I firmly believe in being the lowest-cost producer, the last man standing: Kumar Mangalam Birla

In an exclusive interview to Krishna Gopalan, Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla shares what made him enter two new sectors-paints and jewellery-and why India, along with the US, will remain central to the group’s future initiatives. Edited excerpts:

Over the past three-five years, how have you approached the decision-making process for entering new businesses? What parameters have gained greater importance in this context?

A business group with a legacy as enduring as ours thrives by embracing a growth mindset-continuously and thoughtfully expanding into new sectors with a clear focus on scale, long-term value, and strategic alignment with emerging opportunities. Our approach is rooted in market leadership-being among the top three players-and ability to create impact. Every step we take is driven by the aspirations of a resurgent India, home to the world’s largest young population.

Over the last few years, we have redoubled our bet on the dynamism of the Indian consumer by launching two major consumer brands-in paints and jewellery. The Indian consumer is evolving rapidly and becoming one of the most promising cohorts globally. We are well-positioned to tap into this growth given the innate power and strength of the Aditya Birla brand. Our ability to leverage synergies across businesses also plays a key role in this. For example, our robust cement distribution network has enabled an entry into the paints sector. Likewise, our deep experience in fashion, design, retail, and lifestyle, honed over 20-plus years, equips us to understand consumer trends and occasions-insights that are crucial for driving success in the jewellery market.

With our strategic bets, we are not only expanding in size but also diversifying in scope. By blending the strength of our established businesses with the fresh energy of our new ventures, we are creating a unique growth platform.

Several legacy businesses within the AV Birla Group—such as cement and aluminium—have successfully adapted to changing market dynamics. How have you disrupted the status quo to make them even more resilient and future-ready?

Our strategy for making legacy businesses like cement, metals, fibre, and chemicals future-ready is anchored in four core pillars-scale, sustainability, customer-centricity, and continuous innovation.

Scale remains a defining advantage. Consider UltraTech Cement: it took 36 years to reach 100 MTPA capacity, but just five years to grow from there to 150 MTPA. Now, we are set to add the next 50 MTPA in just three years. To put that in perspective, UltraTech’s cement capacity is 180% of the United States’ cement output and 110% of Europe’s production.

Sustainability is at the heart of our long-term vision. We are making bold investments in green energy, circular economy initiatives, and large-scale recycling. A prime example is Novelis’ $4.1 billion aluminium rolling and recycling mill in the US, the largest greenfield investment in the US by any Indian business group. This is a decisive bet on the growing global demand for sustainable packaging, a shift that is irreversible.

Reimagining legacy business models has also been key. Even in our B2B businesses, we have worked to get closer to the end consumer. Take our fibre business-we challenged conventional value chain structures by creating Liva, an ingredient brand that now enjoys a strong consumer pull.

A global mindset fuels our resilience. We have diversified revenue streams and mitigated geographical risks by thinking beyond operational efficiencies. Strategic adjacencies, such as leveraging our extensive white cement dealer network to power our entry into the paints segment, have been a game-changer.

Therefore, by combining scale with sustainability, deepening customer engagement, and leveraging adjacencies, we have built businesses primed for future growth.

 

Transitioning into B2C sectors like fashion, retail, and financial services requires a different strategic approach compared to traditional industries. What are the key shifts in mindset necessary for success? Can you share a few examples that illustrate this transformation?

We have been in the B2C space for over three decades, building a strong foundation across fashion retail, and financial services. In fashion and retail alone, our footprint spans 12 million square feet, 900+ cities, and 4,600 stores across 20+ loved brands, giving us deep expertise in brand building, retail operations, and consumer engagement. In financial services, we have a comprehensive portfolio spanning asset management, lending, and insurance-our consolidated lending book alone is approximately Rs 1.4 Lakh crore.

Unlike industrial sectors with long investment cycles, B2C businesses demand greater agility, reinvention, and an intimate understanding of consumer behaviour. Success hinges on scale, brand experience, and operational excellence-principles that guide our approach across new and existing consumer businesses.

Take our entry into jewellery retail-we are reimagining the category with large-format stores that are 30-35% bigger than the industry average, offer a wider assortment and immersive in-store experiences, while introducing new designs every 45 days-the fastest cycle in India’s fine jewellery segment. Our ambition is clear: To be among the top three national jewellery retailers within four-five years, growing at 3x the industry rate.

In contrast, the paints business is about rapid scalability and deep market penetration. Here, we have been leveraging the group’s manufacturing and distribution strengths to build a high-efficiency model from day one. With six state-of-the-art plants and a distribution network covering 6,000 towns in just the first year, we are executing at an unprecedented scale.

Ultimately, B2C success requires a sharp mix of creativity and scale, agility and long-term vision, digital transformation and brand trust. At the Aditya Birla Group, we are building businesses that resonate with modern consumers, while creating enduring value.

The Aditya Birla Group is a diverse mix of legacy and emerging businesses, spanning both B2B and B2C segments. How does this composition help you navigate business cycles and market fluctuations?

With a presence in both B2B and B2C, we benefit from diverse and complementary demand drivers. Our B2B businesses-such as metals and cement-thrive on infrastructure spending and industrial growth, while our B2C businesses-spanning fashion, jewellery, paints, financial services and real estate-are driven by consumer sentiment and lifestyle shifts. However, what unites all our businesses is a relentless focus on scale, operational efficiency, and execution excellence, ensuring resilience across market cycles.

My approach has always been to build businesses that are structurally strong, cost-efficient, and primed for long-term growth, whilst being close to the consumer. In cyclical sectors, cost leadership is paramount-I firmly believe in being the lowest-cost producer, the ‘last man standing’, ensuring competitiveness even during downturns. At the same time, strategic investments and acquisitions enable us to strengthen market leadership, expand capabilities, and capture emerging opportunities.

Our global footprint-spanning over 41 countries, with close to half of our revenues coming from international markets-provides risk diversification.

Your expansion into sectors like paints and jewellery, both inherently challenging, raises the question of strategic evaluation. In paints especially, you have been a serious disruptor. What opportunity matrix do you use before entering a new business? Could you illustrate this with examples from these or other recent ventures?

Our approach to new ventures is governed by a disciplined opportunity matrix, anchored in three fundamental principles.

First, the potential for market leadership. We enter only those sectors where we see a clear and credible path to being among the top players within a reasonable timeframe. Second, we assess our inherent right to win. This means identifying sectors where we can leverage existing capabilities-whether in distribution, branding, or operational expertise. Our entry into paints was a natural adjacency, drawing on our deep experience in large-scale manufacturing and distribution from cement; while in jewellery, our expertise in fashion, retail, and consumer trends provided a clear competitive advantage.

Third, the market opportunity must be structurally attractive. We focus on industries undergoing value migration, where shifts in consumer preferences, or structural inefficiencies, create room for new leaders. The jewellery sector, for instance, remains over 60% unorganised, with only a handful of national players. The largest national brand today commands a mere 6-7% market share of the total jewellery market, underscoring the vast headroom for consolidation and branded retail expansion. Likewise, in paints, we have committed Rs 10,000 crore to rapidly scale up operations, commissioning five out of six manufacturing plants in under a year. Today, we are the second-largest player by capacity, a testament to the strength of our execution.
 

The international business has been steadily growing through both organic and inorganic routes. How do you envision the evolution of a larger Aditya Birla multinational group, and which sectors will be the key drivers of this growth?

For over half a century, we have been a global conglomerate, with our expansion into Thailand under my father Mr. Aditya Vikram Birla’s leadership serving as the springboard for our international ambitions.

Over the past three decades, we have steadily built a presence in more than 40 countries, establishing global leadership in multiple sectors. Today, Aditya Birla Group stands as one of India’s most distinctive multinational enterprises.

Our evolution into a truly global entity has been shaped by a series of transformative milestones-from the Novelis acquisition and the Columbian Chemicals deal to the Aleris buyout and, most recently, the Bay Minette project in Alabama, a greenfield project to set up an aluminium rolling plant. The $4.1 billion investment in Alabama marks our largest commitment to a single project anywhere in the world, a bold move at a time when many corporations are retreating from globalisation. Our confidence in the dynamism of the American economy is underscored by the $15 billion we have invested in the U.S. to date. Novelis alone operates 17 manufacturing facilities across the country and employs nearly 5,000 people.

Beyond metals, our chemicals business made its first foray into the U.S. last year with an R&D and manufacturing facility. Looking ahead, North America will remain a key focus, alongside India, our most critical growth market. While we continue to deepen our leadership across existing businesses, we remain attuned to emerging opportunities that align with our strengths and long-term vision.

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