1. INTERVIEW
Q
A
32 | MARCH 2017
WARDROBE COURTESY
RAYMOND MADE TO MEASURE:
A stunning single breasted
window pane suit in Emerald
teamed with a luxurious pristine
Giza cotton shirt. Paired with
the ensemble is a striking yellow
pocket square and dual toned
classic brogue.
Q
A
CEO INDIA | 33
organisations. I started my career
with my dream company Hindustan
Unilever; and every day, of a decade
spent at HUL, was inspiring and
invigorating. The next decade of
my career in the telecom industry
between Nokia India and Reliance
Group provided me with an unmatched
excitement of scaling-up businesses
from mere ideas, and opened me up
to the true power of dreaming with
my eyes open.
There have been many defining
moments that have shaped my career
but none more than the tougher
assignments that came my way, a few
seemingly unsurmountable adversities
and the share of failures that I have had
along this journey. Further, I have been
blessed with inspiring and tall mentors
guiding me through my professional
journey. Early in my career as a sales
manager at HUL, I was confronted
with the challenge of diffusing the
first ever trade boycott of Unilever
products in India for want of higher
retail margin. Managing the militant
trade amicably, constantly engaging
with the organisational leadership,
providing measured responses to
media and eventually manoeuvring an
unconditional withdrawal of product
boycott helped me gain tremendous
confidence as a business leader at a
fairly young age. Thereafter as a brand
manager, the disruptive success of Vim
dish wash bar opened up a whole new
realm of possibilities for household
care business in India. However,
following this significant success
was an abject failure of a new brand
launch in the low-cost segment of the
same category. Leading marketing
of Nokia for mobile phones in India
was like a roller coaster adventure,
wherein we managed to double brand
market share to over 80 per cent in an
exponentially growing market in less
than 2 years. My stints in Reliance were
varied from overseeing the group brand
across diverse industries at one end
to the start-up of a satellite television
venture on the other.
Even though I have had a fair share
of failures amidst a few endearing
successes in my career, it is the
purposeful mentorship which I received
and an accelerated learning from each
one of these experiences that I truly
value till date.
When you joined Raymond as a CEO,
what were Chairman and MD Gautam
Singhania’s expectations from you?
What were the challenges facing the
91-year-old company and the iconic
brand, and what were your priorities
when you held the reins of the
company?
I joined the organisation in July 2013 as
the CEO for Lifestyle Business, which
comprises of textiles and apparels
portfolio. The mandate given by the
Chairman and MD, Gautam Singhania,
was to enhance Raymond Group’s
financial leverage commensurate
to the strength of the iconic brand
Raymond. In terms of fiscal metrics,
it translated to stemming the decline
in operating profits in the short
term (1-2 years); and elevate the
organisation to becoming a ‘high-
performance’ and ‘relevant and
sustainably profitable’ company in the
medium-long term (3-5 years).
To me, the real task was to
transform a suiting manufacturing
Indian behemoth to a cutting-
edge contemporary fashion retail
organisation in India, and in select
markets globally. The essence of this
transition for Raymond organisation
was to move from being a classical
‘product’-oriented organisation for
over nine decades to becoming a
menswear full wardrobe ‘solution’-
based organisation by 2020. It had to
be a holistic transformation, almost
akin to a rebirth of an organisation,
but without any dilution of core brand
equity and inherent organisation
strengths, especially in the areas of
You have worked for about 10 years
in the FMCG industry (with HUL) and
about the same time in telecom (with
Reliance ADAG and Nokia). What
made you join a textile business?
How do you see your professional
journey so far?
What inspired me initially to join the
textile industry was an opportunity to
work for an iconic brand, Raymond. But
the final decision to switch from a new
age wireless industry to a seemingly
more conventional textile and apparel
industry got triggered by the enormity
of challenge on offer in my role as
a leader of this nine-decade-old
behemoth — which was to transform
a legacy market leading textile fabric
organisation into a contemporary and
cutting-edge fashion, lifestyle and
retail institution. With over 3 years
into this journey now, I have felt only
more exhilarated and inspired with
every passing moment by the limitless
potential of my brands, a fiercely
committed team and an institution
called Raymond.
My professional journey of over
23 years has been very gratifying. I
consider myself fortunate to have got
ample opportunities to work on diverse
assignments ranging across consumer
goods to the service industry, in India
and global markets — from start-ups
to managing and transforming large,
established and complex businesses.
I have also had the privilege to
work with and learn from some of the
best people, brands, businesses and
My immediate vision for Raymond Group is to emerge
as a cutting-edge men’s fashion and retail conglomerate in
India and select global markets by 2020.
