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.
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.