'I Don't Respect Money, I Respect Values'

Industrialist Harsh Goenka offers a rare look at the lessons drawn after the split of the RPG Group and his most treasured legacy

- By SAMREEN WANI

People who know him would probably say that billionaire industrialist Harsh Goenka is not someone who is readily inclined to raise his voice.

And it is not because the chairman of the RPG Group has never had a moment of frustration or a reason for displeasure in the last four decades of being at the helm of the group.

“Because I have not seen my parents get angry. And I have not got angry with my children,” Goenka says as he breaks from his plate at his Malabar Hill residence in South Mumbai to take a moment to remember his father. A rare experience, not something many others would say about their upbringing, no matter where they come from. “Somewhere or the other, how your parents are with you, it stays,” he says.

As he dives back into eating homemade khandvi (a snack enjoyed as much in Maharashtra as it is in Gujarat) and cheese toast, Forbes India asks if he also participated in the seven-day step challenge organised for all RPG employees a few weeks ago. He lets out a hearty chuckle across the table, quite in tune with the amiable personality I have grown accustomed to in the past hour, “I would have lost!” And though his platter is temptingly laden with nolen gur sandesh and besan barfi, the epicure is mindful of his portions. He nudges us, nevertheless, to give in to our cravings.

But the soft-spoken gracious demeanour of the host is quickly replaced by the seasoned practicality of a businessman as Forbes India proceeds to ask him about the restructuring of the group over a decade ago by his father, RP Goenka. Edited excerpts from the conversation:

ON SEPARATION