Is Kumar Mangalam Birla Adding Value For Shareholders?

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla group, has taken major strides ever since he took over the reins of one of India's oldest and most respected business houses. In the nearly seven years that he has been at the helm, many of the group companies have undergone positive changes, some of them even radical surgery.

However, the equity markets seem to be unimpressed by all the attempts at change. Between October 1995 ----- when Birla took over as group chairman -- and now, the A V Birla group index (we