AGENTS OF CHANGE: AJIT GULABCHAND 

Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, has just got a new land-mark – Bandra-Worli Sea Link, which was recently used by the U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton to reach the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel, a prestigious heritage luxury hotel from the Mumbai Airport. She became the first foreign dignitary to use the 4.7 kilometer long eight-lane motorway built up on the Arabian Sea connecting north to south Mumbai.

The ambitious $340 million bridge has its base on 126 meters high pylons, as high as a 43-storey building. About 37,680 km of wire, nearly equal to the circumference of the earth, has been used in the bridge. It showcases Indian companies’ prowess and capability of creating world-class infrastructure. The man behind this success is Ajit Gulabchand, Chairman & Managing Director of India’s 76 years old construction firm Hindustan Construction Company Ltd (HCC).

Ajit Gulabchand, a scion of Mumbai’s Walchand Hirachand industrial family, one of the oldest diversified family owned industrial group, was just 18 years old when he lost his father.

His first assignment was a few months stint with Jamuna Hydel project on river Yamuna, a river of religious value in north India in 1969. Following that, he got engaged with Indian Hume Pipe Company Ltd., India’s leading manufacturer of Concrete Pressure and non Pressure Pipes, Steel Pipes, Penstocks, Prestressed Concrete Railway Sleepers and Air rifles as the Chief Executive; and subsequently became the Managing Director of Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd, India’s oldest sugar and confectionery products company, about three decades ago.

Ajit took over the charge of HCC Ltd., the most prominent company of his group in 1983. In the past 26 years, the company has grown to more than Rs.3,000 crore ($600 million) now from about Rs.100 crore ($20 million).

The HCC Group of companies comprise of HCC Ltd (Engineering & Construction), HCC Infrastructure Ltd, HCC Real Estate Ltd (HREL) and Lavasa Corporation Ltd. The group claims to have constructed more than 25% of India’s hydro power, and more than 50% of India’s nuclear power generation capacities, 2,227 kms of Roads & Expressways and more than 200 kilometers of complex tunneling in addition to various Bridges, Dams and Barrages. HCC is registered in Guinness Book of Records for building Farakka Barrage in West Bengal - the longest in the world.

After the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, the other ambitious project that is very close to his heart is Lavasa project, which is often branded as free India’s largest hill city. Gulabchand wants the massive 25,000 acres township to become a centre of education, tourism and research. Lavasa, a three hour drive away from Mumbai, is spread across a picturesque landscape amidst 7 hills and 60 kilometers of lakefront.