Cosmic Birla Group - A conglomerate rising from the east

The Cosmic Birla Group, originating from the East, stands as a prominent industrial conglomerate embodying innovation, expansion, and a steadfast dedication to achieving excellence. Initially centered on engineering products and components, the five decade old legacy business, led by a 34-year old Aditya Vikram Birla, Chairman and Managing Director, has transformed into a diversified enterprise over time. The enterprising leader of the Group took pride in addressing some questions about the Group:

Q. What are the key entities of the Group?

“Cosmic CRF Ltd, listed on the BSE, serves as the leading entity within the group, providing a wide array of products. The Group's strategic growth encompasses affiliated companies like AVB Entech, Comet Technocom, Comet Tradecom, Prilika Enterprise, Asansol Steel, Cosmic Castings Ltd & N S Engineering Pvt Ltd. Furthermore, initiatives such as Cosmic EV Ltd (specializing in electric vehicle bikes), Cosmic Springs and Engineers Ltd, and Cosmic Rail Solutions Ltd underscore the group's dedication to expanding and diversifying its presence across multiple sectors.”

Q. How diverse is the Group’s product portfolio?

“The Group's product range spans across cold-rolled formed sections, engineering goods, railway components, and items within sectors such as electrical transmission and defence. Additionally, the group is involved in real estate ventures and the production of primary steel goods and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG)”

Q. Please throw some light on the EV bike initiative which the Group has invested in.

“The Group has acquired Raft Motors in Mumbai to introduce a fresh line of electric vehicle bikes branded as Raft Cosmic EV. They currently operate a showroom and service center in Satna, Madhya Pradesh and manufacturing facilities at Dhule & Bhiwandi (Maharashtra). Their inaugural showroom and service center in Kolkata opened on April 15th, 2024, at Sarat Bose Road, with plans for a second showroom in Khidderpore. By June 2024, a cutting-edge assembly unit will commence operations in Domjur, West Bengal, to meet the demand in eastern India. An investment of Rs 50 crore is allocated for the Eastern India region within the EV division, targeting an estimated annual production capacity of 25,000 units. Raft Cosmic EV contributes to sustainable practices by providing electric vehicles that are environmentally friendly.”

Q. How do you gauge the Group’s journey as on date and in the future?

“We have taken a 51 year old legacy business group and made it the fastest growing business group of Eastern India. As a Group we have reached a total manufacturing strength of 1,00,000 metric tons. Our recent acquisition of NS Engineering Projects Pvt Ltd through the NCLT will soon make us one of the biggest cold rolled formed products manufacturers in the world. The fact that a marquee investor like  Ashish Kacholia has invested in our Group is testament to the trust that has been shown in the Group’s initiatives. The Group plans to reach a revenue of Rs 5,000 crore by the year 2028 and to make fresh investments to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore by the year 2027 towards new infrastructure and upgradation of existing infrastructure for state of the art manufacturing facilities across all sectors. The Group plans to expand to new horizons in the coming days and truly become a powerhouse from the east.”

Aditya Vikram Birla was recently invited to the India Conference at Harvard 2024 at Harvard Business School for a fire side chat on 'Transforming a Legacy Business into an Innovative Powerhouse' moderated by Sanjay Aggarwal, Partner, Finhive LLC. . This event was also graced by Madhubi Puri Buch, Chairperson, SEBI; Indermeet Gill, Chief Economist, World Bank; Deepa Malik, Indian Paralympic athlete; Karishma Kapoor, Bollywood actress; Radhika Gupta, CEO, Edelweiss; Hemang Jani of World Bank and Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal of J-PAL. This was a great opportunity to establish a connect with the potential talent at Harvard which can be a great contributor to the group's human capital expansion and development plans.

Disclaimer: Cosmic Birla, the company owned by Kolkata-based Aditya Vikram Birla, has no relation to the Aditya Birla Group and related entities.