A US $35 billion corporation, the Aditya Birla Group is in the League of Fortune 500.

It is anchored by an extraordinary force of over 133,000 employees, belonging to 42 different nationalities. The Group has been ranked Number 4 in the Global 'Top Companies for Leaders' survey and ranked Number 1 in Asia Pacific for 2011. 'Top Companies For Leaders' is the most comprehensive study of organisational leadership in the world conducted by Aon Hewitt, Fortune Magazine and RBL (a strategic HR and Leadership Advisory firm). Over 60 per cent of its revenues flow from its overseas operations. The Group operates in 36 countries Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Korea, Laos, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK, USA and Vietnam

In India: :: A top fashion (branded apparel) and lifestyle player

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The second-largest producer of viscose filament yarn The largest producer in the chlor-alkali sector Among the top three mobile telephony companies A leading player in life insurance and asset management Among the top two supermarket chains in the retail business Among the top 10 BPO companies

Kumar Mangalam Birla leads the way, to adopt corporate governance panel points
Arijit De

Mumbai, Sept 6: Kumar Mangalam Birla, who heads the Sebi committee on coporate governance, plans to implement all the recommendations laid down by the panel in his main companies as well. As Birla heads the committee, the idea is to "lead by example." The decision could lead to, as a first step, setting up of various committees - like for audit, remuneration, legal and others - on the boards of the largest AV Birla companies. Birla told The Financial Express: "We plan to implement all the recommendations of the corporate governance committee in the group to whatever extent possible." He, however, did not wish to elaborate on the details. The Aditya Birla group is one of the few largest Indian business houses which has yet to take concrete steps towards enforcing corporate governance in a major way. It has, over the last year, said it would strive to enhance shareholder return in every possible manner. The management structure within the large Birla companies - like flagship Grasim, Hindalco,Indian Rayon or Indo Gulf - is vastly different from that in other companies. The boards of these companies, say sources closely associated to the group, are dominated by non-executive directors close to the Birla family, while operational heads seldom get a berth on the boards.

Only recently, Askaran Agarwala, who has been the president of Hindalco for years, was elevated to the board. Another group stalwart Mahesh Bagrodia, who had been the group's cement business head, was finally made a director on the Grasim board, but only after he relinquished charge of the cement business. Another newcomer in the group, Debu Bhattacharya, former director of Hindustan Lever, is a member on the Indo Gulf board by virtue of his being the managing director. Most of the other Birla companies are structured in a manner where various divisions have their own autonomous management structure, with complete functions including production, marketing and even finance. However, recently the group initiated a processwhereby the finance functions are being largely centralised. As part of the exercise, DD Rathi was made the chief financial officer of Grasim, while earlier each division had their independent finance heads. Even in Indo Gulf, which has now emerged as a major contributor to the group turnover with the commissioning of the copper project, has two independent finance chiefs - NK Jalan for the fertiliser division and DD Jalan for the copper division. The group has also initiated a process of consolidating holdings through an umbrella company, which will also reduce cross-holdings to a large extent.