Tarun Sawhney And Nikhil Sawhney: Two To Tango

- Samar Srivastava

Both the Sawhney brothers went to The Doon School in Dehradun. Both went to University of Cambridge where they studied economics. Both went to Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where they got their MBA in finance. So how did they decide who gets to run the family’s sugar business and who the turbine business? “The answer to that is simple,” says Tarun, 43, the older of the two siblings. “Our father decided.”

Tarun runs the Triveni Group’s sugar business—called Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd; it also has a smaller gears and water systems business—which has seven mills in Uttar Pradesh (UP). They are not only among the country’s largest sugar producers, but also among the most efficient.

Younger brother Nikhil, 40, is in charge of Triveni Turbine, Bengaluru-headquartered makers of steam-based rotating turbines that are bought by industries for captive heat and power requirements as well as by renewable fuel-based independent power producers. On its own, Triveni makes turbines that have the capacity to produce 30 MW of power; in their joint venture with GE, where Triveni has a majority stake, it makes turbines that can produce between 30 MW and 100 MW of power.