The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
NEW DELHI, MAR 22, 2023
Noted Industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla received the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award from President of India Droupadi Murmu, at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. Birla has been conferred the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Trade & Industry.
On receiving the Award, Birla said “The spirit of nation-building and trusteeship has guided my family across generations. And so, to receive this national honour is indeed humbling. I thank the Honourable President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu and the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, for this prestigious honour which I accept on behalf of my 140,000 colleagues from 36 countries. This award is a recognition of the longitudinal impact of the Aditya Birla Group— in enriching.”
Kumar Mangalam Birla, born on June 14th 1967, is an Indian billionaire industrialist, philanthropist and the Chairman of the venerable Indian Multinational Conglomerate, Aditya Birla Group.
A fifth generation member of the Birla Family from Rajasthan, Birla was born in Kolkata and grew up in a joint family in Mumbai with his parents Aditya Vikram Birla and Rajashree Birla and younger sister Vasavadatta Birla.
Birla studied at London Business School and was awarded Master of Business Administration from University of London in 1992. He is now an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School. Birla constituted a £15mn scholarship programme at the London Business School in memory of his grandfather, B.K. Birla, marking the largest ever endowed scholarship gift to a European Business School. He is also a Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Birla is the first Indian Industrialist to be conferred an Honorary degree by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).
Birla was the architect of the first-ever governance code for Corporate India as he chaired the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Committee on Corporate Governance.
In the 28+ 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 30 times, from US$ 2 billion to US$ 60 billion (as on 31st March, 2022).
Birla has led 40 acquisitions in India and globally, among the highest by any Indian multinational. Major acquisitions under leadership of Birla include: Madura Garments thant now owns premium brands such as Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and Louis Philippe; UltraTech CemCo, Novelis, Future Group’s Pantaloons and US-based Aleris.
