India's Next Gen Business Leaders

Bangalore: As older people retire, new generations are taking over their jobs, with completely different expectations.The new leaders value teamwork and open communication.They’ll spend more time building relationships with their teams than their predecessors did. Because they value their family time, they’ll also give their staff enough time for personal lives. As a result, corporate culture might become less rigid than it is now, bringing more flexibility and a sense of fun.

From being daddy’s girl and Mumma’s boy here are the set of next generation leaders of Indian business companies who have not only transformed themselves but are all set transform Indian business world.

Megha Mittal:

Megha Mittal, the daughter-in-law of the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, is the Executive Director of Escada, the German fashion luxury brand. She has graduated from the Wharton School of Business in 1997. She did her B.S in Economics with concentration in Finance.

When she bought the iconic but troubled Germa fashion house Escada in late 2009 for $85 million, most of the people thought is was a mere indulgence. Megha has over seen new lines of clothing that promise trendy and sporty clothes for all occasion. She has turned Escada into a fast evolving contemporary fashion destination. She has taken some valuable lessons in turning around business from her father-in-law. She has retained the management and has empowered them in decision-making and she has set strict revenue targets. Helping her is Lakshmi Mittal’s trusted lieutenant Harak Banthia, who is executive director at Escada. The company is expected to turn profitable this year.

Shravin Mittal:

Sharvin Mittal, the son of Bharati Group founder Sunil Mittal, joined the business last year as the Manager of a unit of Bharati Airtel that holds its African assets. He had joined the company at the time when Bharati spread itself globally and the domestic market saw cut-throat competition amidst the launch of 3G services.

The junior Mittal holds a degree in accounting and finance from the University of Bath in the U.K. He will also be a part of Netherlands based Bharti Airtel International with remuneration of nearly Rs 1.5 crore every year.

This year, the group has posted weak quarterly results, showing 3G launch costs and interest payouts for loans taken to buy third- generation airwaves have squeezed profits, reports Forbes India.

Tara Singh:

Tara Singh along with Piya and Veer Singh, children of Max India group’s Analjit Singh are being groomed to follow their dreams under the mentorship of their father and other advisors.

Tara has set her sights on a sector equally high on promise and risk. At present, she is the chief executive of, Senior Living, Max Ventures, which is the family’s privately held company. She as been studying best practices across the world and figuring out the best way to create her own offering, which could wind up being India’s first fully-fledged senior living community.

Anant Goenka:

Anant Goenka, son of Harsh Goenka of RPG Group, has no airs of a rich kid but, instead, is a very humble and down-to-earth person. He still carries with him a steel tiffin box, a bottle of water and a duffle bag, which only add to his modest demeanor. Unlike other billionaire kids, he has made his way to the top by beginning small. He worked at Hindustan Unilever as an Area Sales Manager on the outskirts of Mumbai. After various stints at business and engineering schools in the US, he was appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of his family-owned business. His style, as he says, is collaborative because he is still young. He has got to learn from people who have put so much into the business.

Goenka is also the Deputy MD of the group’s flagship company, Ceat, and is looking to turn around the fortunes of India’s fourth-largest tyre-maker. He is focusing on profitability and exports to revive the company. The idea is to change the product mix, that is, to make more tyres for passenger cars, utility vehicle and two-wheeler and to identify export destinations with high growth potential in Asia, Africa and Latin America. “We are in the process of identifying key markets in various geographies and charting out long-term growth strategies in those regions,” he said, identifying several regions. He feels Brazil and Bolivia in Latin America, Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana in Africa and Malaysia and Indonesia in Asia show promise.

Anand Piramal:

The youngest son of Ajay Piramal, Anand Piramal, is the Deputy Chairman of Piramal Realty. He seems to have taken a keen interest in the finer aspects of construction and, hence, all designs are inspected by him. He wants Piramal Realty to be known for its quality. He wants to make Piramal Realty a leading Mumbai real estate player and is putting his heart and soul into the business.

He has to reach the bar raised by his father, who developed Mumbai’s first mall, Crossroads. He plans to include the luxury housing space in his next business venture. He also has an ambitious plan to create the ‘Gurgaon of Mumbai’ on the outskirts of the city. He also wishes to carve a niche for the company in the affordable housing space sector. His enthusiasm for affordable housing comes from philanthropic activities he has done for the Piramal Foundation.  Anand, a Harvard Business School graduate, worked on Piramal e-Swasthya, a rural heathcare initiative that he set up with Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School. The initiative trained literate women in simple diagnostic techniques of minor ailments in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district, reducing treatment costs to 30-50.