At 27, Shashwat Goenka has become the youngest president of Indian Chamber of Commerce, carrying the mantle that has been passed on in the family over five generations. When we dropped by at his Alipore house on Monday afternoon, Shashwat had just come back from his Chamber duties. Yes, he spoke business, but hey, he is also your regular 27-year-old who loves his Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. A t2 chat. 

Firstly, congrats Shashwat!
Thank you!

So, how did ICC happen?
I’ve been part of the ICC committee for the last five years and they approached me and asked if I was willing to take on this role. I was informed that the role comes two years later, after being vice-president, assuming you contribute enough year-on-year. I was a little uncertain and spoke to people to know what this role would entail, or what I would learn from it, and everyone said it would be a great learning experience.

You must have sought advice from dad (Sanjiv Goenka)?
Absolutely. He said to go for it.

Share some of the key tips he passed on…
One of the things he’s always said is, no matter how much you prepare, you will keep learning as you go forward because everyone has a different challenge that they have to deal with in that particular year. Also, whenever you’re planning the year, there will be a lot of last-minute changes, so don’t get perturbed by it.

How have you mentally and strategically prepared for this day?
Even last year when I took on that role, I was always curious about the prep that is really required. Of course you attend events with them and you plan… so, you prep from that perspective, but I think what a lot of past presidents told me was that there is no prep that you can do that will ever be enough… the challenges each president faces are very different. Now, it’s just been two days and we already have our first event lined up, which is tomorrow… the next one is on Saturday. There is a lot happening already, which is a lot more than my regular work calendar. I think I’ll just have to see how it goes…. 
A lot of stuff to be planned through the year, even though we have planned a lot of it from before… definitely, the work that Aditya Agarwal, who was the earlier president had done, I have a lot of big shoes to fill. I will figure it out over the next few weeks.

There is a big event coming up in November…
Horasis Asia Meeting will be held in Calcutta. It’s one of the two bodies in the world — the other is the World Economic Forum — that does global-scale business conferences. It’s the first time they are doing this Asia meet in India. We’ve partnered with them, along with the government of West Bengal, to host it in Calcutta. It will have around 500-550 international delegates and speakers. A lot of them will be prominent CEOs and businessmen from across the world, including 150 from India. The topics vary from tourism and energy to robotics and artificial intelligence, sessions dedicated to West Bengal, sessions on the Northeast and the role India can play in the overall global economy and Asian economy.

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Last film watched: Mom 
Watching on TV now: Designated Survivor, Modern Family, MasterChef Australia
Most likely to find in my suitcase: 
A suit, some variation of a white or blue shirt, also casuals, shoes
Fitness for me is: Working out at home regularly 
Favourite travel destination: London 
Apps: Spencer’s. I use apps a lot; I don’t use a lot of apps 
Start-ups from Calcutta worth a mention: Wow! Momo, they’re present everywhere
Sport: That’s dad’s passion completely! 
Quest means... A testimony to a great vision
Spencer’s means... The essence of my being at this point of time

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Such events don’t usually happen in Calcutta. How much did you have to intervene to make this happen?
The government of West Bengal has been very proactive with a lot of Horasis events. In fact at the last Asia event in Thailand also, our finance minister and chief minister were already in talks with them in terms of how Bengal can play a larger role in this event. And then I happened to have a chance meeting with Frank-Jürgen Richter (chairman of Horasis) along with dad and that’s really how it transpired. Work for this started around eight months ago.

How good are you at handling pressure?
Generally ya. There have been different degrees of pressure which have been put on me. I don’t think I have reached a stage where a lot of pressure has come on me, but whatever little pressure there has been, I have been able to deal with it.

Now that you are going to get busier, how are you planning to tackle the juggle?
This is a very different kind of requirement that it has on your calendar. So, I am not sure how I will juggle, but I have to figure it out. In the past, I have always done multiple things at the same time. I have been someone who has been able to allocate appropriate time to each of the different things I am doing. 

For example…
In school where I was doing so many things outside of school and then within school and co-curricular. The same thing in college where it was a balance between friends, partying, studying hard and classes. Same thing with work… dividing time between Spencer’s, the other businesses of the group… dividing time between work and family… at family between parents, grandparents, wife, siblings….

So, keeping everyone happy?
You have to work out your schedule.

So, what is the POA?
I do have a large to-do list! I have been a list person since I can remember.   

So, you have your Cinderella hours everyday?
Mornings are usually like that where things start off being a lot on time. Throughout the day things crop up which you haven’t accounted for… but, yeah, I am one who generally tries to stick by time….  

Your dad told us you have always been a good boy. Are you sometimes tired of being good?!
I mean I don’t know if I was always a good boy or not! That’s your perception.

Are you a mama’s (Preeti) boy or papa’s pet?
Both!

And you cannot do without your sister (Avarna), right? You also bully her quite a lot!
She is actually older to me, so she bullies me a lot! I think over the last 10 years it’s been a relationship of friendship more than anything else. I am sure when we were kids we used to fight….

She has been your sounding board?
Yeah she has been and now Shivika (wife) also. The one thing my sister does is takes me for granted. ‘I need it now! Drop everything and do my work!’ That’s one thing that she does today also from a bullying perspective. (Laughs)

Do you go to Au Bon Pain frequently?
I go there very frequently.

What did you try the last time you were there?
My favourite thing there is the Peri Peri Mac and Cheese. They have a lot of new stuff on the menu now.

What flavour has marriage brought into your life?
Definitely, a lot more easy-going. Everything that goes on in your mind, you have someone to talk to and share without any qualms about whether the person will judge you or not…you can also share your responsibilities. Earlier I would do everything at work, everything at home… now, you can split at least the home part… she has her own work and I have my own. On the work-side, if there are certain ideas you are toying with, I don’t always want to go to dad because it might be very random or you might want to ask someone who is outside of the work environment or outside of the same work environment…

What do Shivika and you bond over? 
Common favourites?

Or, uncommon?
More common than uncommon! Food, of course, we both love eating… 60 per cent of our choices are same. It’s the remaining 40 per cent… then we decide that we are good to eat everything. Her favourite would be say, anything Asian. I don’t have a clear favourite… Asian, Italian… the more different or new or interesting it is, I am happier trying it. TV shows, movies we enjoy… just hanging out with friends, spending time with family….    

Which is your personal favourite restaurant for a meal at Quest and what do you order? And, if you had to eat outside of Quest, where would you go?
At Quest, I would say Yauatcha. Outside Quest, but in Calcutta? There are quite a few! (Laughs) May be Mamagoto or Bar-B-Q.

Your go-to item at Yauatcha would be…
The Truffle Edamame (Dumpling).

What TV shows are you watching together?
We watch all our shows together.

So, Game of Thrones?
That’s the only one I watch alone because she doesn’t enjoy it. I am going to watch the latest episode at night. Do you all watch Game of Thrones as well?

YES! What are Shivika’s faves?
I think we both saw very different shows before and also those shows kind of ended. So, we started new shows that started now. We are watching them together… Designated Survivor, Modern Family, MasterChef Australia….

Which is your favourite GoT character or someone you don’t want to die?
The Dragon Queen (Daenerys Targaryen). (Laughs)

When you want some me-time, what are you most likely to occupy yourself with?
Me-time for me is music… no particular genre… it changes depending on my mood. I hear some music at least two-three hours a day.

What are you listening to a lot right now? Despacito?
I haven’t heard Despacito, but I am listening to the new version of the Raabta track.

So, a big Bolly fan, is it?
Yeah!

Who did you grow up watching?
Pretty much everyone… there was Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol… Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, K3G and all of them… movies are great stress busters.

What did you watch last?
I saw Mom. Sridevi. It was interesting… a very well-made movie… everyone’s acted really well. What’s really good about it also is that it gives a lot of focus to the mother and all the things she does… what I don’t agree with is it just goes around killing people left, right and centre.

How much are you travelling? Do you have a favourite travel destination? Since you travel a lot, give us a peek into your travel bag... 
I travel a fair bit. Right now, it’s been for non-Chamber related work… it’s been more for my work… so, it’s been more Delhi because a lot of the Spencer’s offices are based out of Delhi. In my suitcase you will always find a suit, some variation of a white or blue shirt, shoes, also casuals like jeans, polo tees. Books are something that I pick up at the airport. I read on the flight and I try and finish it on the flight. If it is not over, that means it’s never going to get over! Earlier flights were movie time. I would load movies on the iPad and go. Now, there is no other time to read.

What have you been reading?
A lot of random books on nutrition, actually, and a lot of books on spirituality and past life. It’s a random thing I picked up at the airport. I have always been spiritual and religious. I came across Many Lives, Many Masters (DR Brian Weiss). It spoke about spirituality and past-life regression, which seemed interesting, and then I ended up reading six other books by the same author. They are all very interesting.

Where would we find you shopping at Quest?
Spencer’s. I only enjoy food shopping. I am not a big shopper otherwise.

The last time we spoke, you told us about the new-age shopper at Spencer’s and how he or she is shopping differently… also about superfoods and Japanese and Thai… any changes since then?
Not significantly. I think people are still willing to experiment… so, there is a lot of stuff there, but the other new trend is eating what’s been grown locally. It’s a niche trend, but it is starting to pick up… now we are trying to talk to a lot of farmers about how we can directly source from them, especially for the potatoes, tomatoes, onions. We are also starting to talk to a lot of people who are doing organic farming. We are talking to Organic Mandi (Madhura Lohia) and also to a lot of the organic players across the country.   

How is Spencer’s doing in terms of finances?
Last year was overall a good year. We had eight consecutive months of profitability for the first time ever. This year has been good too… revenue has been growing and margins have been increasing. We have been able to curtail a lot of costs and become more efficient. So overall, it’s looking good.

When you joined the business, did you choose Spencer’s or was it handed to you?
Initially, when I came back, I worked in around six of our different businesses, and I really enjoyed working with Spencer’s the most. Maybe at that time I understood it the most because it was the easiest from a consumer perspective and I studied a little bit of retail as well. So that was my motivation. I think dad’s motivation was that it probably was the biggest challenge to turn it profitable… can it or can it not work? And, what is the right model? We both independently concluded that retail is what I should be doing, initially.

Do you look into any of the other businesses now?
I am a director on the board of a few of our other businesses and I sit in on most of the monthly reviews. So I am informed... but operational role, not so much. The other thing I look into now is FMGC (fast moving consumer goods). We have launched two products — Too Yumm! Wheat Thins and Fox Nuts. We are looking to launch 10 more products with four flavours each.

Is your dad still fully hands-on?
As he always says, you have to be hands-on to run a business. Another thing he says is that you can’t get things done your way because of the chair you occupy. There has to be a reason and rationale backed by numbers and data for what you are suggesting to be done. I think I take that statement fairly seriously so there is a lot of logic to what I suggest and why I do it.

Have you taken after your dad in being cautious and tight-lipped?
Is he? Is he cautious and tight-lipped? Okay, then I guess (laughs)!

In school, would you often get calls from friends saying, ‘the lights are out in my house’?
(Laughs) As a kid, in school — this is more in the younger years — when the lights would ever go off, everybody would look at me. And I would be like, ‘I am suffering with you, right?!’
As a grown-up, I get calls from friends informing me from the perspective of if they had a not-so-great experience with Spencer’s and not from the perspective of, ‘Oh, I looked for this and couldn’t find it, send it to my house’.

A lot of the company’s expansion is happening in sports — football, cricket and TT. How much are you involved and where do you see it going? It is your dad’s passion we know, but how interested are you?
Dad… that’s his passion completely! It’s fun when you have a team and have something to root for and then you see the business side of it and it is interesting… earlier I would just watch the football World Cup and IPL. I used to love playing badminton and played for school as well and for fun, I used to like swimming. 

Any plans to back youthpreneurs?
For Spencer’s, we have a lot of ideation from the youth. And with the Chamber, we have been in dialogue on what we can do on that front, especially in terms of fostering the start-up ecosystem.

Any Calcutta start-up that has caught your eye?
I can’t think of too many at the moment. Wow! Momo, for example, if you see what they’ve done, they’re present everywhere.

What apps do you use?
I use apps a lot; I don’t use a lot of apps. I use the Spencer’s app a lot. How is it doing? It’s doing okay; we chose an approach of not advertising a lot for e-commerce but building in on the customers and footfalls to generate that. The idea is that they come to our store twice anyway so in between we want them to shop for their ‘top-up shopping’.
 
Which food product at Spencer’s do you need a top-up of every week?
Tomatoes for sure. And personally, a food product I consume a lot is lemons.

If you had a blank slate for Quest, what would you conjure up?
Maybe a whole floor for Spencer’s! Or maybe something like a Zara.

Which Spencer’s do you usually go to a lot?
Shopping usually happens from Quest or, sometimes, South City Mall. Quest is smaller than South City so if you’re looking for something in particular, there’s a better chance of getting it at South City. But yes, I visit all the stores frequently.

Okay, tell us a few things you want to do before you turn 30...
Maybe I should make a list of things! Umm, skydiving?

Most young people look to move out of Calcutta. What were the three main factors that made you stay on in this city?
I don’t know if you see that as true or not, but most of my friends have come back after working here and there. They’re all very happy to be here and see a lot of change from five years ago, when they first worked here for a few months and then decided that this is not the right place. They see that change in their work environment.
Personally, I am one of those people who firmly believe that you should be where your roots are. A lot of who I am is really a Calcuttan. Apart from that, as a family, we are based here and family is important to me. Most of our businesses are based here so it was a natural choice to be here.
I am not someone who had a negative opinion about the city ever. It was not like, ‘Oh my god, given a chance I’m going to run away’. It was an obvious choice for me, per se, never a debate. The family philosophy has always been — you will be where your work is. Today, all our work is here.

You started working so early, do you plan to retire early?
I have barely started, am not thinking about retiring! 

Karo Christine Kumar, Saionee Chakraborty & Sambit Saha