all his values of course the economic liberalization process that began in the early 1990s must have played a role the birlas tell shobhan saxena and archana khare ghose about the values they share in an exclusive interview with sunday times kumar mangalam birla one of the richest indians and his wife neerja talk about their motivation passions and valueskumar mangalam birla 44 the chairman of the 35 billion aditya birla group which operates in 36 countries is one of the faces of the india growth story growth for growths sake can never be an end in itself i still listen to music i always feel that he is a great role model for our children as a result india has emerged as an economic success story and that is a matter of pride for all of us his wife neerja the vicechairperson of the aditya birla world academy an international school in mumbai is a wellknown collector and patron of arts we have healthy discussions around the dining table on an eclectic mix of subjects what do you talk during dinnerkb not in the sense of work papers but we do talk work at home but my grandparentsinlaw recently showcased their personal art collection at an exhibition i have noticed this time and again at home and at abwa and over the next three decades he made investments in southeast asia when you grow up in a business family i think there is a lot of learning that happens at home who are the favourite artists of the family both among the senior moderns and the junior contemporariesnb both of us are very fond of art especially contemporary art we enjoy meeting with the artists and getting to know them and their art inspiration we like art that appeals to the eye and paintings that reflect positivity and not morbid art that exposes them to the ground realities of our country neerja birla my fathers contribution to business and society can never be underscored we also organize satsang every week at home with a group of our friends nb we watch movies english and hindi with our children but today there is degree of caution around capitalism thats phenomenal growth