The Rising Son Of Motherson
Sixty-one-year old Vivek Chaand Sehgal is one of the rare entrepreneurs who has prospered through mergers and acquisitions in the auto ancillary space. Despite constant disruptions in the market, his group of companies have constantly overdelivered on every occasion. Sehgal is the chairman and co-founder of the $9.1-billion (approx. Rs 58,240 crore) Samvardhana Motherson Group (SMG), whose flagship company Motherson Sumi Systems (MSSL) makes components including wiring harness, rear-view mirrors, plastic components and modules for the global automobile industry.
MSSL, along with its over 100 subsidiaries and joint-ventures in auto ancillaries, has grown largely on the back of overseas buyouts. Globally, 10 plants are at different stages of completion, out of which three new plants have been added, while two started operations since the previous announcement made during the results for December 2016 quarter. While the company garnered new orders worth Rs 18,922 crore (€2.5 billion) during the first half of FY17-18, the execution of orders worth Rs 11,705 crore (€1.5 billion) started during H1 FY17-18.
Last year, MSSL acquired a Finnish auto component firm PKC Group for $609 million, and is now reportedly eyeing a couple of additional overseas firms. Very recently, it also entered into a joint venture with wireless power technology innovator Ossia, wherein both partners will focus on the integration of Cota technology into a wide range of non-military passenger, commercial and public transportation vehicles.
Abiding by the philosophy that “top line is vanity, bottom line is sanity, and cash in bank is reality,” Sehgal has made MSSL one of the largest auto ancillary companies in India with a top line of $6.5 billion (approx. Rs 41,985 crore). He is confident that by 2020, the figure will touch $18 billion.
It is pertinent to note that unlike a typical billionaire who is a second- or third-generation entrepreneur, Sehgal sowed the seeds of his vision when he was just 18 by getting into silver trading, and co-founded SMG in 1975 along with his mother (hence the name Motherson). A couple of years later, he went on to set up the group’s first factory to roll out power cables.
