Calculating risk-taker

Sudhir Mehta has taken the Torrent Group into ever-newer areas.

What started in the early 1970s as Trinity Laboratories has turned into a $1.41 billion global business conglomerate with diversified interests in pharma and power. The company was founded by the late U N Mehta, and after his death, his elder son Sudhir took on the responsibility of nurturing the business.

The 1954-born Sudhir Mehta consolidated the initial success of the company and put the emphasis on exports. He also initiated the diversification of the Torrent Group into the power sector, and made Torrent Pharma one of India’s biggest exporters of pharma products. He took office as the Chairman of the Torrent conglomerate in April 1998.

Displaying an astute entrepreneurial mind and an appetite for calculated risks, Mehta forayed into the turbulent Russian market at a time when the region was embroiled in deep political turmoil. Today, Torrent Pharma has a strong presence in the European countries, Russia and Brazil. Sudhir and his brother Samir Mehta have added to the assets of the company by establishing another pharma plant at Chattral, apart from commissioning a Penicillin G plant.

Flush with funds from the success of Torrent Pharma in the Soviet Union, Mehta decided to diversify into the power sector in the late 1980s. His first move was to acquire a company that manufactures power cables (now called Torrent Cables Ltd.).

In 1991, the Central government announced major policy changes enabling the Indian private sector to enter the power sector. Around this time, Sudhir quietly started acquiring shares of the then Ahmedabad Electricity Company Ltd and Surat Electricity Co. Ltd., gaining a controlling stake in both by the late 1990s.

Simultaneously, he announced plans to set up a 655 Mw dual fuel combined cycle power project in Gujarat. He commissioned the project within the budgeted schedule and cost, and then proposed setting up the 1,147.5 Mw Sugen gas-fired power station, which was recently dedicated to the nation. It is the largest gas-based power project of an independent power producer.

Today the Torrent Group has a strong presence throughout the entire power sector value chain — generation, transmission and distribution. Torrent Power has a total generation capacity of 1650 Mw and plans are afoot to add an additional 6,000-8,000 Mw generation capacity. It distributes power to over 2 million customers in the cities of Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Surat in Gujarat and in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. Torrent Power has also been awarded the distribution franchise for Agra and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Sudhir and Samir of recently made their maiden entry in the Forbes India Rich List. They have a net worth of $2.02 billion and are at number 23 in the list of the 100 richest Indians.