Billionaire Boost
His actual net worth including other assets is almost definitely higher, and may become clearer as soon as July next year after a group restructuring. That process will spinoff Motherson Sumi’s local wiring harness business into a new wholly owned company, and the unlisted assets of Samvardhana Motherson will be tipped into the original firm. Both entities will be separately listed, which analysts say will help in discovering the businesses’ value, allowing them to be better benchmarked against global peers.
While anything related to electric vehicles is having its time in the stock market sun, Sehgal is less positive. Unlike most carmakers and governments that are talking up modern technologies and cleaner, automated cars, he says inadequate infrastructure and geopolitical tensions will mean internal combustion engines remain relevant for decades.
“For the next 20 years, automotive will remain pretty much the same,” Sehgal said. Carmakers “are asking me to get into everything else, but they’re not asking me to get into electric vehicles.”
In talking about the future, Sehgal frequently brings up his age -- “I am 63 plus,” he keeps saying -- inevitably prompting questions about succession. Like most Indian family-owned businesses, Sehgal’s son, Laksh Vaaman, who’s now vice chairman, is set to take over.
“I will retire when I go on four shoulders,” Sehgal said, referring to an Indian custom of carrying the deceased on their way to cremation. “My job is to teach everything that I can to my son. The next five-year plan is my handing over to him. So somewhere around 68, I will start looking at spending time with my grandchildren, I have four of them.”
It’s a deserving future for Sehgal, who started out earning one rupee for every kilogram of silver he transported for his grandfather 45 years ago. The family on his mother’s side were jewelers, and in the movie business on his father’s. Motherson Sumi listed in Mumbai in 1993. Those who have stayed the course have seen their investment grow 32% annually on a total returns basis. That’s three times more than the average yearly gain in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex Index over the period.
Sehgal credits a lot of the success to his entrepreneurial mother.
“I wasn’t very good in studies, so my mother was very worried about me. So she said let’s get into business. From there, we never looked back really,” Sehgal said. “It’s an unblemished record, so very grateful to the big boss up there.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.