Aditya Vikram Birla

Leading the Cosmic Birla Group to global prestige

Scion to the legacy of the reputed Cosmic Birla Group, the young and enigmatic Aditya Vikram Birla proved his mettle by joining the family business at the age of 22 and charting a trail of innovation and excellence. Today, as Chairman cum Managing Director of the Group, Aditya is on the cusp of global renown.

Born and raised in Kolkata where the group is based, Aditya is the 3rd generation leader from the family of Late RS Birla, a luminary whose contributions have left an indelible mark on the realms of business and society. His grandfather’s career spanned a few decades, during which he graced the highest offices of the GD Birla Group. In 1975, driven by an insatiable entrepreneurial spirit and a shared vision for pioneering change, RS Birla joined hands with Deo Kishan Mohta to establish the Cosmic Birla Group. Following his footsteps, his son and Aditya’s father, Ravi Kumar Birla, played a crucial role as Promoter Director, overseeing the establishment of the Ferry Alloy plant in 2005.

“The perseverance and dedication of my predecessors have played a significant role in shaping my entrepreneurial journey. I am able to lead this Group today thanks to the foundation laid by them,” says Aditya with pride.

Armed with a BBA from Jadavpur University and an MBA from Cardiff University, Aditya joined the business at a turbulent time. At that time, the crown jewel of the Group was Cosmic Ferro Alloys Ltd which went into liquidation in 2017-18. Since then, it has been a journey of hardwork and perseverance to take the Group to where it stands today.

With key strengths of focus and relentlessness, Aditya was able to plan strategically and optimize resources effectively. He firmly built a robust management team (through incentivisation) with a shared vision. His sharp acumen and foresight soon led to a turnaround.

Today, the Cosmic Birla conglomerate comprises 20 companies dealing in a wide spectrum of industries such as steel manufacturing, engineering products for railways and infrastructure, EV two wheelers, FMCG, and real estate.

Their flagship entity Cosmic CRF Ltd got listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in June 2023 and has been a multi-bagger since. It was also bestowed with the ‘Best Performing Company in the MSME Sector’ award on 1st November 2024 (Mahurat Trading Day). The Group recently reached a manufacturing strength of 1,00,000 metric tonnes of engineered products. Yet another highlight is the introduction of Cosmic EV Ltd, reflecting Aditya’s result oriented leadership and commitment to sustainability.

Describing his leadership style, he says, “Leadership according to me is a mix of ambition and strategy. A true leader will always strive for more and create a roadmap for execution. Apart from my effort to lead my Group effectively, I also aim to create leaders within my system so that there is a sense of work ownership and onus.”

Aditya enjoys his work so much that he clocks an average of 16 hours a day. For him, it’s equivalent to a kid enjoying playing cricket in the field! “A lot of my recreation not only involves my immediate family like my parents, wife and son, but also my top management and key resources. The 5,000 people that we employ form my family and I am very conscious of the fact that the growth and well-being of their individual families depends on how efficiently I can steer the growth of the Group.”

This rare mix of business acumen and empathy defines Aditya’s ascend in the industry. He was recently invited to the ‘India Conference at Harvard 2024’ at Harvard Business School for a fireside chat on ‘Transforming a Legacy Business into an Innovative Powerhouse’ with other prominent dignitaries. Personally and as a Group, they have been felicitated with multiple awards and accolades like Times Business Awards, East 2024, Emerging Business Conglomerate at Viksit Bharat 2047 awards by Bharat 24, Youth Icon of the Year 2024 by Asia One Magazine, and so on. Most recently, he was featured in Entrepreneurs Today’s prestigious ‘40 under 40’ list for the year 2024.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Aditya feels goals can tend to be indefinite in nature and thus he sets time bound benchmarks, achieving them through a strategic plan and then moving on to the next. He tells us that Cosmic Birla Group plans to achieve a total revenue of Rs 5,000 crores by the year 2028 and make fresh investments to the tune of Rs 1,000 crores by the year 2027 towards new infrastructure and upgradation of existing infrastructure for state-of-art manufacturing facilities across all sectors and entities.

Revealing how one can achieve their goals, he suggests, “Put in those extra hours at work till you can. There is no substitute to hard work and once you get used to achieving your targets, it becomes a habit.”