Billionaire car-part supplier aims to triple sales in five years

Vivek Chaand Sehgal, founder and chairman of Motherson Group, poses for a portrait at the company's head office in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd., a sprawling parts supplier to the world's biggest carmakers, is targeting to triple annual sales to $36 billion by 2025. Sehgal plans to achieve that by buying up distressed companies as they run out of money in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers assemble wire harnesses at the Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. wiring harness plant in Faridabad. It's an approach that's become a hallmark of Sehgal's Samvardhana Motherson Group, which he founded with his mother - hence the name - in 1975. A joint venture in 1986 with Japan's Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd. to supply to India's first locally manufactured car, among others, set the small trading house on the road to much greater things. Since 2007, Motherson Sumi has completed more than a dozen M&A transactions globally, sometimes buying firms twice its size. It now sells everything from interior trims to wiring harnesses, bumper bars, door panels and lighting.

Vivek Chaand Sehgal's latest goal is equally daunting - Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. is targeting to triple annual sales to $36 billion by 2025. Sehgal, 63, plans to achieve that by doing what he does best: dealing. Or more specifically, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, buying up distressed companies as they run out of money."There's a lot of pain in the system," Sehgal said. "We believe that our basic philosophy of solving the problem with the customer, that will give us multiple opportunities in the coming months - somewhere around October, November, you will start to see and hear that we're going ahead and taking over companies."

Employees work at the reception area of the Motherson Group head office in Noida.

Employees wear protective masks while working work at a reception area of the Motherson Group head office in Noida.Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd., a sprawling parts supplier to the world's biggest carmakers, is targeting to triple annual sales to $36 billion by 2025. Sehgal plans to achieve that by buying up distressed companies as they run out of money in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

A worker feeds metal into a machine used to create wire harnesses at the Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. wiring harness plant in Faridabad.The group's customers are a who's who of carmaking elite, including General Motors Co., Jaguar Land Rover, BMW AG, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG. Based on the family's 36% interest in Motherson Sumi, the publicly listed entity, Sehgal is worth around $2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

A worker holds a wire harness for a photograph at the Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. wiring harness plant in Faridabad.

Pieces used in injection molding are inspected for quality control at the Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. (MSSL) injection molding plant in Noida. As much as 80% of Motherson's targeted consolidated revenue over the next five years will come through acquisitions, as well as entry into new segments like medical devices, aerospace, security systems and logistics, Sehgal said. Small- to medium-sized companies will run out of cash before bigger firms, providing Motherson with new targets, he said.

Vivek Chaand Sehgal has a track record of achieving the seemingly impossible. His company, a sprawling parts supplier to the world's biggest carmakers, has exceeded its five-year target every time bar one in the past quarter century.