Kumar Mangalam Birla, a top-notch industry man with a passion to educate

An alumnus of the London Business School, Kumar Mangalam Birla became chairman of the Aditya Birla Group at 28. In a little over two decades, he raised the group’s turnover from $2 billion to $48.3 billion, making 36 acquisitions in India and abroad.

The group’s businesses include aluminium, copper, cement, textiles, carbon black, insulators, natural resources, solar power, agribusiness, telecommunications, financial services, retail and trading.

He chairs the boards of all of the group’s major companies, including Novelis, Columbian Chemicals, Aditya Birla Minerals, Domsjö Fabriker, Terrace Bay Pulp Mill, Hindalco, Grasim, UltraTech, Vodafone Idea and Aditya Birla Capital.

He has held several key positions on various regulatory boards such as that of director on the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India, chairman of the Advisory Committee constituted by the ministry of Company Affairs, and has been a member of the prime minister’s Advisory Council on Trade and Industry.

Birla is also known for his engagement with knowledge creation. He authored the first report on corporate governance, “Report of the Kumar Mangalam Birla Committee on Corporate Governance” as the chairman of the Committee on Corporate Governance of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Birla is deeply engaged with educational institutions. He is the Chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS), which has campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai. He is chairman of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, director of the GD Birla Medical Research & Education Foundation and chairman of the Rhodes India Scholarship Committee. He also serves on the London Business School’s Asia Pacific Advisory Board and is an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater.