Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla is the Chairman of the venerable Indian multinational conglomerate, Aditya Birla Group, which operates in 36 countries across six continents. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA degree from the London Business School. Mr. Birla chairs the Boards of major group companies in India and globally. The Group’s turnover is around $60bn and more than half of its revenues flow from international operations. In the 27 years, at the helm of the Group, he has accelerated growth, built meritocracy, and enhanced stakeholder value. In the process, he has raised the group’s turnover by 30 times. He has been the architect of over 40 acquisitions in India and globally, among the highest by any Indian multinational.

Mr. Birla is deeply engaged with educational institutions. He is the Chancellor of the Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani (BITS) with campuses in Pilani, Goa, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Dubai. Mr. Birla is Chairman, Governing Council of BITSoM, a new-age business school based in Mumbai. He has also served as the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

In the global arena, Mr. Birla serves on the London Business School’s Asia Pacific Advisory Board and is an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School. In 2019, Mr. Birla constituted a £15 million scholarship Programme at the London Business School in memory of his grandfather, Mr. B.K. Birla, marking the largest ever-endowed scholarship gift to a European Business School.