The RPG Group split has finally taken shape with group vice-chairman Sanjiv Goenka on Wednesday announcing the launch of his group, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, which he would spearhead as chairman with father RP Goenka as chairman emeritus.
Though Sanjiv Goenka would be chairman of the group, he will continue to remain vice-chairman of RPG Enterprises. ?I still have the rights to RPG where I continue to be vice-chairman. I have the ownership of the brand of RPG,? Goenka said. He said the newly-formed RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group will be present in five sectors ? power and natural resources, under which there would be CESC, Noida Power Co and Integrated Coal Mining; carbon black, under which there would be Philips Carbon Black; retail, where there would be Spencer?s Retail, Music World Retail and Au Bon Pain Cafe India; media and entertainment, under which there would be Saregama and Open Media Network; and infrastructure, where there would be CESC Properties. The remaining companies ? Ceat Tyres, Associated Holdings, KEC, Zensar Technologies, RPG Life Sciences, Raychem RPG and Harrisons Malayam ? will remain under the Harsh Goenka-controlled RPG Group.
Sanjiv Goenka said the new group was launched to create a new corporate identity with a new logo ? the Dhanuchakra ? which has six arrow heads converging towards a common goal. ?The new logo symbolises vigour, progressiveness, speed and focus,? Goenka said, adding that the group would aim at achieving a turnover of R25,000 crore in the next five years from the present R9,000 crore. It would also target an asset base of R50,000 crore from the current R14,000 crore. RPG, at the juncture of split, had a turnover of R18,000 crore, but when the process was initiated in October 2010, the asset base of RPG was R16,000 crore, Goenka said. He said RP Goenka was involved in the process of separating the business for the last six months.
?What actually has happened is an outcome of the long journey which began 190 years back when Ram Dutt Goenka first came to Kolkata in 1,820 from Dundlod Village in Rajasthan. The journey, from time to time, took various shapes and forms and has come to this position today,? Goenka said. ?But this situation hasn?t come out of any tension between me and my brother and we maintain a very cordial relationship,? Goenka stressed. He said although there was no written agreement, he and Harsh will not get into competition business. ?Iit is clear and implicit that we will not compete with each other,? he said. Rather, we should complement each other?s business growth, Goenka added.
He said the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group will invest R35,000 crore over the next five years, of which R31,000 crore would go into the power business, R2,500 crore into carbon black and the remaining across sectors. Goenka has firmed up plans to increase power capacity from the current 1,225 mw to 7,000 mw and hopes to clinch the sixth rank in the global carbon black business from eighth now.