The Aditya Birla Group, one of India's major international conglomerates, is led by billionaire industrialist and philanthropist Kumar Mangalam Birla (born 14 June 1967). He is the former chairman of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Pilani. He would rank ninth among India's richest people, according to Forbes, with a projected net worth of US$13.8 billion as of March 2023. At the age of 28, Birla succeeded his father Aditya Vikram Birla as chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995. The group's yearly turnover climbed from US$2 billion in 1995 to US$45 billion in 2021 while his chairmanship. Over 50% of the group's income come from operations abroad, and it is currently operating in 36 countries across six continents.
Early life
A descendant of the Birla family from Pilani, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, in the fourth generation Kumar Birla was raised in a large family in Mumbai with his parents Aditya Vikram and Rajashree Birla, as well as his younger sister Vasavadatta Birla. Kumar was born in Kolkata. He attended Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics for his secondary education and the University of Mumbai's H.R. College of Commerce and Economics for his undergraduate studies. Later, he attended the London Business School, and in 1992, the University of London granted him a Master of Business Administration degree. At LBS, he is also a fellow by honour. He graduated from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) as a chartered accountant.
Career
The family firm was taken over by Kumar Mangalam Birla in 1995, and he united all of the group enterprises under the name Aditya Birla Group (ABG). In 2000, Birla purchased Indian Aluminium Company (INDAL). Then in 2003, Mount Gordon Copper Mines in Australia were purchased by the Aditya Birla Group, and Nifty Copper Mines in Australia were acquired by Hindalco. The next year, in 2004, Birla bought the majority of L&T Cement, which ultimately changed its name to UltraTech Cement. The main company of the Birla-led group, Hindalco Industries, announced a merger with the whole Indian Aluminium Company (Indal) business portfolio in the same year.
The world's largest manufacturer of aluminium rolled goods, Novelis Inc., based in Atlanta, was acquired by Hindalco, the parent company of the Aditya Birla Group, in 2007 with Birla's help. In 2012, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. of the Birla family purchased Pantaloon Retail Limited of the Future Group in India after five years. 2013 saw the purchase of the chlor-alkali and phosphoric acid divisions of Solaris Chemtech Industries in India by Aditya Birla Chemicals, led by Birla.
The lawsuit involving the allotment of coal blocks in India between 2004 and 2009 brought Birla's name to light. CBI filed a closure report against Birla in 2014. Since 2015, Pantaloons Fashion and Retail India Ltd. has served as the umbrella company for the Aditya Birla Group's branded apparel division.
The Aditya Birla Group unveiled a new logo in 2016 thanks to Kumar Birla. The six cement plants and five grinding units owned by Jaiprakash Associates were fully acquired by Birla-led UltraTech Cement in June 2017. Applause Entertainment, a media, content, and IP development studio with an emphasis on producing premium digital drama series, was relaunched by Birla in the same year. The initiative, a part of the Aditya Birla Group, is led by Sameer Nair, a former CEO of Balaji Telefilms.