Avantha Group

Avantha Group is an Indian business conglomerate led by Gautam Thapar. The company is one of India’s largest business conglomerates. Its businesses include power generation and distribution, power transmission and distribution equipment and services, paper and pulp, food processing, farm forestry, chemicals, infrastructure, Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Service (ITeS), also referred to as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Avantha Group operates in 90 countries with over 25,000 employees worldwide. Business units include, Crompton Greaves, (CG) India’s largest power transmission and distribution equipment company, and Ballarpur Industries (BILT), India’s largest paper manufacturer, both listed on the Indian Stock exchanges. CG acquired Pauwels (Belgium) in 2005, Ganz Hungary in 2006, Microsol Ireland in 2007, Sonomatra France in 2008, MSE Power Systems USA in 2008 and Power Technology Solutions UK in 2010, three business in Nelco India in 2011, Emotron Sweden in 2011, QEI Inc, USA and ZIV Group, Spain in 2012. BILT acquired Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) of Malaysia in 2007. Another group entity,The Global Green Company, acquired Intergarden Belgium and Puszta Konzerv, Hungary, while in 2010, the group announced the acquisition of US-based Pyramid Healthcare Solutions, a healthcare BPO firm.

Gautam Thapar

Gautam Thapar (born 7 December 1960) is an Indian businessman and founder of the Avantha Group. He received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Manufacturing in 2008.

Early life

Gautam Thapar belongs to the third generation of the business family founded by his grandfather Karam Chand Thapar, in Kolkata. Karam Chand had initially offered the reins of the family business to Gautum's father, Brij Mohan Thapar, bypassing his oldest son Inder Mohan Thapar. However, Brij Mohan passed on the chance to his younger brother Lalit Mohan Thapar, giving lack of desire and inability to shoulder the responsibility as the reasons.

Gautam was educated at The Doon School. He then studied chemical engineering at Pratt Institute in the United States. When he failed to find a suitable job and found his US visa running out, Gautam returned to India.

Business career

Gautam Thapar began his career as a factory assistant in a manufacturing unit of the erstwhile Thapar Group. At this time, Lalit Mohan (a lifelong bachelor), had been grooming Inder Mohan Thapar's son Vikram as his successor. However, Gautam gained Lalit Mohan's attention, and rose rapidly through the ranks. He first turned around the Group's ailing company, Andhra Pradesh Rayons (APR). Then, he nurtured the group company BILT's new export oriented businesses – leather, shoes and foods. Gautam didn't like the group's management style, and made his dissent clear. Impressed with him, Lalit Mohan gave him the responsibility to turn around the BILT's chemical division, which was suffering losses due to labour agitations and shortage of water and power. Gautam showed profits within a year, by scrapping the company's expansion plans, selling off a few assets and dealing firmly with the labour.