails seeking jobs, he thought.Much to Pugalia’s surprise, Nilekani wrote back, albeit regretting his inability to immediately accommodate Pugalia. Six months later, when a position opened, Pugalia joined UIDAI, kickstarting an association with Nilekani that would transcend the project. “When I started working with Nilekani, I realised that the act of responding to my email wasn’t a one-off, but something that is fundamental to him. His rules of engagement are extremely democratic,” Pugalia, founder of FourthLion Technologies, a political campaign planner that counts Nilekani as its first client, says in a phone interview. “He is a leader who will seek you out.”At 62, Nilekani has made many friends like Pugalia and won more fans with his disarming demeanour and collegial approach at work. Gestures as elementary as responding to an email, for instance. More important, these friends cannot only be found in the swanky chambers at corporate offices or government establishments, as befits the billionaire co-founder of software services exporter Infosys, but also among the foot soldiers.The ability to crack a joke or two, or make up a quick story to liven up people, has made him even more affable. Som Mittal, former president at Nasscom, recalls an incident when he was at the receiving end of Nilekani’s humour. “At my wife’s [Vidhu Mittal] book launch, Nilekani told a room full of people, ‘I was always wondering how Infosys was losing business to Digital Equipment [where Mittal worked] and that was because Som would invite his customers home and his wife would cook for them’,” says Mittal.Nilekani, say his [p r o f i l e s]nandan nilekaniNaNdaN NilekaNinon-executive chairman, infosysage: 62Rank in the Rich list:Net Worth: $1.71 billionSignificant Business development last Year: nilekani spent the better part of the last year addressing concerns over aadhaar, especially around data security and privacy, apart from spending time with his latest muse, startups. He has invested in about 10 startups and launched a $100-million venture capital firm, fundamen-tum, earlier this year.The Way Forward: putting infosys back on industry-leading growth trajectory. as non-executive chairman of the board, nilekani is expected to help the company find a new ceo and quell the ani-mosity between founder nr narayana murthy and the board.at a glanCe89Richest IndIans 100 The

amit vermadecember 29, 2017 forbes india | 69the world may not have known nilekani had nr narayana murthy not identified the spark in him way back in february 1979

peers, is a charmer with a gift of the gab, who can engage people from all walks of life—be it a budding entrepreneur seeking words of wisdom, an executive disillusioned at work, a prospective client who can bring in the money for Infosys or a discerning academic—and influence them more often than not.Take, for instance, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Thomas L Friedman, who visited the Infosys campus in Bengaluru in February 2004 to interview Nilekani on outsourcing. While Friedman had walked in with a lot questions, he walked out of the interview with the title of his bestseller, The World is Flat, inspired by a seemingly innocuous observation by Nilekani on globalisation, “The playing field is being levelled.”“His [Nilekani’s] ability to network and connect with people and clients is extraordinary. He could build consensus,” says V Balakrishnan, former chief financial officer at Infosys. “He is somebody who can align everybody to a particular line and is extraordinary at winning over people.”the world may not have known Nilekani had NR Narayana Murthy, the force behind Infosys, not identified the spark in him way back in February 1979. Back then, Murthy was known to hire meritorious candidates for Patni Computer Systems irrespective of their field of study or work experience, prompting Nilekani, who had a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay, to try his luck. “I gave him a test in advanced pattern recognition and he came out successful. I asked him in the interview what he was planning to do. He said he was waiting to take GMAT,” recalls Murthy of his first encounter with Nilekani. Nilekani didn’t write GMAT. In 1981, two years after joining Patni as a software engineer trainee, he set up Infosys with Murthy and five others. He delivered from the word go. In the early days at Infosys, he did a “good job” in leading a team of six engineers in the US to develop software for one of the company’s clients, says Murthy. Next, Nilekani led a team that would develop a “functionally and technologically enhanced apparel package” on an IBM 4341 computer for another early customer of Infosys at Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was also instrumental in winning an outsourcing contract from General Electric, one of Infosys’s biggest clients in the mid-1990s. Infosys scaled great heights after Nilekani succeeded Murthy as the chief executive in 2002. By the end of his five-year tenure in April 2007, when he quit as CEO to make way for Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys’s market cap had jumped 367 percent to 115,307 crore.`Under Nilekani, Infosys was also closing in on larger rival Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which listed on the bourses in 2004. For instance, Infosys’s total income was 84 percent of TCS’s in 2004-05, 80 percent the year after and 87 percent in 2007, while the company trumped TCS on net profits in 2005 and 2007 (earning 4 and 0.7 percent more, respectively). A decade later, without Nilekani, in 2016-17 Infosys’s revenue stood at 56 percent of TCS and profit at 54 percent. “Nilekani complemented the rest of the promoters with strategic clarity and customer-facing outlook,” says V Ravichandar, chairman and managing director at Feedback Consulting and Nilekani’s friend since 1989. “Because Infosys was reputed to have great internal processes in functional areas such as human resources or finance, Nilekani offered clients help in those areas. This is his way of thinking how could Infosys become more valuable to customers. If you solve a customer’s real problem, they will also give you more of their time and business.”It wasn’t just Infosys that was keeping Nilekani busy. In 2000, he cut his teeth in public policy and government affairs when he accepted then Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna’s invitation to chair the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF), set up to address civic issues, a development that would set the tone for a series of collaborations with both the state government and the Centre. Nilekani’s appetite for such engagements stems from his love for simplifying problems at scale. While the 2000s saw Nilekani being twice named among Timemagazine’s 100 most influential people in the world, in 2006 and 2009, and awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2006, he was also investing enough and more time in running BATF or planning the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the Goods and Services Tax Network. “Nilekani had limited patience for pilots. He said pilots are fine but we finally need implementation at scale,” recalls Ravichandar of Nilekani’s four-year stint at the helm of BATF. None of those assignments, however, tested Nilekani’s patience as much as UIDAI and its contentious Aadhaar project, which is still muddled in controversies over privacy breaches and data security. Pugalia 70 | forbes india december 29, 2017 “he is somebody who can align everybody to a particular line and win people over.”Richest IndIans 100 The

december 29, 2017 forbes india | 71 Just like a plumber he likens himself to in jest, nilekani is back to plugging leakssays Nilekani’s tenure as the chairman of UIDAI, from 2009 to 2014, was a testament to his perseverance and people skills, as he went about quelling negative sentiments around Aadhaar. “There was a time when things weren’t going according to plan and bureaucracy and political manoeuvres were chipping away at the credibility of Aadhaar,” recalls Pugalia. “Nilekani figured out who were the stakeholders and why they were against a particular idea. He reached out to all of them, one by one, irrespective of what their opposition was.” The dream run of over three decades, however, came to a screeching halt in 2014, when Nilekani faced what can arguably be called the biggest setback of his life: He was routed in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014. Nothing helped. Neither an elaborately planned poll campaign by the team at FourthLion, backed by tomes of research on civic issues and electoral pattern in the Bangalore South constituency, Nilekani’s turf, nor his transformation from an English-spouting, suave corporate leader in suits to a common man who walked around in sandals, exchanging friendly banter with prospective voters in Kannada. Like most other Congress candidates, Nilekani was swept away by the ‘Modi wave’. On May 16, 2014, even before the counting was over, Nilekani conceded defeat to BJP veteran Ananth Kumar. Humbled at the hustings, Nilekani gradually withdrew himself from politics. He hasn’t spoken about rejoining politics since. Balakrishnan, who faced a similar drubbing at the same elections while contesting on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket, says politics is not Nilekani’s “cup of tea”. “Politics is a different ball game where you have to play on others’ weaknesses more than to your strengths, which Nilekani is not comfortable doing,” says Balakrishnan.Nilekani isn’t the kind who sulks for long. On a constant lookout for large-scale problems, he has turned into a prolific investor and mentor for startups. He has backed more than 10 startups, including publishing startup Juggernaut, media company The Print, ecommerce startup 10i Commerce Services, and logistics venture Fortigo. Earlier this year, Nilekani launched a $100-million venture capital fund called Fundamentum, where he is involved in everything from raising funds and hiring to designing the firm’s logo. “Nilekani believes the problem of India is not to start up, but to scale up. At Fundamentum, we will back companies which are not meteors but built to scale,” says Sanjeev Aggarwal, co-founder at Fundamentum. At present, Nilekani is busy with the startup he had built from scratch and scaled, Infosys. Just like a plumber he likens himself to in jest among friends and family, Nilekani is back to what he does best: Plugging leaks. On August 25, he staged a comeback as the non-executive chairman after a hiatus of about eight years, this time to guide Infosys out of a turbulence triggered by the surprise exit of chief executive Vishal Sikka and a protracted sabre-rattling between Murthy and the Infosys board over corporate governance. Nilekani is expected to reconstitute the board and lead the hunt for Infosys’s next chief executive. It’s a daunting task to make Infosys the bellwether it had once been, but Nilekani is up for the challenge. Until the house is in order, everything else, it seems, will have to wait. infosys headquarters in bengaluruHemant misHra / mint via getty images

72 | forbes india december 29, 2017Richest IndIans 100 Thelaksh vaaman sehgal[n e x t g e n]By Salil PanchalWired into the Future By constantly meeting targets, laksh vaaman sehgal has proved his mettle. now, as head of motherson innovations, he is using the learnings from his Billionaire father to take the group forwardlaksh vaaman sehgal says he follows some time-tested formulae that he has learnt from his fatheramit verma

december 29, 2017 forbes india | 73if your father counts among India’s richest men and is an entrepreneur who has built India’s largest auto component maker, it is not easy to step out of his shadow. But Laksh Vaaman Sehgal, 35, son of Vivek Chaand Sehgal, has done that and more. Right from his first venture as a leader, when he turned around an ailing UK-based company.Based mostly in London, Laksh —who is a director on the board of the family firm Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd (MSSL)—oversees the business of group subsidiary Samvardhana Motherson Automotive Systems Group. He also spearheads research and development initiatives at Motherson Innovations, a company involved in innovative and technological solutions for the entire group.But to understand Laksh—and indeed the mind of his billionaire father—one must turn back to 2009 when Laksh had joined the family business on his return to India after completing his master’s in finance from Columbia University. He had earlier, in 2003, trained at MSSL’s partner firm Woco Group, which makes rubber components, at Bad Soden in Germany, and then in 2004, in Thailand on the shop floor.The company had just acquired ailing UK-based firm Visiocorp, which made rear-view mirrors for cars, in March 2009, and the top brass of Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG) had gathered in June at the Noida headquarters for a strategy review meeting to discuss how to revive the fortunes of the firm, now renamed Samvardhana Motherson Reflectec (SMR). SMR’s business forms part of SMG. The UK-based company’s losses were so sharp that they had pushed the flagship MSSL into a loss for the June-end quarter. SMR had posted a loss of 22.3 crore in the `quarter ended June 2009, which plunged MSSL into a loss of 12.88 `crore (before considering minority interests) in that period. Even in the subsequent quarter, SMR reported a standalone loss of 24.3 crore. `The total capital invested in SMR at the time of acquisition was €30 million; MSSL held a 51 percent stake in SMR while a group firm, Samvardhana Motherson Finance Limited, held the balance. At the review meeting, Vivek Chaand Sehgal, the chairman and group co-founder, suddenly turned to his son and said: “You will be the new CEO of the [ailing] company.” Laksh was just 26 then.When he pointed towards me, I actually looked back to see if someone was standing behind me,” Laksh recalled while speaking to Forbes India after the FY17 financial results of MSSL were announced in May 2017. After the meeting, his father had joked with Laksh that SMR was in such a bad shape that it couldn’t do any worse. “It was like a motivational speech for me; that was a good way to take the pressure off me,” says Laksh. Sehgal senior, being a self-made entrepreneur, has always been an advocate for learning business and leadership skills on the factory floor than in a classroom. Making Laksh responsible for turning around a sick company at a time when the global automobile industry was facing one of its worst crises in decades due to slowing demand was his way of training his son: A true baptism by fire.SMR did not fare any worse and, in fact, in less than a year, Laksh had managed to turn around its fortunes and navigate MSSL’s financials into positive territory. For the quarter ended December 2009, MSSL reported a profit of `78.05 crore and SMR reported a small but significant standalone profit of 9.16 crore. `Laksh says he followed some time-tested formulae that he had learnt from his father. He first broke the business down into units, so that each manufacturing unit operated like a separate company and found its own strategy to becoming profitable. This technique helped them keep a close watch on costs and processes (SMR had 16 plants and a majority of them were loss-making). He also brought in a lot of financial discipline. Laksh repeats the mantra the company believes in and follows: “Topline is vanity. Bottomline is sanity. Cash in bank is reality,” something that has also helped the firm choose its acquisitions well. The $9.1-billion Samvardhana Motherson Group has made 19 acquisitions since 2002 and in all of them, it has created synergies but allowed them to manage themselves as autonomously as possible. It has 230 factories across 37 countries and MSSL’s auto components are found in cars manufactured by some of the automotive world’s biggest brands like Peugeot, Ford, Volkswagen, laksh believes in: “Topline is vanity. Bottomline is sanity. cash in bank is reality.”

Richest IndIans 100 TheAudi, Porsche, Toyota and Honda. For the full year ended March 2017, the group reported revenues of $9.1 billion and $6.3 billion ( 41,985 `crore) for MSSL. For FY20, the group has a revenue target of $26 billion and $18 billion for MSSL. Listening to their customers, adopting financial prudence and the drive to achieve aggressive five-year targets have all brought the group, and its promoter, to where they are today.Vivek Chaand Sehgal, India’s 23rd richest man according to the 2017 Forbes India Rich List, with a net worth of $5.85 billion, had formed the group with his mother (hence the initial name Motherson) in 1975. It was then a silver trading firm, which they shut down. The capital was used to set up a company that manufactured wiring for houses and telephones. The fortunes of the company changed when Sehgal senior met Maruti Suzuki officials in 1983 and signed a JV with Japanese firm Sumitomo Electric in 1986 to make wiring harnesses for Maruti Suzuki.Both father and son travel over 250 days a year, meeting officials and staff at the various factories and companies they have acquired, as well as their customers. Laksh, who stepped out of SMR in 2013, is now more focussed on building solutions for the future. He heads Motherson Innovations, which works on projects involving surface, lighting, and new interior lighting technologies, all of which can be built into the next generation of cars. He is also working on a project—with 14 experts in the group across the US, UK and Germany, internally called ‘Dashboard X’—which will explore unique designs and technologies in building the dashboards of the future. Some of these products are likely to be showcased at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas in January 2018.Laksh could not be in a better space today. The innovation space appears to be getting only more exciting and with the buzz of electric vehicles getting louder, more wiring components would mean an increase in MSSL’s “content-per-vehicle”. Prior to working full-time at Motherson, Laksh had also worn an investor’s hat in his personal capacity (the Sehgal family too makes investments in companies through the Sehgal Family Venture Fund). In 2006, he had helped a close friend, Paramdeep Singh, set up music streaming platform Saavn (in its earliest form) by seed funding it during his undergrad years. Laksh is still one of the largest independent shareholders outside of the founders of Saavn. Having been in the family business for over nine years, Laksh seems to have internalised the company philosophy. Though his role now is to guide the group towards understanding and integrating technologies of the future into the group, he is also clear that the policies that have worked to make Motherson Sumi what it is cannot and will not be compromised on, as their business practices evolve. Relationships are important at the group and even as most promoters eye both acquisitions and exits, their mantra on this, as Laksh points out, is clear: “We are a family company, we do not sell companies. We only buy them.” aalok Shanghvi, 33, is the eldest child of Dilip Shanghvi, managing director and co-founder of global specialty generic drug firm Sun Pharmaceuticals, who is ranked 9th on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List. The Vadodara-based company, which has a portfolio of over 2,000 products, has 42 manufacturing sites in six continents and is India’s largest pharma company with revenues of $4.51 billion in March 2017.Aalok joined the company in 2007, and has worked his way up from being a product manager to now being a senior general manager of international business (covering Southeast Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States) at Sun Pharma. This is an important assignment for the junior Shanghvi, considering that 74 percent of Sun Pharma’s sales come from international markets. A graduate from the University of Michigan in molecular biology, Aalok has also been on the board of Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israel-headquartered company that Sun Pharmaceuticals acquired in 2010.He also founded PV Power Tech, a manufacturer and exporter of photo-voltaic solar panels, with friend Jimmi Desai in 2008. It has now established units across Europe, Asia and Africa. —SP “We are a family company, we do not sell companies. We only buy them.”aalok shanghvia Son Risesv74 | forbes india december 29, 2017



76 | forbes india december 29, 2017By aveek dattathe Patient HealerPreParing CiPla to ComPete in a ComPlex world while Preserving the Pharma ComPany’s ethos is the Challenge that samina vaziralli has haPPily aCCePtedN estled a few metres away from a bustling thoroughfare in central Mumbai is the office where it all began for Cipla, one of India’s oldest pharmaceutical companies. Founded by scientist Khwaja Abdul (KA) Hamied in 1935, the pharma major is an extension of his nationalistic spirit through which he wanted to serve people by making affordable medicines for the masses.On a sultry October afternoon, standing in front of the imposing building in central Mumbai, Yusuf Khwaja (YK) Hamied—the company’s non-executive chairman who, at 81, is just a year younger than Cipla—points to the ground where he’s standing and proudly asserts that Mahatma Gandhi once stood there.YK Hamied (ranked 60 on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List with a net worth of $2.62 billion) is as illustrious as his father, who was not only a disciple of Gandhi but also well-known to the man who led India’s freedom struggle. The son took on the might of leading pharma firms in the quest to sell affordable life-saving drugs for those suffering from AIDS in the developing world at a minimal cost of $1 per day. Other manufacturers sold the same drugs at around $12,000 per patient per year.It is this enduring legacy spanning eight decades that YK Hamied’s niece Samina Vaziralli, 41, has inherited. But with the weight of a rich history comes the burden of challenges too. Since being appointed executive vice-chairman in 2016, she has been charting Cipla’s future course while ensuring that the company’s reputation only grows stronger. Vaziralli, the daughter of YK Hamied’s brother, Mustafa Khwaja (MK) Hamied (77), had no prior experience in pharma before joining Cipla in 2011. However, the postgraduate in international finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science believes her fresh and pragmatic approach along with an empowered senior management will aid her gumption to take bold bets and rejuvenate the pharma giant.Cipla’s primary aim when it started operations was to cater to Indians. It has lived up to that promise and has one of the largest field forces (of around 10,000 medical representatives) and marketing setups in the country. Also, unlike peers such as Sun Pharma and Lupin that earn a big portion of their revenues from the US and other global markets, Cipla still garners a majority of its topline from India (around 40 percent compared with, say, Lupin’s 22 percent).The pharma major spent a significant amount of resources for its global crusade against AIDS and making affordable medicines for other life-threatening diseases. In the process, the $2.2 billion (by revenues)company had to forego other avenues [n e x t g e n]samina vaziralliof growth. Most notably, the lack of a front-end marketing setup in the US—the largest and most lucrative market for generic drugs in the world. Cipla has a presence across key therapeutic areas, including respiratory, oncology, cardiovascular, diabetes, hepatitis and infectious diseases. And while it had a presence in over 120 countries, its existence in major markets was mostly through partnering other pharma companies. The partners would market end-products based on the intellectual property that Cipla developed and passed on to them. The upside to such a model was limited as pharma companies that market drugs themselves are the ones that realise the maximum value from the business.These factors, compounded by the challenges in the pharmaceuticals space, including pricing pressure and intense competition in the US and India, have led to modest growth in Cipla’s earnings (See box Financial Performance) compared to its peers. It is a reality that Vaziralli is aware of.the biggest challenge before Cipla today is to catch up. “We were an India-focussed company with a front-end setup only in the country and growing organically,” says Vaziralli. “We were a great partner of choice, but we remained in the back end, using our R&D and manufacturing capabilities to unlock commercial value for others. Today Cipla has built front-ends in the US, South Africa and Richest IndIans 100 The

vdecember 29, 2017 forbes india | 77Samina Vaziralliexecutive vice-chairman, Cipla age: 41Education: msc in international finance from the london school of economics and Political science What Keeps her Going: the challenge to promote the company’s future growth, while preserving its rich legacy and humanitarian approach to business

78 | forbes india december 29, 2017vRichest IndIans 100 Theseveral emerging markets where we have a leadership position.”Cipla is now narrowing the canvas in which it operates by exiting some countries and focusing on select business areas and geographies. The front-end in the US was established in January 2015 and bolstered with the acquisition of two US-based companies, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals and Exelan Pharmaceuticals. The acquisitions were announced in September 2015 and completed in February 2016.As part of its growth strategy, Cipla also wants to move up the value chain and make complex generics and specialty drugs. It plans to file for 25 ANDAs (abbreviated new drug applications) with the US regulator in FY18 and launch as many as 10 products in the remaining months of this fiscal. The company already has 238 ANDAs in the US, including those that are approved and those awaiting regulatory nod. Cipla also wants to focus on its existing business in South Africa and emerging markets such as Brazil and China, Vaziralli tells Forbes India.India, too, is an integral part of its scheme. In India, the focus is on getting into in-licensing partnerships with global innovators like Novartis and Janssen and selling their drugs in the country. This strategy is also a hedge against the price control on vanilla generic drugs exercised by local regulators. Being innovator drugs, they are outside the purview of price control.Its past challenges notwithstanding, analysts appear enthusiastic about Cipla’s prospects. “We expect earnings to improve, given that it [Cipla] is scaling up in the US business, trimming costs and rationalising business,” says Param Desai, an analyst with Elara Capital, in a research report dated August 11.the management churn that Cipla witnessed in the past was also a challenge for the company. Since 2013, Cipla has had two CEOs and four chief financial officers (CFO). Some other key members of the erstwhile management also quit in this period.“We hired people at a time when we were just embarking on this journey of transformation and the journey gathered pace quicker than we could imagine,” says Vaziralli. “Some of the talent wasn’t ready for that second turn of transformation.”However, the current senior leadership (apart from Vaziralli) helmed by MD & Global CEO Umang Vohra and Global CFO Kedar Upadhye are holding fort and have the freedom to run the company in the manner they deem fit. Cipla is the only large family-owned pharmaceutical company in India that has a non-promoter CEO. Vohra, 46, was heading Dr Reddy’s Laboratories’ generics business in North America before joining Cipla as chief operating officer in 2015.After taking over as CEO, says Vohra, Vaziralli and he sat down to chalk out the remit of their respective roles. The day-to-day operations, including the acquisition strategy, are entirely Vohra’s responsibility. Vaziralli acts as the lead promoter assuming the responsibility of “board stewardship”, focusing on hiring the right talent in the company (which employs over 23,000 people), interacting with the promoters of companies with which Cipla partners for projects, and ensuring Cipla doesn’t lose its “soul and culture” in the process of transformation.Vaziralli and Vohra review the contours of their working relationship every six to nine months to “stay honest to what they signed up for,” says the latter. The equation appears to be working as many of the operational tweaks envisaged by Vohra and his team receive strong support from Vaziralli. The support is needed to convince the board, which includes YK Hamied and MK Hamied.Take the case of biosimilars, for instance. Cipla had ambitious plans of making its own biosimilars end-to-end. But that plan has now been shelved. Instead, the company will samina vaziralli is the bridge between Cipla’s professional management and the board, whose members include her uncle yk hamied (extreme left) and father mk hamied (extreme right) Source: Moneycontrol.comcipla’s Financial perFormance(Revenue, Ebitda and net profit in cr)` FY12FY13FY14FY15FY16FY17Revenue7,0208,27910,10011,34513,79014,630ebitda1,7982,4602,3982,3272,7102,704ebitda MaRgin (%)25.629.723.720.519.618.5net PRoFit1,1441,5451,3881,1811,3601,006

look for in-licensing partnerships in this space. “We felt there was better resource allocation possible for the capital that we had earlier earmarked for the biosimilars programme,” says Vaziralli.Cipla’s efforts at transformation have caught the eye of peers as well. “I am impressed with the way the leadership team is shaping up at Cipla. Under Samina and strong professionals like Umang, the team has turned Cipla around and set it on a strong growth path,” says Nilesh Gupta, managing director of Lupin. “Samina’s clarity of vision and belief in professionals sets the path for greatness.”vohra says the fact that Vaziralli wasn’t involved with the family’s pharmaceuticals business earlier is a blessing in disguise. “The fact that she hasn’t been with the company for too long makes her braver to take decisions,” he says. “We have made some tough calls over the last two years and it takes someone to be a little emotionally distant from the legacy of the last 82 years to be able to support them.”For Vaziralli, her tryst with Cipla was her tryst with destiny; something she hadn’t planned for. After finishing her studies, Vaziralli was working with Goldman Sachs in the US as an investment banker. She relocated to India with her husband Rohan when he was tasked with setting up global cosmetics brand Estée Lauder’s India operations. After moving to India, Vaziralli had two sons (now aged 11 and seven) and was on a break from work. When she decided to start working again, her father and uncle suggested that she join Cipla. In 2011, Amar Lulla, Cipla’s former joint MD, had just passed away and there was a big void in the company. “They [YK Hamied and MK Hamied] decided to take a step back and professionalise the company. It was at this point that they entrusted me to take the company’s legacy forward.” At Cipla, Vaziralli began by assuming charge as the global head of strategy and M&A and leading the incubation of the consumer health care business. Had things gone as per the original plan, it would have been her younger brother Kamil Hamied who would have got the top job at the company. But in 2015, Kamil decided to quit Cipla to become a venture capitalist. “Was I prepared for it [the current role]? No. But that is the way of the world. That’s why I have focussed on building a very strong, experienced management team and a board at Cipla that I can rely on,” says Vaziralli.“Samina plays an important role of being the bridge between the professional management of the company and the board, as well as between the promoters and the board,” says Adil Zainulbhai, an independent director on the board of Cipla (he is also the chairman of Network 18, publisher of Forbes India). “She has really stepped up during the transition of executive responsibilities at Cipla from the older generation to the current one.”there are “healthy arguments and debates” between Vohra, Vaziralli, her father and uncle about what’s best for Cipla. But the promoters see the light of reason when suggestions are rooted in logic and backed by data, says Vohra. And if the seniors are still not convinced, their views logically carry a “fairly significant amount of weight”, he adds.The old guard too has warmed up to their successors. “Samina has exceeded all our expectations. She has grown into the role. Not only does she understand Cipla and its people well but also the industry,” says MK Hamied. “Regarding Cipla’s future, we have to keep up with the times.” YK Hamied says his niece has done well to develop not only a robust leadership at Cipla but also a competent second line of management. For the Hamieds, treading a middle path between business expansion and profitability on the one hand— and serving a humanitarian cause on the other—is an imperative. “If you are in health care, you cannot look at it as a hard and fast business. You have to have a humanitarian approach,” says YK Hamied.This is something that Vaziralli is mindful of, as evident from Cipla’s recent tie-up with the American Cancer Society and the Clinton Health Access Initiative to expand access to essential cancer treatment across various African nations. It has also set up a palliative care facility for terminally ill patients in Pune.Vaziralli says multitasking and patience are the two biggest lessons that motherhood has taught her. Given the future path that she has set for herself, these virtues are bound to come in handy. cipla’s Five-Year share price movement Source: BSE800700600500400300oct 2012oct 2013oct 2014oct 2015oct 2016oct 2017Share Price (` )606360december 29, 2017 forbes india | 79

As the mArkets rediscover retAil, rAdhAkishAn dAmAni And kishore BiyAni reAp the BenefitsA fter a sustained lull, the retail sector has finally rediscovered a spring in its step. Investors are, once again, showing faith in what was considered a sunrise sector in the early 2000s, but had failed to sustain momentum. This time, having learnt from its past mistakes, the industry is perceived to be on a much firmer footing. And in for the longer haul. What’s driving the gains?First, consolidation: Rivals (Future Group and Bharti Retail) have merged or been bought out (Nilgiris by Future Group). Some like the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Spencer’s and the Aditya Birla Group’s More have scaled back expansion plans and shut down stores.Second, per store profitability is now the name of the game. Scale at the cost of profitability is no longer an option. Retailers will now tell you that there is enough space for everyone and the first to expand is not necessarily the winner.And lastly, retailers have gotten better at the science of retailing. Distribution centres and enterprise resource planning systems are de rigueur. As a result, their operations are far more efficient, leading to better bottomlines. A significant trigger for the recent upswing in retail can be attributed to the March 2017 listing of Avenue Supermarts which operates the DMart brand of stores. Its efficient operations coupled with a low free float have given the Radhakishan Damani-owned retail operation a stratospheric valuation of 69,000 `crore as of mid-October. At the same time, the valuation of rival Future Retail has also grown as it reorganised businesses and showed healthy same-store sales growth. Still, analysts caution that valuations are running ahead of fundamentals. “While the valuations of the retail sector may have received a short-term bump with DMart’s listing, in the long term, it is the fundamentals of the business that will drive stock prices,” says Viraj Mehta, head and fund manager, Equirus Portfolio Management Services (PMS).For the gains to continue, the challenges will have to be contended with. The threat from ecommerce looms. While it is still a nascent problem—with companies like BigBasket and Amazon losing money—there is every chance it could skew the business model of the sector and result in a nasty price and market share war. Then there is always the persistent issue of the maximum retail price regime which makes [i n d u s t ry]retailRichest IndIans 100 The80 | forbes india december 29, 2017The Retail ReboundBy SAmAR SRivASTAvAit difficult for brick-and-mortar retailers to operate in areas like South Mumbai where they must pay high rents but can’t charge beyond the statutorily mandated prices.But for now, retail’s resurgence has had a clear impact on the 2017 Forbes India Rich List which saw two titans make a comeback—DMart’s Radhakishan Damani,

62, who last appeared in 2015, and Kishore Biyani, 56, who is back on the list after a five-year hiatus.Radhakishan damaniRank 12 | $9.3 billionIt was in 1995 that Radhakishan Damani, a successful investor at the point, decided to try his hand at retail. Unlike other retailers, he was clear that he would stick to value retailing—he knew he had to make money. Damani took over two franchisees of Apna Bazar and made sure he was at the small 7,000 square feet store in Nerul every day, interacting with customers and understanding what they were looking for. But as Damani went about his business, he realised that to be a successful entrepreneur he needed more freedom—something he didn’t have as a franchisee. About half of his assortment was dictated by Apna Bazar.As a result, by the time he set up the first DMart store in Powai in 2002, Damani’s initial thoughts on retail had already been formed. He developed a model and for the most part stuck to it. Neville Noronha, chief photogrAphs: mexy xAvierthe radhakishan damani-owned dmart has a valuation of `69,000 crore as of mid-octoberdecember 29, 2017 forbes india | 81

executive and managing director at DMart, recalls the struggle to get him to stock apparel. Damani’s concern was that it was slow moving and out-of-fashion inventory would pile up. “He was okay with earning less but the overriding thought was that the inventory had to be fresh and clean. Like most of our difference of opinions, we always took time and adjusted to each other’s expectations, and he allowed us to persist and implement our thoughts and ideas within the realm of his expectations. Apparel as a reasonably sized and focussed business started more than five years after DMart started,” says Noronha, who has worked closely with Damani for over a decade now.DMart paid suppliers well ahead of the competition in exchange for cash discounts. Instead of renting, it decided to buy the stores, which allowed it to keep costs in check and get into a promising location early. And for the most part, Damani eschewed malls. The stores were designed to optimise space (racks went all the way to the ceiling) and air conditioning was at a higher temperature than competitors. In short, every unit of cost was carefully scrutinised. The accent was on getting goods out fast and the per square throughput of DMart stands at 28,000 per square feet, `significantly higher than rivals.Unlike the norm in the sector, DMart initially expanded slowly and focussed on getting the model right. In its first decade to 2012, it set up 55 stores and has since expanded to 151 stores.At the same time, Damani nurtured a young team of professionals led by Noronha, a former modern trade manager at Hindustan Unilever. After nearly a decade-and-a-half in the business, Damani stepped back and photogrAphs: mexy xAvierRichest IndIans 100 The82 | forbes india december 29, 2017kishore Biyani, founder and chief executive officer of future group There is enough space for all retailers and the first to expand is not necessarily the winner

now largely plays the role of a mentor. “Assortment, mentoring young managers and visiting suppliers are all very dear to him and this is where he still spends his time,” says Noronha. He also instituted a company-wide employee stock options plan that has resulted in 90 percent of staffers owning shares. At present he doesn’t have any formal title in the organisation or the board. [Daughter Manjri Chandak is on the Avenue Supermarts board and represents the family’s interests, while Ramesh Damani (no relation) is chairman.]What he envisioned, however, continues to work. The company has grown sales at 39 percent a year in the last five years. In the same period, profits rose by 52 percent a year. And this year, Damani’s model has been validated by the strongest external source—the stock market.“DMart’s success is his dream come true. We professionals brought in the systems and processes to scale up the business and its consequent incremental value add. But this was and is his baby, his vision and his ideas and, most importantly, his active contribution on the buying and merchandising side. Today the happiest person in the team is him, for what has been built, not just for himself but also for so many others,” says Noronha. kishoRe BiyaniRank 55 | $2.75 billionStarting around the turn of the century with one Pantaloons store in Kolkata, Kishore Biyani had had a stellar decade. Big Bazaar, with its ‘Sabse Saste Din’ concept, captured the imagination of India’s newly consuming class. It was not uncommon to see lines stretching outside stores during the January 26 and August 15 sales. Biyani had always said that Indians tend to save and retail “needs to drive consumption through constant promotions”. He pioneered the Wednesday Bazaar, where midweek discounts lured shoppers as well as loyalty-based discounts through which frequent shoppers got deals that were not available to others.Biyani’s businesses received their first big shock when demand dried up post the Lehman crisis in 2008. The Future Group, which had been built on a large dose of debt, struggled (but it never missed a single interest payment). “Every day, you see your stock price rising and you think you are so smart,” Biyani had said in a 2010 interview to Forbes India.It called for a healthy magnitude of debt reduction, which he started doing in 2013 when the market battered his stock. His biggest deal, and some say hardest too, was the sale of Pantaloons, a business he had nurtured, to Aditya Birla Retail. In the interim, there was also a threat from online retail. Biyani bemoaned the fact that private equity funding meant that online players were providing unsustainable discounts and had cautioned that this couldn’t go on. He was right. Around 2016, the discounting levels reduced as Snapdeal and Flipkart found it hard to raise money at their erstwhile lofty valuations.For his part, Biyani has used the last five years to deleverage and consolidate his businesses under four listed entities. Future Retail, valued at 25,000 crore, includes `the Big Bazaar hypermarket chain as well as convenience stores like Easyday. Other smaller parts of his empire include Future Consumer, which supplies private labels for everything from soaps to toilet cleaners to juices and tea. Future Lifestyle Fashions houses Central and Brand Factory apparel stores, while Future Market Networks is a real estate holding company. His next task will be to consistently improve the operational performance of each of his companies, something that he has pledged to do. “For now, there is a lot of hope in the price today for Future Retail,” says Mehta of PMS. Unless something dramatically changes, both Damani and Biyani are likely to be regulars on the Rich List, as growth and improving businesses metrics continue to propel their rise. exceeding expectations350300250200150100501 Aug 2016future retail sensex1 oct 201624 mar 201710 Jun 2017Avenue supermartssensex020406080100120140160180200december 29, 2017 forbes india | 83

84 | forbes india december 29, 2017By HaricHandan arakaliiT’s Time to Make HayDespite a wobbly outsourcing inDustry, a stronger american market has helpeD tech firms grow, anD has pusheD two software billionaires up the ranks. but infosys co-founDers miss out as stocks tumbleD over the murthy-sikka spat[i n d u s t ry]information technologyshiv nadar of hcl technologies has seen his wealth increase to $13.4 billionT he wealth of IT billionaires, much of which is derived from the value of their stocks in the companies they founded, is under threat in the long run as outsourcing, the job that built their wealth, is fast becoming obsolete. But the year under consideration for the 2017 Forbes India Rich List has revealed a contrarian trend in which the fortunes and the ranks of IT czars have gone up.HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar has moved up a spot to No 7 this year, while his wealth has increased almost by a fifth to $13.4 billion, helped by a nearly 10 percent increase in HCL’s stock price in the 12 months through the September quarter. His Bengaluru rival Azim Premji has climbed two spots to No 2, behind Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries (Reliance Industries owns Network 18, the publishers of Forbes India). Premji, who owns close to three-quarters of Wipro, India’s third-biggest software services company, saw his wealth rise by 26 percent to $19 billion in roughly the 12 months since last year’s ranking. ritesh sharma / the inDia toDay group / getty imagesRichest IndIans 100 The

december 29, 2017 forbes india | 85This near-term turnaround in fortunes has been triggered by a broader rally in top Indian IT stocks this year as well as a strong growth in the American economy, the largest market for Indian IT. The latest report released by the US’s Institute of Supply Management shows that manufacturing activity in the US has surged to a 13-year high in September. The IT behemoth that failed to latch on to the tailwinds was Infosys, which saw an 11 percent drop in its stock price after the conflict between founder NR Narayana Murthy and Vishal Sikka, the company’s first professional CEO. In absolute terms, Murthy’s wealth fell only by a small amount—as little as $50 million, in comparison with his estimated total of $1.82 billion after the fall—but his rank tumbled 22 places to 84. Co-founder Nandan Nilekani, who is now back in the Infosys saddle as non-executive chairman, saw his rank dip by nine places to 89. This despite his wealth rising by $90 million to an estimated $1.71 billion over last year’s numbers. Third co-founder Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan maintained as much wealth as he did last year, but dropped 11 places in the rankings, from 81 to 92. Infosys stocks tanked close to 10 percent on August 18 itself, the day Sikka announced his resignation, and hadn’t recovered much by the end of the September quarter. Nilekani’s return brought about a semblance of stability, but only just. In comparison, Tata Consultancy Services gained over 3 percent in the first nine months this year, Wipro a solid 17.8 percent and HCL Technologies 5.6 percent. Only US-based rival Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has most of its employees in India, did better than Wipro, adding 29.5 percent in the same period.as the outsourcing industry struggles, India’s top IT companies are trying to build new products that deliver data analytics and predictive data analytics-based information around which they can offer higher-value services. This is part of a larger shift towards providing digital solutions, the demand for which is quickly shifting from small, pilot projects to large-scale implementations that clients expect will increase revenue and boost profitability. “It’s almost a Darwinian scenario, as you will either be a disruptor or be the disrupted,” says Frances Karamouzis, vice president and distinguished analyst at IT research and consultancy company Gartner. “These were once the darlings, everybody loved them [in India] because they created jobs, but now, here they are in a very different place.”The linear structure where net new headcount correlated with net new growth is being dismantled, and “hence you see development of Ignio, Holmes, and what was once called Mana and now Nia [the artificial intelligence platforms for TCS, Wipro and Infosys, respectively]”, Karamouzis says.An important way these companies are adding new capabilities is by buying them. HCL, for instance, has most recently purchased Britain’s ETL Factory Ltd, which sells a data management automation platform called Datawave. Indeed, over the last several years, HCL has emerged as a strong player in infrastructure management services, which has helped it win large contracts.Wipro’s Premji has invested both in acquisitions to build Wipro’s capabilities, and via his family-office private equity firm Premji Invest, which most recently invested $50 million in Apttus, a California-based software startup. Apttus, which counts salesforce.com as an investor, is said to be close to an IPO, which could make Premji even wealthier.Acquisitions such as the $500-million purchase of cloud solutions provider Appirio and reputable Denmark-based design firm Designit, a little over two years ago, have put Wipro on a strong footing in the digital era, writes Phil Fersht of IT research and advisory company HFS Research in a September 2017 report. “We view Wipro as a well-resourced, disciplined outfit that could emerge as a genuine contender in the digital race,” he writes. However, says Karamouzis, the time for incremental change is over and even plans like Infosys’s to hire 10,000 people across four innovation centres in the US just aren’t bold enough. “In their DNA, they are engineers, so they are not afraid of technology or what it can do, therefore in that sense, that part of their foundation is strong,” she says. On the other hand, with more than 80 percent of their workforce being in India, and even many of those permanently based in the US being Indians with a green card, they have a homogeneity, which works against them, she adds. “Eventually if they really want to be global, they need to create more heterogeneity.” TOP GUNSAzim Premji, wipro, 2* Shiv Nadar, hcl technologies, 7*NR Narayana Murthy, infosys, 84*Nandan M Nilekani, infosys, 89*Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, infosys, 92**rich list rank “it’s almost a darwinian scenario, as you will either be a disruptor or be the disrupted.”

Fashion direction, styling and text: YATAN AHLUWALIA (www.yestylemedia.com)Photographs: AmIT vermA Dark [s t y l e]Richest IndIans 100 The

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On The GoStep out of your comfort zone when you are on the move.Style tip Casual overcoats are the year’s must-have commodity.Large frame sunglassesDOLCE&GABBANAPrinted T-shirt ARMANI EXCHANGEFitted trousers ARMANI EXCHANGE THE atCOLLECTIVETextured knee-length all-season jacket CANALIContrasting coloured casual sneakers CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN.locationThe state of the art and ultra modern cinema hall with plush recliners, dark hued interiors and wood flooring at THE ROSEATE, NEW DELHIRichest IndIans 100 TheGlobal NetworkMake the East meet West by combining traditional shapes in modern forms.Style tipA printed pocket square against a plain jacket breaks and lifts the simplest of looks.Multi-button long jacket and slim fit pants TARUN TAHILIANIWatch CARL BUCHERERGlossy pointed shoes with red laces ALBERTO TORRESIPlatinum ring ZANYAH.locationKheer at Roseate House, New Delhi, a quirky restaurant and bar that offers street food with a luxurious fine dining twist.92 | forbes india december 29, 2017



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ThousandWordsbusiness leaders recall moments andrelationships in their lives that have shaped thetrajectory of their enterprise and ambitionA96 | forbes india december 29, 2017[p h oto f e at u r e]Richest IndIans 100 TheNirav Modi shares a light moment with actress Nimrat Kaur at the launch of the NIRAV MODI brand’s first overseas store on New York’s Madison Avenue in 2015. Since then, the brand has expanded to the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and China

Nirav ModiFounder, NIRAV MODI; chairman, FIRestAR DIAMOND“I can actually look back to a single moment that propelled me into starting my eponymous brand,” recalls Nirav Modi, 46. A friend had requested him to design a pair of earrings for her while he was still working with his uncle, Mehul Choksi, chairman and managing director, Gitanjali Group, in Mumbai. (Modi was brought up in Antwerp, after his father moved their business to the Belgian city in the 1960s, but wanted to work in India and hence had moved to Mumbai.) Although initially reluctant, he finally gave in and started sourcing diamonds to match the high quality standards he had set for the jewel, and ended up finding them in Russia. The happiness his friend expressed upon seeing the jewel inspired Modi to create his own brand, breaking away from his uncle. Making that pair of earrings unleashed a latent passion and flair for designing jewellery. That was 2009. The first ever NIRAV MODI store opened in Defence Colony, New Delhi, in June 2014. But it is the opening of their store on New York’s Madison Avenue that Modi holds close to his heart. “The day of the grand launch of our first boutique in the US on Madison Avenue in New York on September 8, 2015, was a big milestone for us. We had clients and press from across the world, and it started the brand on a new trajectory. Since then, we have expanded to the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and are opening more boutiques in the US this year, in Honolulu and Las Vegas,” Modi says. —Ruchika ShahRajesh Mehtaexecutive chairman, RAjesh expORtsIt has been more than 20 years since Rajesh Mehta opened his first retail store, Rajesh Jewels, in the ground floor of Batavia Chambers in central Bengaluru in the early 1990s. “We bought the basement of the property to set up a manufacturing facility. We also set up a small jewellery showroom,” says Mehta. Today, he owns more than 60 percent of Batavia Chambers—his office is located behind the showroom—and Rajesh Jewels has been renamed SHUBH Jewellers. Mehta ran that single showroom for over two decades, concentrating on his gold export business. He has steered the company through important milestones, especially the IPO in 1995, and “in 2013, we decided to get into retail in a big way, which was another turning point in my business,” he says. Since then, Rajesh Exports has opened about 80 retail outlets, largely in Karnataka, and the manufacturing unit has moved out of Batavia Chambers; it now has two manufacturing units—one in Whitefield, Bengaluru, and the other in Kochi. “My future is in retail. I want to be the largest retailer of gold jewellery in the world,” says the 53-year-old billionaire, whose company is the world’s largest exporter of gold. —Anshul DhamijaRajesh Mehta, with wife Leena, at the launch of his first retail store Rajesh Jewels in Bengaluru. Looking on is Rajesh Mehta’s mother Chandrika Ben Mehta. He ran this single showroom for over two decades before expanding into retail in a big way in 2013december 29, 2017 forbes india | 97

98 | forbes india december 29, 2017Richest IndIans 100 The(Clockwise from top) MG George Muthoot with his brothers George Alexander, George Thomas and George Jacob. The brothers represent the 19th generation of the Muthoot family that has a business legacy of over 800 yearsMG George Muthootchairman, the MuthOOt GROupAbout three years ago, a rather telling photograph was taken of the four brothers of Kochi-based The Muthoot Group. The picture, according to MG George Muthoot, the eldest of the four brothers, shows the unity and strength within the family. The photograph is of MG George, 67, with George Alexander, 61, managing director, and joint managing directors George Thomas, 66 and George Jacob, 64. The four brothers represent the 19th generation of the Thevervelil family (now known as the Muthoot family) in Kerala’s Kozhencherry that has a business legacy of over 800 years. But it’s not just about family bonding. MG George Muthoot says the photograph is also a reflection of how the brothers have bonded with the group’s 35,000 employees: “We treat them as if they’re our own. We stand shoulder to shoulder with the last man in the system… We are like the generals who fight wars alongside their soldiers at the front, and not from a bedroom shouting ‘fire’.” —Anshul Dhamija

Kuldip Singh Dhingra (extreme left) along with his late brother Sohan (to his left) at the inauguration of their first New Delhi office at Ajmeri Gate in 1972Kuldip Singh Dhingrachairman, BeRGeR pAINtsThe Dhingra family entered the paints business in 1898. But it was only in late 1969 that Kuldip Singh Dhingra, then 22, shifted to New Delhi to expand the family business in the capital, and launched the Rajdoot brand. Business was conducted from their family-owned house in Golf Links, while his brothers—Gurbachan and the late Sohan—continued to run the paint factory in Amritsar. Dhingra’s big leap came in 1972, with the inauguration of an office at Ajmeri Gate, which served as the first office in New Delhi. “I was doing everything—booking orders, receiving paint from Amritsar, supplying it and taking payments from customers,” recalls Dhingra, 70, who, along with Gurbachan, 67, bought Berger Paints from United Breweries’ then chairman Vijay Mallya in 1991. They set up a factory in Sultanpur, from where they supplied paint to north India and, subsequently, to the former Soviet Union. The Dhingras hold on to their roots. They still own the Golf Links house and the Sultanpur factory, while the rented Ajmeri Gate office remains a sales and distribution point. —Samar Srivastavadecember 29, 2017 forbes india | 99

100 | forbes india december 29, 2017Richest IndIans 100 TheVivek Chaand Sehgalchairman,sAMVARDhANA MOtheRsON GROupIt’s difficult to think of Motherson Sumi Systems without thinking of Maruti Suzuki. The country’s largest auto parts maker and one of India’s leading carmakers have been working closely together for the last 33 years. From 1984, the business relationship between Vivek Chaand Sehgal, 60, and RC Bhargava, 84, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Limited, has bloomed into a friendship of mutual respect and admiration. “We hold him [Bhargava] in the highest esteem,” says Sehgal. “Motherson Sumi started its automotive business with Maruti, and since then Bhargava has been a guide and mentor.” In November 2016, Motherson Sumi inaugurated its new-generation electronic junction box plant in Noida. In the photograph, taken at the new facility, Sehgal is seen briefing Bhargava of the new developments. “We have taken his [Bhargava’s] advice and followed it to the hilt through our most tumultuous times. If I were to consult one person for true guidance on any major decision, it would be Bhargava saheb,” Sehgal says. —Salil Panchal MA Yusuff Ali (in suit, on the right) says the inauguration of the first LuLu Hypermarket in Dubai in 2000 by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed Al Maktoum (centre), the deputy ruler of the emirate, was a game changer for his businessVivek Chaand Sehgal (right) briefs long-time business partner and friend RC Bhargava as they take a stroll in Motherson Sumi’s new-generation electronic junction box plant in Noida MA Yusuff Alimanaging director, LuLu GROup“If I were to pick an event that turned out to be a game changer for my business, it would be the opening of our first LuLu Hypermarket on November 6, 2000, in [Al] Ghusais, Dubai,” says MA Yusuff Ali, 61.After establishing himself in the supermarkets and department store segments, Yusuff Ali was “quite keen” on bigger formats that would sell everything from food to fashion, electronics and lifestyle. “Looking back, I must say it was a slightly bold step for a locally-grown retailer with no international tie-ups or support,” he recalls. “I still remember those hectic days and sleepless nights, those never-ending meetings with my team, vendors, contractors, and government officials.” He adds: “Midway through the project, there were serious doubts about its location. Some thought it was in the middle of nowhere, between Dubai and Sharjah, but I persisted. I was clear in my mind: A hypermarket of this size needs ample parking, easy access and good visibility.” Yusuff Ali’s team completed the hypermarket project just 20 days behind schedule. “That was an achievement when you consider our lack of experience and the size of the project.” LuLu has since expanded with bigger and better hypermarkets in all major cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) apart from Africa, India and east Asia. —Ruchika ShahTOp: LULU GROUp ARCHIVeS