Padma Shri Harshavardhan Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty, changed the realty and hospitality space of Bengal. After all, he tells Sudipta Datta, that if you are a Bengal-based company, you are bound to be ?slightly socialistic, slightly artistic?
Pictures of his role models on the walls, an elaborate metal screen in jaali work, wooden floor, books, plants?Ambuja Realty chairman Harshavardhan Neotia?s corporate office in Rajarhat near Kolkata is much like his buildings, an aesthetic blend of architecture and design. Malls, housing, offices, if it?s a Neotia building, expect lots of light and greenery, open spaces, grace and elegance. ?It?s because Bengal is in our DNA,? quips Neotia, ?if you are a Kolkata company, you are likely to be slightly socialistic and slightly more artistic.?
Though the Neotias hail from Rajasthan, the family settled in Bengal over 100 years ago and has been in business ever since. They were primarily engaged in trading and distribution of petroleum products?a franchisee of Burma Shell?and fertiliser products. In 1985, his father Vinod Kumar Neotia and uncles Suresh Neotia and Narottam Sekhsaria set up Ambuja Cement together. Suresh Neotia was awarded the Padma Bhushan for trade and industry. But the family famously went on to divest its interest in the cement business in 2006 in favour of Swiss cement manufacturer Holcim. In 1990, Harsh Neotia set up his real estate business, and in a remarkable example of public-private partnership to promote social housing, joined hands with the Bengal government to launch Bengal Ambuja Housing Development.
The maiden project, Udayan, a mix of LIG, MIG and HIG housing, moved the Centre to declare it a ?model housing project?. Recognition was swift for Neotia too, and he was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999. ?For me, it?s important to be in harmony with the buildings we create. I put the same emotion into homes I don?t live in. All of us are a product of our circumstances, our upbringing, culture and it has crept into my work too,? explains Neotia, sipping Chinese tea.
Ambuja Realty followed up the success of Udayan with many other projects, with all the housing projects named with an U?Ulhas in Burdwan, Urvashi in Durgapur, Utsa in Rajarhat, Uttarayon in Siliguri and so forth. Housing apart, the Neotias would also give Kolkata its first open-spaced mall, City Centre, designed by Charles Correa. Over the years, as the Neotias expanded to hospitality (resorts, hotels, spas, restaurants, clubs), health (multispeciality hospitals, clinics and research) and education, one thing held together all the projects?aesthetic, environment-friendly design. For instance, the Ganga Kutir project at Raichak, a popular spa and resort, was designed by Sri Lankan architect Channa Daswatte, and Udayan by Balkrishna Doshi, who also designed Bangalore?s IIM campus.
?We have been carrying forward our business in real estate, hospitality and healthcare with additional focus and attention,? Neotia points out. In 2005, Ambuja Housing and Urban Infrastructure Company Ltd was incorporated as a holding company for other group companies and to execute large projects across India. In 2010-11, the group?s turnover was Rs 400 crore. Wife Madhu was involved with setting up the Bhagirathi Neotia woman and child care centre. A foodie, unlike Harsh Neotia, who is a ?ghar ka khana/dal-chawal? person, she also takes a keen interest in the group?s hospitality business.
With Bengal now caught up in the throes of change, we ask him about his relationship with the Left, and he says, ?they have never been hostile?. Neotia says things changed for the better after Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee became chief minister in 2001 and clearly pushed for industry. ?It has not been difficult to work with them,? he adds, but admits that the Left ?was not able to get some things done?.
?Over the years, Kolkata and West Bengal have seen several ups and downs in terms of entrepreneurial environment, but we did not lose faith. In fact, sometimes despite the odds, we have carried on as we believe Bengal continues to have very bright prospects. Other than several already commissioned projects, we have several projects in real estate, hospitality and healthcare in the pipeline,? he says.
He adds the Left leaders are progressive, but ?some of the processes aren?t?. And, in order to go full steam ahead, ?we do need to have better infrastructure, coupled with speedier decision and policy making processes?.
Though Bengal is the ?geographical and emotional centre? of Neotia?s world, the group has been expanding outside the state too, in Bihar, Punjab, Chattisgarh and Sikkim. ?Even if we become a much bigger entity, we will always be a Kolkata company at heart. I hope we never lose that identity,? he points out. Not surprisingly, three of his icons are from Bengal?Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda, Aurobindo?the fourth being Mahatma Gandhi. ?They didn?t live in my time, but I am greatly inspired by them and have read their works in great detail,? says Neotia. So conference rooms at his corporate headquarters are not staid places, but rooms dedicated to his role models, Mother Teresa and Bengal?s famous educationist and social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
Neotia is hopeful about Bengal and says even if there is a new government in place after May 13, ?their intent is development?. But hasn?t he ever been challenged by Bengal?s rather infamous lackadaisical mindset? ?Well, we deal with wonderful people, but yes, they are laidback and often not the best deliverers of efficiency,? says Neotia.
But he points out that there are a number of areas where West Bengal has strategic advantages because of its large workforce and the natural inclination of people to pursue higher education. ?Activities such as education, healthcare and information technology will be very viable. Bengal?s biodiversity and deep cultural traditions provide ample opportunity for development of hospitality and tourism,? he says. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has also said in her party manifesto that Bengal?s resurgence will ride on industry and tourism.
Neotia also points at other advantages for investors in the state: West Bengal has abundance of water and high agricultural output. As a result, food processing industries have good potential. The presence of Haldia Petrochemicals gives opportunity for petrochemical-based downstream. ?Traditionally, tea and jute have been the main productions of West Bengal. They continue to be important. The presence of large coalfields in the western parts provides opportunities for iron and steel factories. Manufacturing has not kept pace, but there is immense opportunity,? he adds.
On the personal front, what gives him great joy is bonding with his teenaged twins, a girl and a boy. ?I am not involved in their homework, but I engage with them and their friends on the larger issues of life.? By now, the children have dubbed Neotia?s philosophies on life as ?dad?s Sunday lessons?, the most recent one being on Sachin Tendulkar (Neotia is a cricket buff). In fact, Neotia?s latest newsletter to employees talks about the Japan quake and India?s World Cup achievement! Ask him if his children will one day move out of Bengal and he tells us, ?My children are currently in school, so it is difficult for me to predict anything. I will not impose a decision, but would like them to maintain a connect with Kolkata, as it has been home to them and to us for over three generations.?
With industry exiting the state in the turbulent ?70s, only a few business families, including the Goenkas, Birlas, Khaitans, Agarwals and Neotias, chose to stay back. That the Kolkata connect is very important to Neotia is evident when he says, ?I travel a lot, but I will never settle anywhere else. I am happy to have lived here; no regrets.?
