Byravee Iyer In Mumbai

Young market? Old brands go under knife

As the market grows young, old brands go under the knife. In 1897, a young man named Ardeshir Godrej gave up law and turned to making locks. He went on to make safes and security equipment, and toilet soap from vegetable oil. He wouldn't have imagined that one day the business that started after his name would grow into a conglomerate with over Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) in revenues, or that one of its top executives would wear long, red-streaked hair.