The architect of resources

He has always been bold enough to think big, to confront challenges head-on. Conceptualize, create and construct inside outside — that is his company’s business. First generation businessman Jimmy Mistry has been featured by reputed magazines such as business today and Business Barons on their covers as one of Gen Next’s emerging entrepreneurs in India. At 34, Mistry’s is a rare success story in a community where lack of enterprise is termed the norm rather than the exception.

"Della Tecnica is moving towards larger and larger projects. From 10,000 sq ft to 50,000 sq ft, we are now looking at 1,00,000 sq ft and above,” asserts the managing director (MD) and principal designer of the ISO 9001:2000 (Quality Assured) and 14001-2004 (Environment Management Systems) certified company. Commencing operations in 1996 with a staff of six and a turnover of rupees two lakhs, Della Tecnica’s turnover has grown within a decade to Rs 150 crore today.

A 32,000 sq ft factory at Daman (near Udvada) manufactures the ingredients for intelligent interiors, encompassing a pneumatic assembling line, powder coating, airless spray booths and independent departments for metal fabrication and carpentry. Logistics is handled through the company’s own fleet of delivery vehicles, states its website www.dellatecnica.com. With its headquarters in Bombay and offices in Delhi and Poona, Della Tecnica has 900 employees on its payroll, including 90 architects, designers and engineers, as per company sources.

Jimmy Mistry at the Parsi Resource Group’s launch at the Taj President

"We are embarking on a joint venture with an Italian architectural group for consultancy for five-star hotels, malls and multiplexes,” Mistry informs us. "We are also going to do architecture and interior designing consulting jobs internationally. We have bagged projects in the UK which are in the final stages of negotiation.”

Venturing into real estate development as well, Della Tecnica has on hand a Rs 100 crore plus project for an IT Park at Vashi (New Bombay). "We are the developers, designers and builders. There are several phases and the first phase is expected to be completed by April 2007,” he asserts. Making a concrete impression with his work, Mistry counts among his clients several of India’s top corporates. "Della Tecnica is the consultant for the whole Bajaj group, including the corporate office, branch offices, pro-biking showrooms across India, managing director’s bungalow, etc,” Mistry explains. Sahara Ganj, India’s second largest mall with five-and-a-half lakh square feet of space in Lucknow, has been among Della Tec­nica’s design projects. "We are redesigning and practically reconstructing UB (United Breweries) group chairman Vijay Mallya’s Edwardian yacht moored in Bombay,” he adds. Other prestigious clients include Star TV and Channel V, The Times of India group, Aamby Valley of the Sahara group, KPMG, DSP Merrill Lynch…

"The business climate in India is very good,” declares the MD, adding that it has yet not reached its peak. "If there is a healthy growth climate, success is inevitable. Things like the high rates of service tax and VAT (Value Added Tax) are applicable to all equally, so they don’t really matter. There has to be a level playing field for all. Things become difficult only if the level playing field is absent.” Within 20 years, India will undoubtedly be a super power, Mistry predicts. Bombay however can never be a Shanghai, he emphatically asserts. "But things are beginning to get better. The vision of the politicians and bureaucrats is improving. Look at the police force, for example. There has been change of attitude and modernization by the police.” (Della Tecnica has been involved with the revamp of police stations, traffic headquarters, immigration department, etc).

"My vision is to build Della Tecnica as a world class consulting, design and execution organization, leading from the front. We are extremely focused on design and construction management,” says the man who ventured out from scratch on his own (see "Touch wood,” Parsiana, July-August 1997). "I had a totally non-business family background as my father Rusi was in service,” he narrates. "I built the business from my own earning and pledging as collateral. Several individual Parsis have helped me along the way and I have always acknowledged and appreciated their support. But there was no help from the big daddies of the community.”

Continuing to tread the out-of-the-box path, Mistry recently launched his two passions – the construction of Della Tower and the Parsi Resource Group (PRG). A high-end residential building whose design was inspired by the grandeur of Achaemenian Iran, Della Tower will have 27 spacious flats, a swimming pool, spa, club house, gymnasium, car elevators, etc. "We are spending three crores on elevation for the Achaemenian look. I want Della Tower to be a living exhibition of Persian architecture in stone, brick and concrete for this and the next generation to touch and feel, not in ruins but in pristine glory,” Mistry’s emotional involvement with the project is strong. Situated at Dadar Parsi Colony, the lower section of the building will display historical reliefs and panels and will be open to the public every evening with guides and ushers dressed in Achaemenian costumes. Marble, glazed mosaic, motifs and panels will be sourced from Iran. "We will be using new age materials, maintenance easy and with a longer span of life. The apartments, for Parsis only, have already been booked. The six tenants who were relocated from the old demolished building will be coming back and I am very happy about that,” says the man who has no formal training in architecture and a great interest in design.

Mistry’s involvement with the community came into the spotlight when he pumped in his own money for the restoration of Dadar’s Rustam Framna Agiary. Mistry is unfazed by the criticism unleashed by orthodox sections that the piety and historical flavor has been lost: "We received the Urban Heritage Award for the restoration. How can the Urban Heritage Committee give the award if the historical character has not been retained?” he queries strongly. "In fact, we undid many of the changes that had been done over the years to the pavis, the well, etc. We are logical people. You don’t change or challenge the forces of religion you don’t understand.” At the Langdana/Godiwalla Agiary at Fort which he has restored at his own cost, Mistry says the same principles have been followed. "In fact, we removed all walls that had been added later. We are preparing a standardized manual for restoration work at all agiaries.”

Passionate also about the PRG (see "Reaching out”), Mistry donated a crore of rupees, boundless energy and manhours towards getting it off the ground. "I have been neglecting my work to promote PRG activities. We Parsis (in India) are a neglected lot. We should stop living in a dream world and grab minority status to secure our future. Two generations hence there will be no Parsi doctor or engineer as the population of India is growing and seats in educational institutions will be very hard to come by,” he declares.

Wife Delna is also a director in Della Tecnica, and the couple have three children Pearl (10), Natalia (seven) and Farhan (five). "Delna has been by my side (in the business) from day one. But with three growing children, she has to be with the kids more,” he says, admitting it is often hard to strike a balance between work and family. Very important to him are his parents Rusi and Lily: "It gives me great personal satisfaction to see my parents, in fact all elders happy around me.”

Jimmy Mistry (seated, right) with parents Rusi and Lily (behind) and sister Jasmine Daruwalla

Perceived by some to be egotistical and extravagant, Mistry describes himself as "focused, emotional, heart often ruling over head.” He seeks not to hide his flamboyance or flair for living: "Cars and bikes fascinate me, but no success in material terms is worthwhile unless it serves the needs of the community, both Parsi and non-Parsi. I’m liberal, I respect all, but I’m not liberal to the extent of converting Tom, Dick or Harry into Zoroastrianism, or admitting everyone into agiaries. Being liberal does not mean losing your roots.” No matter what anyone says, passion for the religion drives him: "I do spend a half hour every day on prayers, take my kids to the agiary or to Udvada. I would love to pump in crores to make Udvada a model Zoroastrian town.”

"People can curse me, say what they want. I am not getting into this business of replying to each and every bit of criticism. I don’t need any approvals,” Mistry’s style is sure.

Reaching out

It was a lavish launch at the Taj President on April 14, 2006. The stage in the banquet hall was adorned with flowers and the Parsi Resource Group (PRG) logo, the two Achaemenian pillars on either side invoking an ambience of Iran. In the audience were the invited upper crust and intellectual cream of the community — top bankers, accountants, businessmen, medical men, journalists, musicians, sportspersons…

Formally launching his dream and brainchild — the PRG — was businessman Jimmy Mistry, who is the managing director and principal designer of the Della Tecnica group, the turnkey solutions company in architecture and interiors which has recently ventured into development as well and which has witnessed spectacular success. Mistry and his fellow trustees on PRG — his sister, entrepreneur Jasmine Daruwalla, real estate developer Boman Irani (head of the Rustomjee group) and Neville Dumasia, KPMG director — all addressed the gathering, seeking to coax and cajole the community out of its somnolence and inspire it to result-oriented action.

Also present were PRG’s foot soldiers – a small army of volunteers who harness their own skills and expertise in various fields for the good of the community. The various heads of committees and their teams, the backbone of PRG, made enthusiastic audiovisual presentations, with facts and figures.

A firm believer in doing things in style, Mistry presented around 100 invited eminent personalities from various fields with a 75 gram "super achiever” silver medallion designed by Della Tecnica, photographing them together in a single "Parsi Hall of Fame.”

With figures foretelling demographic doom for the Zoroastrians, Mistry made an impassioned plea for revival, unveiling his programs currently focused on three areas — Zoroastrian youth, the mobeds and agiaries: "The Christians have their mass every Sunday, Novena on Wednesdays; the Muslims their namaaz every Friday, the Hindus have their Hanuman, Swaminarayan or Siddhivinayak temples and pujas. Where do the Parsis meet? At most we get together three to four times a year (on Pateti, Jamshedi Navroz, etc) and even then it’s hello and bye-bye… We have no monthly collection plan. Parsis rely on the corpuses of trusts or donations from the deceased.”

"PRG has no corpus to dole out. Teach a man to fish, don’t feed him fish,” Mistry continued. Stating that there are ‘n’ number of housewives, retired people and youth with time and talent to spare, PRG is looking at registering 1,500 volunteers across India in one year, to implement the nitty gritties of the program.

PRG’s super achievers at the Taj President

PRG is targeting an enrolment of 1,000 youth this year, with proactive "road shows” and on-site presentations. "Youth doesn’t come to you. You need to go to the youth to motivate them. To start with we will go to each and every baug in Bombay, (there are around 20) and speak individually to the youngsters and their parents, push them a little more,” Mistry said. The Youth Graduation committee will encourage higher education and long-term goals, Youth Jobs and Placements volunteers will help in preparing CVs in a professional manner, offer job opportunities with companies registered with PRG, etc. The Youth Entrepreneurship and Mentoring committee will seek to spark individual enterprise. Details of PRG programs and registration is available on the PRG website parsiresourcegroup.org

For the mobeds, "we need to take away their financial worries… Mobed numbers are dwindling. We have been collecting information. The statistics will shock you. No, I am not throwing arrows in the dark,” Mistry said. On March 4, 2006, PRG had formally launched the Parsi Mobeds Association at the ballroom of the ITC Grand Central Sheraton Hotel and Towers at Parel. Bringing together around 350 mobeds from Bombay and outside and their families, PRG treated them to drinks, dinner, dancing and felicitations, including silver coins. A lucky draw fetched three mobeds a prize of Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 and their wives a Naju Davar gara, a sequined sari and a 45-piece dinner set. In a rare photograph, around 350 mobeds, young and old, were photographed seated with Mistry in a single frame.

PRG’s mobeds scheme currently focuses on four areas — cashless group Mediclaim policy for mobeds, education programs for their children, financial compensation for priests over 65 and mobed housing. Younger and smarter priests would be groomed to act as PROs for the faith, with their agiary as the focal point for the community in the area. Mistry plans to install a computer in each agiary so that the PRO mobed can file his report and liaise regularly with PRG volunteers. At the Langdana agiary at Fort, which Mistry renovated at his own cost, mobeds’ quarters were also redone and additional living space created. Mistry emphasized that it is unrealistic for the community to expect the mobed to live far away and yet tend the fire with dedication and devotion, given the circumstances of life in the city.

Mistry appealed to the well-to-do to sponsor various causes including the education of mobeds’ children, saying it was impossible for a priest earning Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000 a month to afford quality education: "You can pay the cheques directly to the school or college. PRG will liaise with you and monitor the children’s progress.” PRG hopes to bring within its ambit of assistance for various schemes 300 mobeds this year.

On the agiary front, PRG research has shown around 150 agiaries, out of which 110 are functional. PRG aims to reach out to sponsors/donors who will fund agiary repair and renovation, with the consent and cooperation of the fire temple trustees. "PRG will do the legwork, be the conduit,” the founder trustee asserted. A standardized manual will be prepared, avoiding piecemeal and haphazard restoration. Mistry bemoaned the neglect and shutdown of old fire temples: "I agree the number (of worshippers) is dwindling. But we cannot create such (historical) structures, so do we have the right to shut shop?” If it is not possible to maintain (old) land and structures, "at least do a commercial transaction so that the money comes back to the community. Donating it (the property) to others I feel is not the right thing to do.”

PRG is in the process of being registered as a public charitable trust. It will however function like a corporate, with structured, systematic efficiency, Mistry asserts. "The very basis of our organization is no controversy, no camps. We salute every single person who is doing something for the community. We are neither left, nor right, nor center. We listen to understand, not reply back. We speak to be understood.”

The PRG thanked the Taj Group for sponsoring the evening’s hospitality and felicitated R. K. Krishna Kumar, MD of The Indian Hotels Company Limited, who was present with his wife on the occasion.

The PRG presently functions from the Della Tecnica office at Sleater Road, but Mistry’s contribution of one crore rupees will see it soon move into its own premises in the compound of the Mevawalla Agiary at Byculla.

With the Bombay Parsi Punchayet trustees, the vada dasturs and intellectual heavyweights of the community lending PRG their support, the program promises not to die a natural death. "We enjoy what we are doing,” "each one is resourceful,” "the fire is not going to be doused,” "ask not why PRG but why not PRG,” say the resourceful PRG volunteers too numerous to name.