Volume4 issue 24 corporate citizen

Contemporary Management Thoughts

CII SESSION Globalisation 4.0 Advantages and challenges March 16-31, 2019 / `50

Volume 4, Issue No. 24 / Pages 68 www.corporatecitizen.in

INTERVIEW

na Hazar An e

Ranjan Sarkar

Military to mass Management

Executive Vice President - HR, Exide Industries Limited

Sudhir Mateti,

Deputy General Manager-HR, Syntel Telecom

Taking Stock

Ajay Tyagi

Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)

SURVEY PwC ‘Workforce of the Future’

Cover Story

Value of Villages For the revival of unemployment & resurgence of our economy

Anna Hazare, on his metamorphosis from battling it out for the Indian Army to relentlessly waging a battle against corruption in the role of a social crusader Loved & Married TOO

Sarvesh Jadhav and Utpala Patankar on their equation

2 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 67

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A well-composed business magazine

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It is so true that sacrifices strengthen determination

KeyNote Padma Shri dr BVr mohaN reddy, executiVe chairmaN, cyieNt Ltd. Volume 4, Issue No. 23 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

March 1-15, 2019 / `50

Very often in our day-today activities of our lives, we tend to take for granted the work of our military men who diligently strive to protect our country from external attacks and don’t deter to give their lives for the sake of the nation. It was quite enlightening to read SacrificeS through your recent issue 23, dated 1 March, 2019, Strengthen which was a tribute to the Determination 44 brave CRPF Jawans, who were martyred in the recent Pulwama terror attack. It is so true that sacrifices strengthen the determination of the nation and we have to value that. I want to thank your Corporate Citizen that continually bring out interesting and thoughtful stories to its readers. The same issue had a very interesting military to management story on Sirisha PN, titled “Officer & a Gentlewoman”, who compares her life in the army and the corporate world, in a tell-all interview. She perfectly paints an inspiring story of woman empowerment—how the military has taught her the self-discipline and responsibility that she carried further into her career and life. In the meantime, I was also thrilled to read the insightful talk of Padma Shri Dr BVR Mohan Reddy on the forthcoming waves of change, in terms of technological advances and what the business organisations are supposed to do in this changing environment.

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Corporate Citizen pays tribute to the 44 brave CRPF Jawans who were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14th.

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March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 3

Editor-in-Chief’s Choice / Tavleen Singh

Fifth column:

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

Kashmir is a domestic problem Why is it so hard for senior leaders in both our main national parties to say clearly that these attacks shame India and must be stopped?

It

was too good to last. For a moment the horror of what happened in Pulwama made our political leaders put India’s security above their own petty politics, but this moment did not last long. So even as ordinary Indians came into the streets to publicly mourn at the funerals of the 40 men who died so brutally, our main political parties went back to politics as usual. The Congress party accused Narendra Modi of

4 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

shooting for a promotional film on the afternoon of the Pulwama massacre and the BJP blamed the whole Kashmir problem on Jawaharlal Nehru. Senior leaders in both parties hurled charges at each other without noticing that they were putting their own interests above the interests of India. Shame on them.

Nobody is interested in stupid accusations. Everyone is interested in knowing why we continue to be unprepared for the new kind of war that Pakistan has

been waging on Indian soil ever since the defeat in Kargil proved that in a real war India would always win. Everyone is interested in knowing why the situation in Kashmir has gone from bad to horrible. If Narendra Modi must be blamed for not having a clear policy in the past four years, the Congress party must be blamed for creating the Kashmir problem in the first place. And, both parties must share the blame for not speaking out against the sickening attacks on Kashmiris since the Pulwama massacre.

Why is it so hard for senior leaders in both our main national parties to say clearly that these attacks shame India and must be stopped? I have found it hard to watch the videos on social media that show mobs of Hindu fanatics beating up Kashmiri stu-

dents and tradesmen. This is not nationalism, it is extreme stupidity because these so-called nationalists have not noticed that they are proving that they do not think of Kashmiris as Indians. Certainly not Muslim Kashmiris. They have behaved disgracefully and harmed India with their perverted idea of patriotism.

They also seem to have forgotten that India is a country that has survived as a modern nation because

of traditions that we should be proud of. Last week I was in Jodhpur for the World Sacred Spirit Festival and in a magical dawn concert, I heard Muslim Manganiar folk singers singing songs of exquisite beauty to Krishna. The compere explained that ‘they follow Islam but they sing Hindu devotional songs’. He seemed to understand more deeply the ties that bind India than our political leaders do. But what is worrying is that our political leaders seem incapable even of understanding that Kashmir is a political problem that needs a political solution.

It is terrific that we have managed to get the UN Security Council to censure Pakistan for its support to jihadist killers. Terrific that so many countries have stood by India in this time of distress and disturbance, but unless we begin to admit that Kashmir is an unresolved domestic problem, it will continue to fester.

Whenever there has been a clear policy to deal with our oldest political problem, there has been a measure of peace in the Kashmir Valley. It is when Delhi’s attitude to Kashmir is muddled and weak that there has been violence instead of peace.

Narendra Modi seems unsure about what his Kashmir policy should be ever since he became Prime Minister. So first came that bungled attempt to bring lasting peace by making the BJP part of a government with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This alliance never worked because at the same time came hawkish statements from BJP leaders on ending Kashmir’s special status (Article 370) and needing to deal harshly with Kashmiri separatists.

After Burhan Wani was killed and there was a sudden explosion of anti-India sentiments in the Valley, nobody in Delhi seemed to know what to do next. I recently participated in a panel discussion on Kashmir with some former Generals and the one thing they all agreed upon was that there was no strategy for handling Kashmir. They said it was as if everyone in Delhi forgot about the problem until there was some new act of terrible violence.

This is sadly true. So, for a few weeks more, there will be a lot of talk about Kashmir. Every major political leader seems to have an opinion on the subject.

But, soon the suicide bombing in Pulwama will be forgotten and so will Kashmir. It is important that Pakistan be made to answer for promoting violent, secessionist groups. But, it is just as important to ask why they find it so easy to get local support and what has gone so wrong that young Kashmiri boys are willing to become suicide bombers in this war against India. Something has gone very wrong and nobody seems to know why.

Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter @ tavleen_singh Tavleen Singh, a leading Columnist associated with The Indian Express. Find all Columns from Tavleen Singh here.

This article was originally published by Indian Express (https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/ pulwama-attack-crpf-jem-kashmir-is-a-domesticproblem-5598183/)

Narendra Modi seems unsure about what his Kashmir policy should be ever since he became Prime Minister.

So first came that bungled attempt to bring lasting peace by making the BJP part of a government with Kashmiri separatists

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 5

Contents

Volume 4 Issue No. 24 March 16-31, 2019 www.corporatecitizen.in

na Hazar An e

Military to mass Management

Cover Story

18

Value of Villages

Social activist, Anna Hazare, on his metamorphosis from battling it out for the Indian Army to relentlessly waging a battle against corruption in the role of a social crusader 6 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

9 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 16 EXPERT VIEW What goes into the making of a successful business? What attributes should business leaders possess to lead their businesses to success? An analysis

24 CII SESSION How India’s demographic dividend and ability to adapt can help us compete with global manufacturing heavyweights?

30 INTERVIEW Ranjan Sarkar, Executive Vice President - HR, Exide Industries Limited, shares his views on many stereotypes of the HR function and the corporate world

34 INTERVIEW Sudhir Mateti, Deputy General Manager-HR, Syntel Telecom, on his role as people’s manager and why it is the biggest challenge

14

36 Taking Stock Ajay Tyagi, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), on country’s capital market 38 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Tarun Lala, charts his prime Almamater as Northeastern University, Boston, USA

30

40 TÊTE-À-TÊTE Ishad Dadachanji, Director, Schott Kaisha, talks on why innovation and development are two things that he takes special interest in 42 CASE STUDY Mahindra and Mahindra — Initiated intervention “Mahindra Skill Excellence” [MSE] and its objective to enhance the manufacturing skill to a Global standard in 2014

16

40

44 UNSUNG HEROES Murthy Murugan, a child labourer who never gave up his dream of becoming a doctor 48 LOVED & MARRIED TOO Sarvesh Jadhav and wife Utpala Patankar, on their equation that has benefited from the diverse milestones it has crossed

36 34

50 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Pratik Anjikhane, on his campus placement and his dreams 52 SURVEY PwC ‘Workforce of the Future’ survey on how the workplace will evolve and how this will affect employment prospects and future working lives

24

48 March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 7

contents

Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh vinita.corporatecitizen@gmail.com

52

Assistant Editor & Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com Sub Editor Vineet Kapshikar

56 HEALTH Grooming professionals and businesses to harness a touch of their individual ‘style quotient’ and people skills

Creative Direction Sumeet Gupta, www.thepurplestroke.com

58 PEARLS OF WISDOM Women always have and always will occupy a special place in the home, in society, in human relationships

Writers Delhi Bureau Orchie Bandopadhyay archiebanerjee@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand chand.sharmila@gmail.com

Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar

60

Kolkata Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

60 MOBILE APPS The best phones which made their debut at Mobile World Congress 2019

Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra Advertising and Marketing Manager Delhi: Mohamed Rizwan riz.mohamed@hotmail.com

61 MY FIRST BOSS Srinivasan Naidu, a sale specialist, on his first boss and why for him the boss is always right 66 LAST WORD Investment in digital is no longer an option, it’s an imperative

Chennai: Anil Kumar Menon anil.menon@corporatecitizen.in

56

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collywood

People in the news

Azim Premji is India’s most cashrich promoter; Wipro to expand presence in Saudi

Strategy for $10 trillion economy in the works, says Suresh Prabhu

Azim Premji of Wipro, Shiv Nadar of HCL Technologies, and the founders of Infosys are some of the most cash-rich promoters in the country. The promoters of the three technology companies together earned a little over `20,000 crore through equity dividends and share buybacks in the last three years. Share buybacks accounted for 56.5 per cent of their cash earnings during the period. Among individual promoters, Premji tops the list with cash earnings of `10,115 crore, through equity dividends and share buybacks, in the last three years. Meanwhile, Wipro Group will expand its presence in Saudi Arabia through tie-ups with local companies. Wipro Technologies has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Communication and IT of Saudi Arabia.“We have been working in that market for over 15 years. They are looking for the transformation of industry in areas like oil and gas, health care, education and that would require a whole lot of talent,” said Anand Padmanabhan, President, Strategic Sales and Geographies, Wipro. The company already has 1,200 IT professionals working in Saudi Arabia.“We will be in education and training. And, it is mutually beneficial since we will also require a lot of people in that geography for our operations,” he said.

Kapil Wadhawan will be CEO of DHFL until a strategic partner comes on board Chairman and Managing Director of DHFL, Kapil Wadhwan, will now hold the additional responsibility of CEO until the housing finance company gets a strategic partner on board. Harshil Mehta, who was the Joint Managing Director and CEO of the company, resigned on February 13. However, the company informed the stock exchanges that he will continue as Executive President–Retail Business. “This decision is in alignment with DHFL’s plan of closing a strategic partnership deal in the next quarter which requires broad-basing and demarcating the Board of Directors from daily management,” DHFL said in a statement. The company also plans to induct Sunjoy Joshi as Independent Director and Srinath Sridharan as Non-Executive, Non-independent Director to its Board of Directors post regulatory clearances.

Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said the government is making a strategy to make India a $5 trillion economy and simultaneously fine-tuning the plan to take it to $10 trillion. Of the $5 trillion, services sector contribution is pegged at $3 trillion and equal contribution for manufacturing and agriculture at $1 trillion each. “Services cannot grow at the expense of agriculture and manufacturing. Services can provide jobs opportunities for which we have identified 12 champion sectors,” Prabhu said at The Economic Times Global Business Summit.“We have to focus on job creation and inclusive growth,” Prabhu added.

Besides, India is also eyeing $100 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the next two years. The sectors that received maximum FDI in 2018 include services, computer hardware and software, construction development, trading, automobile, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and power.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 9

collywood Naspers appoints Anirban Mukherjee as CEO of PayU India Leading online payments service provider, Naspers-owned PayU, has a new Chief Executive for its Indian operations in Anirban Mukherjee, who will report to Laurent Le Moal, CEO, PayU Global. Besides leading PayU’s Indian business, Anirban will join PayU’s global leadership team to support its ambitious plans to unlock innovative credit and financial services for under-served populations in high-growth markets. Most recently, Mukherjee was co-CEO of Reliance Payments Solutions Ltd and was part of the leadership team of Jio, where he drove payments, merchant services, and digital financial services.

Laurent Le Moal, CEO, PayU Global, said, “Attracting someone of Anirban’s calibre into the business is a great endorsement of our strategy and ambition.

We are very pleased to have Anirban on board as a part of PayU’s Global Leadership team and I look forward to us benefiting from his wealth of knowledge and experience as we push through our next phase of innovation, focused on payments, credit, and fintech investments”.

Microsoft announces social entrepreneur accelerator programme in India Microsoft Corporation announced the rollout of the Microsoft-Ashoka Accelerator, a new social entrepreneur accelerator programme in partnership with Ashoka, the world’s largest network of leading social entrepreneurs. The programme aims to nurture and grow an ecosystem of tech-enabled startups focused on social and environmental issues. Launched under the aegis of the Microsoft Technology for Social Impact (TSI) team, the accelerator is part of Microsoft’s worldwide Tech for Good initiative.

India and France will be the first countries to pilot the programme in March 2019.

Simplon.co, renowned for enabling digital transformation in the nonprofits sector, will lead the on-ground management of the programme in India. Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said, “Microsoft has always been an ardent enabler of the startup ecosystem in the country. This initiative is an endorsement of the potential of Indian innovators on the global stage. In partnership

with Ashoka and Simplon, this programme will support startups with technological and business expertise to sustainably scale their social and environmental impact.” Ashoka will bring to the accelerator programme their long-standing expertise in the social impact space, in addition to access to their extensive network of global and local fellows and early-stage social innovators. According to Sunish Jauhari, India Leader, Ashoka, “Ashoka Fellows demonstrate unique system-change approaches to solve grave social issues. But the complexities posed by a huge population in diverse geographies makes it further challenging. We believe that this partnership between Microsoft, Simplon and Ashoka will unlock new ways and methodologies through technology for these remarkable changemakers, not only to accelerate their impact but to change norms on pressing issues in society.”

Tech Mahindra and Rakuten open world-class 5G lab in Tokyo Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions, and Rakuten Mobile Network, Inc., the mobile network subsidiary of Rakuten Group, the Japan-based global leader in internet services, announced the opening of the Rakuten Cloud Innovation Laboratory,

10 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

a world-class next generation (4G and 5G) software-defined network lab located in Tokyo. Established in line with the joint MoU signed

by Tech Mahindra and Rakuten in October 2018, the Rakuten Cloud Innovation Laboratory is a unique, fully automated testing facility that aims to foster innovation across Mobile Network, IT Digital Archi-

tecture, Cloud and Enterprise Applications. This lab is a joint showcase of what strategic partnerships between two companies can do across national borders to achieve not only an innovative technology platform but also a modern workspace where the best and brightest minds can work and play. Mickey Mikitani, Chairman, President and

Puma pips rivals, becomes top sportswear brand in India German sportswear major Puma claimed that it has become the top sportswear retailer in India, surpassing rivals such as Nike, Adidas, Skechers and Reebok in terms of yearly sales. Puma, the third-largest sportswear manufacturer in the world, has reported sales of `1,157 crore for the 12-month period ending December 2018 against `958 crore reported in the year-ago period. The company follows the January-December calendar year, while rivals Nike, Adidas, Skechers and Reebok go by the April-March financial year (FY) cycle. In FY 2017-18, Puma’s compatriot Adidas had registered sales of `1,132 crore, up from `1,100 crore reported in FY 2016-17. During the same period, American sportswear giant, Nike, reported sales of `828 crore against `807 crore reported in the previous fiscal. Reebok, which is owned by Adidas, saw its sales drop from `416 crore in FY 2016-17 to `391 crore in FY 2017-18. Another American brand Skechers, which is relatively new in the Indian market, reported sales of `440 crore in FY 2018-19, up from `282 crore reported in FY 2016-17. “We are making strong progress in both sports performance and sport style categories,” Puma India Managing Director Abhishek Ganguly was quoted as saying. India is the only country where Puma’s sales have crossed the sales of other sportswear giants such as Adidas and Nike.

CEO, Rakuten, Inc., said, “Rakuten is working towards the launch of the world’s first fully virtualised, end-to-end cloud-native mobile network. Our collaboration with Tech Mahindra on this world-class lab will allow us to drive innovation and disruption in the mobile industry, and take us one step closer to providing consumers with a broad variety of cost-effective services.”CP Gurnani, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Tech Mahindra, said, “5G is the

universal growth code that will fuel growth across industry verticals and domains. The Tokyo 5G lab is just the beginning of what Rakuten and Tech Mahindra can achieve to define the 5G economics of the future. Our collaboration with Rakuten will help us further drive innovation in the 5G space and lead the 5G revolution.” Opening of this lab illustrates Tech Mahindra and Rakuten’s commitment towards co-creating new connected experiences in the digital world.

Oyo moves into Japan’s rental market

OYO is moving into Japan, with a rental apartment service targeting the young and growing population of Japan. Through a joint venture with Yahoo Japan Corporation to form OYO Technology & Hospitality Company, Japan, OYO will bring its successful housing rental product from India, OYO Living, re-christened as OYO LIFE to Japan in the beginning of March 2019. Japanese entrepreneur and former Japan market leader for Handy and Booking.com, Hiro Katsuse, has been appointed as the CEO of the newly formed joint venture company. In Japan, homes are usually rented out unfurnished and tenants need to purchase furniture and appliances on their own. Oyo Life aims to eliminate the hassle, offering units that are fully furnished and come equipped with Wi-Fi and utilities like water and electricity. “After successfully growing our business in our home markets, India and China, and expanding our presence to nine countries, we are really excited about commencing our operations in our third and potentially the largest home market in Japan, through a joint venture with Yahoo!, to form OYO Technology & Hospitality Company, Japan. This new entity will be focused on creating unique living experiences for the Japanese citizens, students, and young professionals, looking for good quality affordable accommodations, starting with our fully managed homes brand - OYO LIFE,” said Ritesh Agarwal, CEO & Founder, OYO Hotels and Homes.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 11

collywood Indian firms reimagine business productivity with Oracle Autonomous Database Oracle India announced that a number of Indian organisations are realising huge business value from their data, by leveraging the Oracle Autonomous Database - the industry’s first ‘self-driving, self-securing and self-repairing’ database. Armed with deeper and more meaningful insights, these customers have been able to significantly improve and fast-track business decisions, introduce new products/services to market quicker and create a smarter workforce. As a result of its autonomous functionality, most early adopters have not only started realising business benefits instantly, like faster transaction processing, more accurate sales forecasts and enhanced customer experiences; it’s also helped them strengthen their organisation’s security fabric to help intuitively thwart cyber-threats and data thefts. Organisations using Oracle Auton-

omous Database come from diverse industries such as banking, consulting, digital commerce, IT and professional services, and unconventional sectors like footwear and spices. “In the last 12 months, our customers have rewired their organisational DNA to transform into a digital-first, data-driven business.

They are freeing up resources to focus more on innovation. To put their data capital to better use and strengthen their core competencies, we’re helping them upgrade to the technology of tomorrow, today.

Autonomous software will be the next big growth lever for businesses”, said Shailender Kumar, Regional Managing Director, Oracle India.

ITC elevates Amitav Mukherjee to corporate HR head ITC has decided to elevate Amitav Mukherjee to the position of corporate HR head, replacing R Sridhar. The move is in line with the senior leadership’s plan to bring in young minds to the forefront. Prior to this role, Mukherjee was serving as the VP-HR at ITC’s food division.

With an experience of over 25 years, Mukherjee joined ITC in 1995 as assistant manager-HR and over a period of more than two decades, he kept climbing the ladder of success taking responsibilities as Human Resource Manager, Vice President-HR and now as Corporate HR-head in the organisation.

Mukherjee’s whirlwind journey with ITC began with a strong desire to gain experience in industrial relations. In trying to meet the challenges at ITC, including gathering knowledge 12 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

of manufacturing and working with various top leaders, he managed to gain experience in labour management as well as collective bargaining. It took Mukherjee merely five years to begin leading the HR function at the company’s Bengaluru factory. His long-time desire to go overseas and attain a master’s degree was also fulfilled by the company, which supported him financially in this endeavour. After completing a master’s in human resources from Cornell University, Mukherjee began leading the HR function at ITC’s food division in 2006. An alumnus of XLRI, Mukherjee also worked as an intern with Citibank India. He graduated in economics from Loyola College and completed his schooling from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

Odisha BPO policy to create 30,000 jobs by 2022 Odisha has rolled out the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) policy to attract investors as it strives to create 30,000 jobs in this sector by 2022.

The creation of 30,000 jobs by 2022 will require an allocation of approximately 765,000 square feet of office space and about 22.5 acres of a developed land bank with an estimated capital investment of about `200 crore.

The Odisha BPO Policy-2019, prepared by the state Electronics and IT Department, assures a capital investment subsidy of `1.05 lakh for units coming within the jurisdiction of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

The minimum number of seats required for availing the benefit has been fixed at 300.

The draft policy also guarantees new BPO and BPM units a reimbursement of 100 per cent of state GST (SGST) paid for five years from the date of commencement of BPO units, limited to 100 per cent of fixed capital investment. The existing units can avail SGST reimbursement after matching specific criteria.

The Odisha BPO Policy-2019 also offer subsidies for human capital investment, bank interest, and power incentives, for drawing investments in the sector. According to the policy, lower wage compensation compared to metro cities and the availability of the required talent pool gives an edge to Odisha in drawing investors’ attention in the BPO sector.

Compiled by Orchie Bandopadhyay archiebanerjee@gmail.com

wax eloquent

Ride the Growth Wave

Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in the business world Healthy corporate India to outweigh election results

Ride the wave of economic growth

“This is a new India with new opportunities and a large aspiring class. There is a huge consumption opportunity and a big investment opportunity from entrepreneurs. There is an opportunity across the economy. Our objective is to ride the wave of economic growth.”

V Vaidyanathan,

“Our big challenge comes up in the next few months, trying to understand which way the election results would swing. Historically, it has been seen that it does not have a long-standing impact on the markets. Most governments have been progressive and worked for the development of the economy and as we go into the event, we think the construct of the Corporate India balance sheet will far outweigh the outcome of the elections.”

Kenneth Andrade, founder, Old Bridge Capital Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

head, IDFC First Bank

Courtesy: https://economictimes. indiatimes.com

India is a very exciting and challenging market “What strikes you is the size, diversity and friendliness in the country, which is also the world’s youngest. We have been in Germany for over 40 years, and it is a very established operation. India is new and a very exciting and challenging market. In contrast to Germany, where people are a lot mature, in India, the openness of people to move and create a new life strikes you.”

Peter Betzel, CEO, Ikea India

Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Making an investment decision in startups Embracing e-commerce

“We saw it coming. We knew the world is going to consume products very differently. We were one of the first few to embrace omnichannel and to develop a home-grown platform. Having said that we won’t burn money.

We have to become relevant to customers.”

Sanjay Lalbhai, Chairman

and MD, Arvind Ltd

Courtesy: Mint

14 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

“We look for many variables while making an investment decision, but, for me, the most important thing is the problem a startup is solving and how large the market for that economic solution is. Secondly, I look for the perseverance of the entrepreneur to execute the plan against all odds possible. Thirdly, I take into account the founder’s approach to cash burn while scaling up the business.”

Sachin Tagra, Angel Investor and head, Capital18, Network18 Group Courtesy: Mint

Stars appear when…

“Football has no country, race, cultural barriers.

Football is a universal language and the stars appear when a big number of young people start to compete and keep competing for years.”

Joan Oliver, former CEO, FC Barcelona Courtesy: The Times of India

Meet the needs and aspirations of Young India

“The need of the hour is clearly more productive job creation and gainful employment to meet the needs and aspirations of Young India. We hope to see this enabled through investments in small and medium enterprises and infrastructure investments, which seem to have slowed down.”

Vivek Gambhir, MD and

CEO, Godrej Consumer Products

Courtesy: https://www.business-standard.com

Creating entrepreneurial opportunities

“The solution does not lie in creating jobs but creating entrepreneurial opportunities. We need to unleash the power of entrepreneurial capacity of youths and that will require a lot of imaginative funding from the private sector. How we create opportunities for youth to avail loans to become more entrepreneurial is the big challenge.”

Manish Kumar, CEO, NSDC

Courtesy: Indian Express

Balancing both hosh and josh

More reasons to think about India more aggressively

“It is difficult to find historically any more important time to be part of this country’s growth. I also like India for its very well-educated and skilled people. The time is over when people were looking for lower costs; now it is higher skills. There are many reasons to think about India more aggressively.”

Leif Johansson, chairman, AstraZeneca

“The finance minister has hit a volley of sixes — a victory for farmers and the middle class, two major pillars of our economy. Balancing both hosh and josh, the Budget will stimulate consumer demand and rejuvenate lives in rural areas.”

Harsh Goenka, chairman,

RPG Enterprises

Courtesy: https://www.business-standard.com

Courtesy: The Economic Times

Stock markets like peace, calm…

“As long as we are going to do all that we are doing, I do not see why India should be bucking the trend that it has seen in the last few months. It is just that stock markets like peace, calm, harmony, progress, discussions around economic issues, discussions around employment, not the stuff that we are largely discussing these days because that is a path to nowhere. Nobody got rich or prosperous discussing war and temples and stuff like that.”

Shankar Sharma, VC & Joint MD, First Global Courtesy: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Data privacy, the new human rights for customers Willing to progress

“I expect that companies like ours—the biggest advertisers— need to be that force for change. You cannot just celebrate the positiveness and say we connect people or we make education available. You also have to take the responsibility of your total impact.”

“Almost every company in the world is collecting a lot of data. If you look at telcos, they are sitting on huge amounts of data that they have built quite painstakingly, investing trillions of dollars. But almost every such company today faces a loss of trust (from customers) while using data, with data privacy now emerging as the new human rights for customers.”

Naveen Tewari, co-founder and CEO, InMobi

Courtesy: Business Standards

Formalising Indian economy

Paul Polman,

“What is clear is that cities are imploding in the illegal areas, where business and housing is all without official sanction—or at least on the books. The irony is that as much as the government works to formalise the Indian economy, conditions force people into the illegal and informal business.”

Courtesy: The Times of India

(CSE)

former CEO, Unilever

Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment Courtesy: https://www.businesstoday.in

We need to build intellectual property

“We need to build intellectual property. We need to differentiate between export and export meant for intellectual property. What has not happened is an Indian MNC spreading across the globe. It has been the reverse,” Robin Raina, CEO, Ebix Inc

Courtesy: https://www.moneycontrol.com

Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 15

Expert View

by S K Jha

(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)

M

What makes for a Business Hero?

What goes into the making of a successful business? What attributes should business leaders possess to lead their businesses to success? An analysis...

ukesh Ambani is in the news for becoming the richest man in Asia, while his younger brother is in the news, because his flagship company, ‘Reliance Communications’ has filed a bankruptcy application. The sword of arrest is hanging on him if he fails to pay `450 crores to Ericsson within four weeks as ordered by the Supreme Court. The sharp contrast between the two brothers cannot be missed. The two brothers had similar training from their illustrious father, Late Dhirubhai Ambani. Anil Ambani, who is two years younger than Mukesh holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mumbai and an MBA degree from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA, while Mukesh holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Mumbai and for some time also studied MBA at Stanford, which he dropped later to join his father’s business.

Mukesh Ambani joined Reliance in 1981 and initiated Reliance’s backward integration from textiles into polyester fibre and further into petrochemicals. In this process, he was seen creating many world-class manufacturing facilities that raised the capacity of Reliance from less than a million tonnes to 12 million tonnes per year. He also led the creation of a huge petroleum refinery at Jamnagar. And now, the biggest start-up Jio has been created in the telecommunications field which is giving fatal blows to competitors in this sector.

Anil Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 and has been credited for pioneering many financial innovations in the Indian capital market. For example, he led India’s first foray into the overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depository receipts. He has been regarded as a financial wizard. After the split in the family, Anil diversified into defence and real estate sectors. Despite the huge gap between the wealth of the two brothers, Anil Ambani continues to be a notable billionaire of the country, though the recent happenings are disturbing.

The issue that begs analysis is what makes a person more successful than the other, when 16 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

both come from the same background with similar opportunities. What did Mukesh Ambani do to become more successful than his younger brother? But setting aside the differences between the successes of the two brothers, I will attempt to underline some obvious qualities which successful persons in the business world are seen to possess.

Passion for the project

One of the biggest attributes is passion. The passion should not be for making money in quick time but to give birth to a business venture or an organisation and then nurturing it with full devotion. Money earning should be seen only as a by-product of the venture, something like

plucking fruits after passionate planting and nurturing to have a fully grown tree. Maybe the person who planted the tree does not even see the fruit in his lifetime, but his satisfaction level is not less if he is passionate about growing the tree which can give fruit to the next generation.

In this connection, I am reminded of Warren Buffet’s statement, “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”

Patience, hard work

Hard work and patience are the two other inputs for success in business ventures. Hard work is always a necessary ingredient in any success-recipe but it is more vital in an entre-

preneurial project. From the blueprint to the factory, there are many stages and at each stage, a lot of things have to be done and the same requires hard work by the promoter and his team.

There is always a possibility of failure at each step when you are in the process of giving birth to a business empire, but failure should never be the deterrent. On the contrary, failures should be seen as challenges for opening the windows of new opportunities.

ported by a disciplined work force and it should be taken to the logical conclusion. The promoter should not indulge in too many ventures simultaneously for the greed of making money from many quarters. If one sails in too many boats at a time, it is destined to sink. Many big business people have failed due to lack of discipline and pushing too many things at one time.

Discipline should be the core of work ethics as is the case in the army. We all know that disci-

A good idea, pregnant with big possible outcomes, is the seed for future success. It will be much better if the idea is based on innovation and research. The timing of the idea is also very important. It should have the fragrance of newness and freshness plined soldiers win the battles even in the gravest of situations.

From the seed of an idea

A big tree today is the outcome of a tiny seed, sowed in the past. Similarly, a big business empire is the product of a small idea which was implemented. It is not just about an idea, but it is about making it happen. A good idea, pregnant with big possible outcomes, is the seed for future success. It will be much better if the idea is based on innovation and research. The timing of the idea is also very important. It should have the fragrance of newness and freshness.

In the context of timing, Mark Twain has said, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” The developed countries today are developed as they harvested new ideas from research and innovation and implemented them before others.

A battle is won by the army The quality of patience will help when too many failures are faced. A person who is patient will reach the goal despite obstacles on the way, when an impatient person may abandon his journey after meeting failures. As Colin Powell said, “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failures.” For making a successful business, Jack Ma says, “Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow is worse but the day after tomorrow, there will be sunshine.”

Dedication, the virtue

Disciplined dedication is another virtue of success. This virtue comes out of a cool and focussed mind. A business venture should be sup-

Steve Jobs had said, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people.” The view expressed by the person behind the success-story of ‘Apple’, is very important. The battle is won by the proficient army and not just by one intelligent commander. The promoter of the business must have the necessary quality of team building and he should also have an eye for talent-scouting.

Once the team is built, he should lead the team from the front and show his leadership qualities.

The team built should be motivated and should share the passion of the promoter and it should go for the kill. Interpersonal relationships and good communication with modest behaviour and pleasant personality should be the other attributes of the team for achieving the goal.

Quality speaks

It has been said by some wise man that if people like you, they will listen to you but if they trust you, they will do business with you. The co-founder of Google, Larry Page said, “Always deliver more than expected.” A satisfied customer is the best business strategy of all. The satisfaction of customers and their trust is built on the edifice of quality of products and services.

Sales go up and down but a service stays forever.

A promoter of business who dreams big, must keep in mind that the quality of his product is the best business plan. One has to read the mind of the customer and accordingly launch the products and services. Sale multiplies due to the faith of the customer in the brand of the products and the business grows.

The brave makes way

One other very important quality which successful businessmen have, is their risk taking ability. It is difficult to succeed for a person who loves to remain in the cocoon of security and assured steady income. The statement

by Peter F Drucker is more than true when he said, “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” A business is launched based on a certain idea, which is supported by past experiences and the current year’s data, but nobody can foresee the success of that idea. This is the risk while launching a business venture and the same may be duly weighed, considering its pros and cons.

However, a person who is too scared of the future will remain a nonstarter.

Make dreams happen

The last and not least, ambition is the greatest quality for ultimate success. One has to see dreams before he begins and then works hard to achieve them. Each small step to achieve dreams is a giant step and accordingly the person should remain motivated. It has always been seen that normally a big business starts small. Bill Gates started from a garage to create Microsoft. Once a petrol pump attendant in Yemen, late Dhirubhai Ambani went on to create Reliance. Many of us see dreams to become rich but only a few ultimately taste success. The dividing line is that while some people dream of success, others get up every morning and make it happen.

While being in the process of making big in business, one has to always keep in mind that the means justify the end and not the other way round. Money has to be earned out of hard work and not made by any unscrupulous method. A big company and the people behind it have to be good corporate citizens, being responsible towards the society and the country.

“A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business,” said Henry Ford.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 17

Cover Story

na Hazar An e

Military to mass Management

Value of Pics: Yusuf Khan

18 18/ /Corporate CorporateCitizen Citizen/ /March March16-31, 16-31,2019 2019

Frustration comes to those who do not stand by values and principles and for those who have a herd mentality.

If you have a proper aim and focus in life, you can never get frustrated; you can learn to conquer even death

Villages Recently, Social Reformer Anna Hazare, was in the news for his 19th agitation in his last four decade of social mission, to implement the Lokpal and Lokayukta Law. Corporate Citizen speaks to him in Ralegan Siddhi on his metamorphosis from battling it out for the Indian Army to relentlessly waging a battle against corruption in the role of a social crusader

By Vinita Deshmukh March March16-31, 16-31,2019 2019/ /Corporate CorporateCitizen Citizen/ /19 19

Cover Story Corporate Citizen: With the present distress of unemployment in urban and rural areas, you mentioned the relevance of the Ralegan Siddhi watershed development model that would curtail it. Please elaborate.

Anna Hazare: Four decades back, 40 liquor dens thrived in Ralegan Siddhi; there was widespread alcoholism and domestic violence because of that. The 2200 acres of land which comprise this village was barren and ridden with poverty.

Youngsters were compelled to migrate to urban areas. It is the successful experiment of the watershed development which changed all that. Agriculture produce increased in leaps and bounds despite our being a drought area. Today, youngsters are self-employed through agriculture and dairy farming. From around 20 cows which used to give a mere 300 litres per day some years back; today, the village supplies 6000 litres of milk to the milk co-operatives daily.

Earlier, our youngsters used to travel six kilometres to break stones as casual labourers, but now they are on their own as agricultural and dairy entrepreneurs in their independent way. Despite our village being in a drought area, there is no Inspiring the Gen Next unemployment. To the government, I would say that the solution is not in the cities, which receive generous funds. It is in the vilWhat is the model you adopted to turn a barren land in a lages where agriculture has an excellent power to revive employment. Per historically drought-prone area and turn it into a profitable head income in our village is `4000. The development that we see in our agricultural oasis? metros has witnessed the destruction of nature which is not the right kind We made all attempts to retain rainwater and topsoil. For that, I inspired of development. Sometime or the other it is going to hit all of us through villagers to give their sweat and toil for building various kinds of small mud illnesses, change in climate and pollution; in fact, it is already happening. dams to retain rain and soil. Such contour bunds were made on the hill slopes too. This increased growth of trees on the hills and its slopes further How does the trend of non-alcoholism and character-building augments retention of soil and water that flows down is trapped in the varcontinue in Ralegan Siddhi? ious small earthen dams at the ground level.

It all begins from inculcating values right from school days. The school Topsoil is the wealth of our village, and we cannot afford to lose it. It has building, built purely through the shramdaan of the villagers, has 1100 more value than all other wealth, but everyone ignores it. We must rememstudents up to the secondary level. Mind you, we don’t take meritorious ber that the topsoil is the earth’s food. Because we valued it, the map of our students. We admit students with bad character, those who are addicted village changed for the better - the economy changed; there was labour for to cigarettes and are beyond the redemption by parents. We offer them a the hands and food for the stomach, encouraging reverse migration. Many conducive environment by waking them up early at 5 am for exercise and villages in the country are replicating our experiment. We have had 11 lakh meditation. We inculcate good habits in them and brainwash them about people visiting us in the last 12 years from different parts of the country. the dangers of addictions to smoking, alcoholism and chewing of gutka.

They take inspiration from our model and then implement it in their villagFrom primary school, we tell our children that no one has become a wrestler es. Even several state governments have officially adopted Ralegan Siddhi’s by these vices and that has helped in most of them growing up as adults watershed development. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh governments who are useful for society. We build a sense of competitive spirit in them, by are two examples. concentrating on quality education in school. For discipline, we have CCTV cameras in every class, which is checked at regular intervals randomly. We You recently had a fasting agitation for implementation of expose them to digital learning for which we have 80 computers in school.

Lokpal and Lokayuktas; don’t you get frustrated that you have to go on fast, repeatedly.

Does Ralegan Siddhi have migration to cities?

Frustration comes to those who do not stand by values and principles and Forty years back, the population of the village was 1700, today it stands for those who have a herd mentality. If you have a proper aim and focus at 2,300. So, naturally, there has been migration for employment, mainly in life, you can never get frustrated; you can learn to conquer even death. because, many a time, two or three brothers share one acre of agricultural When I was 25 years old, I must confess that I too went through depression land, and the income together derived out of it, is not viable for comfortand wanted the right answers for purposeful living. While my mother inable living. However, most of the youngsters who migrate have done so stilled the correct values during my childhood, I wondered why, as a young through education that empowers them to become able professionals. We man, everyone is in the rat race, running the whole day and acquiring mahave youngsters in civil administration services, police services and in the terialistic pleasures. Some not only possess their wealth but also grab that teaching line. of others too. I had thought of committing suicide, but one day I stumbled Relatively, Maharashtra has lesser migration. The exodus from states like upon Swami Vivekananda’s book at the Delhi Railway Station. It helped me Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar have reached such levels that it is understand that human birth is given to work for society and the nation. not just urban migration to Mumbai and Pune, but they have entered villagHe mentioned that there would be humiliation and much struggle, but one es as well. All this is because these states do not provide agricultural-based must carry on relentlessly in one’s mission. Consider the village to be your employment in their communities. They must revive agriculture in a big temple, the public as the be-all and end-all and serving it is akin to worway through watershed development to keep their youngsters in villages shipping God. With these values strongly etched in my mind, I never get and help them become successful agricultural entrepreneurs.

20 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Anna Hazare with Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian, Editor-In-Chief, Corporate Citizen (file photo)

Citizens of the country are fed up with corruption. Therefore, an autonomous agency to curb corruption is required. The peaceful and historical agitation from 2011 to 2013 to press the demand of promulgating the Lokpal Act was a reflection of the nation’s mood against corruption frustrated with any number of agitations. Due to my persistent campaigns, many good laws like the RTI Act, the Gram Sabha Act and so on came into force. I get immense happiness when people benefit from my campaigns.

Is corruption the primary cause of distress in citizens?

Citizens of the country are fed up with corruption. Therefore, an autonomous agency to curb corruption is required. The peaceful and historical agitation from 2011 to 2013 to press the demand of promulgating the Lokpal Act was a reflection of the nation’s mood against corruption. I risked my life during that agitation. Thanks to the three-year-long agitation, the Lokpal Bill was passed on January 1, 2014. However, unfortunately, the Act has not been implemented even after a period of four years. Now it is clear that the present government does not intend to implement the Lokpal Act. Moreover, whichever party is in the rule, it does not want an Act like the Lokpal Act to curb corruption. Thus, successive governments indulged in diluting the Act. While the former Singh government diluted Section 63 and weakened the Lokayukta system for the States, the Modi government amended Section 44 and diluted the provision under which it was mandatory for the ministers, MLAs, MPs and all officers to declare their assets. Thus the corrupt ones were given freedom to continue with their corrupt practices. I sent letters to the government on this issue, on 43 occasions. However, I did not receive even an acknowledgement for them, leave apart any action. Even the Supreme Court has rebuked the Government twice for its failure to appoint Lokpal. Still, the Government is not appointing Lokpal.

Why is the implementation of Lokpal and Lokayuktas so crucial for our democracy?

The Lokpal and Lokayukta are so revolutionary that their significance is over and above all the agitations that I fought until now. After Independence, corruption raised its ugly head. An ordinary citizen is finding it difficult to live peacefully due to increasing corruption. At one end, we are aiming to be a superpower, but at the other end, we seem to be helpless in curbing corruption that is stalling development. It is a fact that never mind whichever political party comes to power, none take the issue of corruption seriously. In such a grim situation, how can India become corruption-free?

That’s the worrying factor. The Modi government had assured farmers of a fair system, bringing in electoral reforms and taking stern measures to curb corruption, in its election manifesto. However, he has not delivered on a single promise, which is a stab-in-the-back for citizens.

Morarji Desai and like-minded people, who wanted well for the country, brought in the bill of Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta in the States way back in 1966 but it did not get passed in the Parliament. Thereafter, it was tabled in the Parliament, eight times, but was not passed. As per these laws, if any citizen gets proof of the corruption of current and former prime ministers, ministers and Class I, II, II officers in 2011, the Lokayukta has the power to investigate into them.

Even Arvind Kejriwal who is the CM of Delhi now has not implemented Lokayukta in his State…

(Laughs). It is evident that he and others who were with me in the agitation have forgotten the reason why they joined in my nationwide campaign and instead, used me to seek power. One became a Chief Minister, the other, a Governor.

What is the reason for farmers’ suicides?

India is an agricultural dominated country wherein 65% of its people are dependent on the agrarian economy. However, right from Independence, successive governments have shown disdain for farmer and agriculture the reason why the situation of farmers has become critical today. It is indeed shameful that thousands of farmers have committed suicide, over the last several decades. While they toil, somebody else enjoys the gains. Unless and until farmers get a fair price for their produce, they will not get relief.

The method of fixing prices of farmers’ produce by the National Agricultural Prices Commission (NAPC) is not proper. The central government unnecessarily intervenes in the price-fixing process of this Commission.

Hence, like the Election Commission, the NAPC should be a constitutional authority and should function independently. This would curtail interference by the government. Let there be veteran agricultural experts in this commission. Besides, regarding agricultural produce, there should be no interference by the government in fixing fair prices for the sale of the farmers’ produce. In case, the farmer does not get the fixed value for his crop, there should be a law that the government reimburses the amount. The farmers are compelled to take agricultural loans at a compounding interest rate, which is illegal.

In comparison to the industrial sector, there is no augmentation of investment in the agricultural industry. There is no provision of pension for farmers above 60 years of age. The farmer should get a pension of `5000 per month. The agrarian insurance is also not in order as it is a group insurance.

Instead, the dividends should go to the individual farmer.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 21

Cover Story Various facets of Anna's life in the Army

Youth is our national strength. We have witnessed history wherein Japan revived admirably after being blown to dust. If even one youth desires from the heart, to change the nation, he can create a social revolution.

Unfortunately, he or she is directionless thanks to our job-oriented education You say the government is favouring industrialists…

I have proof that Modi gave a waiver of loans and tax of industrialists to the tune of lakhs and crores but is not implementing the Swaminathan Report which will provide justice to the farmers’ toil. Agrarian distress has led farmers to commit suicide in recent years. The major causes of the agrarian crisis are unfinished agenda in land reform, quantity and quality of water, technology, fatigue, access, adequacy and timeliness of institutional credit, and opportunities for assured and remunerative marketing. Adverse meteorological factors add to these problems. Farmers need to have assured access and control over basic resources, which include land, water, bioresources, credit and insurance, technology and knowledge management, and markets. Successive governments have turned Nelson’s Eye to farmers’ distress.

Is it not the right of the farmer to get a price 1.5 times of his cost? Is it not his right to get a pension, for the years of toil to feed the nation?

What is your opinion about today’s youth?

The central and the state governments have neglected villages, leading to youngsters migrating to the urban areas. The television has given youngsters a glimpse of the glitter of the cities, but their dreams remain a mirage due to unemployment of bad quality employment that adversely affect their health due to pollution and pathetic living conditions in urban slums. Ralegan Siddhi is an example of how work in the form of self-entrepreneurship comes through natural agriculture because of watershed development and 22 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

soil conservation. A Std X passed youngster in my village is today earning more than what he would have made if he was a worker employee in any industry in aan urban area. Plus there are flexible hours of working when you are farming and are assured of pure air to breathe! The urban youngsters are victims of government apathy and are recipients of lousy governance in their everyday life, be it water supply, roads, public transport and food safety.

What is your advice for the youngsters?

Youth is our national strength. We have witnessed history wherein Japan revived admirably after being blown to dust. If even one youth desires from the heart, to change the nation, he can create a social revolution. Unfortunately, he or she is directionless thanks to our job-oriented education. While the society and nation can remind him of the sacrifices of our freedom fighters, the change should come from each home. Parents should set values and principles of morality and truthfulness in their children. Every family should be the centre point of character building. Then, the tender mind will grow up becoming socially conscious. Those who live for themselves, die; those who live for society, they live forever.

What should be the contribution of the corporate world?

Every industry should think of its workers as a family and feel it a duty to look after them and its family members. I know the agony of thousands of workers in industrial firms who are made to work hard in challenging

conditions and are put on contract and paid less. Is this humanity?

village. There was massive scale migration, ill health, low productivity and a flourishing business in the illegal distilling of alcohol, resulting in violence especially against Do you think Demonetisation was a wise women. Today Ralegan is unrecognisable. Productivity decision? has increased manifold. There is a sense of community The decision was too sudden and undemocratic. Modi and sharing among all the people, and complete self-sufshould have taken everyone in confidence as this was not ficiency in foodgrains. Ralegan only demonstrates what only a national level decision but one that affected every village people can do when they take control of their decitizen of this country. There should have been public velopment. It serves as a testimony to community interdebates with experts, and public opinion sought. It was est taking precedence over self-interest. This miracle was indeed a bad decision as most of the SMEs have died. The achieved by: government was confident that black money would come • The emergence of local leadership: Annasaheb Hazare is back, but by RBI’s admission 99% of the notes came back. from the village, and his intimate knowledge of the comSo, where has black money gone? (He laughs). munity, its culture and traditions and his exposure to the Bringing change is outside world enabled him to play the role of a catalyst What is your advice to the voter? in the hand of the and a bridge.

Party politics is responsible for mega corruption cases • Underpinning of moral sanctions: He recognised the voters, but they such as VIP helicopters, 2G spectrum and so on. In the conflict in development between old and new, traditional absence of proper evidence, culprits from all parties were are undermining and modern, violent and peaceful. His intervention gave declared innocent and were acquitted. People have be- themselves and space to the traditional leadership to reassert their moral come immune to scams, and it is this apathy that bolsters authority and lay the foundation for a morally just and the confidence of evil. Hence, citizen alertness is primary have forgotten human social order. The basis of Annasaheb Hazare 's the value of their intervention is an honest and voluntary code of conduct to elect a good candidate.

Bringing change is in the hand of the voters, but they vote. Therefore, which has been adopted by the entire village communiare undermining themselves and have forgotten the valty. This is a six-point programme that includes: ban on ue of their vote. Therefore, they do not hesitate to take a they do not hesopen grazing; ban on tree felling; ban on dowry; ban on bribe of `500 or get a bottle of liquor or a treat in a hotel itate to take a consumption of liquor; family planning; and donation of and give away their votes to hooligans, to the corrupt and labour (Shramdaan). bribe of `500 or the thugs who loot public money. The Constitution has • Involvement of all sections of society, especially the weak given powers to the Parliament to make the future of the get a bottle of and vulnerable: Right from its inception, the Ralegan vilcountry bright. However, because of the indifference of liquor or a treat lage participation process involved women and lower people, instead of people with integrity and character, (Harijans) in all planning and implementation. in a hotel and give castes corrupt and criminals have started going to Parliament as • Identification of People's Priorities: Annasaheb Hazare representatives of people. It is a horrific situation wherein away their votes being a son of the soil, was able to identify water developdictatorship of political parties is on the rise, putting de- to hooligans who ment as the primary need of the village, and that helped to mocracy in peril. Voters should pledge to Mother India popular opinion in his favour. loot public money mobilise that they will vote for political candidates of integrity.

• The use of simple but effective technology: Annasaheb recognised that merely providing a strong moral basis You have also launched another movement to wade off would be insufficient to motivate people towards constructive change. His corruption. What is it? intervention to manage rain-water runoff through watershed development In the last six months, our anti-corruption movement is working to create was cheap, local, and maximised their use of local resources especially labour. an organisation of volunteers who have taken such a pledge on stamp • Holistic and sustained development: Having started with water managepaper. In these six months, out of 168 Tehsil of 32 districts of Maharashtra, ment, Annasaheb Hazare went on to include community work to prevent we have received pledge letters from 1834 volunteers, and the number is erosion and to promote widespread afforestation. The comprehensive imrising every day, which is a promising development. Even if we can get 15 pact of these measures began to be felt within a decade. It is noteworthy that youngsters in every tehsil to fight corruption, then considering that every the villagers have been working continuously on this process for the last 20 district on an average has 30 tehsils, then we will have 15,000 youngsters years by now. Thus, long term continuity is a vital ingredient in the strategy at the district level, and with 30 districts in Maharashtra, we would garner for sustainable development.

4.5 lakh volunteers. vinita.corporatecitizen@gmail.com Remarkable Revival! (FAO Report) This case study from the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) deals with participatory watershed management at Ralegan Siddhi village in district Ahmadnagar. In recent years, the notion of sustainable development has emerged as a reaction to the highly technological and centralised processes that have governed thinking on development, the green revolution is a classic example.

Some initiatives in India have grappled successfully with this complex process, and different models of people driven development have emerged.

The remarkable work by Mr Annasaheb Hazare in Ralegan Siddhi village has been summarised below.

• When he first returned to his village in 1975, it was an extremely degraded

CC

tadka

Dolphins' day out!

Dolphins indicate a healthy river ecosystem; and recent surveys have shown that the population of the endangered Gangetic river dolphins have stabilised across major tributaries. About 850 additional Gangetic dolphins were found across the river stretches between Mokama, Manihari, the Gandak and Ghaghra rivers, as against 1500 dolphins surveyed in 2012.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 23

CII Session

Globalisation

– Advantages and Chall India is on its way to become a one trillion dollar manufacturing economy. With such vast ambition and advantages in the next phase of globalisation. At a CII conference on ‘The Future of Manufacturing’ Managing Director of Jyoti CLC Automation Limited elaborated on how India’s demographic dividend manufacturing heavyweights, but win that fight too. Corporate Citizen brings you the riveting session.

24 24 / / Corporate CorporateCitizen Citizen / / March March16-31, 16-31,2019 2019

4.0

enges

Parakram Singh Jadeja

Globalisation is upon us

come numerous obstacles. What exactly, then are the challenges held recently in Mumbai, Parakram Singh Jadeja, Chairman and and ability to adapt can help us not just compete with global

By Neeraj Varty and Namrata Gulati Sapra

The question on everyone's mind is Globalisation and India’s challenges and advantages with respect to it. Who will deny that we are into a globalised world? It is because we are living a life full of technology and the way the ideas and the products are moving around us, and we all are seeing that and the globalised world is here now; but what is the advantages for globalisation and particularly this 4.0 and particularly for India?.

The next growth of this world is going to come from India; we are going to be a driver for this growth; because all of us know that we are 1.3 billion people, young country, and there is a great opportunity, Today India is growing at an average of seven per cent of GDP and we are the fastest growing economy in the world, and hopefully we will grow from 7 to 10 per cent in between in the next 10 to 20 years, because all natural phenomena has been set towards redirections and that is the biggest advantage for all of the Indian manufacturing industry and all the people over here.

Competitive advantage

The next growth of this world is going to come from India; we are going to be a driver for this growth; because all of us know that we are 1.3 billion people, we are a young country, and there is a great opportunity

Pics: Tushar Mane

I feel they are all in a comfort zone, and this is not going to be a comfort zone for all of us in the coming days, because these companies, are going to come over here, and they have already come over here, they have a great advantage that they have low cost of the capital, they have a huge peak size and we always talk that they will never be able to beat us because we have a low-cost manpower, but here these all people are going to be our own people, they will come over here and they will utilise our own people and my feeling is that they will grip our business and that is a challenge for all of us.

So we will have a pressure in the coming days in terms of margin we will feel the pressure in terms of our market share and a lot of other things, even technology and these are all going to be a challenging time. I said that it will be an advantage, why people will come over here?

Everyone is going to look at India as a market, and all these people are going to come to India, and they have a great advantage that they have low cost of the capital. So we will face pressure in the coming days in terms of margin. We will feel the pressure in terms of our market share and a lot of other things, even technology and this all going to be a challenging time. I see this as the greatest challenge because we are small companies, our history is very small and they are large players, so how to come back to them, how do we address them?

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CII Session

At the end of the day we have learnt that a lot of transformation has happened with our people, so today we are able to enter into European markets. No one thought that any Indian company can sell a machine of Airbus and the BMW in our cities.

To be a product from India, and sell in India, is not easy

Attacking is the best Defence

I am a chess player, so in chess we say that attack is the best defence, we should not wait that they will attack us, we will safeguard ourselves and we will ask for a duty structure, subsidies and a lot of government help. My meaning of this attack is that their market is a globalised player, they are a developed nation’s people and we have to make them fight and give them more competitiveness, we have to survive over here, so my feeling is that we have to attack over there. A way to do so is to acquire them, we have to do a lot of marketing and everything to be there in their area and we have to give them a competition in their market, because in globalisation everything is open, if they are coming over here, we are also allowed to go there. U.S. is losing their all competitiveness and even all of Europe also is losing their competitiveness, because as their companies are getting larger, they are acquiring smaller companies and becoming

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a big giant. Look at the top 100 companies in the U.S., look into the percentage of them being in their market segment, if you look at Google, they have a 90 per cent market share. Microsoft, like any other giant has capital power, they have money, and what their nation is forgetting is that because they have skinned small players, so right now they are not facing a lot of challenges now and they are increasing their size. And we have to keep in mind too, that when they come over here, they are going to grab us first, and we do not have to sell ourselves. If we go there and if we attack them, definitely we can make some good numbers there.

Technology is with the people

I would like to share some experience with my company. We are into machine tools. We are manufacturing CNC machines. I started my career as a small job shop in Rajkot in 1981, From 1998 to 2007 we were trying to develop

to realise that we are also able to do these things.

Now after 10 years we took a decision recently, that the machine will be made in India and we will put a label “ MADE IN INDIA” and we will export to them. So this is how I am sharing my story, and this is my experience that we have to leave the comfort zone; before they enter the Indian markets, we have to go there and make more and more investments into Research and Development (R&D) and not to put our money into all industrial people, once they have reserve funds, they are backing for mutual funds and F.D and the future.

India will lead the wave

I say that the future is in Research and Development, and we shall put this money into Research and Development. Then and there we can combat this globalisation and in the coming days we all know that a new buzzword is coming into a play called industrialisation 4.0, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and other things on the internet, and I am strongly a believer of that. Everyone must have listened to our prime minister’s speech two days back, wherein he mentioned GPS, and in the first three industrial revolution, India was nowhere there, but in the fourth industrial revolutions we will not miss the bus. I am a strong believer in that.

India's educational prowess

our product and we realised that we needed to be more of technology, and we do not have technology in any segment, so we were a very small company at that time and we took a decision. How did we acquire technology? We learnt it is either in Japan, or with the Europeans, and nobody had any thoughts that we could acquire a company. So we then took a decision, it was a very big decision. The company what we chose was three times bigger than what we are at that time, and we successfully acquired them in 2007 and because of their technology and other intangibles, Jyoti today is seven times bigger than what we were at 2007. What we learnt from this acquisition is technology, and technology is not in the drawings or in the model, technology is with the people. A good exchange programme is happening for the last 10 years and our people understood that very well. We learnt what is a machine tool and what is precision. The mindset and the quality, the ‘chalta hai’ approach,

what we are having here every day, that has changed here and we have learned a lot.

Leveraging Brand India

So, at the end of the day we have learnt that a lot of transformation has happened with our people, so today we are able to enter into European markets. No one thought that any Indian company can sell a machine of Airbus and BMW in our cities. To be a product from India, and sell in India, and to make it in India is not easy, because we are not a brand, we are not a branded player. The way we acquired them so nicely and managed them is why we are able to enter into European markets, and we have learnt another thing, which is confidence. This confidence is very necessary today for all of us in India. Our current mindset until now, when we talk of technology and machines we think it is only with the western people and the Japanese. Now when we work with them we are able

The most advantageous situation the nation has is that we are in India during industrialisation 4.0. Someone may ask, Why? It is because of our culture and our education system. We always felt that all these education systems is with the U.S. and the western world, and not with us, but I am not talking of that infrastructural education system, I am talking of cultural education system in our home that our grandparents have imbibed into us. The world is moving towards

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Riding the wave of mobile internet The influx of low-cost smartphones in the market has impacted mobile internet awareness. The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2019, states that while only 19% of women were aware of mobile internet in 2018, this figure is 42% in 2019. While women are still 23% less likely than men to use mobile internet in low and middleIncome countries, it represents a reduction in the gender gap from 26% in 2017.

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CII Session more and more digitalisation I have noticed. So what the important parameters in digitalisation?

It is mathematics as everything will be based on mathematical equations. And I strongly feel that the mathematics of an average Indian is excellent, and it is not because of our infrastructure, but I feel because of our poverty. If you have no base of mathematics then you have nothing to do big in this world. This mathematics is going to make us a leader in this next century soon. This is the biggest driving force for us because the average Indian’s mathematics is excellent. Look at a farmer or any poor uneducated person who has never been to a school, even his maths is excellent. Now I can speak with confidence that my company is in France, Germany and Canada; and I have noticed there is a big gap in the mathematics of an

average westerner and an average Indian, hence we are going to be a leader in this journey of Industrialisation 4.0 or digitalisation. . Whenever there is a positive vibe going on, there are a lot of negative vibe people who reach there to stop all the work.

Our culture is our strength

The greatest advantage for India in digitalisation is our culture, I am speaking from our past history and history of all cultures. Up to 1850 A.D. we were the largest economy in the world, when we say it to the next generation they do not believe us because our name is not registered in that manner in the history books, and I believe that only their names are registered in history books who are destructive in nature. No history

To compete with the western world and globalisation we have to introduce automation.The westerners are doing automation in a different way, because they do not have people. Our greatest advantage is that we have people

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is made of creative people and their creativity as a sad fact. We have no idea of our DNA, our DNA is our creativity. Our feeling is that we need to introduce automation where there is a need for a repetitive job.

Creativity drives us

Human beings are not made for repetitive jobs.

Humans are born for creativity and celebration and we need to look into it. We have forgotten that, and the great advantage of digitalisation is that it will allow us to go back to our normal behaviour. To compete with the western world and globalisation we have to introduce automation and we have to free these people to think and innovate. They need to grab new technologies and we can create a lot of new things without destruc-

tion. We have done that in past and we can create it again in the future too. The westerners are doing automation for in a different way, because they do not have people. Our greatest advantage is that we have people.

India shouldn't sell ourselves short

I come from Rajkot, and there is a company called Balaji. Eight years ago, Pepsi had a brand called Leher, this guy kept his price at `5 and covered all the highways first, and the small shops and the pubs, Leher was mostly found at costly places and 5-star hotels. Whenever you give competition, a crocodile comes to harm you. So Pepsi came to Rajkot and offered them a very handsome valuation. The company in 2010 was doing around 200-250 crore turnover

We feel that we need to introduce automation where there is a need for repetitive jobs. But the truth is that human beings are not made for repetitive jobs. Humans are born for creativity and celebration and we need to look into it. Over time we have forgotten that, and the great advantage of digitalisation is that it will allow us to go back to our normal behaviour and they offered them a price of 3000 crore, and usually Indians take up the offer whenever such a remuneration of high valuation is offered to them. The owner came to me and asked for advice, and I am happy that he did because we supply tools and machines to them. He said “Parakram, I do not understand.

These people have come to buy us”. I shared my apprehension, and he agreed and said that we do not wish to sell. Today that company is selling in six states. Today, that `40 Lay’s is also today at `5.

After five years this man went up to Pepsi and offered them money instead. He said “Do you have any plant to sell and exit let me know. I have some money that I wish to invest. This is a small example. If only we are able to go ahead like that, we are able to overcome this challenge. Otherwise, the way this flood is coming over here they will wash us. In fact, we want globalisation, this is the greatest advantage for the country, because we have nothing to lose at all, they have to open their doors for us and we have to enter it. I wish that a lot of youngsters are here who can understand these things and convert this challenge into opportunity and that will be a winning moment for the nation tomorrow.

The future is here

We have recently launched a product called

industry 4.0, it is not a product but a thought, the name has been given by Lady Merkel in Hannover. Our prime minister was there, and I was lucky to be there with him, and we were shocked because we were developing a similar product too at that time. We had an exhibition earlier and we had put up this product and we had no idea that this product comes under the classification of industrialisation 4.0. We have named this product Seventh Sense. People ask what does Seventh sense mean? We say, the software that we have made, or the tool that we have made, it will do all the repetitive job within the factory and within a manufacturing job including quality, maintenance and inspection. This seventh sense will free all people in a factory so that they can use their sixth sense that is naturally god gifted to us.

I think I have covered whatever I wanted to tell you, Yes there is a transformation I have felt in my company, we are talking deeper and in a different language. If we were in a comfort zone we would have never been able to do this things. So venture out, buy them out, invest there, make aggressive marketing into their area and make more advanced manufacturing practices. I saw that today’s function is an excellence in manufacturing or future manufacturing. We together went to U.K. fair where they displayed what is the manufacturing at 2050, what is the future factory set up.

My opinion is that a future factory will need preparedness that batch production for any company will not be more than one piece. We have to be prepared to make every job a new job and everything a new thing. The western world does not have a population to do that, and that is the greatest advantage for us and we have to leverage this advantage and win.

(To be continued in the upcoming issue...) namratagulati8@gmail.com

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Loan sizes higher when women borrow The average ticket size of a home loan when women borrow is significantly higher (`27 lakh) than when a man borrows (just under `23 lakh), according to data from 1.6 million loan applications in 2018 on BankBazaar. BankBazaar CEO Adhil Shetty said the higher loan amount when a woman applies could indicate it’s a household with two incomes, unlike when a male applies, where he could be the only breadwinner.

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Interview

Human Resource is like a government An expert in the areas of Human Resource Management, Ranjan Sarkar, Executive Vice President HR, Exide Industries Limited, has over 20 years of cross-industry experience in Automotive, Energy Storage, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, Media, BFSI among many other sectors. Ranjan believes that for India to be a global economic power, India should start manufacturing. He also shares his views on many stereotypes of the HR function and corporate world… By Vineet Kapshikar

Tell us about your education and career.

I started my work life as a salesman initially.

Thereafter, I completed my MBA from SIBM (Symbiosis Institute of Business Management), Pune. When I was thinking about my Master’s I didn’t have any specific goal in my mind as to which management stream to opt. At that time, I was just keen on getting into a good institute for management study. Symbiosis was a good institute and it was offering me a specialisation in Human Resource, so I took it.

Which significant changes have you witnessed in HR over the years?

Earlier to ‘90s, during the license era, most companies were largely focussing on manufacturing. As a result, most HR professionals started their career in the factories. Post liberalisation, consumerism developed and hence the innovation and the HR processes started developing around the business HR. Going forward, the world as we see today is slowly moving towards specialists. Even the power equations within an organisation will shift from general management to specialists. So I presume there will be new HR processes to be built around managing specialists, R&Ds and knowledge functions.

Many HR professionals have not experienced this community ever, because until the year 2000, most R&D and specialist functions were

only in the developed countries.

On the other hand, from the 1990s onwards, because of the international trade and markets opening up, a lot of manufacturing got diluted in the country. Therefore, the growth of consumerism and dilution of manufacturing as a core function has swayed a lot of HR professionals into making their careers mostly in business HR, without developing any skill in Industry Relations (IR), environment management, human engineering skills, etc. I think, with Make in India initiative and with a lot of other initiatives, the role of manufacturing HR is coming back. I think India realised that only the service sector’s growth will not help, as the country’s GDP cannot sustain big growth without agriculture and manufacturing.

Countries like China and Taiwan are strong in manufacturing, India has to catch up, and India has to build back the manufacturing base again.

It may not be the traditional manufacturing but manufacturing 4.0 (digital manufacturing), which will require another level of HR practices to manage those kinds of setups.

Another big change that I have witnessed is, a lot of people have grown in their careers as a generalist without building specialisations. But there are various aspects of HR, which needs some kind of knowledge specialisation. I think the world of specialisation is coming back, and

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as an HR professional, there is also a need to have a niche specialisation. That being said, what is the difference between earlier specialisation vs. today’s specialisation? Earlier specialisation was very domain based, for example, recruitment management, IR, and so on. The new age specialisation will be around events for example, I know how to manage startups, green field assignments, knowledge workers; I can run a digital factory or a digital environment, I am very good in managing employee communication as a subject. From pure disciplines, it will come to a lot of applied disciplines... just like education.

You have worked in various foreign countries, are the Indian HR practices in harmony with global HR practices?

HR is an applied science, it is not pure science.

When you are making decisions to deal anything related with people, people are a part of society not just your company, hence the societal influences become very important for understanding for an HR professional. We don’t have sociology as a subject for HR. If I had to recommend a subject for HR, I would recommend sociology, because one has to understand the society. Primary functions of HR needs you to recruit people, train people, reward them, motivate them and so on. But how you do it and what contextual elements one needs to keep in

Pics: Yusuf Khan

Countries like China and Taiwan are strong in manufacturing, India has to catch up, and India has to build back the manufacturing base again.

It may not be the traditional manufacturing but manufacturing 4.0

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Interview mind while taking decisions. For that, HR needs a very strong understanding of sociology. The world differs in different places in terms of its social behaviour, culture, history, people’s values and beliefs, so in this profession, unlike a pure science profession, wherein you are coding or you are working on a particular technology, which is uniform for any culture or a language or a belief because it is pure science. HR profession will require understanding and hence wherever you work or just like understanding local laws, and that’s how I feel it differs, it vastly differs. Many MNCs, have standard processes and systems and many MNCs globally suffered a lot when they tried to standardise their processes across different geographies. Those who have understood this, are successful and have adapted to the local context within a broad principle.

While I have worked in projects for some south Asian countries, those are mainly at a corporate level.

But I guess, if I had to run the operations there, I would have to spend some time understand the local culture and then I could I have run it.

which affect a lot of people, you have to satisfy the interest of several groups in the country.

You have to take stock of how things happen and have to continuously change and adapt. In developing countries, you have to adapt your policies to make changes and you need a lot of communication and change management. If you take the replica of that, that’s the role of HR plays in an organisation.

the natural evolution of human beings makes them suitable for their generation. If you look at this as a problem, then you will be looking for a solution.

I don’t look at it as a problem

Millennials today, demand fast results, as an HR how do you deal with such demands?

Every generation has its nuances and every generation feels that another generation is different, it is no good, bad, right or wrong in this. The millennials are impatient and they are living a much more risky life than the earlier generation. So if they behave like the earlier generation, trying to be protective, stable, while their life is not stable, they cannot survive, So they have to think here and now. I think the natural evolution of human beings makes them suitable for their generation. If you look at this as a problem, then you will be looking for a solution. I don’t look at it as a problem. I look at it as a particular type of social behaviour, which is as per the changing world. Within the umbrella of an organisation, if HR is adaptable to the changing environment with terms of social, economic, political, geological and cultural happening, then he/she will automatically find ways to handle diverse groups. We don’t have to be obsessed with - ‘how to deal with the millennials’. A good mentor should be working with the millennial, just like a father and son. We are never obsessed about the son who is a millennial. The father just needs a different strategy to interact with him. You hear him out, you understand his concerns, allow him his space, try to help him with his impatience, try to see where his strengths are and help where need-

ed. At an organisation level, the organisations which are built over years of wisdom and success even if they are challenged, they will resist it.

Millennials will come in and challenge, it is also important to make the younger workforce spend some time with the organisation so that they can understand what has taken years to build has a context and how to be part of it, before you challenge it. The multi-generation workforce will exist in a very natural fashion like happens in a family. Organisations nowadays are becoming like a huge joint family, wherein you probably have a Board in the sixties, CXOs in early fifties (from the brick-mortar era) who are like parents, there are middle age employees (30-40 years old) born post-independence (they have seen brick and mortar model shift to digital). They are like elder brothers, young uncles, etc. Then millennials come in, like a teen in the family. I just associate these to family management and I think many answers are pretty simple.

Going forward, many of the jobs in HR may be automated, a lot of jobs will be outdated or not really required. However, there will be a new kind of jobs that will come up within HR. For example, social researcher, insight specialist, manpower study engineers, change managers, business OD, etc.

I do see a lot of similarity in Human Resource function with a government. In a government, you are managing policies, managing processes

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With AI used for hiring process, will there be any human element left in the future?

When e-commerce came into the picture, there was a huge outcry that the local shops will disappear. The last I heard, e-commerce is only three per cent in India, which means that brick and mortar have its place and similarly, everything has its place in the world. It is wrong to assume that anything changes everything. It is wrong to think that anyone technological change can bring in a change everywhere in the world, every facet of human life. It doesn’t. It is not a factor of time, it is a factor of habit, convenience and it can be different. For example, for one person ordering online is convenient; for another person, convenience is buying something from a trusted person. Since human beings are different, the needs, wants and beliefs are different. Technology is here to enable a lot of things. Numerous routine jobs will go away, but wherever there is judgement involved, I don’t think technology has an answer. There is an aspect of emotional judgement in what we take. The world is talking about data all the time. We in the corporate world consume a lot of data, but when we take a decision, finally it is judgment. Data helps us in studying various alternatives. But a person makes a judgement, and that judgement is not exactly an algorithm, it is based on an impulse. vineetkapshikar@gmail.com

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Flamingo – Going?

The proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad highspeed train corridor did get wildlife clearance but, at the cost of diverting 3.27 hectares of land from the 26 km stretch of the Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary. Thane creek, witnesses the maximum number of flamingos that congregate in the city. The first data on flamingos around Mumbai, as per Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) is a total of 1,21,900 flamingos in January.

Interview

Biggest challenge is managing people The most important challenge is managing people, says Sudhir Mateti, Deputy General Manager-Human Resource, Syntel Telecom - A Division of Arvind Limited. He started his journey as an entrepreneur and then joined the corporate world. In a candid interview with Corporate Citizen, he talks about his corporate world experience and why for him, making diversified people work towards the organisation mission, vision and goals and bring success is the biggest challenge, as people’s manager By Harsh Thind

The job hopping trend has the pros and also the cons. The flip side is they don’t see the ups and downs of a single company. If you have gone through the ups and downs of the organisation, you have learned a lot “ Pics: Yusuf Khan

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Take us back in your journey through your educational background to where you are today...

I have completed a BA in Economics from Mumbai University and after that I did an airline passenger service course from IATA / UFATA from Vancouver, Canada. I had my own entrepreneurial experience, earlier during my teenage years. After my entrepreneurial stint, I started my corporate journey beginning with IITC-India, then to Reliance, TATA Group, Essar group, Aditya Birla Retail and now I am currently working as Deputy General Manager-Human Resource, Syntel Telecom - A Division of Arvind Limited, since last 10 years.

What made you join HR? I was a passionate training professional. I realised that training played a very important role, during early in my schooling days I realised that a teacher makes a huge difference in one’s life. I was already taking coaching classes and training people while I ventured into a car rental programme and then I reached a junction where I had to decide whether I had to continue training or continue the business. I decided to move into the training portfolio because I realised that while doing training I shall gain respect first and success later whereas in business I would need to get success first and then may get respect. So I chose respect as the first priority that’s why I chose training and then moved into HR. What are the challenges that you come across in your role?

The most important challenge is managing people. Everybody comes from a different walk of life, differently cultures, unique work styles, different goals and extremely different mindset. When it comes to an organisation, there is a common goal that everyone has to work towards and the approach is different. Making diversified people work towards the organisation’s mission, vision and goals and be successful is the biggest challenge.

What are the changes you have witnessed in HR field?

When we used to hire, we used to hire hard working people. People who are willing to work hard and who are loyal. Then came a time when there was a need of smart people; people who had head over their shoulders. Now a lot of organisations have started looking at hiring smarter people—looking at candidates who are smart and are willing to work hard, it is a difficult combination to find. We need smart people and also dedicated people who are willing to fold their sleeve up and work.

The youngsters nowadays they are into

job hopping, so how do you find loyal people?

The job hopping trend has the pros and the cons. The flip side is they don’t see the ups and downs of a single company. If you have gone through the ups and downs of the organisation, you have learned a lot. When an employee leaves a company in two year time, he/she gets very limited exposure. That’s why job hops are generally not seen in a positive way. But there is a certain advantage in job hopping as well—not only is there an incremental rivalry in the new generation but also they get to see various cultures of organisations. There are times when these youngsters do not understand the definition of right environment which suits them. Their ability to decide what is the right friendly working environment is low, when they hop jobs they identify it only after experiential learning.

You’ve had such an illustrious career could you tell us some key initiatives you are proud of?

Today, I am a people’s manager and most of the time I am a manager of the masses, I look at people and their problems. Even today in my organisation I know most of my employees by name and I know what challenge each employee faces and what are their personal, professional, career challenges, everything in detail. So, going in depth, ability to help people and understanding people’s challenges from their perspective and aligning it to business, has been my key strength and probably that has taken me this far.

son that my work is equal to life. The culture that I adopt in my work reflects on my personal life also and vice versa. I don’t believe to draw a line between work and life. I have a family at home and I have a family (my team) at workplace as well. So that’s how I work.

In such a strenuous lifestyle, what is your idea of relaxation?

I get to relax when I see a smile on anybody’s face. That’s the biggest relaxation for me.

Whether it’s my son, spouse or whether it’s my office colleagues or employees, whenever they are in pain and if I could bring a little smile to them and ease their little pain, that’s the biggest relaxation.

When I hire someone I search for an igniting positive drive or attitude in the candidate. There should be drive and passion in the way the candidate speaks the body language should transmit positive energy”

What do you look for while hiring someone?

When I hire someone I search for an igniting positive drive or attitude in the candidate.

There should be drive and passion in the way the candidate speaks, the body language should transmit positive energy. Overall, the attitude should be extremely nice. Secondly, I should find someone who is adaptable to situations. I don’t want someone who is static in a situation.

The learning ability should be high. I would check in the interview whether in his/her past learning experiences, has he/she learned something and applied it. And last and most importantly the candidate should carry the cultural value of his family and take it forward. If all these three things are there then I think the candidate fits in.

Do you believe in a demarcation between work and personal life?

I always believe, because I am a passionate per-

What advice you would like to give the youngsters who are dreaming to join the corporate world today?

I would only advise them to be doing their homework well before they appear for an interview. They have to be very clear about what they have to do and what they want to do and secondly, being dedicated to it. If they are dedicated and passionate about their jobs, success is all theirs.

What is the philosophy of life you live by?

I always believe that we all humans are made to make other’s lives better. My objective from day one is to live for others and even today the reason why I moved from a training portfolio to a generic portfolio is my ability to help the larger audiences is high. Which enables me to help the larger audience. So if I can bring smiles to lots of people I would have done my job well. harshthind10@gmail.com March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 35

Taking Stock

“Capital markets ahead of the Ajay Tyagi, the senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer with extensive knowledge and experience of financial markets, heads the country’s capital markets watchdog, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The no-nonsense bureaucrat was instrumental in the merger of commodities market regulator Forwards Market Commission (FMC) with SEBI. He speaks to Corporate Citizen on various issues

By Orchie Bandopadhyay

A

s a senior bureaucrat, Ajay Tyagi is widely respected within the Finance Ministry and considered to be a very balanced and straight forward person with professional work ethics.

Tell us about your stint with the Central Government.

Before being appointed as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman, I was Additional Secretary (Investment) in the Department of Economic Affairs and handled the portfolios of capital market division, investment division, infrastructure division and currency and coinage division. The appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

I was Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change before joining the Finance Ministry on November 1, 2014 as Additional Secretary. During my stint at the Centre, I also worked in ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Steel and Rural Development. For a short while, I was also on the board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

I also represented India at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, terror financing and other related threats. I represent India at the Financial Stability Board, an international body to monitor global financial systems.

Economic historians identify 1990 as the inflexion point in India's growth story when a new paradigm of development through reforms, mainly focused towards encouraging market-based signals for resource allocation, were ushered in.

From being the 12th largest economy in 1990, we have today become the sixth largest economy (by nominal GDP), with our GDP growing from USD 330 billion in 1990 to more than USD 2.8 trillion now. If the same growth trend continues, one would not be amiss in forecasting that India may well become the third or fourth largest economy within a decade.

Linked to this economic growth has been the development of the capital market. While India

“From being the 12th largest economy in 1990, we have today become the sixth largest economy (by nominal GDP), with our GDP growing from USD 330 billion in 1990 to more than USD 2.8 trillion now become the sixth largest”

What about your stint with the Himachal Pradesh government?

I am a 1984 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre and held various posts in the Himachal Pradesh government including in power, revenue, finance and information technology.

And your educational background…

I hail from Uttar Pradesh, and am a Post Graduate in Economics. I did a Master in Public Administration from Harvard and hold a Master in Technology (Computer Science) and a Bachelor degree in electronics also.

Tell us about the growth of the Indian capital market concurrently with that of the Indian economy.

36 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

is home to the oldest stock exchange in Asia – the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) came into existence in 1875 - the comprehensive regulatory framework for a liberalised, market-driven and modern Indian capital market was initiated with the creation of SEBI in 1992.

It is widely acknowledged that the development of the capital market has been one of the true success stories of the reform process, whether it be in terms of growth of market-based financing, state-of-the-art online trading, settlement and risk management, increasing role of domestic institutions such as mutual funds in providing pools of capital and liquidity or enhanced corporate governance standards.

Ajay Tyagi (extreme left)

curve in adopting new tech” Does the Indian capital market, today, compete well with those of the other major jurisdictions across the globe?

Yes. For instance, World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2019 survey ranks India seventh in the area of "protecting minority investors", much ahead of even many developed jurisdictions like US, Japan, Germany and Australia. We are ranked among the top ten countries in the world in terms of market capitalisation, which is the aggregate valuation of the company based on its current share price and the total number of outstanding stocks. It is calculated by multiplying the current market price of the company's share with the total outstanding shares of the company.

What is the current market scenario?

The capital markets, globally, have been quite volatile during 2018 and are likely to remain so in coming times on account of various factors such

as US Fed rate hikes, volatile oil prices, intensifying trade conflicts and sanctions. The Indian markets have also been affected by these factors.

The performance of Indian capital market compares favourably with the other major global economies on various parameters such as indices returns, volatility and currency movements.

Does a globally integrated world have a definite impact on the financial world?

The world economy is becoming increasingly integrated and globalised, whether in terms of trade integration or in terms of capital flows.

During the past few decades, both emerging markets and advanced economies have increasingly opened their borders to financial flows. As a result, international capital gross inflows have experienced a remarkable rise, particularly from the mid-1990s onwards. Notwithstanding certain geopolitical frictions, there is no gainsaying the fact that the trend towards an increasingly integrated and inter-connected world would get further accentuated in the future.

When it comes to technology, has the capital market been an early adopter?

Technology has shaped the capital market in the past and would continue to do so in the future. Significant areas in the functioning of exchanges and market intermediaries have been streamlined due to the adoption of technology.

There is now a wider consensus among technology experts that machine-learning / artificial intelligence and block-chain are two significant technological changes that would fundamentally alter and shape our capital market going forward.

Machine-learning and artificial intelligence have made inroads in the area of high frequency and algorithmic trading and some bits of fund management as well. Going ahead, they would find increasing applications in areas of the capital market that require rapid processing of large amounts of information / data, which is otherwise not possible for humans to meaningfully process. On the other hand, block-chain technology, due to its ability to maintain transactions or contractual obligations as distributed ledgers, with all its inherent advantages, may pose a serious challenge to any centralised record-keeping institution such as exchanges, depositories and other entities related to payments and settlement.

Do you think markets will adopt sophisticated cyber-security and cyber resilience measures?

As data usage and requirements get further deepened, concerns relating to the security of data

would become even more pronounced. Markets, accordingly, would have to remain vigilant and continue to adopt sophisticated cyber-security and cyber resilience measures. Additionally, stringent data privacy requirements would have to be put in place, apart from building the necessary ecosystem for encouraging applications of such technology to all areas of the capital market, even while knowing that they may cause disruption to existing systems, players and institutions.

What role does demographics play in the financial world?

An important and, might I say, largely neglected aspect in this space is that of demographics. In many circles, demographics is today considered to be one of the biggest drivers of the growth of financial markets going forward. Since younger people are expected to be more risk-taking, countries with a younger set of the population would have more demand for investment products that offer higher returns, adjusted for risk.

Capital markets of such countries would have to evolve to cater to the investment preferences of their young population.

On the other hand, in countries which have a higher proportion of the ageing population, the investors would be more risk-averse and may prefer safety over returns. They would demand more of annuity based fixed income products and their capital markets would have to accordingly respond to such needs.

As the demographic profile keeps changing over time, what is relevant today may become obsolete in the near future. Capital markets, thus, would have to continuously evolve to meet the changing preferences of the investors.

Trust is the backbone of finance...What is your take?

No discussion on finance can be complete without bringing out the topic of ‘trust’. Trust is the backbone of finance. Our world is replete with examples where people have ignored the importance of trust in their zeal to make quick money and suffered adverse consequences later besides damaging the sanctity of the system.

Presence of trust in the system brings down the cost of transaction, the cost of compliance, the cost of enforcement and in fact the overall cost of doing business. Unfortunately, the public trust in functioning of financial markets has lately declined as a result of some major financial reporting scandals. Creating and maintaining a high degree of trust in the system should be the shared objective of all the constituents in the system. archiebanerjee@gmail.com March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 37

Alumni Spotlight-11 “My epitaph should read – ‘This man could sell anything’,” said Tarun Lala, Co-founder and Chief Hustler at Fanzart, Bengaluru. He acknowledges his learning at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA for bringing out the ‘heartthrob technologist’ that he calls himself; and that he wanted to sell technology early on whilst studying at the university. For Tarun, “Stanford GSB was the reason I quit my job and became an entrepreneur.”

He charts his prime alma mater as Northeastern University, Boston, saying that, “My biggest learnings came during my time at Northeastern University. It was here that I understood most about life, made some of my closest friends, met and learnt about people from all over the world.

Northeastern was where I went from an Indian boy to a citizen of the world!”

Tarun Lala, Alumnus,Vidyashilp Academy, Bengaluru

Of EQ’s and IQ’s Northeastern University enabled Tarun to appreciate ‘academics’ and the environment that creates entrepreneurs or, lends that extra push for seeking personal success.

“I always knew about intelligent quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ), but it was at

Adding a maverick designation – Chief Hustler, to his name, Tarun Lala is Co-founder of Fanzart, Bengaluru, under the flagship company, Golden Touch Exports. A second-generation entrepreneur, Tarun has had his tryst with varied sectors and his current foray into the luxury interior goods segment.

Armed with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston MA. and Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford GSB) - Global Innovation Ignite programme in Entrepreneurship, Tarun has set forth to revolutionise the ubiquitous ‘ceiling fans’ and its ilk, by giving them a designer appeal and positioning it in the luxury goods segment

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

The

r e h t a e w r l u l e a trepren en

38 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Northeastern that I learnt exactly what it meant.

Nothing is achieved alone, and most successes are achieved in teams. Working with people is mandatory and a way of life. The entire EQ side of things is what I learnt there”, he adds.

Picking a point from Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist, Jack Ma, Tarun too believes that, “All IQ related jobs will be taken over by computers and artificial intelligence (AI) whereas, all the EQ related stuff will be left for humans to do. It was only then that I valued my takeaways from Northeastern,” he said.

As most of his professors at Northeastern were stalwarts in their fields from globally prestigious institutions such as MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), the level of academics was tough. However, “Despite the classes being difficult, the professors treated us like adults, and we were able to be a lot more open to them as students. Things like what bothered us and what didn’t, where we needed help and more. We established a wavelength with them which allowed us to develop overall and approach them without hesitation”, he said.

Honesty seems to be Tarun’s cup of tea as he believes that a branded institute and the worth attached to that academic brand definitely offers a certain gratification for self and their families.

“However, branding of institution gives you and your family bragging rights, nothing more. The rest is how the world ‘supposedly works’ and nothing else,” he said.

On whether academic institutions influence and mould individuals towards successful careers, Tarun feels that it all depends on the institution/s concerned. “Some institutions don’t have to be good, but just the group of people it takes onboard, is above average, and so you automatically become above average - because your reference points/standard have an above average score at all times. That being said, not necessarily above average in everything.” He also adds that with regards to the bigger picture, “Institutions alone do not influence. It’s the people around you at that (any) institution that makes the difference,” he said.

On the educational system in India and abroad, Tarun very explicitly feels that “In In-

“Overseas, academic institutions leave you to do whatever you want to do. Sometimes that’s the opposite end.

Eventually, it’s what you make of it. However, in the Indian context, the scenario is starting to change” Kindled by Robotics and Digital Logic Tarun specifically mentions his Robotics and Digital Logic professors at Northeastern University who played a significant role in his journey as a student and beyond. As regards his Robotics professor, Tarun said, “He was probably one of the best guys I’ve known. He scheduled the subject as the last exam on our schedule and organised a football match amongst us right after.

The way he taught and befriended us was simply amazing. Moreover, he made building robots seem easy and we consequently built some really cool robots”, he adds.

He has high regards for his Digital Logic professor at Northeastern, David Potter, who eventually became his mentor. “He was someone who did not just look at logic mere digitally but, screened almost every element in life; logically.

Mine connect with him gradually transitioned from that of a teacher-student relation as he became my advisor for everything. I approached him for any ambiguous decision I had to make during my college life. No matter how easy or hard a decision was, he broke it down and established an objective with great elegance. A year after college, I went back and visited him”, he said.

Academic Landscape in India: Viewpoint

dia, they (academic institutions) make you do things, so you don’t end up finding a fondness towards ‘learning’ per se. You actually learn about things you find or develop a passion for.

In India, schools tell you what to do and so, you never want to do anything but run away from it.”

“But, overseas, academic institutions leave you to do whatever you want to do. Sometimes that’s the opposite end. Eventually, it’s what you make of it. However, in the Indian context, the scenario is starting to change, with some institutions. My school, Vidyashilp Academy, Bengaluru was one such place. It focused on the overall development of the IQ and EQ as well.”

Career-scape For someone, whose career started in 2012, as a Technology Consultant with EMC, Bengaluru, Tarun did not shy away from experimenting to find his best fit and industry type. He dabbled with his own startups as he co-founded YesMastr, that provided information and services at anyone’s beck and call akin to that of the traditional butler! Not satisfied, he dabbled with another startup that provided counselling via his online emotional wellness coaching portal.

He then moved on to co-founding Levo Innovations Ltd. and popularised his Social Networking platform - LEVO, for professionals at airports, aeroplanes, hotels, co-working spaces and

at events. A recipient of Top Gun & MVP award at EMC Corporation, he has won recognition for his first brand LEVO – a Social Networking platform for professionals at airports, aeroplanes, hotels and co-working spaces. He is instrumental for setting up of the world’s first networking-dedicated airport lounge in Bengaluru. All this, while, he kept a lookout for innovative opportunities to fulfil either sector or product voids, until he found his ‘design’ footing with Fanzart.

“Fanzart was an attempt to fill in a void, caused by a strong design appeal that accentuated the look and feel of the place (homes); especially in the high net worth individual (HNI) and the ultra-high net worth individual (UHNI) residential market. I specialise in the luxury interior segment, where almost everything else had evolved say, recliners, couches, floorings, walls, chandeliers, lights, but not the humble fans,” he said.

Fanzart is a brand of designer fans for designer homes and Tarun is responsible for its business development, sales and customer or client interactions, building marketing and advertising strategies, digital marketing campaigns and strategic alliances et.al.; for popularising his brand and the concept in India.

Corporate Bridge Tarun feels that internships are an important link between corporate and academia. “Students can do summer internships, field trips, small career fairs in conjunction with companies.”

“Northeastern University is one of the best colleges globally for co-op programmes, where you can work full time for six months and study full time for six months. Which meant no holidays at all; but, I learnt a lot there and worked a lot. I earned good money too when I graduated.

I had two years of work experience and favourable work ethics that attracted my profile to most employers,” he said.

Tarun’s success mantra is to be unapologetic and fearless. “Don’t be afraid to fail,” he said. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

CC

tadka

What a discovery!

Scientists from Geological Survey of India have discovered millions of tonnes of precious metals and minerals deep under the waters that surround peninsular India. Found within our Exclusive Economic Zone, the amount of lime mud, phosphate-rich and calcareous sediments, hydrocarbons, metalliferous deposits and micronodules show that deeper and more extensive exploration could lead to a larger treasure trove.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 39

TÊTE-À-TÊTE

The

Next Pharma

Torchbearer

Ishad Dadachanji, Director, Schott Kaisha, continues to grow the pharma packaging business started by his father through innovations and expansions. For the dynamic young entrepreneur, his father was his biggest inspiration for his millionaire state of mind

By Orchie Bandopadhyay Tell us about your role at Schott-Kaisha, Shakai Packaging, Kaisha Lifesciences, and Sovereign Pharma.

Kaisha Manufacturers was established in 1990 as a premium manufacturer of pharmaceutical containers. In 2008, it started its cooperation with German technology group, Schott AG for a 50-50 joint venture, as Schott Kaisha. Shakai Packaging was established in 2011 and Kaisha Lifesciences in 2014.

Today, my responsibilities encompass all major functions in our organisations. Apart from working in tandem with my father Kairus Dadachanji in Schott Kaisha and Sovereign Pharma, I also independently handle Kaisha Lifesciences and Shakai Packaging, which are two projects I undertook a few years after I had started working in the field. It is hard for me to pinpoint any specific duties or defined roles, but I make it a point to be involved in all key functions and to know my product and process extremely well. I have a keen interest in our innovation and development divisions and often participate in the design and development of new solutions, as a result of which, we have created a good IP portfolio.

You are responsible for three different entities. Give us an idea where your ambition really comes from and what is driving you?

My main inspiration is my father, and my ambition and drive come from seeing what he has achieved. I have been exposed to some of our companies since I was a child and I have watched him create these organisations from scratch. They have literally grown with me and I have seen what it looks like to create something out of nothing

through hard work and dedication. This has led me to not only want to further expand and grow the existing companies but create something new and take them to a global level as well.

Tell us some of the qualities that you attribute to your family that later shaped your career.

Togetherness. My family and I are very close to

40 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

each other. We share a special bond, where we rely on each other and can always depend on each other through thick and thin. This is something I value greatly. Through their support and well wishes, I have developed the confidence I needed to be in the position I am in today. Knowing that their guidance is always available to direct me towards the right path, enables me to be the person I am today.

How do you plan to contribute to ‘Vision 2030’ for the Indian Life Sciences Industry that aims to become the largest and most reliable drug supplier in the world whilst providing affordable and high-quality drugs to fellow Indians?

For me, it is simple. One Quality For All. Whether our product is being sold in India or abroad, our quality will remain the same. We only use glass containers made from Type 1 borosilicate glass, which is currently the industry benchmark. Our quality checks are stringent and we have implemented several robust systems such as LIMS, QMS, DMS etc. to prevent data manipulation by restricting people from tampering with any data being generated during testing. This high input material and robust quality systems help us ensure that the product leaving our plant is of the highest quality and is accessible to our fellow Indians at affordable prices.

In addition, we are also in talks with multiple customers abroad who are interested in purchasing Kaisha Lifesciences products. Moreover, as Sovereign is already certified and caters to several export markets, we are confident that we will be able to positively contribute to ‘Vision 2030’ both at home and abroad.

R&D team, as we try and make a product better wherever possible. For example, if we have a molecule that is sensitive to heat and requires cold chain storage, then we should innovate by trying to stabilize it at room temperature.

With this drive and commitment to innovation and development, we have now set internal targets in all the companies, to launch at least a few innovative and unique new products every year.

Tell us a bit about your commitment to innovation and how it’s seeded in the above companies?

Innovation and development are two things that I take a special interest in and consider them as key growth drivers for any company. I even have a 3D printer in my office which I use very often to make some rapid prototypes. In the past few years, we have taken this up very seriously and I continuously try and come up with new ideas and products that I know our customers need by identifying the gaps in the market. Fortunately, we almost cover the entire value chain for injectable drugs, all the way from glass tubing, glass conversion, to manufacturing and filling of the final product. This enables me to envision the entire value chain during the development process and come up with the most efficient solutions. For example, we are commercially supplying our ready -touse nested cartridges, for which we have been granted a patent in the US and Europe. During the development of this offering, we kept several parameters the same as certain other products already available in the market. This enabled our end user to use this product on their existing machines with very little change of parts.

This platform will be sold globally from India by our German partners – SCHOTT. Innovation does not have to be a complicated process. Sometimes the simplest ideas materialize into the most ideal solutions.

At Kaisha Lifesciences, I always work with the

How do you create and sustain an innovative work environment?

I always drive my colleagues to think outside the box and come up with good ideas and solutions.

Even if some do not materialize, which could be due to several factors, they must always be creative and try to come up with good pragmatic solutions. None of our employees are restricted from learning something new. All they have to do is ask. Even if somebody wants to learn about a certain subject that may not be a part of their key role, I still urge them to do so as long as their key roles do not get affected.

How do you manage the innovation process?

This is something I really focus on in all our companies. I usually try and look at this from two angles, - product innovation and development along with process innovation and development. A few years ago, we added a product development division as well as an automation division. This has really helped us expedite our development process and enabled us to make our thoughts a reality. For instance, if we have a concept, we can get a render on the screen in a few hours and take a 3D print immediately after. This process continues until we have a product which is commercially viable and seamlessly integrable into the value chain. This flexibility and a strong design team have really given us an edge in the innovation process.

As you recruit people, how important is it to probe for the right attitude?

For me, attitude and right mindset are the most important things to look for during the recruitment process. Interviews can be stressful for many people as they are often nervous during the interview. Hence, when I conduct an interview, the main thing I look for is how the candidates carry themselves, their ability to use common sense and not over complicate situations. I often try and judge if the candidate has the ability to relate past instances to current events. I find this to be a good tool which helps not only to improve current processes but also to prevent past mistakes. This shows that the individual has the interest and willingness to learn from past experiences.

You believe in not finding customers for your products, but in finding products for customers. How do you incorporate customer centricity in each activity and decision you take?

When we identify any gap in the market, we take an approach of creating a standard design platform that can fill this gap. Once this standard design platform is created, it can be customised to suit the requirements of individual customers.

As an example, when we developed our patented solution for ready-to-use cartridges, we standardised certain design parameters such as the

I strongly believe in catering to the needs of the customers at all times. Their voice must always be heard. There is no compromise when it comes to servicing their requirements

What is key to succeed in business?

Passion, hard work and no compromise are key.

However, the most important thing for me is to be involved and know my product and process inside out. Having this knowledge helps me relate to and understand situations clearly.

I truly believe that seeing is believing and I love spending time on the shop floor which is where you learn the most. You learn something new and I always try to listen, understand and get the full picture before taking any decisions - big or small.

outer dimension of the nest, the position of the nest in the tub etc. We can then customise the container size required for each individual customer within these set design parameters of the nest and tub. This standardised design platform allows us to provide for these individual needs.

When it comes to corporate culture and customer experience, what advice would you offer to other business leaders?

I strongly believe in catering to the needs of the customers at all times. Their voice must always be heard. There is no compromise when it comes to servicing their requirements. Many a time, I speak to customers directly to understand exactly what they require and find a way to provide a solution to them. We are continuously increasing our sales team in order to be able to provide timely service and quick responses. archiebanerjee@gmail.com March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 41

CII case study-6

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Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd

aCtICes IN s t PR

Flexible Workforce Focus is a Win-win

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The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in a Report on Good People Management Practices has compiled real-life case studies of organisational initiatives to inculcate best practices in the industry. This Case Study pertains to Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., showing how its inclusive approach to its flexible workforce with a focus on training and integrating them has brought it laurels in India and abroad

Aligning the hands and minds of the flexible workforce proved a game changer

Over a period, the hiring of a flexible workforce has taken a quantum leap. It has become an integral part of the business, and is now a new norm. In view of business competitiveness and business sustenance and realizing that going forward dependency on a flexible workforce will continue to increase, at Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) we decided to embrace an inclusive workforce to manage business flexibility. Thus, one thing became essential: aligning the hands and minds as well of the flexible workforce would help to bring about a game changer.

While Mahindra & Mahindra recognises the fact that skill has both intrinsic and instrumental value and plays an important role in employee engagement, the journey of skill building for associates has always remained a strategic intervention. Thus cumulatively designed Mahindra Advanced Production System (MAPS) incorporating Dexterity training, Model training and On the Job training were implemented.

Moving forward with the objective of enhancing manufacturing skills to 42 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

global standards, we initiated the intervention “Mahindra Skill Excellence�

[MSE] in 2014. Under this initiative, our workforce is given exposure to the most stringent of skills standards, and subsequently, they are equipped with best-in-class training.

Under this intervention, we selected five core manufacturing skills viz., Painting, Welding, CNC Machining, Assembly and Engine Diagnostics. This initiative involved competitions at the plant level and at the Auto and Farm Sector level and in-depth skill training to winners at various levels. MSE has inspired our associates to develop a passion for acquiring skills and pursuing excellence, through competitions and promotions. This has resulted in a number of accolades coming to the Mahindra Auto Sector.

Winning at the global level

The MSE initiative has really turned out to be a game changer and it is a matter of pride that we have represented in the World Skills competition consistently at the last three competitions (bi-annual) in the Welding category. The World Skills competition can be considered as the Olympics of Skills. Our associate

from Chakan, Sachin Narale won the “Medallion of Excellence” and “Best of Nation” award in the World Skills Competition at Sao Paulo - Brazil. Sachin ranked 7th among the 38 participants from across the world in Welding.

Sachin Narale joined Mahindra Vehicles Manufacturers Ltd (MVML) as Associate in the year 2012 in the Maintenance - BIW (Body in White) Department. His journey towards excellence started in 2013 with preparation for the CII Regional Work Skill competition held in Mumbai and the National level at Bengaluru. Before and after the International Selection round, the company put Sachin through rigorous training for over eight months to equip him with world skill standards.

Representing India

Today, our associates win many accolades at Regional & National competitions under various skill categories organised by NSDC, CII & the Indian Institute of Welding, and we feel proud to convey that in FY18, NSDC selected Mahindra participants to represent India at the EuroSkill Competition at Budapest, Hungary and the BRICS Skills Competition in South Africa. Mahindra will be representing in skill categories like Industrial Controls, CNC machining, Welding and Industrial Robotics respectively.

Our associates win many accolades at Regional & National competitions under various skill categories organised by NSDC, CII & the Indian Institute of Welding, and we feel proud to convey that in FY18, NSDC selected Mahindra participants to represent India at the EuroSkill Competition at Budapest, Hungary Flexible workforce are shining stars

The process of skill building is not just limited to our permanent associates; our flexible workforce is an integral part of the initiative towards skill building. We identify talent from ITI apprentices, Earn and Learn and our NEEM associates and groom them to develop their skills. These identified associates are given extensive training and are nominated to participate in the India Skills regional competition, CII as well as IIW competitions.

It is a matter of pride that these associates have proved their mettle by representing India at international competitions like the Beijing Arc Cup - China.

Pratik Kasare and Arati Patole are the recent shining stars within the Flexible Associate category. Pratik and Arati represented India at the Beijing Arc Cup competition and performed extremely well. Today, both have reached the National round of India Skills and are eyeing to represent India in the World Skills Competition scheduled at Kazan, Russia in 2019.

Astounding journey

Among all others, the story of Arati Patole’s journey is astounding. Coming from a very simple family, Arati was always attracted by the torch which her father used, with the Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. handle (welding torch). She was so passionate about it that after her basic education she chose to enter the den of skills dominated by men for decades-welding. We feel happy to share that Arati Patole has broken stereotypes and was notably acknowledged for her laurels by none other than Mr. Anand Mahindra , Chairman Mahindra

Group (on Twitter) for her stupendous achievement in welding competitions.

Arati Patole is known to be a hardworking woman welder who undergoes rigorous training, with fervent focus on skill development.

Following are some of her achievements:

• She has been awarded “Outstanding Female Welder” at the International Arc Cup Welding Skill Competition where 20 + countries and 344 competitors participated from across the world.

• It was a proud moment for the nation when she was given the honour to take an oath amongst 20 + countries and 344 participants across the world where she not only represented Mahindra & Mahindra but India at the international level.

• She has also bagged the 1st Prize at the Indian Institute of Welding competition at the National Level in Chennai which witnessed 24 champion participants from regional and company levels.

• She has also received an award at the Mahakaushalya Regional & State Level Welding Skill Competition held in Jaipur.

• It is said that “Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence,” and our associate Aarti Patole is a perfect example of the same.

• She had stated on the day of joining that she would contribute to the manufacturing of an equal number of vehicles as her male counterparts. And today she is performing at par with other associates on the body shop line.

Conclusion

Team Mahindra assisted her in identifying her passion and then encouraging her in training and development, creating expertise in the field of welding and gave her different platforms to portray her skill.

Enhancing process know-how

We have also crafted a complete syllabus under the project “Saksham” which will help in improving the process knowledge of our flexible associates. The program has been initiated at Kandivili and would be taken across locations.

We have also tied up with ASDC to impart training in line with NSQF framework and will certify flexible associates on completion of training as per the NSQF level.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 43

Unsung Heroes - 20

Murthy Murugan with his mother

A child labourer all set to become a doctor

After his father abandoned his family, ten-year-old Murthy Murugan had to drop out of school and go to work.

But, he never gave up his dream of becoming a doctor, his dream was to become the best doctor he can “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”

-Jesse Owens

A

fter his father abandoned his family, ten year old Murthy Murugan had to drop out of school and go to work, carrying bricks on his tender head at a construction site to earn money to feed his mother and siblings.

But he never gave up his dream of becoming a doctor. Murthy says his dream is to become the best doctor he can be. ‘I want to specialise in radiology and serve in my village. I’m going to carry forward the help I received.’ Murthy’s mother was helped to give her son options.

Murthy Murugan places his stethoscope on the patient’s chest. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a shirt over which he has donned the white “doc-

tor’s coat”, he is deep in concentration as he examines him. The 21-year-old takes the pulse of the elderly man who is suffering from a severe cough before turning to his professor, a senior doctor, who has been observing him all along.

“From the symptoms that he exhibits it is clear he is suffering from severe congestion in the chest,’’ says Murthy confidently. “He may need to be started on a course of antibiotics.” The professor checks the patient, makes some notes in a diary and turns to Murthy. “You’re right, but I want you to do a more detailed examination and report to me,’’ he says. Murthy is pleased that his diagnosis is correct. After all, in two years he will qualify to be a doctor – something he never dreamt could happen when he was a 10-year-old working on a construction site to feed his family.

Murthy Murugan with his mother

Living in the impoverished village of Kailayapu-

44 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

ram of the Dharmapuri district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Murthy’s day would begin at 6 am. After a quick bath in the common bathroom that served twenty other shacks, Murthy would gobble down his breakfast – leftover rice from the previous night with some homemade lime pickle. If there was any food remaining, he would pack it into a cheap plastic lunch box for his midday meal. Then, slipping into a pair of worn rubber slippers, he would walk to a building construction site, more than a kilometre away, where he carried bricks on his head or mixed cement in the searing sun before staggering home exhausted with ₹80 tightly clutched in his clenched fist – his wages for the day’s back-breaking work, which he would hand over to his mother Palaniammal to feed him and his siblings, three-year-old brother Bhoopalan and six-year-old sister Brindavanam. “I had to go out and earn after my

father abandoned us,” Murthy says. “My mother and siblings would have had no food if I did not work. We had no one to help us.’’

Murthy believed, wrongly, that his was a happy family. “My father Kumaran Murugan and mother Palaniammal looked after us well,’’ he says. His parents were construction workers who together earned about ₹200 per day. Their dream was to give their children a good education and Murthy was enrolled in the local government school, which provided free education up to Class X. Happily, for everyone, Murthy was more than a good student. At the top of his class, he appeared to be all set to become a doctor. Then one day, when the ten-year-old Murthy returned home from school he got the shocking news that his father had deserted the family. “My parents used to have occasional fights but one day, my father just left home,” he says. Unknown to the children, their parents hadn’t been getting on for some time. Kumaran told his wife that he was going to a far off city in search of better work but she guessed that it was only an excuse for leaving them.

Murthy continued school for another week before his mother told him that unless he too earned some money, they would all go hungry.

Although she continued working her wages were not enough to support the family. “I loved school and studies,” says Murthy. “But I knew if I didn’t bring home some money, my young siblings would starve. As the eldest child, the burden of looking after the family was now mine. “The next day, Murthy left school and

became one of the 12.6 million child labourers in India. Initially, his mother got him a job at the construction site where she worked. But the small boy wasn’t strong enough to carry out the gruelling physical labour, so he became a carpenter’s apprentice instead. He worked there for four months but he quickly realised he was not cut out for the job. “It was tough work,” he says. “Carrying logs of wood, marking and cutting them into precise shapes were difficult. I would almost always get it wrong and as a result, my wages would be cut. After

stones,” he says. It was gruelling work for little pay, but when combined with his mother’s income, the family could at least have two meals a day. “My hands used to get blistered and cut carrying the heavy bricks and metal rods, but I knew there was no other option,’’ he says.

However, Murthy did not resign himself to becoming another faceless statistic among the millions of child labourers. “I missed going to school. I missed learning new things. I was also afraid I would forget whatever I’d learnt so far so I decided to read whatever I could lay my hands

“Carrying logs of wood, marking and cutting them into precise shapes were difficult. I would almost always get it wrong and as a result, my wages would be cut. After almost twelve hour work days, I would return home empty-handed” almost twelve hour work days, I would return home empty-handed. “I was very upset and felt I was a failure because I could not help my family in any way. My mother’s wages were barely enough to bring food for all of us and several days we went to bed hungry.”

Realising a job at the construction site was Murthy’s only chance to bring home some extra money, his mother brought him back to the site and begged the supervisor to employ him again.

“We would all go to the site together. My sister and brother would play amidst the sand while my mother and I would carry bricks, cement or

on.” Murthy would grab any scrap of paper, discarded newspapers, and old magazines to take home to read at night. Most nights he took to hanging out at the local tea shop so he could pick up newspapers and magazines left behind by the customers and read them in the pale light of the street lamp. “Murthy became such a fixture at the tea shop that some customers would actually hand over the day’s newspaper or a magazine for the boy to read,” says Palanisamy, the tea shop owner. “He would also do some odd jobs and pick up some extra money too.”

He carried on like this for another year, with

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 45

Unsung Heroes - 20

his dream of an education and becoming a doctor fading fast. Just then the Tamil Nadu government launched a drive against child labour in the state, effectively preventing any child under the age of fourteen from working.

Twelve-and-a-half-year old Murthy lost his job.

“It was a tough time,” says Murthy. “We did not know what to do. My mother thought of sending me away to Bengaluru, a huge city in the neighbouring state of Karnataka, where the chances of being caught working were less so I

mal was given a grant of ₹10, 000 to buy a cow.

The cow would provide more than four liters of milk a day and by selling the milk at around ₹30 a litre, the family could make ends meet. “We were not expected to repay it as long as I was going to school.”

It was the best gift Murthy could have received. “I was elated. I was so looking forward to going to school and studying. I couldn’t thank them enough.” He was given classes to help him catch up with all the lessons he’d missed

“We did not know what to do. My mother thought of sending me away to Bengaluru, a huge city in the neighbouring state of Karnataka, where the chances of being caught working were less, so I could earn and send money home” could earn and send money home. Although I was sad at the prospect of leaving my family and going away to a new strange town, I convinced myself that perhaps I would be able to provide a better life for my family. “There was no news from my father and I knew I had to do all could to look after the family.’’

Fortunately, as he was preparing to pack his bags and head to the city, two men, Shiva Kumar and Kuberan visited the family. Representatives of the government working on the National Child Labour Project (NCLP), they were going from house to house to check on children below fourteen who weren’t attending school. “When they heard I was forced to drop out, they chided my mother for not approaching the government authorities and seeking their help. “They said it was not too late and that they would provide my mother with some options, which could help me go back to school,” says Murthy. Palaniam46 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

at a non-formal school run by the National Child Labour Project near his village, one of 24 schools in the district. The bridge schools also provide vocational training, midday meals and healthcare facilities with one doctor and a team of nurses overlooking a group of 20 schools.

Every student also receives a stipend of ₹150 every month, which is put into a bank account opened in the child’s name and can be withdrawn only by the child themselves when he or she is enrolled into a regular school. Murthy worked hard and in less than two years, he was re-admitted to his old school, along with his old classmates, in Class VIII. “I couldn’t believe my good fortune. I loved getting back to school, meeting my old friends, interacting with teachers and learning new subjects. My mother was happy because I was studying and we were living on the money made from selling milk. I used to study hard,

staying up late into the night. “The hard work paid off, he sailed through his Class X exams.

But convinced he wouldn’t be able to afford college education, Murthy didn’t bother to go to school to pick up his results. His school authorities however, were pleasantly surprised to find the boy had scored more than 90 per cent and had come first in the entire district. Puzzled that he had not come to claim his marks, they set off for his home to congratulate him in person. They found him at a construction site, carrying bricks on his head. Since he was over 14, he could go to work and Murthy wanted to help his mother. “I was excited and happy when the officials told me about my results but almost immediately realised that it was pointless because I could not study further because we were too poor,” he recalls.

Nevertheless, when the district authorities held a function in the village to congratulate him he went along. “Everyone was happy, especially my mother. When it was my turn to say a few words, I asked the authorities if they would help me study further,” says Murthy.

Again NLCP stepped in and prevailed upon a private college, Sri Vijay Vidyalaya, to waive the tuition and hostel fees for Murthy’s undergraduate studies. After clearing the exams with excellent marks, Murthy then applied to the Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College in Salem district, where he was selected on merit.

A local doctor, Uma Maheswari, read about his achievements in a local newspaper, and came forward to fund his medical studies.

Today, Murthy’s day still begins at 6 am.

After breakfast at the hostel canteen, he has a packed schedule starting at 8 am. Hospital visits and practical lessons make up the first part of the day, when he meets patients, checks their blood pressure, and learn to give injections. After lunch his time is devoted to theory classes where the second-year medical student is learning about the intricacies of the human body.

Assignments, presentations and submission of project papers keep him busy late into the night.

“I still cannot believe that I will become a doctor in two years,’’ he says. “I have to thank everybody for this – my mother, the NLCP officials, my college teachers.

“My dream? To become the best doctor. I want to specialise in radiology and serve in my village and I am going to ensure I carry forward the help I received by helping as many poor children as I can,’’ he says. “One day, I’d also like to meet my father – if only to tell him that his son, who was once a construction worker, is now a doctor.”

The above story is featured in “Unsung Heroes-Real stories to inspire you” ISBN 97881-7108-902-4 by Maj (Retd) Pradeep Khare (pradeepkhare2011@gmail.com) .It is published

by Better Yourself books, Mumbai.

Advertorial Feature

GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research, Greater Noida, Striding Fast towards Academic Excellence

G L Bajaj Institute of Management and Research, Greater Noida a leading management institute, is striding fast on the path of academic excellence under the aegis of the youth icon, Mr. Pankaj Agarwal – Vice Chairman, GL Bajaj Educational Institutions, a front runner in the field of management education today; is characterized by the quality of education across a broad range of disciplines offered by the educational group. The transformational leadership of Mr. Agarwal, has led to the prestigious ‘Rashtriya Shiksha Ratna’ Award been conferred upon him for his visionary approach towards education in the country at the 2nd Asia Pacific Education and Technology Awards (APETA) and Summit-2019, organized jointly by ASSOCHAM and The Education Post on January 03, 2019.

GLBIMR has attained new heights of educational excellence under the prudent academic acumen of Dr. Urvashi Makkar, Director General, GLBIMR. Dr. Makkar has worked very closely for the skill enhancement of students at GLBIMR; she believes that education is about equipping students with the life skills of creativity leading to enhanced employability. Innovation and creativity are the dominant constituents that differentiate Dr. Makkar’s educational acumen, which has been incorporated in the PGDM curriculum. She has recently been conferred with the reputed “Lifetime Time Achievement Award for Exemplary Contribution in Higher Education” by Shri Bhupendrasinh M Chudasama, Minister for Higher and Technical Education, Government of Gujarat at 2nd Asia Pacific Education and Technology Awards (APETA) and Summit-2019, organized jointly by ASSOCHAM and The Education Post on January 03, 2019.

In record time of 11 years, the institute has demon-

strated meteoric growth and has carved a distinct niche for itself in the field of management education.

Recently GL Bajaj Institute of Management & Research has been conferred with the illustrious award -“Best Emerging Institute in Asia with Strong Industry Connect” at 2nd Asia Pacific Education and Technology Awards (APETA) and Summit-2019 organized jointly

by ASSOCHAM and The Education Post on the theme “Higher Education Sustainability and Quality Initiatives (HESQI)” on January 03, 2019. The institute has been featured amongst top 22 institutes of India and also amongst top 4 emerging management institutes in India as per AICTE-CII survey of Industry Linked Technical Institutes 2017.

GLBIMR under the current leadership, emphasizes all rounded development of the management students that has been possible through well integrated courses along with academic rigour. Highly contemporary, value added certification courses are offered to the students as part of the curriculum, like Digital Marketing, Financial Services, Advance MS Excel and Yellow Belt Six Sigma Certification by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India(MSME) and Basics of Stock Market course by Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE). GLBIMR has also introduced two new certifications focused on corporate skill enhancement making the students placement ready; Professional Excellence for Corporate Readiness certification (PECR) and Placement Readiness Enhancement Program (PREP). The institute believes in rendering the best facilities to their students with an endeavour to generate a conducive atmosphere to nurture talent through the assistance and guidance of experienced faculty members with an access to state of the art infrastruc-

ture. It is one of the most prestigious institutions not only in NCR, but also across the country that provides excellence in education with impetus on Corporate Readiness, Academic Quality and Skill Enhancement.

GLBIMR’s (www.glbimr.org) innovative pedagogy and inclusive learning environment with a futuristic curriculum in place enables every student to become a responsible Global Citizen. The profound interaction between theory and practice of entrepreneurship brings the best out of the students, creating unique synergies.

GLBIMR has been a pioneer in recognizing needs of the industry and integrating knowledge with professional inputs. The Institute provides rich cross-cultural learning platforms through Global Talk Series, sessions by internationally acclaimed experts, Global Exchange Programs and tie-ups with international universities for academic research projects. The program at GL Bajaj consists of highly relevant modules like Impactful Public Speaking, Art of Self Branding and Interpersonal skills, apart from classroom learning, students get adequate exposure through Live Projects, Corporate Interface, Industrial Visits, Dissertation and Summer training.

Placements at GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research have been excellent since inception and therefore the institute has been conferred with highly prestigious award of “Best Management Institute in Placements” by ABP News Network, in July 2017, in Mumbai, during ‘The 8th National Education Awards 2017’. The Institute not just provides placements, but also shapes the career of the students, which is much more important, than granting them a job. GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research has continued the legacy of its glorious placements during the previous years, by offering excellent placement opportunities in leading companies for the students of PGDM 2016-18 Batch. Many reputed companies including Decathlon, Big Bazaar, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Securities, Varun Beverages, Asian Paints, Naukri.com, Capital Via, Barclays, Ameriprise Financials, American Express, Reliance JIO, Jubilant Agri and Consumer Pvt Ltd, Audi Delhi, TDI International, CERA Sanitary ware Limited, S&P Global Market Intelligence , E & Y, Ceasefire Industries Ltd, Indusind Bank Limited, Indiabulls Ventures Ltd., Apollo Munich, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., DCM Shriram Industries Ltd. and many more that have visited the campus in the year 2018; they have not only conducted placement drives, but given several students multiple career opportunities. Mock Interviews, Expert Talk Series, Placement Readiness Enhancement Program (PREP) and Summer Internship to Pre-placement Offer (SIPO) are some of the major events at GL Bajaj Institute of Management and Research which provide exposure to the students for better career opportunities.

GLBIMR will continue its sustained efforts to develop core competency and skill-enhancement amongst its students to foster future industry leaders, while providing extraordinary placement opportunities.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 47

Loved & Married too

It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage

Though they've been married for all of five years, they have known each other for 15. Not quite college sweethearts - in fact, far from being so, these two hotel management professionals have traversed assorted terrain in their long association with each other.

From being two radically different personalities in junior college who didn't much care for each other; to gradually becoming good friends; to eventually falling in love - this is one equation that has benefited from the diverse milestones it has crossed. Naturally, in his latest turn as an entrepreneur, chef Sarvesh Jadhav enjoys the full backing of his best friend and wife Utpala Patankar, even as the duo take turns to dote over their bundle of joy - threeyear-old Sharvi

Understanding is a two-way street

By Kalyani Sardesai

C

hef Sarvesh Jadhav has always enjoyed experimenting with his cooking. "I love giving an innovative twist to my recipes," he says.

"Even a classic recipe can be creatively represented." Considering that he has also featured in the Limca Book of Records for creating the world's tiniest pizza - not to forget busy processing a patent for his take on the first ever Chewable (!) Coffee. It was perhaps a given that he would choose the rough and tumble of entrepreneurship over the security of a lecturer's job at a prominent catering college.

On her part, his better half, Utpala only too glad to back to him - though she does confess to a pang or two of deep anxiety especially since she herself is on a sabbatical - currently with their little girl Sharvi. A lecturer and hotel management

graduate like her husband, she feels that for the moment, her child needs her more.

And though Sarvesh (a Masters in Personnel Management apart from his hotel management degree) would love to see his gifted and academically oriented wife back at work, he lets her do the choosing. This understanding which is the cornerstone of their relationship serves as the enduring platform that helps both aim higher. The long years of being friends definitely help. However, it wasn't always this way.

Back to the beginning

This wasn't quite a love story scripted in school

48 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

though they studied together. (Sarvesh was a batch junior to her.) Nor did he cut much ice with her during their time in junior college. "She felt I was a flirt-and very laidback to boot-apart from being flamboyant and mischievous," he grins.

"The very opposite of her good girl persona."

"Well he was like that indeed," is her quick retort.

Quiet, self-effacing and reserved she didn't make much of his Mr. Popular image - though he was quite the favourite with fellow students and faculty.

In short, he's an extrovert, and she an introvert.

So how did this unlikely pair end up together?

"We first got to know each other well in the course of our first job at IHTM," narrates Sarvesh. En-

gaged as they were in their first professional stint as lecturers there was much to share.

Slowly the ice broke and friendship happened.

Around this time, Utpala's family began to look for prospective suitors for her. "I was keen to help her find the right match and helped scan through the profiles, he says. "By now, she was a good buddy and I only wanted the best for her."

The 'best' though turned out to be none other his own good self. The turning point in their relationship came quietly enough though. "There was no grand, filmy realisation of romance or any such thing though," she says. In fact, it was as mundane a moment as could be almost. "We were in the kitchen together, cleaning up after a cooking session and that's when it dawned on both of us that perhaps we were meant to be more than just friends," he says.

The families were none too pleased. For starters, there was the matter of their castes, though they are both Maharashtrians. She's a Brahmin, while he is a Maratha and as per the elders in the family - the twain was not supposed to meet.

But that was not all there was to it. Utpala, who lost both her parents early in life, has been brought up by her aunts and uncles. "They felt all the more responsible for her," says Sarvesh. "In a way, I can quite see their point of view. If things went wrong in the selection of life partner, people would say that the relatives didn't do the right thing by the young girl," he says.

Despite the opposition, the two of them stubbornly hung in there. Fed up, one-day Utpala suggested they elope but Sarvesh was having none of it. "I was confident that one day they would say yes. But it was important to have our families bless us," he says.

Two confusing and difficult years later, the families relented and the duo was wed with due pomp and ceremony. "They understood that what we shared was both rare and real and gave us their blessings," says Utpala.

The building blocks of a marriage

Bringing up baby

One for the frame: (L to R) Utpala, Sarvesh's mother, with little Sharvi and Sarvesh

The mantras of a marriage • Make sure that friendship is the foundation of your equation • Resolve to understand each othernot just 'adjust' • Respect elders. Give them the time due to them • Set the other free to pursue their dreams. When one partner wins, the other does too! mindset is negative and resigned; on the other hand understanding each other as well as the situation is a far more joyful process," expresses Sarvesh. "Understanding leads to acceptance."

What's more, their differences have only worked in their favour. "We complement each other well," he says. "I am a people's person; full of fun and not very careful about finance.

On the other hand, her difficult childhood has made her strong and practical. It is precisely this rock-solid persona of hers that I cherish."

However, it's not as if Sarvesh has had it easy either. Having lost his dad early on, he was keenly aware of his mom's struggles. "I am grateful to be blessed with such a mature and understanding partner.

In fact, she's all that I have ever prayed for."

Neither Sarvesh nor Utpala believe in the conventional definition of romance. "Candlelight dinners, flowers and gifts are all superficial things," says Sarvesh. "I mean, plotting and planning to spend time together is an intention, not romance...I mean, it's the little moments that happen spontaneously that are both rich and meaningful."

When you spend time with elders, you actually begin to appreciate life differently. Never ignore them, no matter what the demands on your time - Sarvesh

So how difficult has it been to adjust with each other considering the differences in lifestyles. "Well, it took time," admits Utpala. "But we were both mentally prepared for the differences in lifestyle, cooking, celebrations, rituals and so on. The fact that we were and are basically friends-has definitely gone a long way in easing up things."

Despite the obstacles that inevitably arose, they have one solid ground in common. "We both dislike the term 'adjust' and prefer to concentrate on 'understanding' instead; when you adjust the

At the moment, life is both hectic and happy.

Sarvesh is almost two years into his restaurant-the uber cool yet casual restaurant Austin 40 Cafehouse on Pune's bustling Bhandarkar Road that looks at redefining atmosphere and foodby adding an eclectic touch to both. From the little post-its on the wall to music blaring from the jukebox to a veritable potpourri of multiple cuisines on offer-the restaurant is young, funky, warm and welcoming.

"Entrepreneurship has its crazy moments," he confesses. "But I finally feel like I am living,

Both Sarvesh and Utpala believe marriage is an union between two families

not just existing."

On the other hand, Utpala has her hands full with little Sharvi. "I am quite a strict mom," she smiles. "In the sense that I am particular about following a certain discipline in terms of food, habits and routine. He is more relaxed-so it's a good balance," she says.

What they are united on though is the big things. "We simply want her to do her best, whatever she does," says Utpala. "We don't believe in forcing career options on to her either. Let her do what she wants as long as she's happy."

From strength to strength

Five years later, what according to them, is the secret of married life? "We have a simple enough rule: never go to bed angry," she shares. "Whatever the problem, it can be sorted out by talking it out and gauging each other's point of view."

Both are family people and believe in giving time to each other's elders. "When you spend time with elders, you actually begin to appreciate life differently," he says. "Never ignore them, no matter what the demands on your time."

Last, but not the least, both root for friendship as the first and penultimate goal of every marriage. "When we got married, I urged her: Utpala, be my best friend, not just my wife," he says earnestly. A stance that continues to serve them well. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 49

Campus Placement

Leading from the front A well-known face in Pune’s football scene, Pratik Anjikhane talks about his passion for the game, how he connected the dots between football and the corporate world, his dreams and much more

By Ekta Katti

A

midfielder is someone who keeps the balance in the team. Midfielders act like a bridge between the defence and the striker. In short, they play quite a pivotal role in a match. A charismatic midfielder, Pratik owes his love for the game to his school, JN Petit Technical High School. Further, moving on to the corporate world, he draws most of his inspiration and stability from football. “Football means the world to me,” he smiles.

The beginning

Born to Nitin and Archana Anjikhane, Pratik exemplifies his parents’ upbringing – courteous, patient and determined. Living in a joint family has made him ready to face the world, he says. “A joint family teaches you values that no one can even think of.

The important aspect of living in a joint family is you learn to be a team player. When you are working in the real world, you felicitated ought to be a part of the team Pratik Anjikhane being ubramanian, las Ba A. l.)

(Co Dr. by and move along with it. The Balaji Society Founder President, Sri joint family teaches you a lot.”

He cannot help but correlate his passion for football and working in the corporate world, where you need to work in harmony with at MIT, Pune, was an eye opener for him in many your teammates, whether to win a match or bag ways. It shaped him to be a better human, somea project. thing that is the key to lead a peaceful life. Pratik Pratik did his schooling from JN Petit Techpursued his PG in Marketing from a renowned nical High School and went to study Commerce management college. at Sardar Dastur College. He was an average student at school and college. But he certainly exLearning and Development celled in extra-curricular activities. Doing BBA His college was practically a platform that made 50 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

him corporate ready. Although he was an average student, Pratik was good in communication, which plays a crucial role in character development. He was soft-spoken, well read, someone who was sure of what he was doing. His deep understanding of certain elements shaped him to be a better learner.

Life at MIT College speaks volumes of his

team player attitude. His campus being at Alandi, Pune, the college was filled with vernacular students. Often youngsters who have studied in convent schools fail to relate to such a crowd. But not Pratik. Since day one, his classmates were spellbound by his communication skills. Giving creative presentations in front of a large crowd was his forte. They were always eager to learn his style of talking, his stance and his stability during a presentation.

Pratik being a team player was excited to impart whatever he had learnt in his life. The outcome was phenomenal. His friends quickly adopted his style which helped them move forward in life.

So, what was so unique about his presentation, we asked. He says, “It’s something that I like doing. I like communicating with people. And delivering a good presentation is just one way. The main thing here is, I spend hours and hours on research before I put up any presentation. If that is sorted, the rest becomes a cake walk. Of course, stage presence and confidence play an important role too. But what also matters is that you should enjoy what you are doing!”

The positive comments he receives after the show is his ultimate reward, he says. Courtesy his communication skills, he is increasingly a people’s person – jovial and outgoing.

The corporate life

Working in the corporate world was not new for him. In 2015, after completing his BBA, Pratik joined Concentrix, Pune, as a Practitioner. That’s where he learnt the secret of keeping customers happy. “You ought to go that extra mile to build a great relationship with a customer that lasts for eternity. Customer satisfaction is the key,” he says.

After working with Concentrix for a year, he moved to Tech Mahindra as Customer Relations Advisor. His time there proved how humble he was. And his presence of mind earned him laurels. Working in the night shift, Pratik was almost heading home one day when the clock struck 3:55 am, and a customer called for some help.

Being in the customer relations advisor team, he dealt with sim cards, technical issues and communications. It was a frantic call where a mother was stuck outside her house while her toddler was locked inside the house. Having not paid the bill on time, her calling facilities were barred, which is why she contacted the Tech Mahindra technical team by using Wi-Fi. Pratik stabilised himself after listening to the frantic call. His presence of mind was impeccable. Firstly, he tried to calm down the customer by talking to her. Later, he simply informed his manager and unblocked the customer’s sim. This helped her to get aid and save her child. Pratik was a hero!

Later, the strings of mail from the head offices in UK, India, Maharashtra and Pune congratu-

Pratik and his close friends on route a memorable trip

Pratik with his family during a function

“As a customer relationship manager, our communication needs to be strong, just like how flawlessly a midfielder passes the ball to the striker which he then nets. Both the roles need presence of mind as the team’s fate rests on him”

lated him for his vigilance. This event will always be etched in his heart forever.

Pratik is currently placed with Kantar GDC, Pune, where he is the Project Manager Analyst.

His profile basically consists of looking after streamlining projects.

roles need the presence of mind as the team’s fate rests on him,” says Pratik.

He adores Indian footballer Sunil Chettri and Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Their immense love and contribution towards football have made them players a class apart, he feels.

Football, his true love!

A small dream

Studying at the JN Petit School heavily influenced him to take up football. The school’s rich heritage had won several hearts and shaped the minds and careers of plenty of young footballers.

“Reading JN Petit’s name in every leading newspaper for performing brilliantly in all the football matches prodded me to take up this sport. Every week I would see our school winning a trophy at various football tournaments. I wanted to be a part of the football team and shine for my school too,” says the midfielder.

Pratik has represented his school and colleges at every football competition. He has even played at the district level.

Being a midfielder he realised that he’s the string that holds the team together. He is the medium through which the other teammates communicate. Hence, his game had to be strong.

A midfielder is someone who has his eye on the back of his head too.

The striking resemblance between the realm of football and the working in the corporate world astonished him. “As a customer relationship manager, our communication needs to be strong, just like how flawlessly a midfielder passes the ball to the striker which he then nets. Both the

Hailing from a middle-class family, Pratik’s life revolves around his parents. He is aware of the sacrifices his parents made to raise him. His earnest dream is to settle well in life, save for the future and send his parents on a world tour.

Professionally, he never intends to stop learning. That is what keeps him going. “In the near future, I hope to complete my M.Com and Diploma in Project Management. Soon, I intend to learn the Mandarin language, as it is quite unique.

Apart from that, I wish to be a self-sufficient, humble and content human being,” he signs off! ektaakatti@gmail.com

CC

tadka A tree Tsunami Pakistan plans to plant 10 billion trees under its new president in the next five years, to tackle climate change. This comes on the back of the success of its Billion Tree Tsunami launched in 2014 and finished in 2017

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 51

Survey

The Four Worlds of 2030

2030 will see the emergence of the Yellow World where humans come first, the Red World where innovation rules, the Green World where environment is protected and the Blue World where Corporate is King Compiled by Neeraj Varty

52 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Shaping our own destiny

The world is changing at an unbelievable pace.

Automation and ‘thinking machines’ are replacing human tasks and jobs and changing the skills that organisations are looking for in their people. How will these changes affect the workforce? What will the world be like in 2030?

Global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has conducted the Workforce of the Future survey to try and answer this question. This survey gives us an insight about how the workplace will evolve and how this will affect employment prospects and future working lives.

Megatrends provide the context for future worlds but they don’t dictate their shape or features at a specific point in time. How humans respond to the challenges and opportunities which the megatrends bring will determine the worlds in which the future of work plays out. Public sentiment, and its impact, is difficult to predict, affected by culture, history and many other local factors. As we’ve seen in recent years, public sentiment can radically affect the approach of a nation in the space of a single election or referendum. But there’s no doubt that governments and public sentiment will influence the forces underpinning each scenario.

Collectivism versus individualism

Will ‘me first’ prevail, or will societies work together through a sense of collective responsibility? What is the role of the government in balancing a strong economy with the interests of its people? Regions and countries, and even cities will inevitably take a different view on the level of state intervention needed.

Integration versus fragmentation

Will digital technology inevitably mark the end for large companies? Technology has allowed tiny businesses to tap into a vast reservoir of information, skills and financing that used to be available only to large organisations.

Through the use of technology, small has become powerful.

Government actions can incentivise or penalise larger businesses, or encourage small business and startups.

Based on these criteria, the world of 2030 can be divided into four distinct possibilities.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 53

Survey Shaping our own destiny:

Small is powerful.

Large businesses lose their dominance as customers seek relevance and organisations find scale a burden rather than a benefit. Social bubbles and affinity groups take on new importance. Many could not exist without digital platforms.

Collectivism:

Fairness and equality dominates.

The common good prevails over personal preference, e.g. collective responsibility for the environment, social good and ‘fairness’ over individual interest.

Individualism:

Where ‘me first’ rules.

A focus on individual wants; a response to the infinite choices available to consumers.

Corporate integration:

Big business rules all.

Companies get bigger and more influential – the biggest have more sway than some nations. Brands span many business areas.

The Four Worlds of Work in 2030 Fragmentation

Social-first and community businesses prosper. Crowdfunded capital flows towards ethical and blameless brands. There is a search for meaning and relevance with a social heart. Artisans, makers and ‘new Worker Guilds’ thrive. Humanness is highly valued.

Organisations and individuals race to give consumers what they want. Innovation outpaces regulation. Digital platforms give outsized reach and influence to those with a winning idea. Specialists and niche profitmakers flourish.

Collectivism

Individualism

Social responsibility and trust dominate the corporate agenda with concerns about demographic changes, climate and sustainability becoming key drivers of the business.

Integration 54 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Big company capitalism rules as organisations continue to grow bigger and individual preferences trump beliefs about social responsibility.

Innovation rules: The Red World

Corporate is king: The Blue World

Red World: The road to 2030

Blue World: The road to 2030

In a world with few rules, a vibrant market of specialists and niche profit-makers race to serve the needs of individuals and powerful affinity groups

2020 High-profile personal scandals and corruption by politicians and business leaders in a number of nations are unresolved, signalling to the world that ‘anything goes’ and creating a push back on turn-of-the-millennium standards.

2022 UK Court of Appeal rules that ideas developed outside business hours by colleagues of the same company remain its intellectual property, even if the workers are not permanent employees.

2025 A decade of demergers and ‘carve outs’ across industry sectors peaks.

2021 A lifestyle app developed by six Taiwanese 17-year-olds for their final-year exams is sold for $49m 2030 in a worldwide online auction or- The number of workers in fullganised by the students’ school. time ‘permanent’ employment drops to 9% of the workforce, an all-time low.

Global corporates take centre stage. Consumer choice dominates. A corporate career separates the haves from the have nots.

2020 The net worth of the top 1% of Chinese households overtakes that of the top 1% of US households for the first time.

2021 The merger of the world’s biggest social media site and Africa’s largest telecoms company becomes the biggest corporate deal ever recorded.

2022 The world’s biggest employer agrees unique ‘borderless’ working for its employees across its six biggest markets in a ground-breaking tax deal with their governments.

2025 UN agrees its Ethical Charter on Human Enhancement.

2030 India’s largest tech company announces a 24% increase in annual revenue, largely attributed to its introduction of cognitive-enhancing drugs for its workforce.

Humans come first: The Yellow World

Companies care: The Green World

2025 2020 European Commission agrees on Brazil becomes the last of the G22 nations to renationalise its the Fair Pay Directive. water and energy supply.

2021 The world’s largest taxi company 2030 bows to public pressure and in- The ‘Made by Me’ quality mark – troduces a ‘human driver please’ indicating that no machines have been involved in the production option to its app.

– achieves worldwide recognition.

2022 The Shanghai Stock Exchange announces that all listed compa- Which of these futures would you prefer? nies must be free from the use of conflict minerals by the end of 2025.

Green World: The road to 2030

Fairness and social good are dominant. Businesses with a heart and artisans thrive in a bustling and creative market with a strong emphasis on ethics and fairness.

The need for a powerful social conscience is paramount. Workers and consumers show loyalty towards organisations that do right by their employees and the wider world.

2020 ‘Stop the Bots’ marches against job losses attract tens of millions of demonstrators in Detroit, Toronto, Mumbai and London.

2021 A year-long drought in eastern Pakistan and northern India causes the deaths of two million people. More than 30 million are displaced.

2022 The #waterwaster social campaign targets organisations

that have failed to reduce their water consumption since international guidelines were agreed in 2020. The share price and revenue of a dozen multinationals plummet.

2025 International accounting standards require a ‘Natural Capital and Social Capital impact’ balance sheet from all listed companies.

2030 The European Union introduces legislation that bans all companies trading within the EU from using petrol and diesel vehicles. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 55

Corporate HeAlth

God made us; Personality defines us Keeping healthy and also achieving a good ‘body tone’ is perhaps one precursor that image management consultants believe in for building confident and charismatic individuals. Akanksha Agrawal, a certified corporate trainer and Image Consultant, shares her experiences in grooming professionals and businesses to harness a touch of their individual ‘style quotient’ and people skills so as to steer them towards rewarding opportunities at work and beyond

By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar “I see fitness in a broader term which is mind, soul and body. I meditate every day to keep my mind calm, focused and nourished”, said Akanksha Agrawal, Founder, Corporate Trainer and Image Consultant at The Verve Image Consulting.

Like any working professional, Akanksha too has to rush through her mornings and meditation is a refuge. “With my erratic training schedules and my daughter being so young, the mornings are a rush and I practically have to steal some time for meditation”, she adds.

Managing Self-Image Akanksha works towards establishing self-confidence and helps to instil a belief that ‘God made us, but personality defines us’, this whilst ensuring successful, happier and fulfilled lives

for each one of us. Her simple aim is to help integrate the inner and outer persona of an individual, so as to achieve a well-groomed and balanced personality.

“Managing one’s image is nothing but, feeling good about yourself inside out. It’s about raising your self-esteem and appreciating

56 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

yourself the way you are and then transforming yourself on aspects of dressing, grooming, body language and etiquette for that added confidence and for that impeccable and impressive image. Of course, fitness is an inseparable element to attain a charismatic persona,” said Akanksha.

Akansha Agarwal - Enabling Total Grooming - Inside Out!

Syncing health and building self-image

“Managing one’s image is nothing but, feeling good about yourself inside out.

It’s about raising your self-esteem and appreciating yourself the way you are and then transforming yourself on aspects of dressing, grooming, body language and etiquettes for that added confidence and for that impeccable and impressive image. Of course, fitness is an inseparable element to attain a charismatic persona” She recommends her clients to adapt to some form of a fitness regime so as to sync in with their regular work schedules and doing this is not an option but, ‘mandatory’. “Doing so helps to feel active and productive throughout their day,” she said.

While her image-building course does not include fitness as an integral package, about 50 % of their corporate clients get inspired to imbibe fitness after consultation with their team.

Subsequently, there are highly motivated individuals who come to her for fine-tune their image makeovers. “I do get a lot of clients who are already following a fitness regime or have knowledge of fitness. That’s where my job gets simpler, where I have to focus primarily on aspects of image building for overall personal grooming, she adds.”

Staying Fit For Akanksha, her first aim to being fit is to be healthy and second, is in achieving a ‘good’ body shape. “I maintain a balance between mindful diet and regular exercise in the form of walking, yoga or Zumba”, she said.

water; followed by a healthy breakfast. She consumes a lot of water during the day to keep her body well hydrated. “I make sure to carry lukewarm water for my training sessions so that my throat is not dry for the continuous 5-6 hours of sessions because of the need to speak constantly. During the day I eat in small portions and dinner time, the food is very light with no chapati or rice Think positive and look positive (carbohydrates free),” she said.

For adhering to a healthy Syncing in her mantra of connecting to the and fit lifestyle, Akanksha’s mantra is to, “Find purity of soul and a fit physique, Akanksha has the right form of workout that gels with your her own daily regime. vocation (hobby). It will make sure that you For a dynamic and energic lifestyle, she enjoy going for it rather than forcing yourself practices Zumba and Yoga. into doing it”, she rounds off.

“For purity of soul, I like to read and listen sangeetagd2010@gmail.com to ‘Secret’ and ‘Gaur Gopal Das’, which are my favourites for an understanding of human values and ethics. I try to practice it in my busiCC ness as well. I also read and discuss articles relevant to human values, ethics, good deeds and try and practice my learnings in my daily business dealings to”, she adds.

For a fit body, Akanksha is very regular with her evening Zumba fitness sessions. “Zumba India’s richest 1% get in the evening works perfectly for me as I am richer by 39% in 2018 not a gym person and find exercising very boring. Zumba is a perfect form that includes Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by `2,200 crore a day last year, with the dance-based exercises, set to groovy music and top 1 per cent of the country’s richest getacts as my perfect stress buster at the end of ting richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth for the bottom the day and keeps me energetic too”, she said.

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Holistic Well-being Akanksha begins her day with a shot of lemon and honey in lukewarm water or coconut

half of the population, an Oxfam study said. The study further said that 13.6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10 per cent of the country, continued to remain in debt since 2004.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 57

Pearls of Wisdom

By Dada JP Vaswani

The woman soul shall lead us upward, on!

The woman-soul has the shakti to rebuild the shattered world in the strength of her intuitions, her purity, her simplicity, her spiritual aspirations, her sympathy and silent sacrifice

T

he man-made civilisation is today broken and bleeding. We can see that man has had his chance but the masculine mentality has blundered.

Now, woman must get her chance, for it is she who is called upon to build a new world. India and the world today, need the help and inspiration of the woman’s soul. Woman is the architect of the new generation.

“The woman-soul has the shakti to rebuild the shattered world in the strength of her intuitions, her purity, her simplicity, her spiritual aspirations, her sympathy and silent sacrifice. The woman-soul will lead us upward, on,” said Sadhu Vaswani. He explained that the values the world needs most today are simplicity, service, prayer, purity and sacrifice. It is the woman, through her intuitive affinity to these values, who can transmit them for the new generation to imbibe. The woman is the symbol of Shakti. This shakti is not a physical force, but the power of integration.

Woman is the center of social integration.

Woman is the builder of the home - the first centre where children’s character is built. When the child’s mind is still plastic, the mother influences it to grow in the right direction. Rightly has it been said, that if you educate a man, you educate an individual, education contributes to his individual growth; it becomes his ‘private property’, as it were. But when you educate a woman, you educate the entire family!

An educated woman, who becomes a wife and mother, contributes greatly to social development:

• She makes the home a centre of light, peace and harmony.

• She improves the quality of life at home, and also outside the home.

• She imparts values and knowledge to her children, in their early, impressionable years.

• She provides guidance and support to her children when they need it most.

• An alert, aware, sensitive and educated mother is undoubtedly the best teacher any child can have.

Many scholars and thinkers agree that lack of education has been the major obstacle on the path of women’s attainment of equality with men.

Only a hundred years ago, women were confined to the home, and treated like second-class citizens, and denied access to higher education. Even upper class families thought it sufficient to see to their daughters’ ‘accomplishments’ like singing, dancing, music, painting, rather than offer them ‘education’ as we understand it. Thus, women played no role in politics and governance; women could not vote; women could not enter professions; women could not inherit property. How did they manage to break free from these severe constraints? Only through the power of education!

Education is the key to the empowerment of women today. It gives them • Self-worth

58 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

• Self-respect • The power of choice • Decision making abilities • The power to change themselves and society As a mother, as a wife, as a binding force in the family and society, as a transmitter of values, as an upholder of culture and tradition, the woman is called upon to play multiple roles and functions in every stage, every age, of human civilisation. It is in this recognition of her onerous responsibilities that Indian tradition accords a special value to the woman. The woman is a valuable link between the past, present and future.

Quoting one of her conversations with her guru and mentor, Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita writes: He (Swami Vivekananda) could not foresee a Hindu woman of the future entirely without the old power of meditation. Modern science woman must learn; but not at the cost of ancient spirituality. He saw clearly enough that the ideal education would be that which would best enable every woman in time to come, to receive into herself the spiritual shakti and vitality of all the great Indian women of the past.”

The land of Sita, the land of Gargi and Maitreyi, the home of Andal and Mira must accord a special place for women to facilitate their spiritual and intellectual growth! Purity, prayer, simplicity, service, sacrifice, spirituality - are not these innate qualities of the ideal Indian woman? Is she not at once a picture of peace, harmony, prosperity, courage and wisdom? Is she not Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati in one manifestation? Has it not been her privilege to attain the heights of love and compassion, devotion and piety, commitment and dedication to duty?

Women always have, and always will occupy a special place in the home, in society, in human relationships and in moulding the generations of the future.

An educated woman, who becomes a wife and mother, contributes greatly to social development

Common Platform

Life in an Army Home Fondly known as Ammaji, 55-year-old Shobha Ambika has been working persistently for forty years in army quarters in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh. She has become immensely popular with the army wives, who credit her with keeping their homes sparkling clean and looking after her kids as though they were her own. In this interview, she retraces the happy years she has spent in the service of the army

By Namrata Gulati Sapra

A

mmaji, comes from Jalgaon in Maharashtra and she has spent her entire life in the service of the army— cooking and cleaning for the army wives and tending their babies and kids, while they built their careers without a worry.

When and how did you start working here in the army quarters, in Mhow?

immensely towards the welfare of my family. So many of them have financed my children’s education and contributed towards their marriages too. Even after many years, they still call me and make it a point to keep in touch, not forgetting to ask me if I need any kind of help-financial or otherwise. I feel attached to them because of this and am grateful to them for this. In fact, when the army kids grow up and come here for training, they meet me warmly and ask me about my health.

I came to Mhow, Madhya Pradesh at the tender age of eighteen or nineteen. I got married and had children at sixteen years of age. My Have you ever worked outside of in-laws are based out army portals? of this serene town that I have never worked I have never worked is home to many army of the army, nor outside of the army, nor outside officers, who come here do I ever intend to. The do I ever intend to. The environment, here, in to undertake training environment, here, in in various courses. My the army portals, is so the army portals, is so good that I have never father-in-law used to work in the army quargood that I have never stepped a foot outside of ters himself as a room stepped a foot outside it, or considered quitting it to work in the homes bearer. Because of him, of civilians. The homes my husband and I also are well kept and neat and clean. The children picked up chores in army quarters. All of us are brought up very well too. The officers are first started staying in the servant quarters of very good too.

Colonels’ and Brigadiers’ homes. I used to look after five homes.

Tell us about the inextricable bond you have developed with the army wives, over the years.

Army wives are unusually warm and friendly.

They always treat me like a member of their own family. They have an indomitable spirit and are extraordinarily courageous. Perhaps they inculcate these qualities over time, given the harsh situations that they live in and adapt to, which also makes them humble. Many of them, who I worked for forty years ago, have contributed

How has the army changed over the years?

The army has changed in unimaginable ways as compared to forty years ago when I had just begun working. The quarters, here, for instance, are more spacious. As for the ladies, they are more ambitious and bold as compared to the olden times. They are more fashionable and are more health conscious too. Earlier, they would ask me to cook traditional food. Now, they ask me to cook fancy delicacies them and I enjoy learning about new cuisines myself.

In what ways is domestic help indispensable for army wives?

A domestic help is indispensable for army wives, who are multitaskers. That apart, they are very dedicated to the activities of the army, such as looking after the welfare of the wives of jawans. With a domestic help there to ensure the home is spic and span, the ladies are able to make ample time for their grooming, which is very important to ladies’ meets and garden parties that are frequently held here.

Tell us about your family and what they are currently doing.

We have six members in our family. Of them, my husband used to work for the fauj, but due to the age factor, he is working in a civilian environment post-retirement. My daughters-in- law are teachers in government schools. One of them is a nurse. I am glad I convinced them to study hard and make something out of themselves. The army wives encouraged me to motivate them to pick up jobs too. Their children are also in good schools. I believe in giving complete freedom and independence to them. I have learnt so many social skills and etiquettes from the army wives and teach my grandchildren the same in return. namratagulati8@gmail.com

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India's tourism boom India will become the third largest travel and tourism economy, from the current seventh, by 2028 in terms of direct and total GDP, according to a report by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 59

Mobile apps

Best Phones launched at

Mobile World Congress Mobile World Congress (MWC) is the biggest mobile tradeshow of the year, and it is the event where the biggest smartphones of the year are announced. As is our annual tradition, Corporate Citizen brings you the best phones which made their debut at MWC19 By Neeraj Varty Huawei Mate X The year 2019 is the year of the foldable phones. After Samsung’s offering, we now have the Huawei Mate X. When folded out, the Huawei Mate X comes with an 8-inch display with a resolution of 2200 x 2480, but even when it isn’t folded out you’ve got the benefits of a 6.6-inch display.

Nokia 9 PureView The Nokia 9 PureView aims to take smartphone photography to a whole other level, as it has a full five lenses on the back, as well as a time of flight (ToF) sensor. Why offer five near-identical lenses? Because the Nokia 9 PureView can optionally capture images with all of them and combine these into one seriously detailed shot.

LG V50 ThinQ

The most exciting LG phone of MWC 2019 is the LG V50 ThinQ. The highlight of the phone is arguably its support for 5G. A few phones have recently been announced with support for this next generation of mobile networks, but there aren’t many yet, so get a 5G signal and the V50 ThinQ should handle data far faster than most handsets.

The screen is also a high point.

The LG V50 ThinQ has a 6.4-inch 1440 x 3120 AMOLED screen with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and support for HDR10, which makes for an impressive if fairly typical flagship spec. But the phone also has a trick up its sleeve in the form of an optional second screen attachment dubbed the LG DualScreen.

60 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5g

The Mi Mix 3 5G is a hard device to argue with. It has a top-tier spec, built around the latest Snapdragon 855 processor, and it achieves a prettily minimal bezel by tucking the selfie camera away behind a slider mechanism. This ensures that you don’t have a pesky notch which would interfere with your viewing experience.

My First Boss

Boss is always right

Srinivasan Naidu

I would always ponder over the thought that the authoritative title of boss comes to one with experience and practical understanding of business. My father’s corporate mantra for me was that the ‘Boss is always right’. I took his advice seriously and experienced the truth in my first job itself!

By Srinivasan Naidu, Sales Specialist, at a renowned lighting company

Meeting my first boss

I joined Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, one of the fastest growing FMCG companies in India, through my college campus placement programme and was sent directly to their sales office, in Hyderabad city, for market mapping and lead generation. Here I met my first boss, Mr. Reyaz Parvaz, Area Manager-Sales, who I truly idolise and has been my inspiration in my career journey.

I still remember, during our first meeting at a distributor point, he had enquired in detail about me, my qualification, family background, food preferences—because you know how the Hyderabadis love their Biryani). Our connection during Reyaz Parvaz our first meeting, I would say was very important for me. His discussion about food and places to try the best biryani actually showed me how free my boss can be.

Later in the day, while my boss drove me in his car to my guesthouse, we bonded over and talked about everything from food to music and found common ground with a Sufi song sung by Atif Aslam, a singer-songwriter and actor—my interest in Sufi music impressed him a lot.

Getting to work

The next day, my boss assigned me a mentor for a month and I met Mr. Kranthi Kumar Yadav.

Since I was a fresher, I was eager to learn and keen on getting all the learnings I could get access to. In the time period of my first month at work, I got to learn about the product portfolio,

the distribution structure, the business my company did in the city of Hyderabad. My mentor, Mr. Yadav, was a taskmaster just like my boss, Mr. Reyaz.

The preliminary advises, learnings and the training that I received in my first month at work, laid the groundwork for a strong foundation. My boss, Mr. Reyaz would give personal attention that I learn the basics of the product and pricing. He would make a surprise visit to teach the pricing calculations. My respect for him grew because of his involvement in making me learn.

The second month was about lead generation and market mapping—Mr. Reyaz, told me three basics rules that a salesperson should follow. One, he should know his product and pricing well. Second, he should carry a calculator and product catalogue and should have a map of the sales territory he is going to cover.

Thirdly, he should report every day to inform the progress.

Lesson learned

Mr. Reyaz, was very clear of what he wanted from a particular person. He knew a fresher is here to

do something, which can be a game changer for the company and for the fresher. He empowered me with the proper learning and motivated me to perform on the field. At the novel’s end, as the character’s journey goes full circle, I made most of my first job with learnings that will see me through my entire career. It is true that great bosses inspire their employees to achieve their dreams and Mr Reyaz was a truly remarkable boss.

(The author, Srinivasan Naidu, is currently working as a Sales Specialist, at a renowned lighting company)

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tadka

December sees highest ever domestic flyers at 1.3 crore Almost 14 crore people flew within the country in 2018, up 18.8% from previous year’s 11.7 crore. And, December 2018 saw the highest ever number of domestic air travel in a month, with nearly 1.3 crore people flying within the country in the holiday season.

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 61

the

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

From The Mobile

Future

In an interview, the MD of Daimler Benz (Mercedes Benz) said their competitors are no longer other car companies but Tesla, Google, Apple and Amazon. Softwares will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years.

Uber is just a software tool, they don’t own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world.

Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they don’t own any properties.

Artificial Intelligence: Computers become exponentially better in understanding the world. Last year, a computer beat the best Go player in the world, 10 years earlier than expected.

In the US, new lawyers don’t get jobs.

Because of IBM Watson, you can get legal advice (so far for more or less basic stuff) within seconds, with 90% accuracy compared with 70% accuracy when done by humans. There will be 90% fewer lawyers in the future, only specialists will remain. Watson already helps nurses diagnosing cancer, four times more accurate than human nurses. Facebook now has a pattern recognition software that can recognise faces better than humans.

In 2030, computers will become more intelligent than humans.

Autonomous cars: In 2020, the first self driving cars will appear for the public.

Around 2020, the complete automotive industry will start to be disrupted. You don’t want to own a car anymore. You will call a car with your phone, it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination. You will not need to park it, you only pay for the driven distance and you can be productive while driving. Our kids will never get a driver’s licence and will never own a car.

It will change the cities, because we will need 90-95% less cars for that. We can transform former parking spaces into parks. 1.2 million people die each year in car accidents worldwide. We now have one accident every 100,000 km, with autonomous driving that will drop to one 62 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

accident in 10 million km. That will save a million lives each year.

Most car companies will probably become bankrupt. Traditional car companies try the evolutionary approach and just build a better car, while tech companies (Tesla, Apple, Google) will do the revolutionary approach and build a computer on wheels.

Insurance companies will have massive trouble because without accidents, the insurance will become 100x cheaper. Their car insurance business model will disappear.

Real estate will change. Because if you can work while you commute, people will move further away to live in a more beautiful neighbourhood.

Electric cars will become mainstream about 2020. Cities will be less noisy because all new cars will run on electricity.

Electricity will become incredibly cheap and clean: Solar production has been on an exponential curve for 30 years, but you can now see the burgeoning impact.

Last year, more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil. Energy companies are desperately trying to limit access to the grid to prevent competition from home solar installations, but that can’t last. Technology will take care of that strategy.

With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water. Desalination of salt water now only needs 2kWh per cubic meter at 0.25 cents. We don’t have scarce water in most places, we only have scarce drinking water. Imagine what will be possible if anyone can have as much clean water as he wants, for nearly no cost.

3D printing: The price of the cheapest 3D printer came down from $18,000 to $400 within 10 years. In the same time, it became 100 times faster. All major shoe companies have already started 3D printing shoes.

Some spare airplane parts are already 3D printed in remote airports. The space station now has a printer that eliminates the need for the large number of spare parts they used to have in the past.

Corporate Message Once a man goes to a shop to buy a parrot. He asks the shop owner the price of the parrot.

Shop owner: `500 Customer: Why so costly?

Shop owner: He knows Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Customer: What’s the price of this second parrot?

Shop owner: `1000 as it knows Word, Excel, PowerPoint and also Programming.

Customer: How nice, and what’s the price of this parrot which is sleeping?

Shop owner: That’s for `5000.

Customer: And what does it know?

Shop owner: That I don’t know, I haven’t seen him do anything, but the other two. parrots call him boss.

Strange but true...!

1 - In spite of so many colours Black and White are considered Class.

2 - In spite of so many voices, words and sounds - silence is considered ultimate.

3 - In spite of so much to eat - fasting is considered healthy.

4 - In spite of so much to travel and explore - Meditat-

ing under trees and mountains is considered superior.

5 - In spite of so much to see - closing your eyes and looking within is Apex.

6 - In spite of listening to all the outside world - voice from inside you is eternal.

7 - In spite of a sweet charming life - a peaceful soul is solace and divine.

(Articles published in this ‘From the Mobile’ pages are WhatsApp forwards. Corporate Citizen does not independently vouch for their authenticity. It’s a fun page. Enjoy!)

March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 63

Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen claps for farmer Uday Kumar and his friends for their promptness in providing first aid to the pilots of the ill-fated ‘Hawk’ aircraft – the Surya kiran, that crashed landed during sortie; whilst rehearsing for Aero India show at Bengaluru The aircraft display rehearsal spelt the loss of a life of one of the four pilots. Two of the pilots, Vijay Shalke and Tejeshwar Singh landed next to Uday’s house at a mere 20 ft away lay the jet, filled with fuel. Despite the jet going ablaze, Uday did not dither from his rescue mission. “I was enjoying the aerobatics show of Surya Kiran when suddenly the flights collided mid-air. A few of us rushed to the spot and found the pilot trying to rescue himself.

He signalled us to inform the emergency service, the police, ambulance and fire brigade.” Surprisingly, Uday did not scramble to click pictures of the postcollision event or the pilots but, decided to rescue them instead!

He said that he never felt the need for any footage where the foremost need was to extend support and not seek false publicity. The entire episode occurred in an agricultural plot close to ISRO Layout, Yelahanka in Bengaluru North.

An RSS Swayamsevak, Uday quickly sprang into action and had the courage and presence of mind to act. When he noticed another injured pilot lying on the nearby tar road, he then alerted other civilians to join in and help the pilot on the road that was blocked by barbed wires from the nearby agricultural plot. And, very wisely, Uday helped him remove his shoes, belt and other uniform accessories to make him as comfortable as possible. He also enquired if the pilots needed water or any other essentials at that moment. Uday said, that the fear on his face and that of his friends was far alarming than that of the injured pilot, who remained calm, composed and perhaps a little worried on how the unfortunate mishap had happened. Very soon, the pilots were escorted by an Air Force ambulance and admitted to the Command Hospital. Uday has since received a letter of appreciation from Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Rajya Sabha MP (Karnataka). Salute to the soldiers and also to those who silently serve the nation in supporting these men in uniform!

64 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Corporate Citizen slaps the irresponsibility in managing a man-made fire in the Kundukere Range in Karnataka, that allegedly triggered the recent massive fire that engulfed over 10,000 acres of land across the Bandipur Tiger Reserve for over four days, across three ranges – Kundakere, Bandipur and Gopalswamy peak

Conservationists explain that Bandipur is not prone to natural fires as trees in the region are not too rough or the air too dry enough for tree-parts to rub against each other, spark and fall on the ground so as to start a wild fire. Conservationist, Joseph Hoover said, “This is unprecedented; the ecological and biotic loss is unfathomable. It will take a minimum of 30 years to re-green Bandipur and at this point, I don’t know how we are going to recover it. What was once a verdant tiger landscape has been reduced to black soot and ash. I have been in the midst of forest fires earlier, but, this one has gutted me”. As per Remote Sensing Centre at Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Hyderabad, fire alerts were generated to the department through sensors, as early as February 21, when the fire began but, the wind speed prevented officers from completely dousing the fire which then became lethal. Air Force personnel, forest officers and local volunteers helped contain the fire. “We suspect that it is not a natural fire, but a man-made one. It is suspected that the buffer area could be affected more than the core area,” said an officer. “All forest fires in southern India are man-made but the question here is whether it was “accidental” or “intentional”. Bandipur’s fire “was an act of vandalism,” said C Jayaram, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests at the Forest Department of Karnataka. The escalation of the fire has also been traced to a weed – Lantana camara - one of the most invasive in the world. “Lantana burns quickly and causes things around it to burn much faster with it,” said Subhash Malkhede, Assistant Principal Chief Conservator of Forests at the Forest Department of Karnataka. As the buck keeps changing hand, exotic flora-fauna biodiversity has now been lost to an entire generation and gen-next!

(Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar)

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March 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 65

the last word

Ganesh Natarajan

Thinking Beyond Digital

Factories of the future will exploit robotics and AI to use three of the five human senses – sight, sound and touch to improve manufacturing output and there are already experiments in progress on the use of smell. How about taste? Not in the near future, one hopes! Let’s keep a few good things for human beings

I

f there is one word that has taken the world by storm, it is Digital. Digital technologies – Cloud Computing, Mobility, Big Data and of course, Social Media, are pervading every corporation and affecting the way each one of us engage with brands and even with each other. Customer journeys, in retail, insurance, banking, healthcare and education are traversing multiple channels.

In many cases, companies are hard to put to predict whether a buying decision will be taken in their store, in the comfort of an armchair at home while the consumer is browsing the internet or at a bus stop through an impulse decision triggered on a mobile phone. The interesting point to be noted is that it is not just the digital natives – millennials and Generation Z who have been swept away by the digital maelstrom, it is also many of us digital immigrants who have first experimented and then mastered the use of digital devices, who have fueled the revolution and will continue to take it to new levels of adoption.

Some futurists believe that we will have to watch out for a time called the singularity, when the collective capability of various technologies exceeds the intelligence of the human race. But not everybody subscribes to this theory even as new technological advances in artificial intelligence,

machine and deep learning, augmented and virtual reality and everything in the world connected through the Internet of Things are creating opportunities for change, which could not have even been envisaged if these technologies did not continue to explore and push the boundaries between imagination and reality.

Paul Daugherty, Chief Technology Officer of global digital leader, Accenture, one of the leading voices of the technology world does not believe we should worry about technology taking over the world.

In the post-digital era, when every significant corporation has fully exploited the power of mobility, cloud, social media and analytics, he believes there is an opportunity to move beyond ubiquitous big data which has the ability to take over inferences and decision making to a return to the power of human ingenuity, where inferences will be drawn from small data sets to build insights for the future.

The reason why digital transformation will continue to inspire big investments in the foreseeable future is its potential to change the way large corporation CEOs deliver products and services to the market.

Speaking at the NASSCOM event, Ulrich Spiesshofer, President & CEO of ABB Ltd underlined this when he spoke of the extensive use of AI for autonomous

66 / Corporate Citizen / March 16-31, 2019

Uma and Ganesh Natarajan in snowy Central Park, New York

operations and their new factory in Shanghai where robots build a range of robots in a totally flexible manufacturing environment which is almost free of human intervention. Factories of the future will exploit robotics and AI to use three of the five human senses – sight, sound and touch to improve manufacturing output and there are already experiments in progress on the use of smell. How about taste? Not in the near future, one hopes! Let’s keep a few good things for human beings.

In the last week of February, I had the privilege to be a speaker at a technology exchange event

Investment in digital is no longer an option, it’s an imperative in the USA organised by digital innovation leader Fulcrum Inc. Multiple CEOs from insurance, media and education spoke about their usage of block chains and artificial intelligence for continuous and disruptive innovation in their organisations. But it was also heartening to hear the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar organisation speak with equal pride about the focus on people and ideas within the organisation that he valued even more than the technology prowess his organisation demonstrates. The fundamentals should never change with an equal focus on profits, people and planet in the organisations of the future.

At NASSCOM, Paul Polman,

CEO of Unilever, exhorted industry leaders to think about solutions for the 850 million people who sleep hungry every night and the eight million who die of air pollution every year and work towards being a trustworthy participant in global development. Go beyond the two per cent CSR mandated by Government and look at helping the planet in the implementation of sustainable development goals, he said.

Thierry Delporte, Cap Gemini Global COO, expressed confidence that judicious use of AI would create new capabilities and also new jobs while Karenann Terrell, Chief Digital Officer of Glaxo Smith Kline predicted that personalisation and adaptive technologies would enable customer solutions to move from “One fits all” to “curated by you for you” which will be the real value for every customer of goods and services and in a larger context, for every citizen of the country.

So where am I heading with this essay? Investment in digital is no longer an option, it’s an imperative but in doing so, there is no need to sell one’s soul to technology.

Whether you are a corporate leader or just an entrepreneur or intelligent city dweller, its good to take a balanced view of technology and ensure that it augments our work and life and doesn’t threaten to take it over!

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5FWorld and Kalzoom Advisors. He is a former Chairman of NASSCOM and NASSCOM Foundation.

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