Indian Business Leaders Phase 1- Report

BABA KALYANI

Submitted By, Sneha.A.Jain, D11AB43, 25.08.2011

Introduction: Baba Kalyani, the Chairman and MD of Kalyani Group had told in his words, "Our biggest advantage is that it is a very technology oriented plant, very modern and has tremendous product development capabilities".
In the early 1990s, when Indian businessmen were in a panic about facing foreign competition, Bharat Forge, controlled by Baba Kalyani, was ready for a global attack. Baba Kalyani was born on the 7th of January 1949 in Pune where he now resides. He did his engineering from BITS, Pilani and passed out in 1970 and his post graduate from MIT, USA in1972. It was only then that he started developing the idea of wanting to do masters in engineering. His father, Mr.Babasaheb Neelkanth Kalyani started Bharat Forge in 1964 which has manufacturing operations across 11 locations and 5 countries 4 in India, 3 in Germany, one each in Sweden, USA & 2 in mainland China. From his childhood, he was always drawn to machines. Before he went to BITS, he was staying at a small town called Karad.

Process of Becoming a Leader:

He started as a sales engineer but he realized quickly that sales was never a problem. So he felt that manufacturing was a problem. He spoke to his father about this within three to four months of his joining. In those days, SL Kirloskar was the chairman of his company. He took charge of manufacturing within three months. This was when he really started learning the nuts and bolts of how to run a business, how to lead people, how to deal with people, how to create an organization, how to create a business process. Almost all these things he had to learn by himself and on the job because of the needs of the job. Fortunately, he started getting great results. The business doubled at the end of the first year itself and doubled again the end of the second year. It went from Rs3 crore a year to Rs6 crore and from Rs6 crore to Rs12 crore and from Rs12 crore to Rs20 crore. His net worth is $1.3 billion. List of few Bharat Forge Companies are: Bharat Forge India Bharat Forge AluminiumTechnik Bharat Forge Daun Faw Bharat Forge Bharat Forge America Bharat Forge Kilsta

Kalyani Group:
Bharath Forge is a part of Kalyani Group of Companies. For over three decades, the Kalyani group saw healthy growth and established itself as major player in auto components. The Kalyani Group, one of the leading Industrial Houses in India with an annual turnover of more than USD 2.5 billion and has joint ventures.

Current Responsibilities:
Founder and Chairman of Pratham Pune education Foundation. Community centers for 250 families all over Pune. Vision to contribute towards a clean emission free environment and has invested in a renewable energy project generating green energy. Took a unique program to empower the rural youth at taluka, Pune. Provided them with free vocational training at a Industrial Training Institute. The Chairman of Hikal Ltd. Member of the World Economic Forum Switzerland.

Qualities as a Leader:
When Baba Kalyani took over as Chairman of Bharat Forge in 1998, his first step was to spin off the non-core businesses into a separate company. He concentrated on auto component manufacturing and slowly and steadily revived the declining fortunes of the group while most of his competitors vanished from the scene. He joined the company as a sales engineer when it was in loss. In the 1970s, they were expanding, as their customers increased their products. They had put in place technology; created a lot of knowledge within the company, brought in new people with experience, etc. They were able to develop the company at a much faster rate than their competitors. The forging business had always been very competitive because the entry barrier to this business has been very low. Today, it is a different story. But, in those days, anybody could set up a forging plant with some Rs10-15 lakh capital. There are 60 forging plants set up by ex-Bharat Forge people. Baba Kalyani merged Bharat Forge with many foreign companies. Bharat Forge now has a ready manufacturing base to produce all of its core products worldwide provide design & engineering and technology front-end support, close to customers for these products. He worked hard and doubled his business year after year. They were able to develop the company at a much faster rate than our competitors.

Thus from the above his qualities could be pointed as, Determination Hard working Visionary Service oriented Experienced

Awards and Achievements:

Baba Kalyani received many awards in the following years: Received National Press Award - 1995 Business Standard CEO of the Year Award - 2004 Annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Manufacturing - 2005 Rashtra Bhushan Puraskar on the Year - 2006 Padma Bhushan Award - 2008 Udyog Ratna Award for 2010-11 French Distinction Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de lOrdre de la Lgion dHonneur) 2011

References: http://www.bharatentrepreneurs.com/2008/05/25/baba-kalyani-the-man http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-02 http://business.in.com/article/boardroom/bharat-forges