MUMBAI: A couple of years ago, Arvind Dham, CMD, Amtek Auto, bumped into his idol while waiting at an airport in Europe. “I was on my way to attend a GWK (a UK-based company that Amtek had acquired) meeting when I saw Carlos Ghosn, also waiting for his flight,” he remembers.
Dham surprised both his team members and Ghosn’s entourage by simply walking across to introduce himself. “He was very open...he gave his card and told me to get in touch if I ever had any interesting proposition for him,” he says. “I idolise Ghosn. The way he has built Nissan up is amazing.”
A chance encounter? Probably. But then again, you wouldn’t dismiss chance encounters if you were Dham. After all it’s one such stray opportunity that helped the 45-year-old architecture grad from Punjab University build his automotive business.
From scratch. Dham’s career in components kicked off when Suzuki started building a local vendor base for Maruti. “I started my career in the construction business but I always wanted to do something in the manufacturing sector,” says Dham.
He got his chance in 1987 when Suzuki selected him as one of the vendors for Maruti. New to the components game, “the initial five-seven years were a struggle,” admits Dham. But Amtek grew with Maruti and by ’00, was big enough to start sniffing around for acquisitions.
In the next six years, the company acquired several medium-sized firms both at home and abroad — from the UK-based GWK and Mid-West in the US to Ahmednagar Forgings and WH Ltd in India.
Its most recent pickings are small — Akiel Castings in Pune and Amforge’s conrod division in Delhi — but analysts say it’s in the race for two big-ticket dollar deals. Namely: Turkish component company Doktas and JL French’s Whitham plant in the UK. Nearly two decades after his first foray into autoville, Dham and his company are confirmed cherries, even by the picky standards of private equity players.
Yet, in an industry known for its mercurial messiahs, Dham is an oddity. For one, he is no gasoline-head. By his own admission he’s not fired up about the sexiest industry in the world and does not care what he drives (it used to be a Camry till his CFO upgraded to one and forced him to buy an E-Class). For him, the automotive industry is just plain business.
And he’s not afraid to go in for a course-correction anytime he feels the balance-sheet is under pressure, passion be damned. After all, this hill school boy from Mussorie did a course correction even in his own career when he opted beyond construction after completing his masters from NY State University (Buffalo) and devoting the first couple of years of his business life to real estate.
Although he still retains his interest in real estate (“in a small way”), he admits he has made enough mistakes to know the smartest thing to do is to “cut your losses and get out”. “We made some pretty disastrous diversifications during the dotcom boom,” he says. “We got into magazines and set up an auto portal. All of it went down.”
So did his foray into pharma. A proposed plant in Bhiwadi has now been turned into a foundry and Dham has moved on. “Mistakes are a part of business,” he says. “But you have to be quick to realise you’ve made them and move on.” Today, Dham is focused on components and working on a five-year plan to take his company to the next level.
In ’07, his last five-year plan will come to a close. “We have done well so far and I have given myself up to December ’07 to complete the integration of all our acquisitions,” says Dham. That and hitting the billion-dollar mark will keep him busy for the next 14 months. After that, it will be a new set of goals and may be less involvement with the day-to-day running of the company.
An Aquarian (his birthday is on February 15), Dham admits he doesn’t often get the time to ‘do’ stuff, like playing golf. “Business keeps me too busy,” he says, adding that his family has made it clear that he can only squeeze time out from work if he wants to play regularly.
Once a state-level cricketer — he represented Punjab as a school boy and was a fast bowler in the team — his only athletic excursions these days are his morning walks with his wife. And no, he has no regrets he didn’t pursue his quest for the India cap.
“I loved cricket and played with the likes of Kapil Dev,” says Dham. “Lots of people who played with me made it to the national team. But I left cricket because my father wanted me to concentrate on studies.”
Given his punishing schedule, what he does do for fun is spend time with his family. “I love to spend time with my family as I hardly get to do that,” he says. “So I travel with my wife on business trips as both my son and daughter are studying in the US.” His son is studying engineering and his daughter business management.
Despite the workaholic template, Dham is an atypical businessman. After a peripatetic childhood, thanks to his father’s government job which involved frequent transfers, Dham today lives with his larger family.
“I stay in a joint family with my elder sister who lost her husband and stays with me with her kids. I like it this way,” he says, simply. Also unlike the jetset he isn’t fired by the wilderness in his search for the favourite holiday destination.
Dham loves cities — Manhattan, Hong Kong and his all-time pick of the lot, London. Of course, what he also likes are beaches — Bali and Koh Samui in Thailand. And every year, he gets away for a 10-day break to Goa end-December. His haunt remains unchanged — it’s always the Leela.
Dham is the first to admit he’s driven. But that’s because that’s the only way he knows how to do business. “Running a business is a little bit like riding a bicycle,” he says. “You have to keep pedalling hard. If you stop, you’ll fall.” If Carlos Ghosn ever hears that, no doubt he would approve.
Source : ET
Dham surprised both his team members and Ghosn’s entourage by simply walking across to introduce himself. “He was very open...he gave his card and told me to get in touch if I ever had any interesting proposition for him,” he says. “I idolise Ghosn. The way he has built Nissan up is amazing.”
A chance encounter? Probably. But then again, you wouldn’t dismiss chance encounters if you were Dham. After all it’s one such stray opportunity that helped the 45-year-old architecture grad from Punjab University build his automotive business.
From scratch. Dham’s career in components kicked off when Suzuki started building a local vendor base for Maruti. “I started my career in the construction business but I always wanted to do something in the manufacturing sector,” says Dham.
He got his chance in 1987 when Suzuki selected him as one of the vendors for Maruti. New to the components game, “the initial five-seven years were a struggle,” admits Dham. But Amtek grew with Maruti and by ’00, was big enough to start sniffing around for acquisitions.
In the next six years, the company acquired several medium-sized firms both at home and abroad — from the UK-based GWK and Mid-West in the US to Ahmednagar Forgings and WH Ltd in India.
Its most recent pickings are small — Akiel Castings in Pune and Amforge’s conrod division in Delhi — but analysts say it’s in the race for two big-ticket dollar deals. Namely: Turkish component company Doktas and JL French’s Whitham plant in the UK. Nearly two decades after his first foray into autoville, Dham and his company are confirmed cherries, even by the picky standards of private equity players.
Yet, in an industry known for its mercurial messiahs, Dham is an oddity. For one, he is no gasoline-head. By his own admission he’s not fired up about the sexiest industry in the world and does not care what he drives (it used to be a Camry till his CFO upgraded to one and forced him to buy an E-Class). For him, the automotive industry is just plain business.
And he’s not afraid to go in for a course-correction anytime he feels the balance-sheet is under pressure, passion be damned. After all, this hill school boy from Mussorie did a course correction even in his own career when he opted beyond construction after completing his masters from NY State University (Buffalo) and devoting the first couple of years of his business life to real estate.
Although he still retains his interest in real estate (“in a small way”), he admits he has made enough mistakes to know the smartest thing to do is to “cut your losses and get out”. “We made some pretty disastrous diversifications during the dotcom boom,” he says. “We got into magazines and set up an auto portal. All of it went down.”
So did his foray into pharma. A proposed plant in Bhiwadi has now been turned into a foundry and Dham has moved on. “Mistakes are a part of business,” he says. “But you have to be quick to realise you’ve made them and move on.” Today, Dham is focused on components and working on a five-year plan to take his company to the next level.
In ’07, his last five-year plan will come to a close. “We have done well so far and I have given myself up to December ’07 to complete the integration of all our acquisitions,” says Dham. That and hitting the billion-dollar mark will keep him busy for the next 14 months. After that, it will be a new set of goals and may be less involvement with the day-to-day running of the company.
An Aquarian (his birthday is on February 15), Dham admits he doesn’t often get the time to ‘do’ stuff, like playing golf. “Business keeps me too busy,” he says, adding that his family has made it clear that he can only squeeze time out from work if he wants to play regularly.
Once a state-level cricketer — he represented Punjab as a school boy and was a fast bowler in the team — his only athletic excursions these days are his morning walks with his wife. And no, he has no regrets he didn’t pursue his quest for the India cap.
“I loved cricket and played with the likes of Kapil Dev,” says Dham. “Lots of people who played with me made it to the national team. But I left cricket because my father wanted me to concentrate on studies.”
Given his punishing schedule, what he does do for fun is spend time with his family. “I love to spend time with my family as I hardly get to do that,” he says. “So I travel with my wife on business trips as both my son and daughter are studying in the US.” His son is studying engineering and his daughter business management.
Despite the workaholic template, Dham is an atypical businessman. After a peripatetic childhood, thanks to his father’s government job which involved frequent transfers, Dham today lives with his larger family.
“I stay in a joint family with my elder sister who lost her husband and stays with me with her kids. I like it this way,” he says, simply. Also unlike the jetset he isn’t fired by the wilderness in his search for the favourite holiday destination.
Dham loves cities — Manhattan, Hong Kong and his all-time pick of the lot, London. Of course, what he also likes are beaches — Bali and Koh Samui in Thailand. And every year, he gets away for a 10-day break to Goa end-December. His haunt remains unchanged — it’s always the Leela.
Dham is the first to admit he’s driven. But that’s because that’s the only way he knows how to do business. “Running a business is a little bit like riding a bicycle,” he says. “You have to keep pedalling hard. If you stop, you’ll fall.” If Carlos Ghosn ever hears that, no doubt he would approve.
Source : ET
