Tara grew up in a
tony part of Delhi, at-
tending elite schools at
home and abroad. After
majoring in politics at the
National University of
Singapore, she completed
a three-month program
in business strategy at
the London School of
Economics. Back in India,
Dad invited her to be “a
fly on the wall” at Max. “I
wasn’t 100% clear on what
was next,” Tara says. “And
I’m the kind of person
who likes to know what I
am doing on the 13th of
May 2018.”
However, a chance
conversation about senior-living communities during a visit to
Hong Kong got her thinking about introducing the concept in
India. It was at the intersection of her interests in hospitality,
design, wellness and health care. Premium senior living, while
pioneering, was also taboo in India, where “old-age homes”
hinted at a breakdown of the extended family structure.
Tara traveled to research 40 such communities in the U.S.,
U.K., Spain, Japan and Australia. She talked to seniors in India
informally and through focus groups—asking them about
everything from living arrangements to children to hobbies.
Finally she developed a blueprint and chose Dehradun, where
the family has ties, including a Max speciality hospital adjacent
to Antara. “Month on month, year on year, I learned how to put
pieces of this puzzle together,” she says. Antara roped in the U.S.’
Perkins Eastman, which has expertise in senior-living commu-
nities, and Spain’s Esteva & Esteva for architectural design.
Antara has sold nearly half the units. But already competi-
tion is intense, with players including Ashiana and Vedaanta.
Her father, who’s referred to as BAS—short for Bhai
Analjit Singh (“bhai” means brother in Hindi)—worked with
Tara during the conceptualization. And even before the Max
Group subsumed Antara in 2012, she started reporting to
group president Rahul Khosla. “I am too much like my father
to work with him on a day-to-day basis,” says Tara. “I am a
bit headstrong like my father. I have a point of view like my
father. And I, like him, cannot sit on the sidelines.”
But Dad travels with her to Antara and offers input.
They will argue—respectfully. “He’s the most stoic person
I know. He likes things to be clear, organized and clean,”
she says. Meanwhile, husband Vachani, 34, is manag-
ing director of another listed company, Max Ventures
& Industries, which includes manufacturing and other
operations plus investments in proven startups. He joined
Max in 2016, at his father-in-law’s behest.
Vachani hails from a Delhi business family that owned the
television brand Weston. He has a British undergrad degree
and spent a year with Citigroup in London. He cut his teeth
in business working with his uncle in contract manufacturing
and later started his own firm, sold in 2015.
In the past year, Vachani has led an investment from a
subsidiary of New York Life into Max Ventures. And a Japanese
conglomerate, Toppan, has taken a stake in the manufactur-
ing business, which makes specialty films used in packaging
products like chocolates and processed foods. When Vachani
started out, the company had free cash of $1.5 million. Now
it’s $40 million. “Friends often tease me that the bottom line is
always top of mind [for me],” says Vachani, who comes from
the Sindhi community, known for its financial savvy.
He’s looking to develop nearly one million square feet of
mostly office space across Delhi, Noida and Dehradun. And
the investment arm has taken stakes in Azure Hospitality
(which runs restaurants chains for pan-Asian and Punjabi
food) and online beauty and wellness company Nykaa.
Singh, for his part, senses that Max Ventures is where Max
India was in the 1980s—with arrows in multiple directions.
The son-in-law interacts daily with Singh. “He’s one of the
most important professional entrepreneurs in the country,”
says Vachani. “I have a very deep personal relationship with
him. Very few people have the opportunity to be mentored by
such a phenomenal human being.” But the generations and
their circumstances are different. Singh founded Max India
in 1982 after an acrimonious family split. His father, Bhai
Mohan Singh—the founder of drugmaker Ranbaxy—handed
the pharma outfit to the oldest brother Parvinder Singh.
Analjit, the youngest of three brothers, started from
scratch and built his company into a behemoth with interests
in health care and insurance. (Big partners are Japan’s Mitsui
Sumitomo in life insurance, the U.K.’s Bupa in health insur-
ance and South Africa’s Life Healthcare for hospitals.) He
started a telecom joint venture with Hutchison of Hong Kong,
selling out in tranches and at a huge profit. “He’s worked re-
ally hard to build this life,” says Tara. “Nothing has come to
him easily. He’s as self-made as it gets.”
Tara and Vachani also work with Singh on his private
hospitality business which includes properties across South
Africa, the United Kingdom and Italy. But listed-company
duties come first. “It’s very clear in the Max group that own-
ership and management are two completely separate buck-
ets—completely separate,” stresses Vachani. “Tara and I have
chosen to play a role in the management part of the business
and for that we are compensated from the company. Over
time, I hope that we are able to earn our credibility, and merit
and earn the respect of our colleagues.”
No worries with the founder. “They are both growing well
and they are being groomed. At the right time, they’ll have
the right place,” says Singh.30 | FORBES ASIA MAY 2017
FORBES ASIA
MAX GROUP
FAnaljit’s close confidant:
Rahul Khosla, Max Group president.