Thermax To Keep Ownership Separate From Management, Says Meher Pudumjee
The current and next generation have consciously decided to keep the ownership distinct from operational control, she said.
Meher Pudumjee has turned Thermax into a formidable engineering company. But to ensure an uncomplicated handover for the next generation, she has separated ownership from management.
Although it will be a family succession, the organisation will continue to be professionally managed by non-family professionals. Pudumjee, chairperson at the maker of industrial steam boilers to solar power equipment, said this in an exclusive interview with NDTV Profit.
“Thermax is a professional organisation run by non-family professionals on a day-to-day basis. Both the current generation and the next generation—son and daughter—have decided to keep ownership separate from the management,” she said.
Pudumjee's children are currently involved in Thermax, learning various aspects of the business, she said.
“They need to understand the business, enough for them to ask the right questions when they come on to the board of the company,” she said. “They need to be responsible owners, as they themselves put it.”
The chairperson said they will have different responsibilities way down the line and they are learning the ropes. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ashish Bhandari is responsible for the day-to-day operations.
When the family—including the husband, two kids and the mother—is together, the discussions revolve around business matters. The succession, too, she said, will be a family decision but within a professionally managed framework.
Trusted Partners In Energy Transition
The company is planning to partner with their customers and help them meet their challenges as they transition to a greener future, she said.
Europe is going to implement a carbon tax and Indian customers will be supplying products from here. “We will have to look at how to make things carbon neutral and help our customers overcome the challenges,” Pudumjee said.
The company has ventured into the green energy space, including renewables—wind and solar, bio-CNG, coal gasification and hydrogen—and sees opportunities in the space as corporates are transitioning to achieve their sustainable development goals in line with India’s, she said.