‘Don’t think my job requires me to be…’: KM Birla tells Nikhil Kamath why he is staying away from the media

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, said he does not believe in stating his views publicly. Birla said he carefully stays away from the media because he is somewhat of a reclusive person.

Birla was speaking to Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath in the latest episode of his show ‘People by WTF’. When Kamath asked why he doesn’t speak publicly more often, Birla said he prefers to keep his personal thoughts private.

“I’ve pretty much consciously stayed away from the media. I don’t think my job requires me to be in people’s faces all the time and I’m a private person myself. I’m not too keen on sharing things about my personal life or I prefer to keep all those personal thoughts to myself. This Pretty much there is no other reason for it,” Birla told Kamath.

“I mean you have platforms to express your opinions if you want to, whether it’s at work, with the government or with your family, rather than talking about it to people in general through the media. I would rather talk about it in a proper forum or a proper platform.” The industrialist explained that it might be a conversation at the dinner table.

Birla said that he has never been shy about expressing his opinion about something that really concerns him or bothers him. “I never worried about becoming unpopular because of it or rubbing someone the wrong way if it was coming from a place of conviction,” Birla said, highlighting the importance of speaking to the right audience.

Kamath also asked him about his interview with Simi Garewal on the TV talk show ‘Appointment with Simi Garewal’ which aired from 1997 to 2009. He said it was difficult to decline the interview request with Garewal.

“I thought it was interesting. I don’t know, she’s a friend and she can’t also say no, to be honest. I liked the look. It was kind of fun. Those were very early years. I think my father had died less than a year ago, so it was “Life was different then.”