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Mother, Sons And A Dream

A widow at 32, Urvi had to enter the rough and tumble of business following the sudden demise of her husband Ashok Piramal in 1984 who was heading the Piramals' family business. What Urvi and her three boys inherited in 2005 after a family business split were a dying textile mill, two small engineering companies, an ahead-of-age mall and a bit of real estate and retail. The assets were with negative networth and turnover of less than Rs 500 crore, says Urvi.

Ajay Piramal, her late husband's youngest brother, retained Gujarat Glass (now Piramal Glass) and flagship of the group, Nicholas Piramal (now Piramal Healthcare).

After seven years, Urvi's businesses have turned around with revenues of Rs 1,600-Rs 1,800 crore and they are making profits, too. Her three sons — Harsh, Rajeev and Nandan — all tall over six feet like the men in their father's family — eye to grow taller in business.

"We are on a right platform to pursue aggressive growth to reach Rs 10,000 crore revenues by 2016-17," says 59-year-old Urvi. Piggy riding on its cash-generating real estate business, the group is venturing into new businesses — infrastructure, education, renewable energy and sports. With the group now having stabilised businesses, it is time to look at aggressive growth, says Mahesh S. Gupta, group managing director, who is part of the top team along with Urvi Piramal and sons. "At the current growth rate, especially from real estate business, we will be able to generate a cash of Rs 2,000-Rs 2,500 crore in the coming years, which can be redeployed as equity for expansion of existing businesses and entry into new areas," says Gupta. Source: Business World << Back
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