Corporate Citizen T he Co ol Side Of Bu sine ss
cradle of leadership: Dr Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad
Volume 1, Issue No. 8 / April 16-30, 2015 / `50
Interview R K Gupta,
Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra
Debate Campus romance; Reality or facade?
Dynamic Duo 8
Batchmates forever Reena and Dr Ajoy Kumar
CII’s prize winning Case Studies-1 New Series
From the desk of Editor-In-Chief
T
he firebrand Shiv Sena chief, the late Balasaheb Thackeray was a towering and charismatic personality. He influenced the minds of people for several decades through his sharp editorials in his daily newspaper ‘Saamna’ and his fiery public speeches. Just one meeting with him was enough to leave you in awe. At least that is what I experienced. Normally, educators are meant to educate people; however for me, every meeting that I had with Balasaheb Thackeray proved to be an educating experience. Whenever I met him, I could not help but get impressed with his forthrightness, quickness in spotting the qualities of fellow human beings, courage of conviction in whatever he pursued, and his deep concern about providing quality education to the masses. Thus, each time that I met him, my respect for him only got enhanced. Interestingly, my first tryst with Balasaheb was purely accidental. I had just founded the Indian Institute of Modern Management. Starting a new institute is beset with numerous challenges, which only multiply if the person launching it does not have strong financial backing or political clout. The Indian Institute of Modern Management was no exception. Every day I would encounter new problems, but I had firmly resolved not to buckle under any circumstance. Fortunately, my friends were generous with their support for me and so any hurdles that came my way used to be eventually solved. Nonetheless, life was on edge, constantly. One fine day, I was travelling from Pune to Mumbai on the old Mumbai-Pune highway. Somewhere between Malavali and Lonavala, traffic came to a grinding halt. The taxi I was travelling in got stuck in this traffic maze near Waksai Phata, where incidentally a ghastly road mishap
Tiger’s Roar belied his Childlike Heart had snuffed the life of Bindumadhav Thackeray, the eldest son of Balasaheb, in 1996. Curiosity got the better of me and I alighted from the car to inquire with the police who were present there. They informed me that Balasaheb himself had arrived at the accident spot to pay homage to his son, Bindumadhav -- an annual ritual he performed, on his death anniversary. That explained the traffic hold-up. Since there was little else to do, I walked down to the accident spot. I could see garlands and flowers adorning the photograph of Bindumadhav. Balasaheb himself was present there along with five other people. I, being stoutly built, and coincidentally wearing a Safari suit, could be why I could go very close to the spot without being questioned. Those present perhaps mistook me for a police officer. I audaciously walked up to Balasaheb and greeted him. Though we had never met earlier, he too greeted me back. That must have made the police security personnel believe I was his acquaintance. A few moments later, Balasaheb walked to a vacant farmland in the vicinity. I too followed him there and suddenly realised that we were just the two of us; the other five people had not accompanied him. Pointing to the piece of land, he told me he was distressed that immediate medical aid could not be provided to Bindumadhav since no hospital was located near the accident spot. Hence, he was contemplating setting up a hospital there and asked what I thought about it. I said it was a thoughtful gesture. We got into a conversation for about 15 to 20 minutes. He enquired about my activities. Before taking his leave, I gave my visiting card to Balasaheb. He said that he found me to be a very interesting person and asked me to meet him at ‘Matoshri’ – his residence in Mumbai. In fact he also affectionately added, “If you come to Mumbai and leave without meeting me, then I
will make your life miserable.” To that I said, “But who will allow me to meet you with your ‘Z’ category security around you?” Balasaheb promptly gave me a telephone number and asked me to get in touch on that number whenever I wanted to meet him. That was my first accidental meeting with him, which is unforgettable, more so because he is generally believed to be a haughty person. In reality, I found him simple and friendly. He had a magnetic attraction about him. In the year 2000, we, as an educational institute, decided to felicitate prominent people from different fields to mark the beginning of the new millennium. We decided to honour them with the ‘Millennium Award’ for their commitment and contribution in their respective fields. The awardees included the noted educationist and founder of Symbiosis. Dr. S. B. Mujumdar, prominent medical professional and Magsaysay recipient, Dr. Banoo Coyaji, besides a few other noteworthy dignitaries. In those days, the Indian Institute of Modern Management was located within the campus of Agrasen High School in Vishrantwadi, in Pune. We had planned to organise the programme on the school grounds. Since the recipients of the award were renowned people, we needed to invite someone of a high stature as chief guest for the function. The patriotic stance taken by Balasaheb Thackeray from time to time had impressed me, so I wrote a letter requesting him to accept the honour of being the chief guest. Balasaheb immediately agreed. I could not help feeling overwhelmed about Balasaheb’s acceptance of my invitation, despite ours being a fledgling institute, and despite he not knowing me so well. However, I kept my fingers crossed as I was still not sure whether Balasaheb would actually make it to the programme. There were several reasons. One, the mundane venue; two, several local Shiv Sena leaders had been advising him against it, as I
16-30, / Corporate Citizen AprilApril 16-30, 20152015 / Corporate Citizen / 1 / 1
From the desk of Editor-In-Chief
was mired in a controversy at that time. Hence, we decided to keep it a low key event, choosing not to promote it. On the eve of the function, a police inspector came to see me. He wanted to check the security aspects as Balasaheb Thackeray was to attend our programme. That reassured us that indeed Balasaheb would be gracing it. When the police inspector asked me whether we had taken police permission, I was baffled. I told him since it was meant to be a small function by an educational institute, we did not think it necessary to get police permission. He said it was mandatory and said we would not be permitted to hold the function and began walking out. He suddenly turned around and said, “Who knows, you may become a minister tomorrow, the fact that Balasaheb has agreed to be here.” He suggested that we immediately apply for permission. Accordingly, we succeeded in obtaining it without any glitch. Indeed, besides feeling proud about the fact that Balasaheb would be gracing our function, I somehow felt empowered with this singular gesture of Balasaheb. It was as if some power was connecting us. I must also confess that his visit did change the outlook of many who had an adverse opinion about me and my work. On that eventful day Balasaheb flew to Pune in a helicopter to attend our function. When he arrived, he told me that some Shiv Sena leaders had discouraged him from attending the programme, but he felt from his heart that he should be here. We escorted him to my small office for a cup of tea. Besides him, Maj. Gen. S. Krishnamurthy, S. K. Jain and Ranjit Mudholkar too were present. We had prepared large citations to be given away to the recipients of the award. Balasaheb Thackeray duly signed them all. The embarrassment came after the cup of tea. Balasaheb wanted to relieve himself. Though we had not advertised the event, Shiv Sainiks had gathered in large numbers. Several Shiv Sena leaders accompanied Balasaheb. The entire ground was jam-packed and the only toilet block in the college was unclean. We tried to quickly clean it by pouring several buckets of water. Seeing our predicament, Balasaheb used the temporary toilet in the ambulance of his motorcade. Then he told us, “You people are doing good work. I thought your college would have a bigger campus.” I informed him that even the building where we were conducting the classes did not belong to us and we had acquired it on lease. At this point he said that he may not be ruling Maharashtra, but the Bombay Municipal Corporation was his forte. He would like to help me in my endeavour and so suggested that we start the institute in Mumbai. Once I had the premises there, he could then work 2 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian with Shiv Sena chief, Balasaheb Thackeray
Normally, educators are meant to educate people; however for me, every meeting that I had with Balasaheb Thackeray proved to be an educating experience. Whenever I met him, I could not help but get impressed with his forthrightness, quickness in spotting the qualities of fellow human beings, courage of conviction in whatever he pursued, and his deep concern about providing quality education to the masses towards providing me land for my institute. I was overwhelmed. I requested Balasaheb that it being a function of an educational institute, I would not like to have any other politician on stage. He promptly agreed and the Shiv Sena leaders too had no qualms about sitting in the audience. From our side, we decided only Maj. Gen. Krishnamurthy, S. K. Jain and I would be on the stage, and others would sit among the audience. Just before the programme started, I requested Balasaheb that since it was the function of a college where many students did not know Marathi, it would be appropriate if he spoke in English. He promptly agreed to this too and began his speech thus: “Today, this Balasaheb has been ordered by the other Balasaheb to speak in English. Therefore, I will speak in that language.” And then in flawless English he delivered a spectacular speech in which also gave his opinion on the controversy over his opposition to Valentine’s Day. The students of our institute were confidence personified as they did everything that was re-
quired to impeccably conduct the programme and compere it too. Balasaheb was impressed when he came to know that the compering was done by the students of our institute. He then asked me when the course had started. When I told him that it had been about four months back, he was astonished and said, “You gave them so much training in just four months?” After the conclusion of the function, as we were alighting from the stage, Balasaheb asked me, “What would a fauji do now?” Pat came my light hearted reply, “Sir, now that the programme is successfully over, a fauji would go and have a drink.” I was left stunned by Balasaheb Thackeray’s reaction to it. He just said, “Then let’s go.” I did not anticipate this even in my wildest dreams. A thousand questions cropped up in my mind. What to do now? Where could I take Balasaheb Thackeray? Finally I made a call to the manager of Hotel Pride Executive who immediately vacated the Crescent Hall and made it available to us. After we settled down, Balasaheb asked me my preference and again like a good fauji I said
‘rum.’ We discussed various subjects and Balasaheb with his quick wit and sense of humour had me in splits. As we chatted, I quizzed Balasaheb about his opposition to the Tamil people. He took meback to the pages of History and said, “I am not against Tamilians. In fact, we Marathas ruled over your Thanjavur. We have great affinity towards you. I raised my voice in support of LTTE.” As regards Mumbai, he candidly explained, “The population of Tamilians in Mumbai was increasing and they were occupying all key positions. Therefore we had to launch that campaign.” When the topic of smoking came up, he said, “I do not believe that only addictions harm one’s health. I knew a doctor who had no addictions and yet died an early death.” I asked Balasaheb, “Why do you wear a rudraksha bead necklace?” He explained that it was good for the heart and moreover, it had been given to him by one of his fans. I was so overwhelmed that we were spending the evening together that I said to him that nobody would believe that a man of such a small stature as me had a few drinks with him. He asked me, “But what is the need for the people to know this?” I quipped, “You are a big leader but I am a small man. This is a big thing for me.” To this, he said, “Okay. You may summon a few of your friends if you wish to, but do not call too many people.” I immediately called up Dr. S. B. Mujumdar, Mr. Prakash Kardaley, former editor of The Indian Express and Mr. Shripad Wagh, Former Editor of Maharashtra Herald. They were thrilled to have received this surprise invitation and reached there in a short while. We all had a nice time together, with Balasaheb uplifting the evening with his jokes. Dr. Mujumdar showed his disappointment at the fact that he had been inviting Balasaheb to his institution for many years but he had declined to come, although he was a Marathi manus, but had promptly attended my programme, despite my being a Madrasi. By the way, he had also asked me how many of my students were Maharashtrians. The programme was over but I decided not to miss the golden opportunity of meeting Balasaheb at his residence in Mumbai, sometime in the near future. ... I went along with Krishnamurthy and four students. Balasaheb summoned the Mayor of Mumbai, Executive Editor of Saamna, Mr. Sanjay Raut and Narayan Rane. Later, Balasaheb Thackeray told me, “You are well educated. People like you must join politics. You should contest
Left: Ranjeet Mudholkar, Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian, Balasaheb Thackeray and noted lawyer S K Jain
elections from Matunga on the Shiv Sena ticket.” I quickly turned down the offer saying it was not my cup of tea. Then Balasaheb went to his ante-chamber to release a CD of Ustad Ali Khan. While leaving, he told Narayan Rane who was present there, “He (me) runs a B School in Pune, which is one of its kind. The students there are very smart. You must go and see the college.” He also asked him to convince me about contesting the elections. Rane tried to convince me, to which I said that besides not being interested, I wasn’t even connected with the people there. To which Rane said, “You just fill up the nomination - we will take care of the rest.” When I further told him that I resided in Pune, he said, “You need not worry about that too. We can take care of it all.” Raj Thackeray too was present there. He called me ‘uncle’ and asked me how I was acquainted with Balasaheb. After I narrated the whole incident to him, he gave me his phone number and asked me not to hesitate calling him if I needed anything, anytime. Meanwhile, Balasaheb Thackeray released the CD of Ustad Ali Khan and returned. He told the Mayor, “This man runs a good college in Pune. We must give him land in Mumbai.” The Mayor promised to inquire and get back. We then decided to meet up again after three days. When we met again, the Mayor reflected Balasaheb’s views. He said, “We can allot land if you start a college in Mumbai.” Brig. M. L. Bambani and I started looking for a place to start a college in Mumbai and simultaneously began the admission process for the Mumbai branch of the Indian Institute of
Modern Management. We zeroed in on a 10,000 sq. ft. building in Chembur. When it was time to pay an amount in advance and sign the agreement, we handed over a brochure of our institute to the landlord. When he saw the photograph of Balasaheb Thackeray on it, he asked us whether we knew him. When we replied in the affirmative, he started pleading with us with folded hands to withdraw this agreement. He offered to give us money and requested us not to let Balasaheb know about this request. I was flabbergasted. Later, he told us that since we had links with a political party, he apprehended that we would not give up the premises once we got possession. Thus my dream of running an educational institution in Mumbai could not fructify. But I could get acquainted with the overwhelming personality of Balasaheb, who strived to provide quality education to the youth. Moreover, he appreciated my efforts. We kept on meeting regularly thereafter. These meetings between us, however, became infrequent later on, owing to age and the deteriorating health of Balasaheb Thackeray. Still, I consider it to be my good fortune to have got acquainted with the Roaring Tiger, who was so magnanimous and gentle hearted!
Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian editor-in-chief April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 3
Contents Volume 1 Issue No. 8 April 16-30, 2015
8
expert talk Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Ministry of Commerce & Industry speaks on India’s Working Women
9
manage money Dr Anil Lamba on Good Financial Management- Rule 1
10
collywood Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World
14
wax eloquent Who said what and why
16
cradle of leadership An interview with Dr Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad
22
fair and square Not Enough Women At The Top?-Leading corporate women speak on SEBI’s mandate on all listed companies to appoint at least one woman director on their board by 31 March 2015
24
profile An interview with R K Gupta, Executive Director at Bank of Maharashtra
34
Cover story Dynamic Duo 8
Batchmates Forever
Meet Reena Arya, senior Indian Revenue Service officer and her husband Dr Ajoy Kumar, IPS officer turned corporate leader who harmoniously blend responsibilities at home and work 4 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
28
CII case study: New Series: CII’s prize winning Case Studies - I
40
debate Romance in campus: A reality or a façade?
43
tête-à-tête An interaction with Amit Pandey, Vice President, Head - Procurement, SCM, HR & Admin at Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd, one of India’s leading broadband providers
52
8
44
brandstand BRANDS? No Longer!--A look at some of the classic brands that became bigger than the product/ service itself
47
aviation India follows the best international air-safety protocol to keep air travel safe
50
10 24
60
47
50
cricket endorsements A look at how our cricketers are setting new records making money, cumulatively from salary and endorsement earnings
52
mission mars An ambitious dream of three Indians—two women and one man -- are part of the neverbefore Mars One mission plan that aims to build a permanent human settlement on the Red Planet by 2024
56
pearls of wisdom Osho on ‘Learn to live joyously ever after...’
58
featherlite Tweets from the corporate world
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 5
40 Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh
54
Assistant Editor Joe Williams Senior Business Writer Mahalakshmi Hariharan Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty
56
Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur Anuradha Shukla / Kriti Sharma
48
59
beyond the bottomline Soft skills can take you far
60
mobile apps Why the Apple Watch is the most groundbreaking gadget this year...
61
health Trash the Ash--Quit Smoking!
Chief Marketing Officer Subash Krishnan +91 9823021013
Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072
North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930
62
South : Asaithambi G
64
Design & Art Direction Kiyan Gupta, The Purple Stroke
Astroturf Fortune favours the bold & lucky Citizen Claps & Slaps Our bouquets and brickbats for the fortnight!
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! 6 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Pune Bureau Suchismita Pai Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar Kalyani Sardesai
+91 9941555389
Graphic Designer Anil Walunj Photographers B Vijay Kumar Yusuf Khan Ahmed Sheikh / Prithviraj Mallick For Advertising and Marketing queries Email: subash.krishnan@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 A ‘feel good’ magazine
I am not into reading hard core business magazines but Corporate Citizen is truly a unique piece that I completely enjoy reading. Every article is told differently. The language is simple, crisp and lucid without any jargon. The layout is catchy and there is definitely a feel good factor. I would like to congratulate the entire editorial team for the brilliant work. Keep it up! - Sundari Hariharan, Homemaker, Mumbai via email
Truly cool
The magazine definitely has a feel good factor. I like the theme -- cool side of business -- that gives us a glimpse into the personal lives of the corporate fraternity. The editorial team is doing a great job, keep up the work! - NV Subramanian, Retired Bank Official, Kerala via email
Who makes them tick?
I love the fact that there is a magazine that showcases the personas of businessmen and women behind the companies. It’s refreshing to read the stories of people who make these business tick. - Saket Khanna, Director-Mealtango.com, Pune
A much awaited gift
Corporate Citizen, to me, comes as a much-awaited gift as it fills the gap of a hardcore marketing based magazine with lucid presentation. The intriguing theme of the magazine engrosses the reader without being pedantic. With just two issues out, I’ve already turned an Opinion Leader for this magazine. I further recommend it as a ‘must-read’ for everyone who wants to keep abreast with Corporate India. - Alok Kumar Saini, Zonal Marketing Head, ICICI Bank Ltd via email
Successful women
Refer the Women Achievers article, “Every goal has a human face” (CC January 1-15, 2015). Unless women are recognised for their
Best on the Beast Kudos to Corporate Citizen for giving us an insight into the ‘Beast’, the car used by US President Barack Obama. It was informative and every well put. This is a very good magazine and I hope we get to read more such articles in the future. I wish the magazine all the best. - John Lackro, via email
achievements like men, no country can make progress. Some nations and societies are still backward because their women are not given the respect or the opportunities they deserve. Women who are successful and independent are usually the happiest. As more women come forward to take on new challenges, one hopes that society and the state will help them attain success. There is no need now for any kind of reservation or compulsory position anywhere, not even in the corporate world as women are in top positions on their own strength. - Mahesh Kumar, New Delhi via email
success and look forward to reading many more such issues. - Dakshayani Ramaswamy, Academic Counsellor and Handwriting Analyst
Refreshing, positive
‘Impressive Reading’
I would like to congratulate Corporate Citizen and its talented team for putting together wonderful and insightful articles. I appreciate the fact that the magazine manages to cover people-oriented stories of simple inspiring lives whom we often fail to notice or acknowledge in our busy lives. The articles are well-written, thought provoking, refreshingly positive and truthful and an inspiration for people to identify with. I particularly enjoy reading the CC Tadka snippets. I wish the team continued
The morning cuppa
Oh! It’s a superb magazine entirely different from the available lot in the market. The articles and contents are like the morning tea -- that keeps us fresh throughout the day. In this case, the freshness lasts for 15 days, if not more. - Indra Mohan Srivastava via email
I chanced to go through the Corporate Citizen magazine and was suitably impressed. The Corporate citizen Magazine stands out from among other business magazines because the stories compel you to look beyond mere facts and figures. It is very unique and very interesting. It is as interesting to a lay person as to someone who is in the corporate sector as well as students. All the very best to the magazine. - Dr Ramakrishna Shenoi, Nagpur via email April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 7
Expert Talk
It’s time women get their dues Nirmala Sitharaman is a woman of tough action. Recently, at the Moneylife Foundation’s event in Mumbai, the feisty Minister of State for Commerce and Industry spoke at length about the increasing contribution of women in the Indian economy and the obstacles that they have to surmount. Corporate Citizen brings you her comprehensive insight into the reality of India’s working women By Neeraj Varty Pic: Prithviraj Mallick
The ground reality
Women are climbing corporate ladders everywhere, but we don’t even seem to talk about them. This is a situation that needs to be addressed. Sometimes blank statistics may help us to understand the gravity of the situation. It’s no good saying women make 50 per cent of the population. A few years ago, the 68th round of NSS survey talked about employment. It provided data about the number of people employed and in which sector. According to it, from among those people who were totally unemployed only 8.9 per cent are rural women and 1.9 per cent are urban women. Not more that 10 per cent self-employed people are women and this number is very low. What kind of assistance is provided to them by the government or how are we enhancing their role so that they become motivators, who in turn would motivate other women?
Government facilitation
It is the government’s responsibility to step up and bring about a change. Unless we provide help, we are not improving or not making the economy vibrant. To do that, we have to extent facilitation, the kind of facilitation the finance minister Arun Jaitley talked about during the budget. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was meant to reach out to those who need financial help and to get them into the banking circuit. They need to have access to at least the basic banking facilities. The 8 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
government is working on attractive loan schemes for women, and we are committed to providing every bit of assistance we can.
Women in rural settings
Earlier, women in villages were demure and passive, but today they are asking the right questions. And because they are asking these questions, the panchayat level development agenda in itself serves a larger purpose. In my experience of adopted villages, you don’t have to announce that you have come there, women themselves come and tell you a few hard facts and go away. I am planning to implement some new policies in these villages, where women can come themselves and say in what way the plans can be implemented. I find working with these women absolutely clear and fruitful. Empowerment of women is important, because women do the cost benefit analysis in a ruthless manner. I think the clarity of thinking of women comes through in the passionate way they lay facts before you and say that nobody taught them business. They are from the grassroots and therefore they can say what they feel.
Women in politics
Politics, for a long time, was a man’s domain. There were exceptions when women initially said they only got into politics for their husband, forefathers, brothers. My experience is that women are not treated equally.
A person like me could come into a political party only because of the reservation quota for women, and that makes me feel odd. It may have been due to the quota that I came into a political party but post that it is performance that defined my role within the party. Women are redefining perceptions in politics. They play second fiddle to no one. I encourage women to actively enter politics, and level the playing field.
Challenges for women
When it is a question of going and approaching banks it’s not a comfortable situation. Women entrepreneurs in metro cities may be comfortable, but when it comes to rural areas, the approach that commercial banks take is with a question mark. “Are you ok?” “Is your husband ok?”, “Why do you need the money?” etc. That sets a lot of hurdles in the mindset of people when they work with women and these are things on which institutions should make a difference. People should be judged based on their expertise and not their sex. But the Government and corporates will have to reach out to all those women who have proved that it is their substance which allowed them to be selfemployed. Women are enthusiastic, passionate, and always ready to work for business. It’s high time they are given their due. (Transcription by Varsha Bhute)
neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com
manage money In the previous issue we had discussed what a Profit & Loss Account is, what it contains. In this article let me dwell a bit on the Balance Sheet. By Dr Anil Lamba
Good Financial Management – Rule 1 ...continued from previous issue We have been discussing, in previous issues, the first rule of Good Finance Management, which stipulates that a business should generate on its investment a return which is at least equal to its cost of capital. We had calculated the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) at 16.8 per cent. In the Balance Sheet that we had considered the total capital was 1000 and at 16.8 per cent the cost of capital in absolute amount worked out at 168. And the investment of 1000 would accordingly be justified only if the assets deployed could earn for the organisation a return of 168. Stop for another minute and think. Do all assets generate income? No, they do not. If you make a list of all the assets a business typically possesses (land, buildings, equipment, vehicles, furniture, stocks of raw material, fittings and fixtures & so on) you will find that it is possible to classify all assets into two types: Performing Assets (PAs) and Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). Every organization is bound to possess assets which can be called NPAs. By non-performing, I do not necessarily mean non-essential assets or those not required. NPAs are those assets that do not directly generate income for the organisation. The furniture in your office, for instance, is essential but does not generate income. Some assets earn for the organization, while others do not. Let us assume a break-up between PAs and NPAs of 50:50. There will be organizations with a better PA vs NPA ratio, while there will be others with a worse ratio. Now how does this change the equation? Going back to our example, the minimum return we required to generate was 168 on an investment of 1,000. However, since 50 percent of the assets are NPA, it is only the remaining 500 worth of assets that are expected to generate 168. This now takes our targeted rate of return to 33.6 per cent. Now think about whether your PAs perform for all 365 days in the year. Many organizations follow a five-day week. And counting national holidays and festivals, and break-downs and maintenance-related shut-downs, and taking leave entitlements into account , it has been estimated that even PAs effectively perform for two-thirds of the year. Liabilities, however, perform throughout the year! No banker, while lending, offers not to charge interest for the weekend. So, considering that our assets are supposed to generate a return of 33.6 per cent, which has to be achieved over two-thirds of the year (since for the remaining one-third they are NPAs), the effective targeted annualized rate of return now goes up to 50.4 per cent. If you are an entrepreneur who is reading this and realising these truths for the first time, I’m sure you will not sleep tonight! This organization will now have to earn at the rate of 50 per cent plus in order to meet every stakeholder’s expectations. My purpose in detailing and dissecting matters is to
drive the message that every asset has a corresponding liability, and every liability has a cost. If all your assets are performing, and if the cost of your sources is, say 10 per cent, your assets must generate a return of 10 per cent. However, if half your assets are NPAs, the PAs must earn at 20 per cent. If the PAs perform for two-thirds of the year, they must generate a return of 30 per cent. Now, let’s consider the case of a household with a family of ten members and a monthly expenditure of 100,0000. If all members were to work, it would be the obligation of each to contribute an amount of 10,000 towards household expenses. However, in a family of ten some are likely to be too young and some too old to work and earn. If five are NPAs, each PA will have to contribute 20,000. Whenever there are NPAs, the expectation from the PAs become that much higher. Higher the NPAs, bigger is the burden on the PAs to perform for themselves and for those who don’t perform. One significant way in which organizations can improve their profitability is by improving the proportion between their PAs and NPAs. We must note that every investment in excess of the optimum level is non-performing. Holding inventory is necessary for a manufacturing organization–but inventory in excess of what is required is a non-performing asset. It may be the norm to extend credit to customers-but if the salesperson offers customers 45 days credit, when with a little negotiation he or she could have managed to sell on 30 days credit, the excess of 15 days is non-performing. Cash-in-hand beyond what is necessary is a NPA.
Every asset has a corresponding liability, and every liability has a cost
Balance Sheet 24% Capital 300 Fixed Assets 15% Reserves 200 12% Loan 400 18% Creditors 100 Current Assets 250 1,000 300 from shareholder and owners at 24% 200 by way of reserves at 15% 400 from loans at 12% 100 from creditors at 18% Total Weighted Average Cost of Capital If PA:NPA = 50:50 If PA performs 2/3rds of the year
750
1,000 = 72 = 30 = 48 = 18 168 = 16.8% = 33.6% = 50.4%
Dr Anil Lamba is a corporate trainer of international repute on finance management. His clients comprise hundreds of corporations across the world. He is the author of the bestselling book Romancing the Balance Sheet. He can be contacted at anil@lamconschool.com April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 9
collywood
People in the news
Meet the Honda’s youngest lead engineer
Twenty-two year-old Ryo Mukumoto into his third year at Honda made a mockery-of 400-odd entries at Honda’s research arm when he beat them in an in-house competition. Honda made him the youngest lead engineer in the company’s history and gave him a young team to help translate his ideas into reality. Mukumoto’s vision - a low-slung roadster inspired by a speeding bullet - goes on sale next month in the most competitive segment in Japan’s shrinking car market. “People of my generation think cars are simply a tool for transportation,” Mukumoto, now 26, said in an interview in Wako City, Japan. “I wanted them to say - hmm, this car is different,” he said. “We have made a car that will turn heads.” The introduction of the S660 roadster, named after the 660-cc engine capacity limit that defines the mini-car category unique in Japan, comes as Honda searches for a way out of record vehicle recalls and quality lapses. The company has blamed these problems in part on an overly ambitious sales target that placed undue stress on its harried engineers.
Nabard seeks government nod for Rs 10,000 crore tax-free bonds
Development finance institution Nabard has asked the central government to allow it to raise `5,000 crore to `10,000 crore worth of tax-free bonds in the current fiscal with commercial banks being able to meet their priority sector lending targets. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, chairman of Nabard said, “For 2014-15, Nabard reported a 33 per cent increase in the post-tax surplus at `2,400 crore, largely the result of an increase in its core refinancing activities. The post-tax surplus for the same time last year was Rs 1,860 crore. Internal accruals and borrowing about `55,000 crore to `65,000 crore from the market and equity support from the government will help us meet some our financing needs.” When banks fail to meet the priority sector lending targets the shortfalls are then directed through agencies like Nabard, for the development of rural infrastructure. 10 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
GoAir CEO De Roni quits
GoAir Chief Executive Officer Giorgio De Roni bids adieu after being with the airlines for four years at its helm. De Roni, who is the longest serving chief executive of the carrier made his debut in the year 2011. According to sources, De Roni is quitting for health reasons. Jeh Wadia, the Managing Director is expected to oversee operations until the management fills up the CEO’s post. De Roni worked as the chief revenue officer of Italian airline Air One before taking charge of the Wadia-group owned airline. He had replaced Kaushik Khona. His tenure saw the expansion of market share, network expansion from metro to non-metro routes and increase in fleet utilisation. GoAir’s net profit slumped to `5.44 crore for FY14 from `104 crore the previous year, but is expecting higher profitability this year.
Vijaypat Singhania’s gift to son Gautam triggers war over assets A gift of a 37 per cent stake worth `1,041 crore in textile and garment retailer Raymond by Vijaypat Singhania to his youngest son, Gautam, this February, prompted his Singapore-based grandchildren to move the Bombay high court for a division of his assets. On February 9, Vijaypat, 76, told the company he intended to transfer 24,290 shares in JK Investors (Bombay) Ltd, and 9,996 shares of Smart Investments Private Ltd, which collectively hold a 37.17 per cent stake in Raymond. The shares were to be gifted to his son Gautam, 48, for continuity of management and to align ownership interest, said a communication by Raymond to the stock exchanges. The Singhanias own 40 per cent of Raymond. In 1998, Vijaypat and his elder son, Madhupati, 56, parted ways, with the latter taking over the international businesses of the group. Vijaypat retained the India-centred businesses, including flagship Raymond. Soon, Gautam was running the operations of the group as the chairman and managing director, with Vijaypat as emeritus chairman. Last April, Gautam’s wife Nawaz also joined the Raymond board. The company’s financial performance since the split in 1998 has been muted and its sales and profits have stagnated.
Vijaypat Singhania (left)
Team Indus to rope in Nilekani as adviser, investor The co-founder of Infosys and former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani is likely to join Team Indus as an investor and adviser. This Bengaluru-based team is attempting to create history by producing the first of a kind space mission from India to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon by 31 December 2016. Team Indus, the country’s lone entrant to the prestigious $30-million Google Lunar XPrize, is set to close a pre-series A funding round of nearly $1.5 million (about Rs 9 crore) from investors, including Nilekani, who, after unsuccessfully contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha election as a Congress candidate, has been incubating ideas in primary education and reviving his government technology organisation, eGovernments Foundation. April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 11
collywood Wipro welcomes Abid Katsushi Inoue Ali Neemuchwala as appointed figurehead group president of HCIL and COO IT major Wipro has announced the appointment of Abid Ali Neemuchwala as the Group President and Chief Operating Officer of the company, from 1 April, 2015. Abid was until recently with Tata Consultancy Services where he headed Business Process Services globally. He was involved in several leadership roles during his 23-year-long career with TCS. In his role at Wipro, Abid will head the Service Lines of Global Infrastructure Services, Business Application Services, Business Process Services, and Advanced Technology Solutions. He will also head Business Operations, the geographies comprising Continental Europe Africa and LATAM, Strategic Engagements, Advisor Relationships as well as the Marketing function. A chess buff, Abid is an Electronics & Communication engineer from NIT, Raipur and has a Masters in Industrial Management from IIT, Mumbai. He is married with three children and lives in Dallas, Texas. CC congratulates Abid on his new role.
12 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL), the fourth-largest passenger vehicle manufacturer in the country, recently announced the appointment of Katsushi Inoue as its president and chief executive. Inoue will take up his duties from April. Hiroyuki Shimizu will be the senior vice-president and director, marketing and sales. Yoshiyuki Matsumoto, managing officer, Honda Motor Company, who was the representative of development, purchasing and production in Asia and Oceania since April 2013, will move to Japan at the end of his tenure. He was based out of India. He will take over as the chief operating officer of automobile operations at Honda Motor. Sources said he could be elevated to director, with the title of senior managing officer and director, after approval at the general meeting of shareholders in June. Inoue takes over from Hironori Kanayama who served since taking office in April 2012. Inoue has been linked to Honda Motor for over 29 years and has served as general manager in the marketing planning office in the Japan headquarters in his last assignment.
Tata Sons appoint Sen, Khambata as directors Tata Sons, the promoter of major operating firms of Tata Group, announced appointments of former Ambassador of India to the US, Ronen Sen as an independent director on its Board along with Farida Khambata, former member of IFC’s Management Group. Both Sen and Khambata will be Non-Executive Independent Directors of Tata Sons Limited, the company said in a statement. Sen was India’s Ambassador to the US from 2004 to 2009. He was also India’s Ambassador to Mexico (1991-92), to the Russian Feder-
ation (1992-98), and the Federal Republic of Germany (1998-2002), and served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2002-04), the company said.
Dr Reddy’s to acquire UCB business in India for `800 crore India’s second largest drug maker by sales, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, India’s, will enter into a definitive agreement to acquire a select portfolio of Belgium based pharmaceutical firm UCB in India for `800 crore. UCB, listed on Euronext Brussels, has operations in nearly 40 countries with revenues of 3.3 billion Euros in 2014. In a statement, the Hyderabad headquartered drugmaker said the established products business of UCB would cover the territories of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives and the acquisition is on a slump sale basis. Dr Reddy’s said the transaction includes approximately 350 employees engaged in operations of UCB’s India business and the revenue of the acquired business was approximately `150 crore for calendar year 2014.
Phaneesh Murthy to launch health exchange After staying away from public glare for some time, Phaneesh Murthy, former chief executive of Nasdaq-listed information technology services company iGate, has again staged a comeback, this time as an entrepreneur tapping into the large opportunity in India’s health care segment. With two former senior colleagues at iGate and two other professionals in the sector, Murthy is launching a new venture which he claims will be ‘India’s first health exchange’. In the first phase, the company, PM Health & Life Care would launch a regulated marketplace connecting drug-sellers and chemists with consumers. In the second phase, the company aims to offer a range of other services, including a platform for patients to digitally store their health records and enable doctors to prescribe medicines by using the platform. Murthy currently offers consulting services to Fortune 500 companies, independently and also through his consulting and advisory company, Primentor. He is also on the board of directors at several companies, including eTouch (a digital consulting company in the US Silicon Valley), GlobalEdge (a Bengaluru-based, small, embedded software company) and Opus (a payment solutions provider).
Infosys ropes in former SAP India’s MD Anirban Dey Former SAP Labs India managing director Anirban Dey has joined IT Major, Infosys subsidiary EdgeVerve as the global head for software products, taking charge of a line of business that will be vital for the company as it seeks to increase the proportion of higher-value offerings to customers. Dey announced his appointment on Twitter and has also updated his profile on LinkedIn. “It’s an honor,” he tweeted. His LinkedIn profile showed he had been with the company for a month. EdgeVerve is the
products and platforms subsidiary of Infosys, India’s second-largest software company. The Bengaluru-based company announced the creation of EdgeVerve Systems in June 2014 and appointed veteran Sanjay Purohit to head the unit. Since then Infosys has undertaken an organizational reshuffle and put Michael Reh, a former lieutenant of Sikka at SAP, in charge of EdgeVerve, with Purohit overseeing the company’s Lodestone unit and the consulting business. (www.economictimes.com) April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 13
wax eloquent
Are India’s Prospects Waxing or Waning? In the wake of current policy re-makings and draft proposals on various issues and sectors, hear out businesses, economists and policy makers on the India story –-a peek on “who said what” in the India Today Conclave 2015 and other talks and visits recently hosted across regions Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
“Overall, the Make in India programme should lead to an attitudinal shift in how India relates to investors -- not as a permit-issuing authority but as a true business partner.” – President Pranab Mulherjee at an international seminar on ‘Clean and Capable India of Gandhi’s Dream’.
“I often say that a nation’s fortunes are linked to its neighbourhood. There are many in India who would argue that India is too large to need her neighbours. There are many in our region who worry that India’s economic size will hurt them. I disagree with both views. For one, we all need a stable and peaceful neighbourhood to concentrate on national development.” – Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India during his recent tour to Sri Lanka.
“…Fiscal deficits are on the downside. There is a flurry of activities, we are correcting aberrations in taxation structure, we are concentrating on infrastructure and trying to bring about fairness in our system.? The success of the auction of Spectrum and Coal mines have shown how corruption could be avoided and bring higher values. We seem to be favourably placed…”
– Arun Jaitley, Union Finance Minister of India, addressing a gathering of international investors on ‘Investment Opportunities in India’ at London. 14 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
“As the defense sector is opening up, India and the Indian industry has a lot of capability to make it happen. There are lot of issues, a lot of issues have been solved. The 49 per cent FDI in defense has helped us tremendously. There are a lot of people who want to form joint ventures to take the opportunity of supplying and producing products for the Indian defense sector.”
– Baba N Kalyani, Chairman, Kalyani Group
“Only 27 per cent Indian women participate in the labour market. India’s potential women power is its real superpower. India has been living under a cocoon of paternalism since colonial days.” … “Jugaad has the power and energy to make India a global power for innovation…” – Michael Steiner, German Ambassador to India, on future prospects in India
“We need a synergy between Abenomics and Modinomics…”… We have a lot of hope in Modi’s ease of business slogan….”India is the only BRICS country that has never hosted the Olympics or the soccer World Cup. Hope the country does it by 2020.” – Takeshi Yagi, Japanese Ambassador to India, on the $35 billion investment promised by Shinzo Abe during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Tokyo visit.
“If there is a company that has the technology and wants to make for example fighter planes in India without any obligation on the part of the government, I am willing to give them approval for 100 per cent investment in the venture.” – Manohar Parrikar, Union Minister of Defence, India
“When I walk into a room, people are surprised… Most don’t expect a chief technology officer to walk into the room in high heels.” – Padma Warrior, Chief Technology Officer at Cisco.
“I don’t understand what is the deal about the two languages are. Hindi is my mother while English is my wife. Just don’t each other know how much you love them.” “...A plumber can now be called a hime infrastrcture expert…” – Chetan Bhagat, Writer “I see these matrimonial ads every Sunday. But my job as a skill facilitator is to ensure that one day, we see an ad that showcases a good plumber…””… Language cannot be a barrier for one’s credentials to get a job…” – Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs.
“It is a misconception that the Land Ordinance was modified by the government. I challenge you to find any changes in it…” – Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport, on the Ordinance on land acquisition bill which was passed by Lok Sabha recently.
“IPLC (India Public Libraries Conference 2015) should provide some leads on the basis of which public libraries could be managed on a redefining role as envisaged by the National Mission on Libraries (NML) for creating a new generation of libraries and knowledge professionals in the country.” – K.K. Banerjee, Advisor, National Mission on Libraries “…We have to work like Team India. The Centre will give the funds but the states have to perform.” – Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra. “Today, CEOs are like movie stars. There is a lot of expectation from them to perform. …The disparity was around 1:15 earlier, and (this) proportion may rise to over 1:100 eventually...” – Kris Lakshmikanth, Founder-CEO and Managing Director of Headhunters - an executive search firm specializing in C-Suite search and senior level talent acquisition.
“I don’t understand why everybody in India should be a doctor or an engineer. We need a wider range of professionals in India.” – Manjul Bhargava, Mathematics Professor, Princeton University sangeetagd2010 @gmail.com
“There are 12 million people coming to the job market every year and by 2025, 30 million more people will come to the job market. If we don’t provide that quality job that has dignity, then we are moving towards a demographic disaster.” – Y C Deveshwar, Chairman, ITC Limited
“The nation will prosper by collective efforts of all and not just by GDP.” – K N Govindacharya, Former RSS leader and social worker.
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16 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Cradle of Leadership-7 Indian School of Business
ISB is corporates’ gift to India!
Indian School of Business (ISB) is one of the premier private business schools in India, with campuses at Hyderabad and Mohali. ISB has taken shape with the support of leading corporates of India and abroad along with top global business schools. Its two state-of-the-art campuses are built over a sprawling 260 acre campus in Hyderabad and a 70 acre campus at Mohali. The then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had stated during his inaugural speech on its opening day, that it is the corporates’ gift to India By Vinita Deshmukh
C
orporate Citizen spoke to the dynamic Dean of ISB, Ajit Rangnekar, an accomplished corporate professional and now a passionate academician. He joined ISB in 2003 as Deputy Dean and has admirably steered the institute, bringing it international recognition and accreditation. Rangnekar’s career spans over 30 years in the industry, in consulting positions pan-Asia. Before joining the ISB, he was the Country Head, first for Price Waterhouse Consulting and then for PwC Consulting, in Hong Kong and the Philippines. He was head of the Telecom and Entertainment Industry Consulting practice for PwC in East Asia (China to Indonesia). His maiden job was with Associated Cement Companies, India, where he rose to be a General Manager at the age of 30. Rangnekar did his graduation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and completed his post-graduation in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Read on for his take and vision for ISB.
Corporate Citizen: Your association with ISB began from 2003 when you joined as its Deputy Dean. Now you are its Dean. Tell us about your experience during this 12 year tenure with this prestigious and one of its kind management institute.
Ajit Rangnekar: In those days we were a start-up. We had no reputation. Nobody knew us. Hence the first five years went in really establishing ourselves. The next five years were of growth. We have had different experiences. As a start-up it is not the same as an established company. Now of course, as an established institution, ISB does not have to worry about a lot of things, especially with regard to the quality of its students or reputation in the marketplace. However, in the beginning it was a tough job – we had to convince everyone that this institution deserved serious recognition. We hardly had 180 students and we were losing money. With no reputation in April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 17
Cradle of Leadership-7 the marketplace, people had a lot of questions about us. We had to overcome all that – it meant relentlessly meeting and convincing people; talking to corporates, media and to potential students to explain what ISB really stood for. You can talk whatever you want – ultimately it is because your students perform in the industry that your reputation is made. We were lucky to have students of really high quality.
Despite ISB being a unique experiment, which was strongly backed by leading corporate leaders, it is surprising that you faced challenges initially?
us about your very impressive corporate tenure.
Throughout my career I have not sought to do a job – I have always said I was available to do what needed to be done and that has always been my stand. I started my career with ACC. I handled their operation research work, then financial planning followed by starting up a factory in Hong Kong and becoming a General Manager at the age of 30. Thereafter I joined PwC where I worked in different areas. I have always been keen to do new things. I have been lucky with my career, which let me do things without my asking for them.
What has been your experience in switching over from the corporate world to an academic world that produces top class corporate managers? And why do you prefer the latter, presuming so, because you have spent over a decade now in ISB?
Before joining the ISB, you were a successful corporate leader, working in multinational companies. Tell
Rajat Gupta and John Jacobs of Kellogg School were the two people who thought of building a world class management institution in India. That’s because they believed that after the opening up of India in the early 1990s they felt that India was going to be on par with the world economy. Before that India was a protected and isolated economy. So the1990s defined that India would become a part of the global economy and if it did so, it would need global quality talent that also understands the reality of India. Till then you had global schools like Kellogg and Harvard which understood global standards and then you had indigenous institutions which understood the reality of India, but we did not have any which could bridge both. That is why they decided to set up an institution in India. The original idea was to set it up as part of IIT Delhi, as Rajat was its alumnus, but they realised that you have to build a different kind of institution which may not be possible within the constraints of government policies. That is why it was decided to set up a completely independent institute.
Pic: B Vijaykumar
We always got students, but the industry was not used to looking at students who had working experience in the industry and then pursued their MBA. Traditionally, it was the other way round where you finished your engineering, let’s say, did your MBA, and got placed. We took students from different backgrounds and experiences -- like those who were journalists. In fact, we even had an air hostess in one of the earlier batches. On top of that, we had a one year MBA program instead of the conventional two year program. So there were big questions in the industry about its validity. We had to put in immense efforts to demonstrate that our school was different, and in many cases, better. We soon overcame the hurdles – now the industry respects us. Ultimately when the school performs, you build up a track record.
The important thing is that even with PwC, my work was essentially with start-ups. ISB was a great opportunity for me to work with a different kind of start-up. An academic world is very different, as building an academic institution is not easy, especially because of the regulatory challenges we have to face in India. Despite the challenges involved, it has been a terrific experience for me and I have a deep sense of fulfilment.
‘In the beginning it was a tough job – we had to convince everyone that this institution deserved serious recognition. We hardly had 180 students and we were losing money. With no reputation in the marketplace, people had a lot of questions about us’
Could you tell us about how ISB came into being?
How was the city of Hyderabad chosen for ISB’s location?
The original idea was to set it up in Mumbai but the then government wanted reservation for Marathi people. You cannot make a world class institution with reservation – be it students, faculty or even staff. Chandrababu Naidu, the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh was very keen to bring it to Hyderabad so he worked very hard to convince the Board that Hyderabad was the right location. By that time a large number of Indian industrialists had also agreed to support the ISB. So they were the people who were looking at the location. So Naidu convinced them it should be in Hyderabad rather than Bangalore or Chennai. I think it has been a very correct decision, as Hyderabad has been a wonderful support to ISB. Successive governments have also realised the value of ISB.
Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, Indian Business School, Hyderabad
18 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
How are you different from IITs and IIMs in the sense that you may be in some way obliged to the state government for having given you the land?
First of all, we were not given the land; we negotiated with the government and bought the 260 acres. We did so because we wanted to have a truly world class institution and we did not want to have to depend on anybody. The biggest difference between IITs, IIMs and us, is that we are not constrained by unnecessary regulations. Newspapers have recently written about UGC not delivering what it should and before that much ink has flown over AICTE not being able to improve the quality of technical education. This is because of outdated policies of these regulatory bodies. So any constraint in the regulations would have made it difficult to create a world class institute. Secondly, let us recognize that IITs and IIMs were created more than 60 years ago, to meet the needs of a young, emerging India of the 60s so the emMost of the students have had previous work experience before joining ISB phasis was different. We were the global school of the 21st century and started with global aspirations. No doubt the IIMs and IITs have done a phenomIt is said that ISB was created by the industry to reduce the enal job – at least the older ones have been a huge inspirational investment heavy cost of sending senior executives abroad (such as Harof the government, and so deserve due credit. However, our philosophy was vard, Wharton, Boston and so on ) which in effect means that the government has a lot on its own hands and hence it is time that we that instead of sending people abroad the industry created as a private sector, contributed. At the inauguration of ISB the then Prime a replica in the form of ISB. Please comment. Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that ISB is a gift of the corporate sector I have never heard this one before. I think the people who created observed to the nation and I think this is the fundamental difference. that the top 20 business schools in the world had fewer than 400 students from all over Asia – 396 to be precise. That is roughly for half the world’s So how much did the corporates contribute towards build- population. So companies and corporate leaders like Rahul Bajaj said we must create enough capacity in our country so that we can provide world ing up ISB? class education to our students. Hence unlike the IITs and IIMs, the ISB has So far, it has been a notable contribution of around Rs 600 crore from the grown very rapidly. In just 12 years, we have 800 students, whereas in 30 corporate world. years IIMs have just 200 odd per batch. Now of course with the OBC and What does ISB stand for and what are the courses you offer? other quota the number has slightly increased but our philosophy always was that we will create more capacity so that there is enough talent available Firstly, it is about high quality education; secondly, it has world class research and enough opportunities available for bright students in India. facilities and thirdly, we work with the society to help solve the society’s I must also add that very, very few of my students joined my Board big problems. We have done extensive research for the finance ministry, companies. Most of them joined international companies and the Board is the Reserve Bank of India, food security planning, research on improving perfectly okay with it. It is perfectly alright. Even for my Executive Educadeliverable services for the Andhra Pradesh government, how to rope in the tion program, fewer than 5 per cent of my participants are from my Board industry for the Punjab government, for the SME sector and so on. Hence, companies. Most of the companies are from the government as well as the corporate world outside, and the interesting part is that we do has benefited from ISB. a lot of short term Executive Education proWith a strong emphasis on entrepreneurgrammes for the public sector and for govship, the impact of technology on commerce ernment. It is truly a benefit to the nation; not and emerging markets, programmes at the just to these corporates who have supported. ISB focus on managing business in fast-evolvThat’s why I say I have never heard that coming environments. The ISB works closely ment before. with its associate schools and academic area leaders to create contemporary programmes that apply Western concepts into the Asian Please tell us about ISB’s internacontext. We also have established strong cortional rankings? porate and industry links which ensure that We were the first Indian school to be internathe program curriculum reflects global best tionally ranked in the FT (Financial Times) practices, is international in perspective, and top 100 schools across the world. ISB is also delivers according to world-class standards. the first business school in South Asia to be Primarily, we have a one year Post Graduate recognised by the Association to Advance Program in Management and several short Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). term Executive Programmes. Achieving AACSB accreditation involves a process of rigorous internal review, evalua-
‘Schools are not willing to invest in faculty education, because many of them feel that if they invest, that faculty may end up joining somewhere else at a higher salary. Faculty is the single biggest problem – there is no shortage of good quality students’
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 19
Cradle of Leadership-7 tion, and adjustment. It necessitates meeting AACSB’s exacting standards for a high quality teaching environment, a commitment to continuous improvement, and curricula responsive to the needs of businesses. The AACSB accreditation has been earned by less than 5 per cent of the world’s business schools. The accreditation reflects ISB’s position as a pivotal player which will shape tomorrow’s global management education landscape.
Though you have such an impressive legacy and have also been quoted in international rankings once, you don’t have any recognition by any regulator in this country?
‘The biggest difference between IITs, IIMs and us, is that we are not constrained by unnecessary regulations... any constraint in the regulations would have made it difficult to create a world class institute’
We are keen to be regulated, but we are not keen to be regulated such that it hurts my students, and at a cost which completely compromises the quality of education. For example, the AICTE has a regulation that you cannot have more than 280 students and today we have 800 students, which is a matter of pride. Then this regulatory authority tells you how much fees you can charge, what kind of faculty you can take and how much you should pay them. How can I get world class faculty if I cannot pay them? That is not AICTE’s problem. As for the UGC, it refused to recognize a one year Master’s Program. Now, the world over, there are one year Master’s programs. So, can we build a world class institute with such archaic regulations? So we have had to voluntarily decide not to comply by them. It is sad for the country. We are stuck with regulations that don’t get us anywhere.
Did you receive any notices by the All India Council of Technical Education asking you to change your ‘one year’ to a ‘two year’ program, or have you sought any kind of regularization to ensure that your courses are recognized by competent authorities? We are not AICTE recognized, and we say yes, we are not, and we are not claiming to be, either. It’s not that we don’t want to get regulated; we want to be proud of our national regulatory system. I am glad that now a panel of experts have pointed out that these are wrong things that are happening in our country. I must also add that the previous two HRD ministers too tried hard to make the regulations more sensible for institutions like ISB to get regulated. I am glad the current HRD ministry is trying to do so. The reality is that there is some genuine desire at the highest levels of government, across the political spectrum. Unfortunately, the decisions take longer than they should.
Especially if the fees are as high, as it costs some Rs. 24 lakhs for your one year course…
Do you think that prior work experience should be made compulsory for anyone to pursue an MBA degree program? Many American universities insist on ‘prior work experience’
The ISB is located on a sprawling campus of 260 acres
20 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
The age group is roughly between 23 and 50 years; the average being 27 years. We have about 30 per cent women students and would like to increase it to 50 per cent, but families unfortunately in this country are more willing to encourage sons to do postgraduation than their daughters.
In fact, we are the most competitive MBA program in this country. Any other program is two years, right? So take some reasonable priced program – it would be about 4-5 lakhs over a period of two years. Ours costs Rs.20 lakhs in the first year and the next year the students earn, on an average, Rs.20 lakh per year. In addition, some people receive scholarships. So, let’s look at it in a different way. If you are doing your MBA here after some work experience, you are earning, let’s say 5 or 6 lakh rupees per year already. In the year that you are admitted to ISB, you do not incur any cost as you get a loan. Next year onwards you start earning about Rs.20 lakhs per annum. On an average you repay your loan to the tune of about 3 – 3.5 lakh per year; still you would have Rs.17 lakhs with you. So where is the cost? You actually incur a zero cost doing an MBA in ISB. That is why we get a large number of students who come from business backgrounds like business and financial communities. I think they understand the matter in the proper perspective. A large number of our students who come from the industry fund their education through loans that are student friendly and collateral free.
What percentage of your students come from outside the industry?
It is 100 per cent from the industry, as we treat everyone as industry, be it NGOs or the government. To be specific, it is 90 per cent from industry and 10 per cent from others.
What is the age group of your students?
issues facing the industry and making effort to equip their students with the right skills. Most others are probably low quality shops. Some may be well intentioned; some may be money making machines – we don’t know. Undoubtedly, out of the 3000 odd institutes approved by AICTE at one time, a very, very large percentage are not adding enough value to justify the fees. That is why new regulations and approach is necessary. I am not saying the country does not need 3000 institutions; it needs more; but where is the quality?
How is ISB different in terms of faculty and curriculum?
The average age group of students is 24 yrs; about 30 per cent are girls
before they join the MBA program. Do you think such a condition should be applied in India? If so what will happen to the masses aspiring to join the industry?
‘The AACSB accreditation has been earned by less than 5 per cent of the world’s business schools. The accreditation reflects ISB’s position as a pivotal player which will shape tomorrow’s global management education landscape’
I am never for making anything compulsory. Who’s to decide what should be made compulsory? I hope the last people who should think so is the government. I will tell you my experience when I went straight to IIM after my IIT graduation. A lot of business is about interaction with human beings – only 30-50 per cent is about business and technique, about the hard things -- the remaining 50 per cent is about communication and all the soft skills. So if you have never worked, you really do not understand those soft aspects well. From that point of view, having exposure to the industry is of value. But tomorrow if you say that everyone must have the experience -- forget that we have 3000 management schools today – let us take the top 100 and forget about the rest. On an average if a school has about 250 students that comes to 25,000. Where are those 25,000 people going to find a job? What are the jobs available for fresh graduates especially from different backgrounds? A part of the problem is that the industry itself is pushing students to finish their education early. I do believe very strongly that if you have experience, you learn much more. In business education you have a three-way learning – first, the concepts, from the best faculty; second, from applying those concepts to your own experience; and third, even if you have some experience and if a faculty teaches you, you may not have worked in that kind of an environment, or your experience is only one kind of experience in one environment. If you have exposure to another experience, then you learn from that also. That is why you need to have experience and you need to also have diversity of experience.
What do you think about the focus of MBA institutes in the country?
I actually think there are fewer than maybe, at the most, 100 institutes which are really teaching well with good faculty; who are trying to understand the
The sad part in this country is that an MBA is considered lower quality than PGDM. Curricula are not changed regularly. We have been trying for the last few years and not succeeded as much as we would like to and that is to train teachers from other colleges to improve their capability. Schools are not willing to invest in faculty education, because many of them feel that if they invest, that faculty may end up joining somewhere else at a higher salary. Faculty is the single biggest problem – there is no shortage of good quality students. There is more than enough talent in India; if only they had good curriculum, faculty and industry-connect…. As for ISB, our faculty do a lot of research themselves, so what they teach in the class is not somebody else’s thinking but their own experience and analysis. Secondly, all our faculty are PhDs, and come from the absolutely top 25 PhD programs in the world. We expect our faculty to do world class research throughout their tenure here so that they continue to stay up-to-date. Lastly, we regularly update our curriculum
What is your advice to MBA students? Do you think they are on a wild goose chase to earn money?
All I would say is that doing your MBA is not the only way in which you can find fulfilment. Right now we have a young professor who is actually developing a course on happiness. Why do you earn money? In order to be happy. So, first figure out what is important to you in life. Don’t go like a herd of sheep. Now, with the internet, you can get information on what you want to do, and besides this external information, you need to introspect as to what you really want to do in life. What do I really enjoy doing? If you don’t know that, then what problem are you trying to solve? Also, what we strongly need is high ethical standards – you cannot and must not compromise. This I feel is the single most important thing.
Tell us about your family.
This is one thing I don’t like to talk about for two reasons – one, I like to keep my family out of public view, and the second part is that I feel extremely guilty. I’ve really not been fair to my family and my friends as I’ve not been able to spend enough time with them. If there is one source of regret for me, then it is that I’ve sacrificed a lot of my time for work. vinita.deshmukh@corporatecitizen.in April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 21
FAIR AND SQUARE
Not Enough Women At The Top? SEBI had made it mandatory for all 6000 listed companies to appoint at least one woman director on their board by 31st of March, 2015 failing which, they would face regulatory action. The deadline has been met by around 250 companies only, most of who have appointed women family members of the owners as directors. Corporate Citizen speaks to some leading ladies of the corporate world to find out why There is a dearth of experienced and suitable women directors
Lila Poonawalla, Former MD, Alfa Laval. Founder, Lila Poonawalla Foundation SEBI’s Directive is wellintentioned. There can only be two reasons for not being able to implement this appointing directive. 1. They are unable to find professional women directors suitable for their line of business. 2. Also, finding women with at least two decades of experience in the business world is not easy. Some companies are family run organisations, and they would like to have their own members on the Board. I do not subscribe to the view that Boards are prejudiced
against appointing women directors. It is just that they do not yet have experience on how to handle women directors. They are not sure how women will react to various issues that come up at board meetings. To share with you when I was appointed MD of Alfa Laval in 1987, this was a major question. My advantage was that I had worked many years in the same company in various positions. Especially in the position of export manager, I was in contact with the Swedish board members. This was an advantage. And I think neither the board nor I regretted this move. Currently I am on the boards of some companies, and I find it a very rewarding experience. In short, I personally feel that they are short of real achievers, the majority of qualified and well known women in business run their own family enterprises and therefore are reluctant to go on the boards of other companies. They are busy in developing their own business and are short of time. Women as board members will bring in altogether new perspectives to the discussion and brainstorming. By nature, women directors will not be bogged down by other considerations and give a frank opinion on all issues that are
22 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
brought up at the board meetings. Women do have a greater role to play in steering India to world class economy and transparency. As regards equality, by the mere fact that women are appointed as board members, the equality question does not arise. My personal experience is, let alone equality, I am treated with respect and without any prejudice. Those women who have accomplished a status due to their hard work and experience are not easy to be side tracked.
Women directors will enhance performance
Priti Rao, Former Infosys executive, MD, Pumpkin Patch I am aware that SEBI has asked all listed companies to mandatorily
appoint at least one woman director on the board by 31 March 2015. I am also aware that compliance to this directive is not very good, many companies have not taken serious action to meet the deadline. I do think there is a little reluctance and hesitation to change. Also, the availability of competent women professionals may be a challenge too. I am on the board of Mastek Ltd, and I must say that I am proud to be part of the team. At the board meetings, I have never experienced any bias or any difficulty in expressing my views or making the required contribution. I do think that professional women are as competent as their counterparts as board members and bring their experience and knowledge to the table and contribute equally. They also bring a unique perspective to the board discussions, given their strengths such as nurturing, caring, team work and willingness
Finding women with at least two decades of experience is not easy. Family-run companies prefer their own women on the Board to learn. There are many research studies that have been published that have proven that companies with a good mix of men and women in the board have had better track record financially as well as all round performance. Various S&P indices have found a link to the longevity of companies and whether there is a good mix of men and women present on the board. I also believe that for millennia most companies have operated on the ‘masculine’ traits of aggression, ambition and competition and left brain domination. But we are now seeing a significant rise of feminine values such as caring, compassion, cooperation and right brain thinking. Hence I believe the SEBI directive has come at the right point of time.
Reluctant to get even ‘Rabri Devi’ type women directors
dent director” is chosen because of his ability to be accommodating and to turn a blind eye to wrong doing or to remain silent — those are the virtues that corporate India looks for. This applies to our best companies as well, there are no exceptions. Look around and you will see that some of the best contributors to the nation, among bureaucrats, IAS officers and regulators, will find place only on NGOs. Corporate India is unwilling to even risk having them on board on a trial basis. It is in this environment that corporate India has to find pliable women to fit the SEBI mandate. While I am personally against women being on boards only to fulfil a ‘quota’ rather than for their contribution, the reluctance to get even the “Rabri Devi” type of directors is shocking and smacks of misogyny. There are a few women who meet the criteria (headed institutions and banks), have excellent academic qualification and still meet the criteria of ‘seeing, hearing and speaking nothing that could contradict promoter-managers’. They are so much in demand, that I know one instance of a director who is on several boards even though her hearing is impaired and eyesight diminishing. Many others, even qualified ones, are there because they are friends, relatives or girl friends of a cosy cabal of industry leaders — yes there may be exceptions, but then given the scarcity of women directors, you can imagine how rare those are. What is clear is that corporate India is so determined about not following SEBI’s diktat that even the latest threat of action has not led to any perceptible action to get more directors.
Companies should have a genderinclusivity culture Sucheta Dalal Managing Editor, Moneylife The problem is that corporate governance in India, because it is mandated by SEBI regulation, is more of a farce. Every “indepen-
I appreciate SEBI’s directive. We have a few examples in Indian companies where women are in key roles. SEBI’s directive will make companies actively think about having women in leadership positions. It’s difficult to say if there is a general bias. The numbers
Swati Ketkar, Executive Director, Harbinger Systems Pvt. Ltd. may tell some story. Initiative is needed from both sides – women should aspire to get into leadership roles. The companies should have a gender-inclusivity culture. The companies need to create a work environment where women can get equal opportunities, nurturing and guidance to get into leadership positions. At the Harbinger Group, we have had 50% representation of women in the board for the last several years. The percentage of women in senior management is 37%. In addition to bringing their strengths to the table, women board members can encourage the gender-inclusivity culture. They play an indirect role anyway. By having them on the board, it would encourage other women in the company, as they can visualize their growth path. CC Global tadka Scene On 6th March, 2015, Germany became the latest country to commit representation of women on corporate boards, as presently only 20 per cent of women are holding such positions. Norway was the first in Europe to legislate board room quotas, followed by Spain, France and Iceland with 40 per cent reservations for women. Italy has reserved one-third quota; Netherlands at a non-binding 30 per cent. Britain has not legislated board room quotas but has a 30 per cent club to increase women representation. The US has 17 per cent representation without legislative mandate
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 23
profile
Non-Performing Assets are a concern In the past few months, the Indian banking sector has been going through a very rough patch. Right from an economic slowdown, to mounting non-performing assets (NPAs), to a cautious monetary policy, and a fluctuating rupee, the growing challenges and concerns in the banking sector are endless. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been trying to tackle the growing issue of bad debts or NPAs through different measures, with the support of banks. In the light of this, Corporate Citizen met one such prolific, determined, stalwart banker - Rajendra Kumar Gupta (R K Gupta), Executive Director at public sector entity, Bank of Maharashtra, who spoke in depth on the various issues concerning the banking sector, his bank’s performance, as also opening up about his personal world -- his life beyond the boardroom. Gupta took over as the Executive Director of Bank of Maharashtra on 31 December 2013. Prior to joining Bank of Maharashtra, he worked as General Manager at Dena Bank. He brings with him a rich experience of over 34 years in the banking sector, in Canara Bank and Dena Bank, where he handled various portfolios across all verticals of banking like credit, priority sector lending, retail and medium and small medium enterprises (MSME). Gupta was also a member of Indian Bankers Association Committee (IBA) on SME. By Mahalakshmi Hariharan
Corporate Citizen: Take us through the history of Bank of Maharashtra. R K Gupta, Executive Director:
Bank of Maharashtra was founded by a group of visionaries led by the late V. G. Kale and the late D. K. Sathe and was registered as a banking company on 16 September 1935 at Pune with an authorised capital of Rs one million, and began business on 8 February 1936. After nationalisation in 1969, the bank expanded rapidly. The bank has provided financial assistance to many small units across the country thereby giving birth to many industrial houses today. The vision of the bank is to be a vibrant, forward looking, techno-savvy, customer centric
bank serving diverse sections of the society, enhancing shareholder and employee value while moving towards a global presence.
Tell us about your family background.
I come from a conservative middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh. My father worked in a textile company, who retired in 1981. My mother was a homemaker. I have five brothers who coincidentally are all bankers. I always wanted to make it big and worked very hard for it. My wife works for Power Grid Corporation in New Delhi. We have a daughter, who did her schooling from Mumbai and Delhi. She did her Masters from Birla Institute of Management Technology and is now working
24 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
with a multinational company in Gurgaon.
Take us through your education background and your career
I did my schooling and Bachelors in Science (Physics) in Delhi. Later, I did my Masters in Science (Physics) from the University of Delhi. I have also done my LLB, CAIIB & Diploma in Banking. I took over as Executive Director of the Bank of Maharashtra on 31 December 2013. Prior to joining the bank, I was associated with Dena Bank from May 1983 to December 2013 where I was working as the General Manager in Mumbai since April 2009. I was heading various verticals like credit, retail, MSME and priority sector there.
Pic: Prithviraj Mallick
I worked as the regional head in Pune, Surat and Delhi. I also had a stint with Canara Bank, from February 1980 to May 1983. I got an opportunity to attend various seminars and conferences in India and abroad during my tenure.
You did your Masters in Physics‌then how did banking happen? What inspired you to be a banker?
I come from a family of bankers. All my siblings were part of various banks. Yes, while I did have an option of becoming a professor, I too, like them, decided to join a bank. After so many years in the banking industry, I must say it has
RK Gupta, Executive Director, Bank of Maharashtra
been a fulfilling experience.
Take us through the performance of the bank and the way forward. Also take us through your branch network.
If you see, at the end of December 2014, our net interest margins improved to 2.85 per cent, for nine months 2014-15, as against 2.76 per cent for the same period, previous year. Today, we have about 1871 branches and about 1848 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country. The bank’s total business stood at `2, 12,650 crore as on December 2014. Our total business has increased by `10,489.59 crore from `2, 02,160
Over a period of time, the banking industry has encountered various challenges but today, the main concern bothering the banking sector is the rise in NPAs. The industry has to see ways and means to recover existing NPAs. This has mainly piled up on account of the economic slowdown crore as on 31 December 2013. Total deposits of the bank has risen by `5,176 crore to `1, 19,650 crore as on December 2014, from `1, 14,474 crore as on December 2013. CASA Deposits have risen by `3,222 crore to `41,521crore as on December 2014. At the same time, gross advances have increased from `87,685.86 crore
to `92,999.75 crore in for nine month ended December 2014. We will be focused on increasing our bottom-line and reducing NPAs in this fiscal year.
What, according to you, are the challenges in the banking sector today and what are the ways to overcome it?
Over a period of time, the banking industry has encountered various challenges but today, the main concern bothering the banking sector is the rise in Non-Performing Assets (NPAs). The industry has to see ways and means to recover existing NPAs. This has mainly piled up on account of the economic slowdown.
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 25
profile Milestones at a glance: BOM was registered on 16 September 1935
1936
2000
1946
2004
Commenced operations on 8 February 1936 in Pune Deposits crossed `one crore mark. Formed fully owned subsidiary, The Maharashtra Executor & Trustee Company. First branch outside Maharashtra opened in Hubli, Mysore.
1974
Deposit base crossed `100 crore mark
1976
Marathwada Grameena Bank, first RRB established on 26 August 1976
1978
Deposits crossed the figure of `500 crore
1979
“Mahabank Agricultural Research and Rural Development Foundation”, registered as a public trust, was established for undertaking research and extension work and to provide more extensive services to farmers
1985
500th branch in Maharashtra state was opened at the hands of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi at Nariman Point, Mumbai. First Advanced Ledger Posting Machine (ALPM) was installed at the branch. Golden Jubilee Year Celebrations launched by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Governor Reserve Bank of India
1991
“Mahabank Farmer Credit Card” was launched. Entered Domestic Credit Card Business.
1995
Deposits crossed `10,000 crore mark. Public Issue of Shares – 24 per cent owned by Public. Listed on the BSE and NSE.
2005
Bancassurance and Mutual Fund distribution business started.
2006
Crossed total business level of `50,000 crore. Branch CBS (Core Banking Solutions) Project started.
2009
Entered the 75th year of dedicated service to the Nation. Adopted 75 underdeveloped villages for integrated overall development.
2010
100 per cent Core Banking Solutions (CBS) of branches achieved. Total Business crossed `One lakh crore. Opened 76 branches in the Platinum Year taking the total to 1506.
2012
Sept 2012: Bank’s total business crossed `1, 50,000 crore and reached the level of `1, 51,320 crore. Bank of Maharashtra awarded “Best Banker – Customer Friendliness” for 2012 by The Sunday Standard. Received the Dun & Bradstreet – Polaris Financial Technology Banking Award 2012 as Best Public Sector Bank under the category “Asset Quality”. BoM hosted Bancon 2012 in Pune on 24th-25th November 2012.
Deposits crossed `5,000 crore mark. 26 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
We may hire about 1,000-1,500 employees in 2015-16, across the board, depending on the requirements across sectors. We would like to be permitted to have placements from the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) and Institute of Finance, Banking & Insurance (IFBI). We have taken up this issue so that we can take candidates on board from these institutions. Which of the areas are you seeing stress in your portfolio?
We have seen a rise in Non-Performing Assets in infrastructure lending, namely steel, cement, textile and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors. Growth in retail NPAs has not been alarming and within our control. Yes, growing NPAs in the SME sector is also a concern. This is mainly on account of the recent slowdown and slow economic growth that has affected demand. We have constituted a high level committee to see how this challenge of the growing NPA can be met. That apart, we are also focusing on growing our bottomline and building the business.
Has the second and fourth Saturday off been announced?
Not yet. We are still waiting for the final decision. The bank would get second and fourth Saturdays off and work full day on the other Saturdays.
How do you see competition from the private banking space?
Any kind of competition is healthy. If you see, public sector banks are more bound by HRM (Human Resource Management) and social obligations than those in the private space…the level playing field is not the same for both. We have to abide by government directions as we are owned by them. Now that the Government has decided to let the heads of private sector banks come to big public sector banks as top chiefs, there will be some
changes in the way of working. Talking about other initiatives like Jan Dhan Yojana and going to rural areas, public sector banks have definitely done a lot more than their counterparts.
What is your take on rate cuts? What is your take on this rate cutting spree by the central bank? Will you also tweak your deposit and lending rates? While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced interest rates twice recently, we are still seeing if we should slash lending rates because the benefit of lower rates cannot be passed on to the borrowers unless the cost of deposits comes down. We will first analyse the impact on the cost of deposits and then pass it on to our customers. Talking about interest rate cuts in future, the central bank will look at various factors like inflation, growth and then do the needful.
Take us through your treasury portfolio.
With the central bank slashing interest rates, the yields have come down, so we made a lot of money on account of higher bond prices. We have a team of about 50 who work from our Mumbai office. We have our daily teleconferences, every morning with them, to discuss the portfolio.
Take us through your staff strength and hiring policy.
Currently, we have more than 14,000 employees across India. We may hire about 1,000-1,500
Bank of Maharashtra headquarters at Pune
employees, this financial year, across the board, depending on the requirements across sectors. While private sector banks can hire candidates from B-school campuses, we cannot do so. We would like to be permitted to have placements from the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) and Institute of Finance, Banking & Insurance (IFBI). We have taken up this issue so that we can take candidates on board from these institutions.
What is your take on youngsters today? What is that one piece of advice that you would like to give to the youth today? Youngsters today are very techno savvy. The level of knowledge is extremely high. However, this knowledge has to be channelised properly. They need to be more career oriented…instead of hopping jobs, they should try and stick to one job for fairly long time to gain experience… there needs to be more stability. They need to understand that money should not be the only criteria in one’s career. In fact there are times when I also have these tiffs with my daughter…there is certainly a
Banking jargons simplified: Non-performing assets
A debt obligation where the borrower has not paid any previously agreed-upon interest and principal repayments to the designated lender for an extended period of time. Banks usually classify any commercial loan which is more than 90 days overdue and any consumer loan which is more than 180 days overdue as a nonperforming asset. More generally, an asset which is not producing income is a NPA.
Current and savings accounts (CASA) Deposits CASA is the amount of money placed by customers in the current and savings accounts of banks. This is an important metric to understand a bank’s profitability. An increase in CASA Deposits, for any bank, would imply that customers are parking more funds in bank accounts.
Money parked by customers with the bank where they earn an interest.
Advances
Advances is a form of credit/loan given by banks to their customers.
Can you highlight some of the initiatives taken by your bank last year?
We recently launched “Purple Priv-
How would you define your moment of glory?
The first time, when I joined Dena Bank as a Probationary Officer. At that time, being a probationary officer was a symbol of status. Yes, each time I got promoted, it was a moment of glory for me.
What are your hobbies?
Deposits
generation gap. Their views, likes, are way too different from ours. The way youngsters perceive life is different… I think that’s how they are today.
where. We also launched “Maha Secure” -- a next generation digital banking solution, secured by RELID Technology, a high end product introduced to attract technology savvy customers and youngsters.
ileges” accounts for high net worth individuals (HNIs) by assisting them with a dedicated relationship manager. We have also launched a mobile banking app, “MahaMobile” to enable our customers to view all their deposit and loan accounts, do fund transfers, bill payments and raise a variety of service requests on their mobile phone anytime, any-
I do read a lot of books, be it fiction, or business and management related books, and I also listen to music. I like to listen to instrumental music. I also watch a lot of movies and read while travelling. I am fond of Bollywood films and music too.
How do you balance work and home?
My family is based out of Delhi and I work in Pune. I do visit them once or twice a month. Yes, I do miss them but my principle is that when I am at work, I am only focused on my work. That’s how I balance both ends. Mahalakshmi.H@corporatecitizen.in
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 27
Case Study-1
Who will bear the torch now? EdgeFarm – CII WR HR Case Study Writing Competition 2015 by Sushanta Kumar Sarma, T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal and Animesh Bahadur, T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal
Who will bear the torch now1 ?
“When I am no more, the organization will vanish.”- said a worried Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag. After dedicating his entire life to the cause of the public interest movement, the future of the organisation once he stops working is uncertain. After a hiatus that lasted 5 years, from 2009 to 2014, he realized that in his absence there was little progress made by the organisation. The movement against injustice in society seems to be heavily dependent upon him for its survival. With the current organisational arrangement, he was finding it difficult to attract the right talent. On a spiritual note, he did not mind if the organisation closed down due to the lack of participation from volunteers, because at a point so late in his life, he is reluctant to compromise on the values
Background: From CF to HRPF
The Emergency was one of the most controversial events in the history of independent India. It was in effect from the 25thof June 1975 to the 21stof March 1977, imposed by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. During those 21 months, there were reports of gross violation of human rights across the country. There was widespread resentment across the educated middle class witnessing the mass violations of civil and human rights. Post-Emergency, a group of young men in Basrur village of Kundapur Taluka in Udupi district of Karnataka decided to address the problem of the violation of rights in a democratic, Gandhian manner. RS and his associ-
About EdgeFarm EdgeFarm is a Case Study Writing Competition, organised recently by Confederation of Indian Industry (Western Region) that brings together the Academia and Human Resources functions in Corporate to encourage Experiential Learning and Research in the field of Human Resources and Industrial Relations. The Case Study Writing Competition was based on specific topics. The eight best entries were presented to an eminent jury and an august audience, followed by the felicitation of top three Case Study authors. The findings of this contest were presented to a larger academic audience to encourage innovation in teaching and serve as a catalyst to facilitate Industry - Institute interaction. Corporate Citizen, the Exclusive Magazine Partner of the event, will publish the series of eight top Case Studies, one by one, beginning this issue. he stands for. Having tackled over 29,000 cases over 35 years of its existence the organisation is supporting, at the moment, around 700 odd cases of people from different segments of the society. Especially amongst the senior citizens, HRPF’s closure would mean the end of the road for these people. In fact, HRPF was revived in 2013 due to the mounting pressure from the people interested in fighting their legal battles against gross injustice. On a second thought, closing down might not be a feasible option for Dr. Shanbhag as it would be akin to betraying the trust of the people looking up to him. He might need to find a way to continue with the organisation. 1 The title was inspired by M. Shameem Siddiqi’s paper titled “Who will bear the torch tomorrow? Charismatic leadership and second-line leaders in development NGOs”, Centre for Civil Society, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2001.
28 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
ates started their work under Consumer Forum (CF) in Udupi and Basrur. Although, the principle agenda was to protect any kind of violation of civil and human rights, they deliberately avoided mentioning “human rights” anywhere for the fear of backlash from the State. The founding philosophy of the organisation was that they would support people who were willing to fight any kind of injustice. In their endeavour of fighting for justice, they developed a unique methodology which is non-violent, apolitical, issue based, result-oriented, unrelenting and inexpensive. Since its inception, the trustees of CF decided against taking up volunteerism as a full time job. They agreed to take part in this movement only after completing their routine work. Ac-
Case Study-1
cordingly, the volunteers used to work till evenings in their respective to protect their rights so that once they become aware of offices and would meet only after the office hours. In the initial years proper methods, they acquire both courage and required of CF, RS and his associates were looking for a place where they could expertise to deal with opposite parties. meet on a weekly basis and discuss the grievances of people coming to 2. To cultivate a sense of responsibility among consumers them for help. In the town of Udupi, they identified a small restaurant and suppliers 2. The everyday problems faced by citizen were the result of some irresponsible act either by some named “Pritam”, which was not frequented by many people. They took departments or by the citizen themselves. It was important the permission of the manager to conduct meetings inside and also to cultivate a sense of responsibility in both consumers and assured him that people would pay for their respective expenses. They suppliers. made the announcement in the local daily: that the office bearers of 3. To support the consumer in his/her fight. The primary the Forum would be going for a cup of tea every Saturday from 5-6 focus was to enable the consumer to fight his/her own pm at the restaurant. The response received was huge and gradually, battle. The organisation would not take any initiative in the meeting time was extended from 5-6 PM to 5-8 PM. For two years, cases where the consumer was not willing fight his/her own from 1980-81, they conducted weekly sessions in this restaurant. battle. Later, Ramesh Pai, one of the family members of the illustrious Pai family of Manipal gave them an office in Udupi. After working in With the perseverance of the Trust that office for two years, RS started members, the Forum had been able operating from his office at Basrur. handle many cases successfully and The current office of HRPF is located gained credibility amongst the people. at the Vaikunth Baliga College of Law, In a span of less than ten years, there Udupi. The office space was provided number of cases increased from 8 in free of cost and the college allowed the the first year to 412 in 1991(Exhibit I). organisation to conduct workshops By 1992, CF took the next leap in their in its premises. In all these years of movement and created a new organisafunctioning, RS never had to pay any tion – “Human Right Protection Founmoney for maintaining the office space dation”, with the intention of building a and other infrastructural facilities. This stronger human right protection movewas, as attributed by him, because they ment. They decided to use the term did not charge money from anyone “human right” explicitly as the political and people were often benefitted due environment within the country had to their interventions. The society was changed and became more tolerant accommodative towards them. Howevtowards right-based activism. er, he humbly admitted that his credenDr Ravindranath Shanbhag tial as an accomplished academic and a selfless activist lends much needed When I am no more, the Dr. Ravindranath Shancredibility to the organisation. organisation will vanish.”- said bhag–The Crusader Consumer Forum started with a worried Dr Ravindranath He is a psycho-pharmacologist, handling simple cases related to the Shanbhag. After dedicating his activist, environmentalist, academic Department of Revenue, Education, entire life to the cause of the and social worker. Born in a business Provident Fund, Pensions etc. The public interest movement, the family in Udupi, he studied pharcases were handled by the Trust future of the organisation once he macology to pursue a professional members who came from nearby areas stops working is uncertain... teaching career. After graduation, he of Kundapur and were engaged in decided to move to Thailand in hopes professions like banking, teaching etc. of landing a job but was arrested on the These were highly motivated people 14th of November, 1975, just two days before he was to leave. who wanted to fight the injustice happening in society. They wanted to The reasons behind the arrest remained shrouded in mystery rid corruption with activism, but were cautious of the fact that they did in his mind. He later learnt that the arrest was made solely not have to depend on this activism to run their families. The Trust on a half-baked suspicion, because one of his brothers was members never charged any money for their services and guidance. associated with the Jai Prakash Narayan Movement. During his interaction with other inmates, he realized that he was amongst The fundamental objectives of the Forum were established and are many others convicted without any good reason. He observed as follows: several incidences of human rights violations inside the jail like 1. To educate the consumer about the need for protecting their rights several bottles of medicines supplied to the jail were mysteriand interests. The focus should be on educating people on how ously disappeared from the clinic in the jail. He found that a prisoner from Kerala was lingering inside CFB includes various government services such as the Department of Revenue, Education, Transport etc. under the list of consumable. Citizens are considered as consumer of such services and providers are termed as suppliers. prison for several years because he was caught travelling with2
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 29
Case Study-1
out a ticket. This individual was travelling via train from a small village in Kerala, and was caught by the ticket collector. He was fined, but the man had no money to pay. Since the ticket collector had already written a receipt in the man’s name, he could not wave off the fine. The man was then handed over to the railway police in Mangalore and was produced before the Magistrate. He had no one to bail him out and the Magistrate also could not set him free because the formalities had to be followed. Therefore, he was put behind the bars and was to be produced before the court. However, he was never produced in the court and the man spent the next several years rotting away in prison. This was to exploit his skills as he was a good cook, also good at other errands like ironing etc. When RS was produced before the Magistrate, he narrated the incident to the Magistrate and requested him to release the man. This was the first case RS fought and looking at the injustice done to helpless people, he was inspired to stand by human rights as his sole mission in Life. He mobilised a few like-minded individuals to set a forum and thus CF was born. The man has come a long way since. He went on to become the HOD of the Department of Pharmacology at the Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Science and the Dean of Shoolini University of Himachal Pradesh. Apart from his training in Pharmacology, he was also a
never collected money from any individuals and never paid anything to its volunteers. He said: “It (the work) does not require (money). We would like people to join our movement. But we need to understand the limitation of people also. They don’t have time, they don’t have money or they don’t want to invest. So we focus on how to reduce the expenses (of HRPF). We have no letter heads for last 35 years, we don’t have (visiting) cards, we have not purchased a single envelops and neither have we paid any rent for the office space so far”. One of the principles followed by HRPF is the efficient usage of monetary resources. HRPF has had only two full time employees (typists) in its life time and whatever little income it had, came from contributions to various newspapers and periodicals written to create public awareness on human rights issues. It had been able to manage all its operations with the help of volunteers. It never asked for favours from any funding agencies or individuals. At one point in time, the Government of Karnataka offered a plot of land, including a grant, to the organisation but it refused the offer saying that 70% of cases handled were against the Government policies. Under such circumstances, it could not take favours from them which came
Ramesh Pai, a family member of the illustrious Pai family of Manipal gave them an office in Udupi. After working in that office for two years, RS started operating from his office at Basrur. The current office of HRPF is located at the Vaikunth Baliga College of Law, Udupi. The office space was provided free of cost; the college allowed the organisation to conduct workshops in its premises. In all these years of functioning, RS never had to pay any money for maintaining the office space and other infrastructural facilities graduate of Law. His entry into the world of activism was, at the very least, quaint. In their fight for the protection of human rights, CF/HRPF always remained open to people committed to the cause. There was no rank or managerial positions as such within the organisation. In the day to day activities of HRPF, volunteers took roles as per their interest and expertise. There were no job roles, designations and other managerial strings attached to people working for the organisation. RS did not keep a record of people who worked with him in all these years. He believed that any activity did not have a life of its own. It would only continue as long as the volunteers committed to the cause decided to continue with it. He did not mind any activity being stopped midway. He wished not to hold back anyone with him for the successful completion of organisational missions. For him, the movement was an ocean; some would join, while others would leave. If the people were motivated individuals, then they would continue with these activities, or the activities would stop. HRPF never made any commitment towards any activity in terms of the delivery of results. Their commitment was only to provide support to those fighting their own battles. In the words of RS , “HRPF is a very loose organisation with a firm commitment”. While referring to organizational values, RS declared that HRPF 3
Excerpts from an interview given to “Dignity Dialogue” on 5th December,2014
30 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
with strings attached. He asserted that “…funds should strictly remain a means and not an end for the Forum. Often, the lure of funds brings in people with less commitment. Our poor funding keeps away the people interested in money” 3. RS had leveraged his own position in academics for the benefit of the movement. On many occasions, he took the services of his students to carry out action research. For example, he was investigating the vile effects of Endosulfan in some villages of the Kasargod and Dakshin Kannada district. In order to carry out a scientific investigation, he asked a few post-graduate students from Manipal University to do their thesis work on the side effects of the pesticide. The end result was mutually beneficial; the students could produce useful dissertations and HRPF would get a report based on scientific evidence, which eventually resulted in two petitions filed, one in the High Court of Karnataka to compensate the victims, and another, in the Supreme Court of India for the complete ban of the pesticide. In this era of public relations via social media, RS avoided all kinds of publicity in the form of awards and recognitions. He inducted only those volunteers who abided by the 22 principles of HRPF. On asking about the reason for non-acceptance of any kind of awards, RS explained, “We have found that awards are mostly extrinsic to the
Case Study-1
Starting from two workshops in 1982, HRPF conducted 523 workshops by the end of the year 2014 across the state of Karnataka. In all these years, the workshops were attended by 23,592 people (Exhibit II). Apart from creating mass awareness, the workshops were also aimed at inspiring volunteers to join the movement
pleasure of pure service. What I mean is ‘Nishkama Karma’. To us the Consumers’ Forum or HRPF are not simply an organisation, but a movement. There is a great difference between the two. A movement must work for a greater purpose and not with an award in mind. It is a self-help affair. If we accept awards, many individuals who work for it would have a different mindset. Personal interests would rise above the interest of the movement. And such extrinsic rewards can dilute the system and corrupt the movement….This is not an organisation but a movement. A movement must survive beyond the life of the organisation. A movement is not for an individual but for the whole society.” 4
The Public Interest Movement
In its initial years, the CF was handling consumer grievances related to pensions, revenues, provident funds, education etc. Since they adopted the principle of not charging any fee from the aggrieved, the Forum focused on three strategies to sustain the movement – minimising the cost of operations, identifying alternative sources of revenue and expanding the base of operations. The organisation used the cheapest mediums of communication through postcards, reused envelopes, used plastic bags to preserve their records, they had an office space free of charge and people working for HRPF did not demand any money. RS often received invitations to deliver talks at various educational institutions and most of these talks were sponsored by the host institutions. At times, he did not mind paying for some of the petty expenses that included travel, food etc. Aversion towards receiving donations from public and donor agencies resulted from the fact that such donations needed to be accounted in a systematic manner. There had to be several books of accounts, and maintenance of these books was considered a waste of the precious time of the volunteers. “The objective of the movement is to guide and support the people in need, and not maintaining accounts”, says RS. The workshops conducted by HRPF were sponsored by individuals, and other interested organisations where in the sponsors would pay to the caterers directly. These kinds of cost cutting measures helped the organisation to sustain its operation without any external funding. In order to generate public opinion, the Forum started publishing a newspaper with an annual subscription of Rs.6 in 1980, including the postage. It carried no advertisements. The content consisted of legal issues faced by people and helped in generating awareness on such issues. The news covered local issues so that people felt attached to them. The subscription fee was later raised to Rs.25 per annum. The newspaper was named as “Consumer Education” and published fortnightly. It carried many success stories of public protests against injustice. This newsletter also earned revenue for the organisation. Apart from the newsletter, the organisation also published many booklets and handbooks sold at a nominal price. RS started writing a weekly
column, “Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya”, in Udayavani, a local daily from 1997. So far he has written more than 3600 articles. In 2007, on the completion of ten years of Bahujana Hitaya Bahujana Sukhaya, 200 selected articles were republished in six volumes. Such efforts acted as an important source of revenue for the organisation. To build a public interest movement, apart from creating public awareness through his writing, RS also focussed on creating a sense of responsibility amongst the public. For this, he started conducting workshops to educate the enthusiasts based on the principles and methodology of the organisation. Starting from two workshops in 1982, HRPF conducted 523 workshops by the end of the year 2014 across the state of Karnataka. In all these years, the workshops were attended by 23,592 people (Exhibit II). Apart from creating mass awareness, the workshops were also aimed at inspiring volunteers to join the movement. Successful cases handled by HRPF were discussed in these workshops along with ideas for starting an NGO like HRPF. However, not many volunteers had been active in recent years. RS expressed disappointment that despite offering training for the last 33 years, he did not have more than 100 active volunteers capable of carrying the movement forward. Even in HRPF, people associated with him were little inclined to take the movement forward. They wanted him to remain on the front and lead the organisation. He said, “nobody is willing to run the show”. Since the beginning, HRPF encouraged people to form organisations to carry the public interest movement forward. As it happened, inspired by the success of CF/HRPF, many NGOs emerged in places like Mangalore, Kundapura, Puttur, etc. Around 22 organisations were formed in various towns of Karnataka along the lines of HRPF. However, the organisation never made any conscious effort to influence the working of these others organisations but hoped that they would work keeping the principles of HRPF in mind. RS asserted that “They (the other NGOs) are not subordinate to us; they are independent.” Many of these NGOs received support from him to publicize their cases in local media. People came to CF/HRPF with problems related to banking, income tax issues, insurance handling etc. These departments and related issues were allotted to volunteers according to their expertise and inclinations. Many of these volunteers had related work experience in banks, insurance handling etc. and they were keen to use their expertise in this organisation. The number of cases handled by HRPF is related to a diverse set of areas (Exhibit III). The organisation never had a strategy of 4
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Case Study-1
identifying one particular issue relating to a particular department; rather they attended to cases as and when people came to them. In 2009, RS went to Himachal Pradesh in an academic assignment. He had a cardiac arrest and doctors advised him to avoid stress. He decided to leave Udupi, and spent time in a new University and place. From Himachal Pradesh, he moved to Gujarat and finally came to back to Udupi in the year 2014. Functioning of HRPF came to a halt during this period. No volunteer took the lead in managing the organisation. To this RS commented: “They don’t mind working but they don’t want to take the responsibility. I fully understand. See, everybody is not as lucky as me. I don’t have any family problem; my son is in Australia, my daughter is settled in the UK. They don’t want my money (support). So I can afford to work here. But all people working here are common and simple people. If I am there, they will also be there. But I could not get anybody who can stand and say – ‘Okay, if you not there, we shall carry on.”
The Guiding Principle of HRPF 5
The human rights movement adopted a core of principles for its day to day operations. These evolved based on the experiences and constantly changing needs. There were revisions in these principles to suit the requirements of the movement. 22 principles were identified in the movement which makes the performance of the organisation robust, and are as follows: 1. Principle of the path of least resistance: the forum does take up idealistic cases like the complete rooting out of corruption. But it makes attempts to control the corruption within the system. 2. Fighting the issue and not the person: HRPF believes that issue based action never raised resentment because there is no intention of teaching a lesson to any corrupt official. Rather the focus is on improving the efficiency of the system. 3. Principle of passive activism: HRPF takes a firm stand in not fighting someone else’s’ battle. If a consumer shows unwillingness in taking up the fight, the organisation remains non-committal to such cases. 4. Principle of cost effective operation: Most of the works in HRPF are done by activists who neither expect nor receive any monetary reward for their services. 5. Principle of total transparency: All dealings of HRPF are open to scrutiny. It never approves of tactics like ‘sting operations’. 6. Principle of remaining non-controversial while handling controversies: HRPF never fights against anyone, rather they fight for an individual’s rights. Since they don’t oppose anyone, they never had any enemy. 7. Principle of Ahimsa: The Forum avoids all disruptive protests like dharna, strikes etc. 8. Principle of empowerment and encouragement: Through a sustained campaign of empowering people over their rights and encouraging them to fight their own battle, the forum has been able to earn credibility amongst the common people. 9. Principle of increasing public awareness: HRPF regularly conducts workshop for creating public awareness. RS regularly writes on important cases in newspapers to generate awareness. 10. Principle of mobilising public opinion: Generation of awareness is to be followed by mobilisation of opinions and communication of 32 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Exhibit 1
Table 1: Number of cases handled by CFB and HRPF Year Complaints Received Problems Solved 1981 8 3 1982 10 9 1983 22 13 1984 57 29 1985 77 46 1986 89 62 1987 161 87 1988 376 129 1989 812 386 1990 1183 821 1991 1316 826 1992 1246 717 1993 1316 826 1994 1248 816 1995 1036 915 1996 1318 706 1997 1216 912 1998 2486 1386 1999 3381 2948 2000 3983 3114 2001 3146 2870 2002 2294 1916 2003 2414 1875 2004 2703 1975 2005 2916 1252 2006 1474 1126 2007 1648 1376 2008 1278 1042 2009-2014 2038 1131 Total 41252 29314
Exhibit 2
Table 2: Number of Workshops conducted by CFB and HRPF Year Workshops conducted Number of Trainees 1981 0 0 1982 2 69 1983 4 146 1984 3 95 1985 4 176 1986 2 76 1987 3 132 1988 3 126 1989 4 164 1990 8 270 1991 12 480 1992 18 612 1993 24 896 1994 18 812 1995 21 1048 1996 32 1380 1997 36 1484 1998 28 925 1999 26 1426 2000 29 1876 2001 36 2116 2002 27 1026 2003 23 912 2004 20 815 2005 22 915 2006 20 1033 2007 24 1320 2008 26 1212 2009-2014 48 2050 Total 523 23592
5
This section is adopted from an unfinished manuscript of Late M.V. Kamath.
Case Study-1
the same. The organisation regularly requests people to write to the concerned authority about their grievances. 11. Principle of a non-confrontationist strategy: HRPF never attempts to terrorise or threaten the opposition. Sufficient time is given to the authorities in order to respond on the grievances raised. 12. Principle of accepting no funds: HRPF believes that they are running a movement and not an organisation. The movement does not except funds but requires participation of the people. As a principle, they do not accept any donations from people while handling their cases. 13. Principle of offering services completely free: HRPF never accepts any fee from people for handling their cases. They believe that accepting a fee is counter-productive because the complainant tends to withdraw from the field when they realise that they have to pay a fee. 14. Principle of refusing awards and honours: Awards and honours are considered as extrinsic to the basic purpose of the movement. HRPF believes that awards and other forms of recognition can drift the movement from paving its desired path. 15. Principle of prohibiting all political affiliations: Affiliation to any political party or ideology makes it difficult to oppose certain issues, persons, especially when these are favoured by the party. 16. Principle of flexibility and minimum organisational hierarchy: HRPF is devoid of any hierarchy and convenor played the role of a facilitator. 17. Principle of sound record keeping and filing: the forum maintains all the records in a very efficient but inexpensive way. 18. Principle of minimising judicial burden: HRPF prefers to resolve issues without approaching the judiciary as it saves time, money and other resources of all the parties involved. 19. Principle of an inclusive problem domain: The organisation supports anybody in moments of crisis. Its fight is against any kind of injustice, regardless of the nature of the injustice, regardless of the social position of the victim, or regardless of the party that caused it. 20. Principle of purposeful partnership with other NGOs/press etc.:
HRPF has partnered with many other organizations which share a common purpose. They have partnered with newspapers and magazines like Udayavani, Issues and Concerns etc. and worked along with Manipal University in the distribution of health insurance policies to the poor. 21. Principle of leading a movement rather than running an organisation: HRPF believes that organisations are restricted by boundaries while Movements can operate without any limitations. To ensure community participation, Movements plays a more enabling role as compared to organisations. 22. Principle of providing all publication, articles, and pamphlets, free of copyright protection: HRPF allows unrestricted use of its published materials. In case of any inaccuracy, the forum takes the moral responsibility for possible legal complications.
Conclusion After completing three decades of successful advocacy of the public interest movement, the future of HRPF remains obscure. Dr Ravindranath Shanbhag is nearing 70 years and he might not be able to carry forward the movement on his shoulders for long. The movement had raised expectations of people and the dedication of HRPF is as strong as ever. In the recent past, he had been able to identify a few volunteers who might be able to take the movement forward with the right kind of professional training. Based on his experience of handling cases, RS is also thinking of hiring a few professionals with expertise in three major areas – journalism, law and management. But before any conclusion was made, certain questions still are unanswered - how can the organisation provide remuneration to these hard-working professionals? What would happen to the principles of the movement if HRPF became a professionally managed organisation? On a second thought, could the organisation create an active network of other like-minded organizations from the nearby areas? What kind of structure should it adopt to run the network? Alternatively, should he shut the organisation down and let the movement take its own course?
Exhibit III Table 3: Cases handled by CFB and HRPF in diverse set of areas Sr. No Area covered 1 Shares and Debentures 2 Bank/ Financial Institutions 3 Electricity 4 Telephone Services 5 Consumer Goods 6 Pension/ PPF/ EPF 7 Cooking Gas/ LPG 8 Housing 9 Transportation 10 Municipal Services 11 Revenue Dept 12 Gram/Taluk/Zilla Panchayat 13 Government Depts. 14 Education 15 Food Adulteration/ Civil Supplies 16 Drugs & Medicines 17 Life Insurance
Sr. No Area covered 18 General Insurance 19 Health Services 20 Professional Services 21 Unfair Trade 22 Miscellaneous 23 Police Cases 24 Environmental Issues 25 Labour Issues 26 Child Abuse 27 Endosulfan 28 Senior Citizen 29 Atrocities against women 30 NRI problems 31 Family disputes 32 Matrimonial disputes 33 Official letters (HRC, Other orgns)
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April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 33
Cover Story Dynamic Duo 8
Reena Arya and Dr. Ajoy Kumar
Batchmates Forever
Reena Arya, Additional Director General, Income Tax, in charge of Vigilance, Customs & Central Excise, North Zone unit, Delhi, married her civil services batchmate, Dr. Ajoy Kumar, a doctor-turned-IPS officer-turned corporate leader-politician-entrepreneur. He is also a former MP of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and is now the official Congress Party spokesperson. Corporate Citizen relives their amazing story of romance followed by a happily married life where work balances admirably with domestic responsibilities
S
By Vinita Deshmukh
ometimes, ‘Pain is Gain.’ In the case of Reena Arya, Additional Director General, Vigilance, Department of Customs & Central Excise, North Zone unit, Delhi, it was her knee pain that got her her future husband. The incident took place during a trek, while she was at the two-year officers’ training course for civil service officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie. The 15-day trekking camp was at the Indo-Tibetan border, base camp Sonam. One of her batch mates, Dr. Ajoy Kumar, a passionate sprinter, was concerned that Reena could not keep up with the others, as she suffered from knee effusion, colloquially known as water on the knee. He curtailed his pace, walked along with her and helped her overcome any hurdles that came her way. The seed of mutual affection which got sowed then, fructified into a happy marriage. The trekking camp participants comprised ten officers from their batch of 1986, four of them women. Reena says, “It was a pretty intense and long trekking experience. Ajoy and I got to know each other well during those 15 days.’’ Dr. Ajoy’s MBBS degree had come in handy in breaking the ice.. Dr. Ajoy Kumar, now a Congress spokesperson, who often appears as a 34 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
panelist, vociferously debating on television news channels. He first graduated in medicine from Puducherry, but opted for the civil services, and became an IPS officer from the Bihar cadre; had a stint with the Tatas as Executive Director; is a former MP of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha and is now the official spokesperson of the Congress party. He is also an entrepreneur, the CEO of Max Neeman Medical International Ltd. Phew!
Love blossoms and continues to bloom
The Kumars who reside in an upper crust residential neighbourhood on a hilly plateau of Faridabad, have a charming and cosy bungalow where they live with their two teenage sons, Aditya and Shantanu. Two four legged ‘scientists’, Newton and Edison also thrive cheerfully here. Reena and Dr. Ajoy come from diverse family backgrounds. Says Reena, a post-graduate in History, and ‘the cool, composed and shy’ of the two, “I am from Aligarh, and come from an agricultural background. My father left his job and took to farming on a land that he owned, growing wheat, sugarcane and rice. We are a big family, I have five sisters and two brothers, and all of us are working professionals. The credit goes to my mother. She was very particular, not only that all of us had a career, but also insisted that
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 35
Cover Story none of us got married unless we had a proper job.” Quite admirably, three of Reena’s sisters are in the civil services. One of them, Nishi Singh, is presently the Director General, Systems, Department of Income Tax, Pune. Her husband was also with the Income Tax Department but took voluntary retirement and is now a partner one of the big four audit firms, Deloitte. Another of her sisters is a Professor of Pathology at Kanpur Medical College. Her other sister is a Professor of History at IGNOU and her other bother is a scientist with the Government of India. In sharp contrast, Dr. Ajoy’s father was in the Indian Foreign Services, and retired as the Head of the Mission in Jordan. Says Dr. Ajoy, “So, as a child, I travelled all over the world, having stayed for several years in Japan and Moscow. I did some of my schooling in Delhi and finally finished my 12th Std in a wonderful school – the Hyderabad Public school.” Thereafter, he opted for medicine. He got admission into the prestigious AFMC College in Pune, but chose to join JIPMER college in Puducherry. Why did he decide to take up medicine? Says Dr. Ajoy, “You needed to pursue a professional degree. I loved the medical stream and wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon.” Then what made him Marital bliss: Reena, the coy bride and Dr Ajoy, the dashing groom attempt the civil services examination after having passed his MBBS? Says he, “That’s because my dad was in the civil services and in any case at that age of 21-22 years, you are not sure what you want to do, so you keep dabbling in familiar careers.’’ Although he had opted for the IFS as his first choice, he got selected into the IPS cadre, so he was not sure whether to take it up. It was Reena who helped him decide. Says Dr. Ajoy, “I did not know anything about a career in the police force, nor had I visited any police station in my life. Reena had a better idea about an IPS career, as her uncle , G S Arya, was posted as the first Inspector General of Mizoram in 1975. He was the first IPS officer to be killed by terrorists and his statue adorns the National Police Academy, Hyderabad.” Reena says it was Dr. Ajoy’s ‘‘simplicity, charmThe government job factor ing smile and sense of humour’’ that won her Dr Ajoy Kumar as IPS officer admirably quelled Recalling his tenure as ASP under training, heart, and Reena’s ‘clear thinking’ that appealed the mafia in Jamshedpur and made it safe where he received the police medal, Ajoy states, to Dr. Ajoy and inspired him to join the IPS. Says “During the eight months that I was in Rajpur, he, “As we got more and more familiar, we realized we shared common there was no electricity, no water, no bathrooms -- you had to go the fields interests like politics, development and so on.” to answer nature’s call and you had to have cold water bath even during Narrating more elaborately as to what clicked for them, Ajoy, the more winter. I had never seen such a kind of life. Big gangs of 50 used to come vocal of the two says, “She is a very chilled-out person and knows what she on horses. It was like we see in the movies, but even the silver screen verwants to do. Also, a government career is pretty stable, so once you find your sion is quite subdued in comparison with what I had to deal with, on the partner with similar interests, and chemistry is established between the two, ground. These gangs carried duffle bags on their backs loaded with bulyou don’t hesitate about getting married. It is not like a management career lets, and fired from horseback. At one time, we fought a big gang and got where both have to struggle and the future is unsure. We both knew we were surrounded by them. We survived and finally managed to kill its leader.” in a career that was stable and would lead to a better future.” Did she worry? Quips Ajoy, “Not really, because we were not married They decided to get married after the probation period (the last eight then, and in those days communication was terrible.” However, after marmonths of training comprises a posting). During the probation period, Dr. riage, throughout his ten year stint as an IPS officer in the Bihar cadre, when Ajoy was at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderhe had to go on raids leading sometimes to encounters with criminal gangs, abad and Reena, at the Director General of Income Tax Training Institute Reena used to be distressed. Says she, “Whenever he went for any encounter, in Mumbai, since Reena had got into the Indian Revenue Service. They I couldn’t sleep. Our little children were at home. I would always be under were married on 12th October, 1988. Says Dr. Ajoy, “We postponed our tension. I told him after some time not to inform me when he was going wedding for eight months after we finished our probation, as my father got on such operations. Otherwise, Patna wasn’t industrially developed. I was badly injured and cut his Achilles heel, following which, he had a kidney busy bringing up the children and life was comfortable.” Adds Ajoy, she was shutdown. He however recovered well.” happiest when he quit the police. Subsequent to marriage, Reena maintained her original surname – Arya. Dr. Ajoy’s first posting in the Bihar cadre was in Danapur in Patna, as But she states, jocularly, “No, it has nothing to do with feminism...only the Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP). Reena was posted as Assistant convenience of not having to change my surname in government records, Commissioner in Patna, which was 12 kms from Dhanapur. So they were which would have been quite tedious.” together and remained so for the rest of their career. Elaborates Reena,
“Unlike a management career, a government career is stable. So, once you find your partner with similar interests, and chemistry is established, you don’t hesitate about getting married -Dr Ajoy Kumar
36 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
“The best part about government service is that the government is very accommodating -- something the private sector should learn. Right from the time we got married, we have never stayed separately, we have always been together. I was always given a transfer to the place that Ajoy was posted to. Besides, a job in the government is very comfortable in terms of timings and holidays. You have to work hard, but I do not remember getting stressed.’’ Adds Ajoy, “the government adjusted her posting to wherever I went Patna, Jamshedpur, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi and even Pune, when I was appointed as Chief Executive, Cummins.’’
Money is a relevant word
Says Reena, “One didn’t get paid much in the police force. In 1994-95 our salary used to be Rs 5,000 per month and when Ajoy quit from the IPS, we only had Rs 3000 in the bank. Can you imagine that?’’ Adds Ajoy, “When I got my job with the Tatas, after I quit IPS in 1996, Mr Ratan Tata handed me the offer letter. What I thought was the annual take home, was actually the monthly take home -- and I was pretty happy with it. It was a huge amount those days– eight to ten times higher than what the government paid. It was significant.” Hence, says Ajoy, the concept of money has to be seen in the proper perspective, depending on where you are working – in the government, or the corporate sector. “If you are a civil servant, your concept of CTC (Cost To Company) is limited, but on the other hand you get all the facilities. An SP gets a big house. We lived in style as we were put up at the best residential addresses. In Patna we lived in a house set on a sprawling 10 acre land which was located in Gandhi Maidan, one of the prime areas where they are now pulling down heritage structures and making multi-storeyed apartments. My house was at the edge of the Ganges. It was an old British house with lots of fire places. So it was pretty fancy – from the perspective of accommodation and infrastructure, it was a classy life. Money was never short because you could eat well, you could send your children to a decent school.” Adds Reena, “You lived well, but you couldn’t save money, or buy or invest...and we did not see the need to save money because we both have pensionable jobs and government pension is pretty good. You were sure that after you retired you would get 50 per cent of what you earned.’’ Ajoy further elaborates, “To get the kind of pension that Reena will get
The best part about government service is that the government is very accommodating -- something the private sector should learn. Right from the time we got married, we have never stayed separately, we have always been together. - Reena Arya when she retires, you need a corpus close to 5-6 crore rupees. So, if, at the time of retirement, you were earning a monthly salary of Rs 1 lakh, you get Rs 50, 000 to Rs 60, 000 per month as pension for the rest of your life, and then the spouse also gets it, and then the surviving member. But in the private sector, when you retire, there is no money. Though, the Tatas do have a system in place, and some others in the corporate sector too now offer retirement benefits these days...” Highlighting the income disparity issue, Ajoy observes, “In the government, salary structures are reasonable. The corporate sector should understand that if the CEO takes X and the last person in the company takes one by millionth of X, the disconnect is huge from a political and social perspective, I am stunned by this inequality.”
Entry into the corporate sector
Ajoy wanted to do an MBA, and got into XLRI through the normal process of writing the entrance examination, and had cracked it. But events turned otherwise. “At that time I was still the SP of Patna. However, Jamshedpur was facing violence from the mafia. Tata Steel was one of India’s largest corporates then. That year was a bad year for the Tatas. The General Managers of Tata Steel and Tata Motors had got killed. “Mr. Tata came to meet Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then Bihar chief minister, to request him to address the issue of the mafia urgently, or he would be forced to shift the Tata Steel plant from Jamshedpur, as the law April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 37
Cover Story
Throughout his ten year stint as an IPS officer, he had to go on raids leading to encounters with criminal gangs. I told him after some time not to inform me when he was going on such operations - Reena Arya The Boss factor in government vs. corporate
“Being in the police force was fun, no doubt - the ability to achieve goals, to work in teams, was all part of police life. In the government, you have considerable freedom to act. Whereas in the corporate sector, how you think and act depends quite a lot on your boss’s attitude. In the government, if I am honest and want to achieve my goal, what my boss thinks about it is not so material. If you are a senior police officer (an IPS officer), based on your experience, the freedom and ability to act is greater. In the corporate sector, you have to look over your shoulder and see what the boss is saying.” Adds Reena: “In the government, the system works and protects you. There are at least 30 per cent people supporting you, but in the private sector, it is only one – one who recruits you, or the boss. So that’s why, in the government, despite everything, people reach the age of retirement and finally retire from their responsibilities.’’ She also feels that the public sector in India can become the most enlightened employer if politicians do not interfere. “When you have the protection of social security of a public sector entity with the independence to act, you can imagine what a potent recipe for good management that can be.”
Made for each other and order situation was not conducive to running such a big company. He was concerned about the killings and kidnappings. The then chief minister called me, apprised me of the situation, and transferred me as SP, Jamshedpur, overnight. He also called Mr. Tata and assured him that he was sending the best SP to bring the situation under control.” Dr. Ajoy got his act together within a fortnight and successfully dealt with the mafia. He explains, “For 10 to 15 days I got all the policemen together, and after a month or so the town was completely rid of the mafia. We actually reduced crime rate by some 900-1000 per cent, but all that we did was basic policing – executing warrants, completing investigations on time, conducting trials promptly and giving punishment, ensuring that constables and sub-inspectors had the proper resources and security, an assurance that they would be transferred only if they did something wrong. And they were sure that I would take the risk along with them.” Ajoy admirably also dissolved the communal tension in Jamshedpur which would flare up on the days of Ram Navami and Moharram. Adds Ajoy, “At the time when I joined as SP in Jamshedpur, no one came on the streets after 6 p.m. for fear of robberies, kidnappings and killings. After three months we said we wanted to see people having ice cream at night at the Jubilee junction till 2 a.m. Within one month, it happened.” Just as Ajoy was about to join XLRI, he met Mr. Rawal and Ratan Tata who were very impressed with Ajoy Kumar’s handling of the Jamshedpur situation. Says he, “Jamshed Irani was a very good friend of ours and he arranged a meeting with them. I had planned to take two years study leave, do the course, and go back to the government. Then I met Mr. Tata and he said instead of doing a business degree, you can study and work with us. I told him I would think about it. After the second meeting, where I spoke to him for half an hour, I came and told my wife I was quitting. She was shocked. To resign from the IPS is a big decision. But it took me only half an hour to decide. But then subsequently, all the constables, the whole town came to me, crying.” 38 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
So, do Reena and Ajoy discuss or consult each other on their respective work? Yes, says Ajoy, “We give our perspective to each other. If she is investigating as a DG, my experience in the police force helps, and I give her my views. Similarly, when I want to have clarity of thought on any subject, I take her advice.” Reena denies she had had a roller coaster ride, even though Dr. Ajoy switched from the government to the corporate and then plunged into politics. What did she think when he decided to enter this field? Reena says with a smile, “He always wanted to be in politics. He likes people and politics is a natural outcome for those who like to be with people. I didn’t mind because with every change, Ajoy gave me a better life. I believe in God and get most of the strength from him. My family is very close knit, they absorb a lot of pressure.” Ajoy is only intrigued about his defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. A sitting MP, he lost his seat thanks to the Modi wave, but still won four lakh votes. Says he, “Guys like me cannot reconcile to the phenomenon of a wave when I spent all my time in my constituency – working 18 hours a day, visiting all the villages and meeting several lakhs of people, got solar light to villages -- so logically there was no reason for me to lose. Across political parties everybody said I had worked like a dog, but the wave went against me. If you are sinc+Rere and hardworking, the formula normally works; in politics it does not work. It was the first time in my life when my basic understanding of what constitutes success was challenged.”
Advice to young managers
“You need to continuously educate yourself. I read a lot. I try to read one book a week. For a long time I don’t touch political topics, but after a long time I have begun reading Rajdeep Sardesai’s ‘Elections 2014’ because that is relevant to my job. Before that, I read an exceptional book, Amateurs by David Halberstam. I have a very simple formula – life is too short to waste reading crappy books or watching lousy movies. So, I only read books which are highly recommended. The Economist is a good source for books. This
magazine has fantastic book reviews – you can’t go wrong, as reviews are very clinical. “On the subject of leadership I would recommend reading Jim Collins. On strategies, you should read Michael Porter, or Kotler, on marketing.” “Secondly, you must understand your job from the basics. Remove all the clutter. I was Julio Ribeiro’s escort officer when he was the Director General in Punjab. He told me something interesting. He was a tough cop. He said, ‘Ajoy I used to be very action oriented. A good policeman catches a criminal when he is having a drink in the bar and not when you meet him on the road and he shoots.’ Even in business, you must understand the basics.” But Reena cautions youngsters, “Take your career seriously, but do not identify your job with yourself too much, because remember tomorrow your replacement would be found faster than you can imagine and you won’t find a job that fast. So you have to be a bit of a Zen Master – you have to be a Yogi. Even CEOs take themselves too seriously. Even corporate leaders - if they cut their nails and bleed a little, they get upset. But they don’t mind chopping off the hands of the next guy. So that is where there is a disconnect.’’ Reena adds, ”I always recommend to youngsters to go to a smaller city to work. Most of them have ambitions to work in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. In smaller towns, commuting time is less, the quality of life is better, you can spend more time with the family, you are known in that town, unlike in the city where you are barely known. As you go higher up you can look out for jobs in bigger cities.”
Balancing work and family
In the growing-up years, it was Reena who shouldered the responsibility of bringing up children almost single-handedly, as Ajoy had a demanding schedule as a police officer. With trusted domestic help, that was not a problem, she says. “Now the sons are teenagers, and Ajoy gives them quality time. Since both are boys, they identify with him, discuss topics like music and sports and he speaks their language,” says Reena.
Says Reena, “Whatever your professional achievement, the family should be given top priority. I will give you a small example. Recently I visited a friend whose parents who I have known since childhood were also present. Both of them are in their 80s now, and it was so delightful to see them so happy with their grandchildren. Professional happiness gives you a different kick, but if you want happiness with stability then the family is the factor. They absorb so much for you.” Adds Ajoy, “During a shootout -- I once struggled with a criminal who was about to shoot me dead. Whenever you have a life-threatening experience, you don’t remember you are a CEO – you only remember your mother, father, wife, children. That is the only thing that matters. And we spend 99 per cent of the time with the other stuff.” Doing simple things together, such as seeing movies together during leisure time and caring for each other in day to day life is the secret of their happy life. Reena points out, “He sees me off to the car.’’ Both feel that as couples, when you are young, you argue about dumb stuff. “We believe that you need not buy expensive stuff for your house to impress your relatives and friends, but you should ensure that your daily life is comfortable.”
Fitness and health
Ajoy, who is as fit as a fiddle, runs 11 kms on the treadmill while watching his favourite crime serial, putting it on mute while his iPhone belts out the latest rock music. Ever since 1978 this has been his routine. Earlier, he ran on the road, but now he says “With age and new technology I prefer the machine.” This is followed by ‘Suryanamaskar’ and crunches, so it is a 1.5 hour workout every day.
Whenever you have a life-threatening experience, you don’t remember you are a CEO – you only remember your mother, father, wife, children...and we spend 99 per cent of the time with the other stuff -Dr Ajoy Kumar Adopting an amiable work culture
Ajoy believes asking women to work from home two days a week increases productivity. Says he, “In an industry which has 50-60 percent attrition rate, we, at the Max Neeman Medical International Ltd, have less than 3-4 percent. That’s because, as a rule, we make everyone feel like family and make the other person comfortable. There was a boy who joined us in the Statistics department. This boy came from Burdwan and used to travel two and a half hours each way, from home to the workplace. He joined us and on the very second day someone in the company put him up in his house, as he lived close to the workplace. If you are able to create that kind of environment and sustain it, it would create a happy working environment.”
Future plans?
Says Ajoy cheekily, “Since Reena has a top job that is secure, I have my safety net. So I can take risks and dabble in politics, or the company that I run. Reena says, “My dream is to do horticulture.’’ The colourful spread of flowers at the entrance of their bungalow reflects her passion for landscape gardening. What about their sons? Says Reena, “Both like reading and both did not want to take up Science, but are inclined towards Law. My elder son is at the National Law School, Bangalore. My younger son too dreams on the same lines. vinita.deshmukh@corporatecitizen.in April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 39
debate
Romance in campus
Reality or a faรงade?
Campus Romances are one of the most fascinating aspects of college life. The thrill and allure of campus romance is something which not just current students, but also alumni can relate to. But are campus romances as attractive as they appear, or are they a minefield best avoided? Corporate Citizen brings you both sides of the story from a debate by the students of a leading management institute in India, where they articulate their opinions on whether campus romances are indeed a reality, or an elaborate faรงade! By Neeraj Varty 40 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Campus Romance is a Reality Prateek Maheshwari
Nikita Marwah
Whenever I come to have breakfast at the campus mess, I see my friend waiting for his girlfriend to come and join him for breakfast. Then, at lunch, I see his girlfriend waiting for him. It is heartwarming to see this. Romance is a beautiful word. It starts from attraction, moves to caring, and is eventually transformed to love. Not every romance is converted to love, but the fact that even some of them do, makes it a reality. For those who think that campus romances affect studies, I dispute the notion. Love can empower students to reach their true potential. For those who think that campus love is a façade, what is the difference between you and some conservative political parties?
While we are growing up, our parents, our elder siblings, acted as mentors to us. They were there to correct us, support us and encourage us. When we leave our homes to go study on campus, we are all alone here. If we can find a special one, with whom we can share some interests, likes and someone who can be there for us when we need them, then what is wrong with that? We love because we can’t help it. It is beyond our control. We need someone to take care of us. Campus romances are not just about finding some solitary time with someone in college canteens and behind auditoriums. It is about finding a family in that person. People may say that campus romances distract students, but I say the opposite. Attendance is higher because we can’t stand the thought of spending a single day without seeing that special someone. To cultivate independence and inner strength, we must remove all obstacles to love.
Kinshuk Chabra From the induction day itself, we can see couples in the college sitting together, enjoying each other’s company. Let’s look at some hard facts. According to TSR matters, 52% of business graduate students regret their breakup, and say that they loved and lost. We, as post graduate students, are mature enough to know what we want from our partners. For example, as per another statistic by TSR matters, 85% of psychology students in the UK find their love on campus. The majority of military students in India have love marriages. Can you call the love of the brave people who are willing to die for our country a façade? I don’t think so. 60% of medical students get married to their partners through the course of their MBBS. There will be critics who will say that campus romances are about satiating a physical need, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. Campus romances are about finding emotional security and companionship. If campus romance is a façade, why are maximum movies made on that subject, and why are most of them blockbusters? You would not have spent Rs 100 on a ticket for Mohabattein, if the couples would not have come together at the end? Once we all start our careers, we would be focused on sales targets and monthly targets, and would not have the time for a romance. The time for a romance is now, not then.
Akshay Khot The reason we humans exist on this planet is love. Love lies at the core of our existence. Romance is created out of love. Tagging it as either reality or a façade is just being judgmental. The fact is that it exists. According to Outlook magazine, 30% of campus romances in India convert to marriages. Even in our alumni meet, we saw so many people who are happily married to the people they met during their college days. We need someone to love us unconditionally, to understand us. We find family in that one person we find in campus. And yes, there are breakups, because sometimes you need to kiss frogs to find a prince. Even geniuses like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs derived inspiration from campus romances. Their romances, in whichever way, has contributed to their success. We need to stop looking at campus romances as shallow. They are based on emotional needs, and are mutually strengthening. Campus romances can change your life for the better, and they are an undisputable reality.
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 41
Campus Romance is a Façade Nikita Rai
Arpita Ankit
I am here to articulate my views on the topic” Are campus romances a reality or a façade.” I strongly believe that they are a façade. Love is supposed to be pure. But today’s generation has maligned the definition of love. To them, love is bunking classes. Love is spending your pocket money on needless gifts. Love is, manipulating your partner for your own benefits. Today, couples change like seasons. Students who come away from their home to study are emotionally vulnerable. It is easy for them to succumb to campus romances. What is the basic responsibility of a student? It is to fulfil the dream of their parents and to build their careers. But here they are busy building relationships. Campus romances are nothing but wastage of time. With an uneven sex distribution ratio in India, there begins a race to get into relationships, leaving many people who don’t get partners to be frustrated. Love should be unconditional, but it has become a barter system, where I give you this, only if you give me that. Today, campus romances are the reason for so many student maladies like sexual harassment, drug abuse, alcoholism and clinical depression. Critics will argue that there are successful campus romances like Chetan Bhagat and his wife? But I ask you, how many Chetan Bhagat’s are there? For every Chetan Bhagat, there are 100 students who have faced heartbreaks in campus romances. Who speaks for them? And if Chetan Bhagat believes so much in campus romances, then why is he endorsing JeevanSaathi. com? Campus Romances are like toothbrushes. You need it daily, but you change the toothbrush regularly. This is the façade called campus romances.
I strongly believe that campus romance is nothing but a deceptive truth. It is nothing but a delusion. Thanks to masala movies, we see a rose tinted version of campus romances. There is a famous line ‘I love you till the end. As a student, I have a question. I love you till the end of what? Mid-semester? Final Semester? Internship? How many campus romances have we seen last beyond the college days? 28% of students get their hearts broken in campus. One of the major reasons that people get into a relationship in campuses is peer pressure. In campus romances, there are no 4-5 months of courtship, but a few seconds of uttering ‘I love you’. You can make your own assessment as to how much depth these romances might hold. Students use campus relationships as a resource bank. To have your boyfriend to drop you around town, to have your girlfriend complete your projects. That’s all there is to it. Campus romances, are nothing but an absolute façade.
Amit Sinha I want to start by clarifying that I am not against love. But campus romance are a recipe for disaster. In the outside world, people meet, fall in love and get married. In campus romances, students meet, fall in love, spend time together, and when the time for commitment comes, they back out and say goodbye. Noted actor Jim Carrey has said “Deceiving others is what people call love” If campus romances were so successful, why would matrimonial sites like Shaadi.com do such roaring business? It is only because youngster get disillusioned by campus romances, and then opt for a more traditional route to get married. Speaking of statistics, Live Science reports that 21.6% college students have admitted that they cheat on their partners in campus romances. You can draw your own conclusions from these facts. 42 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Naman Sharma A new college student is like a flower. He is fresh, unique and beautiful. But this college romance has a peculiar way of picking and breaking the student. It has been a year and a half now, but I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember the taste of the chocolates she used to send me, the smell of flowers she used to me. I had almost started believing in campus romances. Then one fine day, she came upto me and said “I’m sorry, I’m dating another guy. And why not, he has an Audi.” My heart was broken. I was shattered. The topic of the debate is “Is campus romance, a reality or a façade?” and I am here to say, Yes, it is a façade. We have to wake up from this illusion of paradise and smell the roses. Almost all of us have had a relationship. How many of us are still with that person? Not many. Campus romances are nothing but attractions towards the opposite gender, and with time spent, these attreactions also fade. The reality is that 60% of college romances end with breakups. Ask the victims of acid attacks and victims of retaliations by spurned lovers and victims of mms scandals. Livemint quoted that atleast 500 girls have been victims of acid attacks due to college romances going rogue. My oponents may call me an anti-romance crusader with a sword in my hand, but that isn’t the case. On 20th June 2014, the Delhi High court bench of justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice Sunita Gupta passed out a verdict blaming live-in relationship and romances for the increase in number of rapes. You, the reader, should understand the ugliness, the shallowness and the hollowness of this façade called romance.
Tete-a-Tete
‘Connecting’ India
India has truly embraced the digital age. The number of internet users in India crossed 30 crores in 2014, and it is expected to nearly double by 2017. This provides a unique opportunity for broadband players to expand their footprint across the country. Corporate Citizen chats with Amit Pandey, Vice President, Head - Procurement, SCM, HR & Admin at Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Ltd, on of India’s leading broadband providers, to discuss the India’s evolving digital market and Tikona’s strategy. By Neeraj Varty
Amit Pandey during a heart-to heart conversation with CC
How is the Internet adoption in India?
A few years back, voice calling dominated all of the revenue for telecom operators. Data was a secondary or tertiary priority. With the advent of smartphones, data is gaining mainstream popularity. Today, data generates about 10 per cent of the revenue for telecom operators, and its contribution is going to increase exponentially. Earlier, users would rely only on voice networks to call. Over time, we expect most of the voice calling users to shift to VOIP calling (Skype, viber, whatsapp calling, etc) . users are getting habituated to using data to check their mails, use instant messaging, watch videos on YouTube.
The major telecom carriers in India are shifting to Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, also known as 4G. If 4G on the cards for Tikona?
We are currently operating in five major circles, which cover about 29 per cent of the population in India. We are focused on enhancing the networks and user experience in all these circles, but it will happen in phases. The initial deployment has already started.
Around the world as well, there is a grow-
Pic: Prithviraj Mallick
whatever practices which are unique and creative. Just a few years back, no one thought that streaming music in India would ever catch on, but today look at the success of music streaming companies like Saavn and Spotify. Take ecommerce as another example. It took time for India to open to the idea of buying products online, but when it did react, there was no looking back. Ultimately, India is a consumer driven market. The moment the consumer demands a service, we provide it. Failure to adapt to consumer needs is a recipe for disaster. Services like Netflix will soon become a reality in India. It is important to show value to the consumer.
So what sets Tikona apart from the competition, in terms of value proposition for the consumer?
Unlike most of our competitors, our focus is very clear. We are purely a broadband provider. We don’t have any other distractions on the table. We are a startup organisation, with a straightforward
In India, the voice market problem is solved. There is no unmet need in voice. But when you look at data, there is a huge gap in demand and supply. We are focused at reducing this gap ing debate on net neutrality. What is your take on that?
India is still behind countries like the US and Europe, but we are fast catching up. Net neutrality is a debate India will have to address, but there is still time for that. The priority to ensure that internet reaches to ever corner of the country first, and this is realistically possible. When you put all the operators together, we carry a lot more data than several countries put together.
In the west, the streaming model has replaced traditional cable TV, where services like Netflix and Hulu plus let you stream your favourite movies and shows on TV whenever you want, instead of at a specific time. Do you think that model will come to India anytime soon, considering the high data requirements for these services?
I think India has a beautiful habit of accepting
strategy. We are committed to provide the best broadband experience for you users, whether it is home broadband, office broadband, or leased line connectivity. Tikona currently has the world’s largest outdoor Wifi network. In India, the voice market problem is solved. There is no unmet need in voice. But when you look at data, there is a huge gap in demand and supply. We are focused at reducing this gap.
You must be a very busy person. How do you like to spend your free time?
I don’t think I am a busy man. The trick is to strike the right balance between work and home. The key to succeed is priorities your time. Even in my free time, I love to visit my hometown, Kanpur, which is very close to me. My entire family is there, and I try to visit every opportunity I get.
neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 43
Brandstand
These Brands are household names
A dekko at some of the classic brands that became bigger than the product/service itself. You’d be surprised at the roll-call of proper nouns that you thought were just common! By Kalyani Sardesai ver since you can recollect, you’ve taken their presence so much for granted that they are just part of your general environment. You get up in the morning to a hot cuppa in your favourite “Thermos” to a relaxing soak-in your “Jacuzzi” to a breakfast of bread with a dash of “Amul”—and then off to work. It’s going to be a long day ahead—so you have taken along a bottle of “Bisleri” and some “Aspirin” in your brief case—along with some quick fix “Maggi” for emergencies. Breaking news---All the words inside the inverted commas are victims, or awardees, whichever way you look at it, of Genericide. Yeah—you got that right. “Genericide”—a phenomenon when a particular trademark/ 44 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
brand enjoys such wide-spread popularity that it becomes a generic name for the product/ service itself, or becomes ‘genericised’ -- to the point of becoming so much a part of the local ethos that the government decides to take away its trademark! It so happens that thanks to a potent mix of spiffy marketing and inherent product superiority—the brand manages to Kay-o the competition to utter oblivion. While some are familiar, others have blended seamlessly into the daily narrative over generations.
Bisleri
It owns just about 36 per cent of the market share, but when someone asks you to get them a Bisleri, they know you mean packaged drinking water and nothing else. Maybe because it was the first ever company to market bottled water in India. Initially owned by the Italian company created by Signor Felice Bisleri, the company was taken over by Parle and the Chauhan Family in 1969. There have been many competitors—worthy and unworthy— since, but the original remains. Even if you do
go hoarse telling the shopkeeper that by Bisleri you mean Bisleri, not any old bottled water!!!
Amul
Sure, the dairy giant produces a massive range of milk and milk-products, but from the sixties, Amul means butter in India. And that is that. While most of the credit goes to Sylvester Da Cunha’s ASP agency that created the world famous Amul Baby—who proved to be not just a super-duper mascot for the product but also the subject of intense academic study---it is perhaps, only natural that a culture like ours that celebrates naughty children, especially Lord Krishna and his butter-stealing friends, should take the Amul Baby and her butter to heart. Utterly Butterly Delicious!
Godrej
In 1897 a young man named Ardeshir Godrej gave up law and turned to lock-making. Ardeshir went on to make safes and security equipment of the finest quality—laying the foundation for Godrej almirahs and safes. For generations, buying a Godrej almirah
‘In India, Maggi means noodles—and noodles means Maggi, and if you don’t know that, you’ve come from Mars’
‘A Godrej is a Godrej is an almirah. Get it?’
‘If it’s fizzy, black, soft and out of a bottle, it’s a Coke’ represented an event; it was gifted to beloved daughters at weddings, and each house had a Godrej where precious papers and jewellery jostled for space. There may be other, fancier players in the market today, but a Godrej is a Godrej is an almirah. Get it?
Dalda
It is a cooking medium as affordable as it is versatile—despite what the critics say about its health quotient (or the lack of it) and so on. Until the early 1930s, the hydrogenated vegetable oil available in India was imported into the country by Dada & Co, which was controlled by a family from Bantva headed by Hussain Kassim Dada. Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co (today’s Hindustan Unilever Limited) wanted to start manufacturing hydrogenated vegetable oil locally. Dada & Co insisted that the branded product should reflect their name; hence Hindustan UniLever introduced the letter “L” for “Lever” into the name, and thus was born Dalda, one of the longest-living brands in the country. So much so that Dalda means hydrogenated vegetable oil aka vanaspati. And that’s that.
Maggi
Even as it corners over 80 per cent of the market share and a budget of Rs 200 crore as per a 2012 power point presentation, India fell in love with Nestle’s Maggi almost at first sight in 1983. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, India needs its quick fix noodles. Thanks to clever marketing and brilliant distributorship that reaches the remotest corners of the country, everyone knows Maggi means quick-fix comfort food that comes with assorted tastemakers. Chop in some onions, tomatoes, meat and paneer—and you have a dish to die for. In India, Maggi means noodles—and noodles means Maggi, and if you don’t know that, you’ve come from Mars. Or maybe, China.
‘Amul means butter in India. And that is that’
Colgate
For generations of Indians from the twenties onwards, toothpaste is equal to Colgate. The first-ever toothpaste in a collapsible tube, Colgate made its debut in New York in 1896—in an avatar we recognise today. You’d never believe this: it was previously sold in glass jars!!! But in a tube, it put the promise of dental care, hygiene
‘We only know Xerox means photocopying, and nothing else’ April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 45
‘When someone asks you to get them a Bisleri, they know you mean packaged drinking water and nothing else’
and convenience in the hands of the consumers. And the product never looked back ever since. It is not just India’s numero uno brand, it rules the roost the world over. Now a sub-brand of Colgate-Palmolive, the familiar red packaging represents the comfort of continuity and tradition. Sure, there are many upgraded new versions—including the advanced whitening system, active salt and so on…but the original taste still lingers on. Don’t we all know people who like to eat Colgate just like that?
Coke
If it’s fizzy, black, soft and out of a bottle, it’s a Coke. And all other competition can tear its hair out.The Coca-Cola Company re-entered India through its subsidiary Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd. after the opening up of the Indian economy in 1991. Since then, its operational model supports over 2.2 million retailers and 7,000 Indian distributors. Thums-up and Coke are different colas. But for Indians, if it’s black, it’s a Coke. Dig?
Thermos
“Hot matters. Cold matters. It matters.” promised the vacuum flask that keeps every food item at the temperature it’s supposed to be—from steaming cups of coffee and soups to cold-drinks and warm lunches—with the aroma of ghar ka cooking intact. That’s why, ladies and gentlemen, it’s likely to be nothing less than a shock to find out that ‘thermos’ is actually supposed to be called a vacuum flask. Thermos LLC lost its trademark when the term was declared generic in 1963. 46 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Jacuzzi
Believe it or faint, it’s actually supposed to be a hot tub equipped with a hydrotherapy pump. Originally created in 1956 by the Jacuzzi brothers in the USA to relieve arthritis patients of their grief. The product did much more than that—it changed the face of bath-time relaxation for users across barriers of age and health. Sure, they also manufacture showers and toilets—but that’s only a detail.
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produces and sells a range of colour and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photocopiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies. Who cares? We only know Xerox means photocopying, and nothing else. The history goes something like this: Xerox was founded in 1906 in Rochester as The Haloid Photographic Company, which originally manufactured photographic paper and equipment. In 1938 Chestor Carlson a physicist working independently, invented a process for printing images using an electrically charged drum and dry powder “toner.” When Joseph Wilson, widely known as the “founder of Xerox,” took over Haloid from his father, he was shrewd enough to understand this product meant big bucks. Looking for a term to differentiate the new system from the rest of their products, Wilson coined the term xerography from two Greek roots meaning
“dry writing”. The rest, as they say is history. If you haven’t read the original—why, just xerox it. Heard that term about imitation being the best flattery?
Aspirin
Formally known as acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin was created in 1897 and originally trademarked by Bayer AG. The name means “pain relief, speed, reliability and tolerability,” as per Bayer. Aspirin comes from “acetyl” and Spirsaure, a German name for salicylic acid. Its time as a trademarked word was short — in 1917, after the Treaty of Versailles was drafted by the victorious Allies to humiliate the Axis Power -- many of Bayer’s U.S. assets were confiscated as a result of World War 1, including its patents and trademarks. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
CC
tadka
Sanitation crisis Lack of adequate sanitization contaminates watercourses worldwide and is one of the most significant forms of water pollution worldwide 2.5 billion people live without adequate sanitization worldwide i.e. 1.8 billion people live in Asia.
aviation
Flying in India is safe
Despite intermittent instances of mishaps, including the latest Germanwings air crash, air travel is still the safest mode of travel. There are stringent policies and practices in place and new ones keep getting introduced to make it ever safer. India too follows the best international air-safety protocol to keep air travel safe. By Ameya Joshi
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s reports started trickling in that the Germanwings aircraft was deliberately crashed by the co-pilot after locking the cockpit door, the focus has shifted on human psychology to find out why this happened and whether it could happen again. This was certainly not the first instance but we hope that this would be the last.
Background and tests
As the aviation industry moved to the jet era in the 1960s, the cockpit crew comprised of three and sometimes four members. Typically it would be the pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer whose responsibility was to monitor the flight instruments. As computerisation kicked in and airlines advanced in the late 1980s, the two crew pattern became common. This happened more due to the advent of what is known as ‘glass cockpits’ i.e. digital information rather than gauges making it easier to read multiple parameters on a small screen visible to the pilot as well as the co-pilot. Thus the presence of a third member gradually decreased. Irrespective of how many crew members are required to fly the plane, a member of the crew undergoes regular medical and physiological tests as part of the training and mandatory requirements of each and every country. In addition to this, most of the airlines worldwide have programs to ensure that the crew is not suffering from any kind of illness, and in most cases including India, a medical doctor performs a
pre-flight medical test on every crew member, which includes a breath analyser test to check for consumption of alcohol.
Past crashes
The first known instance of pilot suicide dates back to 1982 when the pilot of a single engine aircraft deliberately crashed his aircraft in New South Wales, Australia, killing himself. However, Air Maroc flight 630 from Agadir to Casablanca in August 1994 was the first instance where the pilot committed suicide with commercial passengers on board, which included a Kuwaiti prince, and led to the loss of 44 lives. Similar instances followed with a Silk Air flight from Indonesia to Singapore in December 1997 killing 104 passengers and the pilots’ union challenging the findings of the court of enquiry which concluded that it was a case of pilot suicide. The worst of the disasters came in 1999, when an Egypt Air flight 990 from Los Angeles to Cairo via New York went down in the Atlantic Ocean with the co-pilot shouting “I rely on God” in Arabic. The crash resulted in 217 fatalities.
Why will this not happen in India?
Post 9/11, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), the regulator of the United States of America (USA) updated rules on cockpit entry, including having a door which can be locked from inside and a secret code to enter from outside – which the Germanwings aircraft had, but was overruled
by the co-pilot from inside the cockpit. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian regulator, took a leaf out of the FAA rules to have stringent rules in place in the Indian skies. The rules mandate that cabin crew ensure that there are no passengers in the forward lavatory, and any passengers standing in the area near the lavatory are to be sent back before the pilot leaves the cockpit. One of the cabin crew has to then accompany the other pilot into the cockpit and the door of the cockpit is to be blocked – typically by the food cart. In aircraft like the ATR – operated by Jet Airways and Air India in India -- the lavatory is at the back of the aircraft and the crew is responsible to see that the food trolley does not block the aisle when the pilot has to visit the lavatory so as to ensure there is no blockage of the path between the cockpit and the lavatory.
Is Air Travel Safe ?
The last 18 months have been turbulent for air travel, starting with the mysterious disappearance of MH370, the shooting of another Malaysian Airways aircraft over Ukraine, the crash of Air Asia Indonesia and the latest in the case of Germanwings. While statistically air travel continues to the safest mode of travel, the global nature of the industry attracts more attention and worry. With every disaster, the industry learns new things and implements a plethora of checks which makes air travel safer than yesterday. ameya.joshi@gmail. com
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 47
My campus placement experience-8
My Dream Came True Sameer Ahamed Khan entered B-school hoping to land up with a dream job. Closely following the 3D’s -- Discipline, Determination and Dedication during his course, and keeping a single minded focus on his goal, he finally achieved what he wanted
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entered my B-school dreaming of a good kick off in the corporate world. Along with this dream I already had a responsibility on my shoulder at the inception of my course, since I was engaged to be married. The expectations of not only my family but also my in-laws were on me. My journey to a post-graduate diploma in management (PGDM) began with an induction programme. The induction included various activities like BAM Presentations, personality classes and Interview competition. All of these events helped to enhance some or the other part of my personality. I thoroughly followed the 3D’s -- Discipline, Determination and Dedication, and ensured that I was fully focused towards my curricular and extra-curricular activities during the course. The attendance criteria ensured that I didn’t go astray from my path. After induction, my academic classes kicked off and began the period of long and serious studies and day long classes. Being a mechanical engineer, I chose operations and supply chain as my specialisation. Subjects like World Class Manufacturing, Inventory Management, Total Quality Management, Supply Chain, Business Process Reengineering fascinated me to the core. The way the faculty delivered the lectures kindled my interest for those subjects even more. The curiosity and interest raised in me by my faculty resulted in my gaining sound technical know-how.
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Sameer Ahamed Khan
Pic: Prithviraj Mallick
Sameer with his friends
Being a mechanical engineer, I chose operations and supply chain as my specialisation. Subjects like World Class Manufacturing, Inventory Management, Total Quality Management, Supply Chain, Business Process Reengineering fascinated me to the core Thanks to the college I got a chance to do my internship with a leading gear manufacturing company in Mumbai. This company not only manufactures gears but is a Tier-1 supplier of gear box assemblies. Here my project objective was “Optimize Utilization Of Hobbing Machine By Reducing Set Up Time”. I really worked hard on the process and helped the company save valuable time and cost by reducing set up time. In this assignment, my faculty back at college and my mentor in the company had a big role to play, who helped me achieve this herculean task. My hard work paid off and it was recognized by the college when they awarded me the 2nd prize for project presentation. My successful internship was a major booster to my confidence to achieve the placement of my dreams. As we came back from internship, we had a few days to actually get ready for the placement season. The first company that came to our college was a logistics company followed by a spirit making company. I was able to clear the group discussion but got stuck in the personal interview round. Instead of being crestfallen by this event I worked on my
strengths and weaknesses and the mistakes I made, while going through the process with the spirits making company. I geared up for the next company which would come to the campus. This happened to be a No.1 FMCG player in the country and was not to be taken lightly. Every guy in the campus dreamt of being in this company. Finally the day came when the placement process for this leading FMCG company was to be held. The process included PPT, group discussion and a personal interview round. In the PPT they described the job profile which turned out to be my dream profile of a supply chain management assignment with a handsome pay cheque. In the GD round we were a given a case of event management under certain criteria and budget. I approached the case objectively, and not only the observer, but all the members of my group too were convinced with my point of view. This led to me clearing the GD round. The personal interview was a serious technical interview which lasted for 45 minutes. Questions included: l Tell me about yourself
l 3 weaknesses and 3 strengths l What is supply chain l What is so great about supply chain l What is forecasting and forecasting methods? l Problems related to forecasting l About my internship and my engineering projects l Flexibility regarding work location l What is back order, cross dock etc...? I answered all their questions to the best of my capacity with utmost confidence, using all the knowledge I had assimilated during the last one year. After all the rounds were done we were asked to leave and were informed that the result would be notified to the college the following day. The next day I was pretty anxious about the results. Back at home my parents were continuously praying for my success and comforting me during my anxious time. I was having my lunch and suddenly my phone rang, and my heart skipped a beat. I picked up the phone with the hunch that this might be the news I was waiting for and indeed, it turned out to be so. The person at the other end of the phone congratulated me and announced that I was selected. I went into a state of euphoria on hearing this and eventually it sank into me that I had made it! I would like to thank my parents for always supporting me in my ups and downs and always showing the right path to success, my faculty for imparting such valuable knowledge, my friends for always supporting me and being there for me. And last but not the least, thanks to Shaziya for her silent and never ending support. She is the one with whom I entered into the holy bond of matrimony on 29th March 2015.
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Made in China? UNCTAD data shows that between 2008 and 2013, China received over `420,0000 cr in FDI. More stunning is that between 2008 and 2013, outward direct investment by Chinese entities was an astonishing `267,0000 cr. In fact, flow of funds has been liberalised periodically to facilitate speed—in December 2013, the Chinese government declared that overseas investments below `6000 cr didn’t need approval.
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 49
cricket endorsements
Bigger Money OffField Our overly idolised cricket demigods are setting new records making money, cumulatively from salary and endorsement earnings. And their onfield performance does not seem to have any bearing on their brand status... By Joe Williams
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enerated as the mortal gods of the cricketing game, they give unparalleled moments of joy and jubilation to the cricket frenzied nation. However, for the onerous responsibility they carry, our cricketers enjoy huge popularity as well as pay, more so for their promotional statements. Our overly idolised cricket demigods are setting records on the money-making scale, cumulatively from salary and endorsement 50 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
earnings. No matter what the outcome of the Indian cricket team in any championship or even the World Cup, their endorsing slogans are heard clear and loud. The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) annually pays every Indian cricket player for being on-the-field. They are divided into three categories, A, B and C. As per their player contracts for the year 2013, Indian cricketers in Group A get `1 crore per annum; B (`50 lakhs) and C (`25 lakhs). The players in the playing eleven of the team also get an additional fee for Test match (`7 lakhs per match), ODIs (`4
lakhs) and T20 internationals (`2 lakhs) per match. Salary apart, it is not an oddity anymore that cricketers come into their own off-the-field, hitting the big time as brand ambassadors. Sachin Tendulkar might have retired from cricket, but not from the action of endorsing. For that matter, even Virendra Sehwag and Rahul Dravid are still athletes in action. And Tendulkar has ruled the Indian advertising space for a long time and continues to do so even after retiring from international cricket. He takes home an estimated `100 crore per year.
MSD most preferred
However, it is skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who leads the pack in endorsement earnings, roping in over `200 crores annually. Reportedly, he has signed a cool `200 crore deal with Rhiti Sports, a sports management firm based in Delhi. At present he endorses more than a dozen brands. Star Group’s Fox Star Studios and Inspired Entertainment, promoted by management agency Rhiti Sports, is producing a biopic on him. The co-producers are likely to make over `30 crore from brands endorsement. India might have lost in the 2015 World Cup semi-final in Sydney, but brand MSD is likely to remain strong, according to sports marketers and media planners. “As top scorer against the mighty Australians, Dhoni’s brand image as a fighter will remain intact,” said a chief operating officer of a sports management firm. He further said that if Dhoni does retire from one-day internationals, it will take a while before his brand value takes a hit. Speculation that was rife that Dhoni might announce his retirement from ODIs after the World Cup was put to rest by him. In a postmatch chat after India’s loss at Sydney, Dhoni stated that he would think about playing in the 2019 World Cup after next year’s T20 World Cup. On Dhoni’s brand value, an official said that since Dhoni is still the captain leading Indian ODI, T20 and Chennai Super Kings Indian Premier League teams, his brand value and endorsement rate remains strong. “Experts had predicted that India would get knocked out before the quarter finals, but the team had seven consecutive wins. They have exceeded in their performance and expectations and I believe that after this, Dhoni has emerged as a better leader,” he said. “One semi-final loss does not change anything for Dhoni,” said another marketing expert. “You can’t take it away from him, he resonates as a brand icon with audiences.” The
Yuvraj Singh, the blue-eyed boy of Indian cricket, well known for his performance and good looks makes a whopping Rs 18 cr from endorsement earnings. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli earn close to Rs 20 cr & Rs 24 cr, respectively India might have lost the 2015 World Cup, in Sydney, but brand MSD is likely to remain strong, according to sports marketers and media planners
official, however, pointed out that if India had won the cup, Dhoni’s rates would certainly have gone up further.
Others follow the lead
Yuvraj Singh, the blue-eyed boy of Indian cricket is known to have a good connect with the audience because of his performance, good looks, and the recent victory over cancer. The young star makes a whopping `18 Cr from endorsement earnings. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli are not far as they too have their standing in the brand world. Gambhir earns close to `20 Cr per year from endorsements. The young gun of the Indian cricket team, Kohli’s endorses fetch him `24 Cr. With his rising popularity and association with Anushka Sharma, his price is expected to shoot up. The best part about being an Indian cricketer is that your on-field performance does not affect your brand status. This is what company officials believe to be true. joe78662@gmail.com
All that glitters CC tadka is not gold Olympic gold medals are actually made of silver. In 1912, Olympic Games were the last to include gold medals actually made of solid gold. Today’s Olympic gold medals are made of 93% of silver and 6% of copper 1% of highly prized gold finished.
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 51
mission mars
And... life begins on Mars! Three Indians—two women and one man -- are part of the never-before Mars One mission plan that aims to build a permanent human settlement on the Red Planet by 2024. A lowdown on mankind’s most ambitious dream as yet. By Kalyani Sardesai
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hey won’t stop at conquering new frontiers for human kind; they will stay there, and figure out what it means for man to live on Mars. And even as the world gasps at the audacity of a mission that seems straight out of a science fiction piece, these 100 intrepid men and women are totally fine with the fact that if chosen to be one of the final 24 to leave for Mars in 2024 in batches of six, they will never return to Mother Earth! Mars One Mission was first scripted in 2011 by Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders of the Netherland-based non profit organisation Mars One, even as intensive discussions were held with suppliers of aerospace components in UK, USA, Canada and Italy. After much debate, they finally arrived at a consensus that a baseline design for a permanent human colony is within the realm of possibility. In 2013, the the Astronaut Selection Program was launched at high profile press conferences in New York and Shanghai. An online application threw the gates open to all nationalities, at the end of which 2, 258,00 application were received.
Meet the Indians... Out of the 2, 258,00 applications, 100 have moved on to the next round. The three Indian candidates who have made it to the hallowed portals include 29-year-old Taranjeet Singh Bhatia who is pursuing a doctorate in computer science at the University of Central Florida, 29-year-old Ritika Singh 52 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Shraddha Prasad
Ritika Singh
Taranjeet Singh
from Dubai and 19-year-old mechanical engineering student Shraddha Prasad from Kerala. They were selected from a final round of 44 Indians that consisted of 27 men and 17 women. And yes, they do realise that if they do make it to the final round, they may never set foot on Earth again. The mission will send out six teams of four each, starting 2024 onwards. A new batch of the Astronaut Selection Program begins every year to replenish the training pool regularly. An analogue of the Mars habitat will be constructed on Earth for technology testing and training purposes. The second crew departs from Earth in 2026. With the second crew, the Cargo for the third crew will also be launched. For her part, Shraddha, the youngest amongst the three said that she had got to know about the Mars Mission through a newspaper article. Initially her parents thought it was a joke, but when they realised that it was far from being one, they were worried. However, now that she has made it to the 100 shortlisted candidates so far, they are happy. “I have always wanted to do something different with my life,” says the student of mechanical engineering. “Here’s my chance. Yes, there is a part of me that is nervous, but how many people get to live on two planets in one life?” During the selection process, each candidate was asked if they understood the risks involved, and tested for team spirit, motivation and ability to adapt to situations. The follow-
ing selection rounds will focus on composing teams that can endure all the hardships of a permanent settlement on Mars. Meanwhile, Bhatia said that being selected for the mission was straight out of his favourite childhood dreams. “All my my life I always wanted to be involved in space missions. As a child, I spent hundreds of nights gazing at the sky and dreaming of aliens and space,” he said. It would now seem aliens don’t have to take him into space—his own efforts and those of fellow Earthlings are enough. Pursuing a doctorate in Computer Science at the University of Central Florida, the technologist and sports person says: “I am adventurous and totally prepared to be a Martian.” Bhatia grew up in Indore before leaving to pursue his degree in Florida. As for Ritika Singh, who is a supply chain manager for a retail outfit in Dubai, a self-confessed adrenaline junkie, the thrill of the unknown proved too much to resist. “I am in love with this world. But who knows? Mars could be even better.” Like Bhatia, she is outdoorsy and sporty, and loves adventure sports like mountaineering and sky diving. “To gain some we lose some and (we) make some sacrifices, so I will be sacrificing things that I love now but in return I am sure I’ll be getting something that’s not here. I am madly curious to find out what Mars is all about,” she rounds off.
These 100 intrepid men and women are totally fine with the fact that if chosen to be one of the final 24 to leave for Mars in 2024, they will never return to Mother Earth!
Timeline Mars 1) Groups selected from the first batch of applicants begin training. This training will continue until the launch in 2024. The group’s ability to deal with prolonged periods of time in a remote location is the most important part of their training. They learn to repair components of the habitat and rover, train in medical procedures and learn to grow their own food in the habitat. 2) Every group will spend several months of each training year in simulated Mars-like conditions that will get increasingly more challenging. 3) A demo mission will be launched to Mars in 2018, in order to test the technologies—and upgrade them—in keeping with the requirements of human survival. A communication satellite will also be launched into a Mars stationary orbit to enable 24/7 communication and relaying of images and data between the two planets. 4) An intelligent rover and trailer will be launched. The Rover will use the Trailer to transport the Landers to the outpost location. On Mars, the Rover drives around the chosen region to find the best location for the settlement. Once the location is chosen, the Rover will prepare the surface for the arrival of the Cargo missions. 5) A second Rover, two living Units, two life support systems and a supply unit will be sent to Mars in 2022. In 2023, all units will land on Mars using the Rover as a beacon. 6) The six Cargo units will land on Mars, up to 10 km away from the outpost. The Rover will pick up the first Life Support unit using the trailer. It will place the Life Support unit in the right place and deploy the thin film Solar Panel of the Life Support unit. The Rover can now connect to the Life Support unit to recharge its batteries much faster than using only its own panels, allowing it to do much more work. 7) The Rover will pick up all the other Cargo units before deploying the thin film Solar Panel of the second Life Support unit and the Inflatable sections of the living units. 8) The Life Support unit will be connected to the Living Units by a hose that can transport water, air and electricity. The Life Support System (LSS) is now activated. The Rover will feed Martian soil into the LSS. Water will be extracted from the Martian soil by evaporating the subsurface ice particles in an oven. And life begins on Mars! kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
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World’s first selfie was taken 175 years ago Selfie has recently made its way into the dictionary, but the world’s first known self-portrait was taken 175 years ago (1839), by Robert Cornelius, what is believed to be the first photographic self-portrait. He had set up his camera at the back of his father’s shop in Philadelphia, removed the lens cap, ran into the frame and sat stock still for five minutes before running back and replacing the lens cap.
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 53
Bollywood Biz
From Heroes to Producers Bollywood stars are more than just pretty faces. In fact, they are astute businessmen who know exactly how to get a return on their investment. Today, almost all of the top stars don’t just act in movies, they produce them too. Corporate Citizen rounds up the top production houses in Bollywood backed by stars, along with their track record. By Neeraj Varty
ď‚ŠRed Chillies Entertainment Shah Rukh Khan
It is no secret that the Baadshah of Bollywood is a prolific businessman as well. He, along with wife Gauri Khan, floated Red Chillies production house in 2002. It was transformed from the now defunct Dreamz Unlimited. The company has five sub divisions: apart from film production, RCE has a visual effects studio known as Red Chillies VFX, a studio for TV commercials known as Red Chillies TVC, a television program production division under the name of Red Chillies Idiot Box and an equipment Leasing division. Red Chillies is one of the most successful production houses in India, with blockbuster hits like Om Shanti Om, Happy New Year and Chennai Express under its belt. To top it, Red Chillies owns 50% stake in the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, which is the most profitable brand in IPL with a brand value of $42.1 Million. 54 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Aamir Khan Productions aamir Khan
Aamir Khan is one of the very few commercially bankable actors who doesn’t hesitate in experimenting with alternate cinema. In 1999, When Aamir was impressed with the script of Lagaan, he approached many production houses, but they weren’t interested in the unconventional script. It was then that Aamir decided to start his own production company, to ensure that good films got to see the light of day. Lagaan became a critical and commercial success, and there was no looking back for Aamir. All of the movies produced by the production house since then have either gone on to become super hits like Taare Zameen Par, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, and Delhi Belly, or become semi hits like Rang De Basanti and Dhobi Ghaat. All the movies have managed to recover their money and rake in a profit. In addition to producing movies, Aamir Khan Productions also produces the immensely popular show Satyameva Jayate.
FilmKraft Productions
Rakesh roshan and Hrithik Roshan While one mostly equates FilmKraft Productions with Hrithik Roshan starrers, this is in fact a relatively old production house, founded by Rakesh Roshan in 1977. It financed movies like Aap Ke Deewane and Kaam Chor, and tasted real success with Karan Arjun in 1995. Since then, however, the production house began a lean phase, until the launch of Rakesh Roshan’s son Hrithik Roshan in Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, which became one of the most successful movies in Bollywood history, and made Hrithik a bonafide superstar. Since then, Hrithik has been a part of almost all of FilmKraft production’s films, and all of them, from Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, and Krrish 3 have been extremely successful. The interesting part is that most of these movies have also been directed by Rakesh Roshan. With this magical father-son combination, FilmKraft production is sure to have a very ‘Roshan’ future.
Hari Om Entertainment akshay kumar
In 2008, Akshay Kumar was at the peak of his form, with back-to-back hits like Namaste London, Welcome and Phir Hera Pheri. It was then that he, along with his wife Twinkle Khanna, decided to leverage his star power by banking on it with their own production house. Thus was born Hari Om Entertainment. It made its debut by producing Singh is Kinng, which became a blockbuster hit, and cemented Hari Om Entertainment as a credible production house. Unfortunately, Singh is Kinng was followed up by box office duds like Khatta Meetha, Action Replayy, Tees Maar Khan and Joker. By the end of 2012, however, this bad phase was over, and Hari Om Entertainment delivered certified hits like Khiladi 786, OMG, and most recently Holiday in 2014.
neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com
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Such a waste In 2014, 14 billion pounds of plastic garbage waste were dumped into ocean. In 1970 and 1980, 17 million tons and 8 million tons of industrial waste of acids alkaline waste, fuel desulphurization, sludge, and coal, were dumped in ocean respectively.
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 55
Pearls of Wisdom
By Osho
Learn to
Live joyously
ever after...
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“He is your husband, you have decided to live together. Either live joyously or say goodbye joyously. There is no reason…it is such a small life. Why waste two person’s lives unnecessarily?’’
was traveling for twenty years in this country. I was staying in thousands of homes, and I saw it continuously: when the husband is not in the house, the wife seems to be very cheerful, very happy. The moment the husband enters the house she has a headache, and she lies down on the bed. And I was watching, because I was just staying in the house. Just a moment before, everything was okay—as if the husband has not entered but a headache has entered. Slowly slowly, I understood the logic. There is a great investment in it. And remember, I am not saying that she is simply pretending. If you pretend too long it can become a reality, it can become an autohypnosis. I’m not saying that she is not suffering from a headache, remember. She may be suffering: just the face of the husband is enough to trigger the process! It has happened so many times that now it has become an automatic process. So I am not saying that she is deceiving the husband; she is deceived by her own investments. You have a certain image and you don’t want it to be changed, and criticism means again a disturbance. One of my friends was continually complaining to me about his wife; “She is always sad, long faced and I am so worried to enter the house…I try to waste my time in this club and that club but finally I have to go back home and there she is.” I said to him, “Do one thing just as an exper56 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
iment. Because she has been serious and she has been nagging, I cannot imagine that you enter the house smiling.” He said, “Do you think I can manage that? The moment I see her something freezes inside me—smile?” I said, “Just as an experiment. Today you do one thing: take beautiful roses—it is the season; and the best ice-cream available in the city—tutti frutti; and go smiling, singing a song!” He said, “If you say so I will do it, but I don’t think it is going to make any difference.” I said, “I will come behind you, and see whether there is any difference or not.” The poor fellow tried hard. Many times on the way he laughed. I said, “Why are you laughing?” He said, “I am laughing at what I am doing! I wanted you to tell me to divorce her and you have suggested I act as if I am going on a honeymoon!” I said, “Just imagine it is a honeymoon…but try your best.” He opened the door and his wife was standing there. He smiled and then he laughed at himself because to smile…And that woman was standing almost like a stone. He presented the flowers and the ice-cream, and then I entered. The woman could not believe what was happening. When the man had gone to the bathroom she asked me, “What is the matter? He has never brought anything, he has never smiled, he has never taken me out, he has never made me feel that I am loved, that I am respected. What
magic has happened?” I said, “Nothing; both of you have just been doing wrong. Now when he comes out of the bathroom you give him a good hug.” She said, “A hug?” I said, “Give him one! You have given him so many things, now give him a good hug, kiss him….” She said, “My God....” I said, “He is your husband, you have decided to live together. Either live joyously or say goodbye joyously. There is no reason…it is such a small life. Why waste two person’s lives unnecessarily?” At that very moment the man came from the bathroom. The woman hesitated a little but I pushed her, so she hugged the man and the man became so afraid he fell on the floor! He had never imagined that she was going to hug him. I had to help him up. I said, “What happened?” He said, “It’s just that I have never imagined that this woman can hug and kiss—but she can! And when she smiled she looked so beautiful.” Two persons living together in love should make it a point that their relationship is continuously growing, bringing more flowers every season, creating more joys. Just sitting together silently is enough…. (Osho’s public discourse published in www.oshoworld.com)
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 57
Featherlite
Corporate Twitterati RBI monetary policy review
Dr Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to maintain a status quo on the key rates, in its monetary policy held on 7th April, choosing to wait longer to assess inflationary pressures before making its next move. Dr Rajan strongly urged banks to slash their lending rates so as to pass on the benefit of previous rate cuts to the borrowers. Most of the 40 economists surveyed by Reuters had expected the central bank to keep the key lending repo rate unchanged What the policy said: 1. RBI keeps repo rate steady at 7.75 per cent. 2. Reiterated its target of 6 percent CPI by January 2016. 3. Sets a new target of 4 percent by the end of 2017/18, the midpoint of the CPI range. @IndianExpress: Raghuram Rajan keeps repo rate, cash reserve ratio unchanged, says Fed not key factor sushil kataria@advocate: Even after having been butchered in the cruel hands of Arun Jaitley, the RBI Governor is putting up a brave face @NDTVProfit: Should RBI Dangle ‘Carrots’ For Banks to Cut Rates? Analysts Divided @_BusinessCorner: Markets fall after RBI keeps rates unchanged Reactions “A predictable policy with no surprise as such. Even if it has maintained status quo on monetary measures, it has announced a few growth-supportive structural measures to facilitate long-term funding by banks to infrastructure to improve policy transmission. The RBI’s year-end inflation forecast supports our earlier prediction that one more rate cut of 25 basis points is in the offing around June 2015.” - Rupa Rege Nitsure, Group Chief Economist L&T Financial, Mumbai “It’s a wait and watch policy while keeping the positive stance intact. The governor wants earlier 50 bps cuts to percolate to the economy. He is waiting for other stakeholders to do their part including government to remove supply side bottlenecks and banks that still need to do transmission of policy.” - Killol Pandya, Senior Fund Manager, LIC Nomura MF Asset Management, Mumbai “The RBI kept all rates on hold and said that future policy action will be contingent on transmission of lending rates into the real economy as well upcoming data. I still think we need more accommodative liquidity conditions in the next six months to improve transmission as well as see higher lending growth. We expect the OIS curve to steepen. Look for 2s5s to move towards +25 basis points from current -12 basis points”. - Kumar Rachapudi, Fixed Income Strategist, ANZ Bank, Singapore “Policy will remain data driven. For the rest of the year, one can expect 25-50 bps cut, but timing of the same is a tough call. Changes in bond markets are quite positive. - R Sivakumar, Head of Fixed Income, Axis Asset, Management 58 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Ironies of India We would rather spend more on daughter’s wedding than on her education. We live in a country where seeing a policeman makes us nervous rather than feeling safe In IAS exam, a person writes a brilliant 1500 words essay about how Dowry is a social evil. Impresses everyone and cracks the exam. One year later same person demands a dowry of 1 crore, because he is an IAS officer ! Indians are obsessed with screen guards on their smartphones even though most come with scratch proof Gorilla Glass but never bother wearing a helmet while riding their bikes. Reserved people get more benefit than deserving people...! The worst movies earn the most Everyone is in a hurry, but no one reaches on time. The shoes we wear are sold in air conditioned showrooms while the vegetables we eat are sold on footpath..!! Priyanka Chopra earned more money playing Mary Kom, than Mary Kom earned in her entire career. It is dangerous to talk to strangers, but it is perfectly okay to marry one. Most people who fight over Gita and Quran, have probably never read any of them Real lemons are used in Detergent powders to wash clothes, whereas Synthetic lemon substitute is used in manufactured soft drinks of mass consumption ! A businessman dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped exhausted. His sympathetic wife was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word. “My, you look tired,” she said. “You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?” “It was terrible,” her husband said. “The computer broke down and all of us had to do our own thinking.”
Beyond the bottom line
Soft skills can take you far How “hot air” smoothens the wheels of corporate functioning and helps you rise and succeed faster. By Suchismita Pai
O
n their way back from a routine annual client meeting, two executives were talking about what transpired and the younger of the two complained about the time they had wasted on pleasantries. He raved about how much ‘real work’ he could have accomplished in the time they had lost on just ‘hot-air’ and ended with, “Don’t you think it is just a waste of time?” “Well, you know the tyres of this car you are driving in contains hot air too and it is that air in them that keeps you from feeling the bumps in the road,” replied the more seasoned and successful colleague. “Hot air is very essential for smooth functioning”. Soft skills, inter-personal skills, or people-skills, are often regarded as a waste of time and something that you pick up along the way on your own time while you focus on hard skills. Hard skills like learning a new language or computer programming are tangible, identifiable and easy to quantify. Soft kills on the other hand are hard to quantify or measure and yet are the ones that set you apart from the crowd. When the World Bank tags only 10 per cent
Engagement plays a very big part in employee satisfaction and thereby in the productivity and profitability business of young people in India as employable, ‘hot air’ and soft skills might have something to do with it. A study by FICCI has pointed out that those fresh graduates who possess a mix of soft skills, vocational training and factual knowledge find jobs much more easily and keep them too. In modern fast globalisation of workplaces, understanding cross-cultural aspects of work, sexual harassment norms, team building, problem solving, creativity etc., are as essential as getting a professional qualification. A study conducted by the Association of American Colleges
and Universities found that fewer than 30 percent of college students realised that these soft skills are essential to their success. If this has led you to believe that ‘hot air’ is only crucial for young job seekers to get that foot in the door, you would be wrong. If you find that your employees are moving on despite benefits and good pay scales, it may be time to take a good hard look at the soft skills of the senior management. Does the management show appreciation and recognise the efforts of work well done? Does it care for its people and let them know that it does? This may be the difference between retaining skilled efficient employees and even clients. Engagement plays a very big part in employee satisfaction and thereby in the productivity and profitability business. An organisation that is viewed as a ‘good place’ to work in, keeps employees from eyeing the next job. So if you have a job to do or a job to get done, and are poised to take the world by storm, just ensure that you have the ‘hot-air’ and soft skills too. It will not just ensure a smoother ride, but also help you rise to the top faster. paisuchi@gmail.com
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 59
Mobile Apps
What a Watch!
Apple first came out with the iPod that changed the way we listened to music. Then came the iPhone, and mobile phones were never the same again. Now, Apple brings the Apple Watch which may not be the first or the smartest smartwatch to hit the market, but maybe the one most likely to land on your wrist! By Neeraj Varty
T
he year was 2001. Digital music players were available in the market but were unpopular due to their clunky style, boring designs, and low quality. In October of that year, Apple introduced the iPod and it changed the way people listened to music forever. Fast forward to 2007. The year Apple came out with the first iPhone. The device that changed feature phones into powerful mobile computers that let you do so much more than just call and text. The wonderful gadget that introduced us to apps and the smartphone eco-system, and made our lives so much more easier. Now, in 2015, Apple has repeated history with the launch of the Apple Watch (Yes, it’s not called the iWatch, which everyone anticipated it would be named). The Apple Watch isn’t the first smartwatch to be made available to consumers, but it may be the first to actually catch on. It’s a smartwatch designed to let you know when a text arrives, monitor your activity and even make and receive phone calls. For almost all intents and purposes, you may never have to take your smartphone out of your pocket as long as you are wearing the Apple Watch. There’s a caveat though. The Apple watch will only be compatible with the iPhone, and that too only iPhone 5 and above. The Apple watch comes in three variants -- Watch, Watch Sport and Watch Edition. The Watch variant is standard, the Watch Sport 60 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
The best part is that the Apple Watch supports Apple Pay, the system which allows you to link your card details to your iPhone/watch, and pay by just pointing the device at Apple Pay compatible stores variant will be trendy, and the Watch Edition is decidedly high end with a gold casing, and is considerably more expensive. So what’s different about the Apple watch that sets it apart from the competition? It’s not the design, or the price…it’s the ecosystem! The Apple Watch runs on a variation of iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone. iOS has long boasted of the richest selection of apps (1.54 million at last count), and developers queue up to release new apps on the platform. Which means soon, you will have all your favourite apps running on Apple Watch, besides new apps especially designed for smartwatches. The best part is that the Apple Watch supports Apple Pay, the system which allows you to link your card details to your iPhone/watch, and
pay by just pointing the device at Apple Pay compatible stores. These stores are now quite common in the USA and UK, and they are soon making their way to Indian shores. Great as it may seem, the Apple watch is not perfect. Far from it, actually. Early users have reported a battery life of less than a day. Most of us charge our phones and tablets daily, and that’s a hassle in itself. Now imagine having to charge another gadget all night every day, and god forbid if you are stuck outside without a charger and the battery runs out. Also, a watch is meant to be a hassle free companion. The Apple Watch isn’t water proof. The last factor is the pricing. The base model starts at Rs 29,000, and the gold plated Watch Edition variants can go up to Rs 1,25,000. The Apple Watch isn’t perfect, but then again, nor was the first iPhone. Apple managed to hone it over time. So whether you are one of those users who just have to have the latest piece of technology or those who like to wait till the technology becomes more widely used and affordable, the Apple Watch will eventually find its way on your wrist. Apple isn’t the most successful technology company in the world for nothing! neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com
Health
Trash The Ash
Wonderful things that happen to your body when you stop smoking within...
20 minutes
Your blood pressure, pulse rate and the temperature of your hands and feet have returned to normal.
48 hours
24 hours
Damaged nerve endings have started to regrow and your sense of smell and taste are beginning to return to normal. Cessation anger and irritability will have peaked.
72 hours
Your entire body will test 100 per cent nicotine-free and over 90% of all nicotine metabolites (the chemicals it breaks down into) will now have passed from your body via your urine. Symptoms of chemical withdrawal have peaked in intensity, including restlessness. The number of cue induced crave episodes experienced during any quitting day have peaked for the “average” ex-user. Lung bronchial tubes leading to air sacs (alveoli) are beginning to relax in recovering smokers. Breathing is becoming easier and your lung’s functional abilities are starting to increase.
2 weeks to 3 months
Your heart attack risk has started to drop. Your lung function is beginning to improve.
12 hours
Anxieties have peaked in intensity and within two weeks should return to near pre-cessation levels.
5 - 8 days
21 days
3 weeks to 3 months
10 years
8 weeks
Insulin resistance in smokers has normalized despite average weight gain of 2.7 kg (2010 SGR, page 384).
Remaining nicotine in your bloodstream has fallen to 6.25% of normal peak daily levels, a 93.75% reduction.
10 days
The “average” ex-smoker will encounter an “average” of three cue induced crave episodes per day. Although we may not be “average” and although serious cessation time distortion can make minutes feel like hours, it is unlikely that any single episode will last longer than three minutes. Keep a clock handy and time them.
The “average” ex-user is down to encountering less than two crave episodes per day, each less than three minutes.
2 to 4 weeks
The number of acetylcholine receptors, which were up-regulated in response to nicotine’s presence in the frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital, basal ganglia, thalamus, brain stem, and cerebellum regions of the brain, have now substantially down-regulated, and receptor binding has returned to levels seen in the brains of non-smokers (2007 study).
Your circulation has substantially improved. Walking has become easier. Your chronic cough, if any, has likely disappeared. If not, get seen by a doctor, and sooner if at all concerned, as a chronic cough can be a sign of lung cancer.
8 hours
Your blood oxygen level has increased to normal. Carbon monoxide levels have dropped to normal.
10 days to 2 weeks
Cessation related anger, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, impatience, insomnia, restlessness and depression have ended. If still experiencing any of these symptoms get seen and evaluated by your physician.
Recovery has likely progressed to the point where your addiction is no longer doing the talking. Blood circulation in your gums and teeth are now similar to that of a non-user.
1 to 9 months
Any smoking related sinus congestion, fatigue or shortness of breath has decreased. Cilia have regrown in your lungs, thereby increasing their ability to handle mucus, keep your lungs clean and reduce infections. Your body’s overall energy has increased.
Your risk of being diagnosed with lung cancer is between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of that for a continuing smoker (2005 study). Risk of death from lung cancer has declined by almost half if you were an average smoker (one pack per day). Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus and pancreas have declined. Risk of developing diabetes for both men and women is now similar to that of a never-smoker (2001 study).
1 year
Your excess risk of coronary heart disease, heart attack and stroke has dropped to less than half that of a smoker.
5 years
Your risk of a subarachnoid haemorrhage has declined to 59% of your risk while still smoking (2012 study). If a female ex-smoker, your risk of developing diabetes is now that of a non-smoker (2001 study). (Courtesy: www. http://whyquit.com/)
April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 61
astroturf your personality as it makes a big difference to your career.
VIRGO
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
Aries
Mar 21- April 20 On March 20th the planetary power shifted from the upper to lower half. Saturn, which affects your career, started a retrograde move on March 14. This means that you need to focus on your career and sort out issues in this sphere rather seriously. In case this is taking time then you could also simultaneously pay attention to what needs to be done at home in regards to your family and emotional life.
TAURUS
April 21 - May 20 Your planets had a major shift last month, so for the next five months or so your important part of zodiac does remain powerful. This means that you will undergo a psychological shift, focusing on home and family matters do take importance and it will also be a time to de-emphasize your career. Even though career is important, yet you will seem more organized and in control of situations at hand.
GEMINI
May 21 - June 21 The planets are positioned well and reflect your inner spiritual
psyche. Until the 21st of this month everything seems strong and smooth. Since many of you have birthdays this month and also spill over next month, its important that you begin a new cycle for it’s the beginning of New Year for you.
CANCER
Jun 22 - July 23 Sun entered into Taurus on April 20th, which affects your health in a better way. Your energy levels remain high, get your yearly check ups done and be bold to take initiatives, which can enhance your health further. Last month after the eclipse the planetary power began its shift from the west towards the independent east, this means that the cosmic energy is moving towards you rather than away.
LEO
July 24 - Aug 23 Â You are in your yearly career peak till the 21st of this May and will experiences success. You will be in control of yourself and the situations around you. There are chances you could also be honored and appreciated by the world at large. These are not just professional achievements but also for the person you are or becoming. Give attention to
62 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
Aug 24 - Sept 23 May is a very hectic and active month for you albeit a very successful one. Since your 10th house, which is the most, powerful one has 50% of the major planets either moving there or passing through. Career remains the main focus this month along with your emotional and well-being. On the 21st of May you enter your yearly career peak this when you make the most progress for the year.
LIBRA
Sept 24 - Oct 22 Your health and energy will be much better and you will feel energetic and vivacious this month. But care is still needed as two major planets could send you stressful signals. Career is over all-successful as you will achieve most of your goals ad set targets. Venus crosses your mid heaven and enters your 10th house of Career from 7th May onwards. You could reach the heights that you have set for yourself.
SCORPIO
Oct 23 - Nov 22 Take care as energy and health takes a dip this has been there since the 20th April and remains so till 21st of May. Make sure you take precautions and rest when necessary. Regular medical check ups and massages are required for an overall well-being. Do not allow stress to overtake your nervous system, if you feel under weather restoring your marriage or love life will help you boost your happiness.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov 23 - Dec 22 You are entering the full Moon
stage of your Solar cycle, since the universal solar cycle is also close to its full Moon phase, the planetary movement is still mostly forward full throttle till 14th of May after which it slows down as Mercury starts moving back ward. Between 1st and 4th May you could launch anything new for its gets positive push from the cosmos.
CAPRICORN
Dec 23 - Jan 20 Your health planet Mercury goes retrograde on the 14th of May. If you are planning to make any changes in your lifestyle then now is the perfect time to make it before the 14th. Over all your health and energy will remain good especially if you enhance your health further by giving attention to your respiratory system. Breathing exercises will do you a world of good.
AQUARIUS
Jan 21 - Feb19 Apart from the eclipse many major changes took place last month. Important planetary power shifts from the East to Social west, which means period of independence gets over and since the planets are moving away from you it also means you need to hone up your social skills. Good happens to you but through others.
PISCES
Feb 20 - Mar 20 The planets are approaching the Nadir (low point) of your chart. Symbolically speaking you are entering the midnight hour of your year. Mighty events happen at midnight when we are unaware. They happen on internal levels and become visible in the morning. At this apparently inactive point the cosmos forces for the next career push are being aligned and readied. This is a month- from the 21st onwards for emotional healing and cleansing.
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April 16-30, 2015 / Corporate Citizen / 63
Corporate Citizen gives a thunderous clap to the Delhi High Court order on the strict implementation of the guidelines on serving junk food to school children
At a time when healthy and nutritious foods have been replaced by unhealthy junk food -- wafers, colas, pizzas and burgers, loved by school going children in India -- here’s a reason to rejoice. Recently, the Delhi High Court came up with guidelines to make available wholesome, nutritious, safe and hygienic food to school children in India. These guidelines were developed by a committee constituted by the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) as directed by the Court. The guidelines provide a scientific background on how the consumption of junk foods high in fat, salt and sugar is linked with growing non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension among children. Some of the key principles behind these guidelines are that the benefits of balanced, fresh and traditional food cannot be replaced, schools are not the right places for promoting foods high in fat, salt and sugar, and that children are not the best judges of their food choices. The Court has directed that the guidelines be given the form of regulations or directions as per the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, within a period of three months to enforce their implementation across the country. “We welcome the Delhi High Court’s order in the junk food case, in which it has directed strict implementation of the guidelines for making available wholesome, nutritious, safe and hygienic food to school children in India,” said Sunita Narain, Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), reacting to the judgement. She added, “We would have liked a complete ban on the sale of junk food in schools, but what the Court has ordered is also very significant: restriction is an important step in the recognition of the fact that this kind of food is bad for children, and must not be allowed in schools.” “The guidelines are scientific, comprehensive and well establish the harmful effects of junk foods. The essence throughout the document is to not allow the availability of such foods in schools. If well implemented, maintaining the spirit of it, the guidelines will help avoid the looming health crisis in this country,” said Narain. Well done! Good food, good life…
Representative Image
Representative Image
Claps & Slaps
Corporate Citizen slaps the shocking trend of disregarding the alleged, unstable mental health of air pilots that is leading to unfortunate air travel accidents
Rising aviation safety concerns over pilots’ mental health is at centrestage today. It is disheartening to see innocent people losing their lives because of pilots who suffer from mental health issues. The recent plane crash, Germanwings A320 Airbus flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf that came down in a remote mountain valley in France, killed all 150 people on board. There has been speculation that the co-pilot’s actions were a result of mental health problems. Investigators have found anti-depressants at his house along with evidence of treatment by various doctors, including a torn-up sick note for the day he flew the plane. There have also been a number of reports stating that he had faced problems with his eyesight -- possibly a detached retina -- which could have affected his ability to carry on working as a pilot. Not just that, a few days ago, an Air India aircraft’s cockpit witnessed some tense scenes between the captain and his deputy at Jaipur just before the Airbus A-320 was to take off for Delhi. While numerous airline sources said that the co-pilot abused and beat up the commander, an AI spokesman said that “there was an argument between the two and nothing more.” The heated scenes were witnessed when AI 611 was getting ready to fly for Delhi. “The commander told his co-pilot to take down critical take-off figures for the flight. This involves writing critical facts like number of passengers on board, take-off weight and fuel uptake on a small paper card (trim sheet) that is displayed in front of the pilots for the entire duration of the flight. The co-pilot took offence at this and reportedly beat up the captain,” said a source. Ultimately it is the passengers who suffer because of this erratic behaviour of pilots. We truly hope that after such incidents the government gets more stringent with the appointment of pilots from here on.
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64 / Corporate Citizen / April 16-30, 2015
RNI REG. NO. MAHENG/2014/60490