Anand Piramal, a 33 year old Masters graduate from the Business School of Harvard is set to become Mukesh Ambani’s (India’s richest person) son-in-law after dropping the knee and subsequently the question to Isha Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries’ only daughter.
However, while everybody knows who Mukesh Ambani and Isha Ambani is, everyone wonders “Who is Anand Piramal?”
Who is Anand Piramal?
Anand Piramal is not the everyday son of a rich millionaire that displays his wealth on Instagram. After all, his father owns a net worth of $4.6 billion and is India’s 22nd billionaire, therefore he could. Instead, Anand is a sharp and smart businessperson who makes strategic decisions with his soft-spoken and sweet personality with dreams of changing India’s society for the better.
Intellectual Background
Anand graduated his Bachelor degree in Economics and Masters degree in Business Adminitration in the US from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Business School respectively. Upon his return to India, he was advised by his father to begin his journey as an entrepreneur in the real estate as his father company, Piramal Group had left this sector previously. Anand could have taken the reign of his father’s business, relying entirely on it to amass wealth and status instead of taking the risk of venturing alone in a new enterprise. However, Anand Piramal took the risk and stepped out of his comfort zone to found Piramal Realty.
Piramal Realty, Anand Piramal’s star!
With a team of 200-250 employees and based in Mumbai, Anand Piramal made a name for himself in the past 2-3 years. With the help of mentors who are all highly rated businesspersons such as HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and would-be-father-in-law Mukesh Ambani, he was able to receive very good advice. For example, the penchant of Mukesh Ambani for setting up huge, state-of-the-art engineering facilities is India is seen in Anand Piramal’s ambitions.
In an interview with Business Today in August 2017, the future son-in-law of Mukesh Ambani was quoted saying, “Residences in India lack the quality and amenities of residences in cities like New York, London or Dubai. We wanted to focus on consumer centricity, architectural design, quality, safety and build India’s most admired real estate company, admired not just for its scale and profitability.”
To achieve his goals, Anand Piramal’s real estate company, Piramal Realty began partnerships with international companies to shape his architectural vision. Architect companies such as KPF, Fosters, Make, HOK, KPF and Callison, overseas structural consultants Burro Happold, security and transportation experts Max Security and transportation experts Lerch Bates, among others all tied up with the ambitious businessman.
Additionally, Piramal Realty is benefiting from the service of several high-profile personalities who sit as advisers for the company such as HDFC Bank Chairman Deepak Parekh, Harvard Business School Deal Nitin Nohria, Co-Head – Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs Ankur A. Sahu and former CEO of Emaar Robert D Booth, among others.
Global investors such as private equity firm Warburg Pincus and financial services leader Goldman Sachs also showed their trust in the young businessman by investing $283 million and $150 million respectively in the Piramal Realty firm.
Piramal Realty is currently undertaking four big projects at Thane, Byculla, Mulund and Bandra Kurla Complex with housing prices varying between Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 3 crore depending on the location of the apartments and the amenities provided.
Thane Project :- consists of converting 32-acres of land in a residential location equipped with towers and town homes where residents will also benefit from commercial, retail, educational and spiritual facilities.
Byculla Project:- A 7 acre project that will involve the construction of 62 storeys towers with a view on the 60 acre Botanical Gardens
Mulund Project:- 60 storey towers on 8.4 acres of land close to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
Kurla Project:- A project that will be carried out in two phases over 16.25 acres of land that is expected to generate Rs 5,000 crore revenue from 1.9 million square feet of area.
Additionally, while the real estate market is not as profitable as it used to be, Piramal Realty was able to make revenues worth Rs 1,100 crore in 2016-17.
A Selfless Person
Another ambition of Anand Piralty is to improve the life of people living in rural India by developing its water supply, health and education. It is with this ambition in mind that he founded Piramal Swasthya, a healthtech startup that aims to improve the health of rural citizens through telemedicine and with the partnership of doctors, paramedics and ambulances services. It provides services such as cancer screening and integrated medical records. Up to today, Piramal Swasthya was able to help over 9.4 crore people across 16 different states to gain access to quality medicine service. It also employs over 4000 people.
Ambitions
Anand Piramal is one of the rising stars of the Indian business ecosystem and his vision and ambition looks to be driven by a willingness to improve the lives of others. He is currently focusing on bringing his Piramal Realty among the top three real estate companies in India by 2020 which is coincidentally the same target his father set to make the family’s company, Piramal Group, reach a net asset value of $20 billion.