Siddhartha Mallya on his upcoming role in UB empire

Excerpts from What's Hot on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » Nifty BSE | NSE 29/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

The UB Group scion Siddhartha Mallya is raring to get going fresh from his one year training stint at Global Spirits major Diageo. Sidhartha is gearing up to take up a larger role in his father's liquor empire.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, Siddhartha Mallya, Vijay Mallya's son told about his aspirations for the UB empire.

Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Siddhartha Mallya on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: Do you actually feel ready to take on a larger sort of role within the UB Group at this point?

A: I would like to think so and I would like to think that the education that I had has prepared me for what I am about to come in to.

Q: Do you know what you are about to come in to?

A: No, not quite. That is the unknown. But as I said, it has helped me in the sense that I know that I have also got to start from the bottom.

Q: And that has been made very clear to you by your father?

A: It has been made very clear to me and it is something that I am really happy about as well. This is because I've always sort of thought that how can you be at a certain level managing people below you without really understanding how they feel without being managed yourself.

Q: How was it like at Diageo because I believe you have pretty much finished your stint there and you are now considering whether you come back or are you planning to come back at the end of the year?

A: I actually finished my stint at Diageo about two and a half weeks ago. I am actually now going to start working in the UK for Whyte and Mackay for the next year, and then coming back to India.

Q: So, it is a two-year transition before you actually move back to India or are you going to continue to be outside?

A: It is a two-year transition but in the sense it is a one-year transition away from UB.

Q: What was it actually like for you at Diageo especially in the context of your father actually trying to strike a deal with Diageo and everybody is talking about it, it is a headline across papers. What was it like for you at that point especially?

A: The whole experience at Diageo is one that I will never forget. It was absolutely superb. The people I worked with, the people who managed me, and so when I had been thrust on to this obviously deep down inside I thought to myself, are people going to talk about me or are they thinking who is this guy, why is he here kind of thing?

Q: Did they?

A: No, that never actually happened. I was probably more self-conscious and paranoid than what actually happened.

Q: I am going to pick up on the comment that you just made that this paranoia of people talking about you and people assessing you and evaluating you for who you are and whether you are really a chip off the old block or not. Does that really weigh you down at times?

A: I am not paranoid about people talking. I have seen what my grandfather has achieved, I have seen then what my father has achieved. Now I am sort of now for my own self and for everyone else want to achieve even more.

Q: So you are carrying the burden of expectation?

A: Carrying a burden, yes. But I won't sort of let that get me down ever because I don't see it as something - it is not something that should weigh me down. It is something that should actually propel me.

Q: Have you been able to identify what are the areas that you would actually like to work on, what your strengths are?

A: Marketing has always been a big interest of mine in life. But talking to dad and everything, it is something that I have always believed is at the core of a business. So, it is marketing that I really want to pursue and it is marketing that I learnt the most, and learnt everything actually at Diageo from.

Q: Is there now a plan about what happens when you actually get back?

A: More than likely, I will be on the spirits and the beer side of things because that is what the real core business is and that is what I have grown up in that environment and that is what I have got a real passion for

Q: Do you have any ideas of what you would like to do and the sort of changes that you'd like to make if any at all, at this point?

A: I have a few. But I wouldn't want to say that publicly in case people take my ideas.