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2012-13

NOMINEESBUSINESS LEADER

OF THE YEAR

Dilip Shanghvi

MD, Sun Pharmaceutical

Francisco DSouza

CEO, Cognizant

Kumar Mangalam Birla

Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

Nitin Paranjpe

CEO, Hindustan Unilever

YC Deveshwar

Chairman, ITC

COMPANY OF

THE YEAR

AXIS BANK

HCL TECHNOLOGIES

ITC

MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA

SUN PHARMA

GLOBAL INDIAN

Ajit Jain

CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

Jagdish Bhagwati

Professor of Economics,

Columbia University

Nikesh Arora

Sr Vice-President, Google

Padmasree Warrior

Chief Technology & Strategy

Officer, Cisco Systems

Vinod Khosla

Founder, Khosla Ventures

V Prem Watsa

Chairman & CEO, Fairfax

Financial Holdings

LIFETIME

ACHIEVEMENT

Azim H Premji

Chairman, Wipro

C Rangarajan

Chairman, PMs Economic

Advisory Council

KV Kamath

Non-Executive Chairman,

ICICI Bank

R ThyagarajanChairman, Shriram Group

of Companies

Yusuf Hamied

Chairman, Cipla

Leadership is all about having a purpose andstaying focused on it, Kumar MangalamBirla, 46, recently told students graduatingfrom the Aditya Birla World Academy, aninternational school in Mumbai.

Birla has lived that mantra ever since he tookcharge of the diversified Aditya Birla Group in histwenties, after his fathers demise. He has been lead-ing with the purpose of transforming the groupinto one that is globally relevant and competitive.

Under Birla, group revenues have grown 20 timesfrom $2 billion in 1995 to $40 bil lion. Birla is nowaiming for the $65-billion mark in three years.

The jury picked Birla as the Business Leader fortransforming the Aditya Birla Group from a tradi-tional Marwari group into a global conglomerate.Birla, who was part of the jury, stepped out when thisaward category came up for discussion. I was ETsBusiness Leader ten years ago. So, it (winning again)is a surprise and feels very good! Birla told ET.

Two things stand out in the way Birla has led thegroup. First, many services businesses such as tele-com and financial services, which Birla seeded, arenow ready to take off. Idea Cellular, for example, hasthe largest market cap among all group companies.Between life insurance and asset management, thefinancial services businesses manage around $20billion of assets, making it one of the top five fundmanagers in the country. He (Birla) puts time forall the businesses. Ulti mately, it is the quality of themanagement, RC Bhargava, independent directoron the board of Idea, had once told ET.

Second, 51% of the groups turnover comes fromoverseas markets. This, too, is to his credit.

Kumar Birla can stay focused on long-termstrategy against all odds, says Sumant Sinha,founder-chairman of ReNew Power, a clean tech-nology startup. Sinha was the CFO when the groupsaluminium company Hindalco Industries boughtNovelis, a Canada-headquartered company fourtimes its size, for $6 billion in 2007.

Many criticised the acquisition initially as thedebt-laden Novelis appeared tobe a drain on Hindalcos balancesheet. But a massive cost-cuttingexercise helped put Novelis backon track in 2010.

The six takeovers Birla has sealedin the past three years are examplesof transactions done when businesssentiment is weak. The group todayis a more diverse entity, and moreyouthful. The average age of thosein the management cadre is down

from 56 in the 9 0s to 36 now.Undaunted by the economic downturn, Birla

is now preparing his group for robust long-termgrowth prospects through capital expenditureprogrammes. Hindalcos consolidated capex spendwas close to $2.6 billion (`14,000 crore) during thelast fiscal. Analysts say its cash flows will outstripcapex from 2015.

One of Birlas favourite sayings sums it up well:Tough times dont last, tough people do.

Full of Purpose & Focus,He Led from the Front

THE AWARD SEEKS TO

honour a leader who hasclearly demonstrated a

strategic direction forsuccess, and pursued

a vision

Birla ispreparinghis group forlong-termgrowth via amega capex

programmethat is nowunderway

MEETING OF MINDS: (from left) SequoiaCapital MD Shailendra Singh, TAFEChairman & CEO Mallika Srinivasan,Aditya Birla Group Chairman

Kumar Mangalam Birla and UniqueIdentification Authority of IndiaChairman Nandan Nilekani...

ENTREPRENEUR

OF THE YEAR

Anjan Chatterjee

Founder & Owner,

Speciality Restaurants

Dhiraj Rajaram

Chairman & CEO,

Mu Sigma

Murugavel

Janakiraman

Founder, Matrimony.com

Naveen Tewari

Co-Founder & CEO,

InMobi

Ramesh Ramanathan

Founder, Janalakshmi

Social Services

Rana Kapoor

MD & CEO, YES Bank

Sachin Bansal

Co-founder, Flipkart.com

VSS Mani

Founder, Justdial

STARTUP OF

THE YEAR

BOOKMYSHOW

CAPILLARY TECHNOLOGIES

DRUVA INC

PERFINT HEALTHCARE

SCIO HEALTH ANALYTICS

BUSINESS

REFORMER

Anand Sharma

Union Minister of

Commerce & Industry

Ashok Chawla

Chairman, Competition

Commission of India

P Chidambaram

Union Minister of

Finance

UK Sinha

Chairman, SEBI

CORPORATE CITIZEN

OF THE YEAR

LARSEN & TOUBRO

MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA

PEPSICO INDIA

SERVICES

THERMAX

NOMINEES

E T AW AR DS 2 0 1 2 -1 3

CAPTAINS WHOMADE 13 LUCKY

In the face of a deepening slowdown, these men showed indomitable courageto stay the course and conquer new frontiers, locally and globally

...Deutsche BankCo-CEO Anshu Jain,

ICICI Bank Chairman KV Kamath,Unilever COO Harish Manwani

and HDFC Bank ManagingDirector Aditya Puri

Business LeaderKumar Birla Aditya Birla Group

THE AWARD SEEKS TO

recognise a company thathas consistently set clearperformance benchmarks forthe rest of the industry andstrived to be a world leader

It is Indias most valuable pharma company its market cap has risen nearly five-foldto over`1 lakh crore over the past four fis-cals. It is also one of the fastest growingand most profitable generic drug makers

in the world it has earned an average operatingmargin of 40% and its net profit has doubled tonearly`3,000 crore in the past five fiscals. Andits stock price has doubled over the past ye ar, giv-ing shareholders much reason to cheer, when theoverall market has slumped.

Sun Pharmas success comes from its ability toget it right consistently in both strategy and ex-ecution; be it venturing into niche high-marginchronic segments such as neurology or cardiac,or acquiring distressed assets in the US and turn-ing them around. Most decisions that looked con-trarian have paid off for the company th at is ablyled by the 57-year-old Dilip Shanghvi.

In the`72,000-crore domestic pharma market,the company is a leader in five high-margintherapeutic areas neurology, diabetes, cardio-vascular, dermatolog y and oncology. Yet, it fore-

saw the slowdown here and made early inroadsin the US, the worlds largest pharma market.Today, as its peers struggle to cope with the lo-

cal dynamics, Sun has mitigated risks as only afourth of its revenues come from India while t heUS contributes the bulk of its profits.

The jury recognised the companys successfulglobalisation and its leadership in several thera-peutic segments. It was willing to overlook oc-

casional skirmishes with the US Food and DrugAdministration, observing that these are nowpart of life for pharma companies.

One of the reasons for Suns rise in the US mar-ket is its ability to pick up distressed assets andmake them profitable. Its first internationalacquisition was a $7.5-million investment inDetroit-based Caraco Pharma Labs in the late1990s. Other acquisitions include ICN Hungary(now called Alkaloida Chemical CompanyExclusive Group) and the US-based Bryan and

Cranbury. Its most high-profileacquisition, due to the prolongedlitigation involved, was of Israelicompany Taro, which makes spe-cialised dermatology products.

With a cash kitty of`9,000 crore,the company is scouting formore acquisitions in the US andEuropean markets.

Realising early that research isa critical driver of growth, Sun

Pharma established a research centre, Sun

Pharma Advanced Research Company, in 1993to create a strong product pipeline and processdevelopment skills. It spun off this division intoa separate company, which is now listed.

Given its growing size, Sun Pharmas growthrates are likely to turn moderate sooner thanlater. But a specialised portfolio of high-marginproducts both in the US and Indian markets willhold it in good stead.

Strategy & Execution its Forte,

This Sun Shines Across the World

There arefears Sunsgrowth maymoderate,but its high-marginproducts

will buoy it

Company of the Year Sun Pharma

Dilip Shanghvi

The diverse list of nomineesmade the process challenging

Kumar Mangalam Birla Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

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