The architecture of growth

He is the first of the family’s next gen to head a Group company. Pirojsha Godrej, the 30-year-old son of Group chairman Adi Godrej and Parmeshwar, has been appointed the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Godrej Properties with effect from April 1, 2012. Pirojsha had joined the fast-growing real estate arm of the Godrej Group in 2004 and rose to become executive director. "The board has complete confidence that Pirojsha is the right individual to be the next CEO of Godrej Properties. He is an inspiring leader and a great team player,” Keki Dadiseth, for­mer chairman of Hindus­tan Lever, is quoted in The Indian Express of January 20, 2012. Dadiseth is an independent director on the Godrej Properties board.

Pirojsha is the first among his siblings/cousins to be appointed MD and CEO. His older sisters Tanya Dubash and Nisa Godrej head marketing and human resources respectively at Godrej Industries. "While I have been chosen for this role, I wouldn’t read too much into whether there is a larger implication of this. My sisters both play a very critical role… The kind of values they have added over the years is tremendous, if anything surpassing what I have done so far. So I think we grew up (in the Group) very well as a team. I certainly don’t think this can in any way imply about future succession (as Group chairman),” Pirojsha told The Times of India reporter in an interview carried in the paper’s edition of January 20, a day after the announcement was made. Pirojsha succeeds Milind Korde, the present MD who is retiring for personal reasons.

Pirojsha has a Bachelor’s degree in economics from the prestigious Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, a Masters in international affairs from Columbia University and a Masters bin Business Administration from Columbia Business School. Pirojsha had joined Godrej Properties as a management trainee. Group chairman Adi Godrej is quoted in The Indian Express (January 20) as saying that it was not by chance but by design that the young man joined the real estate arm: "It is one of the most important areas… Within the next five to 10 years it will be our single largest business… he (Pirojsha) is extremely well educated, hard working, passionate and has a good vision.”

In the last seven years Godrej Properties’ turnover has grown from Rs 41 crore to Rs 550 crore. "Q3 FY 12 (third quarter of the financial year) has been an eventful quarter. We finalized three joint development deals including projects in Nagpur, Poona and Bombay (Godrej Platinum at Vikhroli)… I am delighted with the conclusion of the landmark agreement with Godrej and Boyce for all future development on the Vikhroli land parcel. This is a highly value accretive deal which will provide significant risk-free cash flow for Godrej Properties,” stated Adi who chairs the Godrej Properties board. The realty company currently has 30 projects in 12 cities across India and aims to achieve a turnover of Rs 20,000 crore by 2020. The company carries a debt of around Rs 1,900 crore. Their Garden City project in Ahmedabad registered a healthy growth in bookings, despite a sluggish real estate market in the country, as per Press reports.