Rajeev Jhawar and his expert mind to save Usha Martin

Rajeev Jhawar is the son of Brij Kishore Jhawar. He has been the Managing Director at Usha Martin Limited since May 19, 2008. He is the Director of Neutral Publishing House Ltd. Usha Martin Limited had gone through turmoil with a huge debt burden and a family feud for several years. After hiving off its steel division to Tata in 2019 and clearing most of its debts, the company now sees itself in a reasonably healthy position. The current debt of the company, including the working capital, is now merely Rs582 crore, as against Rs4,600 crore in 2018-19.

Usha Martin was Established in 1960, Usha Martin was one of the leading steel producers and wire rope manufacturers in the country for a long time. The company underwent the incorporation process in the year 1986 under the name Usha Beltron Ltd. Since its inception, the company had been seeing immense growth and was elegantly walking up the ladder for the past 50 years. Some of its manufacturing units are set up in Ranchi, Hoshiarpur, Dubai, Bangkok and UK. Despite hard work, it was also the joint effort of the family that brought the company to the top. Basant Kumar Jhawar, his brother Brij Kishore Jhawar and his son Prasant Jhawar along with the company’s MD and his Nephew Rajeev Jhawar, took the company to great heights. While the family jointly held 51% of the stake, the rest of the retailers held only 49% of the stake.

Usha Martin Limited had gone through turmoil with a huge debt burden and a family feud for several years. After hiving off its steel division to Tata in 2019 and clearing most of its debts, the company now sees itself in a reasonably healthy position. The current debt of the company, including the working capital, is now merely Rs582 crore, as against Rs4,600 crore in 2018-19.

Usha Martin has deleveraged its balance sheet by selling its steel business, readying for a turnaround under Rajeev Jhawar. As a global giant in the wire rope industry, the company’s future remains promising and it is poised for a significant rerating from here.

Usha Martin has been in the news ever since a spat between the cousins – Prashant and Rajeev Jhawar – came out into the open. In April 2017, the board had passed a resolution, moved by the SBI nominee, to strip Prashant Jhawar of his post as the non-executive chairman and also trim the power of Basant Jhawar, 83, as chairman emeritus. Prashant and his father BK Jhawar had been under attack from banks, too. The allegation against them was that, despite several reminders from banks, the son-father duo did not complete the documentation process relating to the pledge of their stakes to the concerned banks. This irked the lenders, who decided to move a resolution against them. However, Rajeev Jhawar met all the compliances required by the banks and stayed with the company to help it recover from debt. His strong willpower was seen in this turnaround by Usha Martin.

Mr Rajeev Jhawar with over three decades of experience in strategic management is the right man for the moment. With the knowledge acquired from London Business School, he started his journey as Sr. Vice President (Commercial) and became the Managing Director of Usha Martin Limited in 1998. In the next three decades that he has been at the helm of the Usha Martin Group, he has accelerated growth.

Many in the industry feel that Rajeev jhawar Usha Martin had influenced the board to remove his uncle and cousin, as the relationship between them had soured over the control of the company. But the truth is different. Meanwhile, in February 2018, the Usha Martin board reappointed Rajeev as the managing director, despite opposition from Prashant and Basant Jhawar. All the other board members, including the six independent directors and the nominee director of the State Bank of India, had voted in Rajeev’s favour. His leadership qualities, sharp business acumen, in-depth understanding of business administration and strategic decision making has taken the Group to an altogether higher growth trajectory which is much needed at this very instance.