Friday, August 12, 2011Profile w w w . f i n a n c i a l e x p r e s s . c o m12

Jaiprakash Gaur (left) with RITES officials during a visit to the Rishikesh Barrage in 1979. Thebarrage was one of his first big projects

From left: Jaiprakash Gaur with business associates Dayanand Sharma and PN Pandey, in 1979

AMAN IS not old un-til regrets take theplace of dreams.Legendary Ameri-canactorJohnBar-rymore could wellhave taken inspira-tionforthesewordsfrom 80-year-oldJaiprakash Gaur.

The tagline of his R18,000-crore conglomer-ate, Jaypee Group, says, ‘No dream too big’and that’s what Jaiprakash Gaur exempli-fies.Manystoriesuphissleeve,hiseyeshaveaglintashenarratesthedramatictaleof hisjourney from a young engineering graduatewithR100inhispocketbackin1950,tosettingup the construction-to-power conglomeratethatisJaypeetoday.

“There was a spirit of entrepreneurshipin me. I was willing to go and work whereverI could get a contract. After the 1965 war,roads were being constructed in the Rann ofKutchh,soIputinatenderthereaswell,andthere I was, building a road in the country’swestern limit,” says Gaur, at ease, with hislegs stretched onto the table in front of thesofa.ThedaysGaurisrememberingareear-ly days of his career as a construction con-tractor, a job profile he chose himself after aseven-year stint in a government job, the ir-rigationdepartmentinUP,from1951to1957,which he landed after completing his diplo-ma in engineering from the then RoorkeeUniversity (now IIT Roorkee) in 1950.

Seven years of working on a big dam pro-ject in UP, getting first-hand experience ofsophisticated American machinery andoverseeing the work of numerous construc-tion contractors were enough to get the en-trepreneurinsidehimitchingtodomore.Sohequithisgovernmentjobandbranchedoffas a civil contractor. “No one in the familysupported that decision, except my father

andwife.Andtheirnodmatteredthemosttome,” he says. That was a different era, a dif-ferent India, and Gaur wanted to script alarger story for himself, jumping at the op-portunity in infrastructure development.He took the plunge, and the rest, as they say,is history.

Today, the Jaypree Group has interests inengineering and construction, power, ce-ment, real estate, hospitality, and evensports. Gaur senior, who was succeeded byeldest son Manoj at the helm in 2006, optedout of the flagship company, Jaiprakash As-sociate Limited (JAL), board last year. Butage hardly seems to be a consideration forhim, as he still spends four-five hours on anaverage at the Jaypee headquarters in Noi-da.“Myheartisalwayshere.ButIhadtostepdown because I couldn't have done justice tothe work and the position anymore. And be-sides, I wanted to concentrate on our educa-tional endeavours,” he says. However, hequips that he still keeps an eye on the busi-ness and has a finger on its pulse, whilemaintaining that he is more than satisfiedwith the second generation of the compa-ny’s management. “Right now we are atR18,000 crore and within two years we'lltouch R30,000 crore, and that too with what-ever sectors we are in. I’m absolutely confi-dent about it,” he says.

And his assertions and confidence aren’twithoutreason.Overthepastfiveyears,JALhas shown impressive growth with a salesCAGR of more than 32%. Sales have swollenmanifoldfromR3,760.4crorein2006-07tojusta shade under R13,000 crore in the last finan-cial year. “I am happy the way things are. Wehave created three big bases for our busi-ness—cement, power and townships. How-ever,Ican'tsaywhatwillhappennext.Nowitreallydependsonthecompany'snextgener-ation, on what all they initiate. I believe ifthey continue with the work culture that we

have developed and stay united, they'll defi-nitely be successful,” he says.

So how did he manage a smooth succes-sion while many other big business housesarerifewithhard-foughtsuccessionbattles?“That is something that even I don't reallyknow. Just that the value system of individ-uals running the company was such thatthere weren't any hassles. Five years ago Ijust issued a letter that I'm leaving on thisdate.Icalledaboardmeetingandaskedthemto select their team and their head. I did notmyself participate in the process. And with-in one hour they chose Manoj as the chair-man,” he says.

Never without an anecdote, he remem-bershowaftera20-yearstintasa contractor,he felt it was time for him to elevate his busi-nesstothenextlevel.JaiprakashAssociatesPrivate Limited was floated in 1979 and setfoot in Iraq. “We got projects in Iraq. At firstwe got a R20-crore project and then a R200-

croreprojectin1979.Atthattime,Ihadabal-ancesheet of R25 lakh. So IDBI officials, whoused to clear such projects, asked me to ex-plainhowwithaR25lakhbalancesheetwasIhoping to bag a Rs 200-crore project and payan interest-free guarantee of R20 crore?Therewere10-12peoplesittingthere,includ-ingReserveBankof IndiaandIDBIofficials.ItoldthemnotgobytheR200-crorefigure,butgo by the quantity of work being undertak-en. I was able to convince them that whilecostof operationsinIraqmightbe50%morethaninIndia,theincomeisfivetimesthatinIndia,” he tells us. With a minor conditionthathe’dfirstneedtodoublethecapitalfromR25 lakh to R50 lakh,which he managed easi-ly by banking on company reserves, Gaurtook the leap. “In those days, I used to spend15 days in India and 15 days abroad, mostlyIraq, every month. I was also eyeing the Sar-dar Sarovar project in Gujarat and we final-lybaggedtheprojectin1985asthelowestbid-ders,” he says, pointing to a largepicture of the completed Sardar Sarovardam in his office.

Today,JaypeePoweristhebiggestprivatesector producer of hydro power with 1,700mw in operation. Jaiprakash Hydro PowerLtdwasthefirsthydropowercompanyinthecountry to be listed. Jaiprakash PowerVenturesnowhasaportfolioof almost13,000mw, 60% of which is thermal based and40% hydro based.

Onbeingaskedaboutthelandacquisitioncontroversy along the Noida-Agra Express-way, which is a Jaypee project, Gaur ex-plains, “If it was only the expressway, thenthere wasn't any issue or any concern of astandoff. What was horribly wrong was theacquisition of the extra 1.8 lakh hectaresalongtheexpressway,whichwehadnothingto do with. The farmers could see that theirland was being acquired at throwawayprices and sold to others at a premium. Peo-

ple think the Yamuna Expressway and Ya-muna Authority is the same thing and that'swhy there was confusion in the media thatJaypee was involved in the land acquisitioncontroversy. We can't go and explain it toeveryone,soweprefertoremainsilent.Timewill clear the fog,” he says.

What time and age have not eroded is hislove for sports, particularly hockey, cricketandtennis.“Iwasahockeyplayermyself andcaptained the team at Roorkee in my daysthere. We are setting up a hockey academytoo at our under-construction sports com-plex. I love watching cricket and tennis too,”he says. And what about golf, consideringJaypee has been at the forefront of creating‘golf homes and townships’. “I don’t watchgolf, frankly because I can’t understandmuch of it. But I am making golf courses allovertheplace,”hequips.Hedoesn’tevenfol-low much of Formula One, though Jaypee isgettingthecovetedracetoIndia.

But despite his success, he prefers to becalled middle-class, recalling, “I’ve neverwantedtobeinthelimelightanddespitebe-ing a R18,000-crore company, people don’treally know any of us as public personali-ties. Manoj and I were once coming fromMumbai to Delhi. So I asked the airhostess,‘akhbaar hoga?’ and I was dressed in mykurta pyjama, so she thought I would onlyread a Hindi newspaper. She responded,‘We don’t have a Hindi akhbaar.’ So I toldher, ‘Give me a newspaper then’,” he burstsout laughing.

As we conclude our one-and-a-half hourinteraction with Gaur, we can see the fire isstill burning in his belly. “There's thisKalpasar project coming up in Gujarat. If itcomes to us, I'll pursue it with the same zealas I pursued projects 40 years ago. In thosedays, either I was on a train, a bus, a jeep or aplane; I was always on the move, chasingdreams.” He still is...

AMIT MEHRA

DreamcatcherAlways on the move, even at 80 years of age, JaiprakashGaur of the Jaypee Group tells Sukalp Sharma &Shailesh Dobhal the fascinating story of how beginningwith just R100 he carved out an empire worth crores

JAIPRAKASH GAURFounder-chairman, Jaypee Group

DATE OF BIRTH: January 1, 1931

MARITAL STATUS: Married, withfive children

EDUCATION:Diploma in civil engineering fromUniversity of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee)

AWARDS:■ Lifetime Achievement Awardconferred by the Builders’ Associationof India (2005)

■ Entrepreneur of Year Award forInfrastructure and Construction byErnst & Young (2008)

■ Infrastructure Leader of the Yearaward at Essar Steel InfrastructureExcellence Awards 2010

■ Lifetime Achievement Awardconferred by Merchants’ Chamber ofUttar Pradesh (2010)