LEADING WITH PANACHE AND PURPOSE
Ms. Gaurangi Desai Mehra, Director – Marketing & Communications at APAR Industries Limited, is setting new benchmarks for leadership in India’s industrial sector. She joined the company at the age of 23 and brought a fresh, design-led perspective to a legacy engineering enterprise. With vision, creativity, and a relentless focus on growth, she has guided APAR Industries through a remarkable journey by driving innovation, expanding markets, and strengthening the company’s brand presence. Her journey demonstrates the impact of forward-thinking leadership in moulding the future of India’s industrial ecosystem.
“UNDER GAURANGI’S STEWARDSHIP, APAR INDUSTRIES HAS NOT ONLY
ACHIEVED OPERATIONAL MILESTONES BUT ALSO UNDERGONE A CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION”
Under Gaurangi’s guidance, APAR has grown into a globally recognised, purpose-driven brand. The company is the world’s leading manufacturer of transmission and distribution conductors and the third-largest producer of transformer oils. In India, it ranks among the top five and fastest-growing cable and wire manufacturers, and the country’s largest exporter and producer of Specialty and Renewable Cables. Gaurangi played a key role in growing APAR’s cable and wire business from ₹100 crore to over ₹1,000 crore within five years. This was achieved through portfolio expansion and the launch of differentiated brands like APAR Anushakti, Fire Protekt, and a new light-duty cable range for consumer, industrial, and utility segments.
BUILDING A GLOBAL BRAND
Leading a comprehensive brand transformation, Gaurangi positioned APAR as a forward-looking and solutions-oriented company. She established the company’s marketing and communications function by introducing PR, digital campaigns, analytics, creative strategy, and global exhibitions. This ecosystem connects its websites, social media, corporate films, trade shows, and investor channels into a cohesive narrative. Her leadership brought a strategic reset to investor relations, anchored by APAR’s first Integrated Annual Report and an Investor Day designed to deepen market confidence and transparency. APAR published its first Integrated Annual Report and conducted an Investor Day that improved transparency and understanding. “Strong performance is critical,” she says, “but how the story is understood matters just as much.”
PEOPLE AND CULTURE FIRST
Gaurangi’s leadership style is people-centric and adaptive. Like a true leader, she empowers teams with expertise, ownership, and accountability. Known for her humility, she draws from specialists across engineering, design, sustainability, and capital markets to create unified strategies. Looking ahead, she aims to modernise operations with AI, digitisation, and automation, while transforming factories into world-class benchmarks. Her short-term priorities include strengthening customer engagement, advancing ESG initiatives, and reinforcing governance.
SUSTAINABILITY AT THE CORE
Gaurangi treats sustainability as an integral part of how APAR operates. Guided by its belief in meaningful industrial contributions, the company, under her guidance, promotes sustainable manufacturing, expands renewable energy adoption, and develops greener, energy-efficient, eco-friendly products. These efforts reflect APAR’s broader intent: to create solutions that add value not only to customers but to communities and the environment at large.
Her CSR initiatives focus on long-term impact, touching lives through targeted investments in healthcare, rural development, and education. As she puts it, “Businesses must create value not only for shareholders, but for society, employees, and the environment. That is how lasting impact is built.”
RECOGNITION AND IMPACT
Gaurangi’s business acumen and relentless efforts have earned her several prestigious recognitions, including the ET Now Iconic Brand of India 2025 and Rotary National CSR Award 2025 for her exemplary leadership in brand building and creating meaningful social impact. Her contributions have also earned the brand multiple honours, such as the DET Hurun India Manufacturing Excellence Awards and consecutive Great Place to Work recertifications.
