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Friday, August 12, 2011 Profile www.financialexpress.com 12 Jaiprakash Gaur (left) with RITES officials during a visit to the Rishikesh Barrage in 1979. The barrage was one of his first big projects From left: Jaiprakash Gaur with business associates Dayanand Sharma and PN Pandey, in 1979 A MAN IS not old un- til regrets take the place of dreams. Legendary Ameri- can actor John Bar- rymore could well have taken inspira- tion for these words from 80-year-old Jaiprakash Gaur. The tagline of his R18,000-crore conglomer- ate, Jaypee Group, says, ‘No dream too big’ and that’s what Jaiprakash Gaur exempli- fies. Many stories up his sleeve, his eyes have a glint as he narrates the dramatic tale of his journey from a young engineering graduate with R100 in his pocket back in 1950, to setting up the construction-to-power conglomerate that is Jaypee today. “There was a spirit of entrepreneurship in me. I was willing to go and work wherever I could get a contract. After the 1965 war, roads were being constructed in the Rann of Kutchh, so I put in a tender there as well, and there I was, building a road in the country’s western limit,” says Gaur, at ease, with his legs stretched onto the table in front of the sofa. The days Gaur is remembering are ear- ly days of his career as a construction con- tractor, a job profile he chose himself after a seven-year stint in a government job, the ir- rigation department in UP, from 1951 to 1957, which he landed after completing his diplo- ma in engineering from the then Roorkee University (now IIT Roorkee) in 1950. Seven years of working on a big dam pro- ject in UP, getting first-hand experience of sophisticated American machinery and overseeing the work of numerous construc- tion contractors were enough to get the en- trepreneur inside him itching to do more. So he quit his government job and branched off as a civil contractor. “No one in the family supported that decision, except my father and wife. And their nod mattered the most to me,” he says. That was a different era, a dif- ferent India, and Gaur wanted to script a larger story for himself, jumping at the op- portunity in infrastructure development. He took the plunge, and the rest, as they say, ishistory. Today, the Jaypree Group has interests in engineering and construction, power, ce- ment, real estate, hospitality, and even sports. Gaur senior, who was succeeded by eldest son Manoj at the helm in 2006, opted out of the flagship company, Jaiprakash As- sociate Limited (JAL), board last year. But age hardly seems to be a consideration for him, as he still spends four-five hours on an average at the Jaypee headquarters in Noi- da.“Myheartisalwayshere.ButIhadtostep down because I couldn't have done justice to the work and the position anymore. And be- sides, I wanted to concentrate on our educa- tional endeavours,” he says. However, he quips that he still keeps an eye on the busi- ness and has a finger on its pulse, while maintaining that he is more than satisfied with the second generation of the compa- ny’s management. “Right now we are at R18,000 crore and within two years we'll touch R30,000 crore, and that too with what- ever sectors we are in. I’m absolutely confi- dent about it,” he says. And his assertions and confidence aren’t without reason. Over the past five years, JAL has shown impressive growth with a sales CAGR of more than 32%. Sales have swollen manifold fromR3,760.4 crore in 2006-07 to just a shade under R13,000 crore in the last finan- cial year. “I am happy the way things are. We have created three big bases for our busi- ness—cement, power and townships. How- ever, I can't say what will happen next. Now it really depends on the company's next gener- ation, on what all they initiate. I believe if they continue with the work culture that we have developed and stay united, they'll defi- nitely be successful,” he says. So how did he manage a smooth succes- sion while many other big business houses are rife with hard-fought succession battles? “That is something that even I don't really know. Just that the value system of individ- uals running the company was such that there weren't any hassles. Five years ago I just issued a letter that I'm leaving on this date. I called a board meeting and asked them to select their team and their head. I did not myself participate in the process. And with- in one hour they chose Manoj as the chair- man,” he says. Never without an anecdote, he remem- bers how after a 20-year stint as a contractor, he felt it was time for him to elevate his busi- ness to the next level. Jaiprakash Associates Private Limited was floated in 1979 and set foot in Iraq. “We got projects in Iraq. At first we got a R20-crore project and then a R200- crore project in 1979. At that time, I had a bal- ancesheet of R25 lakh. So IDBI officials, who used to clear such projects, asked me to ex- plain how with a R25 lakh balancesheet was I hoping to bag a Rs 200-crore project and pay an interest-free guarantee of R20 crore? There were 10-12 people sitting there, includ- ing Reserve Bank of India and IDBI officials. Itoldthemnotgobythe R200-crore figure, but go by the quantity of work being undertak- en. I was able to convince them that while cost of operations in Iraq might be 50% more than in India, the income is five times that in India,” he tells us. With a minor condition that he’d first need to double the capital from R25 lakh to R50 lakh, which he managed easi- ly by banking on company reserves, Gaur took the leap. “In those days, I used to spend 15 days in India and 15 days abroad, mostly Iraq, every month. I was also eyeing the Sar- dar Sarovar project in Gujarat and we final- ly bagged the project in 1985 as the lowest bid- ders,” he says, pointing to a large picture of the completed Sardar Sarovar dam in his office. Today,JaypeePoweristhebiggestprivate sector producer of hydro power with 1,700 mw in operation. Jaiprakash Hydro Power Ltd was the first hydro power company in the country to be listed. Jaiprakash Power Venturesnowhasaportfolioof almost13,000 mw, 60% of which is thermal based and 40% hydro based. On being asked about the land acquisition controversy along the Noida-Agra Express- way, which is a Jaypee project, Gaur ex- plains, “If it was only the expressway, then there wasn't any issue or any concern of a standoff. What was horribly wrong was the acquisition of the extra 1.8 lakh hectares along the expressway, which we had nothing to do with. The farmers could see that their land was being acquired at throwaway prices and sold to others at a premium. Peo- ple think the Yamuna Expressway and Ya- muna Authority is the same thing and that's why there was confusion in the media that Jaypee was involved in the land acquisition controversy. We can't go and explain it to everyone, so we prefer to remain silent. Time will clear the fog,” he says. What time and age have not eroded is his love for sports, particularly hockey, cricket andtennis.“Iwasahockeyplayermyself and captained the team at Roorkee in my days there. We are setting up a hockey academy too at our under-construction sports com- plex. I love watching cricket and tennis too,” he says. And what about golf, considering Jaypee has been at the forefront of creating ‘golf homes and townships’. “I don’t watch golf, frankly because I can’t understand much of it. But I am making golf courses all over the place,” he quips. He doesn’t even fol- low much of Formula One, though Jaypee is getting the coveted race to India. But despite his success, he prefers to be called middle-class, recalling, “I’ve never wanted to be in the limelight and despite be- ing a R18,000-crore company, people don’t really know any of us as public personali- ties. Manoj and I were once coming from Mumbai to Delhi. So I asked the airhostess, ‘akhbaar hoga?’ and I was dressed in my kurta pyjama, so she thought I would only read a Hindi newspaper. She responded, ‘We don’t have a Hindi akhbaar.’ So I told her, ‘Give me a newspaper then’,” he bursts out laughing. As we conclude our one-and-a-half hour interaction with Gaur, we can see the fire is still burning in his belly. “There's this Kalpasar project coming up in Gujarat. If it comes to us, I'll pursue it with the same zeal as I pursued projects 40 years ago. In those days, either I was on a train, a bus, a jeep or a plane; I was always on the move, chasing dreams.” He still is... AMIT MEHRA Dream catcher Always on the move, even at 80 years of age, Jaiprakash Gaur of the Jaypee Group tells Sukalp Sharma & Shailesh Dobhal the fascinating story of how beginning with just R100 he carved out an empire worth crores JAIPRAKASH GAUR Founder-chairman, Jaypee Group DATE OF BIRTH: January 1, 1931 MARITAL STATUS: Married, with five children EDUCATION: Diploma in civil engineering from University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) AWARDS: ■ Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by the Builders’ Association of India (2005) ■ Entrepreneur of Year Award for Infrastructure and Construction by Ernst & Young (2008) ■ Infrastructure Leader of the Year award at Essar Steel Infrastructure Excellence Awards 2010 ■ Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by Merchants’ Chamber of Uttar Pradesh (2010)
Transcript of (= d@E RNIS p? RVG - Jaypee Group€¦ · dg v 6d ;ep repmerr?mep p? vs;v
Friday, August 12, 2011Profile w w w . f i n a n c i a l e x p r e s s . c o m12
Jaiprakash Gaur (left) with RITES officials during a visit to the Rishikesh Barrage in 1979. Thebarrage was one of his first big projects
From left: Jaiprakash Gaur with business associates Dayanand Sharma and PN Pandey, in 1979
AMAN IS not old un-til regrets take theplace of dreams.Legendary Ameri-canactorJohnBar-rymore could wellhave taken inspira-tionforthesewordsfrom 80-year-oldJaiprakash Gaur.
The tagline of his R18,000-crore conglomer-ate, Jaypee Group, says, ‘No dream too big’and that’s what Jaiprakash Gaur exempli-fies.Manystoriesuphissleeve,hiseyeshaveaglintashenarratesthedramatictaleof hisjourney from a young engineering graduatewithR100inhispocketbackin1950,tosettingup the construction-to-power conglomeratethatisJaypeetoday.
“There was a spirit of entrepreneurshipin me. I was willing to go and work whereverI could get a contract. After the 1965 war,roads were being constructed in the Rann ofKutchh,soIputinatenderthereaswell,andthere I was, building a road in the country’swestern limit,” says Gaur, at ease, with hislegs stretched onto the table in front of thesofa.ThedaysGaurisrememberingareear-ly days of his career as a construction con-tractor, a job profile he chose himself after aseven-year stint in a government job, the ir-rigationdepartmentinUP,from1951to1957,which he landed after completing his diplo-ma in engineering from the then RoorkeeUniversity (now IIT Roorkee) in 1950.
Seven years of working on a big dam pro-ject in UP, getting first-hand experience ofsophisticated American machinery andoverseeing the work of numerous construc-tion contractors were enough to get the en-trepreneurinsidehimitchingtodomore.Sohequithisgovernmentjobandbranchedoffas a civil contractor. “No one in the familysupported that decision, except my father
andwife.Andtheirnodmatteredthemosttome,” he says. That was a different era, a dif-ferent India, and Gaur wanted to script alarger story for himself, jumping at the op-portunity in infrastructure development.He took the plunge, and the rest, as they say,is history.
Today, the Jaypree Group has interests inengineering and construction, power, ce-ment, real estate, hospitality, and evensports. Gaur senior, who was succeeded byeldest son Manoj at the helm in 2006, optedout of the flagship company, Jaiprakash As-sociate Limited (JAL), board last year. Butage hardly seems to be a consideration forhim, as he still spends four-five hours on anaverage at the Jaypee headquarters in Noi-da.“Myheartisalwayshere.ButIhadtostepdown because I couldn't have done justice tothe work and the position anymore. And be-sides, I wanted to concentrate on our educa-tional endeavours,” he says. However, hequips that he still keeps an eye on the busi-ness and has a finger on its pulse, whilemaintaining that he is more than satisfiedwith the second generation of the compa-ny’s management. “Right now we are atR18,000 crore and within two years we'lltouch R30,000 crore, and that too with what-ever sectors we are in. I’m absolutely confi-dent about it,” he says.
And his assertions and confidence aren’twithoutreason.Overthepastfiveyears,JALhas shown impressive growth with a salesCAGR of more than 32%. Sales have swollenmanifoldfromR3,760.4crorein2006-07tojusta shade under R13,000 crore in the last finan-cial year. “I am happy the way things are. Wehave created three big bases for our busi-ness—cement, power and townships. How-ever,Ican'tsaywhatwillhappennext.Nowitreallydependsonthecompany'snextgener-ation, on what all they initiate. I believe ifthey continue with the work culture that we
have developed and stay united, they'll defi-nitely be successful,” he says.
So how did he manage a smooth succes-sion while many other big business housesarerifewithhard-foughtsuccessionbattles?“That is something that even I don't reallyknow. Just that the value system of individ-uals running the company was such thatthere weren't any hassles. Five years ago Ijust issued a letter that I'm leaving on thisdate.Icalledaboardmeetingandaskedthemto select their team and their head. I did notmyself participate in the process. And with-in one hour they chose Manoj as the chair-man,” he says.
Never without an anecdote, he remem-bershowaftera20-yearstintasa contractor,he felt it was time for him to elevate his busi-nesstothenextlevel.JaiprakashAssociatesPrivate Limited was floated in 1979 and setfoot in Iraq. “We got projects in Iraq. At firstwe got a R20-crore project and then a R200-
croreprojectin1979.Atthattime,Ihadabal-ancesheet of R25 lakh. So IDBI officials, whoused to clear such projects, asked me to ex-plainhowwithaR25lakhbalancesheetwasIhoping to bag a Rs 200-crore project and payan interest-free guarantee of R20 crore?Therewere10-12peoplesittingthere,includ-ingReserveBankof IndiaandIDBIofficials.ItoldthemnotgobytheR200-crorefigure,butgo by the quantity of work being undertak-en. I was able to convince them that whilecostof operationsinIraqmightbe50%morethaninIndia,theincomeisfivetimesthatinIndia,” he tells us. With a minor conditionthathe’dfirstneedtodoublethecapitalfromR25 lakh to R50 lakh,which he managed easi-ly by banking on company reserves, Gaurtook the leap. “In those days, I used to spend15 days in India and 15 days abroad, mostlyIraq, every month. I was also eyeing the Sar-dar Sarovar project in Gujarat and we final-lybaggedtheprojectin1985asthelowestbid-ders,” he says, pointing to a largepicture of the completed Sardar Sarovardam in his office.
Today,JaypeePoweristhebiggestprivatesector producer of hydro power with 1,700mw in operation. Jaiprakash Hydro PowerLtdwasthefirsthydropowercompanyinthecountry to be listed. Jaiprakash PowerVenturesnowhasaportfolioof almost13,000mw, 60% of which is thermal based and40% hydro based.
Onbeingaskedaboutthelandacquisitioncontroversy along the Noida-Agra Express-way, which is a Jaypee project, Gaur ex-plains, “If it was only the expressway, thenthere wasn't any issue or any concern of astandoff. What was horribly wrong was theacquisition of the extra 1.8 lakh hectaresalongtheexpressway,whichwehadnothingto do with. The farmers could see that theirland was being acquired at throwawayprices and sold to others at a premium. Peo-
ple think the Yamuna Expressway and Ya-muna Authority is the same thing and that'swhy there was confusion in the media thatJaypee was involved in the land acquisitioncontroversy. We can't go and explain it toeveryone,soweprefertoremainsilent.Timewill clear the fog,” he says.
What time and age have not eroded is hislove for sports, particularly hockey, cricketandtennis.“Iwasahockeyplayermyself andcaptained the team at Roorkee in my daysthere. We are setting up a hockey academytoo at our under-construction sports com-plex. I love watching cricket and tennis too,”he says. And what about golf, consideringJaypee has been at the forefront of creating‘golf homes and townships’. “I don’t watchgolf, frankly because I can’t understandmuch of it. But I am making golf courses allovertheplace,”hequips.Hedoesn’tevenfol-low much of Formula One, though Jaypee isgettingthecovetedracetoIndia.
But despite his success, he prefers to becalled middle-class, recalling, “I’ve neverwantedtobeinthelimelightanddespitebe-ing a R18,000-crore company, people don’treally know any of us as public personali-ties. Manoj and I were once coming fromMumbai to Delhi. So I asked the airhostess,‘akhbaar hoga?’ and I was dressed in mykurta pyjama, so she thought I would onlyread a Hindi newspaper. She responded,‘We don’t have a Hindi akhbaar.’ So I toldher, ‘Give me a newspaper then’,” he burstsout laughing.
As we conclude our one-and-a-half hourinteraction with Gaur, we can see the fire isstill burning in his belly. “There's thisKalpasar project coming up in Gujarat. If itcomes to us, I'll pursue it with the same zealas I pursued projects 40 years ago. In thosedays, either I was on a train, a bus, a jeep or aplane; I was always on the move, chasingdreams.” He still is...
AMIT MEHRA
DreamcatcherAlways on the move, even at 80 years of age, JaiprakashGaur of the Jaypee Group tells Sukalp Sharma &Shailesh Dobhal the fascinating story of how beginningwith just R100 he carved out an empire worth crores
JAIPRAKASH GAURFounder-chairman, Jaypee Group
DATE OF BIRTH: January 1, 1931
MARITAL STATUS: Married, withfive children
EDUCATION:Diploma in civil engineering fromUniversity of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee)
AWARDS:■ Lifetime Achievement Awardconferred by the Builders’ Associationof India (2005)
■ Entrepreneur of Year Award forInfrastructure and Construction byErnst & Young (2008)
■ Infrastructure Leader of the Yearaward at Essar Steel InfrastructureExcellence Awards 2010
■ Lifetime Achievement Awardconferred by Merchants’ Chamber ofUttar Pradesh (2010)
