Kumar Mangalam Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla was born at 14th June 1967 an Today (in 2009) he is 41 years of Age. He taken the charge of his father Mr.Aditya Vikram Birla’s Group, Aditya Birla Group since 1995 at the age of 28 years only when his father died at the early age of 52 years because of Cancer.
Today, Kumar Mangalam Birla is among the Top 10 Richest persons of India (7th Richest person of India) with Net Worth of US $ 10 Billions and above and the 8th Youngest Billionaire of the World according to Forbes magazine.
Kumar Mangalam Birla is the Chairman of Aditya Birla Group which is India’s one of the Largest Business House founded in Year 1960 with headquarter in Mumbai, India.
Birla Group has a yearly Revenue of more than US $ 24 Billions & 1,00,000 + people are working for this Group. The main Business Industry of Birla group is Metals, Cement, Textile, Fertilizers and many others…..
The major Companies of Birla Group are,
- Grasim
- Hindalco
- Ultra-Tech Cement
- Aditya Birla Nuvo &
- Idea Cellular
Its Joint Ventures include Birla Sun Life (Financial Services) and Birla NGK (Insulators).
Here are few interesting facts about Mr.Kumar Mangalam Birla -
Kumar Mangalam Birla was borne at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 14th June 1967.
He was brought up in Calcutta and Mumbai. He studied Chartered Accountancy and later accomplished his MBA(Masters in Business Administration) degree from the London Business School. He is a Commerce Graduate (B.Com).
Kumar Mangalam Birla got married to Neerja and is the father of 3 children name Ananyashree, Aryaman Vikram and Advaitesha
The Aditya Birla Group comprises of 16 companies and joint ventures in India and 22 international companies, mostly in South-east Asia
In addition to this, he is a Board member of the G.D.Birla Medical Research & Education Foundation, a Board member of Governors of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), Pilani and a Member of the London Business School's Asia Pacific Advisory Board. He is also an "Honorary Fellow" of the London Business School (LBS).
His family was encouraged him to make his own Business Decisions.
Kumar was only fifteen when his grand father G.D. Birla passed away. He was taking a great interest in him. If Kumar had exams, he called him and asked him about how was the exams.
For Kumar Mangalam Birla, his father is his Hero. His father cam to his every school function. His father always made time for him.
According to Kumar, He was brought up in a pressure-cooker environment. Though he was very close to his father and there was a strong bonding. But he was also scared of him.
Hi father Aditya Vikram Birla was truly loved him. In 1980s, when his son Kumar Birla had fallen ill, his son Kumar was only 10 year old at that time. Kumar had meningitis and the doctors were not sure if he would survive.
So Aditya gave up his business, stopped going to office and sat every day by his son’s bedside for nearly 2 months. He said, “Money, Business, nothing else matters, I just want my son to get well.”
Kumar involved in his family business when he was only fifteen. According to Kumar, “I remember being tutored by my father, sitting in on Board meetings and asking him questions afterwards. Later I looked after the Cement Business of Grasim and got involved in Indo-Gulf.
Kumar went off to London to study for an MBA when he was just 22, even though most of the other people in his class were 29. When he came back, he was uniquely qualified because he had studied chartered accountancy, had a commerce degree and an MBA. Plus, he had been tutored by the master, Aditya Birla – His father.
Kumar and his family found out 2 years before his father’s death that, he had not much time because his father Aditya Birla was suffering from a Cancer. His father knew this thing so he made a conscious attempt to fast-track him in a very matter of fact sort of way.
His father, Aditya Birla was very strict. According to people of Birla group, When Aditya Babu phoned somebody, that person would stand up while answering the phone. His father was great at bilateral motivation and contact. Kumar’s style is more group oriented. He likes motivating groups of people. According to Kumar, In Business it is more important to empower a whole group than to depend on a single Individual.
When Aditya, Kumar’s father died in 1995, the group was already worth Rs.8,000 Crores.If Kumar had been content to manage the business that his father left him and had not bothered with acquisitions or new projects, he would probably be sitting on a group that was worth around Rs.12,000 Crores today merely on the basis of normal growth. And even at that level, he would be still country’s leading business men.
But he has transformed his father’s empire to Rs.34,000 Crores Empire by his knowledge, Passion, Entrepreneurship, Interest & Leadership.
When Kumar Mangalam Birla had joined Aditya Birla Group, In the Birla Group, there was womb-to-tomb policy. People rarely retired. And it was assumed that their children guaranteed jobs with the group.
Kumar changed all that for the benefit of the Company. According to him, “I felt that if people never retired, then there was no place for younger people to rise. So it was important to institute a retirement policy.”
He further added that, “What used to happen was that if one son was very bright, he went to work for a multinational and the other son, if he wasn’t good enough for anywhere else, was sent off to work for us. So I instituted a policy that vetted all applications from family members of existing Employees.”
While many of the traditional Bania families are seen as being too old economy or as being creations of the license-quota-permit raj, he has led Birla renaissance.
So many people of India don’t know but G.D. Birla’s friendship with Mahatma Gandhi & the Birla Family’s role in India’s Independence struggle.
In one interview, when an interviewer asked that, ‘What would you do suppose if you had not inherited this Rs.8,000 Crore Empire?
He replied, “The same thing. Though perhaps without all these advantages. I would still have been an Entrepreneur.”
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