Mr. Daraius Mehta is a Financial and Strategic Management expert, credited with the turnaround of Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd., the only fertilizer manufacturing company in Karnataka. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and passed the CA exam in November 1973, ranked 44 in All India Rankings.

He has is widely experienced in both the Operational & Strategic Management fields - managing organisations that were passing through very difficult conditions, and also those that needed new strategic direction. The organisations he has been with during his career spanning 35 years are listed below along with his significant contributions.

He was the Managing Director of Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. for nine out of the fifteen years he was with the company. During this period, he led the process of its transformation from an extremely sick BIFR company to a healthy and profitable company. In the financial year 2004-05, prior to his leaving, the company achieved a turnover of Rs. 879 crores. Plans for growth were under implementation through a Rs. 600 Crore diversification project on which work had commenced.

At the time of management takeover by the UB Group in September 1990, the Company was financially “sick”, with a large negative net worth. The turnaround commenced in the very first year of his taking charge as Managing Director, i.e. 1996-97, with steady growth in turnover and as well as profits. By 31.3.2000, the net worth turned positive.. Amongst old Naphtha based plants, GOI has recognized this as the most efficient unit. During this time, growth had been planned through a Rs. 600 Crore diversification project on which work had commenced.

He was also a Director on the Board of The Fertilizer Association of India (FAI) for nine years.

In recognition of the vast improvement in its performance, the Company was given the award for “Overall Improvement of a Company” by The Fertilizer Association of India for three consecutive years, 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99. IIM Ahmedabad wrote a case study on the turnaround at MCF which was published in the Asian Case Research Journal in 2003.

He is invited to speak at many conferences and other industry forums, including labour conferences. At IIM Ahmedabad, he was asked to give the introductory speech to the Management Development Class to which the MCF case was first presented for discussion. He was also invited to speak at the Ahmedabad Management Association.

He joined the UB Group as General Manager (Accounts and MIS) in January 1989 and was promoted to Vice President in April 1990, Sr. Vice President in April 1992 and Executive Vice President & Deputy Managing Director, MCF in October 1994. In October 1996, he was inducted as Managing Director of MCF.

He was simultaneously elevated as President - Fertiliser Division of the UB Group. Shortly thereafter, he was inducted on to its Supervisory Board and subsequently to the Group Executive Committee.

Prior to joining the UB Group, he was the Financial Controller at Astra-IDL Ltd. and was a permanent invitee at Board of Directors meetings. In the absence of a Chief Executive for a whole year, he supervised the entire operations and reviewed the company’s performance at Board meetings. In addition to Finance, he also headed the Export, Secretarial and Legal functions.

His other previous engagements were:

After leaving the UB Group, he has been advising companies on various operational aspects. He also assumed the role of the CEO of Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd., Mumbai for nearly six months.

Mr. D.P. Mehta is married and has two sons. In the extra-curricular field, he has achieved excellence in swimming at school, college and at the national level.

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