A young man steps out of the precincts of IIT Kanpur in 1974 with a dream in his heart – to become an entrepreneur and contribute to nation-building. Undaunted by the dearth of experience and means to capital in pre-liberalization India, his enterprising spirit takes the long and winding road, never losing sight of his ambition. He gains overseas education on a scholarship and dons multiple hats for 18 long years before embarking on his life’s mission at 40. A mission that propels the company he incorporated to pioneer and excel in outsourced engineering services from India and create the brand
“Engineered in India.”
In Part One, this memoir traces the background, the setting-up, scaling, growth and expansion phases of Infotech/Cyient, giving experiential evidence of what it takes to ideate, scale, grow and expand an enterprise beyond a country’s borders.
In Part Two, the book addresses significant attributes of a successful, sustainable company: customer centricity, quality and process orientation, strategy, finance management, crisis management, people development and institution-building, against the backdrop of Infotech/Cyient.
Simultaneously, the memoir addresses the intangible and subtle dimensions of being an entrepreneur; the need for a higher vision coupled with operational acumen, grit and persistence, the ability to take risks and connect the dots, communicate and network, empathy, flexibility, and life-long learning.
In short, Engineered in India allows readers to understand what to expect from an entrepreneurial journey and see human truths and the tools they can use to make sense of their experiments.
Quote from BVR Mohan Reddy:
“Technology-led innovation coupled with entrepreneurship is the perfect engine for job creation. It will empower India to become self-reliant and allow it to stand tall in the knowledge-intensive global economy. ”
5:15 PM Registration & High Tea
6:00 PM Welcome Address
Mr Suresh Raman President, MMA
Vice President & Regional Head, TCS Chennai
Launch of the book: Engineered in India -
From Dreams to Billion-Dollar CYIENT by the Chief Guest
Mr M M Murugappan Chairman
Carborundum Universal Ltd
Address by the Author
Dr BVR Mohan Reddy Author & Founder Chairman & Board Member, CYIENT
Mr M M Murugappan in conversation with the Author Dr BVR Mohan Reddy
Q&A Session
7:15 PM Vote of Thanks
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM
Executive Director, MMA
DrBVRMohanReddy
Dr. BVR Mohan Reddy is a visionary who firmly placed India on the global engineering, research and development (ER&D) services map by establishing Cyient (formerly, Infotech Enterprises) in 1991. He went on to create the “Engineered in India” brand and led Cyient to contribute over $6.5 billion in cumulative exports from India to several global clients, including Fortune 100 companies.
Dr. Reddy served as the Chairman of NASSCOM (National Association of Software & Service Companies) during 2015-16. He served as the Chairman of CII, Southern Region (2008-2009), and currently the Chairman of CII Education Council. Dr. Reddy is also the Founding Director of T-Hub, the largest start-up incubation center in the country.
He is the co-chair for the B20 task-force on Future of work, Skilling & Mobility, presently engaging with over 150 global experts to make recommendations to the G20 secretarial in the next few months.
Dr. Reddy took up several leadership positions to promote higher education in the country. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT-Hyderabad and IIT-Roorkee, is a member of the Leadership Advisory Board (LAB) at the University of Michigan College of Engineering, USA, and a member of the Court of Governors of Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI).
Dr. Reddy received India’s fourth-highest civilian award—the Padma Shri—in 2017 for his contribution to trade and industry. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Leadership Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (CIE Division). He was conferred Lifetime Achievement Awards from Outlook Business, Hyderabad Management Association (HMA), Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HySEA) and the Centre for Organization Development (COD) recognizing his industry leadership, corporate excellence, and institution building. He is the recipient of Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT, Kanpur and is a fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India).
Dr. Reddy holds postgraduate degrees from IIT-Kanpur, and University of Michigan, USA. He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from JNTU-Hyderabad, JNTU-Kakinada, Andhra University, KL University, Yogi Vemana Unviersity, and VelTech University.
He recently released his debut book Engineered in India: From Dreams to Billion-Dollar CYIENT.
M M
Murugappan a fourth-generation member of the Murugappa family was the Executive Chairman of the Murugappa Group Corporate Advisory Board from February 2018 until November 2020.
Murugappan now serves as the Chairman of the Carborundum Universal Ltd (CUMI), a constituent company of the Murugappa Group. He also Chairs the Boards of Cholamandalam Mitsui Sumitomo General Insurance Company Ltd., and Murugappa Water Technology & Solutions.
Murugappan is the Chairman of the board of Cyient Ltd. (Hyderabad) and an independent director of Carson Cumberbatch (Sri Lanka). He retired from the Board of Mahindra & Mahindra in August 2020 after serving multiple terms. He served on the Board of Governors of IIT Madras, for six years till November 2011 and has enabled many industry – academic partnerships. He now serves on the board of the IIT-Madras Research Park and is a mentor to many companies incubated there. He is the Chairman, Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management, Indore. As Trustee of the Group’s AMM Foundation, he is actively involved in the development of various citizenship initiatives, particularly in education, health care, performing arts and sport.
Murugappan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the AC College of Technology, University of Madras, India and a Master of Science Degree also in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He is a member of the American and Indian Institutes of Chemical Engineers and the Plastics & Rubber Institute. He was elected as a Fellow Member of the Indian Ceramic Society in 2006.
Murugappan’s wife, Meenakshi (Pinky), shares interests with him in music, theatre, reading and crosswords. Their older son Muthu is the CEO of EID Parry, daughter-in-law Solai has an architectural practice in Chennai. Their younger son, Veeru and daughter-in-law Valli are based in Singapore. Veeru is a sports and documentary film producer and Valli is a specialist in culinary skills.
Murugappan’s hobbies include golf, reading, walking, classical music and the theatre.
