Rajan Raheja: The Quiet Architect Behind an Empire in Batteries, Cement and Cable

Anagh Vasishtha
1 day ago
3 min read

Away from the spotlight that surrounds many of India's business dynasties, Rajan Raheja has built one of the country's most understated yet diversified industrial groups — anchored by Exide Industries, India's largest battery maker.

As India moves towards Viksit Bharat by 2047, its industrial backbone is being strengthened not only by high-visibility founders, but also by low-profile custodians of legacy businesses who scale them quietly and steadily. Rajan Raheja, Vice Chairman of Exide Industries and head of the Rajan Raheja Group, is very much in this mould — a businessman known more for the scale of his holdings than for public visibility.

Roots in Mumbai's Raheja Clan

Rajan Biharilal Raheja comes from the wider Raheja family of Mumbai, a name closely associated with the city's real estate landscape. Following a family split, Rajan chose a different path from his relatives' real estate-focused ventures, building instead a separate, diversified industrial group spanning batteries, cement, plastics, media, and cable television.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai and, by his own account, has spent over five decades in industry and business — a career defined by patient capital allocation rather than headline-grabbing expansion.

Powering India's Vehicles: Exide Industries

The centrepiece of Rajan Raheja's business interests is Exide Industries, India's largest and among its oldest battery manufacturers, where he has served as Vice Chairman since 1991. Under his stewardship, Exide has maintained commanding market positions — with a dominant share of the automotive OEM battery market and organised retail battery sales — while operating an extensive distribution network of thousands of dealer touchpoints across the country.

Batteries sit at the heart of India's automobile and auto-components ecosystem, powering everything from two-wheelers to commercial vehicles, and increasingly, the country's shift toward electric mobility — making Exide's continued innovation directly relevant to India's industrial and energy transition.

Building Beyond Batteries

Rajan Raheja's diversification has been deliberate and wide-ranging:

Prism Johnson (formerly Prism Cement), whose subsidiary H & R Johnson (India) is a leading name in ceramic tiles, alongside a ready-mix concrete business established in 1996 as a joint venture with the UK's RMC Group.
Supreme Petrochem, extending the group's footprint into plastics and petrochemicals.
Hathway Cable & Datacom, one of India's established cable television and broadband providers, in which Reliance Industries also holds a stake.
Outlook Publications, giving the group a presence in Indian media and publishing.
Raheja QBE General Insurance, a joint venture between the group and Australia's QBE Insurance, extending the family's interests into financial services.

This diversified structure — spanning manufacturing, materials, media, and financial services — has allowed the Rajan Raheja Group to build resilience across economic cycles, rather than depending on the fortunes of a single sector.

A Low-Profile Approach to Wealth Creation

Unlike many contemporaries who court public attention, Rajan Raheja has built his business empire with deliberate restraint, rarely engaging with media and preferring to let his companies' performance speak for itself. This low-key approach has not limited scale: his holdings across Exide, Hathway, Prism Johnson, and Supreme Petrochem place him among India's wealthier industrialists.

Alongside his business commitments, Raheja has also dedicated time and resources to educational and charitable trusts, reflecting a quieter, less publicised strand of his engagement with Indian society.

Family and the Next Generation

Rajan Raheja — Vice Chairman, Exide Industries; head of the diversified Rajan Raheja Group spanning batteries, cement, plastics, cable television, and insurance.

Akshay Raheja — Son of Rajan Raheja; serves on the board of Raheja QBE General Insurance, representing the family's continued involvement in the group's financial services ventures.

Viren Raheja — Son of Rajan Raheja, also associated with the family's business interests.

The Human Behind Viksit Bharat : Rajan Raheja

Rajan Raheja's story is a reminder that India's industrial growth is not built solely by founders chasing visibility, but also by custodians who diversify wisely, invest for the long term, and keep essential industries — batteries, cement, materials — running reliably in the background of the economy.

As India's auto and auto-components sector gears up for the demands of electrification and expanding manufacturing capacity, companies like Exide Industries, quietly stewarded over decades, will remain central to that transition.

Humans of Viksit Bharat celebrates individuals whose patient, diversified enterprise-building has strengthened the foundations of Indian industry.