Remembering Darshan Mehta: He conquered fashion, mastered retail, and was ready to rule investing

A few weeks ago, I got a missed call from Darshan Mehta followed by a message “just called, feel free to call back.” When I saw the message, I called him back immediately. He was in his car heading some place for a meeting. We spoke for about 45 minutes during which he told me what he was doing after stepping down from the helm of Reliance Brands Ltd (RBL). “First of all, congratulations on joining Fortune India… as for my life, I’ve come to a stage where there’s hardly anything more I can do on the retail side. The final thing I did while I was with RBL was the signing of the Saks 5th Avenue deal. Now I am on to newer and more exciting things, exploring the world of founders and investors for Reliance.”

Darshan sounded very excited with his current life of meeting founders and learning the art of investing. He also seemed excited at the prospect of setting up a new office and team and starting off on his new voyage.

When Darshan hung up his boots at RBL, he knew he was on the way to start something that always caught his fancy. He was supposed to master the art of investments and then do it on behalf of his company. “I’ve met a few founders and its very fascinating how investors find the right startups to put in their funds and make their exit when the right time comes. I plan to explore this part for a few more weeks while setting up the office and team, etc.”

Darshan Mehta was like a king in the field of retail, and of late luxury retail. Whenever he was spotted at fashion weeks, he was seen flanked by his entourage of at least six to eight people. When I asked him about this, he laughed and said, “That part of my life is over… no more entourage… it’s just me for now, making my rounds all over the country to understand this field better.”

Darshan was a very interesting man to deal with. While talking to him, one would realise the wealth of knowledge he had on the topic and how little you knew. On one occasion, when I asked him about the perception of some global CEOs of luxury brands that India is one of the most unfavourable markets because of heavy tariffs, he said this was not true Darshan explained that while VAT was high is some European markets, GST and input credits make it viable for luxury brands to do business in India. “Next time they tell you this, give them what I told you just now and see how they are going to counter it,” he said.

As much of a high-profile CEO that he was, and the kind of respect that the industry showered on him, Darshan could also be very witty. At one of his brand’s cocktail receptions, he had live models donning the brand walking around the store. Most of the models were known to me after being associated with the fashion industry for years. As I stood outside the venue chatting with a few, Darshan appeared and called me aside to say, “Now I like this… I pay these girls and bring them here and you take them outside and chat!” We both laughed as the models scrambled back inside.

A couple of months ago, Darshan joined me on a video call and patiently answered all my questions, spending time on each, giving me detailed answers. At the end of the session, after having spent more than an hour, he told me, “You are a friend so I will ask this of you… don’t put my name in your story… just write a spokesperson.” I told him of course I will do it as he wished. “But knowing well that you didn’t want your name in the story, still you patiently spent so much time answering all my questions in detail… not too many people would do that…” He just laughed.

That’s the kind of professional Darshan was. His exit from this world came unannounced and as a shock to us. Darshan Mehta will always be missed, not as someone I could count on giving me excellent inputs for a story, but also as a dear friend whom I’d known for many years.