Kumar Mangalam Birla (born 14 June 1967) is an Indian industrialist and the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates. He took charge in 1995, at the age of 28, after the sudden death of his father, and has since multiplied the group’s revenue many times through acquisitions in India and abroad. The group’s businesses include aluminium (Hindalco and Novelis), cement (UltraTech), textiles and chemicals (Grasim), financial services, fashion retail and telecom.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Kumar Mangalam Birla |
| Born | 14 June 1967, Calcutta (now Kolkata), India |
| Age | 59 |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
| Position | Chairman, Aditya Birla Group (since 1995) |
| Parents | Aditya Vikram Birla, Rajashree Birla |
| Education | H.R. College, University of Bombay (B.Com.); chartered accountant; London Business School (MBA) |
| Spouse | Neerja Birla (m. 1989) |
| Children | 3 (Ananya, Aryaman Vikram and Advaitesha) |
| Honour | Padma Bhushan (2023) |
Early Life
Birla belongs to the fourth generation of the Marwari business family founded by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla; his great-grandfather was the industrialist G. D. Birla, a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. He grew up in Mumbai, qualified as a chartered accountant at his father’s insistence and took an MBA at the London Business School.
Career
His father, Aditya Vikram Birla, who had built the group’s operations in Southeast Asia, died of cancer in October 1995 at 51. Many doubted that a 28-year-old could manage the business. He introduced a retirement age for senior managers, brought in outside professionals and unified the companies under a single group name and logo.
Under him the group bought Larsen & Toubro’s cement business in 2004, creating UltraTech, now India’s largest cement maker. In 2007 Hindalco bought the Canadian aluminium company Novelis for about $6 billion, then one of the biggest overseas acquisitions by an Indian company. Other purchases included the carbon black maker Columbian Chemicals and the American aluminium firm Aleris. The group moved into retail with brands such as Pantaloons and Louis Philippe, into paints with Birla Opus and into jewellery.
The group’s mobile company, Idea Cellular, merged with Vodafone India in 2018 to form Vodafone Idea, which has since struggled with heavy losses and government dues. Birla stepped down as its chairman in 2021.
Other Roles
He is chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, and has chaired the boards of IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad. He headed a 1999 committee of the market regulator SEBI on corporate governance.
Personal Life
Birla married Neerja Kasliwal in 1989. Their daughter Ananya is a singer and businesswoman, and their son Aryaman Vikram played first-class cricket before joining the business.
Awards and Honours
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Kumar Mangalam Birla born?
Kumar Mangalam Birla was born on 14 June 1967 in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India and is 59 years old.
What is Kumar Mangalam Birla’s occupation?
Occupation: Industrialist.
Featured image: Kumar Mangalam Birla (right) receives the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award from Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, February 2009. Photo by Ministry of Railways, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
