Established in 1857, by Seth Shiv Narayana Birla, Aditya Birla Group with many of its brands and subsidiaries have become one of the most respected companies in India. The conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai has its business ranging from mining, cement, fashion, retail. The company is currently headed by charismatic leader Kumar Mangalam Birla.
The company not only has its presence across various industries, its also leader in most of the business it operates. In the metal sector, the company’s subsidiary Hindalco ranks 1 in Aluminium rolling and is also one of the largest producer of primary aluminium in India. The group is largest producer of Carbon Black – material widely used as pigment in automobile tyres. The group is also the largest producer of Viscose staple fibre in the world.
The company currently holds 26% stake in 2nd largest telecom network in India – Vodafone Idea Limited with chairman none other than great Kumar Mangalam Birla. The company has its iconic presence in cement industry with Ultra Tech cement. Ultra Tech cement is the largest cement company in India and ranks 4th overall in the world.
The company’s brands in fashion are well known throughout the world and serves as benchmark for companies in this sector. The brands in this sector includes Louis Philippe, Peter England, Van Heusen. Aditya Birla has strong presence in financial services in India. In Financial services they have their presence across life insurance, asset management, wealth management and many more.
One of my favourite comeback stories is of Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company(ABSLI). In the late 2000s the company earned majority of its revenues through ULIPs plans, however regulatory reforms in the ULIPs sector in 2010-2011 hit the company very badly. ABSLI then had to focus more on the traditional Insurance segment, however in 4 years company produced one of the major turnaround and was able to comeback on top in the Insurance sector in such short span of time.
The way the company has achieved success in every industry it enters remains a lesson to the students and people in the business world. Aditya Birla has been the pride of many Indians for being one of the largest ethical conglomerates.
Life tests us at various times, the fact that I was able to overcome some of the challenges. Challenges in my life have taken many forms such health problems, failures, distractions. In my school days major challenge I faced was in the form of distractions like the television and PC games. Though it was the time devoid of any mobile and social media distractions. TV and PC games have already started taking the chunk of the time. Sacrificing those and focusing on studies required immense effort from my side. Though this was achieved in a day or two, it took over 2 months of my twelfth standard to get rid of those and focus my attention. The results from those sacrifice did not go in vain, had results over 90% marks.
Life at college was smooth until I had suffered Ligament Tear in my leg apparently in the final semester of my college while playing. The result was that I missed more than month of lectures and did not walk during the month. Compensating for the classes and attending physiotherapy daily was a tough task that followed. However with support from many friends this challenge was also conquered. The full recovery was slow process and continued for around 3 months. From my personal experience I can tell that patience is most needed when we are faced with problems and challenges. Having great people around could be the biggest gift one could get in the tough times.
“Our ability to handle life’s challenges is a measure of our strength of character” – Les Brown.
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