Former AIADMK Minister Ma Foi K.Pandiarajan on Thursday said that he has taken a ‘sabbatical’ from politics and is back into his Human Resource (HR) business.
“I have come back to business after a gap of five years. If you ask me if I have quit politics, I would say that I have taken a sabbatical for a five-year period,” he said. However, he added, “I am continuing as an office-bearer in the AIADMK.” He has been re-appointed chairman and director of CIEL HR Services, which was co-founded by his wife Latha Rajan and two others – Aditya Narayan Mishra who is the director and CEO of the firm and Santosh Nair who anchors operations for CIEL.
Mr. Pandiarajan in his new innings has chalked out various plans including an IPO and “skilling” youngsters. “CIEL will go for a public issue by the end of 2023 or beginning of 2024. And prior to the IPO, we intend to raise some funds. We are in talks with private equity and venture capital investors who share a similar vision like us. We intend to raise around ₹50 crore to ₹70 crore in the pre-IPO round,” he told The Hindu.
The funds raised will be utilised for acquisitions, ramping up technology and expanding their presence into verticals like manufacturing and logistics. The firm has also come out with a career centre which will come under the ‘Ma Foi Education’ umbrella. The centre will have facilities for counselling and testing among others. “We have started this in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and will slowly move into other markets,” he said.
The company’s book showed revenues of ₹305.46 crore for the financial year ending 2021. During the current fiscal, the company aims to close its books with a revenue of ₹450 crore. “With the fund raising we expect the revenues to touch around ₹1,000 crore,” Mr. Pandiarajan said.
