14th issue all pages for website

Cradle of Leadership: Prof. (Dr.) R Venkata Rao, Vice Chancellor, NLSIU, Bangalore www.corporatecitizen.in

Dynamic Duo 14

Sujata and Yogi Sriram

Live and let live

Volume 1, Issue No. 14 / Pages 68 / September 16-30, 2015 / `50

CII’s prize winning Case Studies-7 NEW SERIES

Interview

Animish Bagchi, SVP-Finance at EagleBurgmann India

NHRD Delhi Chapter

Human Capital Conclave on “What’s Tending in Human Capital?”

Corporate History

When MARUTI became ambassador of Indian roads

Honorary Colonels : Rare Honour !

30th June 1997

24th September 2008

FORERUNNER OF THE HONOUR IN INDIA

Dr. Col. A. Balasubramanian President, Sri Balaji Society, Pune

10th July 2009

3rd September 2010

1st November 2011

1st November 2011

Lt. Col. Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Lt. Col. Abhinav Bindra

Indian Cricket Team Captain

2 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Olympic Gold Medalist

Grateful Gunner's Scholarship

It was a pleasure meeting you in Delhi during the NHRDN Conference.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 3

From the desk of Editor-In-Chief

Field Marshal S. H. F. J Manekshaw felicitating Dr. (Col) A. Balasubramanian on his honorary rank of Colonel

Being Socially Conscious dātavyam iti yad dānam dīyate‘nupakārine deśhe kāle cha pātre cha tad dānam sāttvikam smritam //20// As per the translation of the above verse in the Bhagvad Gita, Chapter 17, Verse 20, by Swami Mukundananda (www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org), “Charity given to a worthy person simply because it is right to give, without consideration of anything in return, at the proper time and in the proper place, is stated to be in the mode of goodness.’’

D

espite retiring at a humble position in the Indian Army, my voracious reading of books gave me the wisdom to return something to society, which we exploit most of the time.

But who am I? Not a government officer, nor minister, nor Managing Director of a company. Despite that, can’t I contribute in my own humble way? Is it not what the Granthas of every religion teach us? What is the use of reading them if we can’t follow them to some extent, within our own limitations? What matters is the idea, the thought and the determination to be philanthropic, despite having modest earnings. Also, I never considered it as doing any favour, nor was I yearning for anything in return, when I extended my arms for giving charity.

Before embarking on the narration of my pursuit of charitable causes, I need to mention those persons to whom I owe everything. Firstly - the officers in the Army under whom I served for 28 years as an Other Rank (OR)/ Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO). They trained me in all situations including how to fight wars against Pakistan. Secondly - Prof M S Pillai, the then Head of Department (HoD) of the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) and subsequently Founder Director of the Symbiosis

4 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Centre for Management and Human Resource (SCMHRD). He came all the way to Nashik where I was posted, to convince me to take up teaching as a career. Thirdly – Dr S B Mujumdar, who read my CV briefly and told me (and I can never forget those two words), “Join straightaway”. Thereafter, he looked after me, guided me, scolded me and even taught me how to shape my career.

I always felt strongly about the plight of Defence personnel who lead a sort of nomadic life, and as a result, their children face a tough time educationally. India got Independence in1947, but neither the Central nor State Governments bothered to address this issue, nor that of the rehabilitation of defence personnel. As they are posted from place to place, they do not officially belong to, nor come under the purview of any particular state. Besides, there are issues of reservation, quotas and state policies. Can you believe that, at one point of time, the total budget at the disposal of the Director General – Resettlement, for the rehabilitation of one of the biggest armies in the world was just `50 lakh? Successive Governments proclaimed to be custodians of the Armed Forces, but did precious little.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is doing something positive, notwithstanding the delay in the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.

I, a small person from the Other Ranks, convinced Dr Mujumdar to start the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies (SIMS) for Defence personnel and their dependents. I also initiated a proposal to procure four acres of land from the Ministry of Defence. As the matter progressed, I left SIMS and in my place, a dynamic and very young alumni, Ranjit Mudholkar, took command. Nevertheless, I pursued the mission of getting the land, and along with Ranjit, took the matter to its logical end. The then Defence Minister George Fernandes appreciated the cause, referred it to the Central Cabinet and got it approved. It was perhaps the first time that a Defence land in the heart of the cantonment was given to a private B-School. I went a step further and was the first to donate `5 lakh as my contribution construction of the SIMS building.

It is pertinent to note here, that, when I left SIMS, Dr Mujumdar, while settling my accounts, was willing to give me a few lakh rupees for the good work I had done for Symbiosis. However, I insisted that only my gratuity, amounting to `1.5 lakh be settled.

Also, as Director of SIMS, despite being the founder and having helped procure land worth crores of rupees, my salary was only `5000 per month while my counterparts earned `20,000 per month. But the disparity did not bother me and I worked overtime because of the love and affection showered by Dr. Mujumdar. My sponsorships also fall in the same category - that of a selfless giver, without expectations.

I still felt I had not contributed enough for the cause of education of Armed Forces personnel. So I created the Grateful Gunner’s Scholarship in the Regiment of Artillery at a value of `50 lakh. The interest is given as scholarship to the children of the Regiment of Artillery.

I have not confined my donations only to children of the Armed Forces. I have created similar corpuses in ten other colleges as well as public charitable trusts, where similar scholarships are given in perpetuity.

I have also generously sponsored national corporate events, emanating from my desire to change the pattern of sponsorships. I genuinely felt that why should only industries be the sponsors? Why not educational institutions, which ultimately benefit from the Industry? However, a stalwart corporate leader commented that my sponsorships had a vested interest and were in expectation of something in return. I immediately stopped the sponsorship, as his remark hurt me to the hilt. I was distressed and felt that my good intentions have not been appreciated by the enlightened leader. By then, I must have donated to the tune of at least `5 crore to this organisation alone, over a period of one decade. Nevertheless, I am not discouraged. I continue to do whatever I can, for I have to meet the commitment that I have given to Lord Venkateshwara.

The objective of this editorial is to inspire people to make charity as an integral part of their lives, as I firmly believe that it is one of the channels to bridge the consistent problems of this country where dispensing of social justice by the government is unbalanced. I am happy to mention that there seems to be good news here. According to India Philanthropy Report, 2015 by Bain & Co, ‘‘in 2009, only 14% of the adult population across India donated cash, and some 12% donated their time. However, in 2013, for example, 28% of the adult population donated money and 21% donated their time. This amounts to a staggering increase of more than 10 crore more Indians making donations in cash or time than in 2009. What in 2009 was a tiny sapling is now a resilient tree in bud, awaiting its first blooms.’’ Indeed there is hope that social responsibility will be shouldered by every Indian, who has the capacity to contribute in whatever, little way.

Dr. (Col) A. Balasubramanian with Late Mr. Gyani Zail Singh the former President of India

With the former President of India Late Mr. K. R. Narayanan

Inauguration of Sri Balaji Society’s K. N. Ranganathan Auditorium on 17th August 2012 by the then Lt Gen. A. K. Singh PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC General Officer Commanding In-Chief, H.Q. Southern Command, Pune

Dr. (Col) A. Balasubramanian with his Excellency General (Retd) Fidel V Ramos, the 12th President of Republic of Philipines

Dr. (Col) A. Balasubramanian with Hon’ble Ya Bhg, the wife of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Malaysia

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian editor-in-chief September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 5

Contents 32

Cover story Dynamic Duo 14

Live & Let Live An in-depth and insightful interview with Yogi Sriram, Senior Vice President, Corporate HR, Larsen & Toubro, and his charming wife, Sujata, currently an Associate Professor and Dean in the School of Human Ecology, at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

10

Wax Eloquent Who said what and why

12

Collywood Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World

16

Women Leaders’ Conclave Women Leaders’ Conclave held by the CII, saw participation of top corporate women leaders, for an exchange of experiences and learnings

18

Interview An interview with Animish Bagchi, a Chartered Accountant by profession and Senior Vice President-Finance at EagleBurgmann, on the finance sector

21

Manage Money Dr Anil Lamba on Good Financial Management – Rule 2 6 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Volume 1 Issue No. 14 September 16-30, 2015 www.corporatecitizen.in

22

NHRDN Delhi Chapter The Third Human Capital Conclave on “What’s trending in Human Capital?” organised by the National HRD Network in Delhi

16

12

48

18

26

52

44

54

26

Cradle of Leadership An interview with Prof. (Dr.) R Venkata Rao, Vice Chancellor National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore

38

CII Case Study CII’s prize winning Case StudiesVII on “Handing over the baton in a family-run business”

44

Corporate History When MARUTI became ambassador of Indian roads

47

Beyond the Bottomline Lead from behind-New evidence suggests that leading from behind brings better job satisfaction and productivity than from leading from the front

48

Survey Leading management consultancy firm, McKinsey, carries out an extensive research and comes up with an ingenious metric which can help India alleviate poverty by 2022

52

TRAVEL Exploring London with Rajesh Patil, Founder and Managing Director, Pause Wines

54

Star Campus Placement-6 Charudatta Anil Shimpi on his first break

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 7

Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

56 Pearls Of Wisdom Osho on “Love and Food are deeply related�

Bollywood Biz Superstars for Super League

Assistant Editor Joe Williams Senior Business Writers Mahalakshmi Hariharan Rajesh Rao

56 58

Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh

Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty

60

Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur Anuradha Shukla

60

Bangalore Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

61

Pune Bureau Suchismita Pai Kalyani Sardesai

Mobile Apps Best Apps for File Transfers Citizen Claps & Slaps Our bouquets and brickbats for the fortnight!

62

58

Circulation Officer Jaywant Patil +91 9923202560

64

Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072 North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G +91 9941555389

66

Design & Art Direction Kiyan Gupta, The Purple Stroke

Health Internet Addiction Disorder Astroturf Fortune favours the bold & the lucky The Last Word No fear of failure by Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Vice Chairman & CEO of Zensar Technologies

62

Be A Corporate Citizen

How do you like this issue of Corporate Citizen - The Cool Side of Business?

Send in your views, news, suggestions and contributions to corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com We would love to hear from you!

8 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Graphic Designer Anil Walunj Cover Story Pic Tushar Mane Photographers Yusuf Khan / Ahmed Sheikh/ Shantanu Relekar Website www.corporatecitizen.in For Advertising and Marketing queries Email: MANSHA.VIRADIA@corporatecitizen.in (Corporate Citizen does not accept responsibility for returning unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. All unsolicited material should be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage) Tel. (020) 69000677 / 69000672

feedback “Too cool”

When I picked up my first copy of Corporate Citizen, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Having read several business magazines, I was under the impression that CC would be more of the same. As it turns out, CC completely won me over with its refreshing take on the cool side of business. The stories speak to the youth through its inspirational tales from the corporate world, as well as entertain through their anecdotes. I was hooked from cover to cover, and can’t wait for the next fortnight’s issue to hit the stands.

-Nupur Chaube, Software engineer, Tata Consultancy Services

“CC, has opened a new chapter” Corporate Citizen (CC) is a great read, and the magazine looks fantastic. There is a good range of content with good variety. The best thing about the magazine is, it is quite different from other corporate magazines. It is well edited and the design is something that inspires me, as I am a designer myself. It is just not hard news, but the magazine provides news about the people who are making news, such as the bigwigs of the corporate world. It provides an insight into the world wherein the Gen X would captalise. I am sure this magazine will go a long way and open a new leaf in the media world.

-Shivashankar, Pashan Road, Pashan, Pune

“Excellent work”

“Wonderful Reading”

I completely enjoy reading Corporate Citizen, the cool side of business. It is different from the rest of the business magazines, highlighting the soft side of the corporate leaders. The contents are different, which makes it an enjoyable read. The magazine is colourful with excellent layout. It also gives a gist of the happenings in the business world. I would like to congratulate the editorial team for their excellent work. Keep it up!

-Sreeram Subramanian, Wipro Ltd

“Good initiative”

I take this opportunity to congratulate the editorial team of Corporate Citizen on bringing out this magazine dedicated to corporates. I was going through the sixth issue and found it very interesting. The articles were very comprehensive and the personalities were people with whom we can correlate with. One section on My Campus Placement is a great initiative. Keep it up!

-Rajesh Sharma, Fiat India Ltd

Congratulations for the new magazine. I got a chance to see the 12th issue and was very impressed. The contents are different and the look and feel of the magazine is simply superb.

All the stories are told in a simplified manner.

Excellent work!

-Chetan Bhasin, Bangalore

“Fabulous work”

We have had an opportunity to read Corporate Citizen and really appreciate the easily-told success stories of the young and the veterans in the Corporate world, inspiring and catering to a wide majority of readers from all walks of life.

-Tanya Thadikaran, Micro Labs Ltd, Bangalore

“Redefining the corporate media”

simple language. The design is wonderful and the picture presentation is good. Yes rightly said the cooler side of business.

-Ishani Bose, Kolkata

“Well balanced magazine”

This is a magazine that stands apart from the rest. It provides knowledge and insights behind the successful companies and careers to help us understand what these real life heroes have to teach us. The editing is great and the language is easy and to the point.

There is good balance between the technical aspects of the corporate side and other stories such as the spiritual and physical health aspects! Wishing the team a great future!

-Vibha Shah, TechMahindra

“Rare gem”

I have read many corporate magazines, but never ever come across one like Corporate Citizen which has redefined the corporate media. The interviews from CEOs to the students (campus placement) are something out of the box. It is a very good read, edited crystal clean and most importantly it has

Corporate citizen is that rare gem - the perfect blend of serious inspiring stories mixed with casual feel good content, which educates, entertains as well as exhilarates at the same time. All the best to Team Corporate Citizen!

-Vikas Kelkar Student, Mass Communications

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 9

wax eloquent

India is a land of abundant Voting Rights for good governance

“Historically urban areas have been neglected in India, despite being sources of higher revenue.

Before criticising the corporators, come out and vote. The onus is on you and it’s your responsibility. ” NR Narayan Murthy, IT honcho and Infosys co-founder Courtesy: Times of India

Going beyond bank branches “The way the world is moving, branches are becoming less relevant for a connect with customers. The goal is really to use technology intelligently in a way that it builds a trusted relationship with customers at scale and at lower cost.”

Rajiv Lall, vice-chairman and managing director of IDFC Bank Ltd Courtesy: http://www.livemint.com

“The payments bank is integral to RIL’s digital initiative in a rapidly converging world of telecom, internet, commerce, media and financial services. This is one of our many initiatives to contribute meaningfully to the government of India’s ambitious Digital India programme.”

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd. Courtesy: Business Standard

Appeal to reduce open defecation “The railway tracks (in India) are the “largest toilet” in the world. According to experts, this excreta damages tracks and leads to accidents. We need to check the problem of open defecation in the country and all political parties need to come together for this...”

Jairam Ramesh, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Courtesy: http://www.dnaindia.com

Indian investors mature enough “During this wave of selling, we may see a lot of investment opportunities from a medium to long-term perspective in Indian equities. We currently hold some cash in our portfolios, and will be looking to invest that into equities as the market becomes more attractive with every decline.”

Harsha Upadhyaya, CIO (Equity), Kotak Mahindra AMC Courtesy: The Indian Express

Adding practicality to science “I have seen hundreds of science laboratories in renowned schools where burettes and test tubes are locked in cupboards and gathering dust. The problem is that managements and teachers have never dirtied their hands doing experiments.”

Arvind Gupta, engineer-turned-educationist

Talent is a CEO topic

“Today, talent is a CEO topic. Thinking about disruption growth models, boldly growing in the future and delivering numbers is a CEO topic. Smart CEOs will have a balanced agenda- to deliver in the near term but to be clear about the 1-2 big growth initiatives. Successful CEOs are not looking at a 1-2 year horizon.”

Karan Singh, MD, Bain & Company India. Courtesy: Times of India 10 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Managing work, family, health, friends and spirit

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in air. They are Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls- Family, Health, Friends and Spirit- are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered.

They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.”

Bryon Dyson, Former CEO of Coca Cola Courtesy: http://www.bcbusiness.ca/

opportunities

Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say, about recent trends and their experiences in the biz world

It is okay to be naive “Many disruptive ideas for innovation actually come from outsiders, and not from incumbents. I only knew how to code, I knew nothing about transportation! I don’t even own a car. My father did not speak to me for “six months when I left Microsoft to start Ola Cabs. I was so naïve early on that when an angel investor asked about organisational structure, I had to Google it to find out! It’s OK to be naïve when you are a young entrepreneur, just do it!”

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder, Ola Cabs Courtesy: http://yourstory.com/2015/08/leapfrog

India a land of opportunities and heightened expectations

“With China slowing and providing multiple barriers to entry, and Europe stagnating, there are very few places in the world that provide the opportunities that India does. Behemoths like Amazon, Starbucks, Uber, Foxconn and even the US presidential candidate Donald Trump have expanded their businesses to India, “thereby justifying our views and decisions when we started operations in the country.”

Dhruv Ratra, San Francisco-based CEO of Anglian Omega Network with business ventures in India.

Courtesy: BBC

Changing consumer behaviour online “Shopping is primarily a social activity and going for it with friends and family has been the norm since time immemorial. Online shopping, on the other hand, has largely remained a solo experience. Ping aims to transform online shopping by allowing users to talk to each other [in] real-time in order to make decisions and decide on what to buy.”

Punit Soni, chief product officer, Flipkart, Courtesy: Business Standard

Disclosing salary adds to transparency “CEO salary has to be in line with shareholder value creation and stock options are one of the best ways to make it performance-linked. It is good that companies have to disclose it now, as that makes things more transparent.”

Govind Iyer, partner at Egon Zehnder International Courtesy: Business Standard

Work environment much needed “Diversity and inclusion are key business imperatives at Intel.

Our corporate business principles, policies and strategic initiatives are designed to further develop and retain our diverse workforce. This leads to a work environment where every employee feels productive, valued, motivated and committed to do their very best.”

Kumud Srinivasan, President, Intel India

On CEO’s scaling heights “I can’t imagine someone (Google CEO Sundar Pichai), going that quickly up the ladder in India. We have a long way to go to get into that level. We have to see first those kind of enterprises being created in India, then we can talk about execs rising up in them.”

Ahimanikya Satapathy, a fellow at the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table, a product start-up lobby.

Courtesy: International Business Times

Money- neither the problem nor the solution

“We realised early that money is neither the problem nor the solution.

Passion, courage, conviction, can you be there, can you stand there and make sure you’re the last man standing- it is these things that count.”

Sumit Jain, co-founder & CEO, Commonfloor Courtesy: Financial Express

Courtesy: The Economic Times

Manufacturing standards

“The stringent manufacturing standards of twowheelers and threewheelers in India have always helped us maintain a focus on quality and weeded out manufacturers who could not adhere to the standard. It has helped consolidate the automobile sector in India. Even China, the biggest motorcycle manufacturer in the world has not been able to enter India due to these high standards.”

Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto.

Courtesy: http://www.soprasteria.com

Twisting Indian palate to international taste

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be bringing Jamie’s Italian and Jamie’s Pizzeria to India. Delhi is a vibrant, colourful, buzzing city with an already incredible food scene, so to be opening two restaurants there is a huge honour.

Jamie Oliver, British celebrity chef Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 11

collywood

People in the news

Swipe to set Tata, others invest up unit in in YourStory Maharashtra

Mobile devices maker Swipe is to set up a manufacturing unit in Maharashtra for assembling handsets and tablets in India and invest about $ US 3-4 million (Rs 2025 crores). “We will start manufacturing in Maharashtra. We are investing about $3 to $4 million in the next two years,” said Swipe India founder and CEO Shripal Gandhi. Handset makers like Samsung, Micromax, Spice and Xiaomi are already assembling in India, while players like Asus, Motorola and Gionee are considering manufacturing in India, where the government is pushing its ‘Make in India’ initiative. India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. Smartphone shipment in India grew 44 per cent to 26.5 million units in the April-June 2015 quarter. Swipe, which sells smartphones and tablets in the Indian market in the Rs 10,000 category, aims to garner Rs 1,000 crore in revenue

by March 2018.

YourStory, an online media entity that profiles start-ups and entrepreneurs, has raised an undisclosed amount from Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons. The investment round saw participation from veterans, including Vani Kola, managing director of Kalaari Capital, Karthee Madasamy, vice-president and managing director, Qualcomm Ventures, and former Infosys board member T V Mohandas Pai. “I decided to take external funding because I realised I needed strong wind beneath my wings if I were to achieve my vision of making every story matter. And I was clear that I wanted people who believed in the same values and principles to be part of this story,” said Shradha Sharma, founder and chief editor of YourStory in her post announcing the fund-raising.

YourStory is one of the first Indian portals that focuses on telling stories of entrepreneurs ‘who are not superstars but have the spark, drive and hope’.

Tata has been investing in Indian, as well as international technology startups for about a year. He has invested in companies such as Ola, PayTM, Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, Bluestone, and CarDekho. Tata has invested in ten start-ups.

A Hero passes away!

Om Prakash Munjal no more

Om Prakash Munjal, father figure of the cycle industry, passed away recently, at the age of 86 at Ludhiana in the Hero Heart Institute of Dayanand Medical College and hospital. He was the founder and chairman of Hero Cycles Limited, the world’s largest integrated bicycle manufacturing company by volume, and Hero Motors.

12 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Digital India campaign Uttam Galva, Posco on high steel plant in Satara with youth The Centre’s Digital India campaign in combination with the ever-increasing tech-savvy youth in India has resulted in more takers for digital content.

The rising popularity of apps that offer news in capsules indicates this. Delhi-based news curation app inshorts (earlier News in Shorts) recently raised $20 million in funding from existing investor Tiger Global. This was five months after it had raised $4 million from Tiger Global, Rebright Partners of Japan, Ankush Nijhawan, Gaurav Bhatnagar, Manish Dhingra, and Flipkart founders Sachin and Binny Bansal. Ver Se Innovation, which runs mobile news aggregation and book downloads app DailyHunt (previously NewsHunt), raised $40 million from Falcon Edge Capital, Omidyar Network Advisors, Matrix Partners, and Sequoia Capital India in January.

Steel maker Posco Korea has signed an agreement with Uttam Galva group to set up a 3 million tonne (mt) steel plant in Maharashtra.

Shree Uttam Steel and Power Ltd, a part of Uttam Galva Group, and Posco Korea, recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to set up an integrated steel manufacturing facility under a joint venture arrangement in India. The MoA is the first step towards establishing a joint venture under which the integrated steel plant at Satara, Maharashtra, will eventually be set up. Shree Uttam Steel and Power is fully owned by the Miglani family. It is also the co-promoter of Uttam Galva Steels Ltd, along with Arcelor Mittal. The 3 mt steel plant will be set up in two phases. The first phase of 1.5 mt will entail an investment of about $1.5 billion, said Ankit Miglani of the Uttam Galva group.

Vedanta Group HR head, Rajesh Padmanabhan, quits

Rajesh Padmanabhan, President and Chief Human Resources Officer of oil and mining conglomerate, Vedanta Group, has resigned.

Details of the new HR head are awaited. Padmanabhan had become the HR head of all businesses under the Vedanta group in

2014. His responsibilities included driving the Group’s people strategy and transformation, leadership building, talent management, capability building, and total rewards and performance management.

Prior to joining the group, he was the Chief Human Resources Officer for Capgemini India since 2010. Padmanabhan has over three decades of global industry experience in finance, systems and human resources in companies like Patni Computer Systems, The Oberoi Group, Essel Propack and the ICICI group in a variety of roles. He has a double masters in finance and human resources from the University of Mumbai.

Ravi Kirpalani exits, Omer Dormen Castrol MD

Automotive and industrial lubricant manufacturing firm Castrol India announced that managing director Ravi Kirpalani will step down from 30th September 2015.

He will continue as director and whole-time director from 1st October 2015 up to 31st December 2015 to facilitate smooth transition. Kirpalani will be succeeded by Omer Dormen, who has been with Castrol / BP for over 30 years in various positions globally and is currently sales director of BP Lubricants for CIS, Turkey and Central Asia. Dormen will be appointed as additional director and managing director of Castrol India with effect from 1st October 2015, subject to obtaining all necessary approvals. The appointment has been approved by the Board of Directors of Castrol India Limited at its 17th August meeting and will be subject to company shareholders’ approval.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 13

collywood Asin to wed Micromax founder Rahul Sharma

The “Queen of Kollywood” has seemingly found her king, and actress Asin Thottumkal has confirmed that she will be getting hitched soon. According to media reports, the actress will be tying the knot with Rahul Sharma, founder and owner of the Micromax brand in India. The actress has been known to be tight-lipped about her personal life and had been waiting for the completion of her latest offering, All Is Well.

The duo has been reportedly going steady for quite a while now. “I am currently wrapping up all my professional commitments so that I can give more time to my personal life. I had anyways stopped signing new projects two years back itself,” the actress told the media. The report adds that the match-maker in this relationship is Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who has been friends with Sharma and had also endorsed Micromax.

Arora set for SoftBank feel Nikesh Arora is all set to make financial inroads into the the Japanese Internet and telecom giant SoftBank, worth 60 billion yen (₹ 3,150 crore), where he is the president and chief operating officer, in what could be termed as the one of the biggest purchases of employer stock by a professional manager.

In a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange where SoftBank is listed, the Indian-born heir apparent to founder & Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said the nearly $482-million investment is a reflection of confidence in the firm’s prospects. “This is a large transaction for me, and involves taking an enormous risk in my life once again,” Arora, 47, was quoted as saying in the statement. “However, I am extremely confident about the future of the

SoftBank group and the long term objectives that we have set out. I intend to work closely with Son to make the vision a reality.” Such a large investment, being funded out of the US-based Arora’s savings and borrowings, will help allay concerns in some quarters inside Japan about a foreign national being the presumptive heir to one of its proudest corporate names. Arora, an IITBHU and Northeastern University alumnus, has for some time been one of the highest-paid corporate executives globally. At Google, where he was the chief business officer before jumping ship to SoftBank, Arora was its highest-paid executive.

SoftBank hired him for a total package of around $135 million (about Rs 883 crore), which includes a hefty signing bonus.

14 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Vir Das to launch clothing

Stand-up comedian and actor Vir Das will launch a quirky clothing line under his company Weirdass Comedy soon. He will launch a range of unisex quirky T-shirts and boxer shorts, which he has conceptualised himself. “I am happy to launch the collection, I have conceptualised each design in a quirky way. According to me, your clothes reflect your personality, let them speak for you,” Vir said in a statement. Each design will reflect his style of zaniness, and will cater to young and humour-loving men and women.

India-born CEOs storm American corporates

(From L-R) Shantanu Narayen, CEO Adobe Systems, Sundar Pichai CEO, Google, Satya Narayana Nadella, the current chief executive officer of Microsoft, Prem Watsar, chairman, and chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, Canada and Indra Nooyi, Pepsi CEO

Sundar Pichai, Google’s new CEO, is the latest to enjoy a meteoric rise. In just 11 years at Google, he turned Chrome into the world’s most popular Web browser, ran the company’s Android division and most recently served as product chief. Pichai’s path to CEO mirrors that of other India-born business titans. Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi is perhaps the most well-known of Indian CEOs. Just a few years ago, it wasn’t clear whether Indra Nooyi would survive as PepsiCo’s CEO. These days Nooyi, 59, exudes confidence. The company has enjoyed steady revenue growth during her nine years in the top job, and Pepsi’s stock price is rising again after several flat years.. All of this frees Nooyi to focus on what she says is now driving innovation in the company: design thinking.

Each of these CEOs brings to the position a more global perspective than a CEO born and raised in the U.S. does. “In my case, I benefited because I grew up outside of the United States; I understand exactly how the world works, and I could see the world through the eyes of people from outside the United States,” Nooyi said. Last year news of Microsoft’s long-term

CEO Steve Ballmer stepping down started doing the rounds of the internet, two names surfaced immediately as his possible successors, Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai. Nadella had been working for Microsoft since 1992, Pichai was Google Android’s head. Putting end to speculations Microsoft announced Nadella as the company’s CEO. If Pichai’s fans were left slightly heartbroken back then, it’s time to rejoice now. And to add to the celebrations, Nadella has congratulated Pichai on Twitter and has said that the latter deserves every bit of the adulation he is receiving at the moment.

Pichai replied with a polite thank you and a smiley. However, that Twitter interaction is the stuff that tech lovers’ dream tweets are made of. No wonder then, that they have been on a retweeting spree. Joing the elite group, is Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and Prem Watsa, who run Fairfax Financial, the would-be savior of Blackberry, went to the same public school in Hyderabad, which experienced a technological boom around the turn of the century that included the establishment of Microsoft’s first development center outside the US.

Rohan Murthy Revitalises Indian Classics

It is so easy to get our hands of the works of William Shakespeare and William Wordsworth, but when it comes to Indian Classics, the search proves elusive.

Rohan Narayana Murty was faced with the same dilemma. Which is why the 31-year-old computer scientist at Harvard University set up the Murty Classical Library of India in 2010 with a $5.2 million endowment to the Harvard University Press, with a view to ‘to present the greatest literary works of India from the past two millennia to the largest readership in the world. The creation of a classical library of India is intended to reintroduce these works to a new generation of readers.’

Rohan’s idea is to get people to think about Indian classics in addition to Greek and Latin classics which are widely available. The library will select classics from Indian languages like Marathi, Kannada, Pali, Persian, Sanskrit, Sindhi and Urdu.

“My main goal with this series is to highlight to us Indians and to the rest of the world the incredible diversity and depth of intellectual contributions that ancient India made to literature and the classics,” he says.

Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 15

Women Leaders’ Conclave

What it takes to get to the Top

Today, women in India have shattered the myth of the glass ceiling and have emerged at the very top – be it public or private sector, across the industry of banking & finance, IT, consumer goods and so on. In light of the same, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) held a Women Leaders’ Conclave,recently, for an exchange of experiences and learnings. Corporate Citizen reports from the Conclave. By Mahalakshmi Hariharan

I

Sarika Mahashabde, MD, APT Pneumatics

Prameela Kalive, Executive Vice President, Strategic Services, Zensar Technologies

Varsha Singh, VP and Business Head, International Customer Operations, Vodafone India

Madhumita Banerjee, Vice President, Tata Capital

Smita Raichurkar, Company Secretary, Kirloskar Oil Engines

Preeti Nair, Head, Communications, Tata Bluescope Steel

ndian women are truly dynamic and adept at multi-tasking. While they are excellent homemakers, they are also excellent managers at work. And times have changed. Today, women hold top corporate positions and are beginning to constitute a higher proportion of the workforce than before, in almost all the major multinationals, be in technology, banking and finance, FMCG or any other sector.

Women in the corporate sector in India, today, have shattered the glass ceiling in the private sector, and have also made their way to becoming chiefs of public

sector units. Recently, one of the leading IT majors, Accenture, elevated Rekha Menon as its India Chairperson, who is now leading a workforce of over one lakh people, one-third of Accenture’s global strength. Menon joins a league that already has Vanitha Narayanan, MD of IBM India, Neelam Dhawan, MD of HP India, Aruna Jayanthi, CEO of Capgemini India, Kumud Srinivasan, President of Intel India, and Kirthiga Reddy, MD of Facebook India.

Other names include Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairperson and Managing Director of the country’s first women’s bank, Bharatiya Mahila Bank, Arundhati

16 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Bhattacharya, Chief of the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India, Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank and Shikha Sharma, MD & CEO, Axis Bank, to name a few.

In the light of the same, the first “Women Leaders’ Conclave”, a one-day workshop by the CII Indian Women Network was held in August 2015, where senior and eminent corporate women leaders from top companies across sectors came together to enlighten the audience -- who were again all women -- on their journey in the corporate world, the challenges they faced and ways to overcome them.

Some of the eminent speakers

in the conclave included Sarika Mahashabde, Managing Director, APT Pneumatics, Prameela Kalive, Executive Vice President, Strategic Services, Zensar Technologies, Varsha Singh, Vice President and Business Head, International Customer Operations, Vodafone India, Madhumita Banerjee, Vice President, Tata Capital, Smita Raichurkar, Company Secretary, Kirloskar Oil Engines and Preeti Nair, Head, Communications, Tata Bluescope Steel.

With over 27 years of industry experience, Prameela Kalive, Executive VP, Strategic Services at Zensar Technologies, started her career as a missile scientist and

Pics: Yusuf Khan

Captivated audience at the seminar

“In the last four months, leading companies in India have come up with increased benefits for new mothers and fathers.

More and more companies are coming up with innovative policies and flexible work timings for new mothers” worked for over a decade on critical defence projects before moving on to playing multiple roles in Zensar Technologies, ranging from software deliveries and account management to global strategy and marketing. She has also handled the global HR portfolio for Zensar as well as led the Regional Business Unit for emerging markets of China, Middle East, India and South Africa. She is a masters in engineering and an alumnus of the London School of Economics. She is currently leading a transformational programme of Organisational Excellence, to drive operational efficiencies across the company.

Prameela started her session by inspiring the audience with her career story.

“Success for me has always been about feeling empowered to make the best choices I can, and then make the most of those choices.

The definition of good life kept changing for me. The whole life is of making choices and career is like a jungle-gym with its dips, detours,

dead ends, etc. Don’t shy away from making changes -- I have moved careers many times. Women are gifted with intuition, so go with your intuition as to what is good for you. There is no perfect fit, you need to take an opportunity and make it fit for you and be 100 percent ready for the role before you take the challenge,” she said.

Sarika Mahashabde, Managing Director, APT Pneumatics, who today is a successful entrepreneur, decided to take the plunge into being a businesswoman, after having a family. “While it is difficult to manage both ends, for women it always works well if you have a supportive family. It is crucial for a woman to have her husband and family to be supportive, so that she can have a career of her own,” she notes.

The recent trend says that Indian women drop out of the workforce much early in their career compared to their counterparts in other Asian countries. This is because they often give their career a setback once they

have a family.

Madhumita Banerjee, 38, Vice President, Tata Capital, is someone who strongly believes that it is important to keep learning and upgrading yourself, by studying further. “With the industry evolving, it is important to keep upgrading your knowledge by learning, in whichever stream you are in,” says Madhumita.

Varsha Singh, Vice President and Business Head, International Customer Operations, Vodafone India believes that organisations should closely work towards women’s empowerment by offering them various facilities and incentives to retain them and grow within the space.

In the last four months, leading companies such as Accenture, Flipkart, Adobe Systems Inc., Inmobi, Netflix and Microsoft Corp have come up with increased benefits for new mothers and fathers. In a bid to have more women in the workplace, companies are coming up with innovative policies

and flexible work timings for new mothers. For instance, Intel India, which employs one woman in every five employees has increased its maternity and paternity leave.

Intel is set to enhance maternity leave benefits to 150 days from the current 84 days or three months.

It is also said that new mothers returning from maternity leave will be entitled to work part-time at full pay for up to one month.

We look forward to having more and more women as part of the corporate workforce.

Mahalakshmi.H@corporatecitizen.in

CC

tadka

The stuff of envy!

Sultan of Brunei has the largest car collection in the world with over 7,000 vehicles worth over US $ 5,000,000,000. He owns 604 Rolls Royces, 574 Mercedes-Benzes, 452 Ferraris, 382 Bentleys, 209 BMWs, 179 Jaguars, 134 Koenigseggs, 21 Lamborghinis,11 Aston Martins and one SSC along many other cars.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 17

Interview

Finance, as a profession, has evolved over the years

Animish Bagchi, a Chartered Accountant by profession and Senior Vice President-Finance at EagleBurgmann India Pvt Ltd, is a versatile finance professional, who is dynamic and full-of-life.

With over 25 years of experience in the finance sector, he has worked with leading corporates such as Kirloskar Brothers and Birla Yamaha. In a candid conversation with Corporate Citizen, Bagchi spoke in-depth about the finance sector, finance as a profession, challenges faced, while also touching on his personal space

By Mahalakshmi Hariharan You’ve been in this profession for so long. What are the changes that you have seen? How has finance as a profession grown in the last three decades?

I would say, in the earlier days, finance as a stream was more about accounting, but today it’s all about managing. With technological development, an accountant’s job is being done by computers. But analysis, reporting, compliance with legal issues are much more important in today’s times than pure accounting. Pure accounting is not really needed these days. Since we are a multinational company with 56 subsidiaries worldwide, issues like transfer pricing has become very important. Earlier, it used to be only accounting. Today, even Chartered Accountancy as a profession has changed. The syllabus and curriculum has transformed from theoretical accounting to much more practical work. Legal issues have too gained a lot of importance.

So what are some of the things that you look at when you hire young finance professionals in your team?

First we talk to him/her about the job requirement. We see if the person has the

capability to manage the important things, for instance, say, payment of taxes. We also see his acceptability and capability of making payments in time. These days, we do not even question them on pure accounting, since we know he/ she is a graduate and will definitely know about it. We also check his knowledge on the subject of law since there are so many compliances to be met. He need not be a master of everything, but should have a working knowledge. Hence, in our company, we have a lot of MBAs rather than CAs, because managing finances and complying with the law is very important.

Penalties are very high today. Under Company Law, if you default, penalties are so high that even the directors can be put behind bars.

How are you seeing jobs in the finance sector coming up? What are the different kinds of roles that youngsters can take up?

These days the banking sector has loads of job opportunities. Various roles like branch managers, relationship managers are important for any bank, be it public or private banks, since every bank needs an all India presence.

We will see that in future, there will be a lot of vacancies in banks for various roles, various positions. Our economy is gradually improving.

18 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

As growth starts and economic prospects start improving, investments will start pouring in, from the Government and the private sector.

The moment investments start, you’ll need people to manage them. Then, experienced ones will shift from one industry to the other and this gap will be filled by newcomers.

What are the kind of challenges that you go through in your role?

I would say handling compliances, which is a very tough job. There are changes in sections of Law on a daily basis. If you’ve missed any, it’s a big problem. Company Law has become very stringent today. People are still gearing up to the changes that came about with the new Company Law that came in 2013. After three to four years, it will be easier because by then you would have understood the norms, rules and regulations.

Take us through your career.

After my graduation, I did my LLB and started practising as an advocate. However, I realised that the exploitation was higher, so I decided to become a Chartered Accountant.

After doing my CA, I joined Jagatjit Industries in 1989 in Delhi. Thereafter, I joined Birla Yamaha as the General Manager, Finance

Pics: Shantanu Relekar

Complying with the law is very important. Penalties are very high today.

Under the Company Law, if you default, penalties are so high that even the directors can be put behind bars September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 19

Interview

‘A finance professional need not be confined to his role, he should go and spend some time in other departments as well so that he can learn more’ and later joined Kirloskar Brothers. After spending two years there, I joined TATA Ficosa Automotive Systems Ltd. as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Since the last seven years, I am associated with EagleBurgmann India Pvt. Ltd. We are into the production of mechanical seals and seal supply systems, magnetic couplings, carbon floating ring seals, expansion joints and gaskets, packings, special products and extensive services. Being part of the German Freudenberg and Japanese EKK Group gives us all the resources we need for a reliable partnership built on solid foundation, worldwide. I look after the finance section, import-export, costing, and all other legal issues. This year, we gave out very good dividends. In 2007, Eagle and Burgmann merged together, worldwide. In India, it’s called EagleBurgmann India which was converted into a private limited company. So there are two main shareholders -- one Japanese and other German. We report to Japan on the administrative side and on the finance side, we report to Germany. We have a staff of about 1000 employees, where about 300 are engineers.

It’s a well-managed company with no debt.

On the personal front, how difficult is it for you to manage both home and work?

(Laughs) When my son was young, my wife left her job to be with him, till the time he completed his higher secondary school. My wife is a teacher. I still remember, we had a public issue of Birla Yamaha and my son had met with an accident and was injured but I couldn’t visit him because the prospectus had to be filed the very next day. That whole night was spent at work, checking the prospectus and finishing other pending work. My wife then took care of everything. She was with the prestigious St. Mary’s School until a few years ago, but had to quit her job for the sake of our child. Today, she has started working again.

What is your idea of relaxation? Do you take holidays often?

Oh yes, I do. I like to play instruments…well I am quite bad at it (laughs), but I enjoy playing the tabla and listening to music, or playing badminton or table tennis, or even going somewhere out with my family. Today I think the pressure is much lower than what it was in my earlier days. Earlier, the targets were too high, but today because work is streamlined and smooth, the pressure is manageable. For any company, when it doesn’t grow, the entire pressure comes on the finance head. Because this company’s financials are strong and it is doing well, the pressure is much lower.

What is your piece of advice to youngsters?

Be honest to your work, be open to learning.

Keep attending informative seminars, enrich your knowledge. Try and learn what other divisions or departments are doing. It is okay for a finance professional to work in the marketing or production team for some time, mainly to understand how they function, how the product is made and so on. A finance professional need not only be confined to his role, rather he should go and spend some time in other departments as well so that he can learn more. That’s how we encourage professionals in our company as well. When you step into our industry, one thing you will realise is that you will have to change with the times. For instance, Kodak were the pioneers in making small cameras. As times changed, Nokia came in which started making mobile phones with cameras installed in it. Later, Nokia got killed by Google who came up with Android. This is because there are changes in customer behaviour and innovation is important in today’s time.

20 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Lastly, what do you think of Indians such as Sundar and Nadella, who today are CEOs of global giants?

I have travelled across the globe and have met CFOs of companies to understand how they work. In Japan, he/she need not be a Chartered Accountant to handle the finance section, even an engineer can be a CFO there.

What I have seen is that Indians are very flexible and adaptable, whereas the Japanese are quite rigid in their way of working.

Germans too are not very open while working with all. However, Indians who are working abroad are well groomed as they get good exposure, which in turn enhances their perspective. Professionally, things are very different outside India. So it’s not by fluke that these gentlemen are heading global giants like Google and Microsoft. They have the capability. Indians need international exposure so that we can learn more.

Mahalakshmi.H@corporatecitizen.in

CC

tadka

Mornings will never be the same Inspired by those who have trouble getting up in the morning, engineer, Colin Furze invented the High Voltage Ejector Bed, which throws you out of bed while sounding off horns and alarm bells.

manage money In the previous issue we discussed how to read a Balance Sheet

By Dr Anil Lamba

Good Financial Management – Rule 2 This article continues our discussion on how to read Balance Sheets (BS) using the second golden rule of good finance management. I had pointed out that all the data appearing in BS can be reduced to four numbers and, from this point of view, there can be only three types of BS: And the question posed was: Which is the healthiest of the three?

Balance Sheet A Liabilities

Balance Sheet B

Assets

Liabilities

Assets

LTS 80 LTU 80 LTS 90 LTU 80 STS 20 STU 20 STS 10 STU 20 Total 100 Total 100 Total 100 Total 100 Balance Sheet C Liabilities

Assets

LTS 70 LTU 80 STS 30 STU 20 Total 100 Total 100

Not to forget that we are still trying to understand the application of Rule II which reminds us that sources of funds are eventually liabilities.

All who have lent money are going to expect it back. It’s only a matter of time. Prudence must, therefore, be exercised at all times while deploying those resources to ensure that the assets can generate an inflow before the liabilities have to be repaid. This is the reason why we isolated the short-term sources and clubbed the rest as long-term sources. Let’s examine the three BS again from this perspective.

Take a look at Balance Sheet C. Who is going to come knocking at C’s doors in the near future asking for the money back? The short-term lenders, of course, which amount to 30. To repay these, which assets on the right hand side can be liquidated at short notice? You will easily see that the long-term uses, which are represented by fixed assets, must never be liquidated. No healthy organisation will ever purchase machinery or buildings to sell! These are purchased for use in the business. The only assets which will bring in cash, in the short run, are the short-term assets. This happens through the movement of the working capital cycle, where cash will become cash each time the cycle goes round. C is expected to repay 30 in the near future, but has only 20 in short term assets. In order to meet its shortterm liabilities, C will now be forced to sell some long-term assets. If a business has to sell its fixed assets, its buildings and machinery and equipment, it would jeopardise its very existence. When an organisation is forced to sell its long-term assets to meet its short-term liabilities, it represents the beginning of the end of that organisation. C is in serious trouble. And why is C in trouble? This is because it is guilty of using short-term funds for long-term purposes. That leaves us with A and B. Let me now give you the rule for a healthy organisation. Healthy organisations will ensure that they use their long-term funds for longterm purposes and short-term funds for short-term purposes. As per this rule A should be the healthiest. But that is not so. And I am not saying this because A seems to have the exact value of short-term assets

as its short term liabilities, and could just be cutting it a bit fine. In fact A, having neither more nor less, is on the right side of our mantra “less is bad, more is worse” and appears to be the epitome of efficiency. The other reason why I believe that A is not the healthiest. A is clearly better than C, but B is even better than A. In BS “A”, who is expecting to get paid over a short period of time? The short-term liabilities, which amount to 20. And how much does A have in the form of short-term assets? Also 20. However, do you recall the break-up of short-term assets, which are also known as current assets (CA)? CA consist of cash & bank balances, debtors and inventory. When it is time to pay the short-term liabilities, can A use the cash & bank balances to pay them? Yes. And can A use its debtors? Yes. You collect money from debtors & pay creditors. You will have to fine-tune your cash flow and use temporary recourse to a bank overdraft or similar arrangement to deal with the gaps between the dates of collection & payment. Debtors can also be used, but can inventory be used to pay creditors? A big chunk of creditors (on the Liabilities’ side) will be raw-material suppliers and inventory (on the Assets’ side) is the stock of raw material. Using inventory to pay creditors is akin to approaching a vendor for supply of raw material, and when the vendor asks for payment, offering to return the raw material instead of giving money! No business organization purchases raw material just to return it to the vendor. Raw Material is purchased so that it can be converted to finished products, which will then be sold to customers and get converted to debtors. When debtors pay, creditors will be paid. Since inventory can’t be used to pay creditors, A is not going to have sufficient funds to meet its short-term liabilities. Short-term uses on the Assets’ & Liabilities’ side are CA & CL, ratio being Current Ratio (CR).

Healthy companies must try to maintain a CR in 2:1. The problem with A is that its CR is 1:1. The CR of C is 1:1.5. The CR in the case of B is exactly what it should be, namely 2:1.

Balance Sheet A Liabilities

Assets

STS 20 STU 20

Cash Debtors Inventory

Balance Sheet a Liabilities

Assets

CL 20 CA 20

Current Ration CA:CL=1:1

Balance Sheet B Liabilities Assets Current Ration CL 10 CA 20 CA:CL=2:1 Balance Sheet C Liabilities

Assets

Current Ration CL 30 CA 20 CA:CL=1:1.5

...to be continued Dr Anil Lamba is a corporate trainer of international repute on finance management. He has several hundred large & medium sized corporations, as his clients, across the globe. He is the author of the bestselling book Romancing the Balance Sheet. He can be contacted at anil@lamconschool.com September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 21

NHRD Delhi

What’s Trending in

Human Capital?

As the business world is rapidly evolving, global level organisations are posing challenges of integration, inclusion and culture. Additionally, the need for simplifying the work environment through technological interventions is increasing the pressure on human resource teams to reinvent processes. Leadership and talent management continue to be an ever-evolving challenge. The year 2015, in many ways, is being seen as a critical year for organisations to fill the gaps in business needs or to suffer losses as the modern business environment gets ahead.

The ‘new world of work’ requires modifications in business strategies. With barriers between work and life reduced, thanks to social platforms available on mobile phones, organisations are connected to their employees 24x7.

Behavioural insights about employees and leadership are now available at the click of a screen, making them partners in the professional journey.

Increasing number of multi-national teams, working through virtual collaborations, along with additional contractual workers, is making talent management an uphill challenge for organisations.

Demographic changes, such as those due to the incorporation of millennials in the work force are altering the behaviour of organisations. They expect responsibility with flexibility, freedom with faith. Hence, HR teams need

to display innovative thinking. They need to be responsive and proactive.

And they have to take the lead in reinforcing the company culture and values so that they bind the truly talented to the organisation for a long time.

CHROs from leading organisations took centre stage at the NHRD’s 3rd Human Capital Conclave 2015 to discuss the incoming transformation. The panel discussion was chaired by Sidharth Tuli, Vice President & Head HR, Hydrocarbon IC, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. The distinguished panel included Sanjay Jorapur, CHRO, Hero MotoCorp Ltd, Krish Shankar, Head HR, Indian SubContinent, Philips India Pvt. Ltd, and Anuranjita Kumar, Country Human Resource Officer, Citi South Asia.

Employee engagement, leadership, gamification, big data, and talent analytics emerged as some of the top trends that need careful watching this year.

By Vignesh Shankar

22 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

‘Trends are like horses, you need to ride them in the direction that they are going. The genius of investing lies in recognising the power of a trend, rather than catching it on its highs / lows’

the high commitment Indians show towards their work. In today’s business environment, agility is important for an organisation. Our environment is ever changing and the culture which we’ve built over the years has to adapt to the ever changing environment. That’s the clear challenge for us as people who work in corporates.

Inclusion is emerging as a favoured theme.

Not just from a race perspective, but also from a nationality perspective, for expats. Given the ever-evolving environment, creativity is required, and companies are focussing on ideas as well as execution.

Leadership in my view has to be more integrated today. Gone are the days when a leader could stand there and say follow me and march on. With the new generation, given the ambiguity in the environment, a leader may not have all the answers. So the leader has to know where to get the answers from, rather than coming up with answers himself. There is also going to be a lot of focus on SMAC (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud) Technologies.

large tsunamis before we recognise when that has happened. The virtual demise of text messaging and Test cricket are examples.

There is a huge demographic change happening in the developed world. While in India we have larger proportions of a younger workforce, in countries like Japan and Europe, the majority of the population is older, working for a longer span of time. I could very well imagine a worker in Germany addressing his co-workers and saying the best is yet to come, after having worked 75 years in the same company. Technological developments have allowed a Delhi doctor to perform a remote surgery on a patient in Ghana. There could be a day when licenses are issued for driver-less cars.

There is an interesting example of innovation in education. A non-profit organisation Planet Read is promoting literacy through sub-titling film songs. A staggering 50 per cent of Indian children cannot read and write after five years of primary education. But if children are exposed to just 30 minutes of sub-titles of their favourite songs everyday, the problem of literacy due to improper learning can get solved. This is the power of recognising a trend.

Some HR trends to watch out for are: gamification, big data, and talent analytics, being used for quandaries we face in employee retention, employee engagement and leadership.

Anuranjita Kumar

Country Human Resource Officer, Citi South Asia On the Human Capital Index Report, India was ranked 100 out of 124 countries. I didn’t want to start on a dismal note, rather an introspective one. We’re a billion plus population, with an increasing rate of literacy, but clearly there’s something amiss. There is a gap because the majority of Indian talent is actually employed in the unorganised sector.

Only a minute percentage of people are in the corporate sector.

We also have hundreds of thousands of people coming out of campuses every year.

But how many of them have the IQ, EQ and JQ (Job Quotient) to work in jobs? Work ethic is another area that needs attention, despite

Sidharth Tuli

Krish Shankar

Vice President & Head HR, Hydrocarbon IC, Larsen & Toubro Ltd Trends are like horses, you need to ride them in the direction that they are going. The genius of investing lies in recognising the power of a trend, rather than catching it on its highs and lows.

Trends are like waves - they could build up into

Head HR, Indian Sub-Continent, Philips India Pvt. Ltd Being in this field for the last 30 years, I’ve noticed how leadership has always remained a gap. So, sometimes I wonder, is it really an issue? And, then, I realise that this gap that we keep talking about is a moving target. Things

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 23

NHRD Delhi are changing very fast, many Indian companies are going global and many MNCs have forayed into India. Many global companies have Indians at key positions. Then why is there still a leadership gap in India? When you dig deeper, you realise, there are pockets of excellence within India, but there are huge pockets where we are really not doing well.

Another incredible change which is happening is the impact of the digital age.

It’s going to change the way most companies work. It’s going to cut out layers and hierarchies very fast. With analytics coming in, the role of the manager and the leader will change.

He wouldn’t need to do analysis himself, he will need to inspire and motivate people, and negotiate wherever needed. The other things can be automated. Therefore, you will need the kind of leaders who are really inspirational, who are adaptive towards challenges and learn fast. And that’s where the gap is. As HR, our job is to build a foundation that will last us the next five years. It’s difficult in the changing scenario. When I joined Unilever 25 years ago, the structures were very clear. A person joining as an area sales manager would spend two and half years as area sales manager, then three years as brand manager, then decide if he wants to be a regional sales manager or run another brand, and then the career path was very clear. He would know that in fifteen years he would be the brand director or sales director.

But now it has dramatically changed. The way companies develop people is changing so fast, we need to come up with different solutions.

The challenge has doubled. One, the kind of leaders we need is different. And two, the context in which they work is changing so fast that past methods used to develop leaders are not effective any more. Unless we come with solutions to these challenges, the leadership gap will continue to be there. Third, we need to bring excellent practices to the pockets in India where we are not doing well.

Sanjay Jorapur

CHRO, Hero MotoCorp Ltd There are some mega trends that actually impact human capital trends. One is pervasive technology. By 2025, five billion

‘Today, large organisations are employing four or five generations of people. Employees want more flexibility, autonomy, and freedom. A neo-nomadic tendency has appeared where people simply like to move on from one profession to another’ of the world’s population will be connected to the internet by phones. You can imagine the kind of impact that will happen on organisations. The second is globalisation.

Organisations now need to have systems, processes and people who are able to work across 24 hours of the day because of teams sitting across countries.

The third is in terms of demographics.

The world is becoming richer, more prosperous. The GDP is increasing for every single country in the world. Life expectancy has increased, having implications on organisations. Today, large organisations are employing four or five generations of people.

Employees are demanding more flexibility, autonomy, and freedom. A neo-nomadic tendency has appeared where people simply like to move on from one profession to another. My young son when asked what he wanted to do after college said he wanted to take a two year break and go around the world. I wasn’t expecting this answer, but then this is how the younger generation thinks. It’s basically exploring what’s out there and trying to go find it.

If you’re appointed as the leader of a new team and you go around and introduce yourself, you don’t need to talk about who you are, what you do, and what your likes and dislikes are, because people already know that through social media. They know your thoughts on issues, your affiliation towards causes. The leader only needs to become inclusive. Bring authenticity as a leader.

There’s a lot of effort going into learning and development; my belief is that focus is needed on learning effectiveness. There’s no point spending a lot of dollars behind training, and not seeing the development of people. So how to imbibe learning across various generations in a highly networked organisation where people’s learning styles are so different is the challenge for HRs. And the last factor is culture and engagement. This is an area where HRs can make a difference. People today are coming together for the love they have towards a certain profession. How can these communities be engaged internally and externally needs to be thought out. Virtual teams are a reality now. In my organisation, when we are designing a bike, we have

24 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

teams working in India, Italy and the US. These guys don’t meet often; they meet once in three months. So how do you create an engagement in virtual teams, without the advantage of bringing everyone together through an outbound program? How do you create virtual engagement? Finally, it’s the quality of work and not the quantity that matters today.

Culture as a competitive advantage AK: Cultures are built over decades; not in a few months, or a few days, it takes a few generations for a company to build a culture. So it’s all pervasive and it overpowers anything we do in HR and even in the business. It’s not limited to being an agenda; it’s actually seen as a business imperative.

Citi stands for change. I’ve been with this bank for over 20 years now, and I feel like I’ve worked for five different companies, across five different continents. During the financial crisis, we thought we might shut down. At that point of time I was working in London.

It was a tough period for us because we didn’t know if we would actually make it. There were times where I didn’t know I’ll have my job tomorrow, yet I was getting on with it and doing my work. That’s culture; those are values. There was a day when our stock price crashed.

It started in the morning at $ 15, by the evening it came to about $ two and went further down to 99 cents. At $ two or three, about hundreds of thousands of Citi employees bought the stock. Not because it was cheap but because they believed that the company would ride through. It was a testimony to the leadership of Citi. Finally, we did come out of the crisis. It’s our values that create our brand. But we tided over because somebody had laid those bricks right for us. So, to me, culture is that glue which makes people stay. Culture is the way people start to behave in a certain environment. And, for us, what can be a better testimony than telling you that we have almost survived the biggest crisis of our lifetime because of the great culture that we have?

KS: Culture is built over time.

Every company has a unique culture required for its work.

For example, service oriented companies have a customeroriented culture, whereas a manufacturingoriented company has a strong culture of continuous improvement. Because that’s what is needed for the business. So, firstly you’ve got to choose those elements of culture which are critical for the success of your business, which will make you stand out in your particular domain. And then the leadership, the HR, and down to the line managers need to ensure that actions mirror the culture. Culture is not just phrases, but actual action. To see desirable actions, it is required that everybody is aligned to the core things.

process?

ST (as moderator): In Hero, how do you measure engagement? Is it a discrete event at the end of a regular interval? Or is it a continuous

KS: I think a whole book can be written on how leadership has changed. People develop as leaders by having the right types of experiences. That’s an important part that has not changed. In Hindustan Lever, the job of HR was to identify people who had the potential to go to the next level. They would then undergo a training program at Unilever training centre.

But most important was the kind of jobs that they would do. It was important to have the right type of experiences to make the employees ready for the next level because that was the only thing that made people develop as leaders.

Another aspect that has remained constant is mentoring. People develop as leaders when they are supported by good mentors who are willing to guide and coach them, especially in the early part of their career.

However, many things have changed.

Experimentation on leadership is one of them. Leadership is no longer elitist. Large numbers of people are being trained. The scale of leadership development has changed immensely. Second, many companies are thinking out of the box when it comes to developing specific skill sets in their leaders.

For instance, when I was in Unilever Asia, we were working on providing a sense of community to the employees. We organised a program where teams had to spend at least three to four days with various NGOs. That had a profound impact on the teams.

So, leadership development has become all about providing different experiences so that people can really use those experiences to change.

SJ: Hero is actually going through a major change right now. For 26 years out of its 30 year existence, it was with Honda. When the separation happened in 2010, many shared practices did not make sense any longer. We have an engagement survey every two years, but I’m now trying to turn it around and have an on-going measurement system in place.

Culture is linked to engagement. We were an Indian partner of a global technology giant.

Culture at that point was about speed of execution. Now it’s about innovating ourselves. Culture, therefore, has to undergo changes so that we can be innovative, fast to the market, create engagement and excitement in the minds of the people. We need to make our employees believe that we can succeed in the space which we have led so far on our own strengths. We are working on developing that.

ST: Alvin Toffler once said that the illiterates of the 21st century are not those who can’t read and write but those who can’t learn, unlearn and relearn. In your experience, what are the innovations in learning and development that you have tried

ST: In L&T, we spend a lot of time, money and resources on leadership development. The whole DNA of the organisation is around building leaders. Has the trend of leadership changed in the past 30 years for you?

SJ: We are in a transition state currently. Rather than conventional learning programs, we’ve brought in a few changes. One, we’ve tried understanding the skill level of our current workforce at individual, group and functional

‘A whole book can be written on how leadership has changed. People develop as leaders by having the right types of experiences’

levels. We have created transparent and objective metrics around it. Second, we want to inculcate innovation within the organisation. Some new programs that we’ve started are focused on crowd-sourcing ideas.

We are running idea contests, wherein people are able to contribute various ideas and thoughts. People have suggested ingenious solutions. For instance, in summers, the seat of a two-wheeler becomes very hot when parked in the sun. So, we’re looking at creating technology that will reduce the temperature of seat covers. We fund such ideas immediately because that is what innovation is all about.

AK: In the current times, learning and leadership are partners. Often, when we hire new people, they ask what my career path is going to be. And, I usually turn around and ask them, “What would you like it to be? The canvas is wide open.” We are not as prescriptive, and career development typically is a function of where you want to take your career journey. It could be global, local, or across products. So if I tie that back to learning and development, 70 percent of the learning happens at the job, 20 percent through observation and 10 percent through classrooms. We are not very heavy on classroom type learning. When we find great talent comprising 60-70 percent-ready for the next level job, we give it to them. We literally put talented employees at the deep end of the pool and ask them to swim. We don’t let them sink, we provide them with the right support, but we give them stretch assignments and that’s been a critical component of developing good leaders, good managers and good contributors as well.

Mentors, counsellors, buddies, are an important part of most big organisations. A lot of Gen Y entering the workforce have a sense of impatience and intolerance. I generally don’t indulge youngsters who ask when they will reach the c-suite because it would be answering for instant gratification. I usually tell them what they need to do to get there.

Once they know what the path is, they’re able to get there.

Leadership Development Programs also play a huge part. They help us create a sense of awareness.

But what’s very important is what happens after the classroom and how that learning is being applied. So in Citi we follow employees up to six to 12 months after they have attended a Leadership Development Program, and we’ve found a very high success rate of the program. vignesh.sh@gmail.com

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 25

Cradle of Leadership Prof. (Dr.) R Venkata Rao, Vice Chancellor National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore

Infusing Judicial Excellence Considered the ‘baby’ of the Bar Council of India (BCI), the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), holds the beacon to continuing excellence in legal studies. Now, in its 27th year, NLSIU was conceptualised during the second half of the 1980s. Since its inception in 1988, it has spearheaded a new momentum in legal studies in a scenario marked by poor delivery systems and questionable quality of legal education in India. The birth of NLSIU is regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the BCI. A concerted effort by the Judiciary, the BCI, the Karnataka Bar Council, the Bangalore University and the Government of Karnataka set the ball rolling to reform legal education in India. NLSIU, an outcome of a notification under the National Law School of India University Act (Karnataka Act 22 of 1986) became the platform for a centre of excellence for legal education and research in the country. With a US $ 150,000 government grant, the school was modelled around the case study format of the Harvard Law School. Stretching across 23 acres of green, NLSIU, which started as a two-room tenement within the Central College campus at Jnana Bharathi (Bangalore University), now has its own college cum residential campus for both students and faculty. The institute that started with nine dedicated teachers is seen as the vision of the legendary Prof. N. R. Madhava Menon, the father of modern legal education in India. He served as its founder director for 10 years.

Carrying forward this baton of excellence is its current Vice Chancellor - Prof.

(Dr.) R.Venkata Rao, an optimistic, highly passionate and young at heart legal educationist. The institute’s diverse and inclusive campus life stands testimony to the number of national and international awards bagged by its students Currently serving his second term at NLSIU since 2009, Dr. Rao shares his experiences in a career spanning 37 years -- and raring to go -- with his second innings at the institute slated to continue till 2019. Prior to joining NLSIU, Prof. Rao, endowed with an M.A. (Lit), M.L (Law) and PhD, served the Faculty of Law, Andhra University for 31 years in various capacities as the Dean (Faculty of Law), Principal (University College Of Law), Chairman (Board Of Studies in Law) and Head of the Department of Law. He also held office as the Dean of Students’ Affairs (Andhra University) and was a member of the Executive Council of Andhra University (2005 to 2007). He spoke to Corporate Citizen on the legal system that needs to flex and flux according to the changing times, the relevance of the Common Law Aptitude Test (CLAT), on the topicality of programs offered at NLSIU and on the need for continuous experimentation at law campuses for devising a legal curriculum that is practical and ensures good governance. By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar 26 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Corporate Citizen (CC): What led to the genesis of NLSIU and why is it considered the most prestigious law school in India?

Dr. Rao: The birth of the institute itself is unique which came under the mandate of the Bar Council of India (BCI) that governs and maintains standards in legal education in India. In the 1980s a thought arose that there was need for excellence in legal education. The BCI started conceptualising, and academicians, judges, members of the BCI came together and deliberated for over two-and-a-half years. If it took two years and nine months to frame the Indian Constitution, the NLSIU also took almost the same time to emerge! But people said, “Are you crazy? How can you have excellence in legal education? ” Excellence in legal education was unheard of, although people accepted the same for the AIIMS and JIPMER (medical) , the IITs, RECs (regional engineering colleges) and IIMs – Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Kolkata. It was jokingly said that “India has the dubious distinction of producing lawyers.”

Arguably, it is a fact that the eminence of a Nani Palkhivala, M.C. Setalvad or M. Hidayatullah was produced not because of law colleges but in spite of them. Old timers said, “Law colleges provide spaces for vehicles which cannot park elsewhere,” or “If you have nothing else to do, you join law or, pursuing legal education is a national hobby.” But a core group of people – Judges of the Supreme Court including eminent personalities like Ram Jethmalani from the BCI, VR Reddy, Justice N Mathur (who later became the Judge in Rajasthan), played a pivotal role in shaping the concept of NLSIU. The trio had courage, conviction, commitment, dedication, devotion and determination and relentlessly pursued the idea of excellence in legal education and establishing a national law school in India.

Pics: Sanjay MD

What were the challenges in setting up NLSIU?

Despite eminent members of the BCI advocating the concept, none of the state governments came forward to accept the idea. They did not believe in it. It was finally left to a visionary called Ramakrishna Hegde, former CM of Karnataka who always said, “If Delhi be the political capital of India, Mumbai, the financial capital, Bangalore is destined to become the intellectual capital of India.” He thus formed a vision in the conceptualisation of the National Law School, and during his tenure as the CM (1986 to 1988), made Bangalore University donate us land.

What were the initial experiences in setting up NLSIU?

Similar to how the US Supreme Court has nine judges, our institute started with nine dedicated teachers led by the legendary professor and

Padma Shri awardee, N. R. Madhava Menon, who became the Founder Director of the institute. They made a lot of sacrifices; sometimes they were even prepared to forgo their salary arrears to purchase books for the library and had lunch under the greenwood trees. But their commitment made NLSIU grow from strength to strength. Despite this, critics continued to doubt if this ‘experiment’ would last forever, or if this bubble would burst. Do understand that from 1988 onwards, when NLSIU was set up, and for the next ten years following its inception, this was the only national law school in India.

You use the term ‘experimentation’, why?

NLSIU, even today continues to be an experiment because you keep on changing. Society keeps on evolving and keeping pace with the changes is just one of the secrets of our success. Excellence in

“Arguably, it is a fact that the eminence of a Nani Palkhivala, M C Setalvad or M Hidayatullah was produced not because of law colleges but in spite of them” legal education was unheard of in the 1980s and therefore it was said, “We will start an experiment and prove it to the world”. People were watching it first with doubt, then with suspicion, but then it was followed with a sense of awe and admiration –from 1988 to 1998 this was the only law school which became a success. The success of the

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 27

Cradle of Leadership institute continues to up the benchmarks for other law colleges which has led to a paradigm shift in recent years, especially among students who now view law as a career prospect even at the undergraduate level. The phase during 1988 to 1998 was a decade of fantastic achievement for any dedicated national law school in India.

NLSIU offering a five-year BA LLB (honours) program after grade XII akin to the IITs is an offshoot of our successful experimentation.

Once this program became a success, the second prestigious national law school, NALSAR University of Law at Hyderabad was set up in 1998. Then, the period 1999 to 2000 saw two more law schools emerge -- NUJS (National University of Juridical Sciences) in Kolkata and the National Judicial Academy (NJA) in Bhopal.

Both NUJS and NJA were set up under the expert guidance of Prof. Madhava Menon after he completed his tenure here at NLSIU, Bangalore.

He was requested by the then CM of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, to model a law school akin to the Bangalore one in Kolkata too. Gradually, NLSIU was a movement that snowballed to give rise to more than 17 distinct law schools in the country.

Do cite some meaningful ‘experimentations’.

One of the secrets of our success is that we were given complete autonomy to appoint eminent persons as our faculty members. These are grouped as visiting professors and adjunct professors. With persons of eminence at our campus, students are exposed to diverse and varied experiences of older and experienced statespersons and naturally NLSIU succeeded.

You will be amazed to know that Madhava Menon, at 84 years, is an IBA chair on Continuing Legal Education and is a faculty at NLSIU. Since we were ever after excellence, success was also ours. For instance, NJA (National Judicial Academy), Bhopal offers in-house training program for judges who attend the school during

their service tenures either as district judges or high court judges to update their skills. Their knowledge and their interactions with the students are always beneficial to the respective institutes and the student fraternity.

What is the level of autonomy at NLSIU?

A unique reason for the success of the law school is that in the last six years there has been no political intervention at all in the working of the institute. Persons in power have acknowledged that “the National Law School is a jewel in the crown of Karnataka and is an institute of national character, doing wonderful work, so let us not interfere.” Hats off to persons in public life who never interfered in the workings of the institute.

The faculty have been given autonomy even in devising course content. Here, the faculty are the captains who, in consultation with senior professors of our Academic Review Committee, work on the syllabus with complete noninterference.

How sacrosanct is the all India CLAT exam?

CLAT is a good thing to have happened and you must look at the origin of CLAT to understand this. Earlier, law schools were allowed to conduct their own independent entrance tests which proved very expensive for students and would also cause inconvenience as they had to travel to each of these institutes to appear for the respective law entrance tests. Therefore in 2007, the Chief Justice of India and the Supreme Court took the initiative and formed a core committee of existing law schools. They were asked to conduct only one common admission test. In order to have an element of democracy, a test would be conducted by rotation by the respective law schools, in the chronological order in which they were established. So, the first test was conducted by Bangalore, the second by

“A visionary called Ramakrishna Hegde, former CM of Karnataka always said, “If Delhi be the political capital of India, Mumbai, the financial capital, Bangalore is destined to become the intellectual capital of India” 28 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Hyderabad and so on.

But the problem was that when you are doing it on rotation, every year you are back to square one as setting up of the test has to be done by one law school which is conducted as per their terms. So, why not we improve on CLAT and permanently establish a common institutional body that has the expertise to conduct CLAT examinations annually? Establishing a permanent CLAT body would enhance the value of CLAT itself, something on the lines of UPSC exams. The acid test for any institute is to restore confidence. We have to uphold people’s confidence in these institutions, especially the established ones, so as to prevent diluting of standards. The responsibility is on us to restore the functionality of these institutions.

How is legal education perceived today especially with the constant brand building of national law schools?

Regarding career preferences, it is often quoted that NLSIU is churning out graduates that aim for the corporate sector. It may be true enough, but not enough of the truth. Students do opt for the corporate sector during the initial three to five years and make enough money. But then they quit and join litigation, falling back on the money earned during the initial five years of their corporate career. This money comes handy during their gestation period, when they start practising as litigation advocates. It requires at least three to five years to establish oneself as a litigation lawyer. The reality is that today a good number of students are quitting their lucrative corporate mantles and joining the litigation field because they realise that there is money in the corporate sector but not enough work satisfaction. Although, the standard of living is

The campus

important, standard of life is more important.

After all, compared to the corporate sector, litigation advocacy offers ample challenge.

What are the current legal career trends amongst youngsters and the chosen streams?

Although, the corporate sector is a lucrative option, it provides one with cubicle existence.

The monotony of such jobs is increasingly getting highly brilliant students to opt out of the corporate sector. Instead, litigation advocacy is seen as a creative pursuit that enables individuals to expand their horizons. As a result, we see many young minds opting for litigation even in the initial stages of their careers and in socially relevant profiles such as human rights activism.

Although minimal, the trend is catching on.

Graduates are also following the judicial path and we have many examples of our students selected as district judges. Many also opt for alternate careers such as education advocacy, or move into academia. Many desire to pursue their masters and go abroad for further studies. Once you graduate from NLSIU Bangalore, you are aptly qualified for admissions into any Ivy League school such as Pennsylvania, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, et al.

How has legal education changed since 1988 when NLSIU was established?

Law is an evolving subject. In 1988, there was nothing called competition law. Today you also have, say an MRP Act and NLSIU primarily focuses on these emerging trends including environmental law. Certain concepts which were unknown, such as IP laws and patenting, all these changes are immediately incorporated in our module. Amartya Sen launched his new book on 26th August, 2015 and in September itself, we started a course on that book. Our focus is on the intellectual welfare of the students. We are not bothered as to who delivers it. We believe in the dictum that you can do anything in your life as long as you don’t mind who takes credit for it.

Evolving the curriculum even within existing modules by maintaining topicality is a challenge.

But we believe that the job of a teacher is not to cover the syllabus but uncover it. The syllabus is only part of the curriculum and one has to attend and see the experiments that our teachers conduct in classrooms to actually believe it. If the SC passes a verdict on uniform civil code, it becomes a module of the course content and gets incorporated immediately in our coursework.

Students have to come prepared, which makes the syllabus dynamic and evolving constantly.

What percentage of your graduates pursue teaching?

It is a very encouraging trend. Presently, we have two or three brilliant alumni who have forfeited

everything else and have come back to teach here. Over the last six years of my association, the change is gradually shifting away from corporate to academics. Some of our pre-2009 alumni have now given up their lucrative careers and have come back into teaching. In the next couple of years, the whole thing is likely to concretise. As of now, 60 to 70 per cent of law graduates opt for the corporate sector and the remaining is split between academics and litigation advocacy, which is on the higher side compared to academics.

How different is your integrated fiveyear BA LLB (honours) format?

Our pattern of teaching was innovative right from day one, as NLSIU believed in innovation and not renovation. Compared with any traditional law college, the founding fathers of the institute had a long term vision to impact changes via its curriculum and maintain topicality. They devised a trimester system that was alien to law colleges then and perhaps, this is the only law school where you have a trimester system. Each year, you have three semesters and this is a five year course. In each semester you have four papers which implies that you have to work on 12 papers every year and 60 papers by the end of the 5th year in your chosen subjects. Nothing unusual, but in these 60 papers, each student is required to write a compulsory project which is topical.

For example, if I am a criminal law teacher, I will immediately give my students a project on the legality of Yakub Memon’s execution. The student is required to consult the teacher. This way, both the student and the teachers are kept on their toes which encourages continuous deliberation to arrive at any palpable solution even at the campus level. Thus, a student writes 60 projects - all on emerging topics such as the changing environmental law, patent laws etc. By the time our student walks out of the university after five years, he would have submitted 60 projects and faced 60 vivas which would make

“By the time our student walks out of the university after five years, he would have submitted 60 projects and faced 60 vivas which would make the student’s writing and communication skills, if not consummate, near perfect. His ability to analyse, to comprehend, to interpret and his ability to put them across will be first rate” the student’s writing and communication skills, if not consummate, near perfect. His ability to analyse, to comprehend, to interpret and his ability to put them across will be first rate.

Despite the heightened demand for seats for your integrated BA LLB (honours) program, you continue to retain an annual cap of 80 seats. Why? Right from day one, we had 80 seats every year for our undergraduate (UG) program and have not increased the strength in the last 27 years.

NLSIU today has become a brand and we consider our students our ambassadors. Even if we increase our strength to 500, all seats would be sold like hot cakes. But this is where we are apprehensive because unless we have a foolproof mechanism for providing facilities which would augment the worth of our programs, we should not unnecessarily put the cart before the horse by increasing the number of seats. Our focus has been on quality and not quantity .Therefore, we resisted from increasing the strength of the popular UG program for qualitative mentoring of our 400 residential students.

What has been your prime achievement in the past one year?

The introduction of the revolutionary Masters in Public Policy Program is innovative in itself.

This is a two-year PG program where graduates from any discipline are selected on the basis of a very qualitative all India entrance test. Our observation is that for good governance, the focus on public policy is absolutely essential and what India lacks is expertise in public policy.

The gap is felt to such an extent that IAS officers

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 29

Cradle of Leadership are sent to the Kennedy School of Public Policy, U.S., to get an exposure to public policy during their careers. We identified that during their career tenure of five to ten years, a similar public policy program would equip our administrative officers in good governance. We decided to create a department under the School of Public Policy, which will be as good, if not better than Kennedy School. The first batch of about 47 students in 2014 will pass out in 2016. It is amazing to note that we have graduates from St. Stephens Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Jadhavpur University, Kolkata and other premier institutions. Fifty students have enrolled for the current 2015-2017 batch. We can go on to 60 students too for this program but if students do not live up to our set standards, we could terminate the program too. It is all about quality – students are selected based on screening committee, interviews etc.

Do you have a special faculty for the Public Policy Program?

As with all our other programs, we have flexibility in the type of faculty we engage and also draw expertise from outside. For our UG courses we invite IAS and IPS officers. Prof. Chakrapani, former IAS officer, Govt. of Hyderabad, took a lecture on public policy based on the Harvard model. Apart from our permanent regular faculty, the department also identifies a particular module A, B or C and a potential visiting faculty.

Students gain from the diverse exposure through this program. This experiment too was successful, such that our senior students of the Public Policy Program (who are now in the second year) were invited by the ministries under the Govt. of India to intern with them. The final trump card was when under the BRICS Youth Development program, a delegation was sent to Russia in July, 2015 under PM Narendra Modi’s team. Three NLSIU students were selected as part of the team and one in a leadership capacity, which implies that our Public Policy Program has received the needed recognition.

Do share some accomplishments of your alumni.

For the first decade (1988 to 1998), we were the only law school. Therefore, today we have alumni from the first ten years who give us an advantage over other law schools. They now occupy very eminent positions. Vikram Raghav is with the World Bank, Lavanya Rajmani with the UN and Aditya Sondhi a leading practitioner in the High Court. Four of our students have been nominated as senior advocates in different high courts. Therefore, the next generation of leading advocates of the Supreme Court will be from NLSIU. When the likes of eminent person as such as Gopal Shankar Narayanan, Dayal Vishnu, Soli Sorabjee and Fali Nariman are required to hand over the batons, it will be these next generation

‘My advice is that even when you study law, the first question you must ask is, “Is it right?” and not, “Is it lawful?” and one that justifies your conscience. Your approach should be on permanent values and not temporary valuations.‘ individuals who will be taking over and they are from NLSIU. Our students occupy top positions in the corporate sector, within the UN, in the UPSC and other civil services. Our alumni also oblige by taking guest lectures.

Do you get funding aid from your alumni?

On funding aspects, we make an appeal to our alumni and sometimes we divert money from our general fund and our statutory body’s executive council and general councils who are very magnanimous. There is no shortage of money.

We also work around an Alumni Corpus Model for funding. Say, you belong to the 1998 batch –you come together and float a corpus called the 1998 scholarship and it could be a grant of ₹ 10 lakh and the interest generated from this corpus is say ₹ One lakh – this becomes the annual scholarship fund. Likewise, we have other corpus funding by different alumni batches, corporate sponsorships and scholarships.

How do you maintain inclusiveness and diversity within the campus?

In the past one year, you would be amazed to know that the dominance of metropolitan cities in our campus is a thing of the past. People from small towns are now joining our course .This year you hardly have any students from Delhi, a few from Mumbai but now we have students from small towns in MP, Karnataka, UP, Maharashtra, etc., which is a very important indicator of the changing trend. Our in-house scholarship committee also works with the Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA), an outfit founded by Shamnad Basheer, an important alumnus of NLSIU who identifies law aspirants from underprivileged families. We have modified the scholarship policy so as to incorporate social safety net to increase participation in our UG course by students from all strata. IDIA program is not just to identify students for scholarships but they also prepare poor students after identifying

30 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

The inside view of the college (library)

them, and coach them for CLAT. They also help these students to identify law schools for possible admissions. Our existing students also mentor and sometimes these classes are also held at our campus. All logistic facilities are provided by us for underprivileged students in the IX and X grade to help prepare them for CLAT.

What is so special about your UG flexible Single Credit and seminar courses?

Apart from the cumulative compulsory papers that need to be submitted which accounts for only 25 percent of work done, students also take up single credit or seminar courses. One hallmark of our continuing experimentation is to either invite an eminent speaker from public life, who might also volunteer to conduct classes at NLSIU. The guest is accordingly invited to stay at our campus for a week and students who enrol for these single credit courses gain points that are added on to the main mark sheet. Likewise, a student can take three to four seminar courses or single credit courses. By the time a student completes his 5th year, these courses reflect on his final marks statements in addition to his regular grade status. These credit or seminar courses also help our students while applying for a seat at Yale or Harvard. This ensures an industry and academic connect which also makes life at the campus more lively.

Which are the other programs in demand at NLSIU?

We now have a one year Master of Laws (LL.M) program that offers 50 seats and is strictly residential. Earlier this was a two year program, which has been reduced to a year following UGC norms. We also have non-residential PhD programs and our distance education program. NLSIU is perhaps the only university which offers a two-year Master of Business Law (MBL) program through distance education.

The beauty of this program is that though it is

a Masters degree in law, we do not require any prior LLB (Bachelors) qualification to enrol for this program. Here we teach you IP (intellectual property) rights, patent law, environmental law, facets of company law, securities, and acquisitions and ventures, etc. Most IAS officers, IPS officers and doctors join this course. Apart from this, we have six PG diploma courses which include diploma in human rights, cyber law, environmental law and IP law. The other programs come under our regular LLB, LLM and PhD curricula and were established in 1988.

How unique is campus life at NLSIU?

Our teachers also reside at the campus and are available for consultation from 2 p.m. onwards which is unique in comparison to regular law colleges. What happens after class hours is more important than what happens during class hours! The job at NLSIU is 24/7. Whether it is mentoring students by the faculty or delivering lectures, there is no binding on time. Faculty can be approached even at 9 p.m. Class attendance is compulsory and in order to incentivise the students, we also give them five marks for 100 percent attendance. Therefore, students too do not like to miss even a single class here.

You speak of holistic learning, do share an example?

We expose our students not only to subjects in law but also to the wisdom of experts in law, as law is a holistic subject. Flexibility of class working hours is another wonderful feature of our institute. For instance, we had P Sainath of The Hindu for one full week, and he conducted a seminar course which was outside the purview of our syllabus. But our students gained from their interactions with P Sainath and from similar workshops with eminent experts like N Ram and Ramchandra Guha. Although, a typical day starts at 8.15 a.m. and goes on up to 1.30 p.m., we say working hours are flexible to the extent that our library is open till 3 a.m. at night. Even

‘Evolving curriculum even within existing modules by maintaining topicality is a challenge. But we believe that the job of a teacher is not to cover the syllabus but uncover it. The syllabus is only part of the curriculum...’ at 1 am, you may see at least 100 students up and working. The holistic pattern of learning and interactive activities can go on till 11 pm and the learning never stops here. Here, everyone works with pleasure and not under pressure.

What is your advice to the new generation in up-keeping judicial justice?

Let me confess that the younger generation in India is extremely talented and we cannot let them down. My advice is that even when you study law, the first question you must ask is, “Is it right?” and not, “Is it lawful?” and one that justifies your conscience. Your approach should be on permanent values and not temporary valuations. So, we as teachers have a responsibility, as education is not information but the formation of a complete human being.

What do you envisage are the future challenges for NLSIU?

An achievement becomes meaningless once you have achieved it and today’s knowledge being tomorrow’s ignorance are the two challenges that

we have. The greatest challenge for the faculty is constant updating of skills, as law is changing at an exponential pace. As one jury remarked “NLSIU is in the danger of becoming a victim of its own success!” It is like Sachin Tendulkar going to bat, and every time he is expected to score a century, forgetting that he is a human being. Likewise, we are expected to be nothing short of super excellent – in terms of increasing expectations and benchmarks, which keeps us on our toes. We want to aspire to the next level and one day be able to say that NLSIU Bangalore will become the benchmark for Harvard – a formidable task, but I do enjoy the prospect!

Do tell us about your early years.

I come from a very big Telugu speaking joint family and spent the first 21 years of my life in the border town of Andhra Pradesh, Berhampur (in Odisha) -- also home town of former Indian President, V. V. Giri. Our family migrated to Berhampur about four generations ago. I completed my M.A. (English Lit.) and UG program in Law from Berhampur University. I completed M.L (International Law) under the tutelage of the internationally renowned Prof. B.S. Murthy. I immediately joined as faculty in 1978 and had an uninterrupted innings of 31 years until May 2009. Because of my filial obligations, I could not move out of Vishakhapatnam which is 160 kms from Behrampur, as I was the eldest son in a family of 11 siblings. My father was a doctor.

Post the demise of both my parents in 2007, we pledged and donated our ancestral property to Sri Venkateshwara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupathi. I come from a family of music lovers, especially Carnatic classical music. We have dedicated an annual award for upcoming musicians in memory of my mother who was an exponent in this art, and have called it the M.S. Subalakshmi award. I never think of tomorrow and do the best I can today and I have no complaints against God. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 31

Cover Story Dynamic Duo 14

Sujata and Yogi Sriram

Live & let live

Yogi Sriram, Senior Vice President, Corporate HR, Larsen & Toubro also served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces. Sriram has over 38 years of experience in Human Resources Development. He has led the HR function in Asea Brown Boveri Limited.

Before joining Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, he was the HR Director (Africa, Middle East, Turkey & South Asia) with British Petroleum. He served as Senior Vice President ¬Human Resources of Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. until July 2007. After schooling at DPS Mathura Road, Sriram got a Bachelor’s degree from Shriram College of Commerce, New Delhi, Master’s in Personnel Management & IR from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, an L.L.B. from the University of Delhi and an M.B.A. in Organisation Behaviour from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), New Delhi. He also has a Diploma in Training and Development from the Indian Society for Training & Development and has been conferred with Fellow of the All India Management Association.

His charming wife, Sujata is currently an Associate Professor and Dean in the School of Human Ecology, at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. She has a Doctorate in Child Development and Psychology, and earlier served as faculty at Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi. She was awarded the prestigious Fulbright scholarship in 2010-11 for carrying out research at the University of California in San Diego. Some of her research areas are on issues such as identity, happiness, selection of marriage partners, religion in the life of families and children, social networking.

She is also part of a team at TISS which initiated a psycho-social helpline called iCALL that provides counselling on telephone and email for people in psycho-social distress. She has done stints of research in the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim, Norway besides making presentations at the Berkman Center of Internet and Society at the Harvard Law School. Corporate Citizen meets this lively and intellectual couple, whose humour running rife in their veins makes for a happy and contented marital life.

By Vinita Deshmukh

32 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Pics: Tushar Mane

We not only celebrate our differences, but are also ready to talk about them, in order to maintain a healthy marital relationship September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 33

Cover Story Simplicity and humility in disposition and attitude is the first thing that strikes you about Yogi Sriram and his wife Sujata. Yogi (as he is fondly called), perched at the top of the corporate echelon and who openly declares his preference for dressing up formally for every occasion, is in reality quite informal and witty when he interacts with people. Sujata is forthright and frank, and theirs is an enviable marriage spanning more than 30 years of agreeing to disagree on probably every subject, but living together in unison. Giving space to each other and wearing the philosophy of live and let live on their sleeves seems to be the USP of their successful partnership. It is also rare that humour runs so freely through the veins of both, and they do not hesitate taking jibes at each other while narrating their courtship days.

Jab we met Despite wondering whether Sriram loved his bullet mobike more than her, and despite the arrogance which she says was writ large on his face when she first met him, Sujata not only fell in love with Sriram but decided to tie the nuptial knot.

So, how did she meet him? Says she, with a smile, “Yogi’s sister was my professor in college and Yogi was working with NTPC at that time.

He had just finished his LLB. Both of us met in Delhi. I was staying at the Lady Irwin College hostel. I was finishing my Masters at the time we met. Yogi’s sister and mother used to live together on the campus and I got friendly with his sister. I used to meet him occasionally when he came to visit them. The first time I met him, I had gone to run an errand for his sister. He was literally looking down his very prominent nose, at me. I thought, who is this guy, and what’s he doing here. What does he think of himself? It was then that I learnt that he was my professor’s brother,” Says Sriram, “She had a rare combination of beauty, brains and everything. It took me a long time to make a decision because I cherished my independence. When it came to push-comesto-shove and making the final decision, she was quite assertive. She said you make up your mind one-way-or-the-other. And that’s how it happened and we tied the nuptial knot after two years of courtship.”

As for Sujata, she says, “I always felt he was extremely arrogant. Definitely there were feelings of irritation, but at the same time, yes, he looked nice. He had a lot more hair than he has now.”

They got married in May, 1984. Reminisces Sujata, “After I finished my viva at 4 pm, I had to get ready for the engagement at 6 pm. Since it was a South Indian style of function, it was expected that we would have a very grand engagement ceremony.”

However, soon after marriage, Sujata was to find out that she was not his first love – it was

He has a room full of HO/OO trains... It is very important to have a hobby because one of the main problems of corporate life -- especially with technology -- is that work never really stops his 350 cc Enfield Bullet motorcycle! Narrates Sujatha, “Pretty soon after we got married, we had gone for a movie on the bike in summer, in Chanakyapuri. After the movie we found that the bike had a puncture.” Butts in Sriram, “I didn’t want to leave it there, so we walked home with the bike for 8 kms and I asked her to push it. I kept motivating her and that’s how we learnt the art of motivation,” he chuckles, further adding cheekily, “I was very fond of it, even more than her.”

Narrating another incident, Sujata states, “On another occasion, we had gone for a movie on the bike in October when the weather in Delhi changes very suddenly. It takes just one shower to make the weather cold. I was riding on this bike and I remember the colour of the shirt I was wearing - it was blue. It was silky in texture and I didn’t have a coat or anything else. And this guy was zipped up right to the top in his padded

34 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

jacket. I was freezing and he did not even offer me his jacket or anything else. Even behind his fairly considerable self, I really didn’t have much protection.”

He also had another love, reveals Sujata and that was the 1964 two-door model Standard Herald car. Says she, “I learnt to drive that car and every time I went out on the road, I was respectfully given way by everybody, because they were worried that the car would stop and there would be a traffic jam. Once, we were going over a flyover and while coming down it, I noticed a wheel on the side and just as I was wondering whose wheel could it be, suddenly our car went down. I then realised…...’’

Yogi adds the punchline, “I told her that the car runs on will power and not on petrol. From the rear side the car looked like a duck, with both the tyres going inward and when there were enough people sitting, it would sort of straighten up. The bonnet used to fly open unpredictably in the middle of the road. It had petrol power, horse power, will power and also woman power because she has pushed it many times to get started.’’

Says Sujata, “It’s done lot of strange things and we spent a lot of money in repairing the car. But we had no option. No one would buy the old jalopy.”

That the families were not strangers to each other was revealed after they met. Says Sujata, “My grandfather was a public health official and Sriram’s dad was also in public health. It turns out that my grandfather was a mentor to his father.

after she got better, which was in a day or so. We had a lot of arguments on what is hygienic and what is not. I was a very fastidious person and still am. Just like when I came in I did not shake hands because I had to wash my hands. So everything has to be washed and cleaned.”

That is an old story which probably helped my mother-in-law look at me more affectionately. I was a good South Indian Brahmin from a service class family and best of all, the granddaughter of Dr. Adi Subramanian, who was, after all, a mentor for Sriram’s dad. When I talk to my mother about it, she keeps telling me stories of how Sriram’s dad was very well known in the public health service.’’

Roller coaster honeymoon “On our honeymoon too we fought like crazy,’’ confesses Yogi. “We went to Kausani, near Nainital. From Nainital we took one of those UP tourism buses. I am a frugal holidayer.

I decided a cost effective holiday, instead of wasting money. She and I were clad in jeans and T-shirt and carried backpacks. I made an advance booking with Kumaon Vikas Mandal Nigam (state government motels), which has smart basics and nothing else. Then we went to Raniket and just above one can walk to a place called Chaubatia, which has a fruit garden. There we had a wonderful time. We visited the Kumaon Regiment and then went to Kausani, a famous summer resort. My good wife developed viral diarrhoea because of the wheat grain.”

Elaborates Sujata, “It is a fungus that comes on the freshly harvested wheat and it causes very severe stomach problems. I was afflicted by that and there was this doctor who treated us, who was on his way to the US.’’ Adds Yogi, “He gave us some sulpha tablets from the local dispensary, but we walked a lot

Togetherness in marriage Yogi: One, celebrate differences. I represent extraversion, intuition, thinking, judgment (ENTJ) type of personality and she is a introversion, intuition, thinking, perceiving (INTP) type of personality. ENTJ is a very structured, assertive person, referred to as life’s natural leaders. So normally if you open my cupboards, they are kept in a proper order, and says Yogi “if I have to find something, I am so structured that I cannot find it immediately without the help of a INTP!” Sujata: Essentially when you talk about extraversion, that is where you get your energy from. Do you get your energy from outside or do you derive it from within you. He gets a lot of energy from the appreciation and applause he gets from work. For me, I need to get it from within. I get exhausted when I am surrounded by too many people, when too many things are happening outside – then I need to get into my own self.

Yogi: So, we are totally different personalities, but we have adjusted with each other. For example, if we go on a holiday, invariably we have arguments every day, about where to go or what to see. I like to check it out in a structured way - we have seen this, we have seen that -- but she likes to wander off on an unchartered path. That’s her own way. I recognize that, so sometimes we do our own thing. I may go to a particular type of shop, based on a hobby that I have, and she goes off somewhere else, but we meet shortly after that.

Sujata: The other issue is, it’s not just about celebrating the difference, but also to be ready to talk about it, in order to maintain a healthy marital relationship.

Hobby, a must Sujata: He is into Scale Model trains. He has a room full of HO/OO trains and the sides of our ceiling in the living room have a rail track. It is very important for one to have a hobby because one of the main problems that comes with corporate life -- especially with smartphones, computers, laptops and Wi-Fi -- is that work never really stops - your work hours just continue, even if you have come back home. You get on to emails or Skype calls or something else. At least his hobby helps him switched off from work and move on to something else which gives a lot more intrinsic satisfaction, than just work. Otherwise it can become monotonous.

Yogi’s eyes light up at this subject and he elaborates, “My first train was bought when I

was just nine years old, when I was taken to Hamleys in London. My parents asked me what I wanted. I was the youngest child and they were extra indulgent. I had never seen a toy shop with so many toys, so I was quite overwhelmed. They took me to the train section and that’s when I got my first Triang train. I still have that tiny Locomotive - she is sitting in the corner, 51 years old and still in working condition though a little wobbly. Since then I have added to the collection – I have over 32 trains now. Most of them are ‘she’, I am supposed to refer to locomotives respectfully as ‘she’. Some of them have whistles, bells, some have horns, lights and there are some that make a chuff-chuff sound. I do the electronics myself.

It is my passion to learn and practice electronics.

“Here you are engaging the mind, the hands and the eyes. When you engage three things together, you are in unison and get quite engaged in what you do. That is the good part of this hobby. And finally the product that comes out is aesthetically very beautiful. It’s a miniature train, with miniature lighting, and you have little people inside the train, so it’s a good way to be engaged.

For me, life is like a journey, therefore trains are very important.’’

Yogi: Yes, I too believe that for a successful marriage, both the spouses should pursue a hobby. Sujata is very passionate about reading, so she got her second Kindle, after she lost the first one. She keeps reading and once in a while she plays mah-jong on her PC. Research in family studies Sujata: At the time I joined TISS, I joined the Unit for Family Studies -- researching on issues relating to families. Much of what I am doing

There are a lot of areas like engineering design, where we would be very happy to have women. Frankly, it means, more stability. Women prefer to be in the same setting, while men tend to change settings - Yogi Sriram

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 35

Cover Story right now – setting up this counselling centre and helping set up telephone counselling helplines -came from the push from the institute itself, very specifically, the directions given by the Director.

I have also worked on issues of employability and multiple other issues. One of the great things about TISS is getting the opportunity to explore other avenues. In the process some of my colleagues and I got started with this masters programme in counselling. We keep talking about people getting stressed. But people do not know whom to approach, what kind of help to access. Psychiatrists are few and far between in this country, and psychiatrists here prefer to medicate rather than talk. So we thought, why not start a programme where we can train people to become counsellors. That was in 2009 and from that time we have haven’t looked back. We now teach two MA programmes in Psychology, and are planning an MPhil programme as well.

Marriage expectations Sujata: A couple of studies I worked on looked at selection of marriage partners and what people look for in marriage partners. We have to recognize that in India, arranged marriages are still preferred by the young generation. Your parents have done the initial proposal making, and after that you get to know each other, and then the marriage happens. It still continues that way, because ultimately it’s always convenient for the young couple to have somebody to fall back on.

If the marriage does not succeed, who can you fall back on? This way it ensures family support.

Families can’t turn back and say, you have chosen your own partner, so you go your own way.

Yogi’s counselling tryst Yogi: In my case, I did this one month course on counselling at St. Xavier’s Institute of

Counselling. I was GM, HRD for ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB) in the early 90’s. It’s not an easy course to get into. It was a full day course and you could not miss class. I requested my management to nominate me, which they did. That was my connection with counselling. Ever since, I use the principles when I need to, in a different setting and context. Sujata works more with people who are distressed. Mine is a mixed bag. This course helped me with performance appraisals. It helped me in training people, using the techniques, not to jump straightaway into advising. The first thing that the course teaches you is to label a feeling, so that you understand the other person better and stimulate the other to talk. All those principles helped a lot.

Diverse cultures Yogi: There is too much hype about cultural sensitivity. It is best for people to be what they are, but to be aware of other cultures. To try and clone other cultures is a bad idea. This whole myth of the proverbial global manager is not correct.

You can learn one culture, perhaps master one culture that’s your own. Supposing there is a Gokulashtami event, maybe you are unable to

Live life to find your happiness.

If you look at the happiness index, India is a very unhappy country.

Somewhere, we need to look within ourselves, to become happier

really explain to a foreigner as to why people climb the human pyramid to break the pot. But all of a sudden if you try to celebrate Halloween, it sounds phony. Firstly master your own culture, second, read about others’. I think food is a very good way to learn about other people’s culture.

Sujata: Be aware of another culture, prepare to accept the fact that the other culture has things you can learn. Otherwise we often see Indians viewing other cultures as threatening, as something that is not good for you, or subversive.

This gets exaggerated if you have children living in another culture.

Fitness through food Yogi: I can cook, but I cook in a scientific way. For example if I have to make a chapatti, I will take a katori and shape it out (he chuckles). Adds Sujata, “And somebody else has to do the cleaning up.’’

“Jokes apart, we are very particular about what we eat. For many years in my life my wife fed me with a fantastic concoction. It came in a container which was long and had an airtight lid. It was a smoothie made of curd, pomegranate, flax seeds, apples, seasonal fruit, grapes, raisins and walnuts.

It was a very powerful concoction - it was called brain food in the house. I used to look forward to this meal at about 10.30 a.m. She cooks well, and has a flair for making balanced food. I can’t consume wheat, because I have gluten allergy. On my birthday this year, Sujatha baked a cake with rajgira, which was very nice.

Sujatha: I started to innovate and to experiment to make wheat-less and eggless cakes.

Bringing up son Yogi: In the beginning, our son, Krishna was looked after by Sujata’s parents who were in Delhi. We were really lucky.

Sujata: In other ways we tried to be consistent, in the sense, if he said something, I wouldn’t contradict it. That is very important but most parents forget. They start up a squabble in front of the child, and that’s how the problem starts.

Our children are clever, they can really find out where the power lies and how to use that power very tactfully and then play it against parents.

Yogi: Incidentally we are three very different personalities. Krishna is an ENTJ like me but quite different. He is very technology oriented, with mechanical and bio medical engineering. He has a Doctorate from California and is now busy with post-doctoral research in Southern California.

‘Working’ guilt Sujata: As a working woman, I definitely didn’t feel guilty at all. I never felt I deprived him of anything by going out to work. My working meant that my mind stayed active. And I was not an inadequate caregiver for him. I was also very particular that once I got home, it would be family time. Weekends were very important in terms of

36 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

On our honeymoon, we fought like crazy. Even now, if we go on a holiday, invariably we have arguments every day, about where to go or what to see learn to love your role then automatically your tendency to jump the job will be less. Which means that it has to be the patient accumulation of successes. This quick hit, quick win kind of thing won’t work - usually it does not work. To make an impact in any job it takes minimum four to five years. To make a change in HR or any field, one has to have patience to see through that change, to decide whether that is the right cup of tea or not.

Sujata: Unfortunately in the Indian sociological milieu there is too much of a tendency for parents to compare. Achhi naukri means it has to be a particular type of job or bringing a particular amount of money. There is still this stereotypical understanding of what a good job is. The comparison is not only with your neighbour’s kids but also within the family.

It is not only in the work sphere, it starts right from school, in terms of what stream you take, what scores you bring, etc. In India, today, young people are in a hurry. And you don’t have the time to stand and think about what you want to do, because if you stand to think somebody will knock you down. all the scheduling of activities with the child.

Yogi: Secondly, whatever you practise as parents is normally learnt by the child. In our case our son is very hardworking, and both of us are hardworking. The next is frugality - he is quite frugal and spends his money very wisely.

Women in the corporate world Yogi: There are a sizeable number of women who join us in L&T as engineer trainees, but few stay beyond a particular level, which is a matter of concern. Perhaps the reason is that they have to start a family, or their respective husbands are transferred out. But we do encourage them to join us. We have a policy of going strictly by merit. We do recognize that in any meeting, it is important to have lady employees. There are some special initiatives that we are undertaking, in select vocations, to induct women who have taken a career break. It is like a second career option, and we have certain rules for that. It is very difficult to come back to a job when you have taken a break of five to six years. When the break is long, it is difficult, because skills get rusty.

In a corporate body, we have to be careful. We encourage such entries in certain vocations like auditing, some aspects of finance, etc. We don’t have flexi timings for the second career option inductees, but we provide facilities that are required for a lady employee, for example safe travel while returning home.

A little over 30 per cent of our equity is owned by government organizations like UTI, LIC, GTI, etc. They have women director representatives, at least one from these organizations, so we fulfil the quota. Even at the leadership level we will be very happy to have women. There are a lot of areas like engineering design, for example, where we will be very happy to have more women employees.

Because, frankly, it means a lot more stability.

Women tend to like to be in a more stable setting, while men tend to change. These days we have fantastic women engineers and some of them are doing much better than men.

Job hopping Yogi: It is important first of all to love your job, to love your role. Your role is very important. If you

Philosophy of life Sujata: Live life to find your happiness. If you look at the happiness index, India is a very unhappy country. Somewhere, we need to look inside, within ourselves, and look at how we can become happier. It also means that you must find out what you are good at, learn how you can adapt to your environment. Very often we expect the environment to adapt to you.

Yogi: Learn and learn more. There is not a day about which I feel satisfied if I have not learnt. There may be a particular day when you spend a lot of time with people, then learn from them. There may be a particular day when you spend time on the computer, so learn from the computer. So whatever you do, you learn, learn, and learn. Secondly, be happy with yourself. And lastly be yourself. If anybody has to describe me, they may say I am a very distinctly different person. But I don’t want to be different for the sake of being different. I am myself. It is very difficult to put me back to what people call the ‘norm’. I am not the norm. vinita.deshmukh@corporatecitizen.in

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 37

CII Case Study-7

Salahkaar Consultants : Handing over the baton in a family-run business by

Name of the Author – Shiji Lyndon Institute – K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research

CII Western Region EdgeFarm-HR Case Study Writing Competition

Finalist

Shiji Lyndon is currently working as an Assistant Professor with K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research. She is pursuing her doctoral studies from Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. She has more than 10 years of academic experience and is also certified in Competency Mapping. She is a gold medalist and university rank holder from M.S University of Baroda in various courses like B.Com, M.Com, Diploma in Business Management, and Diploma in Human Resource Development. She is also been honoured with the Best Faculty Award from Aruna Manharlal Shah Institute of Management and Research. A number of Shiji’s research papers have been published in national and international journals. The topics on which her work has been published include leadership, organizational commitment, organizational culture, learning organization, to name a few.

Author: Shiji Lyndon

Introduction Salahkaar Consultants was an HR consultancy organization, based out of India. It was established with the objective to provide special Human Resource services to various organizations.

Over time, it had grown into a specialized wing of the Council of Behavioral Research (CBR). CBR was an organization which was devoted to research, publication, training and consulting in the areas of HR and other behavioral sciences and general management.

Salahkaar Consultants provided consulting and training in the area of competency mapping, assessment center, HR audit and gap analysis, HR processes, organizational culture, labour unrest, organizational development interventions. They also developed tools for testing, to assess various competencies.

They offered ready-made tests for clients as well as tailor-made tests as per the requirement of the clients. Salahkaar offered various distance educational courses in the area of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management.

Another major activity of Salahkaar was offering recruitment services to various industries at different levels. “King Makers” was the senior executive search division which dealt with hiring employees at the leadership level.

Corporate Citizen, the Exclusive Magazine Partner of the event, will publish the series of eight top Case Studies, one by one.

38 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

CII Case Study-7 Salahkaar Consultants was founded by Dr. C. N. Daftuar in Baroda, India, in the year 1983.

Over a period of time, the business grew from a one-man show to a team of 300 experts with assignments all across India. It was the knowledge and expertise of Daftuar in the field of industrial psychology and human resource management, which had made Salahkaar consultants a success. But, now with ailing health, he wanted to take a back seat and hand over the complete reins of Salahkaar Consultants to his son Shalav Salahkaar Consultants: Handing over the baton in a family-run business

Early 2014, the management of Salahkaar Consultants was charting the way forward towards achieving an objective: Taking charge of the HR consulting business in India. Salahkaar Consultants provided consulting, training, recruitment, testing, executive educational, HRIS, HR-IT and related solutions in areas of Human Resource Development, Organizational Development, and Industrial Psychology, so on and so forth Salahkaar Consultants was founded by Dr. C. N. Daftuar in Baroda, India, in the year 1983. Over a period of time, the business grew from a one-man show to a team of 300 experts with assignments all across India. It was the knowledge and expertise of Daftuar in the field of industrial psychology and human resource management, which had made Salahkaar consultants a success. But, now with ailing health, he wanted to take a back seat and hand over the complete reins of Salahkaar Consultants to his son Shalav.

Salahkaar Consultants and Dr. Daftuar: The story in short

Salahkaar Consultants was an HR consultancy organization, based out of India. It was established with the objective to provide special Human Resource services to various organizations. Over time, it had grown into a specialized wing of the Council of Behavioral Research (CBR). CBR was an organization which was devoted to research, publication, training and consulting in the areas of HR and other behavioral sciences and general management.

Salahkaar Consultants provided consulting and training in the area of competency mapping, assessment center, HR audit and gap analysis, HR processes, organizational culture, labour unrest, organizational development interventions. They also developed tools for testing, to assess various competencies. They offered ready-made tests for clients as well as tailor-made tests as per the requirement of the clients.

Salahkaar offered various distance educational courses in the area of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management.

Another major activity of Salahkaar was offering recruitment services to various industries at different levels. “King Makers” was the senior executive search division which dealt with hiring employees at the leadership level.

Dr. C. N. Daftuar was the chief mentor and CMD of Salahkaar Consultants. He was a specialist in the area of HRD, Organizational Development, Organizational Behavior, Industrial Psychology, Competency Mapping, Ergonomics and Social Psychology. Dr. Daftuar was the only D.Litt in Organizational Behavior in India.

Dr. Daftuar had more than 35 years of teaching, research and consulting experience. He was selected as a National Associate of the

University Grant Commission, India, at the young age of 28. He was the Head of Department of Psychology, M. S. University, Baroda, India.

He was also associated as a visiting scholar, in various roles, to several national and international organizations like University of Technology, Loughbourough, U.K., University of Cambridge, U.K., Railway Staff College, Baroda, Bank of Baroda Staff College, Institute of Public Enterprises, Hyderabad, IIT, Kanpur, Academy of HRD, to name a few.

Dr. Daftuar was the recipient of the prestigious title “Man of the Year-1997” by the ABI, USA, and was quoted in Marquis’ WHO’S – WHO as being among world-eminent scholars. He had also won several awards (including Times Research Foundation Award, 1985 and Distinguished Leadership Award by ABI, USA).

Dr. Daftuar had published 3 books and over 100 research based articles in Indian and international academic journals. He had guided over a dozen Ph.Ds. and post-doctoral students. He had also constructed and published over two dozen behavioral and psychological tests and HRD/training tools. Among other credentials, Dr. Daftuar has also had the honour of being the founder Chairman of the Association of Stress Research and Management (ASHRAM) and The Council of Behavioral Research. He was also the Western Regional Chairman of the Indian Association of the Applied Psychology.

Salahkaar: Birth of an idea

Dr. Daftuar was basically from the state of Bihar in India. He had graduated from Patna University. He pursued his master’s degree in 1964 from IIT, Kharagpur which was a premier institute in India.

During his tenure at IIT, Kharagpur – initially as a student and later as a research scholar – he focused on the area of Ergonomics. Ergonomics is the human science which studies workplace design. Ergonomics is considered as the science of fitting machine to man and is also called as Human Factor Engineering. Dr. Daftuar’s work in Ergonomics brought him lot of international appreciation to the extent that he was considered as a third-world expert in Ergonomics. In 1970, Dr. Alphonse Chapanis (who is considered as the Father of Ergonomics) invited Dr. Daftuar to Poland to share his views about Cross Cultural Factors in Ergonomics. Thus, it was in his early days that Dr. Daftuar established himself as a researcher.

In the year 1980, Dr. Daftuar moved to Baroda, a city in Gujarat, India. There, he joined as a Reader in the Department of Psychology, M. S. University. After shifting to Baroda, Dr. Daftuar tried to set up a laboratory to further his research in the area of Ergonomics. However, he couldn’t make much headway in that direction. Therefore, he started keeping an eye out for other avenues to use his knowledge and expertise.

It was during such a time that the idea of Salahkaar was born. Dr. Daftuar and two of his friends were having a casual conversation about September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 39

CII Case Study-7 In the year 2000, Dr. Daftuar retired from M. S. University of Baroda, India. Later in 2003, he shifted from Baroda to Pune. Consequently, Salahkaar Consultants also shifted its base to Pune, India. Now, Dr. Daftuar decided to direct all his focus and energies towards Salahkaar Consultants. And his first move was to start a full-fledged office. The other step was to hire full-time employees to ensure there were sufficient human resources to manage the new range of services that Salahkaar was entering into how to use their accumulated knowledge, skills and experiences to do something more meaningful than their respective jobs. Dr. Daftuar was a researcher-cum-academician; his friends were from the corporate world. It then occurred to them that they could undertake some HR consultancy assignments. However, very soon, the two friends of Dr. Daftuar left Baroda to pursue their careers. So, in 1982, Dr. Daftuar independently commenced the initial activities of his new consultancy organization.

The first opportunity that came along was through one of the ex-students of Dr. Daftuar. She had joined Baroda Management Association. And it was during that time that BMA was planning a workshop on Leadership and Motivation for the senior managers.

BMA was looking out for an industrial psychologist who could be the potential resource of the programme. It was then that they contacted Dr. Daftuar to be the trainer for the programme. Initially he expressed his concerns about being a novice in the area, but later accepted the offer. Dr. Daftuar spent close to 45 days preparing for that 3-hour session on leadership. As a result of his persevering efforts, he came out with the A+p+N model of leadership – an initiative that got him the Times Foundation Award. The training programme was thus a roaring success. Baroda being a relatively small city, word spread quickly among the corporate circle.

As a result, a number of other corporates started inviting Dr. Daftuar, for various training programmes and workshops, to their respective organizations. He conducted a series of workshops with Indian Petro Chemical Limited (IPCL). IPCL insisted that to make the payment, the company would only be able to draw the cheque towards the name of a company, not towards an individual. And so, Dr. Daftuar was forced to name his venture. He was struggling to find a suitable name for the organization. It was then that the name ‘Salahkaar Consultants’ occurred to Dr. Daftuar. He felt it would fly, because of the one unique feature the name had: both the words in the name conveyed the same meaning. Thus, Salahkaar Consultants was born in 1983.

During the initial days, in fact the first twenty years of Salahkaar, it was more of an informal setup. There was no office space per se. Dr. Daftuar was operating from his house with the administrative help of one employee. Along with private companies, there was a host of companies from public sector, like Gujarat Refinery, Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation (GSFC), IPCL, etc. who were approaching Dr. Daftuar directly for various training programmes and workshops.

In the early 90s, the wave of the golden handshake came upon India. Many of the Indian companies adopted it as a strategy to become lean. One among them was a multinational which had its branch in Baroda, India. Around 100 employees left the organization as part of 40 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

the scheme. As a result, there was a lot of cynicism; employees were demoralized. They had lost faith in the management. The entire organizational climate got adversely affected. The management wanted to do something to regain the confidence of its employees.

Thus, they planned to conduct a session on sensitivity training for its employees. Dr. Daftuar was invited as the key resource person. He accepted the offer, though he was mindful of that fact that it was for the first time that he would facilitate a sensitivity training. It was a 5-day residential programme organized at Mount Abu, India. The programme was a rolling success – so much so that the company decided to cover all its employees through sensitivity training. Thus, from 1993 to 1996, Dr. Daftuar facilitated more than 40 such training programmes, covering around 1600 employees of the organization.

The success of the programme was witnessed through a perceptibly positive change in the behaviour of the employees, not to mention better relations between management and workers. As his reputation spread, Dr. Daftuar was invited to more and more organizations to facilitate similar programmes. One key feature of these programme was, Dr. Daftuar had single-handedly managed them.

Salahkaar: The growth phase

In the year 2000, Dr. Daftuar retired from M. S. University of Baroda, India. Later in 2003, he shifted from Baroda to Pune. Consequently, Salahkaar Consultants also shifted its base to Pune, India. Now, Dr. Daftuar decided to direct all his focus and energies towards Salahkaar Consultants. And his first move was to start a full-fledged office.

The other step was to hire full-time employees to ensure there were sufficient human resources to manage the new range of services that Salahkaar was entering into.

It was during this time that Dr. Daftuar’s son, Shalav Daftuar, joined Salahkaar as Director. Shalav had done his Masters in Business Administration; Marketing was his specialization. He brought more than 10 years of experience to the table, with reputed names like ACC Cement, Active Selection (which is one of the top 20 recruitment companies of the world), Hudson (which is among the top 8 companies in recruitment process outsourcing). In Active Selection as well as Hudson, Shalav was heading the India operations.

Shalav slowly learnt the tricks of the trade by being actively getting involved in the operations of Salahkaar. Since he was neither a psychologist nor an HR professional he focused majorly on the operations. The actual implementation and delivery of various consulting assignment and training programmes were done either by Dr. Daftuar or by other experts.

Shalav introduced many changes into the operations of the business.

CII Case Study-7 Salahkaar Consultants, which so far was focusing majorly on training and consultancy programmes, now started widening its charter; it began expanding itself into a range of products and services.

Instead of offering general training and development programmes, open to general public, the focus shifted to need-based, specialised training programmes. The content development team prepared more than 350 training materials which included instructor guides, power point presentations, ice-breakers and activities, exercises, reference guides and student manuals. These training materials were self-help tools for the HR managers in a bid to facilitate the conducting of training programmes themselves in their respective organizations.

It also started offering Distance Learning Programmes in different areas. Along with the regular text material, the certification programme included add-on features like online classes through video streaming, five years of ongoing learning on the subjects, etc. Many of the certification courses – Certified Competency Mapping Manager, for instance – were a niche because certification in competency mapping was not a widely offered course by Universities and other agencies.

In the area of HR Consulting, it started with whole range of activities like developing competency based HR processes, salary surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, implementation of human resource outsourcing, recruitment process outsourcing, compliance management, payroll management, HR and HRD audit.

Salahkaar: The Road Ahead

Although Dr. Daftuar was associated with Salahkaar in the capacity of CMD and Chief Mentor, over a period of time he planned to withdraw from the show. Therefore, he was preparing Shalav to take over the mantle of Salahkaar. Shalav had his plans. He wanted to create a niche for Salahkaar by offering products and services which are not provided by other consultants in India. Shalav started focusing on offering a battery of psychological tests which were designed and constructed majorly by Dr. Daftuar. The tests were accompanied by manuals, which would equip the individuals/organizations to use it on their own. The tests could be acquired on a one-time investment basis and it included almost all the OB/HR areas for assessment.

Another niche offering by Salahkaar was outplacement services. In the event of separation on the part of employees, it facilitated the client organization by ensuring a smooth separation. With outplacement service, the employees were assisted in preparing their resumes, they were assisted while applying for job elsewhere and what’s more, the employees were even forwarded a list of organizations which had similar vacancies in their respective organizations.

From the early days of Salahkaar, Dr. Daftuar had doggedly believed in and followed a simple business philosophy: He neither depended on any external investments nor on any loans. The business was steadily grown organically, with the money it had earned. Even Shalav shared the same ethos; he too did not want to depend on external borrowings as he felt that would lead to loss of control over business. So the path decided by Shalav to take Salahkaar further was to adopt the franchise model. In India, many companies had successfully adopted this model; US Pizza, NIIT, EuroKids and Aptech Computers were some of the success stories the franchise model had spawned. Shalav felt that this model would be appropriate for Salahkaar because on the one hand, the investment would primarily come from the franchisor and on the other, it would help in widening the business base.

Salahkaar developed 4 different levels of franchisees, SC Diamond and SC Platinum. Each level of franchise was distinct in the level of investment, type of support from Salahkaar, profit-sharing. It also developed documents like SC Process Document, Franchise Agreement, Commission Schedule, and Return on Investment. SC Process Document outlined the difference between the different levels of franchisees. The details of the franchisee model were updated in the company website and were also posted on various job sites.

Dr. Daftuar remains optimistic about the fact that the fresh thinking infused by Shalav into Salahkaar will take it from strength to strength in years to come.

Exhibit 1: Organizational Vision and Mission

l Vision To aid organizations in developing systems of most efficient corporate governance through best utilization of their human potential. l Mission Develop benchmark corporate governance practices through expert Human Resource consultancy, right recruitment, education and training. Partner our clients in enhancing the net worth of their human capital; build in them unique competencies that will bring sustained organizational growth and competitiveness. l Belief Progressive organizations from time to time need certain consultative opinions and services from experts, appropriate, competent and affordable advisors in order to optimize their effectiveness and profitability. These value additions are helpful to improve upon the life cycle stages of organizations, beat competition in the most cost effective and time saving ways.

Source: Compiled by author from company documents

Exhibit 2: Key Services of Salahkaar Consultants

HR Consulting

Training

I. Competency Mapping II. Assessment Center III. HR Audit and Gap Analysis IV. Revamp HR Process V. Develop HR Department VI. Development of Organizational Culture VII. Labour unrest consulting VIII. OD, OB intervention IX. HRIS X. HRIT I. Psychometric II. Competency Mapping III. Assessment Centers IV. Soft Skills V. Negotiation Skills VI. Team Building VII. Leadership VIII. Sales Development IX. Interpersonal Skills X. Mentoring Skills September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 41

CII Case Study-7 From the early days of Salahkaar, Dr. Daftuar had doggedly believed in and followed a simple business philosophy: He neither depended on any external investments nor on any loans. The business was steadily grown organically, with the money it had earned. Even Shalav shared the same ethos; he too did not want to depend on external borrowings as he felt that would lead to loss of control over business. So the path decided by Shalav to take Salahkaar further was to adopt the franchise model Recruitment

Testing/ Assessment

I. Executive Search II. Recruitment across industries and levels

12.

HRD Function Questionnaire

13.

Leadership Effectiveness Scale (LES

I. Honesty/Ethical Testing

14.

Learning Quotient

II. Sales Aptitude

15.

Life Event Scale

III. Team Work

16.

Memory Test

IV. Personality Testing/Profiling

17.

Organization Effectiveness Scale (OES

V. Behavioural Assessment

18.

Organizational Power strategies scale (OPSC)

19.

Organizational Stress

20.

Power Orientation Scale

VIII. Job & Work Analysis

21.

Power Tactics Scale

I. Certified Competency Mapping Manager (CCMM)

22.

Personal Information Questionnaire

23.

Revised version of Mohsin - Samsad Adjustment Scale (M-S, AS)

II. Certified Psychometrician and Assessor (CPA)

24.

Salahkaar Employee Engagement Scale (SEES)

III. Masters Diploma in Industrial Psychology, OB & HRD (MIO & HRD)

25.

Salahkaar Managerial Behavior questionnaire (SMBQ)

26.

Salahkaar Organizational Climate Scale (OCS)

IV. Performance Management and Counseling Expert (PMC Expert)

27

Salahkaar Organizational Culture Scale (SOCS)

28.

Salahkaar Creativity Test

29.

Salahkaar Emotional Quotient/ Intelligence Test (Eqit)

30.

Salahkaar Intelligence test

31.

Salahkaar Sales’ Aptitude Test

32.

Salahkaar Mentoring Questionnaire (SMQ)

33.

Salahkaar inventory Management Questionnaire

34.

Test of Spiritual Intelligence/Quotient (SQit) TM

35.

Value Checklist

36.

360 degree feedback questionnaire

VI. Attitude/Interest Testing VII. Sales & Marketing Expertise

Distance Education Courses

V. Employee Retention and Job Satisfaction Expert

(ERJS)

VI. Certified Competency Mapping Expert (CCME)

Source: Compiled by author from company documents

Exhibit 3: List of Psychometric Tests designed constructed and validated by Pshychometric Incorporated (A part of Salahkaar Consultants) S. No. Name of the test 1.

Aggression Scale

2.

BIRO-P

3.

Clerical Aptitude Tests

4.

Communication Audit Scale

5.

Daftuar Types at Work (DTAW

6.

Diagnostic Questionnaire for Training Needs (TN

7.

Delegation of Authority Scale

8.

Employee Satisfaction Scale(ESP

9.

Enneagram

10.

Executive Initiative Scale

11.

Frustration Scale

42 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Source: Compiled by author from company documents

Exhibit 4: Franchisee Levels

Salahkaar Consultants offers two levels of franchisee depending upon the area of operation and the investment level. They are A. SC Diamond Franchisee B. SC Platinum Franchisee A. SC Diamond Franchisee 1. A one-time payment of INR Rs. 4.35 lakh 2. Installment facility available on first come first serve basis.

Diamond Franchisee can avail 2 installments @13% payable within 1 year. The first installment is of Rs. 2,90,000 and the second one is of Rs. 1,64,000, including interest to be paid after one year. The facility is subject to the management’s terms and

CII Case Study-7 Salahkaar developed 4 different levels of franchisees, SC Diamond and SC Platinum. Each level of franchise was distinct in the level of investment, type of support from Salahkaar, profit-sharing.

It also developed documents like SC Process Document, Franchise Agreement, Commission Schedule, and Return on Investment. SC Process Document outlined the difference between the different levels of franchisees. The details of the franchisee model were updated in the company website and were also posted on various job sites conditions.

3. Target in revenue would be decided by management of Salahkaar Consultants from time to time.

4. Training along with 10 training modules will be provided over a period of 2 years.

5. Telecommunication system and other infrastructure to be arranged by the franchisee.

6. Preferable office space required 750 sq. ft.

7. One login id of leading job portal would be provided by Salahkaar Consultants.

8. A designed website would be provided.

9. No other Salahkaar Consultants Franchisee will be set up for 1 year in the same city.

B. SC Platinum Franchisee 1. A one-time payment of INR Rs. 9.45 lakh.

2. Installment facility available on first come first serve basis.

Platinum Franchisee can avail 2 installments @13% payable within 1 year. The first installment is of Rs. 5,00,000 and the second one is of Rs. 5,60,000, including interest to be paid after one year. The facility is subject to the management’s terms and conditions.

3. Target in revenue would be decided by management of Salahkaar Consultants from time to time.

4. Training along with 15 training modules will be provided over a period of 3 years.

5. Telecommunication system and other infrastructure to be arranged by the franchisee.

6. Preferable office space required 1000 sq. ft.

7. A job board would be provided by Salahkaar Consultants.

8. Two login id of leading job portal would be provided by Salahkaar Consultants.

9. A designed website would be provided.

10. No other Salahkaar Consultants Franchisee will be set up for 3 years in the same city.

Source: Compiled by author from company documents

Exhibit 5: Other Key HR Consulting Companies in India S. No.

Company

Key People

Founded

Head Quarters

1.

ABC Consultants

Dr. Bish Agrawal, Shiv Agrawal

1969

New Delhi

2.

Adecco India

Sudhakar Balakrishnan, Federico Vione

1996

Bangalore

3.

AON Hewitt

Kristi Savacool, Bryan Sansbury

1940

Gurgaon

4.

Career Net

Rishi Das, Anshuman Das

1999

Bangalore

5.

Global Innov Source

Shishir Gorle, Raha Shekhar Reddy

2004

Mumbai

6.

IKYA Human Capital

Ajit Issac, Subrata Nag

2004

Bangalore

7.

Kelly Services India

Kamal Karanth

1946

Gurgaon

8.

Manpower Group India

1948 (India A G Rao, Srikanth operations Rengarajan, P V commenced Venkatesa in 1997)

Gurgaon

9.

People Strong

Pankaj Bansal, Shelly Singh, Devahish Sharma, Prakash Rao

2006

Gurgaon

10.

Randstad India (earlier MA Foi Randstad)

Paul van de Kerkhof, Moorthy Uppaluri

2008

Chennai

11.

TeamLease

Manish Sabharwal, Ashok Reddy

2002

Bangalore

Disclaimer:

n The views expressed in the published CASE STUDIES belong to the Author / Co-Author (s) of the respective case studies, and not necessarily those of CII’s. n The copyright of these case studies, however, belong to CII. Reproduction, in any matter, without prior permission from CII is expressly prohibited. n NOTE : CII has given exclusive permission to CORPORATE CITIZEN to publish the CASE STUDY only, in full, and without any changes/ modifications. n Reproduction in parts is not allowed. n For further information, please contact:

Sangita Das, Head - Policy, Industry & Practices, CII Western Region, Email: sangita.das@cii.in

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 43

corporate history

When

Maruti became ambassador of Indian roads Named after Maruti, the legendary son of the wind-god, the Maruti story is synonymous with the automobile revolution of India -- with some help from the Japanese, of course!

By Kalyani Sardesai

T

ime was, when owning a Maruti was the ultimate sign that you had arrived. The groom that owned a Maruti, the perfect dulha for your laadli, and the vendor who zipped around town in the M-800, the most viable business partner.

It was fast, easy to drive and maintain—and substantially more economical than the competition on hand—the Ambassador and the Fiat.

In fact, its chairman RC Bhargava has summed up its charisma in several interviews thus: “This was India's first new modern car. It was streets ahead of its competitors on technology and everybody was queuing up to book it—from industrialists to senior executives.”

That may not be true today—given the sheer range of choice available to the discerning and globally-savvy, well-travelled Indian today, but it continues to command a formidable presence. With close to 40 per cent of the Indian passenger car segment in its kitty and an income pegged at ₹ 50, 802.22 crores (as per March 2015) Maruti continues to zoom ahead, despite cranky labour issues that refuse to go away and relentless competition from faster, swisher and swankier cars.

Get this: Even as it sold its 10 millionth car sometime back, the Maruti does not have to be anything other than a Maruti.

And critics can go take a ride literally to find out just why. It’s a true blue desi success story and continues to resonate with the middle class as reliable, efficient and accessible.

Even in the face of other players in the

As things stand today, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) is the largest automobile manufacturer in South Asia. It is also the third largest passenger car exporter in India after Hyundai and Nissan, exporting mainly to Africa and Europe

44 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

market, ask any driver worth his salt-- what car best suits India’s roads and the answer is predictable: Maruti—what else? No small thanks to a wonderful service cum sales network that stitches up the country, as well as a long-standing reputation for being costeffective. The fact that it helps its customers with insurance and finance doesn’t hurt either.

As things stand today, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) is the largest automobile manufacturer in South Asia. It is also the third largest passenger car exporter in India after Hyundai and Nissan, exporting mainly to Africa and Europe. All this, long after it eased out its contemporaries: The Ambassador and the Premier Padmini.

1970: Back to the beginning A private limited company named 'Maruti Technical Services Private Limited' (MTSPL) was set up on November 16, 1970 with the ambitious objective of providing technical know how on how to design, manufacture and assemble a completely desi car. Coming less than 30 years post independence, this was a tall dream for a developing country. Or so it seemed.

In June 1971, a company called 'Maruti Limited' was incorporated under the Companies Act with Indira Gandhi’s younger son—the hugely powerful Sanjay Gandhi -- as its first ever MD. Despite the initial curiosity, the company went into liquidation in 1977.

Sanjay’s untimely death in a plane crash in 1980 did not help either. Was the dream never to be?

A year later, though, Maruti got a new lease of life, when at the behest of Indira Gandhi, the Indian government threw its weight behind it, under the banner of Maruti Udyog Limited and started looking for an active partner for a whole new company.

In 1982, they found the perfect partner in Suzuki of Japan. From 2007

At first, Maruti Suzuki was mainly an importer of cars which brought in as many as 40,000 fully built-up Suzukis in the first two years, and even after that the early goal was to use only 33 percent indigenous parts

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with Suzuki President Osamu Suzuki at the launch of the Maruti 800

Sanjay Gandhi with his entourage, inspecting the Maruti prototype

onwards the company became Maruti Suzuki India Limited.

At first, Maruti Suzuki was mainly an importer of cars which brought in as many as 40,000 fully built-up Suzukis in the first two years, and even after that the early goal was to use only 33 per cent indigenous parts. This upset the local manufacturers considerably.

There were also some concerns that the Indian market was too small to absorb the comparatively large production planned by Maruti Suzuki, with the government even considering adjusting the petrol tax and lowering excise duty in order to give a shot in the arm to sales.

But then came the first-ever Maruti 800.

And history was made. The 796 cc hatchback was based on the SS80 Suzuki Alto and was India’s first affordable car. Close on its heels came the Maruti Van with the same threecylinder engine as the 800. The plant based in Gurgaon hiked up its capacity to 40,000 units.

The Gypsy was soon to follow, and in 1987 the car became the first ever Indian automobile player to export vehicles to Hungary. The installed capacity of the plant in Gurgaon reached 100,000 units.

Winds of liberalisation The 1990s were witness to an exciting new chapter—the introduction of the Maruti 1000, India’s first contemporary sedan. By 1991,

65 percent of the components for all vehicles produced were made in India. Meanwhile, the liberalisation of the Indian markets threw the gates open to competition.

In 1992 Suzuki upped its stake in Maruti to 50 percent, making the company a 50-50 JV with the Government of India as the other stake holder. A host of new models entered in the 1990s—each more innovative than the next. First came the Zen, a modern 993 cc, hatchback, followed by the 1298 cc Esteem , a finer version of the Maruti 1000.

In 1994 Maruti Suzuki produced its 1 millionth vehicle since the commencement of production, being the first company in India to do so. This was still not enough to meet the

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 45

corporate history

In 1982, they found the perfect partner in Suzuki of Japan.

From 2007 onwards the company became Maruti Suzuki India Limited demand and the plant further upped its capacity to 200,000 units. Maruti also launched a 24-hour emergency on-road vehicle service, the first of its kind in the country. In 2000, it was the first automobile company to adopt a call centre mode to deal with growing customer interaction.

Maruti Suzuki has two manufacturing facilities in India.

Both manufacturing facilities have a total capacity of 14,50,000 vehicles annually. During a recent meeting of the Gujarat chief minister with Suzuki Motor Corp. chairman & CEO Osamu Suzuki, the chairman had said that the work on the car manufacturing plant at Mandal near Ahmedabad would be started soon.

Models on the Indian road The Maruti Suzuki offers one new car model in the luxury segment, two in the mid-size segment, seven in the small segment, and four in the utility segment in the country. However, despite the introduction of expensive cars like the SX4 and Grand Vitara, the company’s focus still remains the small car segment with cars under four metres raking in the revenues.

Corporate social responsibility The Maruti Driving School, a well-equipped training centre with state of the art teaching facilities that include lectures on safe driving practices as per the Indian law, simulator driving and finally road practicals with trained instructors was first opened in New Delhi as part of its social commitment. Today, the school enjoys a presence in different cities across the country.

2007—the year of change Right up to 2007, two Japanese joint MDs and a Japanese chairman flanked the Indian MD, Jagdish Khattar, to keep a tight control over Maruti.

A prototype of the first Maruti car

Then Suzuki finally changed things to broaden the management structure.

It abolished the post of joint MDs and appointed an Indian chairman. A new mini board was formed of nine top executives — with an Indian-Japanese pair steering each of the four key departments (the fifth, administration, is managed only by an Indian).

This hybrid strategy worked alright. In 2008-09, when the industry grew at the slowest pace in seven years, market leader Maruti’s sales grew by an above-average 3.6 per cent and exports grew by a third. Senior officials stress that the new set up gave them the flexibility and the nimbleness to rise to the occasion.

Thanks to regular meetings, Indians and Japanese employees are in touch with each other and decision making is faster.

Laboriously yours Not that it has been a dream run for India’s favourite car. Labour problems have been a bane from the word go. A lot of newsprint has been devoted to figuring out the cultural and professional differences between the Indians and the Japanese—and how it is difficult for them to connect with each other.

Without a doubt, though, 2012 was quite the worse year of its existence when violence broke out at its Manesar plant, injuring 90 people and killing one, in the worst ever stand-off between managers and workers. Agitating workers burnt down the administration wing of the plant that manufactures cars like Swift and Dzire.

The workers demands were an increase in salary, conveyance, laundry allowance and home loans to buy their own houses. They also alleged harsh working conditions—which were

46 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

denied by the higher ups. Face-offs led to the suspension of a worker leading the agitation and things got worse.

The company's General Manager of Human Resources had both arms and legs broken by his attackers, unable to leave the building that was set ablaze, and was charred to death.

As per reports, the damage to the company was pegged to be a whopping ₹2500 crores.

The company fired 500 employees and restarted operations subsequently, but the episode calls for a major systemic overhauling.

Sure, India has strict labour laws, but they are widely overlooked even as low wage contract workers are hired, causing great anger to other workers.

However, despite the rumbles of discontent, the car’s competitive pricing, dealership and finance network (with several public sector banks happily giving you a loan for a Maruti), work in its favour. And so, the ride continues. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com

CC

tadka

Beat that Hollywood!

India’s cinema industry is more than US and Canada combined in terms of ticket sales of 3.2 billion per year. And if you include the pirated movie industry, the movie industry is the biggest in the world.

Beyond the bottomline

Lead from behind New evidence suggests that leading from behind brings better job satisfaction and productivity than leading from the front

By Suchismita Pai

L

eaders have often been defined as those who are out there on the frontline, clearly visible to their followers and the world to watch and emulate. While traditionally that may have worked, experts say it may not be the way forward. So why would you give up the tried and tested method and theory of leading from the front? Because, going forward, argue some theories, the relationship between the employee and employer is set to change. People while looking for a livelihood are also searching for more meaning in their work.

They are looking to be valued for who they are as individuals. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves and are not just willing to follow blindly.

So the old style of ‘handing down’ tasks might not work.

Leaders who withdraw from the centre stage and stay away from the spotlight give others a chance to shine. When people perceive themselves as being in the spot light, they are inspired to give their best. They view themselves as stake holders in the business and this inspires loyalty and fosters productivity. It also grooms them to be leaders in the future.

The concept of leading from behind has been described as early as fifth-century BC when Lao-Tzu lauded it, describing it as one in which the people are almost unaware of the leader’s existence.

In more modern times, a paper

in 1970 by Robert Greenleaf theorised that true leaders are those who lead by serving others.

More recently, the concept of “leading from behind” can be credited to theories advanced by Linda Hill of Harvard Business School. In fact, it gained currency when Nelson Mandela described leaders thus - a leader, he said, is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realising that all along they are being directed from behind.

More participatory in nature, those who lead from behind do not just assign tasks or tend to a single goal. They often let each individual take over the task he or she is best suited to, based on their own estimation of their talent. This does not mean that there is no responsibility assigned. Rather it is premised in the idea that when people see their work as meaningful and suited to their talent, they are more productive and efficient in the long run. They take ownership of what they do.

While this might sound chaotic, it is best suited for a climate of innovation, which helps companies survive in these fast paced times. Innovation is no longer about a genius cut away from the rest of the world thinking up and working on the best ideas and then setting up an assembly line for production.

‘When people perceive themselves as being in the spotlight, they are inspired to give their best’ While those in leadership positions might have the experience, those at the entry level might have a fresh perspective on what the outside world wants. Leading from behind in fact provides ample space for individual growth and diversity which are highly essential for innovation.

With Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa as some of the

leaders who epitomise the gentle ‘lead from behind’ style, it is easy to see that it works. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger.

Then people will appreciate your leadership.” paisuchi@gmail.com

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 47

Survey

India’s Empower m Overtwo decades after India’s embankment on major economic reforms, official poverty rates have declined sharply, and overall morale is upbeat. However, India’s youthful and increasingly vocal population is demanding more, and today the country’s leaders have an opportunity to set higher aspirations. Leading management consultancy firm McKinsey has done an extensive research and come up with an ingenious metric which can help India alleviate poverty by 2022 – The Empowerment Line. Corporate Citizen brings you the results of this fascinating research. By Neeraj Varty

F

or the first time since independence, extreme poverty is finally in retreat.

India launched its first wave of economic reforms in the early 1990s, resulting in a decline in the official poverty ratio from 45 percent in 1994 to 37 percent in 2005. Over the next seven years, a period in which India achieved the fastest rate of economic growth in its history and also implemented

a number of policies aimed at helping the poor, extreme poverty declined rapidly to 22 percent of the population, or some 270 million people.

This is an achievement to be celebrated—and yet now is an opportune time to set higher aspirations. The government’s poverty line sets a fair benchmark for extreme poverty, but it counts only those living in the most abject conditions. Even a cursory scan of India’s human

48 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

development indicators suggests more widespread deprivation in terms of quality of life and access to basic services. 56 percent of India’s population lacks the means to meet their essential needs. By this measure, some 680 million Indians are deprived—more than 2.5 times the population of 270 million below the official poverty line. Hundreds of millions have exited extreme poverty, but their lives are still marked by a continuous struggle to achieve a

modicum of dignity, comfort, and security.

In order to paint a more accurate picture, McKinsey has come up with a new benchmark – The Empowerment Line.

While India’s official poverty line focuses on extreme poverty, the Empowerment Line poses an entirely different question: what is the level of consumption required for an individual to meet the necessities of human development? To answer this,

and social security (Exhibit E1). This research calculates the level of consumption required to meet these needs in India, assuming that infrastructure and access points are available at an efficient cost. This measurement can form the basis for a new national vision of a better standard of living for all citizens.

ment Line we estimate the cost of fulfilling eight basic household needs (food, energy, housing, drinking water, sanitation, health care, education, and social security) at a level sufficient to achieve a decent, if modest, standard of living rather than just bare subsistence.

The McKinsey research outlines a more ambitious yet economically sound path of “inclusive reforms”—one based on a vision for delivering a better life to the average Indian citizen by 2022. This scenario can be achieved by launching a virtuous cycle of job creation and productivity growth that raises incomes and generates resources for public spending; it also involves making the delivery of basic services more effective.

This has the potential to leave 100 million people (seven percent of the population) below the Empowerment Line in 2022, and just 17 million (one percent of the population) below 4 the official poverty line. All told, more than half a billion Indians could cross the threshold of consumption required for an economically empowered life. Access to basic services, too, would vastly improve, with access deprivation falling from 46 percent in 2012 to just 17 percent in 2022.

The Empowerment Line is an estimate of the minimum economic cost for a household to fulfil eight basic needs: food, energy, housing, drinking water, sanitation, health care, education, and social security.

While India’s official poverty line focuses on extreme poverty, the Empowerment Line poses an entirely different question: what is the level of consumption required for an individual to meet the necessities of human development? The Empowerment Line is an estimate of the minimum economic cost for a household to fulfil eight basic needs: food, energy, housing, drinking water, sanitation, health care, education, and social security.

Exhibit E1 Eight basic services contribute to a minimum acceptable standard of living 2,100 (urban) or 2,400 (rural) calories, including 60 grams protein and 40 grams fat, per capita per day1

Insurance to cover income loss based on 2% premium-to-coverage ratio

Access to primary education and secondary education (substitutable with vocational training) for all children based on accepted norms

Social security

Food

Education

Energy

Access to clean cooking fuel and electricity for lighting needs, based on minimum energy consumption levels

Basic services Access to an essential basket of primary, secondary, and tertiary health-care services

Health care

Housing

215 (rural) or 275 (urban) square feet of acceptable housing

Drinking water

Sanitation Sanitary latrine in rural households, and underground sewerage with wastewater treatment in urban households

70 (rural) or 135 (urban) litres per capita per day of piped water supply2

1 Protein and fat norms for adults. reaches the people, we calculate India’s Empowerment Line at Rs. 1,336 per 2 Drinking water encompasses water for household uses as well as for personal consumption. capita month, almost Rs. 6,700 for a family of five per month.1 As of 2012, SOURCE:per McKinsey Globalor Institute analysis the consumption levels of almost 680 million people across both urban and rural areas of the country fell short of this mark. This far outstrips the 270 million In looking at what constitutes an acceptable living standard, the Empowerment Indians below the official poverty line.

Line considers human development and applies externally defined norms to set the for each need. Overall, Line the Empowerment Line’s minimum At astandards more detailed level,basic the Empowerment is set some 38 percent higher standards of consumption approximately 1.5 benchmark, times higher171 million than thoseurban implicit for urban India than for ruralare India.

Based on this in the official poverty line.ofConsumption requirements health drinking residents (or 44 percent the urban population) were for below the (including Empowerment water and sanitation) and education 5.5 and(or3.8 times higher, respectively, Line, compared with 509 million ruralare residents 61 percent of the reflecting the minimum cost of meeting these essential needs. After taking rural population). into account the value of government spending on basic services that already The Empowerment Line reveals that the challenge of improving people’s lives in a fundamental and more lasting way is much greater than the challenge of eradicating official poverty. The Empowerment Gap, or the difference between each person’s current consumption and the levels called for in the Empowerment Line, is about Rs. 332,000 crore ($69 billion) per year, or 4 percent of GDP. This is seven times larger than the Rs. 50,000 crore ($10 billion) poverty gap (that is, the difference between the current consumption of India’s officially poor and the level implicit in the government’s poverty line, shown in Exhibit E2).

The Empowerment Line’s minimum standards of consumption are approximately 1.5 times higher than those implicit in the official poverty line. After taking into account the value of government spending on basic services that already reaches the people, we calculate India’s Empowerment Line at Rs. 1,336 per capita per month, or almost Rs. 6,700 for a family of five per month. The Empowerment Line reveals that the challenge of improving people’s lives in a fundamental and more lasting way is much greater than the challenge of eradicating official poverty. The Empowerment Gap, or the difference between each person’s current consumption and the levels called for in the Empowerment Line, is about Rs. 332,000 crore ($69 billion) per year, or 4 percent of GDP. This is seven times larger than the Rs. 50,000 crore ($10 billion) poverty gap (that is, the difference Exhibit E2 The Empowerment Gap, at Rs. 332,000 crore ($69 billion), is seven times larger than the poverty gap Average monthly consumption expenditure INR per capita per month, 2011–12, in 2011–12 prices 3,000

2,500

2,000 Empowerment Gap1 INR 332,000 crore ($69 billion)2

1,500

Below Empowerment Line 56% (680 million people)

1,000

500

Poverty gap1 INR 50,000 crore ($10 billion)2

Empowerment Line 1,336 Official poverty line 874

Below poverty line 22% (267 million people)

0 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65 70 75 80 85 90 Percentile of population (%)

1 The Empowerment Gap and the poverty gap are defined as the aggregate differential between actual private consumption expenditure and the consumption requirements of the Empowerment Line and the poverty line, respectively.

2 Using average exchange rate of $1 = INR 48.0769 for April 2011–March 2012.

SOURCE: National Sample Survey Office survey, 68th round; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

But the challenge of bridging the Empowerment Gap is more complex than simply

between thespending currentbyconsumption of India’s officially poor the raising public an additional 4 percent of GDP. In reality, it willand require investing substantially in order to fill poverty gaps in infrastructure and access to level implicit in the more government’s line, basic services over aspending sustained period of time—and these basic will have Government on basic services rose atservices 11 percent to be operated more effectively to extend their benefits to the maximum number per year in real terms, faster than GDP, from 2005 to 2012, but people. We estimate that on average, Indians lack access to 46 percent of itofthe did not fully translate into benefits for the poor. McKinsey’s services they need and that just 50 percent of government spending actually estimates, based on published government data, indicate that reaches the people. approximately half of India’s total public spending on basic services did not Line produce the desired with much of it lost 1 All Empowerment figures are given in 2011–12results, prices. to inefficiency or corruption. Some 35 percent of India’s food subsidy, for instance, did not reach consumers, and the poorest September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 49

India

Philippines

Indonesia

Thailand

China

Businesses with 200+ employees

13.1

14.0

12.4

13.1

31.1

Businesses with 5–49 employees2

1.5

3.2

2.3

5.7

15.1

Value add per worker, 20051 $ thousand per year

The challenge of improving people’s lives in a fundamental and more lasting way is much greater than the challenge of eradicating official poverty.

1 Both manufacturing and services businesses.

2 Productivity data is only for small enterprises (i.e., 5–49 employees) and does not include micro enterprises (i.e., 1–4 employees).

NOTE: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

SOURCE: Asian Development Bank, Key indicators for Asia and the Pacific, 2009; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

Exhibit E4 Currently, some 50 percent of public spending on basic services does not reach the people because of inefficiencies in governance and execution Public spending on basic services, 2012 100% = INR 570,000 crore Spending reaching the people

Estimated efficiency/effectiveness of government spending % of spending that typically reaches the people Food1

64

50

50 Inefficiencies and leakages

MNREGA2

52

Education (until secondary)

51 47

Fuel Health, family welfare, drinking water, and sanitation

36

INR 285,000 crore not reaching the intended beneficiaries 1 For people below official poverty line, only 36% of food subsidy reached the intended beneficiaries in 2009–10.

2 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. SOURCE: National Sample Survey Office; government fiscal statistics; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

population segments received less than 40 percent of the subsidy intended for them despite the fact that they account for 80 percent of the hunger gap.

If India would undertake more inclusive reforms, the path is way more positive, one in which the nation takes steps to stimulate investment, job creation, and farm productivity, as well as dramatically improve the delivery of basic services.

These reforms could potentially allow India to achieve an average GDP growth rate of 7.8 percent between 2012 and McKinsey Global Institute 2022.

This could lift 580 million people rom poverty to empowerment: India’s imperative for jobs, growth, andabove effective the basic Empowerment services Line, leaving 100 million (7 percent of the population) below it in 2022 and 17 million (just 1 percent) below the official poverty line—virtually eliminating extreme poverty in just a decade Exhibit E6 Each of India’s districts falls into one of five categories based on the extent and pattern of deprivation found there 2011

Most Deprived 126 districts 27% population share Average ADS1: 59 percent Household Services Deprived 177 districts 18% population share Average ADS: 49 percent Moderately Deprived 127 districts 26% population share Average ADS: 41 percent Community Services Deprived 59 districts 15% population share Average ADS: 37 percent Least Deprived 151 districts 14% population share Average ADS: 34 percent

1 Access Deprivation Score: distance of each district from the point of no deprivation.

SOURCE: Census 2011; District-level Health Survey, 2007–08; District Information System for Education, 2009–10; National Sample Survey Office survey, 2011–12; India state of forest report 2011, Ministry of Environment and Forests; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

India can bring more than 90 percent of its people above India can bring Line more thana decade 90 percent of its people the Empowerment in just by implementing inclusive reforms above the Empowerment Line in just a decade by implementing inclusive reforms

50 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

We have developed two scenarios to see how rapidly India can raise people to the standards of living implied by the Empowerment Line. The first, which we

FOUR CRITICAL ELEMENTS ARE KEY TO THE PATH OF INCLUSIVE REFORMS Accelerating job creation

India needs reforms that unlock the economy’s potential to add 115 million non-farm jobs by 2022. This would absorb the expected growth of 69 million in the working-age population, raise the labour force participation rate by some 2 to 3 percentage points, and reduce the share of farm jobs from 49 percent of total employment in 2012 to 37 percent in 2022.

Construction will need to be the biggest contributor, adding some 50 million jobs. The manufacturing sector will need to accelerate growth to create some 21 million to 27 million jobs, while some 35 million to 40 million jobs will need to come from the services sector.

Raising farm productivity

Increasing investment in agricultural infrastructure, research, and extension services can help raise the average farm yield per hectare from 2.3 tonnes in 2012 to about 4.0 tonnes in 2022. This would bring India’s yields in line with those in other emerging Asian countries. Gains in agricultural productivity would also accelerate the transition of labour to more productive non-farm jobs.

9

Increasing public spending on basic services

India cannot fully realise the potential of its human capital until its population has wider access to affordable basic services. In absolute, real terms, public spending on social services needs to nearly double from Rs. 570,000 crore ($118 billion) in 2012 to Rs. 1,088,000 crore ($226 billion) in 2022 to fill critical gaps in social infrastructure.

Making basic services more effective

The impact of higher public spending on basic services is magnified if more of that spending reaches its intended beneficiaries. The inclusive reforms scenario assumes that the nation as a whole can raise the effectiveness of social spending from 50 percent to at least 75 percent by 2022, matching the levels already demonstrated by India’s bestperforming states. If India increases funding for basic services but does not improve on this current performance, nearly Rs. 545,000 crore ($113 billion) of social service spending will fail to reach intended beneficiaries in 2022, up from about Rs. 285,000 crore ($59 billion) today. Best practices and innovative examples from around the world (and from pilot programmes within India itself) show how this can be avoided. Some of the most promising strategies include forming partnerships with the private and social sectors, mobilising community participation, and using technology to streamline and monitor operations.

Focusing on the productivity of the agricultural sector to lift the incomes of smallholder farmers is one of the most direct routes to addressing rural poverty. Yet agriculture has not kept pace with growth in India’s broader economy.

and the excluded, jobs and productivity growth are the most powerful drivers of higher living standards (Exhibit E8). Raising public spending alone, without improving the effectiveness of delivery, would contribute less than 10 percent of the potential impact across segments.

Exhibit E8 Productivity improvements and public provision of basic services contribute in different proportions based on the poverty segment % of population

Contribution to poverty reduction

Population share, 2012

Create new non-farm jobs

22

Impoverished and Excluded Below the official poverty line

Increase farm productivity

Improve effectiveness of public spending

Increase public spending on basic services

most acutely).

Exhibit E11 Public spending on basic services needs to almost double, with more resources allocated to health care, drinking water, and sanitation Public spend on basic services %; INR thousand crore, 2011–12 rupees

Population share, 2022E

3

59%

34

+517 (+91%)

5

41%

571

18

Vulnerable Above the official poverty line but below the Empowerment Line

14

6 1

84%

4

Overall Below the Empowerment Line

16%

42

11

Food

23

Education

9

Drinking water and sanitation

40

Health care

15 10 4 9

74%

7

26%

Today the nation’s yield per hectare is half the average of China, India can raise farm yields byBut rebalancing Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.

India has theinvestment capacity to and making targeted reforms in agricultural raise its yield growth from 2.0 percent,the its historical level,sector to 5.5 percent over theof the next ten years— thisincomes can raise Focusingannually on the productivity agricultural sector toand lift the of approximately 10ispercent thedirect nation’s the smallholder farmers one of theof most routespopulation to addressingabove rural poverty.

Yet agriculture hasLine. not kept pace with growth in India’s broader economy.

Empowerment Today the nation’s yield per hectare half the average of China, productivity Indonesia, A range of technical leversis can help to achieve Malaysia, and Thailand. But India has the capacity to raise its yield growth from gains of this magnitude. These include fertiliser and manure 2.0 percent, its historical level, to 5.5 percent annually over the next ten years— use improve quality of the soil,of the more efficient water andto this can raise the approximately 10 percent nation’s population above the management (for example, through decentralised water Empowerment Line. harvesting and micro-irrigation), research-driven improvements in A range of technical levers can help to achieve productivity gains of this seed quality, technology-based “precision farming”, better market magnitude. These include fertiliser and manure use to improve the quality of the access, and improved postharvest logisticsthrough to reduce crop waste soil, more efficient water management (for example, decentralised water Public and spending on basic services needs to almost double, harvesting micro-irrigation), research-driven improvements in seed quality, technology-based “precision farming”, to better market access, and improved with more resources allocated health care, drinking water,postand harvest logistics to reduce crop waste (Exhibit E10). sanitation Exhibit E10 By 2022, India can increase farm yields to 4 tonnes per hectare, which would be comparable to current yields in other emerging economies Yield Tonnes per hectare India

Soil fertility

0.3

Irrigation

0.2

0.4

4.0 +72%

Seed quality Precision farming

Other countries, 2011–12

0.3

Market access1

Yield target, 2022E

7.4

5.0 3.7

Mexico

5.5

4.2

Indonesia

Malaysia

Vietnam

Per capita1 INR per month

2012

2022E

390

662

1 Not accounting for inefficiencies and leakages.

NOTE: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

SOURCE: Indian Public Finance Statistics; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

NOTE: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

SOURCE: National Sample Survey Office, 68th round; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

0.5

4

6

25

Thailand

Energy

Social security

13

6

56

3.1

9

1

7

Yield, 2012

Housing

8 4

2.3

1,088 3 4

China

1 Includes post-harvest infrastructure and rural roads.

NOTE: Numbers may not sum due to rounding.

SOURCE: UN Food and Agriculture Organization; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

In the past, India’s spending on agriculture has focused on input and output price support rather than investment in agricultural infrastructure, scientific research, and extension services (which educate farmers on new technologies and best practices). In 2010–11, the government spent Rs. 86,000 crore

Providing all Indian citizens with the basic services they need will require not only an increase in public spending but also fresh thinking about the best ways to deploy resources to achieve maximum results.

One key initial step in making social spending more effective is selecting the right delivery model. There are two main types: in-kind transfers, in which the government provides the service, and financial transfer models, in which the government transmits benefits directly to consumers and enables them to go directly to the service provider of their choice. To deliver nutritional support, for instance, the government can provide in-kind aid as it does through the Public Distribution System (PDS), which is relatively well-managed in some states (such as Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh) but not in others (such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar). Or it can give consumers electronic transfers that can be redeemed at a variety of shops (the model employed by Oportunidades, Mexico’s successful conditional cash transfer programme). Each model can be successful if the right enablers are in place.

Above all, India’s public services need an uncompromising push for better outcomes. The focus must shift from simply spending more to spending more effectively. Bringing the entire nation up to the standards already achieved in the bestperforming states for food and fuel subsidy distribution, health, and education services would result in a 50 percent increase in the effectiveness of national social spending.

Engaging local communities, especially women, can have a dramatic effect on improving public services. India is starting to see encouraging developments on this front. In Chhattisgarh, gram panchayats (village councils) are monitoring food subsidy recipients. Cooperatives and women’s self-help groups in Tamil Nadu are running fair price shops, the point of contact for subsidised food distribution. This kind of involvement transforms the poor from beneficiaries to active participants in the system. neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 51

Travel

Oh London!

An avid traveler, Rajesh Patil, Founder and Managing Director, Pause Wines finds London a favourite holiday destination. Here’s why!

By Sharmila Chand

A

s an epicure and an avid traveller, Rajesh Patil identified his entrepreneurial instincts early on and decided to turn his love for food and travel into a rewarding vocation. With his growing passion for wine from a medley of travel experiences from all corners of the world, he paused, thought about, explored deeper and the result was the ‘Pause Wines’ brand.

An explorer at heart and blessed with a taste for good things, he tells us where he likes to travel and more ….

Which is your favourite holiday destination?

London is my favourite holiday destination. I feel London offers something for everyone. It is a place with the greatest concentration of cultural attractions.

The iconic buildings, the Royal Palaces, the remains of Roman ruins to castles and cathedrals, all are simply enthralling. I can spend endless days exploring London’s sites without ever running out of unique things to see and do.

When did you visit last?

I went with my family two years back but the beautiful memories of the trip are still fresh which motivates me to visit soon.

What do you like about the

Bird’s eye view of Central London from the London Eye

place?

My visit to London was in midspring, when the temperature was mild and the city’s parks were green and blooming. The city is a perfect mix of modern world and traditional times. Once you’ve enjoyed London from the ground level, it’s a great idea to head upwards and look down on the city’s many famous buildings and attractions. There are plenty of places where you can enjoy a panoramic view of London, from posh bars to hilltops.

Which restaurants do you like to visit there?

The city offers an array of gastronomic delights to captivate

52 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

your taste buds completely. It has trendy places, ‘no reservations’ restaurants, posh fast food areas.

London boasts of one of the most diverse restaurant scenes in the world, offering almost every kind of cuisine ranging from Italian, Thai, Chinese and Indian to more unusual styles such as Russian, Peruvian and Cuban.

The Colony Grill Room and Natural Kitchen were my favourite places. Inspired by the clubby, sophisticated grill rooms, The Colony Grill Room is one of the oldest joints in London. It serves classic dishes from both sides of the Atlantic. It is beautifully designed and flatteringly lit, and Art Decostyle murals enhance the ambience.

Which are the good hotels to stay there?

London offers accommodation options depending on a traveller’s need, in any corner of the city.

London House Hotel, City Hotel, Lancaster Gate Hotel, etc., are some options.

Which is your favourite hotel?

I had been to this hotel called Twenty Nevern Square which, unlike other hotels with standard rooms, had 20 individually designed rooms which were really cosy and comfortable. Also the service was excellent and the food was delicious.

Westminster Abbey, the Parliament and the Big Ben

The Colony Grill Room and Natural Kitchen were my favourite places. Inspired by the clubby, sophisticated grill rooms, The Colony Grill Room is one of the oldest joints in London. It serves classic dishes from both sides of the Atlantic.

it sounded like to me.) Since I couldn’t understand it properly at the first go, he repeated it, and next the dish was on my table.

When it arrived I had no clue as to how to eat it, since the serving was so fancy. After two to three failed attempts I gave up on the bland thing, and till date I have no idea what was in that dish. I laugh about it to this day and decided not to eat anything without at least knowing the ingredients.

One of the many famous cafes lining London streets

I plan the destination in advance and do my bit of research. But I am more of a traveler than a tourist. I like getting acquainted with the local people, their lifestyles, the local cuisine, their language and so on. Apart from visiting the places of attraction, I like to explore the countryside too. I sometimes even backpack where I meet a lot of people from different regions -- it’s wonderful to meet them and know them.

Any tips you can give to fellow travellers?

The best way to explore the beautiful city of London would be to take a ‘hop on hop off’ tour.

Depending on your starting point, one can travel through the city centre on London’s Red Buses to visit the attractions as per their wish. Using the trains and Tubes to go longer distances is a different kind of experience. In London you can eat your way around the world. In the centre of London you will be spoilt for choice of various cuisines. Private cabs are comparatively cheaper as compared to

What kind of a traveler are you – planning well, or more impulsive?

View of the iconic tower bridge

the local black cabs. One can even cycle around the city as they have a maintained cycle track.

Any interesting episode from your holiday there that you can share with our readers?

While dining out at a restaurant

on King’s Road, I came across a couple coming out of a swanky Jaguar and they sat across from me. They ordered, ate and then left. The waiter knew them. I was very interested in knowing what they ate. I inquired the same from the waiter, and it was ‘Chezzy de Boo Ka Bokla”. (At least that’s what

Lastly, what tops your mind when you travel – sightseeing, food, shopping… ?

I like my trip to be a complete package where I look forward to explore the places, meet the localites, enjoy the local cuisine, use the public transport available and also shop for myself and my loved ones. A perfect combination of all this is what makes the trip a memorable one. chand.sharmila@gmail.com

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 53

Star Campus Placement-6

A boy like any other, but like no other

A topper from the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) in Mechanical Engineering, Charudatta Anil Shimpi is today well placed with eBara Japan, the world’s best person-to-person online trading community, with an annual package of over ₹ 30 lakh.

Now training in New Delhi ahead of his journey to Japan, Charudatta spoke to Corporate Citizen on his journey and his first break

By Joe Williams

C

harudatta Anil Shimpi was like any other boy in the campus when he took admission at the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP).

But his dedication and determination has made him a household name in this esteemed institution which has been the nursery of many scholars in the country.

Charudatta did not have any special ability to emerge as one of the best, but it was his ambition and positive thinking which paved the way for him to open a new lease of life, not just for him but also for all the youngsters of Jalgaon, a city in north Maharashtra.

Son of an employee from a private cooperative society, Charudatta’s one aim was to hit it big not just for him and his family, but for his banana city. Jalgaon which contributes about half of Maharashtra’s banana production.

“My dad works in a private cooperative society and my mother is a housewife. Their ambition was that I should complete my M. Tech., Thermal Engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune. After my tenth standard, I did my Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Government Polytechnic, Jalgaon. Thereafter, I did my engineering from the Government College of Engineering and Research.

In the last year of my engineering, I gave the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE exam), which paved the way for me to enter the campus of COEP,” says Charudatta.

54 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

Charudatta with the Japanese delegation on his visit to Japan

With his grandfather

“Getting a good placement initially has become difficult. The quality of education and personal abilities have become very important in the market”

Make a happy picture with his proud parents

Kite flying with his friends

to work on a difficult experimental project, Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) under the great guidance of COEP’s scholar teacher Prof.

C M Sewatkar,” reminisces Charudatta.

Along with strong academics, Charudatta is also into extracurriculars. “Frankly speaking, I didn’t do much in sports, but I handled a lot of management related work outside studies. And of course, I participated in a lot of events. I was doing so many things during my PG and so if not asked how I was busy, that will be fine. It was 9.9 out of 10, the end result.

So it says it all,” he recollects.

and personal abilities have become very important in the market. In one’s entire educational career one should focus on learning new things, current technology trends, etc., so that you do not end up looking like a blank book, and HR wishes to hire you strongly. Working in Japan is quite different from working in India or USA. Japanese are very strict regarding timings and paying respect. Timeliness and respect are a must for achieving success in your life,” he notes. joe78662@gmail.com

Campus placement Regarding his final placement, the company he is placed with today, selected a few students on the basis of their resumes, from among 1000 resumes submitted, criteria being undisclosed.

“We went through a general interview where the interviewers wanted to know what came out of us naturally, on the basis of which final two students of COEP were selected, me and Shrunali Shashank Ranade. This was followed by a final interview process in Japan, where they held a surprise aptitude cum psychological test, and a final round of HR cum technical interview conducted by senior persons in the company.

“To our surprise, both of us got selected.

Just being genuine and responding naturally, we cracked it,” said Charudatta.

Experience on campus “While pursuing my under graduation, I got the guidance of Prof. Karmare (HoD Mechanical, GCOEAR, Awasari). It was really tough to complete the Savitribai Phule PU syllabus with no resources at that time and being the Class Representative for all three years. The major change in my life was at COEP. I was very eager to learn and the faculty of COEP are very generous. The wide knowledge of the faculty along with the latest facilities available gave me the opportunity

Hobbies Charudatta is fond of watching movies and TV series. Says he, “I always used to watch detective serials like Mentalist, Homeland, Sherlock Holmes, etc. Recently I have started to play the guitar. Social activities also attract me. I have also donated blood many a times and also arranged blood donation camps,” and adds, “Reading, watching TV, especially National Geographic where inventions are telecast, and attending seminars interest me. I would say I still have lots to learn and this will help me to meet the present demands.”

Advice to juniors “Getting a good placement initially has become difficult. The quality of education

CC

tadka

‘Hail’ Major Dyanchand Infamous dictator, Adolf Hitler, was a huge fan of hockey legend Major Dhyanchand.

In fact after the 1936 Berlin Olympic Finals, where India thrashed Germany by 8-1, Hitler summoned Dhyanchand and offered him German Citizenship. Of course legendary Hockey Wizard politely refused it.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 55

Pearls of Wisdom

Love andfood

By Osho

are deeply related The people who become addicted to food are the people who are missing love

T

he people who become addicted to food are the people who are missing love. They start substituting with food. Osho says, “If you are really loved, you cannot eat too much. You will be surprised by this psychological discovery: that the people who are loved and are in love eat less. They eat always in a proportionate way. People who are not loved or are not in love eat too much.”

“It can fill them, can give them a feeling of being full, and they are feeling very empty because love is missed. Have you not watched it? Girls when they are unmarried are not fat; once they get married, they start getting fatter and fatter, and uglier and uglier. Why? Now there is no problem -- they have attained. And once they are married, the desire for love disappears. They become settled in the routine of life, they start taking everything for granted.”

“Love and food are deeply related, joined together. Hence it happens that whenever somebody loves you, you don’t eat much. If a woman is loved she remains lean,

thin and beautiful. If she is not loved she starts becoming fat, ugly, goes on accumulating; she starts eating too much. Or, vice versa too: if a woman does not want to be loved, she starts eating too much. That becomes a protection -- then nobody will be attracted towards her.

Have you watched it? If a beloved comes to your home, a friend has come, and you are so happy, and so full of love -- that day, appetite disappears. You don’t feel like eating -- as if something more subtle than food has fulfilled you, something more subtle than food is inside you and the emptiness is not there. You are full, you feel full.

Miserable people eat too much, happy people don’t eat too much.

The more happy a person, the less he is addicted to food -- because he has a higher food available: love.

Love is food on a higher plane. If food is food for the body, love is food for the spirit.

Now even scientists are suspecting it. When a child is born, the mother can give just milk, bodily food. She may not give love -- then the child will suffer; his body will grow but his spirit will suffer. Just bodily

56 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

nourishment is not enough: spiritual nourishment is needed.

If a mother only gives food and not love then she is not a mother, she is only a nurse. And the child will suffer for his whole life -- something will remain stuck, ungrown, retarded. The child needs food, the child needs love: love is needed even more than food.

Have you watched it? If a child is given love he does not bother about food much. If the mother loves the child she is always worried that the child is not drinking as much milk as he should. But if the mother is nonloving then the child drinks too much milk. In fact it is difficult to take him away from the breast because the child becomes afraid: love is not there, he has to depend

only on physical food -- the subtle food is missing.

And this goes on happening in your whole life. Whenever you feel that you are missing love, you go on stuffing your body with food -- it becomes a substitute.

Whenever people feel empty and they don’t have that thrill that love brings, that zest that love brings, that energy that love releases, they start stuffing their body with food.

They have fallen back to their childhood; they are in a regressed state.

Children who are given enough love are never addicted much to food. Their spirit is so full: the higher is available -- who bothers about the lower?

Remember, all the religions have talked about fasting for a certain reason. Unless you are

taken out of your food obsession prayer will not happen. Hence, fasting gives a great possibility to pray. I am not telling you to become a fast-addict. I am not telling you to start torturing yourself. But if you are a food-addict then fasting is the medicine. If you have been eating too much ten bring a balance.

Eating too much you remain too attached to the physical... and you cannot fly into the sky. You are too burdened: a little fasting will be helpful. And in fasting people have observed that their prayer becomes very easy, simple; it is no more a problem. Because when you are not burdened too much by food and the body, the spirit is weightless, can fly: the spirit has wings....�

(Excerpts from The Divine Melody, # 6)

When a child is born, the mother can give just milk, bodily food. She may not give love,- then the child will suffer; his body will grow but his spirit will suffer.

If a mother only gives food and not love then she is not a mother, she is only a nurse

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 57

Bollywood Biz

Super Stars for

Super League

John Abraham, Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan join hands to boost Indian football, propelling it to new heights of glamour and gusto. By Joe Williams

C

elebrity endorsement in fashion, beauty, perfumes, is nothing new, but when these stars turn to endorse sports it becomes big news. Indian football is a recent beneficiary, thanks to the Indian Super League.

John Abraham, co-owner of the Guwahati Football Club, Ranbir Kapoor of Mumbai FC, Abhishek Bachchan - Chennai, Hrithik Roshan - FC Pune City and Varun Dhawan, brand ambassador Goa, besides cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar (Kochi), M S Dhoni (Chennai), Virat Kohli (Goa) and Sourav Ganguly (Kolkata) have come together to make Indian football go the distance.

While the Indian Premier League (cricket) paved the way for an amazing fusion of sports and entertainment, with their catchphrase ‘Cricket weds Entertainment’, Bollywood has

slowly found its love for the Beautiful Game, football. After heavyweight names came to own sports teams in IPL cricket, it is now the turn of football.

A new dawn Football in India hopes it is at the start of a new dawn with the launch of the high-profile Indian Super League (ISL), and with the country hosting the Fifa U-17 World Cup in 2017, football in the country is likely to see a new horizon.

Meanwhile, for the first time, two crorepati footballers emerged in the second Indian Super League (ISL) auctions. At the end of the ISL auction for Indian players, striker Sunil Chhetri, Mumbai FC and midfielder Eugeneson Lyngdoh, FC Pune City got picked up for ₹ 1.2 cores and ₹ 1.05 crores respectively. Ten Indian players who were not part of the first season of ISL got auctioned and fetched a total of ₹ 7.22 crores.

Owners of the ISL teams

FC Pune City Salman Khan/ Hrithik Roshan, Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan.

Northeast United FC (Guwahati) John Abraham / Shillong Lajong.

Chennaiyin Football Club Abhishek Bachchan, Vita Dani, M S Dhonik

Mumbai City FC Ranbir Kapoor and Bimal Parekh.

Bollywood star and co-owner of the Indian Super League (ISL) team Mumbai City FC Ranbir Kapoor was clearly elated that his team bagged the country’s top footballer Sunil Chhetri at the players’ auction, for what looks like a pittance when compared to ₹ 16 crores that cricketer Yuvraj Singh fetched at the Indian Premier League auction earlier this year.

But then, football can never match cricket in India. Kapoor said the Mumbai team didn’t expect to get Chhetri, whose base price was ₹ 80 lakhs, for this price.

John Abraham, owner of North East United FC, picked up Seityasen Singh for ₹ 56 lakhs.

Abraham said that the team always wanted the midfielder and would have gone to any lengths to get him. Indian right back Rino Anto was picked by Atletico de Kolkata for ₹ 90 lakhs after starting at a base price of ₹ 17.5 lakhs. The Kolkata team also lapped up midfielder Arata Izumi for ₹ 68

lakhs.

Delhi Dynamos picked up forward Robin Singh for ₹ 51 lakhs and defender Anas Edathodika for ₹ 41 lakhs, while Chennaiyin FC picked up goalkeeper Karanjit Singh at his base price of ₹ 60 lakhs and midfielder Thoi Singh for ₹ 86 lakhs.

In the only instant trading buyout, Delhi Dynamos bought Fanai Lalrempuia for ₹ 11 lakhs, up from his base price of ₹ 1.8 lakhs.

Mumbai City FC picked Brandon Fernandes for ₹ 12 lakhs and Keegan Pereira for ₹ 32 lakhs, while FC Goa picked Victorino Fernandes for ₹ 16 lakhs and Thongkhosiem Haokip for ₹ 1.8 lakhs. Cavin Lobo and CK Vineeth got bought by Kerala Blasters FC. After the auction, the ISL player draft took place with 112 players of which 40 were picked up by different teams. The ISL draft fetched a total of over ₹ 5

Pics: solaris images

58 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

ISL 2015 Draft Picks Chennaiyin FC

Atlético de Kolkata

Goal-keepers } Amrinder Singh (` 4.50 lakhs) } Kunzang Bhutia (DT*) (` 4 lakhs) Defenders } Lalchhawnkima (` 9 lakhs) Midfielders } Augustin Fernandes (` 26 lakhs)

Delhi Dynamos FC

Goalkeepers } Ravi Kumar (DT) (` 10 lakhs) Defenders } Naoba Singh (` 18 lakhs) } Prabir Das (DT) (` 12.50 lakhs) } Zodingliana Ralte (DT) (` 2 lakhs) Mid-fielders } Sehnaj Singh (` 18 lakhs) } Gunashekar Vignesh (` 12 lakhs)

Mumbai City FC

Goalkeepers } Debjit Majumder (`15 lakhs) } Albino Gomes (DT) (` 10 lakhs) Defenders } Lalchhuanmawia Fanai (`15 lakhs) } Keegan Pereira (` 32 lakhs) Midfielders } Brendon Fernandes (` 12 lakhs) } Ashutosh Mehta (` 20 lakhs) } Pratesh Shirodkar (` 9 lakhs)

Goal-keepers } Nidhin Lal (` 16 lakhs) Defenders } Lalhmangaihsanga Ralte (`9 lakhs) } Justin Stephen (` 15 lakhs) Midfielders } Dhanpal Ganesh (` 9 lakhs) } Zakeer Mundampara (` 23 lakhs)

FC Pune City

Goalkeepers } Lalit Thapa (` 10 lakhs) Defenders } Gurjinder Kumar (` 27 lakhs) } Govin Singh (` 8 lakhs) Midfielders } Bikash Jairu, Sushant Mathew } Fanai Lalrempuia (DT) (` 11 lakhs)

Kerala Blasters

Defenders } Shankar Sampingiraj (` 10 lakhs) Mid-fielders } Cavin Lobo (` 20 lakhs) } Peter Carvalho (` 12 lakhs) Forwards } CK Vineeth (` 15 lakhs)

Northeast United FC

FC Goa:

Forwards } Victorino Fernandes (` 16 lakhs) } T hongkhosiem Haokip (` 1.80 lakhs)

Goalkeepers } Lalthuammawia Ralte (`13.90 lakhs) Defenders } Reagan Singh (` 13 lakhs) } Raju Yumnam (` 10 lakhs) } Marlangki Suting (` 9 lakhs) } Zohmingliana Ralte (` 9 lakhs) Midfielders } Siam Hanghal (` 8.43 lakhs)

crores.

High voltage start Indian football is experiencing unprecedented viewership first auction for footballers as part of the second season proceedings of the Hero Indian Super League took off on a high voltage.

Brand football got its biggest boost so far in the country with ISL, whose second edition will kick off with the Chennaiyin FC facing off defending champions Atletico de Kolkata on October 3, 2015. This is expected to be a ₹ 600 crore mega event, as per estimates by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

International stars and the glamour and pomp of Bollywood will add glitz to this event, copromoted by Reliance Industries.

All the clubs, except Kerala Blasters and FC Goa, picked up players in the auction, anchored by Charlie Ross.

Analysts said the biggest positive from the auction was that teams put their bidding might into acquiring local talent. This, they said, would go a long way in building confidence in home grown players and would do well for the game in India.

After the Pepsi Indian Premier League, the ISL is the most high-profile sports auction in the country. However, a comparison between the two is unfair because the money involved and the players’ popularity are vastly different. In the Pepsi IPL, each team could spend up to ₹ 63 crores to retain or acquire players for the 2015

season. This is exactly three times the player salary cap in the Hero ISL Each ISL franchise is allowed a purse of ₹ 21 crores, allowed to spend a maximum of ₹ 5.50 crores on domestic players and complete the requirement of 13 in each team.

The salary cap for the domestic draft was ₹ 5.5 crore for each franchisee.

Origins It was on 9th December 2010, that the All India Football Federation signed a 15-year, ₹ 700-crore deal with Reliance Industries and the International Management Group of the United States. The deal gave IMG-Reliance exclusive commercial rights to sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting, merchandising, video, franchising, and rights to create a new football league. This deal came after the AIFF ended their 10-year deal with Zee Sports five years early in October 2010. joe78662@gmail.com

CC

tadka

India Loves Mangoes India grows 1.2 million tons of mangoes every year, which are consumed domestically as well as exported. To put that in perspective, the weight of the mangoes produced is equivalent to 80,000 blue whales.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 59

Mobile apps namely, that it does not require both the sender and the receiver to have the app installed. Instead, you can share a file with anyone as long as you know their email address.

Wetranfer has a maximum file transfer size of 10 GB.

Pushbullet

Best Apps for File Transfers

In the corporate world, a smartphone is just as essential as a computer. Mailing, receiving, transferring and accessing important documents on the go has become the need of the hour.

With today’s superfast 4G data connections and a Smartphone, there is practically no need to carry a laptop. All you need is to download these awesome file transfer apps to effortlessly marry your smartphone and PC content wherever you go

By Neeraj Varty

60 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

AirDroid

Price: Free Rating: 4 AirDroid is one of the most popular ways to access your Android device from your PC, and vice versa. Using the app, you can do things like send/receive SMS messages, see notifications, and access Smartphone files on you PC. You can also access your PC files from your Smartphone even if you are travelling. There are also plenty of other features, like syncing pictures, messages, contacts, etc, between your computer and Smartphone (and tablet).

We Tranfer

Price: Free Rating: 4.5 No list of apps for sharing large files would be complete without WeTransfer. It’s been around since 2009 and has long-been one of the market leaders in the cloud-based sharing sector. WeTransfer has one huge advantage over the two apps we’ve already discussed —

Price: Free Rating: 5 In the space of apps that connect PCs to Android devices, Pushbullet is right up there with AirDroid as one that is considered “among the best”. It does the SMS send/receive from PC along with stuff like copying a link from Android and pasting it on PC, check notifications, and file transfers. Like AirDroid, your device connects to your PC regardless of what data network its on so you can transfer files and check messages from anywhere which is nice and the developers have been working hard to create a clean cut and efficient interface as well. There’s also a Chrome extension for those who want that.

If you have ever found a weblink on your pc which you wanted to share to your smartphone and didn’t know how to, then Pushbullet is the app for you.

Sunshine

Price: Free Rating: 4 Average file sizes are growing exponentially. Higher resolution photos, and the growing propensity to keep whole TV series and films on our hard drives means the cloud-based model of uploading, sharing, and downloading is starting to become dated. The Sunshine app does away with that model, meaning you don’t have to upload files to a server before you can send them.

Instead, as soon as two people have to app installed on their device, the content in question can be downloaded or streamed almost instantaneously. A 10GB file will send in less than ten seconds. The best part is that there is no maximum file size. neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com

Claps & Slaps

Corporate Citizen claps for Cochin International Airport which has become the first in the world to operate completely on solar power

Simply Superb! Scripting a new chapter, the Cochin International Airport has become the first in the world to operate completely on solar power. Kerala Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy inaugurated the 12 MWp solar power plant, comprising 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres near the cargo complex, at a function at the airport this morning.

With this, the airport will have 50000 to 60000 units of electricity per day for all its operational functions, which technically makes the airport ‘absolutely power neutral,’ Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) said in a release, adding that it was the first airport in the world to operate completely on solar power. CIAL had ventured into the Solar PV sector during March 2013, by installing a 100 kWp solar PV Plant on the roof top of the Arrival Terminal Block. This was a trendsetter in the field of grid-connected solar PV in Kerala. The plant was installed by the Kolkata-based Vikram Solar Pvt. Ltd. A total of 400 polycrystalline modules of 250Wp with five numbers of 20kW capacity Refu-sol make string inverters were used in this plant. It is a grid connected system without any battery storage.

After the successful commissioning of this plant, CIAL installed a 1 MWp solar PV power plant partly on the roof top and partly on the ground in the Aircraft Maintenance Hangar facility within the airport premises. This plant was installed by Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Pvt. Ltd. 4000 monocrystalline modules of 250Wp with 33 numbers of 30kW capacity Delta make string inverters were used in this plant, which is the first megawatt scale installation of solar PV system in Kerala, the release said.

Both these plants are equipped with a SCADA system, through which remote monitoring is carried out. After commissioning, these plants have so far saved more than 550MT of CO2 emission contributing to the efforts of CIAL towards minimising environmental degradation, CIAL said.

Hats off!

Corporate Citizen slaps the sad trend of depleting numbers of tigers in India

As responsible citizens of the country, we must save the forests and tigers. But unfortunately, in the last seven months, the population of tigers is on a downward trend, as 41 big cats have perished, say conservationists. This goes to say that the country is not doing enough to save them.

Despite awareness campaigns, India’s National Tiger Conservation Authority and the Wildlife Group Traffic said that only seven of the big cats died from natural causes. Data shows that tigers are dying not just from natural causes, but they are also being shot to death by authorities in case of man-animal conflicts. Poaching, shooting, snares and traps, poisoning by villagers are other reasons enumerated for the decreasing numbers in the study.

Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have reported the maximum number of tiger deaths. Last year, another cause of death cited was poaching by poisoning using organophosphorous compounds.

Other causes included cardio-respiratory failure and even retaliatory killing by electrocution near Dhamokar at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh.

According to a senior official from the Maharashtra state forest department, most tiger deaths in the state have been due to intentional poisoning by villagers. “There have been instances when a tiger was poisoned by villagers for revenge or out of fear. Tigers usually eat their prey in phases.

Villagers know this and, at times, poison a carcass as they know that the tiger would return to feed on it. There have also been instances of electrocution of tigers in Vidarbha, when villagers intentionally left an electrical wire lose, to kill a tiger,” he said. It was in January, this year, that Indian environment authorities had claimed conservation efforts were working, as the number of tigers in the country had risen to 2,226 in 2014, up from 1,706 counted in 2010. Experts say the partial death toll proves India was not doing enough to protect the endangered predator, noting 66 tigers died in 2014.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 61

Health

Internet Addiction Disorder

Spending too much time on the Internet is causing mental health disorders. Is India prepared to tackle the addiction?

I

t all began when he was in the XI standard.

His inquisitive mind led him towards the Internet, and he started spending more time in front of the computer. Long hours of sitting took a toll on his health and he developed back pain. Yet the 16-year-old boy in Pune could not stay away from the virtual world. By the end of that year, he had downloaded data worth ₹ 12,000. One day, when his mother tried to unplug the Internet connection, he stabbed her. She was saved, but the boy’s obsessive behaviour kept worsening.

His parents took him to Chaitanya Mental Health Care Centre (CMHCC) where he was diagnosed with ‘Internet Addiction’. He was cured after three months of behaviour modification therapy and counselling sessions along with his family.

Rony George, director of CMHCC, says those who use Internet for 14 to 15 hours daily, or to the extent that their everyday routine gets affected, can be categorised as Internet addicts.

With more than 243 million Internet users, India ranks third in terms of Internet usage, following the US and China, according to internetlivestats.com, which provides information on Internet users. Health experts say with explosive use of the Internet in the last decade and growing dependence on it, a good number of people with access to multimedia could suffer from the behavioural disorder.

In 2013, a study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) surveyed 2,755 people in the age group of 18 to 65 in urban areas of Bengaluru. The researchers found that 1.3 per cent people were addicted to the Internet, 4.1 per cent to mobile phones, 3.5 per cent to social networking

sites, 4 per cent to online shopping, 2 per cent to online pornography and 1.2 per cent to gambling.

That year, Deepak Goel, psychiatrist with Topiwala National Medical College and B Y L Nair Hospital in Mumbai, found that 0.7 percent of the 987 students from the city who participated in the study, were Internet addicts.

Worldwide woe India is not the only country battling with the addiction. In Iran, 40.7 per cent of the students are addicted to the Internet, according to a study published in Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology and Life Science (EP&LS) in February 2014. About 2.2 per cent of the students suffer from severe addiction.

set up an Internet Addiction Treatment Center in the General Hospital of the Beijing Military Region. As per a media report, the hospital, in its five years of existence till 2009, had used electric shock therapy. In 2010, the South Korean government announced a national programme to contain the addiction after it realised that more than 2 million children—two in every 10—suffering from Internet addiction.

Simple steps for de-addiction The 2013 study by Deepak Goel has found a clear relation between psychological distress and addictive use of the Internet. Those excessively using the Internet were suffering from anxiety and depression, notes the study. The

India is not the only country battling with the addiction.

In Iran, 40.7 per cent of the students are addicted to the Internet, according to a study published in bulletin of EP & LS In the US, which has the highest Internet usage, the American Psychological Associa tion (APA) is trying to understand the disorder and its treatment. So far, APA has only defined Internet Addiction Disorder and says it is a pattern of using the Internet to the extent that it can cause dysfunction and unpleasant internal reactions just in two months. According to APA, spending considerable time on matters related to the Internet, reduction of social, occupational and recreational activities. An individual showing any three symptoms can be categorised as Internet addict, it says.

In its effort to contain the addiction, China

62 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

researchers recommend that Internet addiction can be prevented by building a healthy living environment around them, controlling the computer and Internet usage, promoting book reading and providing treatment to those with a psychological problem.

There is also a need for more research and awareness to understand the real picture of Internet addiction in India. While enjoying their Internet activities, children lose control over their routine activities and their performance goes down. They start withdrawing from real world.

(Courtsey: www.downtoearth.org)

Featherlite

Corporate Twitterati

On 15, August 2015, The iconic Taj Mahal became the first monument in the world to open a twitter account. The Taj requested everyone to tweet their favourite memories with the monument of love in the background, and within hours, its twitter page was flooded with people around the world sharing their precious memories with the legendary wonder of the world. Corporate Citizen brings you some of the most interesting tweets welcoming the Taj

Taj Mahal@TajMahal There are two kinds of ppl in the world. Those who have visited me and follow me here and those who haven’t seen me and yet follow me here. #UPMeinAkhilesh@UPMeinAkhilesh RT TajMahal: yadavakhilesh Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, #India shares his #MyTajMemory on the official launch …

Ministry of Tourism@tourismgoi Congratulations India! @TajMahal is world’s fifth most attractive travel hotspot.

Twitter India@TwitterIndia Welcoming the iconic @TajMahal to Twitter! Share your Taj pictures with #MyTajMemory to have them included in an iconic collage.

Gaurav Tripathi@TripathiGaurav @TajMahal #TajMahalOnTwitter #MyTajMemory Piece De Resistance, an epitome of architectural magnificence

TIMES NOW@TimesNow .@TajMahal becomes the first historical monument in the world to have a Twitter account of its own Apoorva P R@apoorvapr3008 The time the @TajMahal brought out the photographer in me ;-) #Jan2012 #NowonderAwonder #BeautyofTaj #PrideofIndia

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 63

astroturf Aries

Mar 21- April 20 The power of the planets is now directly in the upper part of your horoscope. Finances remain good and in fact keep increasing with your efforts. There will be fortunate success in speculation too. Take care of your health by taking it easy and enjoying whatever you are doing. Cultivate a stress free attitude. Those who are in a relationship strengthen the bonds even further.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 20 Opportunities aplenty seeking a job or seeking appreciation in the present job. Both remuneration and promotions are foreseen.

Get your networking going and you are bound to tap good contacts. Love life also sees an improvement. Personally as well as professionally you will experience prospects of plenty.

Finances are comfortable and you are bound to feel lucky and blessed. Make sure you rest and relax during intermittent periods.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 21 This month you would experience good health. Take a holiday for yourself to rejuvenate your mind and body. You will do well if you adapt to situations people and conditions around you. The testing of relationships continue, from a long perspective these things are good. In finances the month does look happy and prosperous. So make the most of it.

CANCER

Jun 22 - July 23 You have always been practical when it comes to the matters of the heart, but now you are going to be even wiser and practical.

For those who are single love opportunities occur at work

SAGITTARIUS

www.dollymangat.com

Fortune favours the bold and the lucky

Your attitude is your altitude, says Dolly Mangat, our renowned Astrological Expert and believes she helps people create their own prophecies rather than live predictions place. The good news is that you are clearer in your mind.

Continue to visualise and dream.

Health will be delicate and has been so from the last month, so ensure that you take enough rest. Do not neglect niggling problems, and over all don’t take any stress.

LEO

July 24 - Aug 23 You could expect money to come in various ways, investments to inheritance to promotions and rise in remunerations. You will win favor of the bosses parents or figures that mastermind your money. Concentrate on sales, marketing, networking and your PR, you are bound to be successful in all your endeavors.

VIRGO

Aug 24 - Sept 23 You will reap abundance from your investments hard work and also inheritance. Be aware that love life can be complicated.

Singles can expect romantic opportunities though none of them can be taken seriously, so just enjoy. Health and energy remain good enhance it further by sticking to your regime.

Devote time towards loved ones and get your emotional and family life in order.

64 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

LIBRA

Sept 24 - Oct 22 Your yearly cycle of prosperity has began. So it is a prosperous period indeed. It is perfect time to enjoy all that you want.

Indulge yourself in mind body and soul. The opportunities are in abundance and you could make your selection in whatever you want to redefine from your personality to professional self.

Very fortunate time for you to start any ventures if you so have planned for them. Health and energy remain good. Practicality cannot be expected in love at the moment for passions reign supreme. Love and social opportunities happen in spiritual seminars or art of living retreats.

SCORPIO

Oct 23 - Nov 22 You will experience and exercise independence as day by day your personal power grows. Your goals are clearer, you know what has to be done and you have the wherewithal to do it. Clarity is seen in your love life too. Do not allow the mental approach to interfere with romantic moments. Love like gets peppy.

Job opportunity can be grasped between during the week and things could change for good. Be patient with loved ones.

Nov 23 - Dec 22 Your career will be going great guns. You will enjoy this hectic pace of life. Children also give you the much-needed happiness, and will be successful in their spheres as you would in your career. Enhance your health by giving attention to your heart.

Avoid any kind of risky activities.

Avoid foreign travel from the 5th to 7th and on the 11th and 12th.

CAPRICORN

Dec 23 - Jan 20 Many nice things are going to happen this month. There is much success, as you are still in your yearly peak of career. Do not get distracted by minute details.

There could be career related travel. Outside investors will be willing to invest in your career.

Health needs attention. .

AQUARIUS

Jan 21 - Feb19 Your overall health remains good.

Your social skills and ability to get on well with others enhances your career. Aspects are favorable if you are interested in buying a new car.

PISCES

Feb 20 - Mar 20 You are beginning your yearly career push. Your good career reputation, you will win financial favors of bosses or elders. Social life will sparkles. Health is delicate so take care and make sure you get enough rest. Enhance your health by paying attention to kidneys and hips Detox regimes will be off great benefit to you.

Address: 143, St Patrick’s Town, Gate# 3, Hadapsar IE, Pune-411 013.

Tel.: 020-26872677 / 020-32905748 Email: connect@dollymanghat.com / info.dollymanghat@gmail.com

SUBSCRIPTION FORM

 24 Issues : `1400/-  72 Issues : `3000/-

NAME: ADDRESS:

Building Name- Apt. Number / Bungalow Name-Number

Area:

Society Name

Landmark:

CITY:

STATE:

PIN CODE:

Landline No.:

Mobile No:

E-mail Address: DOB:

(m m)

/

(d d)

/

(y y)

Profession:

Designation:

Company/Organisation: Payment details: (

)

Please find enclosed cheque number dated for `1400/- / `3000/- favouring Corporate Citizen.

(

) Cash. (Only by hand)

Please fill in this order form duly & completely & mail it with your cheque payment (Do not send cash) to Corporate Citizen, Krishna Homes Housing Society, Flat No 2 & 4, Bulk land No 4, Near Iskcon Mandir, Sector 29, Ravet, Akurdi, Pune 412101. Tel. (020) 69000673-7.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 65

the last word

No fear of failure Ganesh Natarajan

H

ave you ever wondered how far each one of us would fly, if we could just get over the fear of falling? See how an infant, when she sees a new object, immediately reach out for it, her natural curiosity and lack of fear evident in the instinctive response of reaching out. While we adults, conditioned by an almost Pavlovian fear of pain, retribution or just failure quite often refuse to take risks in the quest of greatness and settle for the safe cloak of mediocrity.

The fear of failure is a worry, sometimes visible and often dormant that guides all too many actions in life and work. It starts at home in early childhood with a list of dos and don’ts prescribed by well-meaning parents and grandparents and gets reinforced by school teachers, college professors and finally obsessive bosses in organisations who throw the “Key Result Areas” list at us with alarming frequency, ostensibly to keep us on our toes but more often than not to keep us fearful about the consequences of failure.

At the school and college level, most Western educators have realised the value of learning rather than teaching and encourage students to experiment, ask questions and make mistakes on the voyage of discovery. In the corporate sector too, early experiments have begun in encouraging entrepreneurial risk taking and encouraging big dreams that go beyond traditional KRAs and Balanced Business Scorecards. As we enter into increasingly complex business and political environments, both in

See how an infant, when she sees a new object, immediately reach out for it, her natural curiosity and lack of fear evident in the instinctive response of reaching out. While adults, conditioned by an almost Pavlovian fear of pain, retribution or often refuse to take risks

An environment that truly demonstrates “no fear of failure” will have to be built and maintained assiduously by the leadership of every institutions in the country India and abroad, every company will have to see the value of encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit and building true leaders.

Indeed one of my favourite definitions of a leader is one who does not believe in creating dozens of worshipping followers but creates an environment of empowerment where every individual is encouraged to embark on their own personal voyage of leadership.

An environment that truly demonstrates “no fear of failure” will have to be built and maintained assiduously by the leadership of every institution, whether it is schools and colleges, business corporations and even social organisations and political parties in the country. There are three necessary conditions for such institutions to be built, grow and prosper. The first is the language used across the

66 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015

organisation. It should always be enabling and supportive of a culture of self-discovery, invention and innovation and no end points should be prescribed by the leadership. The second is a conducive environment the supports experimentation and condones failure. And the third is a complete review of appraisal processes and reward and recognition systems that completely ignores small successes and celebrates large failures, when these failures happen as a result of fearless innovation and help build the basis for future successes.

While the organisations I lead, Zensar Technologies and Zensar Foundation are far from perfect when it comes to this capability, there are a few early signs that demonstrate that we are on the right track. At Zensar, our innovation journey, has been well chronicled by Prof

Michael Tushman a global Guru on ambidextrous innovation in the case study on our company which was developed and taught at the Harvard Business School.

In the early days around 2002, when we were just a small firm with employee count of less than a thousand, we realised that to make our mark we needed a fresh point of view and the only way to do it was to assemble a truly entrepreneurial team and give them the freedom to build and practice innovation. The creation of the “Solution Blueprinting” approach which obviated the need for programming in the process of building computer applications for business and the creation of an independent profit centre called Innovative Technology Solutions, which later empowered the entire applications management group was one of the key reasons for our success through the next ten years of growth. Similarly in NASSCOM Foundation, our ability in the last year to double our revenues and triple the amount of funds companies entrust to us to deploy “technology for good” has been an outcome of our initiative to give young people a free hand to design programs that meet the needs of our companies and the end beneficiaries in the country.

There is a joy in unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit that can only be experienced when you make it happen. Here is encouraging all you readers to give it a try!

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Vice Chairman & CEO of Zensar Technologies and Chairman of NASSCOM Foundation and the Pune Action Task Force

Printed and published by Suresh Chandra Padhy on behalf of Sri Balaji Society. Editor : Suresh Chandra Padhy. Published from : 925/5, Mujumdar Apt, F.C. Road, Pune - 411004, Maharashtra.

Printed at Magna Graphics (I) Ltd., 101-C&D Govt. Industrial Estate, Hindustan Naka, Kandivali (W), Mumbai - 400067.

September 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 67

RNI REG. NO. MAHENG/2014/60490 Postal Reg. No. PCW/179/2015-2017 th Posted at BPC, Pune CSO, 411030 on 15 and 30th of every month

68 / Corporate Citizen / September 16-30, 2015