Kumar Mangalam Birla (born 14 June 1967) is an Indian billionaire Industrialist, philanthropist, and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest global conglomerates in India. He is the chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani and ex Chairman of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.<ref>{ { cite news |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/education/kumar-mangalam-birla-appointed-as-new-chairman-of-iim-a-3097993/ |title=Kumar Mangalam Birla appointed as new chairman of IIM-A | newspaper=The Indian Express |date=23 October 2016}}</ref> According to Forbes'', he has an estimated net worth of US$13.8 billion, as of March 2023 making him the 9th richest person in India.
Birla took over as chairman of the Aditya Birla Group in 1995, at the age of 28, following the death of his father Aditya Vikram Birla. During his tenure as chairman, the group's annual turnover has increased from US$2 Billion in 1995 to US$45 billion in 2021. Today, the group is present in 36 countries across six continents with over 50% of its revenues coming from overseas operations.
Early life and education
A fourth generation member of the Birla Family from Pilani, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan Kumar 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. He did his high school from Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics and a bachelor's degree from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics of the University of Mumbai. He later studied at London Business School and was awarded Master of Business Administration from University of London in 1992. He is also an honorary fellow at LBS. He is a chartered accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
Career
1995–2005
In 1995, Kumar Mangalam Birla took over the family business and consolidated all the group companies under the brand – Aditya Birla Group (ABG). Birla acquired Indian Aluminum Company (INDAL) in 2000. Then in 2003, Hindalco, acquired Nifty Copper Mines in Australia, while the Aditya Birla Group acquired the Mount Gordon Copper mines in Australia. Next year in 2004, Birla acquired a majority stake in L&T cement, which was later renamed UltraTech Cement. In the same year, the Birla-led group's flagship Hindalco Industries announced a merger with all the businesses of Indian Aluminium Company (Indal).
In 2007, Birla spearheaded the purchase of Atlanta-based Novelis Inc, which was the world's leading producer of aluminium rolled products, by Aditya Birla Group's flagship Hindalco. After five years in 2012, Birla's Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. acquired Future Group's Pantaloon Retail Limited in India. In 2013, Aditya Birla Chemicals, spearheaded by Birla, acquired the chlor-alkali and phosphoric acid divisions of Solaris Chemtech Industries in India.
Birla's name surfaced in Indian coal allocation case, that traced its origin to the allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009. In 2014, CBI filed closure report against Birla. Since 2015, the Aditya Birla Group consolidated its branded apparel business under its lifestyle retail firm Pantaloons Fashion and Retail India Ltd. and renamed it as Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail, creating India's top branded clothing company by revenues and number of sales outlets.
2016–present
By 2016, Kumar Birla launched a new logo for the Aditya Birla Group. In June 2017, UltraTech Cement, chaired by Birla, completed the acquisition of Jaiprakash Associates' six cement plants along with five grinding units. In the same year, Birla revived Applause Entertainment, a media, content and IP creation studio with a focus on creating premium digital drama series. Sameer Nair, ex-CEO of Balaji Telefilms, heads the venture, part of the Aditya Birla Group.
After that in 2018, the Aditya Birla Group owned Idea Cellular was merged with Vodafone India to create India's largest telecom service provider – Vodafone Idea Ltd. Also in 2018 under Birla's guidance, UltraTech Cement acquired the cement business of Century Textiles while Binani Cement became a wholly owned subsidiary of UltraTech Cement. In 2018, Birla led Novelis entered into an agreement to acquire Aleris Corporation. The deal was closed for 2.8 bn dollars in 2020. Under Birla's leadership, Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) acquired the Jaypore brand and bought 51% stake in Finesse International Design that runs the designer wear label Shantanu & Nikhil in 2019. In 2020, Walmart owned Flipkart acquired a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail by making an investment of INR 1,500 crore in the company.