Karthikeyan Balasubramanian : Leveraging Strong Business Acumen & Leadership Skillsets To Drive Organizational Growth
Karthikeyan Balasubramanian
Executive Director
In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights, Karthikeyan sheds light on his overall industrial journey, his leadership approach, and much more.
You share an extensive journey with Thriveni Earthmovers spearheading multiple roles and making several impacts, how do you look back at your growth today?
Thriveni Earthmovers is a first-generation business we started with my brother B. Prabhakaran. The journey started with my father, who was from an agricultural family. After trying his luck across various sectors, such as FMCG, Trading, Lorry Building, Banking, and so on, he finally settled upon Thriveni Earthmovers. After completing my engineering, I joined the business, which, back then, was a small organization. While we were initially into providing earthmoving equipment on rent, we saw market opportunities in the contracting business and gradually transformed ourselves into a contracting company.
Due to the complexities and difficulties involved, not many people were venturing into the mining business. We took it as an opportunity to enter the mining sector as a contractor. After dealing with various minerals, such as Limestone and Bauxite, we finally ended up with
Iron ore in Odisha. Starting as a small contractor to Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), later, we worked with numerous private mine owners, including Tata Steel, which helped us grow to become one of the largest excavation contractors in Odisha. Later, we also expanded our venture to Indonesia. Initially starting with coal mines, we gradually ventured into contract mining and currently own two coal mines in the country.
We also ventured into contract mining in Jharkhand, one of India's single pit largest coal mines. In December 2024, we are also starting the first gold mine in the country. We are also into pellet manufacturing and are one of India's largest pellet exporters. Apart from that, we are also present in Maharashtra, where we are one of the shareholders of Lloyd's Metals and Energy Group.
Shed some light on your leadership approach. What are the best practices you pass on to your team from your experience?
My family has a massive influence on my leadership approach. An incredibly passionate person, my brother has never been afraid of taking up challenging jobs in difficult areas. Once he is done putting the project in place, my expertise comes into the picture. I also have two sons- Vishnu Varrdhan Karthikeyan and Sanjeev Varrdhan Karthikeyan. While Vishnu is doing his MBA in business management in the UK, Sanjeev is doing his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. Even my wife Premalatha Karthikeyan is an accomplished entrepreneur running a Salem-based leading real estate development company. Furthermore, she is actively involved in our coffee estate development and looks after our family finances.
My skillsets revolve around project execution, where I set up the operations while mitigating the challenges. As a leader, I go deep into the operations, understand the challenges, and mitigate them before handing them over to the team. I have an extremely professional team that comprises people with extensive experience and industry expertise working for some of the largest corporations in the country. I don't get into the daily operations. We have an incredibly professional management team for that. I mostly look into the areas of concern before bringing them to my team's notice and making them understand the challenges. I also guided my team in solving those problems.
The only way to achieve success is to get out of your comfort zone & take on opportunities with a lot of difficulties
We also ventured into contract mining in Jharkhand, one of India's single pit largest coal mines. In December 2024, we are also starting the first gold mine in the country. We are also into pellet manufacturing and are one of India's largest pellet exporters. Apart from that, we are also present in Maharashtra, where we are one of the shareholders of Lloyd's Metals and Energy Group.
Shed some light on your leadership approach. What are the best practices you pass on to your team from your experience?
My family has a massive influence on my leadership approach. An incredibly passionate person, my brother has never been afraid of taking up challenging jobs in difficult areas. Once he is done putting the project in place, my expertise comes into the picture. I also have two sons- Vishnu Varrdhan Karthikeyan and Sanjeev Varrdhan Karthikeyan. While Vishnu is doing his MBA in business management in the UK, Sanjeev is doing his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. Even my wife Premalatha Karthikeyan is an accomplished entrepreneur running a Salem-based leading real estate development company. Furthermore, she is actively involved in our coffee estate development and looks after our family finances.
My skillsets revolve around project execution, where I set up the operations while mitigating the challenges. As a leader, I go deep into the operations, understand the challenges, and mitigate them before handing them over to the team. I have an extremely professional team that comprises people with extensive experience and industry expertise working for some of the largest corporations in the country. I don't get into the daily operations. We have an incredibly professional management team for that. I mostly look into the areas of concern before bringing them to my team's notice and making them understand the challenges. I also guided my team in solving those problems.
How do you leverage your experience and expertise in creating long-term business strategies for the organization?
As a rapidly developing country, India today has a huge opportunity in the mining sector. However, there's always a shortage of human resources. The attrition rate in mining companies is extremely high due to the difficult environment in various issue prone areas. So, our primary business strategy revolves around training and development. Once an employee joins as a Trainee Engineer in our firm, we help him get elevated. We don't hire outsiders directly and put them at the helm of projects. Most of our projects are run by people who have been with us for 20-25 years and understand the DNA of the organization.
What is your anticipation about the market, going forward?
In the last 10-15 years, the Mining sector has gradually become one of the leading contributors to the country's progress. We used to import a lot of minerals in the past. However, there has been a rapid change owing to the vision of our Prime Minister of becoming a self-sufficient nation. So, a lot of mines or Mineral blocks are getting opened up and auctioned. While there is a huge amount of opportunities, we still don't have enough contractors for the same. Organizations need to step up and upgrade their infrastructures to take benefit of this market situation. Today, having the best people as well as world-class equipment has helped reap those opportunities while experiencing multifold growth.
Karthikeyan Bala- subramanian, Executive Director, Thriveni Earthmovers
An accomplished first generation entrepreneur with around 25 years of extensive experience across mining operations and a proven track record in operation, customer management, and global expansion, Karthikeyan Balasubramanian joined Thriveni Earthmovers in 1999. As the Executive Director of the firm, he is taking care of the overall organizational operations. An inspiring leader with a strong focus on employee empowerment, Karthikeyan has been instrumental in the firm’s global expansion, specifically in Indonesia and Singapore.
•Hobbies: Gardening, Travelling
•Favorite Cuisine: South Indian, Thai, Indonesian
•Favorite Book: Books by Robin Sharma
•Favorite Travel Destination: Home town (Salem, Tamil Nadu), Indonesia, The USA
As a rapidly developing country, India today has a huge opportunity in the mining sector. However, there's always a shortage of human resources. The attrition rate in mining companies is extremely high due to the difficult environment in various issue prone areas. So, our primary business strategy revolves around training and development. Once an employee joins as a Trainee Engineer in our firm, we help him get elevated. We don't hire outsiders directly and put them at the helm of projects. Most of our projects are run by people who have been with us for 20-25 years and understand the DNA of the organization.
What is your anticipation about the market, going forward?
In the last 10-15 years, the Mining sector has gradually become one of the leading contributors to the country's progress. We used to import a lot of minerals in the past. However, there has been a rapid change owing to the vision of our Prime Minister of becoming a self-sufficient nation. So, a lot of mines or Mineral blocks are getting opened up and auctioned. While there is a huge amount of opportunities, we still don't have enough contractors for the same. Organizations need to step up and upgrade their infrastructures to take benefit of this market situation. Today, having the best people as well as world-class equipment has helped reap those opportunities while experiencing multifold growth.
Karthikeyan Bala- subramanian, Executive Director, Thriveni Earthmovers
An accomplished first generation entrepreneur with around 25 years of extensive experience across mining operations and a proven track record in operation, customer management, and global expansion, Karthikeyan Balasubramanian joined Thriveni Earthmovers in 1999. As the Executive Director of the firm, he is taking care of the overall organizational operations. An inspiring leader with a strong focus on employee empowerment, Karthikeyan has been instrumental in the firm’s global expansion, specifically in Indonesia and Singapore.
•Hobbies: Gardening, Travelling
•Favorite Cuisine: South Indian, Thai, Indonesian
•Favorite Book: Books by Robin Sharma
•Favorite Travel Destination: Home town (Salem, Tamil Nadu), Indonesia, The USA