Harsh Vardhan Goenka is an Indian industrialist and businessman and the Chairman of RPG Enterprises (known as RPG Group) since 1988. Harsh Goenka is the eldest son of RP Goenka, founder and chairman emeritus of RPG Group. He is one of India’s leading industrialists with over 35 years of experience.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Harsh Goenka was born on Tuesday, 10 December 1957 (age 65 years; as in 2023) in Kolkata, India. Their zodiac sign is Sagittarius. He completed his graduation in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta. He earned an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development, Lausanne, Switzerland. Since graduating at IMD, he has been on the Board of IMD, Lausanne. Growing up in Calcutta (now Kolkata), Goenka was deeply influenced by Marxism. According to Harsh, he wanted to be a journalist or a ‘Lal’ economist but his generationally business-interested family had other ideas. He broke her leftist beliefs and inspired her to choose the capitalist path and become the fifth generation in the family business.
Harsh Goenka’s early days photo
Physical Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
Family
Harsh Goenka belongs to the Marwari community of moneylenders and businessmen and is originally from Rajasthan.
parents and siblings
Harsh Goenka’s father, Ram Prasad Goenka, was an Indian businessman and his mother, Sushila Goenka, was a businesswoman. Ram Prasad Goenka was the founder and chairman emeritus of RPG Group and Sushila was a director of Saregama India Limited. Harsh has a younger brother, Sanjiv Goenka, who is an Indian industrialist and chairman of RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. Harsh’s father died on 14 April 2013 and his mother died in July 2018.
Harsh Goenka’s mother Sushila Goenka
Harsh Goenka (left) with his brother Sanjiv Goenka
RP Goenka, father of Harsh Goenka
wife and children
Harsh Goenka is married to Mala Goenka. They have two children, a son Anant Goenka and a daughter Vasundhara. His daughter Vasundhara Patni is married to Apoorva Patni from the businessman family.
Harsh Goenka with his wife Mala Goenka at an awards ceremony
Anant Goenka, son of Harsh Goenka
Harsh Goenka’s daughter Vasundhara Patni’s wedding photo
religion/religious views
Harsh Goenka follows Hindu religion. Talking about his religious views in an interview, he said,
Am I ritualistic? No. Do I believe in God? Once in a while. Ultimately, you know what is right and what is wrong. I wish there was a religion in the world that teaches humans how to live. But that would be an ideal world.”
Address
14/15-A, Il Palazzo, BG Kher Marg, Malabar Hill, Mumbai 400 006
livelihood
After completing his education, Harsh returned to Bombay and was appointed as the Managing Director of CEAT in 1983 at the age of 24. He played a major role in many of the joint ventures and partnerships of the family-owned business, RPG Group. The Goenka clan, along with Fortune 500 companies that started their operations in India, include Vodafone, Fujitsu, Phelps Dodge, Yokohama and Rolls-Royce. In 1990, Harsh became the Chairman of RPG Group, succeeding his father Dr. RP Goenka.
Harsh Goenka with Salman Khan at the 8th Indo-American Corporate Excellence Awards
In 2010, RP Goenka divided the RPG Group between his sons, Harsh Vardhan Goenka and Sanjiv Goenka. At that time, RPG Group had a market cap of Rs 9,150 crore and sales of Rs 13,313 crore. Post-split, Harsh got the company’s power supply business KEC International, software firm Zensar Technologies, pharmaceutical manufacturing unit RPG Life Sciences and tire production firm CEAT. Spencer International Hotels Limited was the only company that remained under joint ownership of Sanjiv and Harsh Goenka.
Harsh Goenka for an interview with Conde Nast
Goenka’s RPG backs startups like Seniority.in, an e-commerce site for senior citizens. He is a former President of the Indian Merchants Chamber, an Indian organization representing the interests of Indian trade, commerce and industry, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a non-governmental trade association. and advocacy groups based in India. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE). He is a director of Bajaj Electricals Limited and a trustee of Breach Candy Hospital Trust.
controversies
Harsh Goenka vs Twitter
In March 2023, Harsh Goenka, who is very active on Twitter, shared a meme on his account, which was a series of distasteful cartoons mocking women struggling with weight fluctuations. This meme created a stir on Twitter, claiming Harsh Goenka to be misogynistic and fatphobic. The cartoon in 1995 showed a woman wearing a sari ready to grind spices in a stone mortar. In the second, a woman wearing a dress is shown looking towards a mixer grinder. The main difference was size and weight. Many of her followers retweeted it with a caption alluding to her fat shaming. As a result Goenka deleted the tweet.
Harsh Goenka has shared the meme on Twitter.
Harsh Goenka tried to defuse the situation by posting another meme depicting the same situation, but with men. But Twitter users also did not take this well.
balancing act pic.twitter.com/2ms3KO7bx1
– Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) 5 March 2023
Awards and Honors
- In 2023, Harsh Goenka received the award at the NBT Utsav 2023 for his corporate leadership and contribution to society.
- In November 2020, under his leadership, RPG Group was awarded the Most Innovative Company by the Economic Times.
net worth
Harsh Goenka’s net worth as of 2023 is $3 billion.
Favorite
- Sweets: Malaipuri, Jalbhara Sandesh, Alfogato
- Painting: Akbar Padamsee “Metascape”
- Restaurant: Izumi, Bandra, Mumbai
Facts/General Knowledge
- In an interview, while talking about his early days, before becoming the Chairman of RPG Enterprises, Harsh talked about being left-minded and said,
I considered going to the London School of Economics because it was left-leaning. I was influenced by the city’s dens, where students and unemployed youth would debate politics and the state of the world over tea and cigarettes.”
- According to Forbes 2022, Harsh Goenka is the 95th richest person in India and as per the Forbes Richest Billionaires 2023 list, he is listed at number 1434.
- According to Harsh Goenka, due to his upbringing in Calcutta, he was largely influenced by Marxism and was left-leaning in his early days.
- According to the company’s website, RPG Group has a turnover of $4 billion and its base setup is in many countries around the world.
- Goenka is a cricket lover and promotes the CEAT Cricket Rating for international and domestic cricket, a rating system that rewards outstanding cricketers from around the world.
Harsh Goenka with Shikhar Dhawan
- Harsh Goenka works for many social causes including primary education, women empowerment, health and city beautification.
- Harsh Goenka’s hobbies include travelling, collecting art, trying new food and watching cricket. Harsh also criticizes the food of different restaurants on Instagram and has more than 14 thousand followers. His Instagram bio says,
Passionate about food, people, art and sports.”
- Harsh Goenka believes that the working environment improves productivity and he has not implemented any strict rules for the employees, like employees can work from anywhere, no cabin policy, even for the CEO. There is also no cabin nearby in one of the companies owned by him. , and there is no compulsory attendance system.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn