Anil Rai Gupta - Havells: The Untold Story of Qimat Rai Gupta

S ometime in November 2014, I moved into the corner office at QRG Towersa large office complex located near the expressway that runs from Noida to Greater Noida. The office was big and could comfortably accommodate over ten people. Until recently, the occupant of this room was my father, Qimat Rai Gupta, chairman and managing director of Havells and chairman of Sylvania. He was Bhaisahib to older employees and QRG to the rest of the world.

He had recently passed away after a brief illness. It was now my job to helm the business he had built from scratch. We had operations across continents and products across various categories, including electrical goodsconsumer durables, switchgear, cable and wires, and lighting and fixtures. Then there were business associates, employees, vendors, dealers, bankers and investors to manage.

As I sat on the swivel chair behind the heavy wooden desk and looked over the busy highway to Greater Noida, memories of QRGs extraordinary life and sterling character flashed through my mind. I had very big shoes to fill.

He was not trained as an engineer but was a master in human engineering. He had no MBA degree but he knew what it took for a business to succeed. He may not have been a numerical wizard but he was one of the best wealth creators I have known. He may not have understood the whims and fancies of the stock market but he sure knew how to take care of shareholders.

Born into a household of modest means, QRG left his family with a net worth of $2 billion. Yet, he always remained humble and grounded. He could have afforded all the luxuries money can buy but chose to live simply. Our house was comfortable, never ostentatious. His cars were never extravagant. It was almost as if he knew that fortune can be fickle. That is why he chose to stay away from the limelight, and always focused on the job at hand.

QRG was not highly educated but his sharp and incisive intellect was second to no ones. He was not beholden to any guru and seldom found time for management books, yet he understood the value of brands, carried out several financial innovations and made stellar strategic acquisitions. He never took notes at meetings but could rattle off all the details without missing a single fact. Business, he often used to say, is done with conviction and not with a calculator.

He conducted business the old-fashioned waywith trust and empowerment. He detested corruption and unfair trade practices. He was flexible in his approach and was always open to new ideas. He had a childlike enthusiasm for innovation. Not once did he let his ego get the better of his business instincts.

Perhaps QRGs greatest skill was in man-management. There was some innate wisdom that gave him great insights into human behaviour. He was fond of films and soaps, and the morning after watching them, he would relate those stories to management practices.

His enthusiasm and confidence were contagious. Once, Naresh Gupta, his younger sister Sarlas husband, came with an acquaintance who wanted to start a business. QRG promised to help, only if Nareshji would also take the plunge. The meeting had a profound effect on Nareshjiboth he and his friend quit their jobs and became business partners in no time!

To the world outside, he embodied every quality Dale Carnegie recommended in his path-breaking 1936 book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. He was lavish in his praise and slow to blame. Even if he did not like a personand his instincts were mostly correcthe wouldnt be rude to him. What do I gain by being blunt with him? he would ask. Criticism is futile.

His empathy for the weak was evident. On his fiftieth wedding anniversary, he got fifty poor couples marriedwithout any pomp or show. Human values were important for him. QRG would often tell our engineers to be good human engineers.

Once, when he was a trader in old Delhis cramped Bhagirath Palace, QRG had sent a worker to another trader on an errand. I dont know what got into the other traders head and he slapped the worker. QRG marched up to him and told him sternly that in insulting his employee, he had insulted him, which was unacceptable.

On another occasion, Baba Ramdev had come to our home. His popularity was at its peak those days, so all our acquaintances and the entire neighbourhood had come for his darshan. QRG saw a chauffeur craning his neck from the verandah to get a glimpse of the high-profile visitor. He asked him to come forward and have his moment with Baba Ramdev.

There were times when QRG let somebody in need use his car while he was happy to travel in an autorickshaw himself. All visitors to our household would be received and seen off by him, whatever unearthly hour they chose to come and go. Small courtesies, like asking people if they had partaken of a meal, never escaped him.

At work, he took on a different persona. He would never hesitate to speak the truth, even if it made someone uncomfortable. And he would do so in public. For those who were new to the organization, this would come as a culture shock. Many would come and complain to me. He does the same to me, I would tell them in all truthfulness.

What else would you expect from a man who would talk to his wife on the speakerphone in the presence of half a dozen people? He was that open and transparent. He expected the same from others.

Once people realized that he spoke plainly not to make them uncomfortable but to get the work done and to help them improve themselves, they accepted him as he was. That is why the attrition among employees who spend more than a year in Havells has always been low and the senior team is extremely stable.

In spite of his perceived bluntness, QRG was a great motivator. He could get ordinary people to deliver extraordinary results. His motto was: if a six-foot-tall man comes to you, make sure he feels seven feet tall when he leaves. He believed that people needed to be made aware of their latent strengths.

People would come out of meetings with him fully charged. He would stretch their imagination and motivate them to give more than they felt they were capable ofmuch like when Ram got Hanuman to deliver extraordinary results in the Ramayana. He would empower them to take decisions, though he would discuss the progress of the work with them frequently.

He would often address people as dost, or friend, when he wanted to encourage them to do something. That simple word used to have a magical impact on them. A lot of people would say that QRG had the habit of creating more QRGs! And whenever there was a crisis, and there were quite a few in his lifetime, some new fountain of energy and conviction would spring inside him.