Kumar Mangalam Birla -The Man Behind the Success of Aditya Birla Group
Kumar Mangalam Birla is a billionaire Industrialist from India. He is the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group which is one of India’s major international conglomerates. The group’s yearly turnover climbed from US$2 billion in 1995 to US$45 billion in 2021 under his chairmanship. Over 50% of the group’s income comes from operations abroad, and it is currently operating in 36 countries across six continents. He is also a Chartered Accountant and philanthropist. In addition, he serves as chairman of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science. As of 1 October 2022, Forbes reported that his net worth is US $14 billion.
“We don’t think of success or failure, they are just phases.”- Kumar Mangalam Birla
Quick Facts
Name: Kumar Mangalam Birla
Occupation: Businessman, Industrialist
Designations: Chairman of Aditya Birla Group
Date of Birth: June 14-1967
Age: 55
Place of Birth: Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Marital Status: Married
Spouse’s Name: Neerja Kasliwal- a homemaker. are the couple’s two daughters and son, respectively.
Children: 3 (2 daughters, 1 son), Ananyashree, Advaitesha, and Aryaman Vikram
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Spoken Languages: English, Hindi
Hobbies: Shooting, Reading Books and Newspapers
Early Life
Kumar Birla, a fourth-generation descendant of the Birla dynasty of Rajasthan, was born in Kolkata and raised in Mumbai with his younger sister, Vasavadatta Birla. His father’s name is Aditya Vikram and mother’s name is Rajashree Birla. He attended Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics for his secondary education and the University of Mumbai’s H.R. College of Commerce and Economics for his undergraduate studies. Later, he attended the London Business School, and in 1992, the University of London granted him a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. He graduated from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India((ICAI)) as a chartered accountant.
Career
After the death of his father- Aditya Vikram Birla, Kumar Mangalam Birla became the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995 at the age of 28. After taking control Birla unified all of the group entities under the name Aditya Birla Group (ABG).
In 2003, the Aditya Birla Group purchased the Mount Gordon Copper mines in Australia. Hindalco, a division of Birla’s ABG, also purchased Nifty Copper Mines in Australia. Birla purchased the bulk of L&T Cement in 2004, and the company eventually changed its name to UltraTech Cement. The main company of the Birla-led group, Hindalco Industries, announced a merger with the entire Indian Aluminium Company in the same year (Indal).
Hindalco with Birla’s help also acquired the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminium rolled goods, Novelis Inc., based in Atlanta in 2007. India’s Pantaloon Retail Ltd. was purchased by Birla’s Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. in 2012. 2013 saw the purchase of the chlor-alkali and phosphoric acid divisions of Solaris Chemtech Industries in India by Aditya Birla Chemicals, led by Birla.
The top branded clothing company in India by revenues and the number of sales outlets was created in 2015 when the Aditya Birla Group consolidated its branded apparel business under its lifestyle retail company Pantaloons Fashion and Retail India Ltd. and changed its name to Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail.
The six cement plants and five grinding units owned by Jaiprakash Associates were fully acquired by Birla-led UltraTech Cement in June 2017. Applause Entertainment which is a media, content, and IP development studio with an emphasis on producing premium digital drama series, was relaunched by Birla in the same year. The studio is a part of the Aditya Birla Group and led by Sameer Nair, a former CEO of Balaji Telefilms.
In order to create Vodafone Idea Ltd., India’s largest telecom service provider, Idea Cellular, controlled by the Aditya Birla Group, amalgamated with Vodafone India. Under Birla’s direction, UltraTech Cement also bought Century Textiles’ cement division in 2018, and Binani Cement became a fully owned subsidiary of UltraTech Cement.
Novelis, led by Birla, signed a contract to purchase Aleris Corporation in 2018. In 2020, the transaction for $2.8 billion was completed. Under Birla’s direction, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) purchased a 51% share in Finesse International Design, the company that owns the designer clothing line Shantanu & Nikhil, as well as the Jaypore brand in 2019.
The Aditya Birla Group’s flagship company, Grasim Industries, joined the paints industry in 2021 with an investment of INR 5,000 crore spread over three years. A deal was made for Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Limited (ABFRL) to acquire a 51% share in the designer company Sabyasachi. Later on in the year, designer TarunTahiliani and Birla headed ABFRL partnered. In order to take over Reebok’s operations in India and become India’s top sports and athletic lifestyle brand, ABFRL also teamed up with Authentic Brands Group.
After his Idea Cellular and Vodafone India merged in 2018, Birla resigned from his position as non-executive Chairman of the newly established Vodafone Idea telecom company in August 2021.
Personal life:
Kumar Mangalam Birla is married to Neerja Kasliwal. She is a stay-at-home mother with no aspirations for success in business. Ananyashree, Advaitesha, and Aryaman Vikram are the couple’s two daughters and son.
Honours and Awards:
- He received “The Business Leader of the Year” from The Economic Times in 2003, as well as “BusinessMan of the Year” from Business India.
- He was named “The Most Socially Responsible Leader” by Outlook business magazine and “The Global Indian Leader of the Year” by NDTV in 2007.
- He was named the “CNN-IBN Indian of the Year-Business” in 2010. He also received the All India Management Association’s “Business Leader of the Year” award that same year.