Way
back in 1986, when Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia decided to actualize what she
had been contemplating for years, and certainly been working towards it
in her own little way, that of assuming the mantle of taking one of
India’s leading media groups to what she thought was its rightful
position i.e. top of the leader board, apart from expressing obvious
surprise, some perhaps even disapproval owing to the fact that she was a
female, no one could have imagined that she’d be soon brushing
shoulders with the who’s-who of the industry, and admirably so, on her
way to success and glory.
The fact that she was able to transform the
Hindustan Times from a single product entity to a multi-edition daily,
besides exploring allied yet diverse segments of the media industry, and
succeeding, bear testimony to her remarkable achievement of carrying
forward a great legacy -in fact enriching it along the way- whose
foundations lay in the vision of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma
Gandhi. Her rise as a media baroness and as a highly successful
entrepreneur is a reflection of her contribution to the industry itself
as indeed of the changing times we are in, when women-power seems to be,
after all, rising and making its mark in various spheres of life. The
lady has been an inspiration and a guiding spirit for both her sons, who
were inducted in the family business (Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd.), and
who have, due course, chartered their own paths to success. They run
the highly successful 'Dominos Pizza,’ franchise across the country and
the 'Monday to Sunday,’ chain of convenience stores in Bangalore.|
Early Days
Born
to Krishna Kumar Birla, of the illustrious Birla clan, in 1957 in
Kolkata, this granddaughter of Ghanshyam Das Birla had, despite her
pedigree, a very simple childhood like any other girl hailing from
predominantly patriarchal societies did. She had her schooling from
Loreto House, a non-Birla-run school in Kolkata where her surname was
not of much consequence. After successful completion of high school
education, she enrolled into a B.A (Hons.) from Loreto College, Kolkata
University. But this, expectedly, was also time for her betrothal to a
successful suitor. She was married to billionaire Mr. Shyam Sunder
Bhartia, the Chairman of Jubilant Life Sciences Limited. She dropped out
of college upon insistence from her family but, eventually, completed
her graduation through correspondence. So then, one would have thought
her to lead a life of a normal house-wife, or perhaps dabble in some
hobby that women in such positions usually resort to. That was all there
was to it. Or so people thought.
Birth of the Spark
But
for all we know, she had always nursed a secret ambition. Although
marriage and family life (she had two sons) did serve as minor
hindrances in realization of her long-cherished goals, she had not
completely dropped-the-ball on her ambitions. She had merely held them
back -only to reinvigorate them after she had children and the little
matter of seeing through their infancy. It has to be said that
no one, at this point, could have so much as hazarded a guess about what
this progeny of the Birla’s had in mind vis-à-vis her career. Family
and friends were both slightly taken aback when she informed them of her
decision to take the plunge into the family business. More so as the
field that her family plied their trade in was extensively male-oriented
and, on top of that no one else, certainly not the girls, in the family
itself had ever harbored such aspirations. Even so, when she started
looking after the Sunday Magazine of the daily, all one thought was that
she was being, at the most, her father’s apprentice. But soon, all of
it was to change. And change like it had never been before. All of just
29 years of age and with very little experience to bank upon, Mrs.
Bhartia’s entry into the highly competitive, risky yet rewarding field
wasn’t much heralded. But, she was not to be perturbed by such notion.
Though neither substantial nor adequate, her stint of supervising the
Sunday mag as indeed scrutinizing the newspaper itself and giving
feedback to her father, had taught her enough of the industry to feel
confident of her success. She backed her instincts, education,
knowledge, and importantly, her vision of where this prestigious
newspaper had to progress to while at the same time respecting and
retaining its standing in the eye of its millions of readers.
Her rise, and effect
The
pursuit of her vision warranted that she could not have just tagged
along with the then current structure and practices, and let things
happen just as they did before. For sure, she had to break away from
tradition and start to work toward realizing her vision, which she did
with all the gusto, enthusiasm and earnestness one can employ. Before
the advent of Mrs. Bhartia, the daily was run like a government
bureaucracy, with very little leaning for either merit or professional
management. And, if she had to see it reach the heights and achieve the
goals she had set for the newspaper, then all this had to change. It was
not going to happen over-night, as a complete shake-up was out of the
question. Especially since, despite all the apparent lacunae, the daily
had been doing quite well for itself and, also because her plans would
be hugely dented owing to the characteristic aversion to change. But she
adopted methods of her own, and so very masterfully ensured the
newspaper turned over a leaf or two and treaded on a path she had
envisaged for it. The fundamental strategy that she would employ to a
great effect in all her business decisions and activities, and which
would bring about unprecedented success and growth to the group were
these: diversity as a focus, quality as a cutting edge, and global
benchmarking and partnering as the media to create robust brands.
Very
early into her leadership role (she took over as Executive Director of
the Group in 1991 - and was the first woman chief executive of a
national newspaper in India back then), it was quite clear to Mrs.
Bhartia that the plans that were laid out for HTs future by the change
in guard meant that it had to have a fresh infusion of resources. Apart
from garnering all the support and encouragement that it could get from
both the industry and its readers, HT needed huge outlay of funds if it
were to obtain the success envisaged. And she was upto it. As the
readership and popularity of the newspaper grew and the business was in a
position to bank upon its brand equity, Mrs. Bhartia was quick to make
good of the situation. Expectedly, in 2005 she a floated a very
successful IPO and raised about Rs. 400 Crores that have helped the
group in effecting its fundamental strategy (discussed above) for
success and growth, and in creating a niche for itself.
Achievements
Her
achievements have been numerous: from launching new products and
entering new markets to overseeing the IPO in 2005. Slowly but surely,
Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia has transformed HT in the truest sense of the
word; from being a privately held family run business to that of a
professionally managed, publicly listed national powerhouse. A part of
her vision was to see Hindustan Times as a reader-friendly newspaper
without ever compromising on values for which it had stood for well over
three-quarters of a century, or the quality of content, and also by
dispensing with the mundane and brining in fresh perspectives.
Under
her guidance and leadership, HT media has chartered new paths and
explored new frontiers such as moving to outside of its traditional
bastion of Delhi in to the fiercely competitive and risky media market
in Mumbai, or extending further to bring out a business daily called
'Mint’ in collaboration with Wall Street Journal (they have an exclusive
content-sharing deal) or aligning with Virgin Asia to launch FM radio
(FEVER 104) channel and, importantly, seeing them become successful.
What’s more, being a person with a futuristic vision and always aware of
the dynamics of an evolving media industry, she has even gone ahead and
joined hands with an adversary i.e. Beckett, Coleman & Co (Times of
India) to launch Metro Now, a morning tabloid in Delhi aimed at younger
readers, a space which is fertile for potential forays by other big
players of the sector. That besides, the group has also expanded its
activities into areas few other media groups dared to venture into like a
social networking site (desimartini.com), media platform (HT Mobile), a
jobs portal (shine.com), and an education portal (htcampus.com), to
name a few. To her credit also goes the distinction of bringing in one
of the first FDI ventures to the country.
Her
extensive experience of the media industry spanning 25 years has seen
her assume many roles and responsibilities, one particularly in the
public life, which she has discharged with utmost sincerity and great
success. While it may not be possible to list here all her
accomplishments, few of them are noteworthy.
Her
shrewdness and business acumen have won her praise and respect from one
and all, manifest in her being instated to numerous significant
positions of many corporates. While Mrs. Shobhana Bhartia presently
serves as an Editorial Director and Chairperson (since January 2010) at
HT Media Limited, Holding company of HT Music and Entertainment Company
Limited, she has also been donning myriad roles such as the Independent
Non-Executive Director of Hero Honda Motors Ltd., from August 22, 2005
to April 13, 2011, and its Additional Director since March 24, 2005. She
also serves on the board of Indian Airlines Limited and on the North
Regional Board of the Reserve Bank of India. She has served as Director
of the Press Trust of India Limited.
Her
best recognition came in February 2006 when she was nominated for the
Rajya Sabha (The upper house of the Indian Parliament). Her not-so
political career includes stints in various capacities such as Member of
Committee on Finance (March 2006-Dec. 2006), Member of Committee on
Empowerment of Women (April 2006 onwards), Member of Committee on
External Affairs (Dec. 2006-March 2007), and Member of Committee on
Defence Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of External
Affairs (March 2007 onwards upto the end of her tenure as an M.P. in
February, 2012), and Chairperson of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC)
from 2006 to 2007. She has been a Member of the Council of Management of
ABC since 1999 and served as Deputy Chairperson from 2005 to 2006.
In
addition, she was also a Member of the High Level Group comprising of
18 persons chosen by the Secretary-General, United Nations to work on
"Alliance of Civilizations"; Member of the Board of International Press
Institute (an apex Global Press Body), and a member of the Commonwealth
Press Union International Press Institute, Vienna, besides being a
Member of the Board of Governors, Birla Institute of Technology and
Science (BITS), PIlani, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and the
National Institute of fashion Technology (NIFT).
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Philanthropy
Mrs.
Shobhana Bhartia’s father Mr. K.K. Birla was known to be both a
pragmatic businessman and a whole-hearted philanthropist. Mrs. Bhartia,
who was in a way his protégé, had seen the world through his lens and
honed her skills under his supervision and guidance, and which had
helped shape the personality that she was going to turn out to be in the
future. She is indeed a chip-of-the-old-block. To be inspired by one’s
father is normal; but to be inspired to such an extent that one almost
redefines success in everything one did, and takes it to the next level
is quite different altogether.
The
India Development Foundation (IDF) of Overseas Indians set up as a
trust under the aegis of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA),
has been aiming to serve as a single window for the Overseas Indian
community to engage in philanthropic activity in India. But when it
became apparent that there any philanthropic undertaking that it was to
take up, it will be confronted with systemic constraints, the need to
address them through an appropriate institutional arrangement was
warranted. As a result, a board of trustees comprising members of the
expatriate community and resident Indians was instituted. Owing to her
exemplary conduct as well as her pedigree and general concern for the
country, Mrs. Bhartia was selected as one of the trustees of the Board.
Ever since, she has been actively involved in the promotion of
philanthropy by overseas Indians through innovative projects and
instruments, such as micro-credit for rural entrepreneurs, self-help
groups for economic empowerment of women, 'best practice’ interventions
in primary education and technology interventions in rural health care
delivery.
She
is currently the chair of non-profit organisation, Endeavor India, that
has pioneered the concept of high-impact entrepreneurship in emerging
markets, whose mission as we know is to lead the global movement to
catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and
accelerating the best High-Impact Entrepreneurs around the world.”
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