On a rainy afternoon in Mumbai, inside the executive dining room at Godrej Industries Group’s sprawling Vikhroli headquarters, water droplets on the glass windows blur the view outside — a single chimney, all that remains of the company’s old chemicals factory, once the heart of its manufacturing, and now a quiet reminder of the group’s 128-year-old legacy.

At one of the tables, I am greeted with an easy smile by Nadir Godrej, the soft-spoken Chairman of Godrej Industries Group, which has in its fold multiple businesses — Godrej Consumer Products, Godrej Chemicals, Godrej Agrovet, Godrej Properties, Godrej Fund Management, and Godrej Capital, to name a few.

Godrej is that rarest species among Indian business leaders — a man equally at home with equations and existential questions. He is,

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