Unstoppable

by Sonu Bhasin

  Kewal laughed as he took a sip of his lemonade at the Golf Club. ‘I can’t believe that Kuldip was more excited about getting that old BMW car! It’s as if he got it in the dowry!

  Kuldip remembered that he had gone to Bangalore to finalize the deal. The papers were signed at Vijay Mallya’s office and the two men shook hands. As he turned to leave, Vijay Mallya called out, ‘Oh, I almost forgot. Here, please take these.’

  He had his hand stretched out, holding a bunch of keys.

  ‘What is this for?’ asked Kuldip. ‘Oh, I forgot to tell you. The company owns a couple of cars. These are yours now,’ said Vijay.

  Kuldip took the keys and was escorted to the car park. ‘I saw two big cars parked there,’ said Kuldip. It was then he realized that he was indeed the owner of what used to be a multinational! ‘I said to myself, “These are mine!” and decided that I will take at least one and use it Delhi,’ said Kuldip with a boyish enthusiasm.

  Kuldip and Gurbachan’s children also remember the excitement of the cars. ‘The company was something we could not see but the cars—they were right there!’ said Sunaina, Gurbachan’s daughter. ‘I remember that all of us were really excited about the two big cars that came. No one cared that they were old cars. But they were a BMW and a Mercedes!’ she continued.

  Forty

  ‘Mr Dhingra Is a Super Salesman. He Sold Me the Job’

  The excitement about the company and the two cars lasted for a very short while for Kuldip. There was work to be done. He needed to have a better understanding of his new business and, more importantly, he needed to understand the people he had inherited.

  ‘I had dealt with people from the various paint companies when I used to be in Amritsar. We were their biggest distributors and their sales guys and their bosses used to visit us,’ said Kuldip. He had always had a healthy respect for professionals. The shops in Amritsar were valuable distribution partners for the paint manufacturers and this importance was manifested in their dealings with the Dhingras. The sales and marketing professionals spent a lot of time with Kuldip as and when they were in Amritsar for their field visits. ‘Plus, we always had non-family managers running our businesses. Right from my grandfather’s days,’ continued Kuldip. Further, he had dealt with people like Arun Nehru at Jenson and Nicholson. ‘I went into Berger with a very healthy respect for its management. I had thought that Vijay Mallya ke kol to time nahin tha [Vijay Mallya did not have the time]. So it would have been the professionals who would have been running the company!’ said Kuldip dramatically.

  The Dhingras had indeed inherited a complete business team at Berger. However, a CEO was needed for Rajdoot Paints. Kuldip’s luck with professional CEOs had been bad. ‘I had a few CEOs but I was not really happy with them. Par kaam to chalaana tha [but the work had to be managed], so I let it continue,’ said Kuldip. He realized that the Berger responsibility added to the exports business would not leave him time for Rajdoot. His heart, though, would not allow him to wind down that business.

  ‘It wasn’t only an emotional decision,’ Kuldip was quick to clarify. Berger Paints produced goods for the premium and affluent segment. They did not have products in the mass market. Rajdoot, on the other hand, was known in the industry as a mass-market product company. The brand itself was also aimed at the mass-market segment. Kuldip saw an opportunity to cover all segments of the market through Berger and Rajdoot. So he continued his search for a good professional who would be able to grow Rajdoot.

  Kuldip maintained that he had always been lucky. ‘There have been times when I have been helped and I don’t know how it would have happened. I just take it as a blessing,’ said Kuldip.

  Lady Luck came to Rajdoot and Kuldip in form of Sunil Sharma. ‘Hua iss tarah [What happened was like this], there was this person who used to be with Jenson and Nicholson. He knew Sunil.’ The Jenson and Nicholson person talked to Kuldip about Sunil and asked if he could set up a meeting.

  ‘I went to Mr Dhingra to meet him as the meeting was set up to explore a CNF (clearing and forwarding) arrangement with a retired senior employee of my ex-employers. We spoke for some time and then Mr Dhingra said, “We will talk about the CNF later. How about you joining me?”’ Sunil said. ‘I was caught completely off guard,’ he added. After a company manufactures its products, the products need to be sent to the market, and CNF agents act as a medium between the manufacturer and the distributors.

  Sunil was working in Garware Paints at that time. He had just returned from Bombay after leaving a multinational as he wanted a better work–life balance. He was, however, not very happy at Garware Paints. ‘Mr Dhingra told me that they had a tie-up with Glidden Paints for Rajdoot and wanted to make the business national. I think they had just bought Berger at that time,’ said Sunil. Rajdoot was a very small set-up at that time. Sunil was a paints professional. But destiny played a part in his decision to join Rajdoot Paints.

  ‘Sunil had inherited a family house in Shanti Niketan in Delhi,’ said Kuldip. Shanti Niketan is one of the most exclusive addresses in Delhi. The house was a sprawling bungalow with a garden and staff quarters. ‘Sunil did not want to leave this and go and stay in an apartment in Bombay. But he wanted a larger role in an organization as well,’ said Kuldip.

  Kuldip offered him the role of vice president of sales and marketing of Rajdoot Paints and Sunil accepted. Sunil’s friends and family were aghast at his decision. ‘How can you first leave a big multinational company, then join an Indian company and now want to join a small Indian company like Rajdoot Paints?’ they said.

  ‘But Mr Dhingra is a super salesman. He sold me the job!’ said Sunil, without any iota of regret in his voice. ‘It gave me an opportunity of a big challenge and yet be based in Delhi,’ he continued.

  ‘We were a very small company compared to Nerolac and Garware. But here he would have an opportunity to grow the business and, most importantly, he would continue to enjoy life in Shanti Niketan,’ said Kuldip, clearly delighted. But what delighted him even more was that he got Sunil Sharma ‘for free’. ‘I did not even have to pay any headhunter and I was handed a professional CEO on a platter,’ Kuldip continued, shaking his head and smiling happily.

  There was now a management team at Rajdoot and one at Berger. However the interactions with the team at Berger was limited to the CEO and the board. Kuldip wanted to take his time to understand the culture of the company and the people before giving it his own stamp.

  ‘What was the hurry? It was my company and I had time on my side,’ said Kuldip.

  People whom Kuldip trusted interacted with the company on his behalf. Anil Bhalla had been with Kuldip right from his Ajmeri Gate days. ‘Mr Bhalla used to be present at all meetings,’ said Subir. The old management team at Berger was getting used to the new team of the owners.

  Forty-one

  ‘The Root of All Acrimony in a Large Family Is Money’

  The years between 1990 and 1992 were of transition for Kuldip. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. The orders from Soviet Union stopped. However, Kuldip now co-owned Berger Paints.

  These were also the years when Kuldip the businessman had to transform into Kuldip the promoter. Kuldip has an inbuilt confidence in his own abilities. His interpersonal and business skills had been honed for almost ten years in the international market. He had also dealt with professionals all his working life. Even then, moving into the role of owner of a listed company that had multinational heritage did require a bit of steeling of nerves.

  Today, as he looks back, Kuldip is dismissive of his early hesitations. However, people at Berger remember Kuldip as someone who was aware that the management professionals were looking at him with scepticism.

  The management at Berger Paints was looking at their new owner also with trepidation. ‘We had heard stories about his hot temper,’ laughs Subir Bose, adding, ‘We were sure that our comfortable days were soon going to be over once we became part of the Dhingra family!’

  The Dhingra family i
tself was also going through a transition. Sohan Singh, the elder brother of Kuldip, had never quite recovered from the brain aneurysm that he suffered ten years ago. He had completely detached himself from the business. Amrit Kaur, his wife, tried hard to get her husband to go back to being the business patriarch but she was unsuccessful. Thus, Sohan Singh was not part of the management of these businesses even though he continued to own shares in them.

  The ownership of UK Paints was with the three bothers—Sohan Singh, Kuldip and Gurbachan. Ashi, the daughter of the house, had been given her share of wealth at the time of her wedding. ‘We were not that well off when Ashi got married. But we did the best we could. And my brother made her sign that she had got her fair share of the family wealth,’ said Kuldip. When Sohan Singh had his stroke, his eldest daughter was already married and the other two were in school. Harman, his only son, was the youngest child and was a pre-teenager at the time—in 1982.

  By 1991–92, Harman had turned into a young adult. He was sent overseas to study. ‘Bhabhiji had come to me saying that Harman wanted to go abroad for higher studies. Of course he went,’ said Kuldip. ‘Since I was running the business now, I was controlling all the finances. So, I ensured that my nieces had good weddings and my nephew went to the college of his choice,’ he continued.

  Harman returned to India after his studies and had the option of joining the paints business. The Berger deal had just gone through and there was an opportunity for the young man, had he wanted it.

  ‘But you know the young people! They want to do their own thing,’ said Kuldip. Harman wanted to set up a medical transcription business with his US-based cousin. The early 1990s were still ten years away from the Internet boom but the young were gravitating towards what they called the ‘new economy’.

  Since Sohan Singh had slowly withdrawn from the business after 1982, Harman, his son, did not see his father go to the UK Paints office each day. There had been no business conversations around the dinner table. He had not spent his teenage years in the UK Paints factory. Thus, it is conceivable that Harman had no emotional connect with the paints business and did not think of the UK Paints business as ‘also his’. He did know, however, that his father was a partner in the entire business. Thus, when he came back and was presented with a choice, he opted to go his own way. ‘The entrepreneurial bug had bitten me,’ said Harman.

  Harman wanted to set up a tech company oriented towards a BPO and this needed some cash. The Dhingras and UK Paints, like a typical family business, were asset-heavy but cash-light.

  ‘When Bhabhiji told me that Harman wanted money to set up his business I told her the situation,’ remembered Kuldip. ‘While the family was discussing this matter, Bhabhiji suggested that they take the advice of her guru, the Babaji,’ he added. ‘I have great belief in Babaji. He is like my father,’ Amrit Kaur had told me earlier.

  ‘I don’t believe in any Babaji-shabaji but Bhabhiji did and all of us went to his ashram in Delhi,’ said Kuldip. Surjit Kaur, Amrit Kaur, Kuldip, Meeta, Gurbachan, Vinu and Ashi—the entire Dhingra family went to Babaji. Once they were in the presence of the guru, Amrit Kaur brought Babaji up to date on the matter. They asked him what could be the best solution in a case like this. They wondered aloud if dividing the assets and giving Harman his due would be a good idea. Babaji pondered for a bit and then agreed.

  ‘Mummy was not very happy but I nudged her and told her that it’s okay,’ said Kuldip in a hushed voice. He was clearly not very happy at the flow of events, but he understood that it was inevitable. ‘When someone wants their own share you should not stop them. And it was their share after all,’ rationalized Kuldip.

  Be that as it may, a division of assets of a family is quite traumatic. Kuldip, with his practical sagacity, helped make the process simpler. ‘It happens in every family and Bhabhiji is my elder. So why should I fight?’ said Kuldip.

  The Dhingra family asked Babaji for suggestions on the division of assets. The guru thought for a bit and then suggested the details of the total assets to be given to Harman. ‘We agreed and went back and did all the paperwork for the transfer,’ said Kuldip. The next time they went to Babaji to tell him that all was done, the guru asked for the Golf Links house to be given to Amrit Kaur. ‘He said, “She and her family are staying there. Let them have it,”’ said Kuldip.

  Surjit Kaur was not happy at this. ‘Mummy had an emotional attachment to the Golf Links house,’ said Kuldip. Niranjan Singh had built the house by selling his wife, Surjit Kaur’s, jewellery. ‘And it was her inheritance from my father,’ continued Kuldip. It was Kuldip again who told his mother to let it go. ‘How does it matter? My brother’s family is also part of the family,’ he said.

  Kuldip, as the patriarch, decided that it was important to keep the relations cordial within the members of the Dhingra family. ‘I always believed that relationships are important and there should be no acrimony between us. The root of all acrimony is money. You take money out of the equation and why should there be acrimony?’ was his simple logic.

  Keeping the relationships healthy as his prime objective, Kuldip agreed to whatever was suggested by Babaji. ‘I am sure that Bhabhiji and Harman were surprised because Babaji asked for much more than the expected share. But I did not want the relationship to sour,’ said Kuldip.

  The assets were divided with agreement from all, and the paperwork was done. There were some land assets that had to be disposed of to generate the cash to be divided. Kuldip asked for some time to hand over the cash. Ultimately it was agreed that Kuldip would take his time to sell off the land assets and give Harman post-dated cheques for the amounts. ‘I gave the post-dated cheques and for the next couple of years they encashed the cheques each month,’ said Kuldip.

  The settlement between the eldest brother and the rest of the family unshackled Kuldip. After Sohan Singh’s stroke, Kuldip had become the de facto head of the Dhingra business but the elder brother continued to be a partner. Even though Sohan Singh did not have the inclination to be part of the business and Kuldip was running it along with Gurbachan, the fact that there was a third owner of the business did weigh in on some decisions. Kuldip’s appetite for risk, at times, had to be tempered because of considerations of the brother who was not in active business.

  With the settlement of assets the business—UK Paints and Berger Paints—was owned and operated by Kuldip and Gurbachan. ‘I was now mentally totally free and the best thing is that the family did not split. I could now focus completely on Berger Paints’ said Kuldip.

  It was this focus on Berger Paints that the senior management of the company was apprehensive about! ‘Mr Mallya was very hands-off. We rarely saw him. The CEO was travelling around the world. There was no one to guide us and we were pretty much on our own. Kuldip did not have the reputation of being hands-off. We were all bracing ourselves for the onslaught,’ Subir said.

  The 1990s

  ‘Kuldip bhapa and I are very fond of fishing. In my farmhouse we even have a small lake with fish and now even my grandson loves to fish’—Gurbachan Singh Dhingra, vice chairman, Berger Paints, and younger brother of Kuldip.

  Forty-two

  ‘I Did Not Know How to Deal with Listed Companies and Boards’

  ‘One of the reasons we bought Berger Paints was that I thought it had a good team of professionals running it. I believed that all of them were true professionals and very capable. But I soon realized that I was not quite correct,’ said Kuldip. ‘I discovered many other aspects of professionals once I started dealing with Berger. I must also say that I was disillusioned,’ he continued.

  The Dhingra family was based in Delhi while the headquarters of Berger Paints India was in Calcutta. ‘I did not even for a moment think that we needed to shift the headquarters or that I needed to shift to Calcutta. The professionals were running the company and I thought it was best to let them continue,’ said Kuldip. However, as he started interacting with the managers in his capacity as the new owner there were so
me surprises in store for him.

  ‘I started realizing that professionals were not all the same and many were not up to my expectations. There were some good ones and there were some not so good ones,’ said Kuldip.

  Kuldip had limited his interaction with the CEO and a few others at Berger Paints after he became the new owner. Vijay Mallya was still the chairman and Kuldip wanted continuity in operations. The senior management, on the other hand, were keen to interact with the new owner—a new owner meant new relationships had to be forged with the boss. They wanted Kuldip to know them and the work they did at Berger Paints. People found different ways to get his attention.

  ‘There was this one chap. I had initially thought he was a good guy. I won’t tell you his name. Let’s just call him Menon,’ said Kuldip. Menon was part of the senior management. He had been used to dealing with Vijay Mallya and had been close to him. He now wanted to shift loyalties and was looking for a way to reach Kuldip.

  ‘Menon told me that there was one Mr Shah who wanted to meet me. Menon had fixed a meeting at Taj Mansingh in Delhi and wanted me to be there to meet Mr Shah,’ said Kuldip. While he was unsure of the reason for the meeting, Kuldip went ahead as those were early days of his ownership. He did not want to seem unapproachable or arrogant to the new management.

  He reached the hotel and Mr Shah, who had been waiting in the lobby, came up and introduced himself. They then went to the lounge and ordered coffee.

  Kuldip was an impatient man. He could not sit still. He also liked to come straight to the point in conversations. He waited for a bit for Shah to tell him the reason for the meeting, but Shah and Menon were indulging in small talk. Kuldip kept looking at Menon to speed up the meeting. ‘But I got the feeling that Menon and Shah already had an understanding,’ said Kuldip.