Godrej Group appoints facilitator for succession plan

The century-old popular FMCG major Godrej Group took the first step to work out a succession plan for the Rs 10,000 crore conglomerate by appointing a facilitator.

“We have appointed a facilitator. However, since the matter is intra-family, I would not like to reveal the identity of the facilitator,” Godrej Groups Chairman Adi Godrej said.

The year 1964, when Adi Godrej joined, the company was just a Rs 10 crore entity and it since then it has grown manifold, to be regarded as one of the country’s best FMCG firms.

Adi Godrej is the third generation to run the 112-year Godrej empire, along with his younger brother Nadir and cousin Jamshyd.

The fourth generations is now making inroads into the management of the company. Prominent among them are Adi’s daughter Tanya Dubash, who heads strategic marketing and media across the Group. She was instrumental in the recent rebranding of the Group.

Adi’s second daughter, Nisaba, looks after strategy across the Group and particularly at Godrej Agrovet. His son, Pirojsha, looks after Godrej Properties, which is likely to come up with an initial public offering in the next few months.

Jamshyd’s son Navroze is with Godrej & Boyce.

All the four are well-educated and joined the company as management trainees.

The succession plan may see Tanya leading the pack, as she has proved herself over the years and is the only member in the 11-member group management committee responsible for taking the Godrej Group forward, analysts said.

Godrej Consumer Products and Godrej Industries are the listed entities among the group while Godrej Agrovet, Godrej & Boyce, Godrej Infotech, Godrej Properties, Godrej Sara Lee, Geometric Software Solutions, Godrej Hicare and Godrej Efacec are unlisted entities.

All the Godrej Group companies are run by professionals and non-family CEOs. Hence, the new generation might not be holding responsibilities to run the empire on day-to-day business.