Lock, stock and barrel: Meet Jamshyd N Godrej, chairman and MD, G&B

Godrej speaks with Pavan Lall about future-proofing, why his companies are private and the reason he's a hands-off manager

It's a warm February afternoon, and I’m meeting Godrej & Boyce Chairman Jamshyd Godrej at his Vikhroli office in Mumbai. I've tried to draw him out to a restaurant or a nearby hotel but he's flipped the invitation back for lunch at his factory cafeteria. As I drive towards the building we are meeting at, I can’t help but notice the gigantic work sheds that house what look like missile and aeronautical fuselages. The Godrej brand might be best known for locks, almirahs and soaps but its other ventures are clearly not small.

It’s a set menu at the company cafeteria where I’m told Godrej eats regularly when in office. A mechanical engineer from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Godrej looks like a pre-occupied college professor at first glance. Dressed in a checked shirt, khaki knockabout pants, glasses and a steel Rolex, the 74-year-old promoter runs the groups’ flagship company, Godrej & Boyce, which makes refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, furniture, besides security equipment such as safes. G&B also makes locks and latches, forklift trucks and warehousing equipment, besides equipment for refineries, precision tools for sheet metal, zinc, aluminium – and has interests in real estate. 

The last one is a burning matter because the government has made efforts to acquire parts of the company's Vikhroli land to build a substation and a ventilation shaft for the new Metro project, but there's contention over compensation. So, from the lower court, the matter has gone to the Supreme Court.

"It is what it is." That’s all Godrej, a Padma Bhushan awardee who has in the past given over 150 acres to the government, is willing to say on the subject. 

With that we rise to get lunch from the buffet line in a private corner of the dining hall.

The menu includes tomato basil soup, asparagus rice, dal, paneer makhani, sautéed spinach, mixed vegetables consisting of baby corn, broccoli, zucchini, red and yellow bell peppers, and flatbread. Plates loaded, we get back to our table and start on a well-balanced meal that’s low on oil, spices and chillies.

How is business, I ask as I take my first bite.

"It is still a little slow for G&B but I don't see the idea of (global) de-risking becoming any less important," he says, referring to China Plus One. "I think in the last 50 years, we have realised we are behind on infrastructure in every way – physical infra as well as for social, schools and hospitals; and so, behind the curve with lots of catching up to do.” 

One systemic risk is skilling, and the education system must strive to further develop the next generation of leaders as companies end up doing the work institutes ought to be doing, he says.  

The problem earlier was regulations, which stymied that, but this government has changed the rules. "So, you can see how power and roads have taken off."

That aside, Godrej says the lockdown years have not been all bad. "The recent demand for warehouses from the likes of Amazon and Flipkart kept us busy," he says. G&B offers warehouse automation, racking and more. 

Given that G&B is the flagship company of the Godrej Group, Jamshyd Godrej has been relatively low profile in recent years. Is he a recluse?

"Depends on how you define that. My policy is: don't talk to the media unless you have to. Is that what a recluse is?" he says with a wide grin, adding, "If one has to accept every social invitation, one would be out all the time but when I was president of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry; 1993-1994) I did talk to the press a lot."

We’re half-way through what is a light, nutritious lunch and I toss him another query. Will 3D printing impact hardcore manufacturing?

Godrej pauses, and then says "It's a matter of time… When you make a 3D part, it doesn't have the same properties as a traditional process, which gives material a different strength. But eventually it will." He adds that what 3D does very well is make prototypes faster, which traditionally would take weeks or months.

For now, G&B is experimenting with 3D printing of concrete along with a start-up in Chennai to make "smaller structures like bus shelters and so on. But the crucial factor is whether you can make tensile parts with the strength of metal, like for locks," Godrej says.

There are other new plays as well. Over the last decade, he has promoted two new semiconductor and battery ventures. He's built an operating battery pilot plant that will export new batteries to the US. 

One can’t help but notice that in comparison to Godrej Industries, which was formerly run by cousin Adi B Godrej and had at least three listed companies, G&B's ventures are all private and unlisted. Will that change?

"The main purpose is to raise capital when it comes to listed firms, but there is a time and place for that. G&B is not in that position yet," is the decisive answer. 

How does the promoter manage to run all 14 businesses? "I'm hands-off as far as possible, but intervene when needed. I know what's going on broadly. Some people thrive on being micro-managers; I don't."

He is, of course, always there to give advice, take policy decisions and do annual and quarterly reviews. While he does attend the factory from time to time, his overseas calls go on till late night and so he does not start his day too early. "I'm involved in a number of organisations that are focused on climate change," he says. 

His immediate family isn't directly involved in the business. Son Navroze was part of the company (2005-2016), leading innovation and strategy. He’s currently a non-executive director at G&B and pursuing interests outside the firm.

Jamshyd Godrej's younger sister, Smita Crishna-Godrej, has been building Udayachal as a Mumbai school, and his wife, Pheroza, is an art historian. He knew her while he was in third grade at the Cathedral and John Connon School but clarifies that he wasn't dating her then.

Beyond work, Godrej says his one pastime is sailing, and on weekends he gets on a boat. Once a year or so, he also takes a longer trip to sail south from Mumbai. "You can't go North because the navy says Somali pirates are still around, so one mostly ends up going to the Maldives." His father was an active sailor and that's where the bug comes from. 

So what keeps Godrej ticking?

"I enjoy the challenge of business, and that's why I keep doing it." Rough seas, as they say, make for a skilled sailor.