CXO Outlook - November - December 2020 - India Edition - Manufacturing Industry Special

NOV - DEC 2020

INSIGHTS. IDEAS. INSPIRATIONS

MOST INNOVATIVE

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

Partha Dash

IN INDIA

Senior Vice President, Moglix

Piyush Somani Founder, CMD & Group CEO, ESDS Software Solution

Rahul Bhargava Chief Product and Technology Officer, InCred

Dr Girish Vaze CEO, MD & Chairman, Elcom International

Bharat Kaushal Managing Director, Hitachi India

Rajeev Kapur Managing Director, Steelbird Helmets

Sandeep Jain Founder, GeeksforGeeks

Rituparna Mandal General Manager, MediaTek

Sanjay Koul

Chairman and Managing Director

TIMKEN INDIA LIMITED M A K I N G T H E WO R L D M OV E M O R E E F F I C I E N T LY A N D R E L I A B LY

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Nov-Dec 2020

Vol - 1 Issue - 5

Manufacturing Industry Special (Indian Edition) Editor in Chief

Dr. Manoj Varghese

Managing Editor Sarath Shyam

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The Positives Innovators Defying of athe Pandemic Pandemic

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n 2020, writing anything without mentioning COVID-19 has become nearly an impossible task. The virus has spread everywhere, including literature and machinery. Indeed, one of the worst-hit industries was the manufacturing sector.

Mandated lockdowns across the global ecosystem disrupted supply chains, stopping the flow of materials, intermediate parts and finished goods.

Huge factories and other manufacturing units were forced to halt or curtail operations because of a lack of workforce and parts. It is estimated that a significant number of Fortune 1000 firms have been severely affected by the pandemic.

Perhaps, 2020 was one of the worst times for the manufacturing industry. However, the pandemic can also be an opportunity for Indian manufacturing companies to revisit their competitiveness in the international market. In fact, the disruptions due to COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of supply chain management and remote work. It is also an opportunity for manufacturers to take a fresh look at their operations and take bold steps to convert these

challenges into opportunities for diversification and growth.

In this issue, we have come up with "10 Most Innovative Manufacturing Companies in India" that have overcome the challenges of the pandemic to put India back on the path of economic growth.

We have also featured "10 Most Inspiring CXOs in Indian Manufacturing Industry" who have risen to the occasion during a difficult time. On the cover, we feature Timken Indian Limited, which is now synonymous with quality and unmatched engineering everywhere they do business.

Enjoy Reading.

Sarath Shyam

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

CXO IN FOCUS

MOST INSPIRING

CXOS IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

BEING FIRST IN MANY WAYS

THE PEOPLE’S MANAGER

Rituparna Mandal, General Manager, MediaTek

Bharat Kaushal, Managing Director, Hitachi India

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70 THE TRENDSETTER

Rajeev Kapur, Managing Director, Steelbird Helmets

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MOST INNOVATIVE

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

IN INDIA

COVER STORY

24 MAKING THE WORLD MOVE MORE EFFICIENTLY

AND RELIABLY

40 ELCOM INTERNATIONAL

Pioneers in Innovative Electromechanical & Electronic Solutions Dr Girish Vaze, CEO, Managing Director & Chairman

Sanjay Koul

Chairman and Managing Director

EXPERT'S OPINION

48 32 Is India 5G ready or 5G a Privilege in India?

Piyush Somani, Founder, CMD & Group CEO, ESDS Software Solution Pvt. Ltd.

How FinTechs are Ensuring Repayments with Flexible Options to Borrowers Rahul Bhargava, Chief Product and Technology Officer, InCred

Strategies for Creating a successful Banking App

50 How to Unleash the Potential of Advertising on OTT Platforms Sandiip Kapur, Founder & President, Promodome Group

Shubham Jha, Sales Manager India, Adjust

80 62 Micro Businesses – The Credit Hungry Mayur Modi, Co-founder & CEO – Moneyboxx Finance Ltd., a BSE Listed Firm

84 How Contactless Technologies are Driving Digital Payment Services Zafar Imam, CEO, Finshell

LEADER'S INSIGHTS

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How Partnerships with Affiliate Marketing Networks can Amplify Business Gains for the BFSI Sector

How are Ed-Tech Platforms Reshaping the Future of Learning?

Empowering the Learning Community

Sandeep Jain, Founder, GeeksforGeeks

Jerold Pereira, Executive Director and CEO, mPowerO

IN MY VIEW

Neha Kulwal, Country Manager, Admitad India

12 Self-Reliance: An Agenda for Indian Manufacturing Partha Dash, Senior Vice President, Moglix

IN MY VIEW

Self-Reliance: An Agenda for Indian Manufacturing Partha Dash, Senior Vice President, Moglix

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he pandemic's impact on economies and supply chains across the world has been secular. However, coming out of the pandemic, each country will chart its own course of economic recovery. The vast disparities in national incomes, population sizes and growth rates, and technology adoption bring unique challenges to each country.

Under such circumstances, India's manufacturing sector will have to commit itself to the mission of development and nation-building with a focus on being self-reliant.

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Partha Dash

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Simplifying India's Exposure to Global Supply Chain Risks and Self-Reliance in Numbers The takeaway for policymakers and corporate captains is to make Indian manufacturing agnostic to the influx of global supply chain disruptions, fiscal headwinds, tariff wars, and cross-border coordination uncertainties. Imports of goods and services account for 21% of India's GDP. India's dependence on imports from China has increased from 14% to 21% this year. Research suggests that India can reduce its exposure to Chinese imports in FY22 by USD 8.4 billion, accounting for 17.3% of India's trade deficit with China and 0.3% of India's GDP. Forty sub-sectors in Indian manufacturing offer an opportunity for import substitution through a renewed focus on the greater local capacity utilization of Indian manufacturing. These sub-sectors include chemicals, automotive, agro-based industries, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, and leather goods. Complete localization of manufacturing in these sub-sectors alone can unlock cost

Achieving the turnaround from being a market to being a global manufacturing hub calls for a migration from the point of consumption to the point of manufacturing in the supply chain

savings worth USD 33.6 billion moving forward.

However, achieving the turnaround from being a market to being a global manufacturing hub calls for a migration from the point of consumption to the point of manufacturing in the supply chain.

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The Agenda to Make India a Manufacturing Hub and Achieve Self-Reliance The following mix of economic reforms, policy measures, and corporate initiatives can steer the Indian economy towards being a manufacturing hub and achieving self-reliance: � Focus on Ease of Doing Business in Manufacturing Sector to Speed Up Growth India’s quantum leap to the 63rd position in the Ease of Doing Business rankings bears testimony to how far we have come. Now is the time to take the next steps.

We need to bring agility and visibility to the procedures covering the starting of a new business to the compliance with regulatory requirements such as land acquisition, getting clearances for capacity expansion and obtaining permits and licenses. A green channel integrating diverse regulatory agencies and stakeholders in manufacturing will reduce project overrun costs, and unclog the entire supply chain ecosystem. The digital integration of the high segmented business regulatory framework will do to the manufacturing supply chain ecosystem what the GST has done to the indirect taxation ecosystem: integrate India into one nation, one tax, and one manufacturing hub.

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● Incentivize Technology Enablement to Make Procurement Cost-Efficient Decisions in the manufacturing sector vary along binary options to make or buy. Cost-efficient procurement at each level in the supply chain is essential to generating a desirable bottom-line impact for large OEMs and end consumers of manufactured goods. Cost-efficient procurement is the key to stimulating the demand for goods made in India. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is technology-enabled procurement. Procurement decisions in OEMs and MSMEs' high offices both have to migrate away from intuition and towards insights. The Indian deep tech industry has the credentials to offer artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data offerings to enable strategicsourcing based on supplier KPIs of cost, quality, and agility.

chain gaps. They need to envisage a four-tiered design to create a National Supply Chain Network that runs through the district, state, country, and global levels. Corporate OEMs will have to ensure connectivity between warehouses, manufacturing plants, suppliers, and end consumers across these four levels to maintain business continuity and keep the supply chain running smoothly. The government sector can pitch in with the logistics infrastructure to ensure physical connectivity among these four layers in the supply chain for effective first-mile, midmile, and last-mile journeys of manufactured goods. Finally, supply chain tech enterprises will need to provide digital connectivity to the supply chain through the internet of things (IoT), robotic process automation (RPA), and cloud computing platforms to scale up transactions.

● Boost Local Manufacturing Growth by MSMEs Identifying locations that offer local sourcing opportunities and leveraging existing MSME capabilities in manufacturing to support large OEMs is the key to enabling greater capacity utilization. Doing so will allow faster procurement of industrial supplies like raw materials, natural resources, and consumables for OEMs and create opportunities for MSMEs to grow and create jobs for the local population. Doing so will allow large OEMs and MSMEs to partner in making economic growth more inclusive and diverse.

● Shift Towards Outcome-Based Budgeting for the National Infrastructure Pipeline The proposed INR 100 crore National Infrastructure Pipeline speaks highly of the current governing dispensation's commitment to Indian manufacturing on the fiscal policy front. However, for the project to realize the desired objectives of augmenting growth in manufacturing and self-reliance, state-owned enterprises and special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for managing large scale projects will have to ensure fiscal prudence and on-time delivery of projects. A switch towards outcome-based budgeting will enable SOEs and SPVs to make infrastructure building projects more cost-efficient and attract greater interest from OEMs in the EPC vertical for greenfield investments through the FDI and PPP routes.

● Reform Investment Caps for MSMEs to Drive Investments The investment caps defining the brackets of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in India truncate actual investment levels and create opportunities for manufacturing MSMEs to siphon off capital into other sectors. Therefore, these investment brackets need to be expanded. Doing so will aid more significant capital expenditure on expanding plant capacity and enhance MSMEs' capabilities to fulfill OEM orders of greater scope and size. ● Bring Greater Connectedness to the Supply Chain For Indian manufacturing to be self-reliant, both the corporate and government sector enterprises will have to focus on zeroing down the supply

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Self-Reliance and Insulating Indian Manufacturing from Global Disruptions As the Indian economy looks to walk up its way to economic recovery, Indian manufacturing will have to take the driver's seat. Supply chain connectivity, both digital and logistical, will catalyze the transformation. The writing is there on the wall for everyone to see. We need to strategically redesign our supply chain to allow Indian manufacturers to plug into domestic and global trade opportunities but insulate them from further disruptions.

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CXO OUTLOOK Higher Education Digest Sept-Oct October 2020 2020

CXO IN FOCUS

Bharat Kaushal, Managing Director, Hitachi India

Being First

in Many Ways Bharat Kaushal is the first Indian to become Managing Director of Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd. Bharat previously served as Chairman in India of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). He is also the first non-Japanese to be appointed as SMBC India's CEO and served the role between 2012 and 2015. Bharat has over 25 years of

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industry experience specialising in macroeconomic policy, Government advisory, project finance, debt restructuring and mergers and acquisitions. In a conversation with CXO Outlook, Bharat talks about leadership challenges during COVID-19, things that he did differently at Hitachi, his journey so far with the organisation, and much more.

Leadership has not been easy in the past few months. What has your approach been, and what are your plans?

The business convolutions around the world are altering each day, posing challenges that require an immediate address. The sturdiest of economies are receding in their endeavour to sustain society. I feel that these interim impediments bestow a lot of prospects for us. Cohesion, Creation and Contribution will rejuvenate the future augmentation driving incessant sustenance.

We put our best adapting to situations and circumstances the environment around us has to offer. The rule of perpetual change governs Business Environment too.

Reinvention and rebounding our business ethos will support and reveal the inhibited competencies we all possess.

As leaders and as business custodians we must devise a framework that not only encompasses varied solutions from amongst the intense Hitachi product pool but must also proliferate our coordination and draw a

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

short- and long-term framework to further strengthen business profitability.

Once you became MD, what did you do differently at Hitachi India?

Joining Hitachi is like wearing many hats, encompassing different roles, challenges and opportunities where every hat you wear gives you a different perspective, experience altogether. By taking this decision, I have set a tough task for myself to adapt a steep learning curve.

My journey that took off in 2017 started as an autonomous exploration of business. Collaborations, ventures and seamlessly weaving the symphony of solutions in a single thread gave Hitachi, in India an unprecedented growth platform.

India is a strategic and emerging market for Hitachi.

I believe that my experience in promoting cross-border business relationships between the Japanese and Indian Government and companies is a unique advantage for Hitachi to achieve unprecedented growth. With strenuous

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Bharat Kaushal

Joining Hitachi is like wearing many hats, encompassing different roles, challenges and opportunities where every hat you wear gives you a different perspective, experience altogether - Bharat Kaushal

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efforts, I will continue to work towards aggressively expanding Hitachi's Social Innovation Business, develop novel solutions and draw upon Hitachi's wealth of technologies and expertise to provide a diversified range of information technology solutions across various industrial sectors, empowering the citizens of India, transforming the landscape of Indian economy and aligning with India's growth.

With supportive teams I effectively ingrained strategic farsightedness that offered Hitachi an envisaged future, from just offering the stakeholders a solitary solution, I collaborated with teams to build deep inroads by providing a holistic, bespoke business elucidation. From formulating an archetype to incise foundations for a firm India, today Hitachi has invigorated and empowered millions of people through Digital solutions across varied business categories.

Hitachi through its well-established and credible OT X IT technologies has been touching millions of lives through offering its technologies with Digital as the cohesive platform, combined with Social Innovation Business solutions in India that seamlessly connects with our sturdy presence across diversified technological business environment, a testimony of our burgeoning partnership with India. Imbibing our more than a century old legacy, Hitachi will strive to focus upon Social, Economic and Environmental values focusing upon improving people's quality of life for citizens and society at large.

What sort of mistakes have you made during you career so far? What was your most unexpected lesson in leading for growth?

The worst mistake I made was avoiding training conducted on migrating operating systems from MSDOS to Windows. All banks were adapting to the newly introduced software, but somehow, I evaded these training sessions and prioritised the capital market scam scrutiny

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

and investment banking related projects. The result was that I was always conscious and felt tech-handicapped for a long time at work.

When I look at my professional journey, while majority of my tenure and career has been in investment banking, serving Hitachi India as the Managing Director is an insightful reinvention for me, i.e. a transformation from financial background to managing multiple & diversified businesses and verticals cohesively. Owing to the widespread presence of Hitachi in India, it allows thinking differently and accelerating the business in such a manner that it broadens horizons every day.

What has been significant milestones during these years of your journey as a leader? Why? In my 28 years of the professional journey, I got numerous opportunities and attained industry experience specialising in macroeconomic policy, Government advisory, project finance, debt restructuring and mergers and acquisitions.

While the greater part of this career has been in investment banking, I also served successful assignments as Strategy Advisor to the India Investment Centre, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and as part of the Economic Policy Unit of the World Bank in Washington DC. I was also Co-Chairman of the Finance, Banking, Capital Markets and Insurance Committee at PhD Chamber of Commerce and Industry for 2 years.

At present, I am a member of the Indo-Japan Task Force (IJTF) set-up by the two Governments and is the Convenor of the Financial Strategy Group to address policy as well as operational level concerns of Japanese Government and private sector institutions pursuing business opportunities in India. This allows me to explore and acquire numerous opportunities for Hitachi as well as India.

myself and my decisions—being a little stubborn about my passion also helped.

What does your typical working day look like? How do you handle pressure and stay calm all day?

On challenging days, you need to motivate and push yourself with grit and determination. For me, it is the morning run which not only gives a big energy boost but makes me feel as if you have accomplished something even before the day is stared. It is a sense of satisfaction that you have already crossed a hurdle by setting a target and achieving it first thing in the morning. This feeling of contentment propels many other things inevitably, allowing me to manage my day more efficaciously.

The same passion and determination translate into delivering my daily tasks, and I promote the same approach and dynamism amongst my team members: Set yourself a difficult target and persist towards conquering it. Achievers will often express the sense of high they achieve after accomplishing a task—making a successful client pitch, closing a deal or delivering an impressive presentation in front of the board.

What are the lessons you learned in your childhood/college days that helped you to become the leader that you are today?

In 2002-03, I faced a lower-back issue because of which doctors advised me to give running a break. They suggested I take time to recuperate—however since I was a strict believer in running for both physical and mental health, I negotiated with my doctors to continue fast walking and soft running. I brought down the distance to 4-5km a day from an average of 8-10km. That period was a lean phase, and it took a while for me to get back into the rhythm later.

I think key learning for me was how I could challenge myself and follow my passion despite the odds stacked against me. There is always an easy way out—I could have convinced myself to stop running altogether for a few months, as advised by medical experts. But I had faith in

What advice can you give to someone who wants to become an expert in their chosen field?

In the current dynamic work environment, we all need to be highly adaptive, with a "growth mindset". Thus, the advice would be that one should be relentless, keep reinventing be fast and agile. These skills will support in expanding the business, which will ultimately motivate you, inspire you, and evolve you as an individual as well.

In addition to this, maintaining a healthy regime is another mantra to follow. Fitness quotient is a combination of physical and mental strength. We are all aware of the repercussions of unhealthy eating habits and sedentary work. Given the hectic workload and business mandates that today's leaders follow, equal weightage should be given to health. For me, running and swimming are the key to remain fit and healthy. It's like you challenge yourself by setting new goals, and while you are in the process of reaching your goal, you gain a sense of direction and progression. And when you finally reach your goal, you gain a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Fitness is a lifestyle, not a fad. It's never easy to pursue your health and fitness with consistency. But if you are able to establish a routine and follow it for months and years, you imbibe the same passion for perseverance in all aspects of your personal and professional life—never bow down before a challenge, and demonstrate the same rigour for business.

The COVID-19 pandemic is undeniably affecting industries across the globe. In this time of social distancing, what are the major challenges businesses in India face now?

A new era has emerged, a one in which adaptability and affability will help all of us sustain and evolve. The present and prevalent circumstances might have got extended beyond our expectations and control, but we must all emblazon resilience to overcome these exacting times.

When we flip back to refresh the excursion of life, one aspect resembles all of us – "Change is Eternal" nothing around us is permanent. We put our best adapting to situations and circumstances the environment around us has to offer. The rule of perpetual change governs Business Environment too. Reinvention and rebounding our business ethos will support and reveal the inhibited competencies we all possess, and we must embellish our expertise to drive imminent growth.

The answer lies in embracing empathy and innovating our lives around human-centric innovation which will

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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Leaders influence people, build an inspiring vision, set direction and create something new which can change the gridlocked beliefs and contribute towards the betterment of the society

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encourage us to create businesses representing social values by empowering people through innovation driven by Hitachi's legacy in digital technologies that will increasingly espouse the competitive edge for Hitachi globally. Humancentric innovation which comprises of three components Creativity, Intelligence and Connectivity will subsequently result in Empowering people with digital technology: improving the lives of citizens through the usage of datadriven algorithms and enabling connectivity between businesses and society by providing an effective platform.

The key to successful human-centric innovation originates from the fact of understanding values that are created by enabling collaboration amongst citizens, stakeholders and Government while keeping them at the centre. That's where Hitachi's Connected Citizen Solutions plays a vital role. Hitachi, under its diversified product portfolio, encompasses technology and solutions starting from e-Governance, e-Education, finance, mobility, infrastructure, IT, healthcare and agriculture. As one of the leaders in offering Social Innovation Business solutions, Hitachi can accomplish a competitive edge in the world, by improving not only operational resilience but enabling flexibility in a new reality, characterised by rapidly changing market dynamics. This is an opportune time for us to reflect on the enormous talent base we possess and leverage it to build a pervasive foundation.

Restructured work; Redefined roles; Reserves of trust coupled with reskilling of resources is going to be the future of work. Work and life are rapidly changing, and it will never be the same again. The world will see major behavioural and social changes. Amidst all this, technology will play a vital role in bridging the gap between the public and private sector.

As we rethink how business is done, it creates the opportunity for organisations of all sizes to advance and

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

achieve their goals and experience a more resilient work culture wherein we witness a complete architectural change, not confining ourselves into boundaries.

Hitachi is committed to 'Powering Good' by co-creating solutions that are enhancing Social, Environmental and Economic values of the society and the customers. And as we move forward, we must rethink the environment in which we all operate. Succeeding in this uncertain period requires moving together, mastering a transition from the growth economy to a value-based economy. Companies that would lead the growth and transformation in the present emerging and dynamic world will be those that put people first and best meet their needs, whether they are employees, customers, business partners or society at large.

When did you become a part of Hitachi India? How has been the journey so far with the organisation?

After working for 25 years in the investment banking sector, I took this challenging opportunity on June 1, 2017, to be the first Indian head of Hitachi in India and feel truly honoured to be appointed at this position. When I took over to head Hitachi India in 2017, it was a different yet intriguing field for me, a one which I often described as a Cricket Match, where you can play all sorts of games be it a five-day match, a one day international or a 20-20 short game. However, over the years, my realisation has outpaced all the expectations. During these three eventful years, I have discovered Hitachi's vastness, diversity and the augmented footprints in India that have remarkably touched millions of lives, an accomplishment that would have never been possible without support from the stakeholders you collaborate and partner for achieving milestones.

All these past years have been transformative, momentous and full of attaining milestones. The journey

that initiated in 2017, by offering physical solutions to strengthen the foundations of India evolved over the years into empowering the citizens through Digital Solutions not only illustrating Hitachi's century-old legacy in OT x IT but emerging as Connected Citizen Solutions impacting every aspect of the citizen and the society at large. The scalability to revolutionise Hitachi's solutions is a testimony of unified the solutions that we have been able to Customise, Create and Collaborate with stakeholders offering solutions to drive business in some of the most stringent phases.

India, through its massive transformation, is making tremendous progress in the field of digital infrastructure.

This progressive disruption is helping the country in becoming one of the fastest-growing economies. The technological evolution in India is transforming the lives of citizens, and Hitachi's innovative technology has ignited a social revolution. Brought to the forefront are technologies like IoT, AI, robotics and so on, that touches every sector.

Through digital technologies, Hitachi reforms social and business infrastructure to empower citizens more than ever as they reimagine how goods and services are delivered.

India is a leader in the public sector led to social change by using technology to drive e-Governance measures. Several government schemes and its deployment in India are a fine testimony of social innovation which is constantly easing the lives of common citizens. Hitachi, through its Social Innovation Business, has been engaged in transforming

governance, businesses and societies through its strength in OT x IT. It has its ethos embedded in its businesses that are aimed at touching the lives of millions.

What are the services that Hitachi India offer today, which makes it unique in the market?

Hitachi India's burgeoning footprints is a testimony of how Hitachi is transforming India through Social Innovation Business. Hitachi's partnership with India dates back to 1930s, since then Hitachi has been solidifying its position with presence of around 28 group companies (as of March 31, 2020) and approximately 11,000 employees (as of March 31, 2020) fueling the transformation of India.

Hitachi through its well-established and credible OT X IT technologies is offering its technologies with Digital as the cohesive platform, combined with Social Innovation Business solutions in India that seamlessly connects with our sturdy presence across the diversified technological business environment. Hitachi India has been expanding its business boundaries, offering solutions in the core sectors, including Urban Transportation, Information & Technology, Energy, Payments, Construction Machinery. Hitachi through Hitachi MGRM Net is Offering solutions across the gamut of e-Governance, e-Education, e-Health, Agriculture as part of our Connected Citizen Ecosystem. Our technologies and solutions are endless, and so does our quest to support India become one of the leading economies in the world.

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Hitachi India's competencies go beyond the bounds, to a System Solutions provider that encapsulates system integration capabilities including Information Communication and Telecommunication (ICT), Data Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Pentaho, supporting the multiple journeys of Digitalization, India is witnessing. We have been at the forefront of innovation that delivers value-based outcomes through IoT enabled solutions envisioned to connect and assimilate devices, people, infrastructure, and processes. With Hitachi's innovative and globally recognised OT (Operational Technology) X IT solutions and data analytics, customers progress from IoT-enabled interactive devices to artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices with the cognitive functions of living beings. This is a testimony of how technology touches live and fuels the digital revolution. Through this technological leap, Hitachi has been continuously laying the foundations of a new world of possibilities for policymakers, businesses and organisations to enhance the quality of life.

Hitachi has partnered with the Government of India in its initiatives like 'Digital India' and 'Make in India', leveraging its superior technology innovations and global expertise to address India's unique challenges. We are belligerently contributing, by localising the infrastructure capabilities through sprucing up capacity in India.

Hitachi's growing partnership in the successful implementation of Metro Rail Systems is consistently demonstrating the comprehensive urban mobility solutions and its pioneering capability in Advanced Train Control, signalling (CBTC) and Telecommunication Systems, Rolling stocks and Seamless open-loop transit systems.

Hitachi has also been contributing towards the ambitious expansion and modernisation plan by the Indian Railways. With passenger traffic growing manifold, the Government has envisioned segregating freight operations on the busy passenger routes through the implementation of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) along the Golden Quadrilateral. In 2015-16, Hitachi signed their very prestigious railway contract for the implementation of the signalling and telecommunication systems for the western DFC from Rewari to JNPT, Mumbai. Hitachi, in fact, is installing state-of-the-art signalling and telecom equipment for a segment of the entire western DFC, a 1,500km highspeed of 100 kph from Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor, which is the backbone of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor mega infrastructure project funded by Japan.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

In the energy sector, by combining world-class power grids business with Hitachi's advanced digital technologies, Hitachi and Hitachi ABB Power Grids will provide innovative energy solutions spanning the Energy (utilities), Mobility, Smart Life (cities), Industry, and IT sectors.

Committed to the Government's vision of a knowledgebased economy, Hitachi through Hitachi MGRM Net is emerging as an ideal partner in offering e-Education to

Hitachi India's burgeoning footprints is a testimony of how Hitachi is transforming India through Social Innovation Business

millions, utilising its ICT solutions ensuring children enter the most crucial part of their exploration with tenacity. In agriculture too, the comprehensive solution architecture of M-Star platform is changing the agrarian practices and helping farmers thrive to new level farming efficiency.

Additionally, the M-Star enabled digital Healthcare solutions platform is also contributing to building an inclusive Healthcare system at the very grass-root level.

In the automotive sector, Hitachi is expanding its horizons to move beyond just offering its expertise in the

component business to providing holistic solutions that are going to not only enhance the environmental values for the citizens but would pave the way for a path-breaking technological expansion. Hitachi aims to become one of the leading conglomerates to offer automotive solutions that are significant and can easily be adapted across varied automated auto platforms.

In today's critical areas of manufacturing, construction, mining and production, Hitachi transforms industries by co-creating data-led asset management solutions with customers, accelerating the desired transition to Industry 4.0 Hitachi's Advanced Payment Solutions are also contributing to the financial inclusivity of the nation.

Our partnership with State Bank of India (SBI) for the establishment of a state-of-the-art card acceptance and future-ready digital payment platform for India will help in further strengthening the financial inclusivity of the nation.

Through our strengths in OT (Operational Technology) X IT solutions, we are partnering with India to improve the quality of lives and Powering Good to build a sustainable society.

Tell us a little bit about your education and life as a student.

I am an alumnus of Columbia University, where I pursued a Masters in International Affairs (MIA) and Northeastern University, where I secured a Masters in Business Administration (MBA). I obtained an LLB from Faculty of Law, University of Delhi. My graduation (Bachelors and Masters) was from St Stephen's College, Delhi.

Swimming and running are both excellent forms of relaxing myself both mentally and physically. As a student from Delhi's Modern School and St Stephen's College, I won laurels at national and state-level swimming championships. Being a runner for almost 31 years and an active sportsman/swimmer since early school days, I have imbibed these qualities in my daily life. I believe I have reflected these in my leadership style over the years.

When it comes to running, for me, it's about long runs to explore parts of any city I happen to be visiting. At the age of 49, I ran in around 50 half marathons, with the best time of 1 hour, 50 minutes in the 1996 New York City Marathon. During my travel in Europe and the US, I would run at formal marathons and informal jogs organised in the city. This enabled me to quickly cover

major parts of the city. Over the years, I have established some favourite spots — for example, every time I am in Tokyo, I run around the Imperial Palace, usually early morning or evening as time permits, before I head to my meetings or after finish off my assignments for the day.

Who would you consider to be a significant influence on you professionally, and can you explain why?

No journey in life is travelled individually. Our environment influences those around us and often forms a key part of what we achieve and lay the foundation for the life we want to envision for ourselves. I am deeply grateful for the ingrained culture, ethics and values that my parents have bestowed on me. We are shaped by the people around us, and our societies are a reflection of the individuals who are part of it. Everyone needs a mentor in life, for me, I would say my father, is an inspiration, my peer and my mentor, who has served the nation being a part of the Delhi Police.

"Leaders are not defined by positions." One of the things that I inherited from my father lies in power to make a difference in other's lives. Life is more about our contribution to help people around us.

Leaders influence people, build an inspiring vision, set direction and create something new which can change the gridlocked beliefs and contribute towards the betterment of the society.

My approach as a leader has been influenced a lot by the positive traits my father possesses. Ability to handle the crisis in a composed manner, Critical thinking, Problem-solving skills, Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, effective decision making, strong moral character and devotion to the community are some of the skills I have inherited from my father, and the defining source of inspiration have been my parents.

It's about mapping out where you need to go and "win" as a team or an organisation; with an approach which is dynamic, exciting, and inspiring.

The roles and duties when you reserving the community are numerous and varied, which are customised according to the situation. This includes choosing the direction, identifying the ways and the means to achieve desired outcomes, and guiding the decision-making process leading to these outcomes.

My journey of 28 years is an amalgamation of the skills I have acquired, that has led to making me a successful professional.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

23

S T O R Y

TIMKEN INDIA LIMITED

C O V E R

AND RELIABLY

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MAKING THE WORLD MOVE MORE EFFICIENTLY

By Sarath Shyam

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

MOST INNOVATIVE

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

IN INDIA

Sanjay Koul

Chairman and Managing Director

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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H

enry Timken believed that a man who could devise something which would reduce friction fundamentally would achieve something of real value to the world. Born in Germany and migrated to the US in the mid of 18th century, Timken was a carriage maker in St. Louis, Missouri. In the 1890s, he recognized that heavy freight wagons had a difficult time making sharp turns.

To solve the problem, Timken applied a tapered roller bearing design that could handle both radial (weight) and thrust (cornering force) loads, which eventually led to the foundation of The Timken Roller Bearing and Axle Company in 1899, a global enterprise that today helps keep the world in motion.

The Timken Company is now synonymous with quality and unmatched engineering everywhere they do business. Since its inception, the company has dramatically expanded its product portfolio through

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

innovation and acquisitions as well as its reputation by solving problems for our planet and beyond. The Timken Company now designs a growing portfolio of engineered bearings and power transmission products and offers a spectrum of powertrain rebuild and repair services. To this day, Henry Timken's vision of making the world move more efficiently and reliably remains at the core of Timken Company’s business.

Entering the Indian Market In 1987, Timken India Limited (TIL) was incorporated as Tata Timken Limited (TTL), a joint venture between Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) and The Timken Company. The company started commercial production at its Jamshedpur plant in March 1992, with TISCO and TIMKEN each holding 40 per cent equity stake.

In 1999, Timken acquired from Tata Steel its 40 per cent stake to become Timken India Limited. At the

27

Sanjay Koul

Chairman and Managing Director

Sanjay Koul joined Timken in 1990 as a Production Engineer and was among the first set of employees of the company in India. Since then, he has served in additional positions within the rail and supply chain & Sales organizations. In 2007, he was named general manager of the Jamshedpur Plant. Two years later, he was named general manager of supply chain operations in Asia working out of Wuxi, and in 2011, he was named director of manufacturing and supply chain management for Asia. Koul is now the Managing Director of all operations in India for The Timken Company. He was named to this position in October 2012.

Before joining Timken, Koul served with the Union Carbide India Ltd. as a production supervisor and also as an engineer with an urban environmental agency of India. Koul holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, a master's degree in business management from Xavier Labour Relations Institute and a Doctorate Degree in Management. He completed the EDGE executive development program for senior Timken leaders at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 2008. He has been recognized as among the top 100 business leaders in India by Business Today Magazine in 2016 and 2017. He is the Vice-Chairman of AMCHAM India and sits on the Board of ELCIA, Bangalore.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

helm of TIL’s affairs is its Chairman and Managing Director, Sanjay Koul, who joined Timken in 1990 as a Production Engineer and was among the first set of employees of the company in India.

A mechanical engineer from the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Sanjay has responsibility for business and manufacturing operations, financial performance and acceleration of growth in the markets in India. He shares, “As the leading authority on tapered roller bearings, we apply our deep knowledge of metallurgy, tribology and mechanical systems to improve the reliability and efficiency of equipment, machinery and vehicles worldwide. Timken collaborates with customers from diversified markets that span India and the globe.” Today, Timken offers the most diversified product package among its peers, which has helped the company to strengthen its position in many markets, including renewable energy and in global industrial distribution channels.

“The Timken Company has always been a key contributor to a well-functioning world — from reliable transportation to secure food production to renewable energy. Greater efficiency and sustainability have been at the core of our innovations,” says Koul. A bearing touches every piece of running equipment, so there are always growth opportunities.

While remaining a leader in core industry applications, Timken has expanded its product portfolio with all types of ball and roller bearings, including machine tool bearings and power transmission products. Koul adds, “We continuously work to penetrate our products across diversified markets and invest for the future to stay ahead.”

Serving the Global Market In India, Timken started manufacturing bearings in 1987. Today, the company has state-of-the-art manufacturing plants in Jamshedpur for tapered roller bearings smaller than 8 inches that are used largely by heavy truck and rail customers. “ABC Bearings, which we recently acquired, expands our footprint of tapered and

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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cylindrical roller bearings as well as industrial bearings, such as spherical roller bearings and slewing rings. Our Chennai plant produces singleand double-row case-carburized tapered roller bearings, including cups, cones and assemblies of 8-inch and above outside diameter,” explains Koul.

Timken works directly with large automotive, truck and equipment manufacturers, as well as end-users through a network of authorized distributors to help increase the performance and reliability of their equipment, which can be anything from the cars we drive to the wind turbines and solar panels that provide us power.

engineering on product technology for all user segments. Apart from product technology, Timken has a reliable team at TERI for manufacturing advancements, such as additive manufacturing.

It also has a metallurgy team working with steel makers in India and abroad.

The Timken Technology Centre in Bangalore, one of four such centres in the world, provides customers access to engineering expertise and the latest technological advancements. “It is our secondlargest, behind only the one at our headquarters in Canton, Ohio,” pinpoints Koul. Timken Engineering & Research India (TERI) takes up all kinds of assignments, including those relating to global

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Overcoming the Challenges of the Pandemic “Governments and private enterprises around the world are taking actions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. At the Timken Company, we have taken steps outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO) and state and local authorities to protect the health and safety of our employees and visitors while continuing to operate our business,” opines Koul. Timken has been able to automate its processes, using robotics and selfmanaged teams to operate safely. Koul adds, “I am pleased that not only our output has increased, but our workforce has also become more responsible.

The relentless communication has helped the cause.

The list of challenges is long, but the solutions have been very productive, and our innovations have enhanced safety for our employees.”

31 Timken has adapted to the changing environment very quickly. However, the company’s top priority continues to be the health and safety of its employees, customers and partners. “We have added strict operating procedures in line with WHO and government guidelines to protect our associates and our communities. Our plants are all functioning at 100% capacity,” states Koul. Timken has a robust action plan in place which are implemented with a lot of precautions before they started the operations. “While uncertainty remains elevated and we expect significant continued challenges from the virus, we will continue to advance our business, making investments in capital and digital platforms to deliver for our customers,” says Koul.

Like any businesses across the globe, technology has been a boon for Timken during this pandemic, which has opened many channels of communication to help them connect and stay engaged with their 2,000+ associates.

Koul shares, “We have regularly been connecting with our associates through virtual town halls, offering them the flexibility to work from home, providing them with medical assistance, and even offering organized pep talks from life coaches to help keep them motivated and focused during these challenging times.”

The Road Ahead Be it in terms of increasing capacity at plants or the acquisition of ABC Bearings, Timken has been expanding in India. In fact, the company has always been on the lookout for further expansion as demand warrants. “We have improved our resilience and readiness for the future. In the last five years, not only have we fortified our core bearing business and strengthened our presence in our industrial distribution channels, but we have also successfully invested to become more diversified and more global,” claims Koul. The company has grown its expertise as a power transmission solutions provider with a stronger presence in growth markets like renewables, food and beverage and automation.

Pre-pandemic, Timken’s challenge was identifying and entering new markets that have the greatest growth potential. This continues to remain its biggest challenge and opportunity. “We are optimistic that our market position, our balance sheet, our talent, and our strategy are all strong and position us to continue to perform well in the current environment, while we prepare for the better times ahead,” concludes Koul.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

EXPERT OPINION

Is India 5G ready or 5G a Privilege in India?

Piyush Somani, Founder, CMD & Group CEO, ESDS Software Solution Pvt. Ltd.

As a first-generation entrepreneur, Piyush

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Somani started ESDS in 2005 and has served various roles at the company. With over 15 years of expertise in the data centre & cloud solution industry, Piyush is recognized in the IT industry for his exceptional ability to build and grow business and long-term relationships.

Piyush Somani

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

D

ue to the severe social norms being taken to prevent the spread of the virus, there has been an uprising in the digital medium, and we observe a major revolution from traditional platforms to digital.

Observing this change, we also should realize that a major part of the country is still unexposed to this digital world, still disconnected and unable to move on to digital distribution channels. With the advent of the transformation of the digital world with 5G, it becomes all the more appropriate to think about the future of Digital India.

The 5G spectrum bands have been categorized into three segments

by The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) High-band: The FCC has made auctioning high-band spectrum a priority. The FCC concluded its first 5G spectrum auctions in the 28 GHz band; the 24 GHz band; and the upper 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47

5G has the potential and ability to create an enhanced agile, dynamic and decentralized network to yield a new digital environment from which businesses can benefit from

GHz bands. With these auctions, the FCC is releasing almost 5 gigahertz of 5G spectrum into the market— more than all other flexible use bands combined.

Mid-band: mid-band spectrum has become a target for 5G build-out, given its balanced coverage and capacity characteristics. With our work on the 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and 3.7-4.2 GHz bands, we will make more than 600 megahertz available for 5G deployments.

Low-band: The FCC is acting to improve the use of low-band spectrum (useful for wider coverage) for 5G services, with targeted changes to the 600 MHz, 800 MHz, and 900 MHz bands.

There is still no official fixation on the band allocation for 5G as it is still uncharted waters in India.

“The first demur in India is the coverage. The 4G spectrum auction saw large blocks of unsold spectrum. This is identified due to the dearth of buyer interest due to high reserved price, particularly the 700 MHz band, which travels much longer distances, requires fewer towers as compared to the higher frequency bands, and is crucial to bridge the digital divide. In addition to that, its coverage is much higher than the coverage of 0.95 km² in dense urban areas. India is about 66 % rural population where speeds like 700 MHz spectrum is imperative.

With the telecom sector getting intensely stressed on the financial allocations, one can only assume whether there would be many bidders for 5G spectrum.”

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

More about

Piyush Somani Piyush Somani has been instrumental in taking ESDS to new heights, and the company already has a robust set of 40,000 customer base, hosting over 3 million digital assets. He is also the chief architect of the patented products such as eNlight Cloud, eMagic Data Center Management Suit and VTMScan.

It is with his vision and expertise that ESDS has transformed into a major Cloud service provider in India and has expanded in 16 countries.

Piyush holds an engineering degree from the ‘University of Pune’ in Electronics and is passionate about technology.

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What is Network latency one may ask, it is the time required for a group of data to travel between two points.

5G technology is entirely different from previous time spans of cellular technology because of how concise that amount of time will be. Network latency is induced by a display of factors, which largely include the speed of the network as well as the available bandwidth and the size of the transmitted data. Predominantly speaking latency of 5G is quicker than the blink of an eye.

The 5G network is being constructed in a manner that it moves away from the hierarchical structure that 4G network generally uses. 5G has the potential and ability to create an enhanced agile, dynamic and decentralized network to yield a new digital environment from which businesses can benefit from.

A core aspect of the 5G network is it that, it gives a robust structure to the transition from a hardware-based network to the software. By virtualizing the RAN (Radio Access Network) and using the flexible nature of NFV (Network Function Virtualization) and its complementary technology SDN (Software-Defined Network) for management protocols, distancing the network services from its hardware legacy, 5G can move much of the data and processing to the cliff of the network where low latency communications and delivery become viable.

There are not more than 20 mobile devices in the world which support 5G networks and to implement it in a country like India will take time and a lot of consideration

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

where we still are struggling to digitalize the rural sector.

Those residing in the urban cities would be able to easily benefit from the 5G rollout and the opportunities it would open up, both in terms of new businesses and jobs, a majority would still be left far behind. Unless centralized policy interventions dwindle the time taken to scale up the 5G footprint, the divide in the digital sector will continue to broaden.

In the forthcoming future, we do have the hindsight of what to expect in terms of development in technology, OTT platforms, Video on demand are taking over like wildfires, thus increasing the demand for high-speed internets and Cloud data storage capabilities. Coupled with this, Edu-tech platforms, Cloud-based applications, Edge Computing, Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), Virtual Events and Conferences are all increasingly demanding high-speed internet with low latency and high network bandwidth. The e-Governance and cybersecurity with reference to Smart City Projects, Industrial IoT Projects and other Infrastructure services too will see a huge increase in the demand for high-speed internet and cloud data services. The solution to this is cutting edgelocalized data centres wedded to a robust 5G bandwidth to meet the needs of several emerging industries. With the amalgamation of Cloud and 5G spectrum, India will embark into a new era of digital transformation with a structured and regulated policy for Data localization, data privacy & national security at its helm.

CXO OUTLOOK Sept-Oct 2020

MOST INNOVATIVE

36

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

IN INDIA

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

M

anufacturing has emerged as one of the high growth sectors in India. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India ranked among the top 10 recipients of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in South Asia in 2019, attracting US$ 49 billion—a 16% increase from the previous year. Also, the Government has launched the ‘Make in India’ program to place India on the world map as a manufacturing hub and give global recognition to the Indian economy. The government aims to create 100 million new jobs in the sector by 2022.

The manufacturing industry in India contributes about 15 percent of the country’s GDP. Under the National Manufacturing Policy 2015, ambitious programs are underway to take this figure to 25 percent and the total output from this sector to $1 trillion by 2022. India’s manufactured exports are worth over $180 billion, or 45 percent of the country’s total exports, with the biggest exports being engineering goods, chemicals and related products, and leather goods.

India is an attractive hub for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector. Several mobile phones, luxury, and automobile brands, among others, have set up or are looking to establish their manufacturing bases in the country.

Value-added manufacturing is the need of the hour. Electronics, e-vehicles, consumer durables, and household goods present an opportunity not only for the domestic market but also for exports. With impetus on developing industrial corridors and smart cities, the Government aims to ensure the holistic development of the nation. The corridors would further assist in integrating, monitoring, and developing a conducive environment for industrial development and will promote advanced practices in manufacturing.

Celebrating their journey of development in helping India become a hub for the manufacturing industry, CXO Outlook has come up with ‘10 Most Innovative Manufacturing Companies in India’. Hoping to inspire the youth out there to explore this industry sector, we aim to bring their unique story of journey and growth to our readers.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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MOST INNOVATIVE

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

IN INDIA

Company Name Apollo Tyres

Arvind

Ather Energy

CEAT Limited

Elcom International

Havells India

Mahindra & Mahindra

Key Person and Designation Onkar Singh Kanwar,

Chairman and Managing Director

Sanjay S. Lalbhai, Chairman and Managing Director

Tarun Mehta, Co-Founder and CEO

Description The company is in the business of manufacture and sale of tyres and it offers a comprehensive product portfolio of products.

The company is one of India's largest integrated textile and apparel ventures with a strong retail presence and a pioneer of denim in India.

The company builds intelligent electric scooter and has established an electric vehicle charging network called AtherGrid.

Anant Goenka, Managing Director

The company is one of India’s leading tyre manufacturer with a capacity of over 800 tonnes per day and has strong presence in global markets.

Dr Girish Vaze, CEO, Managing Director & Chairman

The company designs, develops and manufactures high quality products in the electronic components.

Anil Rai Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director

The company is a billion-dollar-plus organization, and is one of the largest & India's fastest growing electrical and power distribution equipment manufacturers.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman

The company is one of the largest vehicle manufacturers by production in India and the largest manufacturer of tractors in the world.

Timken India Limited

Sanjay Koul, Chairman and Managing Director

The company designs a growing portfolio of engineered bearings and power transmission products.

TVS Motor Company

Venu Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director

The company is the third largest motorcycle manufacturer in India with an annual sale of more than 3 million units and an annual capacity of over 4.95 million vehicles.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman

The company is one of the largest cement brands in India and a global producer of merit and repute with markets in UAE, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

UltraTech Cement Limited

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Website Design & Development

(W)E ARE PRESENT

LOCALLY (W)E ARE PRESENT

Digital Marketing

GLOBALLY (W)E ARE JUST AROUND

Mobile Application Development

THE CORNER!

3D Animation & Stopmotion Graphics

Online Software Development

Search Engine Optimisation

Online Strategy Consulting

CXO OUTLOOK Sept-Oct 2020

MOST INNOVATIVE

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

IN INDIA

ELCOM International

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Pioneers in Innovative Electromechanical & Electronic Solutions

O

ne of the hardest-hit segments from COVID-19 is the manufacturing sector. The lockdown that followed brought the manufacturing facilities to a standstill, derailing the entire global supply chain. To put things into perspective, more than 75 per cent of businesses have 'one or more direct or Tier 1 supplier’ from China, and 938 of the Fortune 1000 companies have Tier 2 suppliers there. Adapting to the new way of working, i.e., the work from home concept has been quite challenging for the manufacturing industry. With the delay in the availability and delivery of raw materials,

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

supplies, and skilled labour, there has been a significant increase in operational costs like transportation, health, and safety measures.

Aligning with the new health and safety requirements to prevent the spread of the COVID19 among communities and employees and getting the best outcome from them, Supply chain issues are meeting the expectations of the customers working in the essential services during the Pandemic Outbreak. “Looking at the bright side, the virus has created opportunities for Indian manufacturers, as most of the customers are looking for alternate supply

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Dr Girish Vaze, CEO, Managing Director & Chairman

chain solutions instead of Chinese Companies”, points out Dr Girish Vaze, CEO, Managing Director & Chairman, Elcom International.

Having continuously been on the progressive path in terms of annual revenue at 10-15% growth per annum since the last few years, the non-operational related teams at Elcom International have adopted remote working where discussions happen over video meetings and conferences.

Dr Girish adds, “As the present situation demands due to the cancellations and postponements of all major events and exhibitions worldwide, we are doing our best to create

awareness through online exhibitions, events and webinars that give information about our products and services to our prospective customers”.

Started in 1981, Elcom International Pvt. Ltd. has always been at the forefront of the design, development, and manufacturing of electromechanical and electronic components. Initially starting with the domestic market in India, Elcom has spread its wings in the international markets – especially the USA and Europe, serving different industries across the globe. Dealing with the designing, development, and manufacturing of various

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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Dr Girish Vaze, CEO, Managing Director & Chairman

Dr Girish has been steering Elcom to where it stands today. He has worked in various roles for the growth of Elcom from its inception. His passion, vision & persistent efforts have made Elcom the most indispensable industry player in its segment today.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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electromechanical and electronic components, Elcom is completely focused on quality and innovativeness in every product. “With strong R&D, in-house operational capabilities, in-house and vertically integrated plant operations, the capability to provide a completely customized solution based on customer requirements and applications, we are the preferred choice for customers”, remarks Dr Girish.

Providing learning and development opportunities, employee participation at Elcom is essential in critical discussions and decisions to formulate systems and practices, making them the best players in the industry.

Dr Girish states, “We involve key stakeholders across all functions for building vision and mission of the organization and foster a customer-centric culture, that has boosted team spirit and collaboration”.

Manufacturing certified for Integrated Management Systems (IMS) including ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001:2018, Elcom’s state-of-the-art infrastructure

is equipped with R&D Facility, Tool Room, Injection Moulding Division, Metal Stamping Division, Reliability Test Lab, Electroplating Division and Assembly Lines.

Constantly creating value for their customers by providing best-in-class electronic and electromechanical products and components, Dr Girish adds, “We offer facilities to the customers to test/audit the parameters of the products in our reliability test lab, which is unique service offered by no other manufacturer”.

Aspiring to be the most preferred Indian partner for their key accounts, Elcom plans to grow not just in terms of revenue, but in reach in the overseas market, acquisition of new customers, expanding the channel partner network, attracting the best talent from the industry, diversifying the product offering and increasing the overall market share.

“Taking a leap over the revenue front and achieving ₹ 100 Cr in FY20-21, We are all set to target the 20% CAGR and explore growth opportunities through organic and inorganic means”, concludes Dr Girish.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

LEADER'S INSIGHTS

How Partnerships with Affiliate Marketing Networks can Amplify Business Gains for the BFSI Sector

Neha Kulwal, Country Manager, Admitad India

Neha Kulwal is the Country Manager

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of Admitad India and a well-known women entrepreneur. During her professional journey of over 9 years, the major big step that has transformed her career was taking over the responsibility of establishing one of the largest international affiliate network Admitad in India.

Neha Kulwal

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

T

ap, tap, done - that, for a growing percentage of Indians, is becoming the preferred way of accessing banking and financial services today. Gone are the long queues, the dependence on paperbased documentation, and the unnecessary and utterly avoidable delays.

The ever-increasing integration of digital technologies has drastically transformed processes and workflows in the BFSI sector.

The greater digital influence reflects in the way in which players in the BFSI sector are approaching their marketing strategies. Many BFSI companies, particularly those delivering new-age financial services, are adopting innovative digital marketing tools to reach out to their consumers.

There, however, is a challenge. With smartphone penetration increasing at a rapid pace, consumers are inundated with content on

BFSI brands can reap multiple benefits by bringing financial services-focused publishers on board as affiliates

all sides. The sheer volume and choice of content available lead to a sort of content fatigue – which is the end-consumers’ reluctance to engage with any new piece of information - a major hurdle for BFSI marketers promoting niche content and specialised services.

Then, there is the big issue of trust. BFSI products, from credit cards and digital payments solutions to insurance services and personal loans, revolve around financial matters. This creates a growing need for building trust through the BFSI marketing value chain. To drive maximum engagement and favourable marketing results, information has to be communicated for easy consumption and understanding by the relevant audience through targeted content.

How can BFSI brands break through the marketing white noise to reach their preferred audiences? Finding an answer to this conundrum requires marketers in this space to look through a relatively suitable segment: Affiliate Marketing.

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Affiliate Marketing: A key growth driver for the BFSI industry BFSI brands can reap multiple benefits by bringing financial services-focused publishers on board as affiliates. For eg., a finance-based company can sign up with a platform offering various affiliate marketing solutions to promote the BFSI-based company’s services and products, through

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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tailor-made SMS promotions, promotions through telegram, and with specialised content sites and blog portals, owners of which work as ‘affiliates’ to promote the company’s services on their sites. This creates a trustbased, intent-driven ecosystem communicating only the desirable and relevant information to the consumers.

Websites that offer loan comparison services to visitors allow consumers to zero in on the loan product that best suits their specific requirements. Similarly, mailer inventories can be leveraged to gain access to a quality database of transacting customers, who regularly opt for insurance and loan offerings, travel insurance, etc. Since users typically visit such online publishers with an intent in mind, there is a ‘contextual’ element involved with such an endeavour. As one might want to apply for a loan, a relevant and useful insight on which digital payments app to choose for overdraft services, or sign up for which insurance policy or bank account becomes very important.

Affiliate channels complement user decisionmaking by delivering relevant information and drive users to the desired action.

Financial brands have the flexibility to design custom KPIs for their affiliate campaigns, such as quality-assured leads, audience targeting, geotargeting, and genuine databases of convertible customers. They are also only required to release affiliate pay-outs once these KPIs have been met, making affiliate marketing a low-risk, highlyrewarding proposition for them. It is because of such end-to-end value addition that affiliate marketing delivers a significantly better cost per acquisition than other digital marketing channels, such as biddable platforms, and currently accounts for around 15% of the sector’s total digital spending in the BFSI sector.

‘Affiliating’ in the BFSI sector: How partnering with affiliate networks can drive better outcomes Like any other marketing channel, affiliate marketing operations require specialised skill sets and domain-specific expertise backed by

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

a cutting-edge technological infrastructure and a strong talent pool. This is exactly where leading affiliate networks step into the picture to help BFSI companies to tap into the massive – and growing – opportunity that India’s digital consumer base represents.

Armed with advanced tech capabilities, deep market insights, and strong teams of domain experts, these affiliate networks streamline the process of onboarding and managing affiliate partnerships for financial brands. An affiliate platform shares useful insights with its clients on what can be the best CPA rates for them and how they can optimise their campaigns. Using affiliate platforms, BFSI marketers can track affiliate performance in real-time and across multiple devices and browsers. Not only does it enhance a campaign’s success rate, but an affiliate platform also addresses issues related to ad attribution, performance analysis, and transparency. Constant feedback from the target audiences streamlines marketing processes and drives agile campaigns that quickly deliver better results.

In the BFSI domain, an informed consumer is an empowered customer. They are more inclined to browse through different offerings, make purchase decisions, consume services, and talk about them to others. Given this backdrop, it is little wonder that affiliate marketing is emerging as one of the most valuable and cost-effective avenues for Indian BFSI companies to tap into the massive digital opportunity on the horizon. Most players in the space are already using various affiliate channels to complement their larger digital marketing strategies.

Insights delivered by affiliate platforms ensure that BFSI brands can improve conversion rates by targeting the right customer at the right time, with the right message and through the right channel. As more new-age channels get added to the affiliate marketing value chain, partnering with the right affiliate network will not just become a key business differentiator – but a non-negotiable requirement.

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CXO OUTLOOK Sept-Oct 2020

EXPERT OPINION

How FinTechs are Ensuring Repayments with Flexible Options to Borrowers

Rahul Bhargava, Chief Product and Technology Officer, InCred

In his 20+ years of leadership experience,

Rahul has built multi-billion dollar product lines &

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managed large product/engineering teams across Amazon, PayPal & American Express. He has also been involved with successful startups in US & India. Rahul holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, MS in Engineering from Carnegie Mellon, & a BTech degree from IIT Delhi.

Rahul Bhargava

T

he impact of the global pandemic is most conspicuous in the finance sector.

Due to the worldwide ban on social interaction and physical contact, it is almost impossible for many to ensure their financial goals, might it be a business or an individual. Hence, the situation calls for innovations to somehow defuse the problems that occur and hamper fintech players to an incapacitating extent.

That said, while there are a good number of solutions with high practicability quotient, elucidated below are two solutions that yield the best results.

Digital fulfilment – the alternative to mainstream B2C physical interaction The COVID-19 lockdown has prevented the continuation of normal business functions, making it impossible for lenders to carry out routine loan fulfilment processes that entail KYC documentation, loan agreement, and contact

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Lenders continue to streamline repayments while, at the same time, customers enjoy and make use of a more borrower-friendly repayment option

verification. Against this backdrop, InCred has emerged as a market leader by ushering in proprietary technologies to streamline digital KYC, digital field investigation, repayment setup and agreement signing, which are typically processed in a physical environment with participation from both transacting parties.

With these digital innovations in place, it is possible to bypass the need for a face to face interaction. Now, the loan application and processing are independent of physical touchpoints as a complete procedural revolution is achieved with the end-to-end contactless digital process.

Easy EMI for borrowers The economy has taken a hard hit due to the lockdown following the onset of COVID-19. Several businesses are on the brink of cessation, resulting in either loss of job or reduction of pay across several sectors. This stalemate has drastically affected borrowers’ abilities to commit to loan repayments, thereby making EMI obligations virtually impossible to service.

Because of such plight that befalls borrowers, InCred has launched a relatively simplified EMI product, which entails a moratorium period of 12 months.

In this scheme, borrowers are obliged to pay only the interest component of payments for one year, after which regular EMI payments resume. As things stand, this repayment option is the only borrower-oriented approach that can serve the interests of both parties involved. Lenders continue to streamline repayments while, at the same time, customers enjoy and make use of a more borrower-friendly repayment option. Another notable aspect of the program is that the transition from regular loan to the revised EMI is done digitally, and it is completely contactless.

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Conclusion As things stand, a digital solution is the only practicable model to meet consumers' needs who are physically restricted in the COVID era. With this digital approach, it is possible to take on-board new customers, get payments, and process loans without the need for face-to-face interaction in a physical environment. The urgent need for digital solutions is such that there is a looming possibility of consumers opting for financial institutions that deliver services that customers can avail without leaving their homes.

For the last several years, there has been a trend to adopt digital technologies to reform the traditional banking system, which revolves around branches and clients' physical identification. Now the pandemic has made that trend impossible to ignore.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

EXPERT OPINION

How to Unleash the Potential of Advertising on OTT Platforms

Sandiip Kapur, Founder & President, Promodome Group Sandiip Kapur is a successful entrepreneur,

runs Promodome Communications, an advertising

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agency with a track record of nearly two decades.

He has produced three Bollywood feature films under his banner, Promodome Motion Pictures, Anarkali, Juggad and Bhonsle (recently launched on SonyLiv). Sandiip has produced several ad films and corporate films in his career. His next production shall go on floors in September this year. As is his wont, he shall be bringing a new, interesting subject to the audiences.

Sandiip Kapur

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hile the popularity of cable TV continues to decline, OTT (Over the top) viewing is poised to hijack the massive viewership of millions of Indians away from traditional mediums. With premium content, wide variety, and accessibility, it is now becoming an entertainment staple for viewers. Since the eyeballs have been shifting to OTT, it is also time for brands to follow suit.

What is OTT, and why is it gaining in popularity?

Over-the-top viewing refers to video content delivered straight to the consumer via an internet-based platform, instead of a cable or satellite provider. OTT providers have their websites and apps designed for users, where they can log in and access the content available by paying

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

OTT platforms could help brands learn about a customer based on the choices on their devices, through the shows they watch, browsing history, and shopping preferences

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a subscription fee. When it comes to consuming video content, OTT tops the preference list, especially in the case of millennials. A report by eMarketer says the number of OTT users, i.e. cord-cutters will reach 55.1 million by 2022, up from an estimated 39.1 million this year. During the same period, OTT adoption is expected to jump from 170.1 million to 197.7 million.

The OTT platforms serve new and engaging content, which is well received by eager viewers who are tired of the repetitive content found across the various TV channels.

Consumers now have the luxury of viewing shows "on-demand" on a number of devices, at their own convenience, and at a lower cost. A KPMG India & EROS report indicates that 80% of those who subscribe to OTT platforms feel that their entertainment needs are met

by OTT platforms, while 38% of these users are ready to shift from traditional content viewing mediums such as TV. What makes OTT one of the best marketing channels?

In India, OTT platforms gained significant viewership and popularity in the last few years. According to an Ernst &Young and FICCI report titled 'Billion screens of opportunity', the Indian OTT sector experienced a growth rate of 59% and it is expected to have reached$17 billion in revenues in FY2019. The staggering numbers are a significant jump from $13.5 billion in revenues a year earlier and are expected to hit $24 billion by next year. In the wake of the Covid-19

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

With OTT advertising creating increased brand awareness and favorability, brands can enjoy greater outreach and ROI

pandemic, the viewership base has increased further due to the nationwide lockdown. With movie theatres and multiplexes being shut indefinitely, the filmmakers began to release their movies on these platforms.

With the explosive growth of OTT platforms, it's now time for brands to wake up to the reality of contentdriven consumer engagement and brand affinity. Here's why brands must opt for OTT advertising to gain a competitive edge:

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Precise Targeting Brands and marketers now have the opportunity to target the right mix of viewers based on their profiles and viewing habits. OTT platforms could help brands learn about a customer based on the choices on their devices, through the shows they watch, browsing history, and shopping preferences. This information could help in creating targeted ads, keeping an individual viewer at the centre of decision making, rather than a large segment or group. OTT platforms also offer superior measurement and performance tracking metrics compared to TV advertising. Mobile measurement platforms and OTT providers are now offering tools, which allow OTT advertisers to attribute app installs, registrations, utilize relevant data and audience insights.

Viewer Engagement The OTT platforms serve well-packaged, personalized, relevant, and engaging content. The concept of bingewatching has now become a trend as it provides access to complete shows, instead of keeping the viewer waiting for the next episode. Viewers who bingewatch, get exposed to multiple ads throughout the show. Since the ads are well-targeted, they are more

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

than willing to engage with them. On OTT platforms with controlled interfaces, it is not possible to just close the advertisement, switch to another browser tab or even install an ad blocker to restrict ads. Consequently, brands are able to get their message across at all times.

Ad responsiveness Viewers are particularly responsive to OTT advertising messages, making ad-supported OTTs a valuable marketing channel. A report by Freewheel suggests that more than one-third of OTT visits are over an hourlong, and viewers complete 98% of all premium video ads. A 2018 report by the Video Advertising Bureau’ acknowledges that34%of OTT-streaming viewers have admitted about their second-screen activity being almost completely related to the program or commercials. The report also suggests that25% of adsupported OTT viewers have mentioned that they buy more products directly from the brands online versus in-store physical purchases. With OTT advertising creating increased brand awareness and favorability, brands can enjoy greater outreach and ROI. Today, both smart devices and data connectivity are extremely affordable in India. The country is among the top few in the world in terms of data usage, with an average of 9.8 GB of data used per month. Indians spend close to 3 hours a day on their smartphones, and more than 30% of this time is spent on entertainment.

A growing number of Indian viewers are choosing the OTT platforms to satiate their appetite for entertainment.

With the precise targeting capabilities, premium ad opportunities, viewer engagement provided by OTTs, advertisers can now tap into its burgeoning audience, with a significant number of them cutting the cord in favour of streaming services.

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CXO OUTLOOK Higher Education Digest Nov-Dec October2020 2020

MOST INSPIRING

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CXOS IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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he pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of the global supply chains for medicines and medical products, food, energy, vehicles, telecom equipment, electronics, and countless other goods. Companies all over the world have started to modify their sourcing and manufacturing footprints for better reliability and resilience. Many of them are setting up more locations to avoid dependency on limited geographies. However, some countries are not yet ready to take full advantage of these shifts. On such country is India - a potential manufacturing powerhouse that has yet to realize its promise.

The McKinsey Global Institute report, India's turning point: An economic agenda to spur growth and jobs, states that India has an opportunity to raise its manufacturing competitiveness and become a supplier of choice not only for its large consuming class but also for global markets. It also points out that the specialization approach that focuses on eliminating roadblocks in the chosen value chains holds great promise for bringing together manufacturers and, with government support, raising productivity, securing superior know-how, and generating higher returns on capital.

As manufacturing undergoes the revolutionary changes of the Digital Age, the people with the keenest leadership skills have taken up the charge to modernize the industry so that it leverages the cloud and Big Data and is connected and smart. Their success encourages the rest of the manufacturing world to follow. In this issue of CXO Outlook, we celebrate the success of leaders in the Indian manufacturing industry. We present you the list of '10 Most Inspiring CXOs in Indian Manufacturing Industry' who have been running dynamic and high-growth businesses with bright prospects for the future. We hope our efforts to feature their stories would inspire the next generation of leaders in India.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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MOST INSPIRING

CXOS IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Name

Designation

Company

Arnab Banerjee

Chief Operating Officer

CEAT Limited

Devita Saraf

Chief Executive Officer

Vu Televisions

Gaurav Kumar

Chief Financial Officer

Apollo Tyres

Hitesh Vora

Chief Financial Officer

Bombay Dyeing

Managing Director & CEO

Arvind

Rajeev Kapur

Managing Director

Steelbird Helmets

Ravi Kyran Ramasamy

Chief Human Resources Officer

Bajaj Auto

Ravneet Singh Phokela

Chief Business Officer

Ather Energy

General Manager

MediaTek

Chief Technology Officer

Hero MotoCorp

J Suresh

Rituparna Mandal

Vikram S. Kasbekar

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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CXO OUTLOOK Higher Education Digest Sept-Oct December October January 2019 2020

MOST INSPIRING

CXOS IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Rajeev Kapur,

Managing Director, Steelbird Helmets

The Trendsetter

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Rajeev Kapur, the managing director of Steelbird group, started his journey in the corporate world a long time back. At the early age of 20, when all the other boys seem to be too intimidated by their hobbies and are usually geared up to begin their fun and relaxed college life, Rajeev stepped into the Business World. At a very young age, he took the market by the storm. He is a man with myriad visions. ​

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he lockdown put a lot of strain on the manufacturing industry, which contributes almost 20% of the GDP. The manufacturing industry has been hit in many ways due to the Corona effect. To begin with, lower production, due to lower offtake. Considering social distancing as the biggest challenge, the pandemic has brought a huge chunk of issues along with the virus. From the shortage of labourers to operating with less than half the capacity of the company, the COVID19 outbreak has gravely affected the Manufacturing Industry. Despite all odds, Steelbird Group has been treating its employees as family and sharing their love and passion for their work, and motivated them to give their 100%.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Founded on March 13th, 1964 by Subhash Kapur, Chairman of Steelbird Group, the journey of the company started from manufacturing filters for helmets.

Unfortunately, the company stopped making helmets in 2005 as an export customer went bankrupt, which affect the Business as well. Venturing into engineering products, Steelbird Group was back in the market in 2 years, becoming the Buckle King of the entire helmet industry. “We were the biggest exporters of buckles to all of the manufacturers of the world for helmets. In 2011, we again came back to manufacturing helmets and are now one of the biggest helmet manufacturers in Asia. Today we have an installed capacity of manufacturing 22000 helmets per

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Rajeev Kapur

Business has always been my passion, and it runs in my blood - Rajeev Kapur

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Appraising his father to be his biggest influence, Rajeev was instilled with the values of righteousness, humility, and passion for work, right from the start, which has played a huge role in shaping who he is today

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day and plan to take this to 50000 helmets per day by 2022”, adds Rajeev Kapur, Managing Director, Steelbird Helmets.

Offering a wide range of Helmets, Side Boxes, Crash Guards, Engineering Products, Cricket Helmets, Garments, Medical and Safety Equipment, the Steelbird Group has considered innovation as its strongest suit and keep coming with a lot of 'Industry Firsts'. "Be it the Double Visor Helmets, Visors with Night Vision and Photo Chromic technology, NACA duct vents for ventilation in Helmets, Best in class graphics and decals, push-button visor opening mechanism, etc., we always turn out to be unique in the market”, opines Rajeev.

Business in his Blood Quite the active kid in school, Rajeev was very interested in sports and extra-curricular activities, which brought out the competitive spirit in him.

According to him, the biggest lesson he has learned in his childhood was to stay true to his work ethic and passion despite all odds. Having had quite the roller coaster ride, Rajeev has had his fair share of success and failures during his time at the Steelbird, which he has intelligently sailed through and emerged stronger than ever. He adds, "I have not changed things much because my father also used to treat the employees like family and I just carried that

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

same thought forward, which has helped us have an incredibly motivated and passionate workforce, and that has always helped me".

Considering reviving the business from scratch to becoming the market leaders today, Rajeev joined the business at the young age of 17 and took a conscious decision to not do an MBA, which spanned to 7 years during those days, and decided to take the business to another level instead. He reminisces, "Business has always been my passion, and it runs in my blood. Even during the vacations of school, I used to go to the factory every day with my father to learn about business and had this passion for business right from the start”.

Appraising his father to be his biggest influence, Rajeev was instilled with the values of righteousness, humility, and passion for work, right from the start, which has played a huge role in shaping who he is today. Building new businesses, making a difference in the success of their companies, or making positing and lasting contributions to the communities validate the adage that ‘Age is just a number’ for industry giants. Advising aspiring industry leaders of tomorrow, Rajeev concludes, “The only advice would be to never give up.

Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do this. Be humble, kind and passionate and everything else will fall into place”.

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

EXPERT OPINION

Micro Businesses – The Credit Hungry

Mayur Modi, Co-founder & CEO – Moneyboxx Finance Ltd., a BSE Listed Firm

Mayur Modi, Co-Founder and Co-CEO,

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Moneyboxx Finance, has been instrumental in developing a robust strategy, team building, driving the vision and culture at Moneyboxx Finance Pvt Ltd, which is a BSE listed NBFC. He is also actively involved in overseeing the build-up of IT stack (core lending platform), formulating credit and other policies.

Mayur Modi

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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adha aged 45 is a widow and lives in Dewas, a small town, 40 km from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, with her three children, a son aged 20 and two daughters 8 and 6 years of age. Two years ago, her income from a grocery shop left behind by her husband, and meagre interest from some savings parked in bank FD were simply not enough to meet the educational needs of her growing her daughters. She needed a loan. Moneyboxx stepped in with a loan of Rs. 50,000. Radha used that to expand her grocery shop and started selling cosmetic items as well. In the next 12 months, she saved enough and along with her FDs, she was able to invest in a second hand Maruti Van for her son to become a self-employed entrepreneur, operating as a school van. Radha has since repaid her original loan and taken a repeat loan of INR 1 lac to expand her shop even more.

In the world of financial institutions, the herd mentality is so strong that everybody likes to chase the already most banked companies or retail customers

Radha is just one of the 3000 plus customers of Moneyboxx (www.moneyboxxfinance.com) who remain unseen by India’s large banking network. Hari Shankar Sharma is another such customer. He’s 30 years of age and lives 200 km away from Delhi, with his wife and parents in a small town called Bharatpur, Rajasthan. He runs a small rented Kirana shop (~100 sq. ft), which is just about enough to meet their monthly expenses. Hari was finding it increasingly difficult to manage his rising household expenses, and he had no access to any form of formal financing from banks and NBFCs. Moneyboxx Loan Relationship officer (LRO) reached out to him, and after due diligence, Hari was granted a loan of INR 50,000. He immediately used this money to expand his shop and buy more stock, which in the course of the last 18 months has helped him double his monthly income. Not only has Hari ever missed an EMIs, but he's also realised the combined power of right finance and his business acumen.

Like Radha, he came back for a repeat loan of INR 1 lac from Moneyboxx, which he has used to rent (~200 sq. ft) and operate a small oil mill (mustard oil expeller) next to his existing Kirana store.

These tiny businesses often run by individuals as small units, the next-door Kirana shop, livestock owner, roadside eateries, small trading shops might be the backbone and largest cohort of India’s informal economy, but they continue to remain

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largely neglected by the country’s mainstream banking and financing system. 73 years of independence and many of these businesses are still forced into the clutches of the sahukar, the ubiquitous, ravenous moneylender. Travel down to a small town India and even today, you will find ample examples of people in debt traps and a replay of 1960s and 70s movie scene.

In the world of financial institutions, the herd mentality is so strong that everybody likes to chase the already most banked companies or retail customers. These are the low hanging customers with established bank statements and/or salary incomes. It’s easy to provide credit to them, piggy banking on the fact that somebody would have done its due diligence.

Our seven decades of financing has only accentuated economic inequality and socioeconomic imbalances with too much credit flowing to certain strata of the society, while the really deserving, credit hungry and very important segments of the economy are left neglected and underserved.

These very micro-businesses, which are repeatedly ignored, neglected and dismissed as non-important by big financial institutions, are our bread and butter. And while bank credit growth shows no improvement despite a heavy push from the government and RBI, we are happy to share, our business is coming back surely and steadily.

Let me size the opportunity we decided to seize. There are close to 56 million MSME units in India, including all the big and small units put together. If you carve out the second M or the micro-businesses, there are approximately 48 million unregistered MSME units. Bear in mind though, these 48 million still miss the crores of livestock traders and other small businesses who are not on the radar of any form of formal registration, regulation or supervision. Various studies have tried to piece together this segment and shown that the total credit demand for micro-businesses is a huge ~INR 13 trillion, growing at a 20% CAGR. A majority of 85% of this continues to be met through informal sources (the moneylender).

Why is this huge opportunity neglected by financial institutions? The facts are not a surprise for anyone. These units are spread

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

More about

Mayur Modi A

Chartered

Accountant

with

more than 18+ years of experience in financial service industry across developed and emerging markets, Mr Mayur started his career with GE Capital and went on to work in large financial institutions like JP Morgan and HSBC wherein he was instrumental in developing key relationships across Financial Institutions. He also has considerable expertise in the areas of banking and capital products, credit ratings of financial institutions, industry research, relationship management and risk management, among others.

across the length and breadth of the country, and more than 70% are located in tier 2 and tier 3 towns, ~200 km away from any big city. Nobody is really interested in visiting them, understanding their requirement and doing the paperwork to extend loans as small as INR 1-2 lacs. Most of these livelihood businesses are unregistered units, with lack of documentation & personal credit history making it difficult to analyse their true cash flows, and therefore a no-go territory for most financial institutions (especially Banks). They simply do not have the necessary basic documents to require for credit decision making by institutions. Some might argue why not use the magic fintech solutions to reach these micros businesses and provide them with necessary credit. We’ve found that most of these individuals easily get hooked to smartphones for Facebook and YouTube, but they are not financially literate to use technology for availing credit.

At Moneyboxx we’ve made inroads into the microbusiness segment by doing a few things which difficult but not impossible. We have gone city by city, town by town and set up our phygital network. Our army of loan officers establishes contact with these businesses.

They assess the financing need and then provide individual micro-enterprises with tailor-made and simple financing solutions. We combine the physical presence of our branches with the latest technology to reach and understand the needs of our customers, collect and analyse data to arrive at a credit decision.

Robust asset quality of Moneyboxx’s portfolio amidst the pandemic with a high collection efficiency of ~94% during the moratorium and zero NPAs to date, validate the merits of the customer-centric phygital model over a pure-play fintech approach.

We believe that the branch model combined with the prowess of technology is a sustainable business model which also creates more employment opportunities for locals, resulting in a win-win situation for all. In our very first year, we have set up operations in 11 cities across 4 states and provided growth capital to more than 3,000 customers and positively impacted 15,000 lives. This is a humble start from our end in the l financial inclusion drive in India. We have lined up plans to spread our presence across the length and breadth of India.

Today 52% of our loan portfolio is made up of livestock small owners. These are people in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns who own 3-8 Cattle and sometimes have small farming business as well. They borrow

money from us to purchase cattle. Unlike agriculture, livestock provides a very stable source of earning which is also the reason that despite lock-down and moratorium our collection during past 5 months has been 94% and as high as 98.4% in July. A person owning 3 cattle can double his income in 2-3 years by taking loans from us. Traders make up the secondlargest group with 27% of Moneyboxx Finance’s portfolio – These are typical shops like garments, hardware, fancy item stores and so on. The margin is this segment is typically higher at 25-30% as these involve a lot of locally sourced products as compared to branded products. The average daily sale of these segment ranges from INR 7,500 to 10,000 and after taking care of all expenses (rental, salaries and other expenses) they earn anything between 1,500 to 2,000 per day. These set of customers are more financially sound as compared to Livestock and Kirana and are able to borrow much higher amount (typical loan is above 1 lac and can go up to 3 lac). Small manufacturers making ancillary products for large manufactures in auto, garments, shoe industry etc. are the other group we lend to. The margin for such a set of customers ranges between 25-35% depending on the nature of the work and segment that they are into.

These customers generally have small manufacturing units in tier 2 and tier 3 cities ranging between 500 sq. ft to 1000 sq. ft in size, which is generally rented. They borrow mainly for the working capital requirement.

Their loan requirement is typically higher ranging from 1.5 lac and upwards, and they also have better repayment capability if they are in business for more than 3 years and above.

And Kirana shop owners like Radha and Hari make up 8% of our portfolio. And this segment beat all the pandemic blues, earning almost earning 2x their regular income. This was our best performing segment with least cheque bounces and requests for moratorium within our portfolio.

After a loan and repayment journey with us, these previously unbanked individual businesses and entrepreneurs learn how to tap into affordable credit by doing some basic re-modelling of their businesses, such as transacting more through banking channels, registering their units, creating a credit history and so on. For us, a job is well done, not only because these units flourish after credit from us, but they are now ready to access the formal credit system leading to a strong multiplier effect and wonderful transformation in local communities.

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LEADER'S INSIGHTS

How are Ed-Tech Platforms Reshaping the Future of Learning?

Sandeep Jain, Founder, GeeksforGeeks

An IIT Roorkee alumnus and the founder of the world’s biggest Computer Science

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encyclopedia, GeeksforGeeks. He is an avid promoter of programming, imbibing and sharing his love of coding with others. Apart from GeeksforGeeks, he has also worked with DE Shaw and Co. as a software developer and JIIT Noida as an assistant professor.

T Sandeep Jain

echnology has transformed the education system in all possible ways.

Classrooms are no more restricted to the four-walls; instead, they've become more student-centric while breaking geographical barriers by integrating technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and more. From schools to colleges, the Education Technology (EdTech) platforms are in high demand. Statistically speaking, the global market of the EdTech industry is all set to reach around $250 billion by the year 2022, especially since the advent of pandemic and respective lockdowns.

Many educators agree that students find learning processes more engaging and exciting when integrated with technologies due to personalized educational experiences. However, despite this, Ed-Tech platforms are reshaping the future of learning – let's learn how: Why EdTech over the traditional education system?

1. Learning flexibility: Students are no longer required to commute to the classes as they can learn any skill or pursue a degree at their own pace and from the comfort of their home.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

The global market of the EdTech industry is all set to reach around $250 billion by the year 2022, especially since the advent of pandemic and respective lockdowns

2. Video-based learning + Collaborative learning: Prominent features such as these make the learning process even more personalized for students.

3.Ample Choices: Allows students/learners to select a relevant program or course as per his/her requirements and interests.

4. Offers engaging learning experience: The current generation of students are fascinated with technologies; hence, it becomes easier to create a more dynamic learning environment in comparison with the conventional education system.

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Is EdTech a substitute for Teachers and Mentors?

It is one of the biggest misconceptions that EdTech is a substitute for teachers or educators when the actual scenario is entirely different. Here's how: EdTech concerns with the systemic implementation of technologies and tools in the education domain to make the learning process more effective and worthwhile for the students. It simply means that teachers get more resources to develop better learning practices to engage students. EdTech plays a supportive role for the teachers as it makes the teacher's work easier with various features such as classroom management tools, personalized assessment of students, etc.

How is EdTech leveraging the latest technologies?

There are various trending technologies such as Cloud Computing, AR and VR, AI, etc. that are currently being utilized in EdTech systems:

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It is one of the biggest misconceptions that EdTech is a substitute for teachers or educators when the actual scenario is entirely different

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1. Augmented and Virtual Reality is used by almost every EdTech platform to create a virtual environment for students to provide an enhanced and interactive learning experience.

2. Big Data is being used in EdTech to deliver personalized user experiences by adapting to every learner's needs and requirements.

3. AI and Chatbots are being used to provide the utmost support and assistance systems for the students.

Several other prominent technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, etc. are also used in EdTech to develop the most worthwhile learning practices and solutions.

EdTech vs. Traditional Education Systems: Which is more cost-effective?

Though there can't be a pin-point or one-sided answer to this question as the cost factor is dependent on various other aspects and it varies from platform to platform. For example – a course based on the same topic or skill can be available at Rs. 2000/- on one platform and at Rs. 10,000/on another platform. And there may be various reasons behind such mismatched prices like content quality, additional resources, etc.

However, if we overall compare the EdTech with traditional education systems, students will generally find the former one more cost-effective

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

due to the reduced cost of additional expenditures like commutation expenses, infrastructure fees, etc.

Is EdTech the Future of the Education World?

Firstly, we must acknowledge that the current generation can interact with technologies from a very young age; a 4-year-old kid can use smartphones or tablets. Hence, when the technology is introduced in their education world, they're more likely to engage or incline towards the learning process.

Secondly, with EdTech platforms, learning is not just limited to a physical classroom but the students can explore things at a worldwide level. And when they're exposed to such a comprehensive learning environment, it allows them to understand things in a more comprehensive and effective way.

Furthermore, adaptive learning, gamification, and increased collaboration enhanced learning experiences, etc. enable the EdTech platforms to offer interactive avenues to connect with the student while engaging them in learning the lesson; which makes it very clear that EdTech is reshaping the education world, and, hence, the future of learning.

Thus, every learner is strongly recommended to get familiar with the EdTech environment to make the most out of it.

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MOST INSPIRING

CXOS IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY

Rituparna Mandal, General Manager, MediaTek

The

People’s Manager 70 Rituparna began her journey with MediaTek in 2015 as Director of Advanced CPU and Foundation IP Technology. She has more than 22 years of experience in the deep tech space, having held a number of roles at Texas Instruments and in addition to her own entrepreneurial endeavors, including creating her own semiconductor technology firm before joining the MediaTek team.

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he manufacturing industry all over the world is standing at the precipice of severe negative impacts due to COVID-19. A major issue faced by the global manufacturing sector was the disruption in supply chains due to lockdowns across the world. The phenomenon led to a drastic shortage of devices and caused availability issues, especially as the pandemic led to a boom in demand. In fact, with social distancing, every child was being homeschooled and every person, except those involved in essential services, was working from home, leading to a huge demand for connectivity devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. Thus, from an electronics and semiconductor standpoint, there was a surge in demand,

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

but the manufacturing sector faced challenges while synchronizing social distancing rules, creating a safe zone for workers, and meeting consumer requirements.

The pandemic situation has, indeed, altered the way organizations and leaders handle decisions with all the employees placed on remote working for an extended period of time. As the General Manager at MediaTek Bangalore, Rituparna Mandal was responsible for leading the project teams and also ensuring that the entire site was taken care of. The company’s foremost priority was ensuring employee safety and health, and this was the basic principle around which our entire strategy revolved.

She opines, “We worked towards striking the right balance

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Rituparna Mandal

I have a set of core values that I live and work by - integrity, excellence, innovation, creativity, and having fun - Rituparna Mandal

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between employee health, safety, and business continuity and it was no easy task”.

Joining MediaTek in 2015, Rituparna came into the company when the startup she used to work for, Immensa was acquired by MediaTek and was re-joining a corporate set-up. She says, “Building my career here has been a very interesting and dynamic journey. Given that the Bangalore site is still a very young entity, the kind of initiatives I have worked on has demanded innovation and creativity from my end and made me push my boundaries as a leader.

The organization has offered me technical opportunities to explore and grow my capabilities and it has been an exciting journey. I look forward to a long and fruitful association in the years ahead”.

Being an R&D site, MediaTek Bangalore introduced engaging and interactive technical dialogues through Tek Fridays where they invite internal and external experts to interact with the team members. Once Rituparna became the General Manager, my focus was on making MediaTek Bangalore ‘The place to be’. As she was responsible for the entire site, she could no longer limit her focus to work commitments or project deliverables. The role enabled Rituparna to widen her horizons by working on improving employee engagement and making MediaTek Bangalore a Great Place to Work. She states, “Considering our modest budgets, we at MediaTek always adopt innovative approaches to employee engagement and retention. My aim has been to create a workplace whose culture is that of innovation while making it fun and engaging at the same time, built on a foundation of trust and I have brought in several initiatives to ensure the same”.

MediaTek powers 1.5 billion connected devices every year, including mobile phones, home entertainment, connectivity, IoT products, smart TVs, voice assistant devices (VADs), android tablets, set-top boxes as well as optical and Blu-ray DVD players. Their USP lies in the fact that they are the only semiconductor company catering to such diverse product categories. MediaTek is the number 1 chipset maker, globally, for smart devices such as Chromebooks, voice assistant devices or smart speakers, smart TVs, etc. They are focused on technology democratization and enabling customers to face the new normal in a productive and optimal manner. “Another characteristic that makes MediaTek products unique is that we are pushing technology boundaries continuously, across segments. For instance, MediaTek and Samsung introduced the world’s first 8K QLED TV equipped with MediaTek’s custom Wi-Fi 6 chipset and the flagship TV was the only 8K TV, worldwide, which offered support for Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. MediaTek is also at the forefront of

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

the 5G domain and has already launched several premium and mainstream 5G chips under its MediaTek Dimensity SoC family”, points out Rituparna.

Creating an Employee-Friendly Environment MediaTek’s approach towards employee engagement and productivity entailed understanding that if they take care of employee wellbeing, they would be committed to making business plans a reality. “From a project standpoint, there were several critical projects we worked on, including advances on our collaboration with Intel on 5G laptops and computers. The collaboration was made difficult due to social distancing and we had to create innovative methods to ensure seamless coordination and not let physical distance come in the way of innovation”, remarks Rituparna.

An adverse effect of work from home has been that work now involves nothing but completing projects and assignments. Previously, work also had interesting elements like meeting at the coffee station to catch up on non-work topics, dressing up for formal events, attending celebratory lunches or dinners, and other team activities. In such a scenario, it is doubly important to ensure employee engagement and boost motivation.

Communication, across levels, is key to engagement and motivation. To keep up the positive spirit, the company brought in several initiatives to enable their associates, like daily sync up meetings, having experts on standby to enable seamless coordination and brainstorming, offering remote access to labs in HQ, engaging employees with a fun and technical meetings, and conducting virtual ‘Bring Your Own Coffee’ sessions where they all took part in fun games and discussions.

Also taking efforts to ensure that employees felt they were in a safe zone, without worrying about job security, Rituparna motivated employees to better adapt to work from home and remote collaboration with constant encouragement through different channels. Another thing she focused on, from a leadership perspective, was communication – ensuring that proper communication channels were open across all levels of the organization was very important to keep everyone on the same page – whether it was the communication of the situation at a ground level to the headquarters, or communication on one on one basis with employees, transparent and clear communication made a big difference to ensuring full cooperation and support across the board.

The pandemic has made everyone realize that employee engagement activities are as critical as project meetings.

During this time, different ways of celebrating important

milestones were thought of. For all employees who completed 5 years at MediaTek Bangalore, greeting cards with a personal congratulatory message from Rituparna, along with a small gift were sent out. “I truly believe small gestures like these play a big role in solidifying employee relationships with the company in the long run”, remarks Rituparna.

Rituparna Mandal

A Journey of Learning Having always been a topper, Rituparna always wanted to be the best in everything she did, rather than being better than anyone else. Being a head girl at school or the class representative in college, Rituparna has always been there when required to step up. The constant thirst for learning and becoming the best version of herself has been her motto in life. She says, “My parents instilled in me the lesson that I should always give my 100% to anything I take up and never have any regrets.

My parents taught me to not let go, even though that would be the easier choice. They instilled in me the drive to stay in the game even though it may seem tough at the time because seeing it to the end would be totally worth it”.

Throughout her career, Rituparna has been fortunate enough to come across several inspirational leaders who mentored her throughout the years. “I have been on a constant journey of imbibing leadership lessons from those around me. I have a set of core values that I live and work by - integrity, excellence, innovation, creativity, and having fun. These core values are deeply embedded within me and have been shaped by the several great managers I have worked with throughout my career, both at Texas Instruments as well as in MediaTek”, says Rituparna.

With work, home, and childcare becoming entwined to an unimaginable extent during the lockdown, there were no boundaries between work and home for Rituparna. A typical day for her involves completing team meetings, working on projects, taking care of the household requirements, and returning to work or engage with her associates. Although work has become more hectic, Rituparna has been enjoying her time at home and garden. She adds, “I practice yoga, meditation, and gardening to stay calm. Throughout the pandemic, I have tried my level best to help in whatever way I can, whoever I can – whether it is supporting the migrant working population with funds and organizing open kitchens for them, or sponsoring PPE kits and materials for health workers or even fostering stray animals in our vicinity. I firmly believe that no act of

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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With technology and innovation being her passion, Rituparna started her career as a circuit designer and layout engineer and considers her first professional milestone to develop into a project manager

kindness is too small and that is what the world needs right now – true empathy and support”.

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Keeping up with the Tech Trends With technology and innovation being her passion, Rituparna started her career as a circuit designer and layout engineer and considers her first professional milestone to develop into a project manager. She recalls, “During my stint at Texas Industries, I worked on library architecture for smartphones and I recall a project where we had to create the highest density library architecture for smartphones. We spent days and nights working on data and designing the best possible solution and it was a moment of triumph and a major milestone when our design being incorporated into the Nokia smartphone”.

Later on moving to memory design in silicon, which was extremely complex and demanding, Rituparna aided several revamps, that benefited the company tremendously in terms of customer satisfaction as well as an improved baseline. “I am extremely proud of this milestone, especially since my son was also born during this project and I worked on it right after my maternity leave. The project took up almost two years of my career and it was an immensely satisfying period, both personally and professionally”, remarks Rituparna.

Considering the designing of the flagship MediaTek Helio G90T chip as the most important milestone during her time at the company, Rituparna reminisces, “We were racing against time to develop the entire chip, on an innovative core, and it was a wow moment to hold the G90T embedded Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro in my hand at the end of the journey. The innovative MediaTek HyperEngine Game technology, which powers all

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

the new G series chips, was also conceptualized and developed by my team and that is a defining part of my career at MediaTek”.

Picturing the Road Ahead Going ahead, MediaTek is monitoring the situation closely and focusing on ensuring employee safety. Since the pandemic is not easing, the company is planning to extend work from home for a few more months while also creating a roadmap to ensure our commitments to customers are honored. Building a safe zone in the office where the employees can come to work for essential tasks while remaining safe, MediaTek will consider reopening the office in a phased manner later on as the situation improves. “Covid-19 has taught me that we should not try to control things that are beyond our power, such as the spread of the pandemic or the possibility of creating a cure. This has helped me be less stressed as I have accepted that while some things, on a macro-scale, cannot be in our control, we can focus our energies on what we do have control over and make that a positive experience”, opines Rituparna.

Keeping up with the change in the world evolving so fast has become a necessity. Advising the beginners who aspire to be experts in the industry, Rituparna concludes, “A motto I swear by is to ‘stay relevant and keep learning’. My advice would be to make yourself relevant for today and future-ready for tomorrow. A winning combination of commitment, hard work, and passion will help you be an expert in your chosen sector.

A thirst for learning, knowing your surroundings, a genuine spark of interest and passion will make you an expert in any field you choose”.

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Higher Education Digest September 2020

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

EXPERT OPINION

Empowering the Learning Community

Jerold Pereira, Executive Director and CEO, mPowerO mPowerO is a learning and engagement

platform that provides a simple to use delivery

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platform for students and learners to access all study-related material – course work, assignments, assessments, and announcements, all in one place. "mPowerO eLearning platform helps schools, colleges & training institutes and publishers ensure continuity with their operations and also enabled them to scale up despite the challenges brought about due to the COVID-pandemic," says Jerold Pereira, Executive Director and CEO, mPowerO. In a conversation with CXO Outlook, Jerold Pereira talks Jerold Pereira

about services mPowerO offers to the education sector, marketing strategies mPowerO is using during COVID-19, and much more.

The Indian EdTech sector is currently booming due to the pandemic. As an Ed-Tech Start-up that helps institutions with digital transformation, how is mPowerO helping learners during this pandemic?

Ed-tech was bound to gain traction and 'boom' given (a) the size of India's student population, (b) technology disrupting most aspects of our daily lives, and (c) wider availability of cheaper data and devices. The

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

What remains of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 will be about faster adoption of existing technologies at scale

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Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of online learning, with timelines truncating. mPowerO has been digitally transforming learning since 2016-17 by aiding instructorled learning through an e-learning platform that makes learning inquiry-led, experiential and collaborative. Like other leading Ed-tech players, mPowerO has seen much faster adoption during the pandemic since the benefits of e-learning are now widely understood and accepted by academia and other stakeholders.

What are the unique services mPowerO offers to the education sector? How does the company intend to stand out from the crowd? mPowerO is a cloud-hosted e-learning solution that has been developed by educators, for educators. mPowerO delivers a simple, intuitive and interactive learning experience in the mobile-first format, keeping in mind that most online learning is happening via smartphones. mPowerO is also accessible through a web browser.

Secondly, mPowerO deploys a 'customised' e-learning solution through a school/institute-branded mobile app and browser, mapped to the school's/ institute's pedagogy. This gives a sense of 'ownership' and security to stakeholders as proprietary e-content and student data remain secure on the platform and cannot be shared externally unless specifically permitted.

Thirdly, mPowerO integrates learning, communication and engagement into a single platform. Ease of flipping between live classes and lesson plans, clearing

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

doubts, sending announcements, taking tests/exams with instant results are well-appreciated features. Teachers who struggle with other e-learning platforms, find mPowerO's UI/UX extremely user-friendly whilst creating lesson plans, setting tests, sharing additional learning resources and more.

Further, mPowerO helps improve learning outcomes as teachers, students, and parents collaborate by using mPowerO's granular analytics and dashboards to track learner progress and comprehension, and facilitating timely intervention as required.

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What inspired you to start mPowerO in 2016?

How have your objectives and goals changed since the company has grown?

SkillPro has been in the education and training space since 2008, delivering various learning solutions across age groups - from school-going children to those seeking employment and life skills. Our deep understanding of this space impressed upon us the importance of leveraging digital tools to deliver a more comprehensive and immersive learning experience. This led to the development of mPowerO, our e-learning management system.

The objectives and goals of SkillPro have not really changed over the years - we remain committed to ensuring high-quality learning delivery for superior learning outcomes. We have evolved with time, incorporating newer technologies and learning pedagogies, which has enabled us to scale faster and wider.

Since May, mPowerO has already boarded more than 10+ leading schools. How did you manage to become a successful EdTech company in India?

The number of schools and students now using mPowerO are far higher. The past 3-4 months has seen much faster adoption as schools turn to digital enablement. And this is no longer restricted to top schools in metros and Tier 1 cities - we are on-boarding schools and educational institutes across all categories and geographies.

Secondly, it is no longer necessary for us to evangelize the importance and benefits of e-learning. Schools are moving away from stop-gap tools, deployed during the initial days of the lockdown, to more long-term, customised, secure e-learning platforms, which are intended to remain in a 'post-pandemic' environment. mPowerO is an e-learning platform that delivers on all of these counts and hence the traction.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

What are the marketing strategies mPowerO is using at the moment and would recommend to other EdTech startups?

We leverage different channels - primarily digital these days - for the marketing of mPowerO, with every channel addressing a specific need in our outreach and messaging.

Our immediate focus is on those channels that help us with qualified leads as well as brand awareness. We have also been using social media handles and offline and online PR to support our marketing efforts.

With regard to recommendations, it really depends on the business model of the start-up. Marketing strategies for a B2C model would vary from a B2B2C or B2B model.

One thing is very clear now - the increased importance of a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy - since even reading habits have changed on account of the pandemic.

What are some of the most innovative technologies in EdTech right now? What are the key trends of e-learning to follow in 2021?

Ed-tech is at a very nascent stage in India and is starting to find wider adoption, be it across K-12, higher education, test preparation, skill training, etc. What remains of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 will be about faster adoption of existing technologies at scale. What is interesting is that ed-tech is making learning more 'personalised', even in a school environment using AI and ML tools. There has also been increasing usage of 'self-proctored' tests - another area where mPowerO is getting good traction through mPowerO Assess.

What are the exciting things can we expect from mPowerO in the next 12 months? What are your plans for expansion? mPowerO is continuous work-in-progress, with newer releases upgrading existing features and bringing in new ones like personalised learning paths, AR/VR tools, etc. We are also testing new forms of last-mile digital delivery, which will enable us to exponentially grow our footprint with K-12 schools. Further, we continue to partner with digital content providers and publishers, particularly in the K-12 and skills space, thereby expanding the value proposition, which we will soon offer direct-to-customer (B2C). We remain bullish about the size of the ed-tech opportunity, which we expect to keep growing, and are well-positioned to capitalize on the same.

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

EXPERT OPINION

Strategies for Creating a successful Banking App

Shubham Jha, Sales Manager India, Adjust Shubham Jha is a Sales & Account

Management Professional with experience in

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various industries including Marketing SaaS Sales, AdTech, MarTech, IT - Sales/ Business Development, Key Account Management, Marketing. He is deft in achieving budgeted sales with the largest and most prominent accounts. Jha is an expert in driving new business, key accounts and establishing strategic partnerships. He is a team player with excellent communication, planning, analytical, organizational, interpersonal and time management skills with an attitude to adapt to evolving business challenges.

Shubham Jha

M

obile apps are revolutionizing the way we manage our finances, with 90% of mobile users predicted to make a mobile payment with their smartphone in 2020. In 2018, digital transactions in India increased by 55%, compared with 48% in China and 23% in Indonesia, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Moreover, research shows that in India alone, the number of mobile banking payments in 2019 was approximately 6.2 billion. This was a significant increase compared to the previous year, and there is no sign this trend is slowing down. In fact, the Indian digital payments market is estimated to reach the one trillion U.S. dollar mark by 2023.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Now more than ever, fintech and banking apps on mobile are integral to daily life, and traditional banks risk becoming irrelevant if they don’t keep up with the competition on this front

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All of this has been accelerated by COVID-19, as lockdown forced people to rethink how they would complete even the most mundane tasks — including banking.

Now more than ever, fintech and banking apps on mobile are integral to daily life, and traditional banks risk becoming irrelevant if they don’t keep up with the competition on this front.

Here’s what you need to know about creating a banking app in 2020.

Get to know your audience and competitors Before you launch any product, it’s crucial to understand the market — and that’s especially true for banking apps. The banking vertical caters to a wide age range and various user types, so it’s essential to identify which features are critical for your target customers. Moreover, if you already have services via desktop and mobile web, your mobile app should offer the same functionality — perhaps with a few extras. (For instance, mobile deposits may not be possible on desktop but are in an app.)

Extensive testing is the best way to identify what works best and ensure your banking app generates optimal results. You should also seek out user feedback from every demographic you are targeting. As you gain a greater understanding of what customers want from your app, you should also gain a clear outline of your various target audience groups, why they will be interested and how you can compete against apps targeting the same audience.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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Banking app design It should go without saying that your user interface should be sleek, easy to use, and address your customers’ needs. What that will look like for each app depends on the audience and the product’s core mission — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t best practices you can follow. For instance, avoid overloading your app with images, text, and icons – keep things simple so users can accomplish their mission quickly and without too many hurdles to jump. You can give your app a visual identity by using your brand's colour themes and logo when appropriate.

You can also help users make sense of complicated financial matters by including data visualizations.

For best results, A/B test these visualizations so you can learn when they are useful and when they are harming your UX. Messaging is also a key component your team will need to consider. From time to time, you will need to communicate with your users. While interruptive messages that appear on the screen may seem necessary for conveying important financial information, they can also annoy users just trying to complete a task — in which case, non-interruptive messaging may be a better fit.

There are many aspects of user onboarding that need to be considered, but the most important for fintech companies is that you establish trust with your audience

Secure your app When it comes to the banking of any type, security is of the utmost importance. Whether it's a guard at the door or biometric log-in, your customers want to know their money is safe with you. To inspire confidence and keep your users’ data secure, you’ll need to implement these four security features: ● Only allow sophisticated passwords ● Don’t store unnecessary information ● Use two-factor authentication ● Implement payment blocking Keep in mind that security often impacts the user experience, and you’ll need to balance both concerns to create a seamless but secure experience.

To get started, consider coordinating your onboarding across multiple channels, making sure your messaging is consistent, and the process is seamless. Meanwhile, remember that it’s important to tell users why you’re collecting it and how you will use it whenever you ask for personal information. You can also offer trials, allowing potential customers to try out your services without commitment.

User personas are also a great way to optimize your onboarding. These are fictionalized versions of audience groups that will help you segment your customers by their needs. You can create user personas using your market research and gather data to identify behavioural trends once your app has launched. Having a complete understanding of your user personas will also help you further down the line and ensure you make research-driven decisions.

User onboarding When it comes to retaining users, the onboarding process is incredibly important. Bad user experience can send users running back to the teller — or worse, to the competition. There are many aspects of user onboarding that need to be considered, but the most important for fintech companies is that you establish trust with your audience.

The bottom line on fintech Remember, when it comes to fintech apps and banking in general, users are often on a mission to complete a task or get information. Your goal should be to help them do this safely with as little friction as possible. If you do it right, you will succeed against your competitors, continue to grow your business and will be part of shaping the future of mobile finance.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Want to find Investor for your Startup?

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

EXPERT OPINION

How Contactless Technologies are Driving Digital Payment Services

Zafar Imam, CEO, Finshell

Zafar Imam is the CEO at FinShell, a leading financial services brand that introduced

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smartphone-based financial services in India powering two platforms OPPO Kash & realme PaySa. Zafar is one of the co-founders of the company, and he was the Chief Business Officer and a Director in the company since April 2019.

Zafar has two decades plus of experience in consumer banking and FinTech space. He served at Axis Bank for more than 13 years and worked in different roles building the consumer finance business. Along with his immense industry Zafar Imam

experience, a father of 2, Zafar brings his patience, maturity and strategy skills on the table. His interests include cooking, music and reading. He is a people’s person and believes in investing in people as that goes a long way. With Zafar as the Chief Business Officer, FinShell has witnessed exponential progress. The company has been able to launch five product lines within 12 months – personal loans, channel finance, mutual funds, UPI & Insurance.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Considering the current status quo, turning to contactless experiences is only a logical step on the part of consumers

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he fintech industry has come a long way already as significant milestones have been achieved over the years. But more changes are yet to sweep the industry as changes in the form of digital payment services are emerging and taking the financial world by storm. We can be looking at a new era altogether. In retrospect, concepts such as digital payment solutions would have been brushed aside as a far-fetched and fallacious notion. But, now, we are first-hand witnesses to contactless technologies, and we see how nothing is impossible out there.

That said, contactless technologies are now set to become an integral part of the day. Though the payments industry may not fully adopt the same, it will be just a matter of time before there is a cross-industry adoption.

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COVID-19: A catalyst of digital payments with contactless technologies The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has unleashed an unprecedented wave of lockdowns, social distancing, and home quarantine. This crisis is bringing about a change in consumer behaviour. There is a mass transition from contact-based solution to contactless innovations. People turn towards online modes to execute their vital daily functions such as shopping and buying essentials from the comforts of their homes. Due to this trend of people taking to online modes, the fintech industry is witnessing an explosion along the lines of digital payments.

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

Considering the current status quo, turning to contactless experiences is only a logical step on the part of consumers. Against the backdrop of a pandemic as virulent as the one we are witnessing, it is common sense to refrain from physical contact and stay safe.

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Unified Payment Interface (UPI) Developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, Unified Payment Interface is an innovative platform that enables an instant payment settlement.

The unique selling point (USP) of UPI is that it is versatile as interoperability is its hallmark. It facilitates both B2B and B2C transactions and is now one of the most promising real-time payment solutions in the world. In a time when people recoil from highhazard contact-based transactions, payment solutions such as Unified Payment Interface are bound to take precedence. Based on the current growth estimates evaluation, we can say that UPI-powered transactions will surpass that of card-based transactions in just a span of two years.

Furthermore, as many 140 Indian banks are now adopting UPI payment gateway, a rapid surge from 21 banks in 2019. Now, UPI transactions have also hit the ‘billion’ threshold.

Mass transition from traditional card payments to contactless payments Due to the disruption of contactless payments, the traditional card transaction is on the wane. Now, we have card tokenization which allows customers to use their mobile devices as a card to make payments. As things stand, traditional card transaction is an outdated process, and banks are moving away from cash management systems such as ATMs that are now seen as an expensive strategy. To that end, banks are scaling up digital payments facility, and the finance industry is set to undergo a change that could result in an all-new landscape.

According to recent findings, there is a massive decline in the usage of the overall credit card as

CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

card users are becoming more judicious. As such, credit and debit cards are soon going to become a thing of the past. With contactless payment technologies in place, mobile payment systems can safely store credit and debit card information, thereby empowering smartphone-wielding consumers like never before.

Transactions via contactless payment card are much faster than traditional payment solutions It appears that the financial world could not have enough of contactless experiences.

According to reports, over 60% of the financial transactions in India are below Rs. 2,000-mark and can be processed without a PIN. With that in mind, numerous financial institutions are now appreciating the concept of contactless debit cards. These contactless debit cards work by leveraging the principle of NFC or Near Field Communications.

NFC technology utilizes radio transmission to establish contact when the cards are waved near a POS terminal. Therefore, users will be able to initiate a transaction by merely waving a card instead of swiping it in a machine.

Conclusion Contactless technologies are heralds of a new era. Down the line, things such as contact-based payments will become a story from the past, a thing to recount in the history books. The global pandemic may be contained with the success of new vaccines, but there is no certainty that COVID-19 will exit the world for good anytime soon. What is certain, though, is that the virus is going to stay with us, and contactless businesses will be the norm of the day. On a given day, a customer would prefer a contactless payment solution to avoid the risk of viral transmission. Therefore, digitization will be a permanent trend.

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CXO OUTLOOK Nov-Dec 2020

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Higher Education Digest October 2020