Interview Summary
Anu Aga, former Chairperson of Thermax Ltd., recounts how she inherited leadership of Thermax Ltd. after the sudden death of her late husband in 1996, and describes the strategies she used to strengthen and grow the business during her eight-year tenure as chairperson. The company that eventually became Thermax Ltd. started in 1966 as Wanson India, a collaboration between Aga’s father, A S Bhathena, with Wanson, the Belgian company. Under Mr. Bhathena’s direction, Wanson India manufactured boilers in accordance with the demands of the closed Indian economy.
In 1980, Wanson India broke away from its Belgian partner, and re-established itself as Thermax Private Limited. The following year, Rohinton Aga (Anu Aga’s husband) assumed the title of Chairperson and Managing Director after working in partnership with Aga’s father for many years. Aga herself became involved with the family business only in 1985, when she was appointed head of Human Resources. In the interview, she describes some of the team-building strategies she used develop successful working relationships and promote collaboration. She also explains some of the anxieties she faced taking on this new role, and the challenges of balancing work with raising her two young children.
Rohinton Aga suddenly passed away in 1996, and Aga succeeded him the new chairperson of Thermax Ltd. In the interview, Aga relates the factors that went into her selection for the role, as well as some of the biggest challenges she faced assuming leadership of a large-scale, highly-diversified engineering firm. At that time, the Indian economy was in the midst of a severe downturn. Despite the fact that she had little background in either business or engineering, she immediately recognized that the company was out of depth and needed major re-structuring.
However, the key to her success, she explains, was her willingness to ask for help—most notably, from the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group. In the first few years of her leadership, Aga took the decision to remove family members from executive positions and instead place them on the Thermax board.
In addition to her leadership within Thermax, Aga also became an outspoken advocate of corporate responsibility, both independently and as a member of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). In a supplementary interview in 2021, Aga explains that her commitment to responsibility was one major factor that led her to take a hardline stance against corruption within Thermax. Aga also explains some of the factors that helped her convince Thermax board members to institutionalize a no-corruption policy as part of the company’s corporate culture, and how Thermax is able to compete successfully against corrupt companies.
In 2004, Aga took the decision to step down as chairperson. In her original interview, she describes the unusual way in which she approached this transition and the reasons that she selected her daughter, Meher Pudumjee, as her successor. Since that time, Aga continues to serve as Chairperson of Thermax Foundation, the non-profit corporate social responsibility branch of Thermax. She has also become personally involved in philanthropic activities, specifically NGOs like Akanksha and Teach for India.
[As a leader], you don’t have to know everything… In fact, one of the beliefs I have is [that] skills can be hired. The leader has to show wisdom—that cannot be hired.
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Additional Resources
Thermax – Changing of the Guard [HBS Case].
Pradhan, Sudeepta, “The Turnaround at Thermax,” Indian Journal of Management , Vol. 6, No. 2 (2013): "Anu Aga, A House by the River,"
Forbes India, July 21 2009
"Unless one taps the personal power within, one cannot lead: Anu Aga,”Weekend Leader, August 31, 2012.
"Anu Aga: Schooling India,"
Forbes India, December 12, 2013
Interview Citation Format
Interview with Anu Aga, interviewed by Geoffrey Jones, Mumbai, India, February 14, 2017, Creating Emerging Markets Oral History Collection, Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.
