Scale reshapes industry economics, says Kumar Mangalam Birla

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, emphasized that a company's scale can reshape industry economics. In a capital-intensive industry like cement, scale provides certainty to suppliers, incentivizes technology partners to invest, allows logistics providers to optimize, and assures customers to plan ahead and develop deeper relationships.

Birla cited UltraTech Cement's journey as an example. It took 36 years to build the company's first 100 million tonnes of cement capacity, but the next 100 million was added in less than seven years. Today, UltraTech, with over 200 million tonnes of capacity, is the world's largest cement company outside China. In FY25 and FY26 alone, the company commissioned 24.3 MTPA of capacity and acquired 26.3 MTPA, adding more than 50 MTPA of capacity in under two years.

Despite geopolitical tensions disrupting supply chains, fuel costs, and business confidence, UltraTech's operating cash flow increased by 50% in FY26. This performance is the result of two decades spent building a resilient company, Birla noted. Over 7,000 colleagues have spent over two decades with the Aditya Birla Group, demonstrating the significance of commitment in an era of high employee mobility.

Birla stressed that institutions should be judged by the businesses they build and the leaders they create. He believes that the greatest responsibility of an institution is to create a pipeline of talent and give talented people the space and confidence to make bold decisions.

The Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) President, Ramkumar Shankar, noted that while the Chamber celebrates its rich history, it must continue to evolve to remain relevant. MCCI highlighted that A.Viswanathan, President of Delphi TVS Technologies Limited, and Murali Vaidyanathan, President of Wheels India Limited, have been elected as President and Vice President, respectively, for the 190th Annual General Meeting.