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Latha Venkatraman

RECENTLY, when Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group, was named Businessman of the Year 2003 by Business India, a colleague, far removed from business journalism, was surprised. " Would such a title mean much to a person whose group's dealings runs into thousands of crores of rupees?" he asked.

But recognition is not always for getting from point zero to point ten, but for having put in the effort to stay at the top, as Mr Birla himself pointed out at the Business India function.

"Ours is not a saga of getting right up there from being nowhere, or of a dramatic turnaround," he said. "Success is contextual that can be fleeting, elusive and needs constant working on."

In terms of revenue growth, it has been a sudden spurt for the Aditya Birla group. During the period Mr Birla has been at the helm, acquisitions and expansions helped the group drive up its turnover from Rs 7,200 crore to Rs 27,000 crore.

Within the group, Grasim has a pre-eminent position with two strong businesses — cement and viscose staple fibre.

Indian Rayon had diversified interests — seawater magnesia, carbon black, insulators, rayon and cement. The group restructuring saw cement shift to Grasim, which went on to acquire L&T's cement business as well; a court hearing on the issue is awaited, though.

Thanks largely to its cash reserves position, Indian Rayon undertook the task of acquiring businesses for the group. While Madura Garments, PSI Data Systems and Transworks came into the Indian Rayon fold as divisions or subsidiaries, the businesses of sea water magnesia was sold and that of insulators, vested in a joint venture. Other businesses of the group were also divested, MRPL being one of them.

Hindalco made much of its acquisition of Indian Aluminium Company (Indal) from Canada-based Alcan. The Indal acquisition did excite the stock market. The first round saw the Sterlite Group make a hostile bid for Indal. And after much drama, the Kolkata-based company finally came into the Aditya Birla fold.

The desire to propel Hindalco on to the global non-ferrous metals arena resulted in Indo Gulf Corporation's copper business being merged with it. Further, the group acquired copper mines in Australia.

Even as the group was furthering its interests in old economy businesses, there were attempts at getting into new areas such as information technology, the financial sector, insurance, telecom, BPO and entertainment. But success, as Mr Birla put it, has been elusive for some of these businesses. "Today we stand at an inflexion point. The options before us are many. But we have to make the right choices, time them right and move with speed, agility and decisiveness. At the same time we have to raise the bar," Mr Birla added.

Clearly, the thrust for the group, if Mr Birla's recent speeches are any indication, is on expanding its overseas markets. Currently, 30 per cent of its turnover comes from overseas operations. Last year, the group's overseas investments touched Rs 1,500 crore.

"Going by global projections, the second half of this decade will see talent shortage in most areas. The task for us is to work towards sculpting an employment brand which, by 2010, will be well recognised and respected even beyond the shores of India," Mr Birla says. Having made its mark in India, the Birla group is certainly aiming for a global position.

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