‘Somebody Had To Bite The Bullet’

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: The managing director of Ambuja Cement Eastern Ltd, Harshavardhan Neotia, is a man of many interests. In addition to managing his company, he is also chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII’s) western region. In addition, he is a keen builder, obsessed with creating “different” buildings—clubs, heritage complexes, low-cost housing complexes and, now, the Rs 19 crore Bhagirathi Neotia Woman And Child Care Centre in Kolkata.

Harshavardhan Neotia, M D, Ambuja Cement Eastern Ltd,

Mr Neotia joined the firm while in college. However, after two years of informal training under his father, he realised he wanted to do something independently. That was when he learnt that a family friend, who was moving from Kolkata to Mumbai, wanted to dispose off a 500 yard plot of land. “I thought this would be a good opportunity as the project was not too big and the risks contemplated were not unmanageable. So, I started building a residential complex with 20 apartments of 1,000 square feet each. This project was a successful venture,” he recalls with satisfaction of the housing complex.