Kumar Birla on bits board
Gen-Next’s successors have started moving into the saddle of the Krishna Kumar Birla group. Grand-nephew Kumar Mangalam Birla has been officially inducted into the board of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) as pro-chancellor.
By Anuradha Himatsingka, TNN |
KOLKATA: Gen-Next’s successors have started moving into the saddle of the Krishna Kumar Birla group. Grand-nephew Kumar Mangalam Birla has been officially inducted into the board of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) as pro-chancellor.
When contacted by ET, KK Birla confirmed the move saying, “My term as the chancellor of BITS will be over sometime next year. After my retirement, Kumar Mangalam will become the new chancellor.” The octogenarian Mr Birla, currently chancellor of BITS, will retire on July 4, ‘07.
The development is yet another watershed in the bonding saga of the various Birla families. There has always been speculation about inter-group strife among the Birlas. But, the moment the war with the Lodhas over the MP Birla group assets broke out in ’04, all the major Birla families had fused in an instant.
These included the Basant Kumar-Kumar Mangalam, Krishna Kumar, Ganga Prasad and Sudarshan Birla groups. With KK Birla now passing on the mantle of BITS chancellorship to Basant Kumar’s grandson Kumar Mangalam, the bonhomie has only been strengthened further. Kumar Mangalam Birla had been on the board of governors of BITS since 1995.
So what does the passing of the baton signify? To avoid any possible misinterpretation about ownership issues, Birla family circles explained, “BITS is part of the GD Birla legacy. The trust which controls it is managed collectively by members of the various families and government of India nominees and others. BITS is registered under the Societies’ Act of Rajasthan. The question of any single family ownership therefore doesn’t arise.”
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Traditionally, KK Birla has always been the chancellor of BITS at Pilani, Goa and Dubai. Birla Institute Of Technology at Mesra, Ranchi, is run by a different trust incidentally and is managed by the GP-CK Birla Group. “We also have, as part of the same GD Birla legacy, another trust called the Birla Education Trust (BET) which primarily runs pre college institutions like Birla Public School Vidya Niketan, Birla Higher Secondary School, Birla Balika Vidyapeeth And Birla Shishu Vihar In Pilani, Rajasthan. Traditionally again, though KK Birla has always been the BET chairman along with members of other families, BK Birla has been more active with the development of the trust,” family insiders said.
“BITS is an autonomous public institution. Since the Birlas have always been engaged in philanthropic work, everyone of us associated with BITS, has over the years individually contributed towards the overall development and progress of the institute. The governing board, for example, includes other family members like BK Birla, Shobhana Bhartiya, Manjushree Khaitan and Sidharth Birla,” these sources said.
“If Kumar Mangalam has been made the pro-chancellor of BITS, it means that he has now been entrusted with the responsibility of carrying the activities of the institute further ahead,” a Birla family member explained. “It is a family show and it will continue to remain so in the near future. GD Birla’s legacy is being carried out by all of us,” he said. Birla observers in general attach a lot of importance to the development.
Most feel that the continuing battle with the Lodhas has not only bonded the families together, but has also triggered the realisation among elders that the future should be chalked out now itself and, wherever necessary, the baton needs to pass on to strong, young hands.
The resolving of the controversial Pilani issue, they say, is a case in point where BK Birla and Kumar Mangalam bought a controlling stake in Pilani Investment & Industries in ’05. Speculation is also rife about whether KK Birla would also step down from other group flagships like Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals, Zuari Industries, Hindustan Times and Texmaco and choose to become ‘chairman emeritus’ of the group as a whole.
Family insiders aren’t too sure, however, about that. But Mr Birla had set the process in motion, they said, in August ’02 when he had stepped down from his sugar companies and had become their chairman emeritus.
“For the moment, however, Mr Birla is firmly in the saddle — chalking growth paths, delegating responsibilities and decentralising operations. At 87, he still puts in 14 to 15 hours a day,” family insiders said.
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Incidentally, two companies — Chambal Fertilisers and Zuari Industries — are directly under his charge and their chief executives interact with him alone. In all other group companies, daughters Nandini Nopany, Jyotsna Poddar and Sobhana Bhartiya, son-in-law Saroj Poddar and grandson Chandra Shekhar Nopany, lend a helping hand.
As far as the group’s sugar companies are concerned, grandson Chandra Shekhar is chairman of Oudh Sugar Mills, while daughters Nandini and Jyotsna are chairpersons of Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries and Gobind Sugar Mills respectively.
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