Kumar Mangalam Birla says investment calls are becoming tougher now amid 'global volatility'

Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla said multiple global crises have made investment decisions tougher for his metals-to-retail empire that generates over a third of its business overseas.

“You either grow or you go down; you can’t stay in a state of equilibrium,” the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi Tuesday. “We’ve been constantly investing as well in our existing and in new businesses because you can’t stop growing.”

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Global businesses face a volatile environment marked by unpredictable US tariff and trade policies, the Middle East war, as well as shifting demand across major economies and sectors. The Aditya Birla Group operates across 41 countries and generated $72 billion in revenue in the year ended March. As of June, it derived 42% of its sales from outside India.

The Mumbai-based conglomerate’s businesses include metals firm Hindalco Industries Ltd., cement maker UltraTech Cement Ltd., non-bank lender Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. and retailer Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd. It is also challenging incumbents by expanding into paints with Birla Opus, building materials via the Birla Pivot marketplace and retail jewellery with Indriya under Novel Jewels. The group also acquired Shell Plc’s renewable energy assets for $1.8 billion and launched the Ultravolt brand of electric cables.

“Because we are a global organisation, when I read about a significant global event in the newspapers, I can be sure that it will impact us somewhere,” Birla said.

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Besides geopolitics, artificial intelligence poses a new challenge as multiple businesses can’t follow a uniform strategy to adopt the technology, according to Birla.

The conglomerate will make investments in AI “a little more gradually than we thought a year ago,” Birla said. “I don’t think we need to act out of a sense of FOMO.”