The new textile tycoons

They've merited entry into Business Standard's exclusive Billionaire Club. Now find out what they're doing when they aren't working

Does the distinction between vice and virtue lie in business practices or in what you eat, or who you marry?

Famously, in a country where renunciation is looked upon as a necessary aspect of life, should simplicity be emulated to the point where lives become crashingly dull?

For every Vijay Mallaya or Subrata Roy who believe in flashy parties, there are others who put all stops on ostentation. It makes tycoon tracking tedious business, particularly since some are embarrassed even to be called "tycoons".

"I don't relate to the phrase 'tycoon'," shares Dilip B Jiwrajka, managing director of Alok Industries, who's "simple beginnings" make his a rags-to-riches yarn.

Jiwrajka is among the new textile czars to have made it to Business Standard's Billionaire Club on the strength of their warp and weft, whether inheriting family businesses or seeking out new opportunities in the face of global competition.

But beyond their offices, what lives do our textile tycoons lead? Are they representative of India's new breed of entrepreneurs who live for now, packing in as much leisure as they can into a hard day's work?

Disappointingly, most throw back phrases that might exemplify small-town businessmen "" "spiritual", "vegetarian", "simple" "" but aren't the kind that would set the ramp on fire. No wonder it makes Mumbai's party boy Gautam Singhania shine out. It's what makes a Raymond executive and his colleague share that "people have the wrong perception about him "" he parties hard, but has innate business acumen and is in the office by 10 am."

But they aren't above a slice of the good life, our textile tycoons. The gently-spoken Dinesh Himatsingka savours a glass of wine, S P Oswal would be lost without a walk in his beautifully landscaped garden, and O P Lohia's greatest indulgence has been a lavish wedding he gifted his son.

Gautam Singhania's Page 3 world began when he created Kama Sutra contraceptives as part of the Rs 1,500-crore group's diversifictions, and roped in the most sizzling models for the campaigns.

More recently, his has been the hand behind India's first effort to corporatise designer pret labels with Be: that stocks Rohit Bal, Raghavendra Rathore and Manish Arora, among others.

Being part of the Beautiful Life, Singhania's passions range from cricket and soccer on the one hand to water sports and motor racing on the other.

He regularly participates in drag races, and like his father he has a licence that allows him to fly, though he must be one of very few civilians anywhere to have flown a Sukhoi fighter aircraft. But what he does better than most is host the city's best parties and glitziest fashion shows.

Perhaps because of the company he keeps, or because it's his business, Singhania is always well dressed and impeccably groomed. While B K Goenka may not match him brand for brand, he's fussy about clothes too. "I'm not fixated on a particular brand, but every big name is in my wardrobe. That part of life where these things used to appeal to me has gone."

Dilip Jiwrajka, on the other hand (and in spite of a wife who designs clothes), isn't a clothes snob in the least. "I wear quite ordinary and regular, simple clothes "" all of us are like that except my younger brother who is very brand conscious."

Jiwrajka Sr was sensible enough to separate the brothers "" three are part of the business, while two are professionals in the US "" when they got married, to avoid conflicts.

"We don't drive swanky cars and live in moderately done-up homes," says Dilip, whose daughter is doing her MBA in Birmingham and son is in an undergrad course in business management in Los Angeles. "I hope they will join the business, but the decision is theirs," he says.

The Jiwrajkas may have outgrown the joint family but Welspun's Goenkas definitely benefited from it, living as they did in a common brood of 60-70 people through the 1970s.

"Everything belonged to everyone and business was in our blood. I have watched my grandfather, father and uncles doing business. In such an environment it's difficult to break out." But break out B K Goenka did from the family food grain business to textiles in the heydays of the export-or-die era, setting up a towelling plant when Indian products were hard to sell overseas.

Today, all three Goenka brothers run their own businesses "" the elder has two schools in Delhi and Gurgaon, the younger a polyester buttons business, while a cousin helps B K at Welspun. He has two daughters with whom he enjoys movies, but what he enjoys most are cars. "But now that I don't drive myself, the purpose of a car has become merely functional. Even so, when a new car hits the market, I spend at least five minutes to go and see it."

B K enjoys his friends and his parties, but within limits. "I am not an unorthodox person, I do go out, but I am not a Page 3 kind of guy. I feel the most important thing in an individual's life is commitment. If you have that, the difficult times will pass." B K and his wife Deepali are gym regulars and have a personal trainer come to their home gym every morning.

He may be unconventional in some aspects, but B K is also spiritual and looks up to astrologers "" even wearing a blue sapphire for luck "" and does a puja every day, visits the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Mumbai every Sunday, and frequently goes on pilgrimage.

"Visiting various temples constitutes my annual holidays," he confesses. But he travels a lot on work too, so much so Deepali accuses him "of using our home like a hotel".

Rajinder Gupta of Abhishek Industries is still not at home with a rich lifestyle, despite having made it to the coveted Billionare Club and having been named International Supplier of the Year "" the first Indian company to win the award "" back in 2001 and again in 2003.

"I feel uncomfortable in a big car or house," he says. Even though he has relaxed somewhat to allow himself the luxury of a Mercedes, he has remained a teetotaler and vegetarian with a fondness for home-cooked meals. And he prefers to spend offhours on spiritual holidays.

Like him, O P Lohia is a strict vegetarian and frugal eater, and doesn't believe in anything ostentatious "" though his son's wedding bash still has Delhi talking a few years after Mahima Chaudhary, Urmila Matondkar, Twinkle Khanna and Akshay Kumar's rivetting performances, alongside a Russian ballet troupe that was specially flown in.

But weddings are one time even the middle-class behave like tycoons, so it's all right if a tycoon pays a bill worth an emperor's ransom for the party.

But it's almost impossible to believe O P living away from his south Delhi neighbourhood. He even backed out at the last minute of an agreement with Ajai Bijli of PVR to buy out his farmhouse at Rajokri. Maybe the GK house is lucky for him.

S P Oswal is very house proud, and his Ludhiana home is evidence of his and his wife Shagun's taste in art, though SP claims he's only suggested "a few alterations to the house" by way of contribution. A frequent traveller "" he was last in China "" he's often in Europe though Shagun complains these trips are often business-led.

But S P's greatest distraction is his penchant for philosophy and, in particular, the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, so much so that he looks at his "business for the sake of success, not money". A "practical person", he prefers his Honda for travelling over his Mercedes because it makes more sense "for everyday socialising".

He's not above a bit of philanthropy too, providing villages with technical know-how to increase their cotton yield, as well as institution building through his recently launched Aurobindo School of Commerce and Business Management. "I am trying to instill a sense of discipline in this city, specially among students."

Another textile tycoon who reads philosophy is L N Jhunjhunwala whose particular favourite is Ramkrishna Paramhans. But then Jhunjhunwala must thank the divine (and his own hard work) for his amazing success in the jute business to which he had turned when faced with abject poverty in 1945.

He was forced to abandon higher studies in Calcutta, and later looked to Bhilwara in Rajasthan where a sick unit became the base on which the group's main success story is writ. When Vimal and Raymond offered his Mayur brand stiff competition in the last decades of the 20th century, Jhunjhunwala would have sold the business had it not been for his grandson Riju who is passionate about textiles.

Today, besides textiles ("Riju is very upbeat about orders from the US and sees good returns in the readymade garments business domestically with the two brands Hugo Boss and Nike doing well"), the main diversification has been in power.

Unlike other Marwari families, Jhunjhunwala's daughter's wedding wasn't a weepy affair because his son-in-law was absorbed in the business. And now, even though he would like to have at least breakfast with his extended family every day, he's able to enforce his will only on festivals and during important family functions.

But since he himself is semi-retired, what does he do with his time? Travel the world? Nah, that's too gauche for someone who only repents not having been able to study more. So, when the junior generation is out working, the Old Man of Bhilwara says, "I have my Bengali and Ramakrishna Mission literation to pursue."

Tycoon or not, you never stop learning. But whether that's a vice or virtue is yours to figure out.

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Gautam Singhania
Raymond Ltd

To be found: In Mumbai's hotspots during the evening, or throwing a party on his launch.

Drives: A BMW to work, but also owns a Lotus Elise and a Honda S 2000 sports car.

Prefers: The company of the fashion frat, among his closest friends.

Married: The gorgeous Nawaz Modi, a fitness professional whom he first met at a Mumbai disc.

Group vision: "To become a globally recognised player in areas of core competence in textile and apparel segments."

Most likely to say: "Champagne?"

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L N Jhunjhunwala
Rajasthan Spinning

Repents: Not having pursued mathematics despite studying under Prof Satyen Bose, one of India's brightest mathematicians and the proponent of the Bose-Einstein theory. "When President Abdul Kalam told me that leaving math was my biggest blunder, and that I could have been a space scientist, I totally agreed with him."

Is manic about: Chess. He feels India can produce many more grandmasters like Vishwanathan Anand, and keeps clippings of the latest chess events by his bedside.

The house: in Delhi's posh Friends Colony is strictly vegetarian and teetotalarian, even for guests in residence from overseas, but is hardly austere: "My grandson's room is four times bigger than mine, with all modern gadgets "" but I don't force my value system on to anyone."

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Rajinder Gupta
Abhishek Industries

Was: A school drop-out who sold chemicals for a living.

Is: Most likely to be found at his corporate office in Ludhiana, or at the plant s in Barnala, Punjab.

Is uncomfortable: About the accoutrements of wealth.

Most likely to say: "India will have to cut its delivery time, follow lean manufacturing practices and develop new products and processes."

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B K Goenka
Welspun India

Originally from: Hissar, Haryana; shifted to Delhi in the 1970s and to Mumbai in 1984-85.

Is fond of: Vintage cars, and owns two "" a Standard Coventry 1929 and a 1930 Ford.

Reads: Biographies of people who have "created their empires from nothing".

Eats: Non-vegetarian food and, in particular, Thai.

Believes: In delegating work. "I used to be a hands-on person but I can't do everything on my own."

Lives by: "There should be fire in a person's belly, only then can he go out and take risks."

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Kishore Biyani
Pantaloon Retail

Freaks out on: Hindi movies.

Alternate career: "I would have been a musician."

Actual business: Is retail, though he began in textiles, and has kept a leg in supplying to his own supermarts.

GenX: Two daughters, one interested in design management, the other in retail.

Business view: "I believe Indian businesses should be given a chance to come out on their own before FDI is allowed."

Most likely to say: "I was not a born atheist but am one now."

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Dilip B Jiwrajka
Alok Industries

Began life: As a trainee with Bombay Dyeing.

Considers himself: An unconventional Marwari because he married a south Indian girl.

Won't be found: In a joint family set-up, though the family remains close.

Party time: On Fridays and Saturdays.

Professional high: "My biggest achievement is bringing the company to where it is now and taking it forward through consensual decisions with my brothers."

Alternate career: "I would have become a doctor but didn't get admission into medical college. When I didn't get admission for the State Bank of India probationary officer's exam, I went into business. Nobody can change destiny."

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O P Lohia
Indo-Rama Synthetics

Lives: In the congested south Delhi neighbourhood of Greater Kailash.

Most likely to dress: In a business suit, summer or winter, with a white shirt.

Fave food: Chaat

Cars: A Merc, two BMWs and a host of Indian models.

Famous relative: L N Mittal, whose sister is married to elder brother S P Lohia.

Famous comment (on O P): "The chapattis he eats for lunch and the vegetables cooked at his home are made of polyester "" he talks and dreams of nothing else but polyester."

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Dinesh Himatsingka
Himatsingka Seide

Can be tracked: At his Japan-inspired minimalist home in Bangalore.

Inspired by: "Nature."

Serious vice: The odd, expensive cigarette.

Loves: To travel. Whether around the world on business, or to his factory, 45 km from Bangalore.

Is excited: That some of his fabrics sell for Rs 20,000 a metre in London and Paris, and customers now head straight for the factory to grab what'll be the next rage in the fashion capitals.

Most likely to say: "I don't waste money on status symbols."

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S P Oswal
Vardhaman Spinning & General Mills

Lives in: Ludhiana's posh Gurudev Nagar

Collects: Porcelain and art.

Is addicted to: Yoga and a walk in the garden.

Believes in: Philosophy (and Sri Aurobindo) to build human values.

Most likely to say: "Politics is a waste of time. So much can be achieved if people serve their commitment towards society."

(Reporting by Reeba Zachariah in Mumbai, Pallavi Majumdar in Ludhiana, Bhupesh Bhandari and Sangeeta Singh in Delhi, Harichandan A A in Bangalore)