P.N.C. Menon, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Sobha Limited
"I'm never completely satisfied. I always feel there is so much more to progress towards quality."
Mr. Puthan Neduvakkatt Chenthamaraksha (PNC) Menon, a first generation entrepreneur, began his professional career in the Sultanate of Oman by setting up an interior decoration firm in 1976. His business empire soon expanded to the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar with an unmatched reputation for quality construction and interiors. When he felt that the Indian real estate market was in dire need of quality construction, he founded Sobha Limited (formerly Sobha Developers) in 1995 in Bangalore.
Building its foundation on strong international quality standards and value systems, Sobha Limited has created a supreme name for itself in the Indian real estate industry. After establishing foot in Bangalore, Sobha launched projects in Thrissur, Coimbatore, Mysore, Pune, Chennai, Kochi, and NCR and has also been doing contractual work with major corporate houses like Wipro, HCL, Bosch, Dell, Infosys, Taj Group of Hotels, ITC Hotels, and so on in almost all major cities of India. Currently, the company has presence in 24 cities and 13 states across India due to its timely delivery and international quality. In addition, it is one amongst a few real estate and construction companies accredited with the ISO: 9001, ISO: 14001 and OHSAS: 18001 certifications.
Mr. Menon's projects are the quintessence of international quality products delivered in a timely manner with extreme perfection. A thought leader in the real estate fraternity and a pillar of the company, Mr. Menon encourages every member of his team to be a specialist in his/her own field. He says: "Let the drive for perfection start from within."
A philanthropist to the core with a deep-felt commitment to social responsibility, Mr. Menon is engaged in numerous charitable causes. He strongly believes that as a responsible corporate, it is utmost important to give back for the betterment of the society.
Despite being publicity-shy, Mr. Menon's work has won a number of awards besides a great deal of recognition. He was awarded with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Puraskar by the President of India in 2009. In 2013, he won the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' by NDTV Profit and was ranked 4th in the 'Top 100 Indians in UAE' by Forbes, 'Brand Icon Award' for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by The Times of India in 2014 and recently, the 'Golden Peacock Lifetime Achievement Award for Business Leadership' by the Institute of Directors (IoD). Mr. Menon is also a member of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council of Overseas Indians.
"I'm never completely satisfied. I always feel there is so much more to progress towards quality," says Mr. Menon repeatedly in spite of already having achieved so much. He also says that- money cannot be the motivator for success but only a by-product- shows that he focuses more on products than profit and offers only the best to his stakeholders.
Mr. Menon is married to Ms. Sobha (after whom the company was named) and blessed with three children. His eldest daughter, Ms. Bindu, is a Director of the Sobha Group in Dubai and her husband Mr. Ajay is the Vice-Chairman. His son, Mr. Ravi Menon is the current Chairman of Sobha Limited. His youngest daughter Ms. Revathy is married to Mr. Shine Nair who heads the Group's interior business in Dubai.
