Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, is the Chairman of the venerable Indian multinational Aditya Birla Group. The Group’s legacy dates to over a century and it was the first Indian business group to venture abroad. Today, the group is present in 36 countries across six continents with over 50% of its revenues coming from overseas operations. The Group’s turnover (FY20) is around $46bn and its listed entities are valued at over $60bn (as on March 31,2021)

Mr. Birla chairs the Boards of all major Group companies in India and globally. In the 25 years that he has been at the helm of the Group, he has accelerated growth, built meritocracy and enhanced stakeholder value. In the process he has raised the Group’s turnover by almost 25 times.

He has been the architect of over 40 acquisitions in India and globally, among the highest by any Indian multinational. Under his stewardship, the Aditya Birla Group enjoys a position of leadership in all the major sectors in which it operates, from cement to chemicals, metals to textiles, and apparels to financial services. 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.

Outside the Group, Mr. Birla has held several key positions on various regulatory and professional Boards. He was a Director on the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India. He was Chairman of the Advisory Committee constituted by the Ministry of Company Affairs and also served on the Prime Minister of India’s Advisory Council on Trade and Industry. As the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Committee on Corporate Governance, he framed the first-ever governance code for Corporate India.

He is also the first Indian Industrialist to be conferred an Honorary degree by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

Mr. Birla is deeply engaged with Educational Institutions. He is the Chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) with campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai. He is also the Chairman of India’s premier management institute — Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

On the global arena, Mr. Birla serves on the London Business School’s Asia Pacific Advisory Board and is an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School. In 2019, Mr. Birla constituted a £15mn scholarship programme at the London Business School in memory of his grandfather, Mr. B.K. Birla, marking the largest ever endowed scholarship gift to a European Business School.

A firm practitioner of the trusteeship concept, Mr. Birla has institutionalised the concept of caring and giving at the Aditya Birla Group. With his mandate, the Group is involved in meaningful welfare driven activities that distinctively impact the quality of life of weaker sections of society.