Radhika Piramal’s life code: Use privilege wisely, not behave in an entitled manner

A black top teamed with fitted blue denims and a blazer thrown over — VIP Industries Limited Managing Director Radhika Piramal means business even as she guides the ETPanache photo team to suitable locations around her office in Prabhadevi. “Take as many pictures as you want and don’t bother me for the next five years,” she says.

Those who don’t know Radhika, the daughter of VIP Industries’ Chairman Dilip Piramal, may have found her instructions brusque. But she was just speaking her mind, saying it as it is. As the winner of the Trendsetting Scion, Piramal says that the term trendsetting to her means, “starting a new idea, culture or business which changes how people think and behave”.

Her responses to several queries are largely simple and to the point. An avid reader, Piramal reveals that she’s not much of a television fan. The last movie she watched was The Drop, starring Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace, while on a flight, because there was nothing else for her to do. If she had to recommend a book for aspiring trendsetters to read, The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli is her top choice.

Piramal is aware of the criticism that comes along with being a scion, a successful one at that — of people’s perception that heirs and heiresses have it easy. Unlike most others of her ilk, who vociferously oppose such points of view, Piramal seems surprisingly at peace with this analysis. She has her two bits to add to it though. “I have been born with privilege, which is certainly easier than starting from scratch. I hope to use my opportunity wisely, by growing the business and leaving it better than I found it, also by not behaving in an entitled manner and treating everybody with respect.” One valuable insight she would like to share with other scions is, “There is no substitute for focus, persistence and attention to detail.”

Her biggest challenge as a Piramal scion, she says, was to shake things up in the company. “Changing the culture & performance with more than 2,000 employees takes time, which can be challenging for me as I am slightly impatient and keen to get good results in a short amount of time.”

There may have been multiple turning points in Piramal’s career with the company, but one that truly stands out was the moment she had her big idea. “I was looking at old print ads of our company from the 1990s and realised that we were not utilising one of our great assets – the Skybags brand. Skybags was launched in the 1990s, but wasn’t promoted since then. I saw the opportunity to target India’s growing young consumers by re-launching the range as a bold new brand, featuring funky designs and colours in backpacks, gym bags as well as luggage. We now sell over a million backpacks from the brand annually.”