PERSEVERANCE, grit, strong leadership skills, high risk appetite, and a flashy and fast lifestyle don’t necessarily go well with naiveté. But Gautam Hari Singhania, 58, has shades of them all. No matter what you think of the Chairman & MD of Raymond, the fact is that he has shown exemplary leadership skills in the toughest of times to pull his organisation out of the losses wrought by Covid-19, and onto a sustained growth trajectory. In a candid conversation with Business Today, Singhania lays bare his strategy for Raymond’s turnaround. Edited excerpts:
The pandemic was a bad time for Indian industry. Are there any instances that stand out for you as symbols of what happened and what changed the company or you as a person?
You’re right, the pandemic was an extremely difficult time, especially for a company like ours where retail was closed, we had no revenue, plus we had manufacturing on the side. So, we had people to carry, interest cost… it was a very difficult time. There’s a very famous saying. It’s called success is relative—more the success, more the relatives. But when you don’t have success, those same people disappear. There was a day when, for a group of this size, a private limited bank refused to roll over an existing loan of ₹5 crore because it said it won’t get it [the money]
