'I wanted to do something different'

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: Destiny’s ways can be strange. It can make you do things you never would have imagined doing in the ordinary course of business. With B K Goenka, vice-chairman and managing director, Welspun group, destiny did play its part. It made him explore new avenues, plunge into areas he never would have. “That’s life,” says the 48-year-old wistfully. “You will always get what you are destined to.”

Hailing from a Marwari family that was into the export of foodgrains, one would have thought that Goenka would continue with the same trade. Quite to the contrary. Goenka did not show much inclination for his family business. He yearned to do something else. He says, “I always wanted to do something different.”

This he did by getting into the textiles business in 1985, following it up with the manufacture of saw or submerged arc welded pipes, used for transporting oil and gas, in 1995, then steel and power generation in 2004, and now retail. Retail, in fact, is his newest baby, which he began a couple of years ago. It is spearheaded by his wife Dipali, who looks after Welhome and Spaces – home textile stores that cater to the lower and upper ends of the market respectively. It’s a business Goenka is very excited about because it helps him get a foothold in the domestic market – something he never quite did earlier – since he was focused on exporting his products abroad. “When I got into the manufacture of towels in early ‘90s, the government was promoting export of textiles in a big way. It was an attractive business to get into.”