Prominent corporate player, the Torrent Group, has started implementing a systematic succession at the helm. About a week apart, the group has announced two Board-level appointments from the third generation of the founder, Uttambhai Nathalal Mehta, who started Torrent group's first venture Torrent Pharmaceuticals in 1959.
After announcing the induction of Aman Mehta, son of Chairman Samir Mehta, to the Board of Torrent Pharmaceuticals on August 1, the Group on Monday announced the induction of Varun Mehta, younger son of Torrent Group's Chairman Emeritus Sudhir Mehta, to the board of Torrent Power (TPL) as Whole-time Director effective from August 8. Sudhir Mehta's elder son and Varun's brother Jinal Mehta is currently the Managing Director at TPL since 2018 and also looks after the gas distribution business.
The Group had ventured into power generation and distribution business in late 1990s.
The TPL board currently has top corporate honchos as directors, Pankaj Patel, Chairman of Zydus Group; Keki Mistry, CEO, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC); noted Chartered Accountant Ketan Dalal; Usha Sangwan, finance expert and former MD of LIC of India, former IIM-A director Samir Barua and M&A professional Radhika Haribhakti and a State bureaucrat from energy department besides the promoters Sudhir Mehta (as Chairman Emeritus) and Samir Mehta (as the Chairman).
Qualifications
Varun Mehta, 34, holds a degree in Management from University of Warwick, UK and a MBA from INSEAD, France. Currently he is the executive director at TPL, heading distribution licence at Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat, Diu, Daman, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Dahej and Dholera transmission and cables business. He led TPL as it surpassed competition and emerged as a benchmark utility. "Some of his key contributions have been take-over of operations at Diu, Daman, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Dholera and Mandal Bechraji and improving AT&C losses further," the company said.
Began with renewables business
Varun had started his career in the renewables business of the Company, where he made an important contribution in formulating the entry strategy of the Group in the area of renewable energy and setting up the initial set of renewable energy projects. The group today has a renewable portfolio of 1.6 gigawatts. In thermal generation, Varun led a strategic initiative on importing LNG directly from the international markets, making TPL first Indian player to successfully do so and significantly enhance the revenues and save on costs.
According to corporate observers, the Torrent Group, which collectively commands market capitalisation of nearly ₹80,000 crore had started succession plan much earlier for its key three businesses, power, pharma and gas distribution.
"This systematic succession at the helm will take care of the future growth initiatives in pharma, power and other sectors of the Group's interest," said a source closely tracking the Group.
Passionate about early childhood education, Varun has helped setup Toy Blocks, an early-education campus following the Reggio Emilia approach.