New Delhi, July 15: Modicorp chairman BK Modi's 24-year-old son, Dilip Modi, has been inducted into the board of three group companies, marking his entry into businesses promoted by his father.

In addition, Dilip Modi has been given a key position in Modicorp, which is the parent company of all the other companies in the BK Modi group.

Armed with an engineering degree in electronics from Brunel University and an MBA from Imperial College, the UK, Modi has joined as director of the Rs 600-crore Modi Xerox Ltd, Graphtec India Ltd and Modi Network Pvt Ltd.

But his active and crucial role is in the parent company, Modicorp. Dilip Modi has been made the chief executive of the business alliance enhancement group at Modicorp.

Sources in the group said that Dilip Modi would not be rushed into a top executive position in the near future. "He is being groomed to first take a grasp of various businesses in the group before climbing up the ladder," a senior executive said.

His position at Modicorp assumes significance as almost all the companies in the B K Modi group are joint ventures with foreign majors.

Besides, the elder Modi had told The Financial Express in a recent interview that all his future businesses would be in collaboration with foreign majors.

Modi, thus, gives a lot of importance to constant exchange of views with his foreign collaborators to ensure a smooth and long term relationship between business partners.

Since the future of the B K Modi group depends a lot on the future of the joint venture partnerships, the younger Modi has been put in charge of this department at Modicorp.

More than 75 per cent of the group's turnover at present comes from two companies - Modi Rubber and Modi Xerox. Modi Rubber, which has a technical collaboration with Continental of Germany, recorded a turnover of Rs 1,100 crore last year while Modi Xerox, a joint venture with Xerox Corporation, notched a turnover of about Rs 600 crore followed by Alcatel Modi Network (Rs 400 crore) and Modi Olivetti, another joint venture with Olivetti, at Rs 80 crore.

Other joint ventures with foreign companies are Modi-GBC, Graphtec India, Modi International Paper, Modi Telstra and Modicom.

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