Juggling between diaper duty & luxe brands! Phoenix Mills MD Atul Ruia on getting the perfect work-life balance

In a manner of speaking, Atul Ruia has expanded his 'personal portfolio'. But this development has been giving the MD of Phoenix Mills Limited many a sleepless night.

According to news reports, Ruia and wife Gayatri welcomed baby Arjun through surrogacy in February. The couple already has two girls — a 14 and 12-year-old.

Baby's day out

Juggling between diaper duty and getting luxury brands to set up shop in his high-profile mall in central Mumbai, Ruia says the news of expanding the family wasn't a surprise to his family and friends. "Everyone's happy for us," he says, sitting in his office cafeteria. "All our close friends knew about it. It's something we had been discussing for years now."

In fact, Ruia says he and his wife always wanted four children. Which brings up an obvious question: will baby number four be on the way soon? "You never know," he says with a laugh. "But at present, all of this is a handful."

Ruia says Arjun has brought the whole family closer. "It's fantastic. I think the whole family has come alive. Everyone is feeling so attached [to each other] and excited. There's so much action in the house these days," he says.

And it seems that baby Arjun is already getting a taste of the mall life. On most afternoons, Ruia sets off with the baby for a stroll to the food and gourmet section in the mall, where one of his offices is located. "In fact, I was taking him for a stroll a few days ago and realised that it's [food and gourmet section] is probably an ideal place for him. He loves to look around — at the vibrant decor elements, the colour... and it's still quite a calm space."


(​Image: BCCL/Mandar Deodhar)

Time, please

But it's not all baby talk for the man who scripted Mumbai's mill-to-mall story. Getting down to business, Ruia says the real task in getting international luxury brands to the country is the time involved.

"Luxe brands take 10 times longer than regular brands to make a decision because everything has to be approved by their CEO in Italy or Paris. They don't delegate decisions," he says."Relationship management is very important when it comes to such brands. The entire process involves a lot of tender love and care."

Summing up his experience of the booming luxury market in India, Ruia says, "On the positive side, everyone thinks that India is a huge market waiting to happen. On the negative side, it's been waiting since forever. But people are excited to set up shop here. They know that at some point it's going to be the most material market after China, and it is certainly one of the biggest growth markets."

SWOT analysis

A man who likes to call a spade a spade, Ruia is quite realistic about his strengths and weaknesses. Drawn to "anything to do with architecture and legal [matters]", Ruia says, "My mathematical, logical and creative sides are definitely my strengths. But I need to work on stress management. An event becomes all consuming. That's a major concern area for me and a work in progress."

Knee-jerk approach

A sports fan, Ruia is currently obsessed with golf and soccer. "I play both sports, but I have hurt my knee again, for the nth time," he says."I've had knee surgeries because of soccer."

The other sport that he tries to indulge in at least once a year is skiing. "That also involves the knee, so it's become a bit of a challenge now," he jokes.

On his family's skiing abilities, Ruia says with a laugh, "The kids ski well. Gayatri doesn't ski well... she skis.".