My vision is to create an MNC out of India,” says Raina, who shuns the typical corporate suit and tie. He is often spotted in designer clothes, sunglasses and torn jeans. “I want to create an India-specific brand, EbixCash, which can spread across the world,” he says. The fledgling company is already clocking a billion-dollar run rate in revenues in India, which is higher than Paytm’s. “There is $100-million EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) in a Covid-19-hit year,” shares Raina. The smart strategy of inorganic growth seems to be working well. “Robin is very focussed on profitability and high operating margins, which is good because that’s what creates market cap appreciation,” says Pavan Bhalla, Director at Ebix Inc. (see Strong Fundamentals).
You get a peek into the grandiose plan of Raina when you walk into EbixCash’s 117,000-sq. ft head office in Noida. The decor is nothing less than that of a palace or a museum. A corporate office is the last thing that would come to your mind. Pick up a piece inside the building, and Raina will tell you the story behind it.
Clearly, the Indian headquarters is the style statement of a man who symbolises everything that the building has—gym, movie theatre, paintings, a car dangling from the roof. “The headquarters sets the pace for who you are as a company. It shows the energy, youthfulness and dynamism,” believes Raina, who has 10,750 employees in India. The combination of lights, glass and colour gives the office an open and transparent work culture and a relaxed environment. “We have no hierarchical structure,” says Sumit Khadria, CFO, EbixCash Pvt Ltd. In fact, Raina had also designed the 18-acre US headquarters where there is a bar in the middle of a lake, a golf hole, a beach volleyball court, walking trails and what not. He is actually replicating his grand US vision in India.
The rise of Raina from Patiala in Punjab to the US is the story of a dream to make it big. As a kid, he once told his mother that he wanted to be famous. Like many youngsters in the 1980s, Raina’s mind was fixed on becoming a doctor, but he ended up studying industrial engineering. The next plan was to pursue business management, which he even cleared but a job offer from computer hardware company Pertech Computers Ltd (PCL) in Mumbai changed his life forever. He says he broke all records and emerged as the numero uno salesman in the country. His stellar performance took him to Singapore in a managerial role. But a smaller country like Singapore did not fit into Raina’s big dreams. The next stop clearly was the US. That was where his umbilical cord with his long-standing employer PCL was severed. He left PCL to try his luck in loss-making Delphi Information Systems, which is now Ebix Inc.
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