How Singhania is navigating a 7-year turnaround at Raymond

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Raymond’s cash flows. Debt piled up. The chief executive of the company’s flagship lifestyle business resigned.

The top brains at Raymond then connected over Zoom calls to come up with the following plan—be among the top three companies in all businesses, exit those where they couldn’t be among the top three, reduce debt, and demerge the conglomerate once debt is under control. “In 2020, we created a roadmap for a seven-year period," said Amit Agarwal, chief financial officer of the Raymond Group. The following four years have been well-documented.

Raymond sold its fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) business to Godrej Consumer Products, used the money to repay lenders, acquired engineering firm Maini Precision Products Ltd (MPPL) to scale its engineering business, launched multiple real estate projects, and finally set the wheels in motion for the demerger of its three businesses – lifestyle, engineering and real estate. The markets have rewarded the company’s efforts. The Raymond stock doubled between the beginning of this year and July to over ₹3,150, before the lifestyle business was carved out.

The stock has lost over 10% since the carve-out, closing at ₹1,894 on Monday. “That was a heavy monkey on our back," Singhania said, referring to the debt reduction effort. "But you know what? Today, there's a different monkey on our back," Singhania said in an interview at his palatial South Mumbai residential tower that also houses Raymond’s flagship store.

“Today, our whole drive is: How do we create shareholder value? How do we grow? What is the next big thing?" he said. Today, with a healthier balance sheet, Raymond is executing the next chapter from its playbook: Expansion. The plan will play out differently across the