Kumar Magalam Birla

Chairman of Aditya Birla Group

Net worth: US$9.1 billion (February 2017)

Kumar Mangalam Birla (born 14 June 1967) is an Indian industrialist and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest conglomerate corporations in India. He is also the chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science.

Birla took over as chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, at the age of 28, following the death of his father Aditya Vikram Birla. During his tenure as chairman, the group's annual turnover has expanded from US$3.33 Billion in 1995 to US$41 billion in 2015.

Business record

Mr. Birla took over as Chairman of the Group in 1995, at the age of 28, after the untimely demise of his father. As Chairman, Mr. Birla has taken the Aditya Birla Group to an altogether higher growth trajectory. In the 20 years that he has been at the helm of the Group, he has accelerated growth, built a meritocracy and enhanced stakeholder value.

In the process he has raised the Group’s turnover from US $2 billion in 1995, to US $41 billion today. Mr. Birla has restructured the businesses to emerge as a global/national leader in the sectors in which the Group operates. He has made 36 acquisitions in 19 years in India and globally, the highest by an Indian multinational in India.

The acquisition of Novelis, a global metals major, in 2007, the second largest acquisition ever by an Indian company, led to a new found respect for Indian companies and stoked a higher level of interest in the country as well. The subsequent acquisition of Columbian Chemicals, a US-based company and the world’s third largest carbon black manufacturer positioned the Group as the No. 1 player in this sector, given its own sizeable carbon black operations today. Likewise, the acquisition of Domsjö Fabriker, a leading Swedish speciality pulp manufacturer enables the Group’s Pulp and Fibre business to further consolidate its global position.

Besides these, over the years Mr. Birla has acquired manufacturing plants in Canada, China, Indonesia and mines in Australia, and set up new plants in Egypt, Thailand and China. Alongside, he has expanded capacities in all of the Group’s manufacturing units.

In India as well, he has made major acquisitions, the most notable being the Cement division of Larsen & Toubro, Jaypee Cement (MP & Gujarat), Indal from Alcan, Madura Garments from Coats Viyella, the Chlor Alkali division of Kanoria Chemicals and Solaris Chemtech Industries.

Under his stewardship, the Aditya Birla Group enjoys a position of leadership in all the major sectors in which it operates. Over the years, Mr. Birla has built a highly successful meritocratic organisation, anchored by an extraordinary force of 120,000 employees belonging to 42 different nationalities. The Aditya Birla Group has been ranked fourth in the world and first in Asia Pacific in the ‘Top Companies for Leaders’ study 2011, conducted by Aon Hewitt, Fortune Magazine and RBL (a strategic HR and leadership advisory firm). The Group has topped Nielsen's Corporate Image Monitor 2014-15 and emerged as the Number 1 corporate, the 'Best in Class', for the third successive year.^]

An educationist, Birla is the Chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS). He is Chairman of IIT, Delhi, and Chairman of Rhodes India Scholarship Committee for Oxford University. He serves on London Business School’s Asia Pacific Advisory Board and is an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School.

Awards & Achievements

• In 2003, he was conferred ‘The Business Leader of the Year’ by The Economic Times and ‘Business Man of the Year’ by Business India.
• In 2005, he received the honor of ‘The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year-India’.
• In 2007, he was named the NDTV’s “Global Indian Leader of the Year” and “The Most Socially Responsible Leader” by Outlook business magazine.
• In 2008, he received the ‘JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award’ from AIMA. The same year, he also won ‘The Corporate Role Model Award’ presented by Amity International Business School.
• In 2009, he was presented the ‘Entrepreneur of the Decade Award’ by Bombay Management Association.
• In 2010, he became the ‘CNN-IBN Indian of the Year– Business’. Same year, he was also named the ‘Business Leader of the Year’ by the All India Management Association.
• He has received the honor of being the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leader”, NITIE’s “Business Visionary”, and the Bombay Management Association’s “The Management Man of the Year”.
• He was also awarded the D. Litt (Honoris Causa) Degree by The Banaras Hindu University. He received The Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from the G. D. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, for his invaluable contribution to the field of business administration.