NEWS | Spencer's emerges as Goenka's lynchpin for growth

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Sanjiv Goenka has chosen his loss-making retailer, and to a smaller extent, its carbon black business, to lead the Group’s ambitious growth trajectory. It needs to shake off its complacency to do so
When Sanjiv Goenka inherited half of Rama Prasad Goenka’s Rs 19,000-crore empire (the other half went to his brother Harsh), he had to make some big decisions regarding the future orientation of his company. His first act was to christen his company the ‘RP Sanjiv Goenka Group’. His other, more pivotal, move was to orchestrate a complete rethink on which businesses to place an emphasis on.


Today, the companies in the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group are: CESC, Noida Power and Integrated Coal Mining (ICML) in power; Phillips Carbon Black which makes carbon black—a substance used as a pigment and reinforcement in rubber and plastic products; Spencer’s Retail, MusicWorld Retail and Au Bon Pain Cafe India (ABPCIL) under the retail umbrella; Saregama India and Open Media Network in entertainment and media; and CESC Properties, a real estate company.
Goenka has charted out an ambitious plan—he wants his Kolkata-based business to go from a combined revenue of Rs 9,000-crore today to Rs 25,000-crore in five years. The power business will continue to be an important part of the Group’s business he says, but much of the growth—and this forms the brunt of the re-think on the portfolio—will come from non-power businesses, primarily Spencer’s’, and to some extent Phillips Carbon Black.
According to Goenka, the non-power business will grow to contribute at least 50 per cent of the Group’s revenue by 2016-17, from the current 39 per cent. Of this, the 14 per cent that comprises revenue from retail will mushroom to almost 30 per cent. “For us, non-power is as important as our power firms in our growth plans,” said Sanjiv Goenka, chairman, RPSG. The group, he says, is planning an overall investment of Rs 36,000 crore in the next five years

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/spencer%255Cs-emerges-as-goenka%255Cs-lynchpin-for-growth-/462834/