The Hindu Business Line : Sanjay Dalmia: His goals remain strictly in business

BEING born with a silver spoon, you would have expected him to be complacent in his old world family business. But Mr Sanjay Dalmia, GHCL Chairman, is far from satisfied with what he has achieved and in recent years has turned more aggressive than ever on the road to "becoming a major global player."

Though getting on in years, age does not deter him from taking forward a vision that he feels is easier to achieve now with changes in the economic environment and "the possibility of investing outside the country and thinking global".

The Sanjay Dalmia group has done just that in 2005. Its flagship company GHCL has acquired two large companies - a soda ash unit in Europe and a home textiles company in the US - to mark its footprint beyond the Indian shores. "Earlier only overseas companies could come here, now it's a two-way traffic, we too can acquire companies abroad and that's the route to growth that we've decided on," he says, hinting at several more acquisitions in the pipeline.

Mr Dalmia is also confident of his strategy, for he is known in the industry to be a turnaround specialist. He has done that successfully in the case of Colwell & Salmon and Sree Meenakshi Mills. He is now ready to restructure his ITES business. In fact, he says, textiles, soda ash and ITES are going to be major thrust areas in the coming years.

Reserved and unassuming on the personal front, the man whose sprawling residence is Mohammed Ali Jinnah's former house at Tees January Marg in Lutyen's Delhi, Mr Dalmia admits that he spent a good many of his younger days dabbling in "this and that" and not focussing on turning his inheritance into a force to reckon with.

But having been through several experiences, even of being Member of Parliament, which "he would not care to be again," he is now clear that his goals will remain strictly in business. "Yes, I could have done it 10 years ago and have no explanation for why I did not. But that's the past where I was trying to do too many things. Now I'm totally focussed, besides there are many more opportunities today," he says.

Though Mr Dalmia has an avid interest in current affairs, he feels that for industrialists being in Parliament does not add value. "That's not the forum for us, in fact, today it is ideal if there is less and less of Government in business. It should only play a regulatory role."

Besides, regulation is something that Mr Dalmia welcomes. In his herbal medicine business run through Dalmia Healthcare Ltd, he insists that all ayurvedic formulations, though sold over-the-counter, must undergo clinical trials similar to allopathic drugs. On the SEBI front too he is ready for total compliance. "I'm not deterred by regulations. That's part of the game. For instance we are ready with our independent directors. I believe in companies being listed as it gives them value," he says.

Mr Dalmia is in a sense also a health freak. Yoga, especially pranayam is a must, though sport and "Page Three socialising" is not his cup of tea. As an industrialist, he has a hands-off approach and would rather leave implementation to hired professionals. But the macro vision for the group? Yes, that is very much his domain, helped along by his younger brother and nephew. Towards this he spends the morning making an umpteen number of calls and essentially operates on the telephone. "I've not learned to handle computers perfectly yet, but I will one of these days. However, with going global we've also decided to go hi-tech and conduct company reviews through video conferencing, hereby saving time and travel," he explains. In his silver years, and in a hurry to go from big to biggest, Mr Dalmia believes in the Chinese philosophy of buying out the market. "That's the name of the game," he says with conviction.