Kumar Birla who multiplied his group’s wealth over 26 times , is now facing tough times after Jio’s entry

• In 20 years, Aditya Birla revenue grew 26-fold from $1.6 billion in 1995 to $41 billion in 2015.
  
• However, his telecom business Idea Cellular ran into trouble in 2016.
  
• In 2016, Mukesh Ambani led-Reliance Industries disrupted the Indian telecom industry with Jio — hurting all telecom players including Idea.
  
• Vodafone Idea posted a net loss of ₹4,874 crore, or over $700 million, in the first quarter of the current financial year.
  

In 1995, Aditya Vikram Birla passed away suddenly from cancer-related ailment. As expected, investors were nervous of the group’s future. Even so, after a 28-year old Kumar Birla was given the reins of the massive Aditya Birla Group.

The Birla group was shaken at the sudden demise of the chairman and staring at a gloomy future. But the young Kumar wasn’t ready to give up. Two days later, he laid down an agenda, met investors and began his work.

He hasn’t stopped till date as he now runs a $40 billion empire with interests across metals, cement, retail and telecom: