Aditya Birla Fashion's board inducts scions Ananya and Aryaman Birla

Aditya Birla Fashion's board announced that Ananya Birla and Aryaman Vikram Birla, children of industrialistic Kumar Mangalam Birla, were inducted as directors of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd on Monday.

28-year old Ananya started her professional career by establishing Svatantra Microfin, a microfinance company, when she was 17 years old. She also pursued music and has released several music albums.

Her 25-year-old brother Aryaman incubated the group's direct-to-consumer (D2C) platform TMRW. He too pursued other entrepreneurial ventures in the hospitality business and currently leads the group's venture capital fund, Aditya Birla Ventures. Aryaman has represented the Madhya Pradesh Ranji team and was also a member of the Rajasthan Royals team in the Indian Premier League.

The appointment of Ananya and Aryaman to the fashion retail business of the Aditya Birla Group instead of its flagship cement and aluminium businesses is considered as a well-thought-out move. The fashion and retail industry is constantly evolving and is characterised by rapid shifts in consumer trends.

The siblings' nuanced understanding of new-age business models and emerging shifts in consumer behavior is expected to bring fresh energy to the board of Aditya Birla Fashion, stated Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairman of Aditya Birla Group.

Ananya and Aryaman were inducted as directors on the board of Aditya Birla Management Corp. last week, the apex body that provides strategic direction to the Aditya Birla Group's businesses. They will now have a closer look at the group's diverse businesses, including its flagship companies such as Grasim, Ultratech Cement, and Hindalco.

According to Professor Kavil Ramachandran, a senior advisor at the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business, the induction of Ananya and Aryaman into the fashion and retail business indicates that a lot of thought went into this decision. It is an area where they can relate very closely compared to the group's other businesses. Their induction into the group strategy team will allow them to learn and develop as responsible inheritors, he added.

The induction of Ananya and Aryaman is part of a larger trend in the business world, where conglomerates are bringing in the next generation to lead new-age businesses.

Mukesh Ambani delegated responsibilities to his children Akash, Isha and Anant to lead the company's new-age businesses, while the main businesses of oil and gas, refineries, and petrochemicals still remain under his control.

Similarly, Noel Tata's children Leah, Neville and Maya were appointed to Tata Medical Centre Trust's board late last year, in a move seen as developing the next generation of leaders.

The induction of Ananya and Aryaman into the board of Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail marks the entry of the fifth generation of the Birla family into the conglomerate and is part of a larger trend in the business world. Their contributions and expertise will be invaluable in the rapidly changing fashion and retail industry.