President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Padma Bhushan on billionaire industrialist, philanthropist and the Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group Kumar Mangalam Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla said, "The spirit of nation-building and trusteeship has guided my family across generations. And so, to receive this national honour is indeed humbling...
... I thank the Honourable President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu and the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, for this prestigious honour which I accept on behalf of my 140,000 colleagues from 36 countries. This award is a recognition of the longitudinal impact of the Aditya Birla Group- in enriching lives and in demonstrating through actions that business is a force for good.”
Kumar Mangalam Birla has helmed the Aditya Birla Group for over 28 years and has raised the Group’s turnover by 30 times, from $2 billion to $60 billion (as on March 31, 2022)
Kumar Mangalam Birla was born on June 14, 1967 in Kolkata. He grew up in a joint family in Mumbai with his parents Aditya Vikram Birla and Rajashree Birla and younger sister Vasavadatta Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla studied at London Business School and was awarded Master of Business Administration from University of London in 1992. He is now an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School
Kumar Mangalam Birla has led 40 acquisitions for Aditya Birla Group in India and globally. The Group has acquired premium brands such as Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England and Louis Philippe and Future Group’s Pantaloons in the apparel space
UltraTech CemCo, Novelis and Aleris were also among the key acquisitions made by the Aditya Birla Group under the leadership of Kumar Mangalam Birla
Kumar Mangalam Birla constituted a £15 million scholarship programme at the London Business School in memory of his grandfather BK Birla, marking the largest ever endowed scholarship gift to a European business school
Kumar Mangalam Birla is also a Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He is the first Indian Industrialist to be conferred an Honorary degree by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI)
Previously, Kumar Mangalam Birla’s mother Rajashree Birla has also been conferred with the Padma Bhushan while his great grandfather GD Birla was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan