Navya Nanda on her future at Rs 31,000 cr Escorts: ‘Won’t restrict identity to last name’
Navya Naveli Nanda believes that she has to earn the seat at the table, her last name cannot guarantee her one. The granddaughter of Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan, and daughter of Shweta and Nikhil Nanda, the chairman-managing director of Rs 31,000 crore Escorts Kubota.
At a recent event, Navya got candid about her surname and how her identity cannot be limited to her surname. She also shared how the women in her family shaped her ambition and business mindset.
While speaking at the launch of Aparajita, the Hindi edition of former SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya’s memoir Indomitable, Navya, who recently completed her two-year PG MBA programme from IIM Ahmedabad, opened up about the burden of inheriting a household name. “Everyone has a surname, and I think everyone has an equal responsibility to live up to that name,” she said.
The entrepreneur accepted that she might never be able to completely live up to everything that her name represents, but intends to try, with her work and life. Having said that, she is strongly against being reduced to her family background. “I would never want to restrict my identity to just my last name, or the role that I play as a daughter or granddaughter or even as a friend or a sister,” she stated.
Navya Naveli Nanda emphasised that women exist “far beyond those labels” of mother, sister or homemaker. She said that she wants to create her own identity through her professional and personal life, and the women in her family have encouraged her to do so. When asked about how much the powerful women in her clan influenced her journey, she spoke warmly of her nani (Jaya Bachchan), mother (Shweta Bachchan Nanda), and above all, her late dadi Ritu Nanda (late filmmaker and actor Raj Kapoor’s eldest daughter).
Watching Ritu Nanda talking about deals in corporate world made young Navya look at it like “the most exciting place imaginable.” “A lot of my dadi’s ambition, a lot of her strength, a lot of what she did when she was younger and what I saw growing up has led me to be sitting here on this stage sharing that with you today,” she revealed.
Moreover, Navya Nanda is not just ambitious about Escorts Kubota. She has also co-founded Aara Health, a wellness platform for women, and started Project Naveli, a non-profit effort towards gender equality. To conclude, she doesn’t want to present that she can outrun her family inheritance. “I think what has been passed around me is far more than what I might even achieve in my life,” she added.
Nikhil Nanda, the husband of Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter Shweta Bachchan Nanda, had earlier clarified that family legacy alone cannot guarantee a role for his daughter, Navya Naveli Nanda, in the organisation. While talking to Shrishti Sahu, the industrialist said that any position in the company should be earned through skills and hardwork, regardless of surname.
“Navya is now showing willingness to participate more and more into EKL. But just because her last name is Nanda does not give her the right to get a position. She has to earn her position, which I think she will do it on her own,” said Nikhil, whose company Escorts Group has a market capitalisation of Rs 32,440 crore.
He further added, “Navya is now showing willingness to participate more and more into EKL. But just because her last name is Nanda does not give her the right to get a position. She has to earn her position, which I think she will do it on her own.” According to him, Navya has joined him on many visits to Japan and made her own relationships with senior leadership there.
However, he is also careful about not defining her future role yet. “For her to do what she will do as a day-to-day operation of EKL is for her to carve her path based on her appreciation and impact. It really is up to her,” Nikhil expressed. Recalling a joke within the family, he added, “My son says, I became an actor, Navya is going towards tractor.” His son, and Navya’s brother Agastya Nanda, is an actor, and has featured in two Hindi films so far.
