DINNER WITH BS: Rahul Dhir

You made the pitch, now make it happen

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The 24x7 CEO of Cairn India on how he's now got to make the energy giant's IPO happen after pitching for it as an investment banker

Rahul Dhir has a hearty laugh as we scan the menu at Grand Hyatt's M Grill restaurant in Mumbai. The reason for his high spirits is the curious choice of name for a Martini special "" Journalist "" and Dhir wastes no time in ordering it. The sight of the Journalist being shaken vigorously in a cocktail shaker with cracked ice makes me opt for a more sober-sounding Cosmopolitan, writes Shyamal Majumdar.

What perhaps adds to the sparkling mood of Cairn India's 40-year-old CEO is the presence of Urmila Matondkar and Tushar Kapoor at the adjoining table. The head of the global oil company's India operations says he is a die-hard fan of Hindi films, which are a great way to relax for somebody like him who travels five days a week. Hindi films were also one way of keeping in touch with his home country where he has come back after 20 years.

The first step for the journey back home was taken on March 15 this year when Dhir, then a top-notch investment banker at Merrill Lynch, was making one of his regular presentations to his client "" the Edinburgh-based energy firm Cairn Plc.

At the end of the presentation that made a strong case for an initial public offer (IPO) by Cairn India, Chief Executive Bill Gammel took Dhir aside and asked whether he would like to put his words into action and take charge of the destiny of Cairn India.

Two months later, Dhir boarded the flight to Delhi to take up the job that initially involves overseeing what would be India Inc's largest IPO by January next year.

Dhir says the challenge Gammel threw at him was not the only reason why he came back to his home country. "The buzz around India (three of his Wharton classmates have also come back in the last six months), the chance of proving oneself all over again was just irresistible", he says. Though Dhir is silent on it, what must have made the homecoming even more attractive was the package that included stock options worth Rs 100 crore (one-third of it vests the day after any successful float).

Dhir is obviously making sure that his employers have backed the right horse. The pace at which he is working is one good example. We could meet only for a late dinner as he had some "spare time" before next day's early morning flight to take a group of investment bankers to Surat as part of the company's pre-IPO roadshows. When he isn't travelling, Dhir works at his Gurgaon office from 7:30 am to 6 pm, only to resume work at home after taking a break for dinner. His work involves interacting with his colleagues across time zones (for example, a 100-member team at Houston is involved in project designing) and the Blackberry and laptop prove to be very handy.

The schedule is a bit hard on his wife and kids but Dhir says he has been maintaining this routine since his investment banking days, so nothing much has changed really.

For example, he remembers his honeymoon in Paris. While his wife stayed in Paris for 10 days, he had to spend his time 100 km away to sort out the problems of an anxious client. The super-busy schedule has also forced him to take membership of three "strategically located" gyms in Delhi so that at least one of them is within reach, whenever he has some time to work out.

Dhir orders grilled salmon and spinach after the steward's well-rehearsed sales pitch that the latter will help balance the diet. Since there was no "Journalist" on offer for the main course, I decide to follow his choice this time.

The food comes rather fast even as Dhir is giving a fascinating account of Cairn which struck black gold deep inside the stark, unforgiving wilderness of the Rajasthan deserts. In January 2004, Cairn Plc made the largest oil discovery in onland India since 1985, at a field evocatively named Mangala (meaning bliss).

The Rajasthan fields can provide enough oil to replace nearly a fourth of India's 2010 imports, says Dhir. Ninety per cent of the assets of Cairn Plc (listed in London) are in India, which explains the rationale for setting up Cairn India. These are also the assets which will have to move up from the exploration stage to development, production and commercialisation. The mandate is daunting but Dhir says that doesn't bother him one bit.

His track record shows why. As an oil and gas reservoir engineer who went into investment banking, Dhir's crowning glories remain the merger of British Petroleum with Amoco and the transformation of Statoil into one of the world's most efficient oil conglomerate.

The urge to do something different explains why he left his rather comfortable jobs "" first at SBC Warburg and then at Morgan Stanley "" to start Merrill Lynch's foray into energy banking. As managing director, Dhir managed $200 million revenue, up from zero in just two years, before Gammel offered him the Cairn job.

But why did he choose petroleum as his career option? Besides the fact that the industry is global in nature, both his parents worked for ONGC. He feels sad that a fantastic institution like ONGC can't pay enough to its great quality staff. His first offer as an IIT graduate was from Shaw Wallace for the post of management trainee. He was shocked to see that the salary was more than what his father was getting as ONGC's regional director at that time.

It's time now for dessert and Dhir asks for cheesecake and Darjeeling tea. He gives full credit for his "limited success" (if you needed an example of an understatement, here it is) to his training in institutes like the IIT, Delhi. "It was really a humbling experience. From a topper in my school at Dehradun, I suddenly found myself studying with people who were a thousand times more brilliant than me. That was my first incentive for raising the bar," he says.

What also helped him stay focused was the stint he had in two of America's best schools "" University of Texas for a Master of Science and Wharton for an MBA. He still remembers what one of his friends told him on his first day in the US.

After giving him a lift from the airport to his hostel, the friend said, "Mate. You are now on your own." The casual remark, Dhir said, changed his life forever.

It's almost midnight, but the immaculately dressed Dhir looks remarkably fresh. He was used to having his dinner at 7:30pm while working abroad but the 20-year habit has taken a few hard knocks as the countless parties that he has to attend in Delhi these days serve dinner only after midnight. The investment banker-turned CEO, however, has found a way out at last. He goes to these parties only after having dinner at home.

Before leaving (he is staying in the same hotel), Dhir says the hard work notwithstanding, he considers it a privilege to lead Cairn's business in India, as the assets are truly outstanding. Bill Gammel would indeed be pleased with his choice.