Yet another generational shift is taking place at Arvind, one of India's largest textile players, as the fourth-generation Lalbhai has joined the group. In what could be an indicator of things to come, Punit Lalbhai, son of chairman and managing director Sanjay Lalbhai, is being appointed as the chief manager of the project division.
In a special resolution to be passed during the upcoming AGM (on July 31), the company has resolved to appoint Lalbhai junior as a chief manager with effect from September 1, 2008 at a basic salary of Rs 35,000 per month, alongwith perquisites in the scale of Rs 65,000 to Rs 1,50,000 per month.
Punit, 26, the elder son of Sanjay Lalbhai, is a post-graduate in environmental science from Yale University. His younger brother Kulin, 23, is currently studying engineering in Standford University.
This makes Punit the first fourth-generation Lalbhai to be inducted into the company. Sources believe it may not be too long before Lalbhai joins the board of directors.
"Traditionally, it takes a couple of years for a person inducted as a chief manager, one of the lowest levels in the managerial hierarchy, to move up the ladder," said a company official. For now, Lalbhai will be handling Arvind's new projects, the official added.
The Lalbhais are descendents of Seth Shantidas (1590-1659), a famous jeweller, financier and businessman of the seventeenth century, who is said to have financed the Moghul Empire and was the first person to be conferred the title of Nagarsheth.
The current surname is derived from Lalbhai Dalpatbhai, the great great grandson of Himabhai (1785-1858) son of Khushalchand, the grandson of Shantidas. Lalbhai was born around the time when the first textile factory in the city went into production.
Saraspur Manufacturing Company, the first firm of the Lalbhai clan, was established in 1897 that produced cotton yarn.
With the untimely death of Lalbhai Dalpatbhai, the reins of the businesses were handed over to his young sons, including a 17-year-old Kasturbhai Lalbhai, known as the father of modern Indian textile industry, who started the first large scale textile mill (Asoka Mills) in 1920 with a capital of Rs 12 lakh (Rs 1.2 million).
Kasturbhai established the flagship Arvind Limited in 1931 with an authorised capital of Rs 25.25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million) and also floated mills for families of his three sisters under the name of Aruna Mills in 1928 and Nutan Mills in 1931.
