Ceat eyes $2 bn revenue in near term: Goenka

Even in his younger days, Anant Goenka was drawn more to Ceat Ltd than other ventures of the RPG Group since the tyre business was more intuitive to him than other family businesses like engineering and technology.

- Deborshi Chaki

In an interview, Goenka, managing director and chief executive of the tyremaker for over a decade, traced his growth through the group, prospects for the company and the group's changing management style. Edited excerpts: 

How has been your personal journey since joining the group?

It's been 20 years since I've been in the group. To me, the first 10 years were one of skillbuilding where I started as a territory leader, sales, at Ceat and moved on to grow in different roles, from leading a small SBU (strategic business unit) to heading the supply chain at KEC International. In each of these roles, I felt like I was thrown into the deep end of the ocean, where I had to quickly learn functional skills as well as softer aspects of leadership and people management. I inherently feared public speaking, which I had to overcome as I took on the CEO role of Ceat.

Managing various stakeholders such as investors, the board, media and customers have been another enriching experience. I have always had a personal attachment to Ceat as, from a young age, it was the easier company to relate to being a product and marketing-based company.

EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) and tech are not as intuitive to understand, and therefore when someone asked, "What does your family do?", "We are in the tyre business", would be my answer. The last 10 years at Ceat have been vital again as I understood the importance of purpose and values in an organization. This belief system came through our total quality management (TQM) journey, for which we were recognized with the Deming Prize in 2017.

What is your vision for Ceat?