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Would you be looking at more airports in the near or mid-term future?
As long as it is interesting and profit making, we will look for more airports. In fact, we have already started looking at more airports. Now, we know everything about airports. The operator at the Bengaluru Airport – Zurich Airport – is a cash rich company.
They are operating close to 10 airports in the world. And they have entered into a strategic alliance with us that we will bid for new airports together wherein GVKPIL will have a majority stake. They are interested only in the operations while we will manage and expand. And we are already on the job. We have already identified some airports and are working on them but we can’t disclose the names.
We believe in keeping low profile but being aggressive. People got a shock of their lives when they heard of our acquisition in the Bengaluru Airport. That’s our strategy.
Today GVKPIL has presence in almost all the infrastructure segments except seaports & railways?
Just wait. One at a time. Wait and watch. In fact, we tried in the past but were not successful in entering into these segments. But we are on the job. We are discussing these segments very seriously and we will definitely take them up.
Tell us something about your Group’s foray into hospitality. What is your share in the Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts joint venture?
This is actually my passion. I got into this business out of my personal liking. I wanted to build the best hotel in Hyderabad. Before I came into this business, I was acquiring land at strategic positions. People were actually laughing at me. But when I started building the hotel, the MD of Taj – after seeing the details and design – called me and asked me if I was crazy to build such a hotel in Hyderabad. I told him that he was right but I was building for tomorrow.
Of course, there’s more to it. I had acquired a big piece of land with the aim of building another large hotel with a golf course. Then the government built a road right through my land. The then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr NTR who used to pass through that road wanted to build something on that land. Thankfully for me, I knew the chief secretary who told me that the Chief Minister was looking at the land. I immediately started building the next hotel on that land even before the first one had started making profits.
Soon I did one more hotel. Later when I decided to expand I entered into a strategic alliance with Taj. That time the hotel business was doing as well as it is doing now so I had to give them a 25% stake. They operate the business while I manage the business and have financial control with a 50% stake. Now I have taken over another Hotel – Taj Banjara which was originally built by me. Then I have properties in Chandigarh and Chennai; plus another one is being developed in Hyderabad.
Then I had acquired a site in Bangalore. We are going slow on that because the market was down. But we will build a hotel there as well. We also have a tie-up with Ginger Hotels in Andhra Pradesh. We have the first right; they cannot build a hotel here without us. We will be developing a hotel soon near the airport and may develop another 3-4 after the political problems are resolved.
To put it briefly, we are doing extremely good in the hotel business. In the profit making list, we are ranked 5th.
I understand you are quite passionate about tennis and you have even sponsored some tennis players. What is it that drives GVK the man?
Every human being requires some change, some diversification. I like to play tennis. If I have an early morning flight to catch, I play for about an hour or so and then leave for the airport; otherwise I play for about one & half hour to two hours. You must come and watch me play. I have a good time with my friends. We even used to take bets for Rs10, which has just gone up to Rs100. I have even sponsored a tournament for veterans.
One day a woman came to see. She said her daughter played well and wanted me to sponsor the girl. Although I refused initially I told her that I would like to watch her play first. The next morning I saw her play and felt that she was playing quite well. So I decided to sponsor. That girl was Sania Mirza. And I have been supporting her from that day till toady. She has come up to a level and that is not satisfactory to me. I want only the number one spot for her. But she has done well at least in the country. Now I am supporting ten kids in all. Basically, I love tennis. Personally I play it for pleasure as well as for exercise.
Do you regret that you couldn’t take up the game as a youngster?
My parents had brought restrictions generally on my playing as I used to bunk school and do a lot of mischief. One day somebody got first rank in my school and I took up a bet that I could also get a first rank. Things changed after that bet. I inculcated a lot of discipline and commitment.
I did get the first rank and never changed my habits after that. When I look back, I understand the reasons why my parents had brought restrictions on me. In fact, they had even stopped my studies for one year. Somebody had prepared my jataka (horoscope) and told my parents that ‘this boy is useless; he is good for nothing till the age of 13’. Things changed after I turned 14.
Where do you see GVKPIL in the next five to ten years?
Recently, when the Economic Times gave me the ‘Entrepreneur of the year’ award I didn’t sleep that night. That was the second time in my life when I hadn’t slept. Earlier, I hadn’t slept when I had financially closed a critical project. I felt whatever has happened is nothing. This is just the foundation. I have just started.
When you achieve something, it brings more responsibility with it. People start looking at you. You have to be more careful. And this time you have to run fast. You have to achieve something much more than what you have done. Incidentally, I have been thinking about it while playing tennis this morning.
Immediately after this interview, I have a strategy meeting with my team. I want to understand where we will be tomorrow, what are we going to be tomorrow. What are our plans? Where are we going? How fast can we run? We want to become much larger.
The base has now been created. We would like to expand our power portfolio to 10000mw from the current 2000-3000mw. We would like to take up 1000 km of road projects. These are two targets that I have come up with and others will come up with their own. We would also like to strengthen our position in the Delhi area.
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COMMENT
I am a senior citizen having rendered a long service of 40 and odd years of service. Even in Govt service while dealing