Will Vinita Bali breathe life into Bombay Dyeing?

MUMBAI: Vinita Bali, the managing director of Britannia Industries, is being given a larger role in the Wadia group, with group chairman Nusli Wadia bringing its flagship Bombay Dyeing���s textile business under her direct responsibility. The 53-year old management graduate from Mumbai���s Bajaj Institute of Management, who transformed Britannia Industries into a fast growing FMCG company in four years, is now heading the textile business management committee and the new CEO of the textile business is reporting to her. (Watch Video)

Mr Wadia announced internally in June, 2009 that Parshottam Makhija, who joined as chief executive officer of the Bombay Dyeing textile division on June 22, 2009, ���will report to Vinita Bali���, said a senior group official, who did not wish to be named. Mr Makhija has joined Bombay Dyeing from Gujarat Ambuja. ���Ms Bali will also head the textile business management committee,��� the official added. Ms Bali has been given charge of the business to bolster performance and provide focus on operational effectiveness, the official said. Ms Bali is the winner of the Businesswomen of the Year Award, part of the Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence, 2009.

Bombay Dyeing���s textile business reported a loss of Rs 10.41 crore during the quarter ended June 30, 2009. Along with Ms Bali, joint managing director PV Kuppuswamy and CFO Durgesh Mehta are also part of the textile committee. PV Kuppuswamy, the joint managing director, will be responsible for the polyester and operational management of the real estate business, the internal announcement said.

���My focus is on the strategy of the textile business. I was appointed to the board of Bombay Dyeing in May 2009,��� said Ms Bali in an e-mail response. ���As a board member, I am part of the board committee that reviews strategy and performance of Bombay Dyeing,��� she added. Mr Wadia was unavailable for comments.


Apart from reviewing the progress of the textile business, Ms Bali, a former world-wide marketing director of Coca-Cola, holds strategic sessions with top officials in the textile division, according to senior officials in the Wadia group, who did not wish to named. ���Vinita Bali takes a call on future strategies such as expansion plans and closure of stores, how to position products and advertising strategies,��� said one Wadia group official familiar with the matter.

Ms Bali���s growing exposure to textile business coincides with Wadia group���s plan of reorganising the top-deck of the textile business. The group has made three critical appointments to turnaround the business. In addition to Mr Makhija, S Rajappa has joined as the new COO for the business and Jitin Rajput has joined from Soma Textiles to head the export marketing operations. Vinita Bali works closely with these three people and Arun Bhavsingka, head of domestic retail operations. She now faces the tough task of formulating strategies that would improve Bombay Dyeing���s market share in its main branded home textile business, which sells mainly the Bombay Dyeing brand.

While the company still retains the numero uno position in the home textile market, cut-throat competition and inability to connect with young customers are posing a major threat, according to textile industry experts. The Wadia group, which came into existence after Nusli Wadia���s great grandfather Nowrosjee Wadia started Bombay Dyeing in a small red-brick shed in Mumbai in 1879, has businesses ranging from textiles to airlines. Bombay Burmah, National Peroxide and Go Air are the other companies in the group.

FMCG industry experts believe Ms Bali, who used aggressive marketing strategies and differentiated brand launches in Britannia, will replicate similar initiatives in the textile business too. Ms Bali is known for successfully launching the Rasna brand at the beginning of her career when she worked for Voltas. ���She brought in a strong sense of stabilising the brands and people in Britannia. Through reasonable degree of aggressiveness, she defended her turf against new entrants like ITC,��� said Rajiv Bakshi, ICICI Venture joint MD and former MD of Cadbury. Ms Bali���s stint with Cadbury is also famous as she made a success of a new product when Cadbury launched Wispa, an aerated chocolate, in England. She was then responsible for pulling the company���s operations in Nigeria and South Africa out of the woods.

From soft-drink concentrate to chocolates to Coke to biscuits and now textiles, the ���turnaround expert��� becomes the first Indian woman professional to hold a key position in an organisation run by a promoter family. Britannia���s turnover more than doubled to Rs 3,436 crore ever since Ms Bali joined as CEO in January 2005.

Other women CEOs in India are either from big financial institutions, such as ICICI, and multinational corporations. ���Women CEOs can be successful in a family managed business as they are good at handling the emotional part,��� said Kishore Biyani, MD, Future group. ���I would say that Vinita Bali���s success is largely due to her ability to deal with softer side of life,��� he added. It would now be interesting to see if, in the case of Bombay Dyeing, she is able to weave in yet another turnaround.