Siddharth Mehta: Heir to the world’s largest gold processing company

Siddharth Mehta with his inherited business skills, is expected to succeed his father as the next tycoon in gold industry

Rajesh Exports Limited (REL), world’s largest gold processing company, was founded by Rajesh Mehta in 1989. Right from his first independent business venture in 1982 to transforming REL into a household name for gold across the country, Mehta is a classic example of rags to riches. However, it wasn’t until 2011 that his son, Siddharth Mehta, entered the family business as the foundational member of IT and strategy team.Heir to India’s largest gold product export company, Mehta joined Rajesh Exports at the age of 19, not as the founder’s son, but a regular employee. Initially, his father didn’t pay him a single penny. As reported by The Economic Times, Siddharth Mehta said,

“My dad would joke that if you went to college, you paid to learn something. Here too, I am learning something so I should pay him. However, money was not a priority at that time for me; acquiring knowledge was.”

Siddharth gradually learned the intricacies of business and began discussing possible strategic moves with his father. With the vision to establish REL as a leader in global jewelry market, the duo lined up corresponding missions. Their primary target was the acquisition of world’s largest precious metal refining company, Valcambi, a deal they were eyeing for nearly three years.

Rajesh Exports acquired Valcambi in 2015 and became the only company in the world to have a value chain – from refining to retail. Though Rajesh Mehta was a seasoned businessman by then, this was one of the biggest projects for Siddharth.

On the success of the deal, The Economic Times reported Siddharth saying, “How to work with different nationalities, how to talk to them, what are the processes that take place during an acquisition. The books teach us that you hire a company that does the ground work for you, arrange the funds, and buy the company. But in real life, it’s a different experience.”

Siddharth Mehta idolizes his father for his professional as well as personal achievements. Addressing Rajesh Mehta as “Chairman” in the office, he learnt some of his key virtues including simplicity, focus, motivation, and punctuality. Talking about sleep patterns, Siddharth laughed and added, “He feels I should reduce my sleep time but I take refuge in science and tell him that one needs eight hours of sleep.”

Apart from the corporate side of Siddharth Mehta, he is an avid fan of cricket and Sachin Tendulkar. One of his finest memories is meeting Sachin in his school days. Tendulkar wanted to buy a gift for Anil Kumble’s daughter and, after being referred by someone, he bought a pendant from Rajesh Mehta.

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The current head of the IT Team at Rajesh Exports, Siddharth looks forward to enhance his contributions towards the company’s growth. This can be noticed in his ‘pet-project’ of introducing the company in the e-commerce sphere.