Happy Birthday Kumar Mangalam Birla: Here are some interesting facts about the business magnate

Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, turned 53 today! Twitter has been flooded with warm wishes for the business tycoon.

The $48.1 billion business conglomerate, led by Mr Birla, runs multiple businesses. From telecommunications, solar power, textiles, financial services to natural resources, the Group’s businesses are spread across a swath of industries.

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The Aditya Birla Group owns several famous brands such as UltraTech Cement, Grasim Industries, Pantaloons Fashion and many more.

With a strength of over 120,000 employees, the Mumbai-based group operates in more than 30 countries.

Counted among India’s richest individuals, let’s take a look at a few lesser-known facts about Kumar Mangalam Birla:

  • He was born in Kolkata on 14 June 1967, while brought up in Mumbai.
  • He got his B.Com degree from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics.
  • He did his Master of Business Administration from London Business School.
  • Before he went abroad for his business administration degree, he became a CA from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
  • He is also the Chancellor of Birla Institute of Technology and Science as well as an Honorary Fellow of London Business School.
  • At the age of 28, Mr Birla took over as Chairman of the Group in 1995, after his father’s death.
  • Over the last twenty years, the business tycoon has steered over 35 acquisitions in India and globally.
  • According to a Forbes 2019 list, he is India’s 10th wealthiest man ($9.6 billion).
  • Birla completed the merger between his Idea Cellular and Vodafone India to form Vodafone Idea in 2018. As of 31st December 2019, the merged entity has a subscriber base of over 332 million.
  • Birla and wife Neerja have three children – Ananyashree (daughter), Aryaman Vikram (son) and Advaitesha (daughter).
  • “In 20 years of being at work, I have lost my cool three times and each time for a good reason. For him this is an achievement considering outside of office, he loses his cool five times a day,” Mr Birla once told the Economic Times in an interview.
  • According to a news report, Birla admires Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy and Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric.
  • As Chairman, the business tycoon has taken the group to a higher growth trajectory by building a meritocracy and enhancing stakeholder value.
  • He has won several awards for his exemplary contribution, including ABLF Global Asian Award (2019), CNBC-TV18 – IBLA Outstanding Businessman of the Year (2017), International Advertising Association’s CEO of the Year Award (2016), US India Business Council (USIBC) 2014 Global Leadership Award and others.