The billionaire heiress

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, the only child of tech billionaire Shiv Nadar, founder and chairman of HCL wears the mantle of billionaire heiress very lightly on her petite shoulders. Stark simplicity marks her sartorial style which is totally devoid of any kind of jewellery or accessories; at least, that was the look she opted for when I met her. Her clean and natural look sans makeup is pleasantly surprising.

Although Roshni grew up around two parents who are extremely dynamic, she says they kept her grounded, allowed her to make her own choices and pursue her passions. So, instead of treading the tech path like her father, Roshni chose to graduate from Northwestern University, majoring in radio, television and film. She  interned with CNBC and CNN and also worked with Sky News London, before enrolling into an MBA program in Kellogg Graduate School of Management, after her father made it clear to her that she needed to learn how to manage a business.

On her return to India in 2008, she had a chat with her dad about what she wanted to do, and decided to put her recently acquired skills in social enterprise management to work with the Shiv Nadar Foundation, the private philanthropic initiative of her father, which was established in 1994. Soon after, in mid-2009, Roshni was pitchforked into the spotlight, when she was named CEO and Executive Director of HCL Corporation at 28, a role that made her responsible for the company’s critical Treasury Operations, brand building and social initiatives. By then, she was already a part of the strategic decision making process related to the family wealth.

She married Shikhar Malhotra in November 2010, who like her, is a Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, CEO of Shiv Nadar School and board member of HCL Corporation, the holding company for the $6.3 billion HCL Enterprise.

Roshni is a proud mom to her 14-month-old son, Armaan, and is being groomed to take over from her father, whose personal net worth has been estimated at $8.6 billion in 2012 by Forbes.

When asked how it felt to be CEO at 28 and heiress to her father’s vast fortunes, Roshni said, “It came at a good time because, though I was young it gave me all the more years of overlap with my father which is important for me to understand and learn how to manage my family’s wealth. At that time, my father also needed an additional hand to help, direct and guide the direction the corporation was taking, so it fit in well.  However, I was a bit overwhelmed too, because soon after I became CEO, all of a sudden there were huge cash outflows from HCL Corporation to fund a number of new initiatives of the Shiv Nadar Foundation that took off at the same time. So, there was this huge interdependence between the Corporation and the Foundation. It took a couple of months of adjusting but the show must go on and I managed just fine.”

Talking about her ability to juggle between multiple roles of  mom, wife, daughter and employer, the soft-spoken heiress pointed out, “I am privileged to have the kind of platform I do and the kind of support I do. A lot of women in this country don’t have that. If they can juggle between multiple roles, then I damned well be able to do it too.” 

What does her typical day look like? “My day starts with my son and finishes with my son and in between I get to do everything else,” says Roshni smiling. While she admitted to spending half of her time on work related to HCL Corporation, her heart clearly lies in the work she does with the Foundation, especially the VidyaGyan initiative that provides free education to students from underprivileged sections of society.

Besides education, which she is passionate about, Roshni is a wildlife enthusiast. “I love wildlife and the outdoors and am taking off to Africa with my husband to go on my eleventh wildlife safari at the end of this year. Two years ago, before I got pregnant I took my parents and my in-laws along with us on a gorilla tracking trip to Rwanda in Africa.”

Has it sunk in yet that she is inheriting a huge legacy from her parents? “It was only when I started handling Treasury Operations that I realised all of a sudden just how much wealth we have. That is a huge responsibility, so I decided to get on with it and learn how to manage it, because I am a single child and have no siblings to share the responsibility with,” recalls Roshni, adding that her parents have been her inspiration, mentors and role models for as long as she can remember.

If she could describe herself in one sentence, what would it be? After a long pause Roshni laughed in her child-like, tinkling voice and said, “I really don’t know, but all I can say is that I hope I am a good person.”

On being asked about her vision for the HCL brand going forward, pat came the reply, “Currently, the HCL brand is defined by technology, however in the future, HCL should transform into a brand that touches millions of lives.”