It’s Good to be the King

And the Godrej Group, the parent company that I work for, is the king or at least one of the kings of the Indian consumer market. The company was founded over a century ago as a manufacturer of locks and safes, expanding quickly into soaps. The company has since grown into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate with businesses in food-processing, consumer packaged goods, fertilizer, chemicals, machine tools, IT services, office equipment, furniture, appliances and white goods.

Given the breadth of the company’s portfolio its products are everywhere, think GE and P&G combined. Its legacy red logo or recently adopted multi-colored version can be seen on advertisements plastered on the back of buses, buildings and of course on its omnipresent products. The Godrej group was selected as the 4th best brand in India by the leading Indian business weekly. The company has very high salience and strong brand equity (shout-out to Keller) and Godrej Properties enjoys a level of trust and credibility this is unrivalled in the real estate development industry as a result of being part of the group.

Godrej’s other main asset, particularly relevant to the real estate division, is a huge expanse of land in the suburb of Vikrohli, where their factories and employee housing complex are located. This land skyrocketed in value along with all the land in an around Mumbai. A couple years ago when municipal laws were changed to allow additional development of the land, the company’s stock price doubled in value.

Of much greater near term benefit to me is the fact that this land provides a little bit of an oasis from the chaos of Mumbai. The guesthouse in which I am staying is located on the sprawling employee housing complex. The complex is a about a mile in circumference, affording me a pretty good running route, doing laps around the inside perimeter road and up and over the hill that dominates the middle of the campus. The campus also has a clubhouse with a descent gym by Mumbai standards and a nice 25 meter pool. While this is a far cry from running on the Dartmouth golf course or going for a long bike ride on near-deserted roads in Vermont, or going to the Dartmouth gym, it is enough to keep me sane and healthy for now.

In addition to its nice facilities for employees, Godrej also mandates a 5 day - 42 hour work week, rather than the 6 day work-week that is common among Indian companies. All in all it’s good to be a part of the Godrej family, and for them, it’s good to be the king.