Firstly, Mr. Goenka, thanks a lot for coming today. I think you have flown in just for this. I know you're flying back right after this event, and everybody's looking forward to hearing your—
Thank you. So I think we put a little bit of graphics here with basically your journey starting from Rajasthan to various stops in your life. And you know, it starts with the steam engine, then it just goes to various lives because it's a 200-year-old legacy, right? So we're trying to depict it through history as well as possible. But one interesting thing in your story, which I've known you for many years—very, very interesting part of the story—is when you took over the business from your family, the market cap was roughly 2,500 crore, and you built it to a valuation of over 1 lakh crore in the last 15 years. So that's an incredible turnaround, takeover, pushover, whatever. You know, that's an incredible story. Not many have heard of that side of your story. Would love to start with that high note and then go to the next of the questions.
Frankly, it sounds more impressive than it is. A lot of it is the blessings of someone above and a lot of good luck, but also a few bold decisions—decisions which involved changing legacy teams, getting in youth, getting in newer ideas, just thinking big, and having the conviction to go ahead and implement. So yes, when I separated from the family, the companies that I inherited weren't necessarily doing that well. Most of them were loss-making. Then there was a very deep focus on operational excellence, on process efficiencies, on getting to be best-in-class in terms of cost of production, and then getting into newer areas like IT-enabled services, sports, renewable energy. And I think, as I said earlier, someone up there has been kind. So far, so good.
No, I think you're very humble. I have to ask one specific question which is very relevant for all the families who are sitting here. You did mention moving away from legacy teams and hiring youth to the organization. Tell me a couple of challenges that you faced in your mind, and is there anything that you would like to share? Maybe it could be very valuable for all of them here.
You know, many were people who you had seen over 20 years, 25 years. There were emotional connects, but they were not right for the business. They were just too steeped in being satisfied with too little. So it was balancing the emotions and the needs of the business. So initially it took a little bit of time, but then with a few years, one becomes a little more confident, more self-assured, and then these decisions come quicker.
Were you emotional or were you scared?
Both, because you don't know what happens if the people you get don't work out. So with your own knowledge of those domains increasing, the insecurity becomes less.
Okay. So the family's history started in Rajasthan 200 years back. What are the sort of values of grit, resilience, and enterprise that continue, that you've taken with such a legacy, right? Not many families can build that long a legacy and, touch wood, continue and grow further, venture out into newer areas. What are the sort of values that you've inherited?
So we started as bankers to the East India Company, then got into banking which got nationalized, and got into tea, textile, jute. But the one thing we were told is that don't be emotional about a particular business. You can be passionate about success, but you cannot be emotional about a particular thing, even if it's dying or that industry is getting phased out or technology is changing. So we've actually continuously evolved. So from jute and textiles to chemicals, then onto tires, then onto power, then onto energy—I mean, then onto IT-enabled services, then onto sports. So it's been a constant evolution.
And then Kolkata, right? How Kolkata has been the birthplace, RPG headquarters, how the city influenced you in terms of your thought process when you started out?
You know, the city, the environment, the people always have an impact on you. So whether you live in Mumbai or you live in Kolkata, you live in London or you live in Dubai, you live in Singapore, your immediate surroundings definitely impact you. But it's for you to set your goals. It's for you to define your ambitions. It's for you to believe in yourself and to go ahead and achieve it.
Then came the Mumbai phase, right, which we discussed briefly, wherein you carved out and you built large business and so on. One of the interesting aspects about what from what I've seen you closely and which I quite like is you've got your set of businesses, but you also have your own investments, family offices, you have a fund, you look at newer opportunities, and you're quite engaged and actively involved in that as well. So, how has that side of the journey been?
So, was it the most fun out of the whole 30-40 years?
