'Life hasn’t changed for us after biz realignment’

Visiting Ceat Mahal, the headquarters of the $3.7-billion RPG Enterprises, is a visual treat . The group’s chairman, Harsh Goenka, who is known for his penchant for art, has displayed his love across the four corners of Ceat Mahal. Every artefact, painting and sculpture on the fifth floor from whereGoenka manages the tyre-toinfrastructure group catches one’sattention.As the lift reaches the fifth level, an artwork — achair made of books — welcome us. Goenka later told us that one canactually sit on the chair. At the visitor’s alcove, works of well-knownartists such as Baiju Parthan and Atul Dodiya are hung alongside experimentalpieces, giving a feel of a mini-museum. All the artworks were handpicked byGoenka and are of personal significance. The Baiju Parthan painting on‘India Shining’ underlines the scenes in different parts of thecountry. Goenka, who suggested the theme to Parthan, says : “The paintingwas done in 2007. At that time, the entire ‘IndiaShining’ concept was gaining popularity.” His interest in theconcept was such that even Goenka could not resist adding his own strokes to thecanvas. Although the avid art collector had spent an hour on the concept of thepainting and its colour combination, he clearly understands why certain thingsneed to be left best to those who deal in them. “I told Parthan to colourthe birds in orange and green, but he suggested it wouldn’t go well withthe theme of the painting . When he painted them in orange and green, it lookedterrible!’’ recalls Goenka . “We then went withhis colour combination of white and blue, which Parthan painted over the orangeand green birds. It is better to leave these things to the artists. They knowtheir colours well.’’ The Atul Dodiya painting is all about Life inMumbai (then Bombay ) a few years ago . It has the angry young man AmitabhBachchan , a leper asking for alms , a man a n sw e r - ing nature’s c a ll against the backdrop of a Cshaped Marine Drive . An abstract painting brushedby Goenka’s daughter Vasundhara is placed at the doorway to thechairman’s cabin, a personal fovourite . He used to like Bengal art at onetime, but it fails to captivate him now.Goenka’s spaciousoffice has a well-lined bookcase behind a large desk. The parted beige curtainsbring in ample sunlight into his office, which has a terrace garden that runsacross one length of his room. A small fountain adds to the surrounding. As wemake ourselves comfortable on a cream-coloured couch, we can’t help butnotice the tyreshaped clock, representing group company Ceat .Ceatwas acquired by RPG Enterprises in the eighties and it was in this company thatGoenka was first appointed as the managing director . Then 24, Goenka had justreturned from Switzerland after finishing MBA in 1982. He was the youngest MD incorporate India at that time. Says Goenka, “I think I became MD a bit tooearly. But whatever be the reasons, my father trusted me . It was like throwingthe baby in the water and asking him to learn swimming on his own.” Today,Ceat is the third largest tyre manufacturer in the country. Booming businessdemand has driven the company to put up a Rs 700-crore new radial tyre plant inHalol, Gujarat. It recently expanded the capacity of its Nashik facility inMaharashtra that rolls out truck tyres from 600 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes permonth.Besides Ceat, RPG Enterprises also has infrastructure companyKEC International, power utility CESC, Phillips Carbon Black, IT firm ZensarTech, entertainment company Saregama , Spencer’s retail chain andHarrisons Malayalam, the largest rubber producer in the country. Most of theseare acquired businesses.Now, the RPG group, an acronym for the nameof his father Ram Prasad Goenka — the original takeover tycoon of the’70s and the ’80s — has been split between Harsh and hisyounger brother Sanjiv. While Harsh got tyres, infrastructure , IT and lifesciences businesses, Sanjiv, who functions from Kolkata, got the carbon black,entertainment and retail businesses. “The realignment of the businesseshappened suddenly. I was holidaying in a Swiss village when I received a faxfrom my dad that he had re-aligned the businesses. He decided to do it. Wecouldn’t stop it.” Sipping hot tea in a green and white glass,Goenka says, “There is no change in the way we (the brothers) function(after the re-alignment ). Life hasn’t changed for us. It goes on the sameway.”Even though RP Goenka made a flurry of acquisitions inthe past, it is Harsh and Sanjiv who really integrated various companies intothe group fold. Though Goenka has imbibed some of his father’s qualities,he has his own style of functioning. “My father has been an instinctivebusinessman. While I believe in instincts, I find myself to be process-oriented,” he says. For instance, Goenka, 52, set up the group management board— where he interacts with CEOs of all group companies once in two monthsto discuss road ahead. Processes was also the first thing that he set up inCEAT, his first assignment straight out of B school, largely because of what hehad learnt there.Another quality he has imbibed from his father istrust in people. When KEC International acquired SAE Towers, Goenka wasn’tinvolved in the nitty-gritty , except attending videoconferences . “Itrusted my team to go there (SAE has operations in US, Brazil and Mexico),trusted enough on their judgment and allowed them to go ahead with thedeal,” he says.