Mr. Akhil Gupta
Award Year: 2004 | Degree Year: 1973
Mr. Akhil Gupta received his Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1973. Soon after he joined Hindustan Lever Ltd. (HLL) as a management trainee. After a distinguished career at HLL, he left Levers in 1979 to join Graduate School of business at Stanford University and obtained his MBA in 1981. He was involved in consulting for six years, with Startup Planning Associates and ICF Corporate at Washington DC, and later in leverage buyouts. Mr. Gupta received one of the fastest promotions to become a partner in the ICF Corporate. He was one of the first Indians to be successful in leverage buyouts as a Principal.
In 1992, he returned to India and joined Reliance. Mr. Gupta was entrusted with the task of developing Reliance’s diversification strategy as the CEO for Corporate Development. Mr. Gupta’s efforts successfully launched Reliance into the E&P business with a joint venture with ONGC and Enron, which developed the Panna, Mukta, and Tapti fields to augment India’s energy supplies. Mr. Gupta also developed an innovative exploration strategy, which later resulted in Reliance discovering a 14 TCF gas field in 2002– the largest gas discovery in the world in that year. When in operation, this field would contribute to over fifty percent of India’s gas production, and will go a long way towards India’s energy security.
Mr. Gupta also led the team that developed the business strategy for Reliance’s Refinery Business. This strategy resulted in Reliance putting up the largest grass root refinery ever built and one of the most competitive refineries in the world. This refinery doubled Reliance group’s market cap and catapulted this group into leadership position in the Indian corporate sector.
Later his efforts facilitated Reliance’s entry into the telecom business by launching GSM services in 13 states. This was the precursor of Reliance Infocomm that is revolutionizing India’s telecommunication sector. Currently, he is the CEO, Corporate Development, Reliance Infocomm Ltd. and is a key member of the Central leadership team steering a novel initiative to an outstanding growth.
In honouring Mr. Gupta, we recognize the outstanding contributions made by him as an Engineer and a Corporate Manager. Through his achievements, Akhil Gupta has brought glory to the name of this Institute.
