Military to Management From Air Force Sergeant to Bitumen Transporter: VRB Krishnamurthy Volume 2, Issue No. 16 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
November 1-15, 2016 / `50
INTERVIEW
Founders of Quick Heal, Kailash Katkar and younger brother Sanjay, talk on how they pioneered digital security
BAI Conference
Serious number crunching and data analytics can yield multiple dividends to businesses, according to experts
Dynamic Duo: 40 Anu Aga, director, and Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax Ltd
A Friend in need
2 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 67
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exemplary mumbai Dabbawalas
The snippet on Mumbai Dabbawalas in Collywood (in your Sept 16-30, Vol 2 issue of Corporate Citizen) was a worthy read. I have keen interest in their exemplary business model, right from my college days in Mumbai. In fact the Mumbai Dabbawalas are a role-model for all professional managers. They are providing highly professional service, although most of them are illiterates. I have been discussing Dabbawalas success story as a case study with my management students, every year. Though we are excited to know that Pune is going to be a Smart City under the leadership of Nitin Kareer, I still agree with Infosy’s founder NR Narayana Murthy that it would take a long time for us to develop an ideal Smart City. This is indeed a challenging task since the success of this project will depend on how far Pune citizens could extend their cooperation to the government, particularly in respect to keeping absolute cleanliness in the city and having a sense of discipline in maintaining code of conduct in traffic on roads. —Dr PC Shejwalkar, Pune Prefect reading for everyone
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November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 3
Guest Editorial C S Raghavan
be master of your destiny
I
“If you can change your habits, you can be master of your destiny” – Upanishads n the corporate leadership ladder everyone wants to improve, but only a few persist in their efforts. In this experience which I share from the literature I have read on Sustaining Leadership, we will find out how we can overcome this inertia. It is universal experience that resistance to change the habits of thought, word and deed— which develop over a long period of time and are reflected in our character—is extremely strong. It is like the tremendous gravity-pull experienced by space vehicles before they break out from the earth’s gravity to go into space. More energy is spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, and the first few miles of travel, than is required during the rest of the journey, for days on end, and millions of miles, to reach the moon or other planets. The same is the case when we want to break away from our deeply embedded negative habits like selfishness, procrastination, lack of perseverance, dishonesty, etc., which are serious impediments to effective leadership. To succeed in breaking away involves more than a little will power and a few minor changes in our lives. ‘Lift-off’ takes tremendous effort, but once we break out of the gravity pull, our freedom takes on whole new dimensions. It is because of these great difficulties that thinkers and savants like Patanjali have advised that transformation needs determined effort over a long time, so that we can alter the very course of our lives and become masters of
our destiny. In order to change our habits it is important that: ➊ We understand why we want to change our habits, and what new habits we should acquire. This knowledge comes from the awareness of our strengths and weaknesses in relation to the inner structure of effective leaders. ➋ We have the desire to change. This desire grows out of an ideal or a vision we have in life, and the need to become more effective to fulfill our ideal or vision. The desire to change also grows from an awareness that success in self development and improving our character leads to happiness in life. ➌ We have to know how to set about changing our habits. We have a tool that is time tested— the technique of reading about the lives of outstanding leaders of the world, and the instrument called the ‘self development diary’ which will allow you to stay on the track of change and sustain self development with motivation. In a nutshell, success in changing habits depends on the interaction and balance of the above three factors which complement each other in the journey of sustained leadership development.
remembering all the time that “all true work is rest” and indeed, “change of work is leisure.”
The essential investments are:
Investment in the health of the body: Only a healthy body that can endure hard physical and mental work, and can contribute to rapid transformation or success in any venture. About 45 minutes a day of devoted to exercise is most essential. Yogic exercises, evolved in India, are an excellent system to improve the health of the body and the mind. However, walking, jogging, exercises in a gymnasium, swimming and so on are also good. Eating food that is pure, simple and prepared with love, is also essential. Most of our illnesses are caused by eating the wrong types of food, over-indulgence and lack of exercise. It is now very well established that reducing our intake of food to about 70 percent of what is considered normal contributes to good health, clarity of mind and longevity. Investment in the health of the mind: The mind of man is an extraordinary repository of power, as summed up by the Indian experience, and told in historic literature and shared stories.
‘It is like the tremendous gravity-pull experienced by space vehicles before they break out from the earth’s gravity to go into space. More energy is spent in the first few minutes of lift-off, and the first few miles of travel, than is required during the rest of the journey’ Once we are clear in our mind on ‘what, why and how’ we want to transform, we have to evolve an action programme which will lead us to our goal. If we want to be masters of our destiny by transforming our character, we must invest substantially in the main instrument that will give us this mastery—ourselves. The main investment that is needed has also been tested over and over again in human history, in all societies and cultures, around the world. The essential inputs for this transformation are : a) time and patience, and b) will-power to persist. The experience of transformation of human nature suggests that balanced investment of time and will-power in a few activities keeps a person motivated in persisting to transform himself. Incessant industrious work is the secret of success;
4 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
Thoughts, emotions, memory, imagination and discrimination are all functions of the mind. Just as the face and voice of one man differs from another, so also his mental world, his mode of thinking, his way of understanding things and his reaction to events differ. Consequently, in the Indian experience of the transformation of man, great emphasis is laid on the purity of health and control of the mind. Meditation and reading are the time-tested techniques of keeping the mind alert, responsive, vigorous, stimulated and positive. Reading books on great lives, classics, literature from one’s field of work, on subjects of leadership and spirituality should become part of our daily routine. The aim of everyone who aspires to soar high should be to read an average of 18 books a year, the average figure for most
successful men. Investment in spiritual health: Emphasis on spiritual growth in the process of transformation of man is a major part of man’s heritage. Its importance in leadership effectiveness is now finding recognition in the West as well. Stephen Covey while recommending meditation observes, “The spiritual dimension is your center, your commitment to your value system. It is a very private area of life and a supremely important one. It draws upon the sources that inspire and uplift you to the timeless truths of all humanity.” It is through meditation for 20-30 minutes a day that we can contemplate over the timeliness, and ponder over questions of “Who am I?”, “What is the purpose of my life?” and “What is the secret of enduring bliss?”, thus awakening the hidden divinity present in each one of us, rising above religious sentiment. “It is good to be born in a religion but not good to die in one. Grow and rescue yourself from the limits of regulations, doctrines that fence in your freedom of thought, the ceremonies and rites that restrict and direct. Reach the point where churches do not matter, where roads end from where all began.” This investment in the spirituality of the self is most productive in inspiring us to supreme efforts of sustained leadership and selflessness. Investment in the health of the society: Seva (service) to fellow human beings, not for reward or recognition, but for its own sake is the most exhilarating experience in our lives. “The hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray” is an apt saying. Yet we are reluctant to undertake such activity. The pleasure that we derive from anonymous service is far beyond any other source of
‘The mind of man is an extraordinary repository of power, as summed up by the Indian experience, and told in historic literature and shared stories. Thoughts, emotions, memory, imagination and discrimination are all functions of the mind’ joy, and yet most of us shy away from it. For the transformation of our character, service without any selfish motive gives us potent inspiration to persist. It is so because ‘service broadens your vision, broadens your awareness, deepens your compassion.’ This is also the reason why service is a key activity for effective leadership. “If one who understands the spirit of service becomes a leader, that leader will always retain and enjoy his leadership through service. Without understanding service and first becoming a leader servant, one cannot become a leader.” The Indian ethos in this field is summed up in the Sanskrit word ‘Paropakara’, which means and enjoins citizens to ‘live for others’. Dr Hans Selye, in his monumental work on stress concludes that “a long, healthy and happy life is the result of making contributions, of having meaningful projects that are personally exciting and contribute to and bless the lives of others.” The same is the conclusion of George Bernard Shaw when he says – “This is the true joy in life—that being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one. That being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my
life belongs to the whole community, as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it, whatever I can.” Our aim, every day, should be to “at least serve one other by making deposits of unconditional support, love and care.” We can then be harbingers of joy, hope and sunshine. Each day will then be a day of our own growth and transformation as well. If we invest in our transformation as discussed above, then we shall acquire life-long inspiration to grow and become masters of our destiny. Lastly, we should inculcate enormous potential and insight by reading about outstanding lives with a view to soaring to greater heights. We must not place a ceiling on our vision and ideals. I would like to end with the well articulated concept advocated by Bhishma in a beautiful Sanskrit verse, meaning, “Only a man of steady character and wisdom can carry out the task of leading and administering a kingdom effectively” (Capt. C S Raghavan is the Country Head HR at Mahindra & Mahindra Co. Ltd. This is his second career, the first being in the Indian Army, where he also conquered the icy glaciers of Siachen, the highest battleground of the world. In the corporate world too, he has broken new ground, carving out a new niche as ace Dealer HR)
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 5
Contents 26
Cover story
Dynamic Duo 40
A Friend in Need Anu Aga, director, and her daughter, Meher Pudumjee, chairperson, Thermax, enjoy a special mother-daughter bond of friendship and respect for each other. Read on... 09 COLLYWOOD
Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 13 MANAGE MONEY
Dr Anil Lamba on Funds-Flow Statements 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 16 Interview Pioneers of cyber security industry in India, Kailash Katkar and his younger brother Sanjay talk to Corporate Citizen on how they built a successful computer security business empire in India 6 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
Volume 2 Issue No. 16 November 1-15, 2016 www.corporatecitizen.in
22 THE TAX MAN COMETH Many layers of people’s personalities; by S K Jha (IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of IT)
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26 INTERVIEW Arokia Sagayaraj, VP—Human Resources at Renault Nissan Technology & Business Centre, on being adaptive to change and constantly innovating 38 Military to Management VRB Krishnamurthy, the founder -owner of Aditya Group, on his journey from Air Force to business in bitumen transport 42 BAI Conference Serious number crunching and data analytics can yield multiple dividends to businesses, said experts during the Business Analytics and Intelligence Conference (BAICON) at IIM Bengaluru
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46 SURVEY Corporate Citizen looks into the annual global CEO meet to understand the primary challenges and opportunities 50 CAMPUS PLACEMENT An alumnus of the prestigious B-School, Indian Institute of Management Indore, Sayantan Banerjee reaping the fruit of his confidence and determination that helped him in the corporate world 52 Loved and Married too Being together for little over six months, Tushita Sarkar and Abhishek Biswas are on the cusp of a promising future
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Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh
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Assistant Editors Joe Williams/ Prasannakumar Keskar Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao Senior Sub-Editors Neeraj Varty Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur / Sharmila Chand
54 HEALTH Put the fun back into fitness with these equipment-free workouts for all levels. 56 PEARLS OF WISDOM The level of distress for an infant, adolescent or adult is commensurate with their ability to deal with it 60 MOBILE APPS Mobile operating system android being customised by smartphone makers, Google has decided to throw its hat in the ring
Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar Pune Bureau Suchismita Pai / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra
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Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072 North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G +91 9941555389 Circulation Officer Jaywant Patil +91 9923202560
62 HAPPINESS QUOTIENT Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness is worth emulating 66 LAST WORD The Million Jobs Mission has an empowering mission to bring together a global consortium of best-in-class design and funding
VP - Marketing & Sales M. Paul Anderson +919444405212
Creative Direction Kiyan Gupta, The Purple Stroke Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar
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Be A Corporate Citizen
How do you like this issue of Corporate Citizen - The Cool Side of Business? Send in your views, news, suggestions and contributions to corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you! 8 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
On Cover Page Anu Aga and Meher Pudumjee Cover page pic Yusuf Khan Photographers Yusuf Khan, Ahmed Shaikh Website / Online Subscription www.corporatecitizen.in For Advertising, Marketing & Subscription queries Email: circulations@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
collywood
People in the news
Birla Retail appoints Kampani as CEO
Dhoni gets into serious business, Alto special edition It is not just the youngsters will look for inspiration from the former cricket Test captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s, but even the Maruti Suzuki as they launched ‘MS Dhoni inspired’ special edition of the Alto small cars. The largest carmakers in the country, Maruti Suziki’s special edition of Alto800 and AltoK10 cars are part of the carmaker’s association with the upcoming movie ‘M S Dhoni – The Untold Story’ which is based on the life of cricketer. These special edition cars were up for grab at Maruti Suzuki dealerships from the first week of October this year. Alto’s association with the movie
is based on the cricketer’s massive popularity which harmonises with the credibility of the car in India, Maruti Suzuki India Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) R S Kalsi said. Alto is the only car brand to cumulatively sell 30 lakh units. As a part of the association, Maruti Suzuki is running a series of customer engagement activities on social media. The special edition Alto has Dhoni inspired sporty seat covers with number 7, MS Dhoni signature decal and body graphics, high end music system, reverse parking sensors, among others, according to the company release.
Sahoo to head Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board Madhusudan Sahoo was appointed as chairperson of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. Sahoo is presently member of Competition Commission of India. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for five years, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said. The board is mandated to regulate functioning of Insolvency Professionals, Insolvency Professional Agencies and Information Utilities under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. As per the code, insolvency resolutions of companies and individuals will be completed within 180 days. Insolvency is a situation where an individual or a company is unable to repay outstanding debt.
Mohit Kampani, joined Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL), as chief executive officer (CEO). He will report to the group’s director for retail and apparel business, Pranab Barua. The former managing director of Spencer’s Retail, Kampani’s predecessor, Vishak Kumar, is becoming CEO for Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, the entity that emerged after consolidation of branded apparel businesses of the Aditya Birla Group comprising of Madura Fashion, Pantaloons Fashion & Retail and Madura Fashion & Lifestyle. The changes were announced internally in an email to employees recently. Kampani’s first major goal will be to turn more profitable and organise the business amid increased competition from ecommerce companies. ABRL reported revenue of `2,948 crore in 2014-15, a net loss of `571 crore and total debt of `5,232 crore. It is reducing losses at the store level.
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 9
collywood Jayaraj Shanmugam is CCO of Jet Airways
Jayaraj Shanmugam has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Jet Airways. The 53-year-old Singapore national joined the airline last year and served as Senior Vice President of Products & Services. He would be responsible for leading commercial teams to maximise revenue streams and use its market reach, people capabilities and brand appeal to accelerate the airline’s reputation for service excellence and efficiency, the Jet Airways release said. His responsibilities will include product enhancement, guest services, passenger and cargo sales, marketing and corporate communications. He will oversee other critical functions such as airport and in-flight services, catering, revenue management, cabin crew and e-commerce, and would be based in Mumbai. The airlines chief, Naresh Goyal said Shanmugam has been a key member of the executive management committee and brings a wealth of experience of global best practices and service orientation. The airline has a fleet of 117 aircraft and operates flights to 67 destinations.
Tata Sky ropes in Big B to say Laga Dala not Jingalala Tata Sky, a direct-to-home (DTH) player, are up against everyone and their `35-40 crore to spend on marketing alone, says many things. And to run the show who could be the better person, than the B-B of Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan. In their venture to reach out to audience outside urban, the DTH are set to reach out to more subscribers outside metros -including cable, free-to-air (FTA) and the non-TV users -with its offerings. The new tagline of the company is `Tata Sky Laga Dala to Family Jingalala’. Among the phase III and phase IV cities of government-mandated digitisation programme (DAS), the company is eyeing major subscriber additions as it claims to offer better service and quality of channels. The DTH platform currently offers 418 channels in standard definition, 77 in high definition (HD), apart from 15 interactive service, 6 SD and 6 HD movie showcase platforms.
Patanjali’s Balkrishna in India’s rich list; Flipkart’s Bansals out Acharya Balkrishna has entered the elite group, India’s richest 100 club with $2.5 billion net-worth owing to his 97 percent stake in Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, while e-tailer Flipkart’s co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal made exit. Baba Ramdev’s close associate, Balkrishna made his debut on the annual Forbes list of India’s 100 Richest People at 48th position. The childhood friend of politically well-connected yoga guru Baba Ramdev, makes debut, thanks to his holding in fast-growing consumer goods outfit Patanjali Ayurved,
10 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
which they co-founded in 2006, according to Forbes statement while releasing its annual India rich list. With revenue of $780 million, Patanjali sells everything
from herbal toothpastes and cosmetics to noodles and jams. Though Ramdev holds no shares in Patanjali, he is the company’s de facto brand ambassador, while Balkrishna runs operations. Balkrishna is among the six newcomers on the list, topped for the ninth consecutive year by industrialist Mukesh Ambani, while 13 people failed to make the cut this year. Those moving out of the list included Flipkart’s co-founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. The Bansals were ranked 86th last year with a networth of $1.3 billion.
Jubilant FoodWorks chief Ajay Kaul quits Longtime CEO, Ajay Kaul resigned from the company, according to sources in the Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd. Kaul, who was with the fast food chain operator for 11 years, will continue in his current role till March 31, 2017, Jubilant FoodWorks said in an exchange filing. The search for a successor has been initiated, the company added. “On behalf of Jubilant FoodWorks, we would like to thank Ajay for his dedicated efforts and significant contribution through his tenure spanning over 11 years with the company,” said Shyam S Bhartia, Chairman and Director, and Hari S Bhartia, Co-Chairman and Director, Jubilant FoodWorks. Dwindling earnings, narrowing margins
and increasing competition have weighed on the company’s stock, which has fallen 48 percent from its all time high of `1,931. “I would like to thank the Board for giving me the opportunity to lead Jubilant FoodWorks. While I feel very sad to announce this decision, I am extremely happy to say that Jubilant FoodWorks (and its brands Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts) is market leader in several ways, said Ajay Kaul, outgoing CEO, Jubilant FoodWorks.
Ruchir Modi in Godfrey Phillips’ Board Godfrey Phillips India have appointment, Ruchir Kumar Modi, son of former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi as nonexecutive director of the company. The move comes six months after Ruchir was appointed as an additional director of the company. In another move, the company approved reappointment of Bina Modi on the board. Bina, who was retiring by rotation, is the wife of Krishan Kumar Modi, head of K K Modi Group. Godfrey Phillips India is a flagship company of the K K Modi Group. Shares of Godfrey
Phillips were trading 0.78 per cent down at `1,285.60 on BSE.
Prineet crowned Mrs India Earth 2016
Prineet Grewal was crowned the winner of the beauty pageant Mrs India Earth 2016, which celebrates the spirit of womanhood and a platform to married women to exhibit their beauty. Prineet, the 29-year-old was crowned in the presence of elite members of the fashion industry. The first and second runners-up were Paris Keswani and Roshini Hassan, respectively. The beauty pageant follows a motto of ‘Beauty with Cause’. The event gave every contestant selected environmental tasks, and over 15,000 saplings were planted in the country and abroad this year. This annual event is to celebrate women who personify beauty, talent, intelligence and compassion. The Indian woman in her lifetime assumes numerous significant roles that make her crucial. “When I hear the word Queen, the thing that comes to my mind is a woman who is not afraid to fail, one who wears her scars like her medals and one who looks at every failure as a stepping stone to glory,” said Prineet about her approach to life in general. Prineet took to the social media to thank people for their good wishes. “Overwhelmed and humbled ..!!! thank you so much for your good wishes folks.. They give me so much strength …!!!!!,” she wrote on her facebook page. November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 11
collywood Ravindra Jadeja leaves Rhiti Sports
The association with the former Indian Test skipper MS Dhoni is taking the beating as Ravindra Jadeja cuts off his connection with Rhiti Sports, the sports management company of Dhoni’s friend and business associate Arun Pandey. The all-rounder Jadeja signed a three-year contract with Baseline Ventures who also manage India's latest badminton sensation and Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu. This comes after Suresh Raina moved out of Rhiti to another management firm to craft his own identity. Dhoni is still the one-day captain but his cricketing stocks have gone down since he quit Test cricket and has been struggling to regain his form and swagger of old. This is Baseline's first foray in Indian cricket and they hope to make the most of it. Jadeja signed a three-year contract with sports marketing firm, and will manage endorsements, brand associations, corporate profile, merchandise and other business and commercial interests of the all-rounder. Rhiti Sports, run by Arun Pandy, continues to manage Dhoni and other cricketers such as Mohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and South African Francois du Plessis.
Bisleri to rope in CEO from outside With the next generation not willing to take the baton, Bisleri promoter Ramesh Chauhan is to get a professional chief executive from outside, a first in the company’s 67-year history. His daughter Jayanti will reportedly remain a director on the board. Chauhan, known for stealing the thunder from cola makers in the 1980s, is finally calling it a day and has mandated consultant EY to help restructure the company. Bisleri, which operates as independent four zonal entities, will now be one centralised company headed by a professional CEO. His only daughter, Jayanti, with interests in fashion and travel, is not keen on taking any operational roles although she had returned from a sabbatical in 2012. The 31-year-old will remain as a director on the board while her father will pursue matters related to 12 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
water conservation and corporate social responsibility. “Bisleri, as an organisation, should be ready to capture the growth offered in the bottled water and soft drinks market,” said Chauhan. He led the company for five decades when he was consistently wooed by investment bankers to sell the brand. Parle, a company founded by the Chauhan family in 1949, bought the bottled water brand from Italian entrepreneur Signor Felice Bisleri in 1969. The packaged water business, presently controlled by Chauhan, is the market leader with more than 26 precent share, competing with PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Kinley. The company is the third largest soft beverage seller, behind the two cola giants, and has consistently increased its share from 9.6 percent in 2012 to 11.5 percent now, according to lates data.
Centre sacks BoM’s MD Muhnot
In an unprecedented move, the Centre has sacked Sushil Muhnot, chairman and managing director of Punebased Bank of Maharashtra, four days short of his scheduled retirement, and appointed Ravindra Marathe as the new chief. Muhnot was appointed as the chairman of the bank in November 2013, and was scheduled to retire on September 30. “In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-clause (4) of clause 8 of the Nationalised Banks (Management and Miscellaneous Provisions) scheme 1970/1980, the Central government hereby removes Shri Sushil Muhnot from the post of chairman and managing director of Bank of Maharashtra with immediate effect,” the government order said. However, the government did not cite any reason for its action. Earlier this year, the finance ministry had reportedly served a show-cause notice to Muhnot asking him to explain why he should not be terminated from service for allegedly occupying two houses. Marathe was an executive director with Bank of India. He is scheduled to retire on November 30, 2018. Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com
manage money Dr Anil Lamba
Evaluating the financial health by reading a Funds-Flow Statement A new series on how to evaluate the health of a business using Funds Flow Statements, that traces the sources and uses of funds of an organisation With this issue I begin a new series on how to evaluate the health of a business using Funds Flow Statements. The first item on the Liabilities’ side is Share Capital. Up to the previous year it was 100 and this year it has increased to 300. Share Capital can only increase when fresh shares have been issued, which brings an inflow. This organization appears to have issued shares to the tune of 200 during the last one year. So we show this on the Sources’ side of the Funds-Flow Statement. The next item is Reserves & Surplus which have also increased by 125 over these two years. Since profits retained in the business get transferred to Reserves, this will also be shown as a Source. Long-Term Loans have decreased by 100. This can be on account of repayment, which would be shown as a Use. Fixed Assets have increased. It appears that assets have been purchased and therefore 150 would also appear on the Uses’ side. Now, we still have to take into account the changes in Current Assets and Current Liabilities. Since Current Assets less Current Liabilities represent Net Working Capital (NWC), we will take into account the change in NWC. Therefore a typical Funds-Flow Statement will usually be accompanied by another Statement Showing Changes in Working Capital.
Balance Sheet Statement showing change in Working Capital Previous Current Year Year Current Assets 175 300 (-) Current Liabilities 100 150 = Net Working Captial 75 150 Increase in Working Capital 75
The net working capital has increased by 75. This means that the organisation has invested more money in working capital, and this amount will therefore be shown as a Use.
Balance Sheet Source Shares issued Retained Profits
Funds-Flow Statement Uses 300 Loan repaid 100 Fixed assets 150 200 Purchased Increase in Working 75 Capital 325 325
This Funds-Flow Statement reveals that, while the Balance Sheets may have shown 775 and 1050 as Sources and Uses in the two years respectively, the funds flowing in and out during that period are to the tune of 325. The Sources’ side reveals that of the 325, the organization has earned only 125. The balance has been raised through an issue of shares. However, the question uppermost in the minds of most businesspeople is, “But where is the money?” If 325 has come in, why is the bank account not richer by this amount?
Where has the money gone?
The answer to this question can be obtained by looking at the Uses’ side of the Funds-Flow Statement. The Uses’ side informs the reader that 100 was used to repay loans, another 150 was used to purchase fixed assets, and an additional 75 was pumped into working capital. It thus becomes possible for an organization to trace all the money that has come in and gone out. The managers are now also in a position to check whether long-term funds are being used for long term purposes and short-term funds for short-term purposes – or not. What I have illustrated through this example is actually an oversimplified version of how funds-flow statements are made. The actual preparation of these statements is far more complicated and intricate. (to be continued) Dr Anil Lamba is a practicing chartered accountant, financial literacy activist and an international corporate trainer. He is the author of the bestselling book ‘Romancing the Balance Sheet’. He can be contacted at anil@lamconschool.com November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 13
wax eloquent
Excitement Around India Story
Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in the business world Brings back your risk-taking ability
Cheapest is not the largest selling
“I believe it’s not about being price-conscious for consumers in India, but value-conscious, which is why the cheapest is not the largest selling.”
“Moments like these (the Jio launch) brings back your risktaking ability. I am back as a risk-taker. As entrepreneurs, you give it all in the beginning. And, then, you start to manage risks, as there are shareholders. Then you reach a point where you stop taking risks. I had reached a stage when I was managing risks as an entrepreneur.” Sunil Bharti Mittal,
founder-chairman, Bharti Enterprises, Courtesy: Business Standard
Sudhin Mathur, executive director, Lenovo MBG India
Courtesy: Business Standard
Take a risk to achieve the unimagined “I am a hunter who would rather take a risk to achieve the unimagined versus being a farmer who only yields the expected crop. Naturally, this involves working closely with the team, analysing lot of data, challenging existing benchmarks and attempting to score newer ways to engage audiences. I have learnt to work closely with young minds (under 30s) because their perspectives are more aligned with the future.” Manav Dhanda, group CEO, SABGROUP Courtesy: Financial Express.com
Positive environment for Indian corporates
“In the international markets, Indian firms have all three things going for them-abundant liquidity, tremendous yield differential, and an excitement around the India story. Strong businesses are driving some really good price outcomes even for very large sized offerings.” Amit Bordia,
head of Corporate Finance India, Deutsche Bank Courtesy: Business Standard
14 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
This 8% growth and achieving it… Look, we have made this into an aspirational thing. These numbers aren’t really meaningful in the sense that at the end of the day you have to make sure that the economy is in a state in which people are getting jobs and inflation is under control. Unfortunately, we don’t have a measure of people getting jobs, but we can look around and feel that whether or not the economy is creating jobs and is inflation under control.” Jahangir Aziz, head, Emerging Market Research, JP Morgan Courtesy: Economic Times
Economies of scale “India is a huge market and telecom is an industry of scale. The economies of scale permit telecom services at very low costs. Low prices to the consumers will not necessarily mean that companies are bleeding.” JS Deepak, secretary, department of telecommunication Courtesy: Times of India
Priority over water
“There will be a difference of opinion in local communities regarding who should get priority when it comes to a precious resource such as water. We have to accept that. It is, therefore, not enough for us to say we are part of the problem. We have to be part of the solution.” Venkatesh Kini,
president, Coca-cola India and South West Asia Courtesy: Business Standard
To be attached to a business
“I so solidly believe in impermanence that for me to be attached to a business, in this case, life insurance, it is stupid to be attached to it. When life is impermanent then what is this stigma about a business being permanent.” Analjit Singh,
founder, Max Group Courtesy: Mint
Thermal power vs green power What excites me of India?
“As you get any type of scaled economy that is growing, that has modernisation opportunities, it becomes a very attractive market for a company such as Oracle. If you can supplement that with an educated country where there is availability of talent such as that is in India, it becomes very exciting.” Mark Hurd, CEO, Oracle Corporation / Courtesy: Economic Times
“Every developed nation in the world has developed on the basis of thermal power, so it’s unfair for them to expect that India should try and develop on the basis of green power.” Sanjay Sagar,
joint MD and chief executive, JSW Energy Ltd
Tax reform is positive “The reforms that Modi is trying to bring in make sense. The whole tax reform is positive. Anything that is reducing taxes or making them easier can only increase economic growth. It is very good signal to the investment community throughout the world.”
Courtesy: Mint
Nicholas Lyster,
global head of wealth advisory services, Principal Global Investor Courtesy: Economic Times
For-profit model or NGO model
India in a Goldilocks scenario
“India is relatively a safer and easier story than China, because while China is slowing down, India is moving exactly in the reverse direction. Interestingly, during the growth recovery phase, India is still in a period where interest rates are declining. That is the Goldilocks scenario. It is rare combination to find in emerging markets today.” Manishi Raychaudhari,
head of Asia (ex-Japan), equity strategy, BNP Paribas Securities Courtesy: Mint
“The for-profit model forces efficiencies. I won’t exist if I don’t provide what the customer needs and deliver the quality he desires. In the NGO model, customer is often a confused word. You may ensure accessibility or affordability of a good or service, but how do you ensure quality?” Ajit Mahadevan, country director, Acumen Courtesy: Business Standard
To build a smart company “I don’t think the Indian payment market deserves a company that bleeds thousands of crores a year. We want to build a smart company. We have done it with fewer people, at a lower cost and by focusing on the product. Our model is to be patient and build real value and not just offer discounts and cash back.”
Bipin Preet Singh, CEO, MobiKwik Courtesy: Business Standard
To be disruptive, be different “To be creative is to be brave and different. Creativity is disobedience to your mind. Advertisers shouldn’t be frightened to be different to stand out. In order to be disruptive, you have to be different.” Dave Trott, creative director, author and blogger Courtesy: Financial Express
Be Indian global designers
“I want to help designers to actually create businesses and add value to the businesses, allow them to market themselves and be Indian global designers as well. Today all our automotive companies have their design studios out of India. This has to change.” Rajshree Pathy,
chairperson and MD, Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals and founder, India Design Forum Courtesy: Mint
Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 15
interview
The Antivirus Pioneers A global security company, Quick Heal Technologies, is the first company in India that started indigenously developing antivirus programs 25 years back—invented as a response to the first computer viruses. Today, a `1,600+ crore Cyber Security Solutions company, Quick Heal provides security solutions for personal computers, laptops, mobiles, and tablets, with a market share of 30 per cent in the Indian retail segment. It is a globally known antivirus brand with customers across the world, exporting its products to Japan, Dubai, Kenya and the United States of America. It is a listed company, which has launched its initial public offering (IPO). Dynamic brothers, Kailash Katkar, MD and CEO and Sanjay Katkar, Joint-MD and CTO of Quick Heal Technologies, are the visionaries who defined an industry and built a successful business empire around antivirus and digital security. In an exclusive interview to Corporate Citizen, they talk about their humble beginning and how sharing the same dream built their success story. Their hard-earned success they tell, is all because of their commitment and focus on customer satisfaction By Rajesh Rao
Tell us about your early days of struggle? Kailash: My parents come from a small village, called Lalgoon and Rahimatpur, in the district of Satara. My father came to city in search of job and settled here in Pune. We siblings grew up in Pune, staying in a chawl in Shivajinagar area, where we stayed for over 19 years, till I started working and afforded to shift to a rented but better house in Vishrantwadi area. My father was working as a machine setter in Philips India Ltd, in Loni and my mother has been a homemaker. Father’s dream: While working in Philips, my father realised that the engineers who were working there were getting highly paid just for instructing others. He would feel bad that actual hard working employees like him would get less paid. He realised that the weakness was lack of education and inability to speak in English language. So, he decided to educate me, my younger brother and sister, in English medium school. We started going
to Children’s Academy, an English medium school, but the problem we faced was while doing homework, as my parents didn’t know English. So, my father made arrangements for tuitions also. There was big cost burden on him at that time—paying for the school and tuition fees, uniform, books etc. As he was facing financial problems, he started working overtime. When I was studying in fifth standard, my father took contract work of screen printing, printing company logos on uniforms. Since, it involved bit of technical work of making the design blocks, I started helping my father after coming home from the school. This work would happen twice or thrice in a week and generated additional income for my father. Working to support parents: Then I learnt radio repairing and started repairing radios at home. After appearing for the 10th standard board exam, which I was not sure of passing, I started looking around for work. I
16 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
“When I started business, the market was open and there was competition in every field. I was successful because I started my business at the right time when competition was there and when market was opened. I would have not if I had started it five years back. I started learning how to live with the competition� —Kailash Katkar
pics: Ravindra Joshi
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 17
interview
Kailash and Sanjay Katkar receiving Maharashtra Corporate Excellence Awards 2012, by Maxell Foundation, from the then Maharashtra CM, Prithviraj Chavan
came across a billboard ad of a small workshop looking for calculator technicians. When I went for the interview, there were over twenty people who had come for the interview and I thought I stood no chance. I gave the interview and luckily I was the only one who was selected. I had no knowledge of calculator repairing, but they selected me because they were impressed with my urge to learn. They sent me to their Bombay workshop, for three months training. It was not a big company but a small workshop called Data Star Electronics, with Bombay and Pune branch. Learning the nitty-gritty of business: It was the time, computers did not exist and electronic calculators were used big time. My boss who would visit the Pune branch once a month, realised that I had less work, so he told me to also help him in the accounting work, which he taught me over a period of time. I eventually stopped going to school so I could earn and support my younger brother and sister’s education. In the entire workshop, I was the youngest and had to do various kinds of work others asked me to do. I would repair electronic calculators and mechanical calculating machines, do accounting, receive calls, manage customers and even clean the workshop. I would do all this work because I was fascinated by these machines and wanted to know how they functioned. Repairing work would motivate me a lot. For the four years (1986-1990) I worked at Data Star Electronics, I had started with around `450/month salary and went on to earn `1,500/month.
Beginning of entrepreneurial journey: Eventually, as my boss realised computers will very soon replace calculators, he wanted to close down the business. Seeing an entrepreneurial opportunity, I decided to buy out Data Star Electronics and start on my own in 1990. It was a deal of few lakh Rupees, which I paid the owner—some from my savings and remaining on monthly basis. It was the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. I started maintaining these mechanical calculating machines for the banks. Fixing computers: One day during my visits to these banks, I saw a computer for the first time at State Bank of India branch. I was not aware of the computer or what it does at that time. I realised that all the mechanical machines I was repairing will be replaced by these computers and it is high time to learn computers. I bought some books on computers and started learning how to repair computers. That is how I started repairing computers under a new firm name “Cat Computer Services”. At that time basic computers were based on DOS operating system, and costed around `1.5 to 2 lakh. Initially, I faced lot of difficulties because customers were not that confident to give me their costly computers, who had no experience. Repairing computers was very challenging at that time. Our first big customers: I started getting annual maintenance contracts from companies. Our first customers were Times of India and the New India Insurance in Pune. For Times of India, I started maintaining 4-5 computers used in
18 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
their accounts department. With the help of that contract copy, I was able to get more and more customers. In those days we use to come across lot of virus problems on DOS operating system and the common practice was formatting or reinstalling the operating system. Developing antivirus programs: In the meantime, Sanjay had just completed 11 Standard exam and wanted to do electronics but I suggested him to take computers. The course fees for computer studies was very high, but I tried to manage it for my brother. Then he went on and took admission in Modern College in Pune and belonged to the second batch of their computer programme. Sanjay would come to my workshop after his college hours for practicing on computers. He would always ask me to give him some challenging work. So, once I asked if he can create some program tools for the virus problem. How did you (Sanjay) get into creating antivirus programmes? Sanjay: I was learning lot of new things on computers, in the College. Internet did not exist, so all the learning was through College and books. The College computers would often face virus problems, so I started fixing them. In the meantime I also started learning new languages, how to develop programs and how to reverse engineer—that part I thought I can implement on dissecting or decoding the virus and I was able to clean the virus. At that time there were very few viruses like Michelangelo, Stone and Jerusalem. Then, advance file infecting viruses started com-
ing up, which could not be removed even after formatting the hard disc. I learnt how to use the debugging tool in the computer operating system to debug the virus and was able to understand how it infected the hard disc or the floppy. I also learnt how to write programs in C programming and wrote a tool myself that can clean the virus. That is how I started making and adding new tools to clean viruses. Initially I started making these antivirus tools as a hobby and would give it to Kailash to clean the computers and floppies of his customers. For every new virus, I started making a new tool. I completed my graduation and went on to do master’s degree. I started making tools for cleaning viruses in the third year of my graduation and used those tools for cleaning viruses on customer’s computers. While I was doing my master’s degree, Kailash said that lets make an antivirus product. Campus placement interviews were also happening. For my industrial training I did work in a good company in Pune for short time. That is when I started making antivirus programs. Using a combinations of tools I had made till now, I created my first full-fledged antivirus program in the year 1995, and simultaneously completed my masters degree. At that time, there were many MNC companies that were making antivirus programmes—companies like McAfee and
Norton, had their presence in India. Tell us about your progress from repairing calculators to computers and then producing antivirus program? Kailash: Initially, under Data Star Electronics I was repairing mechanical calculating machines. Later when I started repairing computers, I wanted a firm with a different name. So, I started Cat Computer Services, a proprietary firm. Sanjay had created his antivirus program and we created our first antivirus product in 1995 and wanted to take it to the market. That was the time when we first thought of converting our proprietary firm into a private limited company. So, that is how we started Cat Computer Services Private Limited in 1995. Under this new company, everything was about computers. Now, selling our first antivirus product in the market was again a challenge for me, as I was a technical person and Sanjay was a developer and we both didn’t have any marketing skills. But, we overcame that challenge and started selling our product aggressively in the market. We were a home grown company and initially we never thought about patent registration for our product. At that time, trade mark registration was also a big cost and patent registration was a cost way beyond our capacity. We were just focused on creating the product,
“I would repair electronic calculators and mechanical calculating machines, do accounting, receive calls, manage customers and even clean the workshop. I would do all this work because I was fascinated by these machines and wanted to know how they functioned. Repairing work would motivate me a lot” —Kailash Katkar
sending it to the customers, making customers satisfied and earning money out of it. That was our core strength. As marketing was not our strength, initially we had to struggle a lot. We appointed marketing persons but it didn’t work initially, so I myself had to move into the market and start selling our product. Like me, people who were in the computer repairing, started supporting me and my indigenously grown antivirus product. They were proud of me taking a step forward and developing this product. Later the Pune Computer Maintenance Company also came forward to support and started taking our product to their customers and that is how the product gradually started becoming popular in the market. In twothree years I started generating good revenue out of this product and at the same time I was also continuing with my computer repairing services. Sanjay also needed more developers to add more new features to the antivirus product. At that time taking product to the customer was very time consuming and involved high cost of getting floppies, writing that floppy, packing it and then sending it to the customer. I could only generate that cost through continuing with my computer repairing services. Sanjay was focusing more into development of the product and I was dividing my time between the computer repairing services and marketing of our antivirus product. How did you convince Sanjay to work for the entrepreneurial venture, when he was getting lucrative job opportunities? Did your parents support you? Kailash: I had to convince Sanjay to join me in the entrepreneurial venture. Most of his friends started getting jobs in good companies abroad. I was very keen on not sending him abroad and convinced him that if we work together, we can create and market our own product like other brands in the market. I just kept on motivating him that we both can do wonders. With the antivirus product that we built, I believed and was confident that we would make it a big success in the local market and initially never thought about global market. Sanjay was not that much ambitious about earning big money. He was very much happy in what he was doing—creating antivirus programs. Sanjay: Working on antivirus program was my hobby and I am happy in doing something I like. I accepted my brother’s dream of building the antivirus program into a product and selling it in the market—thought there was no harm in giving it a try—otherwise job option was always open for me. How did Quick Heal come into existence?
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 19
interview Kailash: Sanjay needed more programme developers and we were incurring high cost to retain them. What we paid to one developer was equal to the salary I paid to over ten engineers employed by me for computer repairing. However, we started getting customers for our antivirus product and its popularity started to grow. The first version that we released, was under the brand of ‘Quick Heal’. We had multiple range of antivirus retail products. Eventually I had to stop our computer services work as our Quick Heal products started becoming popular in the market. We decided to change the name of our company to Quick Heal, and in the year 2007, we changed our company name from Cat Computer Services to Quick Heal Technologies Pvt Ltd. How was the brand name Quick Heal created? Kailash: Once Sanjay got into the business with me, he decided that he will take the product to international level and get it pass through international certifications. We wanted a brand and company name that people would easily recognise, so Sanjay came up with the name ‘Quick Heal’. In those days there were other well-known antivirus brands in the market, but they use to never clean the virus. They would detect the virus and delete the infected file also. So, unless you had no backup of those files, you would lose that file for ever. So, Sanjay developed a separate tool for each virus, which would clean the infected file and delete the virus and keep the file intact. This is why our
tools started becoming very popular. Though our product had basic features compared to any MNC products, still it was getting sold in the market just for one reason that it cleaned the infected files without deleting the files. When did you start growing your office network across India? Sanjay aspired to take the product to the international level. So, we started focusing on developing additional features to make the product at par with other well-known brands in the market. This is how we kept on adding features to our antivirus software and went on selling the product in the market. I appointed distributors in other places in Maharashtra state, but still Pune was generating good revenue than other cities. I found that Pune was generating good revenue because whenever any channel partner or customer was facing any problem, I was there to resolve it. This was not happening in other places. Customers were facing problems but they never called us, because STD calls in those days was very costly. Which is why we suffered generating
“Working on antivirus programme was my hobby and I am happy in doing something I like. I accepted my brother’s dream of building the antivirus into a product and selling it in the market—thought there was no harm in giving it a try” —Sanjay Katkar 20 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
revenue from outside Pune. Then I decided that if I have to build customer base in other cities, I will have to create after-sales-service model in other cities, similar to what was in Pune. So, we started our first pilot office in Nasik, on this model, in the year 2003 and in the first month itself I was able to generate revenue of `1.5 lakh, which went on increasing in the following months. This was followed by starting our offices in Nagpur, Mumbai, Baroda and across India. Sharing the same dream and making it a success story, how did you both manage it? Sanjay: Initially we never thought of making a full-fledged business out of antivirus programs. We just thought about giving it a try. At that time there was a huge demand for IT professionals by the IT companies in India and abroad, especially in US. My friends who were working in US would come back and tell me about the big packages they would get and they would buy cars and flats. But I was never shaken from my goal and with Kailash inspiring me, we focused only on our antivirus product. The success we have today is only because of our focus and determination. What are the challenges you faced on your entrepreneurial path? Kailash: : In the 80s when I was working, I didn’t even own a motorcycle and would commute to office on a bicycle. First time I got to use a landline phone was when I started working at Data Star Electronics. In those days if you take any product, there was monopoly of only one or two brands in the market, with hardly any competition. When I started business in the 90s, Rajiv Gandhi had just come to power and was first to open the market. Computers started coming into the market. When banks started using computers for the first time—I remember bank employees had gone on strike against the move, fearing they will lose their jobs. When I started business, the market was open and there was competition in every field. And when we launched our antivirus product in the market, competition was already there with wellknown brands in the market. We learned to live in that competition from day one. I believe, I was successful because I started my business at the right time when com-
product—if there was business in it. Even though people keep asking me, how do we compare our product with MNC products—I tell them that I don’t want to compare. Same happened with mobile phones—other companies came out with antivirus program for mobile phones way back in 2004-2005. But we didn’t develop, because we found that there are not too many buyers. I said that in India people will not prefer that, so let’s not work on it. We started working on mobile security only when android came and we realised everyone will start using android based mobile system. So, I have always taken conscious decision after doing thorough market research.
Kailash and Sanjay receiving Emerging India Award 2009, awarded by ICICI Bank and CNBC TV 18, from the then Union Minister, P Chidambaram
petition was there and when market was opened. I would have not if I had started it five years back from then. I started learning how to live with the competition. How did you break into the competitive global market, with an indigenously developed antivirus product? Sanjay: We started with few products in the market and when the Internet came we realised that the number of virus had grown very fast. Initially viruses were spreading through floppies, then it happened through emails and then through Internet. Suddenly your PC started becoming the point-of-attack from all over the globe. So, for my customers in Pune, I had to create programs to eliminate viruses that were getting created globally. During the year 2000-2005 we had faced lot of challenges. But I started building my team and automation tool in such a way that I can grasp what is happening internationally and come out with solutions. Our focus was on giving what our customers wanted. If our customer is using a network of say 100 computers, general practice was to dismantle all the machines, clean it one-byone and again reconnect them. It would take twothree days to complete the process. Then we came with a solution were we don’t have to disconnect the computer network. I came out with tools that would stop virus coming from server to other machines. No antivirus product till then was doing that, we were the first one to do so. That’s how people started seeing Quick Heal as better and reliable than other brands. We gradually came out with unique features and were preparing for competition from our early days. Kailash: We created our website in 1998 and put Quick Heal antivirus trial version online. Surprisingly, we started getting customers from
the US, UK, Europe and all over the world. People started buying online and downloading our antivirus program. One day we got an email from a European company that they will be testing our product. I told them that we don’t want any testing done of our product. They answered back saying that, they will test the product, whether we agree or disagree. That made us to start focusing on international standards for our product. Was your focus on customer satisfaction and service, the key to Quick Heal’s success in the global market? Sanjay: Customer satisfaction has always been our primary focus. Which is why we would keep on adding new features to our products. For example lot of piracy happens in India. People buy one copy and use it on multiple machines. So, whatever we would do for stopping piracy, it would never work. So, we thought of bringing it on the Internet and make use of cloud to start online registration for our product. When I started studying emails and Internet, no product was doing registration through the Internet. So, I worked on a version and released the online registration feature. It was a feature nobody was having at that time but credibly everybody was working on it globally. Such features really hiked our user base. Tell us the secret of your success story? Kailash: What I learnt from my colleagues and my boss at Data Star Electronics, is identifying business. Same thing I have applied in my business also. Keeping customers satisfied is the success mantra. When Sanjay developed the antivirus software and when the Internet and Windows operating system came, we both brainstormed on the costings of developing our product and market. We wanted to develop a
What steps do you take to constantly evolve and be a step forward? Kailash: We have been in this business for more than twenty years now and after what we have achieved, we have decided to concentrate on digital and Internet security domain only. In future we see that lot many things are going to get connected with the Internet. Even devices at home like refrigerators, washing machines, TV, everything will get connected through Internet. Security will be required to protect these devices, so we are now focusing in that area. How do you balance work-life balance? Kailash: Whatever I have learnt is from this organisation. I don’t panic when I face problems and I have always focused on my work. Every problem has a solution. Even today there are lot of investors who come and say that there are lot of antivirus softwares available in the market, how do you see yourself in future? What is your growth plan for the company? I say that I created an antivirus software when there was only piracy. Still I dared to develop this product and sold the product in the market. I believe that if you take the right steps, market will respond positively. Co-working as brothers, how do you understand and agree with each other’s opinions? Kailash: We don’t work for each other, we work for our customers and it is our focus. My way of looking at customer is from a business point of view and Sanjay’s way of looking at customer is from innovation and creative point of view—that matches our understanding and opinions. When Sanjay is working on product creation, he doesn’t have to look in company administration, I look after it. Sanjay: I focus myself on creating a good product and research and development of our products. I work on understanding customers and finding out what are their expectations. And also generating communication in marketing and help the marketing team to come up with strategies. rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 21
The Tax Man Cometh-22
Money changes peoples’ personalities
by S K Jha
(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
There are different layers to a human mind and a person’s personality, and all need not be as it seems. All the more true in the context of accruing black money, being corrupt, embezzling funds, spouting platitudes or putting up a holier-than-thou or grandiose persona. It’s good to learn to peel the layers and see what is beneath
Unlike the regular tax desk which is manned by a tax officer whose job is to levy tax on you, this desk is manned by a non-serving tax officer who wishes to share his experience of 35 years in the tax department, while, discussing tax provisions. It is advantageous to know how the tax department thinks and acts when, as said by Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes”
T
he father of psychology Sigmund Freud once said, “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one seventh of its bulk above water.” The major proportion of the human mind remains submerged which keeps the inner thinking of a man away from public view. The visible persona of a person may not be the real one in the majority of the cases. A person is right when he says, “No one else knows who I am!” I do not want to be philosophical on this issue as we all know it. As I have been a taxman, I take you to the material world to relate my experience of this aspect of human nature. We all know that we have a big problem of black money in our country. Some say that black money constitutes a parallel economy in India. We discuss and debate on this issue and make a hue and cry in the election rallies. But are we really serious about it? Yes, most of our countrymen are very poor and they do not have adequate money for their livelihood, forget black money. Yet, there is a sizeable section of our people who are rich. We have many millionaires as well as billionaires. It is this section of the people who speak more loudly on black money, but it is also amongst them that there are black sheep who contribute to the generation of black money. It is also this section of people who speak something in public view on black money but when given an opportunity to clean themselves and dump their black money, they do just exactly the opposite.
‘Washing off’ scheme
The Finance Act 2016 had announced an ‘Income Declaration Scheme’ under which a person with black money can turn it white by paying
45 percent tax. The scheme also guaranteed that there would be no proceedings against such persons. The tax rate in the highest tax slab is 30 percent which meant that by paying only 15 percent additionally; a person can buy peace and wash off his sin of having unaccounted wealth. Initial media reports indicate that for a country with such a huge amount of black money, the declaration did not yield very much when the scheme ended on September 30, although it is said to be more than what the government expected. The scheme not fully succeeding can be explained by the hidden thinking process of our people who could have benefited from this scheme. Some potential declarers contacted me for advice. My advice was simple—buying peace of mind at a reasonable cost is a great deal. They discussed with me as to what would happen if they did not go for the scheme. I explained to them that there would be the lurking fear of an income tax search, penalty and prosecution. They took the decision that they would cross that bridge when it came, as they felt that the additional 15 percent tax was excessive, and also they feared that they would lose their reputation— though false—of being honest tax payers if their names got recorded in the scheme. Saving some money and their false image weighed more against getting mental peace guaranteed by the scheme. Speaking against black money on public platforms gives us an image of being honest tax payers while we are actually the opposite. We explain to ourselves that the possession of black money is not a sin as all rich people have it and the fear of having it is just an occupational hazard of being rich. Our apparent is not our real self.
Corruption crowns hypocrisy
Corruption is another serious evil where hypocrisy is all pervading. We speak one thing and do something else. Corruption thrives on the twin limbs of our unlawful act and our black money. Our unlawful action gives rise to a situation when corruption is born. We give our black money as a bribe in big bribe cases to get out of the mess created by us due to our unlawful
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action. Recently there was a news item about a television celebrity who complained to the Prime Minister about the bribe which he was asked to pay or he probably paid to the civic authority. The enquiry, again as per the news item, revealed that he had violated a legal provision and that his under-construction property was under a demolition notice. The bribe asked or probably paid, was, at the very outset, the result of the illegal construction by the celebrity. He complained to the Prime Minister to add polish to his celebrity image and to put out the message that he was also a law abiding and honest citizen, while actually he was hiding the true facts. This is what I mean when I say hypocrisy in the area of corruption. Corruption always has two parties and both the parties have to agree and collude. The first party is the law breaker and the second party is the regulator or custodian of the law who agrees to break the oath of public office and both become partners in the crime. I have been witness to cases where it involved prominent people with apparently clean images but they fell from their high moral pedestal when the consideration became very high. The dual personality in these cases was evident. They were invited to give lectures on corruption as they were perceived as men of high integrity. The modus operandi of such personalities with lofty images is to go deep under water and drink, as then nobody sees you drinking – somewhat like fish, as nobody sees when fish drink. Of course, there are exceptions, as there are really honest and good people on both sides. There are really honest citizens who will pay penalty if any mistake is done by them rather than pay bribe even if demanded. So also there are really honest officers who will not sell themselves, whatever be the consideration. They will stand up to their principles despite the threat perception mounted on them. In such cases, we say, there is no hypocrisy. Another aspect of duplicity in human behaviour can be summed up by the personality of erstwhile ‘King of Good Times’ and now fugitive Vijay Mallya. He showed that he had all that money could buy. He showed how he could enjoy his riches. He has villas and resorts, a fleet of
Corruption always has two parties and both the parties have to agree and collude. The first party is the law breaker and the second party is the custodian of the law who agrees to break the oath of public office; both become partners in the crime cars, expensive hobbies like horse racing and car racing. But subsequently events showed the dirt behind. To some extent, his riches were financed by the fraud meted on public sector banks. He showed his lavish life style, but he kept in hiding how he manipulated public money for it. I cited the case of Vijay Mallya as his case is in the domain of public knowledge. During my stint in the investigation wing of the income Tax department in Mumbai, I saw many similar cases like that of Vijay Mallya. I saw real people indulging in lavish life styles financed by black money earned by the embezzlement of public money and such other unlawful activities. Two shades of their personality were clearly visible. For the outside world, they were rich and powerful people who
commanded respect, but when I saw them from inside, I found them too dirty to be enumerated here. In this category of people, I also found some who appeared in the public view as simple middle-class people but were actually owners of immense wealth. Their outer persona and low key living belied the fact that they were super rich, a fact they had hidden both from the society and income tax department. Income tax raids against them could take place only because of credible inside information.
Arrogance of money, power
Another aspect of the human personality that emerges is ego and arrogance which comes from the acquisition of too much money and power in
a small span of time, when actually these persons are really shallow from within. I saw this aspect many a times during the income tax raids conducted by me. In one case, I was at the search premises of a company set up by a person who had become a billionaire in a short time. That person showed no grace and respect to us and sat before us with his legs stretched out on the table—not normally seen in the course of search actions. He started telling us he was a good friend of this minister or that minister, and that he could get us suspended from services just on one phone call. He told me directly to ask my price for going away from the search premises, while at the same time sympathizing with me that he would not like to take away my job as I
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 23
The Tax Man Cometh-22
Another aspect of the human personality that emerges is ego and arrogance which comes from the acquisition of too much money and power in a small span of time, when actually these persons are really shallow from within was a poor government servant. His ego and arrogance was at its peak as he was not prepared to reconcile with the idea of a search against such a rich and powerful person like him. He subsided when I asked him to talk to his political mentors in my presence with the clear warning that I would also proceed against them for disturbing the process of the law. I also told him that he was too poor to purchase a loyal government servant and that in addition to the income tax case, a criminal charge would be initiated against him for offering to bribe. The shallow man within him got terrified and co-operated with the search proceedings thereafter. In another case a well-known actor blinded by his fame and celebrity status started drinking whisky when we started recording his statement. When asked to stop drinking, he said that it was his time for his drink, and small government officials could not come in the way or his right of freedom. He went a step further. He took out his revolver and started playing with it before us. We understood his tactics to obstruct the search proceedings and played tough with him. The police constables accompanying us were asked to physically remove his revolver and also his whisky. He got some sense when I explained to him that the officers at his premises represented the President of India, and that he was too weak a person to fight against the law of the country. Later, I realised that it was his super star image that had made him vain. He was a high calibre creative person from inside which had made him a super star.
Pseudo do-gooders
Another shade of personality I came across in the course of income tax raids was that of the pseudo philanthropist and pseudo ideal human beings whereas deep inside they were average people with all the weaknesses. In one case, I found that a top celebrity had built up his image as a philanthropist as he was in the habit of announcing donations for social causes from the platform at public functions, but he never delivered on his promises. In the course of enquiry I found several letters from charitable bodies addressed to him about his failed promises. In another case, an industrialist had advertised his good work helping the poor and needy, I found that he had given donation cheques to charitable trusts administered by his family. The donation given helped the industrialist in reducing his tax liability and at the same time, the trust would withdraw cash against the cheques received and the cash was given back to the industrialist. No charitable work was done by the family owned trusts except book keeping. I also interacted with some people who appeared very dignified and friendly but deep inside were people who could go to any level to make money. They did not have any scruples and their only objective was to make more and more money. For them it was the end which justified the means. I could see their inner persona when they interacted with me to save tax money. For these people, no relationship was important over money. It was an eye opener for me to know that such people exist. I have tried to give a glimpse of the two shades of human behaviour of people in
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the business world and some celebrities. I know everyone has his or her own experience about people they meet, but still it is good to share such insight, since effective communication is the surest way to success. If we have some idea, or if we can make an intelligent guess about the layers of personality of the other person with whom we are dealing, we can successfully convince that other person with our point of view. The knowledge of different possible shades of inner personality of the human being can help us judge the person with whom we interact. In this connection, I would like to cite Peter Drucker who said “The most important thing in communication is hearing what is not said.” And this is possible when we have some insight about the inner self of the person with whom we are communicating. For a good inter-personal relationship it is also important that we try to know ourselves as well and in this context the Johari Window’ technique can be of immense help. As per this technique the personality of a person has four compartments. The first compartment is what the person knows and what others also know. The second is what the person knows about himself and others do not know. The third is what the person does not know about himself but others know, and the fourth is where neither he nor others know. In such a situation `feedback’ from others can help a person in knowing himself in the context of the third compartment. I conclude by stating what Shakespeare said, “We know what we are but not what we may be.”
Cover Story Dynamic Duo: 40
Anu Aga, Director, and Meher Pudumjee, Chairperson, Thermax Ltd.
“The messages we receive in our childhood shape our lives.That becomes part of our script. I was never encouraged to become a career woman or even think of myself that way. Having said that, I don’t think our past or anything can be blamed to get on in life. If we get stuck in blaming our past, blaming our parents, blaming our husband, we won’t be able to get anywhere” Anu Aga
pics: yusuf khan
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A friend in
need It is not often that you have a mother and daughter sharing the workplace, even the same office. Anu Aga, Director, and her daughter, Meher Pudumjee, Chairperson, Thermax Ltd, do just that. Individually they have battled many a self-doubt, but as a team, power each other’s strength and pluck. All that revealed, at a CII-IWN organised WomeNation summit By vinita deshmukh
November November1-15, 1-15,2016 2016/ / Corporate CorporateCitizen Citizen / / 27 27
“A Cover Story
daughter is just a little girl who grows up to be your best friend,’’ goes a saying, which fits the bill perfectly when it comes to stalwart corporate leader, Anu Aga, Director, Thermax and her daughter, Meher Pudumjee, Chairperson, Thermax. At a lively interaction, at the WomeNation Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in association with Indian Women Network (IWN) in Mumbai recently, both spoke candidly about their relationship. They also gave an insight into how women should shed off the ‘guilt’ thrust upon them and come out of their cocoon to carve a niche for themselves, in whatever field they would like to be in. Excerpts from the interactive session, anchored by senior journalist and noted author, Sudha Menon.
Sudha Menon: This session is about relationships and what it makes and takes to engineer great relationships. Every mother and daughter knows that it is a relationship full of storminess, lot of love, a little bit of differing. You are lucky enough to be sharing the same office, on the same floor! You sit next to each other. How do you manage to keep the mother and daughter relationship out of office, or do you feel the need to keep that relationship when you are in the workplace too? And what is it that makes you such amazing friends? Every time I meet you I think what a fantastic equation this is. What is the secret? Meher: I just feel that our relationship is very unique. It is very unusual.
There is a lot of love. There is a lot of mutual respect. But all in all, my mom is a very good friend. Genuinely, she is like a mentor but I also find that sometimes she is very dominant. When I was growing up with my brother, he used to call us BBC 1 and BBC 2. Everything that I knew, my mom immediately knew and vice-versa. My husband often says our umbilical cord is not cut yet. I think it is a very precious relationship. I guess many of us have it with our mothers and you get what you see in the other. Very open, very transparent, very down to earth; of course sometimes very irritating. But I am really very fortunate to have this relationship with her. And it is lovely that she lives five minutes down the road from us. But in the office, Anu is not there most of the time and she does not have a role in the organisation as she is a director on the board. What has been extremely helpful for me is that she is there when I need her. It is not that she is looking over me and telling me what to do and what not to do and sort of driving the organisation from behind, which is what most fathers do. They say they are retired but still they come to work and actually drive the organisation through their sons. Here, Anu genuinely believes ‘you are the chairperson, you run it and I am there whenever you need my support.’ So I think I am very lucky. Anu: For me, she is genuinely my most trusted best friend. I think we have a lot of fun together. Recently, we were in Vietnam for a holiday and we laughed so much. Never do I laugh anywhere as much as when I am with her. We argue. We agree. We disagree. We hurt each other sometimes. Earlier I was not used to taking criticism from Meher. My son used to be the one who used to be critical of me. But my daughter was always adoring and nurturing me. In the last few years though, she has been telling me what’s wrong: ‘You are not a good listener, you are reactive, what you said was not right.’ In the beginning, I said how can she do that to me? And now I realise that if you want an authentic relationship, honest feedback is as important, and if I get hurt and withdraw, it will never be helpful to get her feedback again. So I am trying very hard to bounce back. Even though I am a little upset, I deal with it and carry on the relationship. It is too precious to let anything come in the way.
Sudha: Thank you Anu. That was so special. Sometime back, when 28 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
I was chatting with Anu, she told me that Meher is really my best, best friend. She said `I am so confident that this child is there, besides getting to enjoy her company.’ It is a very rare thing for a mother. I know that our daughters are our best friends but I don’t think we express it. It is taken for granted. Meher, as a working mother today and as a daughter of a working mother what is your take on women, career and all rest of it? Meher: When I was in school, actually my mother was always available for
me. At that time she did not have a full time job. So she was there. Later on, I went to boarding school and that’s when Mom started her full time career. I will speak on my role as a mother for my children. I found out that I am definitely a far better mother because I am working. Genuinely! Because I find my children being very independent, very self-reliant. I stopped looking at the small stuff. It is for the larger things that there are dos and don’ts. Having said that, I have been there at every milestone of their lives, especially when they were at school. Whether it is basketball, concert or Parents Teacher (PTA) meetings, I have always been there for them. But whenever I had tried to sit with my children to do their homework, it was most disastrous because we used to just keep fighting. I told myself, I don’t want that, because I spend limited amount of time with them and so I’d rather that the relationship be very special. So I used to have somebody come over to take up their studies, or they used to go for tuitions, or they used to try it themselves. I said we don’t work together - let us spend this time together in a more productive manner. I have also gone through guilt, especially when I talked to other women
who used to say, ‘Oh, weren’t you there when your child took the first step?’ I said ‘No.’ And then suddenly sometimes guilt does hit me. But overall, I am very happy that I am doing what I want to do. And I think for women, I would like to say - you have expertise, passion and love for work – so give something - whether it is in the profit or the non-profit sector. I feel it is a wonderful thing to spend that time and energy and balance families. Also, many of us are very lucky to have a joint family system. We also have a lot of help. So we can take advantage of that too.
Sudha: So, Anu, tell us your fascinating journey from being a very house-proud young woman to the chairperson of India’s most admired engineering firm. You took on the reins in the area of engineering at a time when it was talked about that women do not make good engineers. How did you crack that? Define the moments of your journey and what challenges really hit you in your face? Anu: We used to live in Mumbai. By training I am a social worker and I
worked for about four years. But when the business moved to Pune and we also shifted to Pune, I stopped working. I was friendly with a group of ladies who were socialising, playing cards and shopping. I enjoyed that. I had never done that in my life. My husband was shocked that I could be so frivolous and not be working. He would say, ‘How can a social worker not be working? Do something.’ I said, ‘I am 30 or whatever and I am a home lady. You can’t tell me what to do.’ So my rebelliousness was such that the more he said, the more I did what I did. Even when I was socialising and enjoying it, I was actually producing guilt in my mind. Guilt is a favourite
File pic
Sudha Menon (right) in conversation with Meher Pudumjee (left) and Anu Aga
“For women, I would like to say—you have expertise, passion and love for work — so give something—whether it is in the profit or the non-profit sector. I feel it is a wonderful thing to spend that time and energy and balance families” Meher Pudumjee feeling of women and we manufacture it anyway. I used to manufacture guilt saying, ‘I am not working. I am a qualified woman and I should be working.’ Then my husband, in his 40s, had a massive heart attack and suffered a stroke. We were a small, private limited company - very vulnerable. So friends suggested I should take a little interest in it because our kids were young. So where do I join the profession and in the company? So I joined in the Human Resource under a wonderful professional, Prasad Kumar. He invested in me, really nurtured me and five years later when he wanted to move on and be on his own, he suggested I could take over. So that was when I became the head of HR. A few years later, my husband suddenly passed away. And within two days the board met. By then we had gone public. The board met and said I should be the executive chairperson. It was one of the most difficult periods in my life. I was missing my husband; I was not ready to take on this responsibility. I was not an engineer; my aptitude for finance was zero. I hated it. How do I head this company? And I kept complaining with myself, feeling that the only reason why the Board has nominated me was because we had majority share. I don't deserve to be there, I used to say to myself. But then I went for a Buddhist meditation called Vipassana and I found it extremely helpful. Ever since, I meditate daily. Come what may, I keep aside one hour for Vipassana. And I realised that all I need to do is to give my best. Nobody can be somebody else. I can’t be my husband. I can’t be anyone else. And if I am honest and have humility to say I don’t know and learn from others, we are intelligent enough to pick up things. So I would have people come over and tell me something and I would frankly say I don’t know and learn and surround myself with experts. I think we all have to have better people around us. And then we also engaged a consultant company. So that’s how I managed. November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 29
Cover Story “What has been extremely helpful for me is that she is there when I need her. It is not that she is looking over me and telling me what to do and what not to do and sort of driving the organisation from behind, which is what most fathers do. Anu genuinely believes ‘you are the chairperson, you run it and I am there whenever you need my support.” Meher Pudumjee
So we start with this script, which is not very helpful to building a career. Having said that, I don’t think our past or anything can be blamed to get on in life. You cannot! And whenever I feel stuck or I feel I am the owner, I remind myself, ‘Anu, the entire room is available for you to explore. Don’t get stuck.’ So I think if we get stuck in blaming our past, blaming our parents, blaming our husband, we won’t be able to get anywhere. I have seen married women saying, “I am so lucky I am married to a man who allows me to work.” How is it that men ‘give permission’ to their wives to work? Why should a mother feel guilty to leave children at home? This is something unique and we have to shed this. It is your birth right to decide what you want to do.
Sudha: Meher, did the script change because of the way the messages were passed out in your time? Meher: Very much. For me, the script changed
hugely from what my mom went through. I remember my paternal grandmother had the same script. And she used to be very protective towards my brother. So much so that if there were two pieces of chicken, she would say this one is for my son and this one is for my grandson. And my mother would oppose that and say, “But what about my daughter?’’ So she would take up for me. As we were growing up too, Kurush, that is my brother, was encouraged to cook as he loved cooking and my Mom encouraged him to come to the kitchen. He liked eating too. So Mom encouraged that as well. I hated cooking, and that was okay. We were both sent abroad for education. Educa“I realised that all I need to do is to give my best. Nobody can tion was something that both my parents felt that be somebody else. I can’t be my husband. I can’t be anyone else. both of us should get. And there was absolutely no And if I am honest and have humility to say I don’t know and preference for the boy child. It comes down to me learn from others, we are intelligent enough to pick up things” too. Let me also say that there was discrimination Anu Aga when I was in England; it does not exist just in India. We were five of us looking after our office in England. I am an engineer by training. So we had to do everything in the Sudha: You have spoken about how women are not really raised to office because we were so few of us. I would pick up the phone when a customer called and say ‘May I help you?’ They would say ‘May I speak to be leaders. I would like to hear that. Anu: I think the messages that we receive in our childhood shape our lives. the sales person?’ When I would say ‘Speaking’, they would say ‘No, may I please speak to the salesman.’ You know, so it is not just in India that you That becomes part of our script. I have two older brothers and in studies, face this kind of differential treatment and these kind of messages. I think I did better than them. But the constant message for me was you have to it is there the world over. And it will take time to change. marry and produce children. Whereas my brothers were told you have to join the family business. Not once was I told that there was even a possibility of my joining the business. And in those days, I did not see any role Sudha: A few years ago when I was writing my first book, I had a models except teachers or nurses or some women working as secretaries meeting with Elaben Bhatt of SEWA and she said something which and I thought business is something women have never done. That was made me think; something that crushed at my heart. She said, ‘All the kind of mind-set then! Even as far as feelings were concerned, I was of you educated women are very successful. All of you live in citallowed to be sad and cry and got a lot of sympathy but if I got angry, my ies. You have fantastic offices and big cars and all the trappings of parents would say, ‘One day you have to live with your in-laws. How can success. None of you think of your sisters back in the villages and you show your anger?’ When my brothers cried, they were called sissies. smaller towns of India or do anything for them.’ I just want to ask So even feelings were compartmentalised according to the gender, which I you both, what are your thoughts on it and what can we really do think is ridiculous. So, I was never encouraged to become a career woman to make sure that this script that `we need to change’ actually gets or even think of myself that way. My needs of affiliation were encouraged, to the right place? whereas for men, the needs of achievement were encouraged. Things have Anu: I agree that women in rural India need mental nurturing. But let us changed. They changed the way I brought up my son. face facts. All of you here are working women with very little free time. You 30 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
have families to look after and I think that there are enough issues in the urban areas also that need your attention. And everyone cannot reach out to the rural areas. Ela Bhatt is a full time social worker. She is a role model. But even within the city, giving the time, a few hours a week may be, for whatever cause you want to, can also be explored or have you become so self-absorbed? That’s the question I would like to ask. Meher: I can just say that, in fact Madhur Bajaj (he is Vice Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd and was one of the few men in the audience) has done quite a bit, in many tiny ways, like a drop in the ocean. CII has got an award where we recognise grassroots women who have been doing wonderful work and have become role models in their villages. We recognise them each year in health, in education and micro enterprise. We want to make it such that they network with each other so that they can create many more role models in their areas of devotion. So in small ways, CII is trying to do the needful in this area.
Sudha: Anu, you are a much-admired corporate leader and now you are looked upon as an iconic social change maker, activist. To start both these works, what are the qualities that we need to inculcate in women so that they get the strength and confidence to chase their dreams? In your own personal life, what are the qualities that you rely on a daily basis? Anu: Women are not sure of themselves. However successful they are, they
are not confident. Men will easily brag. Women find it very difficult to talk of their genuine achievements. Without bragging how can you have confidence in yourself? Self-worth is something we want to develop. If a man shouts, if a man gets angry you may get intimidated. Even at home, you need to be assertive. You don’t need to be aggressive like men. I don’t think aggressiveness is a good quality. But be assertive. Very firmly, say ‘Sorry, this will not be accepted.’ Very firmly! I think assertiveness is very important for women. What I said earlier and what I want to repeat - drop the guilty feeling for God’s sake! It does not help you. What does guilt do? Guilt gives you permission to repeat the same mistake. Because you say ‘I suffered so much, now I am guilty.’ This is not an answer. So drop it and you can. It is a manufactured feeling that men don’t have and women have learnt to carry it, over the years. Also change your definition of caring. There is a difference between caring and being neurotic. I will give an example. Your 18 year old teenaged girl is out at a party and you can’t eat, you can’t sleep. That’s not love, that’s neurosis! Sacrifice is a dirty word. Do something because you want to do. Then it is not sacrifice.
to be a woman professional in Thermax. Unfortunately, not many women like to join the manufacturing, engineering work base. Both Anu and I go and address them and listen to their challenges. We try to help them to be more assertive, especially when certain sexual harassment cases are spoken about. Instead of going and complaining, can you first start by being assertive and saying ‘Sorry, this will not do.’ If at the drop of the hat, you start complaining it doesn’t really help the situation. I think you first need to protect yourself. We also started sensitising men about how to look at this Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, when it came to be. So a few things we have been able to do, but we haven’t been able to get more and more women in the work place. We haven’t really been able to get women back into work after they were gone on maternity leave and being with their children. It is very difficult to bring them back into the work space. So I feel there is still a lot more to be done.
Madhur Bajaj: I am privileged to know this mother-daughter for many years. I have one question. You had difficulty in becoming the chairperson, you said. You are still in it. Now you are fit but several years ago you gave the mantle of chairmanship to your daughter. What was the conversation like? Did Meher say, ‘Oh Mom, you are so fit. You could have stayed for some more years.’ What exactly took place? Anu: Madhur, you mean there was a conversation between Meher and me
before I handed over? It did not happen like that. I mobilised myself by taking a decision, making it public and then working towards it. So there was a press release and I announced that I was 61 and I was going to retire. Meher was quite angry with me, saying `how can you not discuss with me before releasing the press note.’ First of all, it is not for me to select. The board selected her. To give it up is not that easy. But I wanted to give it up. And you know you do not give up because you are not physically fit. You give up because that’s the right thing for the organisation. I never wanted the organisation to be vulnerable the way it was when I took over after my husband’s sudden death. I wanted a planned succession. I have seen mostly men holding on to the position till they are 75-80 years old. Everybody says ‘Ye Buddha Kabhi Jayega?’ In family conferences, I have heard so many youngsters tell me, ‘Please teach our father how to let go.’ Men are very difficult to deal with, more than women.
Bajaj: But did you think she was, at that age, prepared to take on the mantle of Thermax? Anu: It was up to the Board to decide - if
not her, someone else. Meher: Let me also say she wrote me a letter Meher and Pheroz Pudumjee: partners at workplace too after that because I wasn’t at all ready. I had Sudha: Meher, what steps have you all those doubts. My parents were so suctaken to ensure there is no women’s discrimination in your organisation? cessful, how was I going to fit in their shoes? And also it is not very often that Meher: I have to say that we are a well-placed engineering company. We when you have a husband and wife in an organisation, the wife takes a lead role. I was very aware of that and what it could do to our relationship because have very few women - less than 7%. So it is still very low and we would my husband is also in Thermax. I have small kids. I had many self-doubts love for the percentage to increase. We have done a few things. Women at that moment. And she wrote me a very nice letter, in which she said an don’t very often have role models. So we started a forum in Thermax called apple tree cannot give oranges. So you do what you think is right. You give Sakhi Forum where we invite women from other businesses to come and out your best. That’s it. You can’t be like your mother, you can’t be like your talk about their life, their challenges and how they have risen within their father. You can’t be like other people. You just give out your best and that’s it. organisations. So that is one way we can have women see what their role models are like. We also have women interns speaking about what it is like vinitapune@gmail.com November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 31
Interview
Invest in people
Change is the only constant in nature. The only question is whether we are prepared to deal with it? For Arokia Sagayaraj, Vice President—Human Resources at Renault Nissan Technology & Business Centre, being adaptive to change and constantly innovating is key while never losing sight of the most important asset a company has—its people. Corporate Citizen met the young dynamic leader at a conference for an in-depth interview, where he spoke at length about future trends, India’s role in driving innovations, and his mantra for life! By Neeraj Varty
Trends that are driving the future Technological breakthrough
We are in the midst of a technological breakthrough. Consider the automotive industry. In the next few years, autonomous or self-driving cars will become the norm. We will soon see connected cars. All the gadgets you can think of using will be connected using the Internet. You can start the AC in your car using your smartphone even before you get in.
Economic power shift
The second mega trend that is happening is the economic power shift. Power is shifting from the developed world to emerging economies like India and China. What this will bring is the increase in purchasing power. This will lead to innovation shifting from the western world to the emerging economies. The earlier trend was to bring a popular product from the western market, customise it to local needs, and then sell it. We are now moving away from this model. The customisation concept will die over a period of time. This is because innovation will drive in these markets. For example, the Renault Kwid is a car meant for India and it was made for the Indian market. From India it is now go-
ing global. Engineers from Renault Brazil were brought to India where they learnt how the car was made using the best materials and yet kept affordable. Now it is launching in Brazil. These are important milestone which will determine how emerging economies like India will set trends in the future.
The demographic shift
There is a huge demographic change that is happening in the world. India has a large percentage of population under-30. It means all the companies, whether from automotive, FMCG, or any other sector, will focus on markets like India. When you deliver products in these markets you need to think from a localised mindset. The approach of thinking will shift from globalised to local. The growth will happen at enormous speed. People will move faster in their careers than ever before. Global mobility will be the 'in' thing. The status quo of People from emerging economies going to developed countries for jobs will be reversed. In the western world, the average age is in the 50s. They have experience and they will be imported to emerging economies.
Social is becoming the new normal at work
In the workplace, a new social behavior has started. People are bringing their social life to work. While in meetings, they check their social media,
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reply to messages, etc. Earlier, such behavior was unacceptable. However, going forward, social media is defining new behavioral patterns at work. Work like is increasingly being integrated with social life. The line between work and social life is fast blurring, and we need to accept this.
Tell us about your journey of success
I finished my Masters from Loyola College, Chennai, and then I got a job in Hyundai as a management Trainee. I started working in Hyundai in the HR -Sales and Marketing
I have always believed that you have to be a learning organisation to thrive. We have successfully incorporated learning and development as a function and nurtured a learning culture, where people are constantly in the mood to learn
pics: Yusuf Khan
November November1-15, 1-15,2016 2016/ / Corporate CorporateCitizen Citizen / / 33 33
interview Most Fuel efficient petrol car
The new Renault Kwid is said to be India's most fuel efficient petrol car with ARAI rated mileage of 25.17kmpl, if that is true, then this tall boy hatchback will create a massive stir in the domestic market
First-insegment 7-inch touchscreen display
The Kwid hatchback is equipped with a range of segmentleading features, but the highlight is the 7-inch touchscreen MediaNav system with Bluetooth. The colour touchscreen resembles the one found in the top-spec Duster and the Lodgy. The system also include AUX-in and USB connectivity
New Platform
The Kwid hatchback is the first car based on the CMF-A (Common Module Family) platform, which is basically a smaller version of the flexible CMF architecture. The same platform will also be utilised by Datsun's Redi-Go concept based small car
Made in India, exported to the world
The 'Made in India'
1.0 litre Renault Kwid has gone official in Brazil, where it has become extremely popular. Initially, the car will be imported from Renault's Chennai facility while it will be assembled at its Sao Jose dos Pinhais plant
Highly Competitive
The Renault Kwid directly goes up against the Alto K10 and the Hyundai Eon in the budget compact car category. It is bigger in size than both the Alto K10 and the Eon and has the biggest boot as well.
department, and then moved to Factory and Industrial relations. Then i moved to KPMG for a short sting of a year and a half. After that I, I joined Renault-Nissan, and was instrumental in starting the Renault—Nissan technology center in India. In fact, I was the first employee. Now, After nine years, we have close to 6,000 employees. It's purely an engineering center. I started as Head of HR, and am currently Vice-President and Management Committee member of the company. My role is to ensure that all the HR policies are in place and talent management is in order. Over and above these, I also lead the CSR initiative of the company. I am also the compliance officer of the organisation.
Renaut has always been synonymous with the European haute-couture style of designing. When Renault - Nissan came to India, did you have to start from the ground up in terms of Indian design aesthetics and requirements?
Indian customers are some of the most demanding customers in the world. We want more with less. When we have to deliver on those expectations, everything changes. The way we think towards designing a car, the way we manufacture, all the aspects change. Additionally, India has a good mix of customers,
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starting from A category to the CC+, and all the categories are equally strong. This brings more complexity.
The Kwid is one of the most popular cars in India, designed from the ground up. How did it come about?
I can't comment much about the design, as that is a separate department. I can speak from an engineer's perspective. The way we train our engineer's and the way we groom them brings out the best in them. We are amongst the best in any kind of automotive engineering in the Indian market today, and the Kwid is an example of that.
In the US and Europe, the trend is shifting towards eco-friendly cars. We have the Prius and Tesla as examples. Do you see this trend catching on in the rest of the world, especially in India? The automotive industry is going through a transition. The products offered will go through breakthrough changes in the future.
What are the future trends you see happening in HR?
Today the trend is how to engage people. The biggest challenge you see today in HR is
If you lose focus of the people, then the entire concept is nullified. The challenge for the leaders is to put both in place. If you ask me, I have never lost track of the people but I am also focusing on the process at the same time
cesses should revolve around the center. If you lose focus of the people, then the entire concept is nullified. The challenge for the leaders is to put both in place. If you ask me, I have never lost track of the people but I am also focusing on the process at the same time.
you think there should be a clear demarcation between work life and personal life?
What are some of the key initiatives you have introduced at Renault-Nissan?
Could you elaborate on that...
I have always believed that you have to be a learning organisation to thrive. We have successfully incorporated Learning and development as a function and nurtured a learning culture, where people are constantly in the mood to learn.
Do you believe in taking work home, or
Today, only two percent of women are in core engineering. This has to change. In IT, the percentage is close to 30-40 percent. We are able to leverage on the IT, but not on the core engineering sectors. Somewhere, people have to change their mindsets, and we have to attract women to core engineering. I Think government companies are more diverse than private countries currently, and we are far behind the western countries when it comes to diversity.
What is your idea of relaxation?
I believe relaxation is doing whatever you like to do. I like to farm. I own an organic farm, where i grow paddy, dal and other vegetables. I spend 3-4 days a week tending to the farm.
But why do you see attrition happening? Why do people keep changing jobs every few years?
There is widespread concern around employees across sectors that HR has gone from being a people-centric function to being a process-centric function. Do you think this is a legitimate concern?
Companies expect their HRs to have more processes in place. But the flipside is that when you tend to focus too much on process, you tend to lose people. That's why the job of the HR leader is that they should not lose focus from the people while they are doing the process. That’s how I would put it across. People are the center. Pro-
For example, you are always connected to work even on your holidays, whether it is answering phone calls from work or replying to emails. Conversely, due to social media, you are also connected to your friends and family when you are at work. At home you are also connected to the office via skype calls, etc. The only difference is the weightage. When I am at home, the weightage of home is more and the office is less, and vice versa when I am at the office.
You spoke in your speech about women and diversity. Do you think there are adequate women in manufacturing?
retaining people, keeping talented people. The trend is how to engage them, train them and build their career. This has been happening for the last 10-15 years. The difference is now the time to action has shortened. HR has to act almost instantaneously.
It is a generational effort. Today's generation wants more in a short time. They want to do new things. I think that is bringing about this change. That is the trend. HR concepts have not changed. It is people's reactions and new technology which is bringing about the change.
In the past, we used to debate a lot on work/ life balance. But the new trend is completely different. There is no more work and no more personal life. It is 24/7 of both.
What is the philosophy you live your life by?
Today’s generation wants more in a short time. They want to do new things. I think that is bringing about this change. That is the trend. HR concepts have not changed. It is people’s reactions and new technology which is bringing about the change
My way of thinking is that you need to be honest to yourself, and when you are honest you need to speak your mind. At the same time, you have to invest in the future generation. I believe in investments. Not financial investments but investing in people. Putting in time and effort on people. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
CC
tadka Biggest black money disclosure In the biggest ever disclosure of black money, the government has announced that 64,275 individuals have declared undisclosed income to the tune of `65,250 crore, under the governments four month long Income Declaration Scheme.
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 35
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ew dyna an m
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Beginn in
Military to Management
From Air Force Sergeant to Bitumen Transporter
In the Air Force, there is no caste or creed and everybody is together. You know that red blood that flows in the veins of everyone is the same; only the blood group is different. So there is unity and team spirit - VRB KRISHNAMURTHY
From being a Sergeant in the Indian Air Force with an expertise in ground defence equipment to becoming the founder owner of Aditya Group, VRB Krishnamurthy has had a varied experience. In his interview with Corporate Citizen, he maps the milestones in his journey By Vinita Deshmukh From a sergeant in the Air Force to an entrepreneur in the transport sector, how did it all happen?
I retired from the Indian Air Force in 1993 and joined my uncle who had a transport business. His office was in Mumbai and he was finding it difficult to get a person who could speak in Tamil as well as in Hindi. That’s why he asked me to join him. Mumbai was a dream place for me - the busiest place with plenty of opportunities. So I worked with him for three years, after which he decided to wind up his business. So, I started on my own in 1996, with a single vehicle and an initial capital of `1, 24,000. Eventually, we were able to take a bank loan and expand. I focussed on road bitumen transport in Mumbai. Within a decade, we spread out, across the country. We reached the No.1 position in bitumen transport in the country with 125 own vehicles with 10 Branches across the country. Our business group is called Aditya Group. The bitumen transport company is Aditya Logistics India Pvt Ltd.
What was your maximum annual turnover?
During our peak period we had turnover of `100 crore as a group including the logistic, IT, Medical equipment Trading and AMW Dealership.
How did you join the Indian Air Force?
I come from a remote village in Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) district. My father was the headman there. My brother was amongst the few youngsters to go out of the village to pursue his college studies. I studied in Tamil medium school in our village from I-V Std. After that, I studied in the same boarding school where my brother was until Std. XI. Then I did my technical course. While studying, I was in the National Cadet Corps (NCC). That was where I got the idea of joining the Indian Air Force. My brother was also my inspiration as he joined the Air Force before me. I was recruited as Air Craftsman.
How many years did you work with the Indian Air Force?
I worked with the Indian Air Force for 15 years. In the last five years of my service, I worked under the Ministry of Defence at ADGES(Air Defence
38 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
Pics: Shantanu Relekar
Ground Environment System, Bangalore). We were trained in French Radar equipment and the Indian Doppler Radar (INDRA) which was the first Indian radar, developed by the Indian Government BEL, Ghaziabad in association with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). I was an Instructor for Ground Equipment Radars where I was teaching both officers and men. My initial contract with the Indian Air Force was for 15 years, after which I took voluntary retirement.
What are the things you learn in the Indian Air Force which a civilian does not get to learn? In the Air Force and all other defence services, discipline comes first and foremost. It runs in our blood. Even today when I get up from a chair, I see to it that it is put back properly. We are also taught that nothing can be achieved without hard work and we are trained to be systematic in everything that we do.
How did the Indian Air Force shape you up as a person and a professional?
In the Air Force, there is no caste or creed and everybody is together. You know that red blood that flows in the veins of everyone is the same; only the blood group is different. So there is unity and team spirit. Everybody is equal out there. This teaching of equality and unity is deeply entrenched in our subconscious. Therefore, if you observe, ex-servicemen perform extremely well even after retirement.
What did you look forward to after retirement? Did you have a plan of action?
Unfortunately, the civil community is unable to reconnect with ex-servicemen, especially those of junior ranks. The number of officers is small in number. So, they get the preference and are appointed as HR heads and in other areas as well. However, personnel of other grades do not get such opportunities though they are far more capable than their civilian counterparts. For example, people are studying today what I studied in the in the Air Force in hardware of a computer, some15 years ago. The defence technology is so good and advanced. Whether it’s the Army, Navy or the Air Force, the technology is very superior. However, ex-servicemen remain unutilised. It was the same with me when I retired. There was no opportunity for me outside.
Still why did you retire?
I took early retirement because I was keen on starting an enterprise, in order that I can contribute something back to the society and also grow to a bigger level. That was my intention. But when I came outside, it was a totally difficult world. I could not get a single rupee of bank loan because I am an ex-service man. I was told that I can avail of a loan only if I give collateral. Being in the defence forces, you are away from your near and dear ones November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 39
Military to Management and your friends for 15 years, so nobody comes to your help. You have to be on your own. I tried doing some small business but it did not work out, so I was compelled to join my uncle in his transport business.
So, what made you opt for bitumen transport business?
Mr Vajpayee was the Prime Minister then and he had ambitiously launched the Golden Quadrilateral Project. So, I thought there was an opportunity. We concentrated on both quality and quantity, to carve a niche for ourselves. From bitumen transport business, we started trading in it too.
What were the teething troubles you faced and what were the milestones on the way?
The first teething problem was that the trade was filled with a lot of corruption and malpractices. We tied up with an oil company and a contractor. It is a tri party agreement. In it, the buyer buys bitumen directly from the oil companies and the transporter does the ferrying. What we did was to assure the contractor who wanted to buy the bitumen that we would provide dedicated quality and quantity service. Oil companies also vouched for us. That made it a tri party agreement. We did a lot of projects this way.
What were the teething problems?
Maintaining the quality was the main problem due to malpractices and secondly none of the transporters had expanded at all India level. We were the only transporter to do so and also the first transporter with 100 plus vehicles. We were the first transporter to seal the bitumen Tankers to avoid shortages and mixing of other products. We are also the first ones to get the ISO certification.
How did you counter malpractices and what kind of malpractices did you face?
The corruption mainly involved the drivers themselves trying to deal with road side buyers. We made sure that drivers are taken care of; we started paying commission other than salaries. We motivated them by giving yearly bonus. A driver completing five years with us would be given a gold chain or some other jewellery. We also took care of education for their children - mainly we treated the staff and drivers as good human beings and gave all privileges’ like staff of our other Group Companies.
What is the name of the IT Company and what does it do?
It is called the Prodigy Informatics Pvt Ltd. We have been developing software for hospital management. There were difficulties in that too. We got the first order for hospital management solution from Maharashtra. It was to be used on trial basis in Mumbai but the person who gave the order got blacklisted for some political reason. Be-
In a job, one needs to take care of only his family but if he does business, he can take care of unlimited number of families. At the end of the day, you are content and go to sleep thinking you have given an opportunity to so many people-VRB KRISHNAMURTHY cause of that, our order got plugged. That caused shortfall of business.
What is the nature of your business in medical equipment?
We import surgical operating microscopes and sell them. The government has brought in an order that the equipment is not compulsory for Post Graduate Medical colleges. So we were not able to sell the high cost equipment. That’s another setback we had.
You have seen many ups and downs - what is your future plan? My son, Adityakrishna Murthy has completed his studies from Symbosis, Pune and has joined me in the business He wants to expand the business in Transport & Logistics. So, we are refocusing only on Bitumen & other black oil product transportation and providing logistic solutions to Road, Airport, Developers, Steel and Power Plants.
What is the unique plan you have, so that you can bounce back and gain the position that you were in? We are trying to work the earlier tried and tested model that is to have more owner-cum-driver’ vehicles and promote them as entrepreneurs and keep the market with us, by giving good service. As the new government is focussing on roads, it will be possible to bounce back by 2020 to our original position.
Even though I have seen ups and downs I recommend one should opt for business. In a job, one needs to take care of only his family but if he does business, he can take care of unlimited number of families. At the end of the day, you are content and go to sleep thinking you have given an opportunity to so many people. These are the things you feel proud about.
What is the philosophy of life that you live by? Live a simple life. What is required for you is simplicity. Money comes and goes; fame comes and goes. But when you leave this body and leave this world, you must be a role model for the next generation. That’s it.
What would be your advice to young people who want to jump into enterprise?
I have been successful in my core business but when I went for expansion, I could not control it properly. The finance and the timing matters. You should go for expansion once you are established, then expand it properly and go to the next one only after that. If you try doing too many things at the same time, you may not be able to cope and succeed.
What do you think of these days’ youngsters?
Your most memorable moment in your business career…
They are brilliant. They are extraordinary. We did not possess their IQ level, when we were young as we had no exposure of media and technology. They need good leaders to guide them and then they would be able to achieve far more than they do now.
Between job and business, which would you advise people to opt for?
Here, I must mention that Col. A Balasubramanian, President of Sri Balaji Society and Editor-In-Chief of Corporate Citizen, who also retired from the Defence Services, has made a magnanimous contribution to higher education in India. We are very proud of him and pray and wish that his service to the society continues for long years. I wish all the news entrepreneurs all the best and may their dreams come true. If we believe, we can. vinitapune@gmail.com
It was a great day, when our new Corporate office was inaugurated after 10 years of business. I could get the opportunity to bring my beloved school teacher who taught me upto Std V and my respected headmaster Fr. V Antonyswamy. Here I must mentioned that Father had helped me during my Std VIII studies by giving me three month credit for the hostel Fees of `35 per month by breaking the rules. I am eternally indebted to him.
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BAI Conference
Serious number crunching can bring business bonanza Serious number crunching and data analytics can yield multiple dividends to businesses, said expert after expert at a recent Business Analytics and Intelligence Conference (BAICON) at IIM Bangalore, be it in government, healthcare, Bollywood, retail, manufacture or more -- for financial fraud detection, organisational transformation, to offer customer solutions, drug delivery, drive process efficiencies, even steer box office returns. By Geetha Rao
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t was all about big data, analytics and number crunching at a recent Business Analytics and Intelligence Conference (BAICON) at IIMB, with plenary sessions and paper presentations dealing with analytics across the spectrum – healthcare, banking, Bollywood, insurance, retail, social media, sports, supply chain and many more. The sessions saw stalwarts in the field -- Prof Pulak Ghosh of IIMB, Sanjay Mujoo, HP Enterprise - CSC, Dr. Ambrish Joshi, Genpact, Ami Shah, IntelliAssist, and Anthony Thomas of GE Global Growth Organization dwelling on the critical role that data analytics can play in business decisions
Big opportunities in Big Data Prof. Pulak Ghosh, IIMB
On New Challenges, Solutions and Applications in Statistics and Machine Learning for Big Data Analytics. ndia could grab opportunities for applications in big data. One big area that India can explore is that of financial analysis, to help in fraud detection, black money, and network of money movement, tax evasion, ghost accounts and the like. Big data analytics can play a big role in official statistics. It could be applied in multiple areas like employment, real estate demand, household finance, Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana, agriculture loans, crop insurance, subsidy distribution, monitoring economic development, geo-spatial analytics, financial inclusion, incentives for under-served geographies, Direct Benefit Transfer monitoring, enhancing early warning signals (in case of disasters), to name a few.
I
42 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
There is also work going on along with ISRO through ISRO’s monitoring and tracking facility. Since there is so much money channelled into public funded projects (like roads, kachcha makaan, pukka makan for Rs.30,000 and so on.) there’s also a lot of mishandling occurring too. So, the PMO wants to know if middlemen can be monitored, detected and tracked, using tracking images. Quoting another example, an international one, he pointed out how Italy is trying to track tax evaders using big data and analytics. The method used is to map out cars that are parked at night on the roads. By such mapping, you can find out what income a person should earn to own such a car. Another project Prof. Ghosh found interesting was The Billion Prices
Project @ MIT in 2010. Argentina had a low inflation problem and had asked MIT to figure it all out. MIT looked at all online grocery store retail prices on a daily basis by web trawling. It was found that inflation was actually high. “In 2010, it was a cool way to look at the problem,” he said.
Simple activity, huge data repository
Sanjay Mujoo, Centre director, HP Enterprise - CSC
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anjay Mujoo, Centre Director, HP Enterprise – CSC, threw light on the business strategy and analytics practice at HP. Working out of its Global Support Delivery, he explained how they took care of customer solutions incidence breakdown – customers call them with a problem, the problem is diagnosed, engineers’ time is scheduled to customers’ time, the problem is addressed and solved. Simple enough, but this one simple activity becomes a huge repository of valuable data. With HP handling three million cases in a year, it results in 12 million interactions recorded in its system. When you include all the other associated data generated, it makes up for 21 million interactions in a year. When interactions regarding warranty period support for three years are included, it rises to 50-60 million customer interactions, and that is a lot of data. All this data can be analysed for insights. In markets like Australia and New Zealand, interactions yielded data on aspects like: What is the traffic on certain routes / roads? When does the engineer pick up the spare part? When does the customer go by train and can’t take a call? When does
When interactions regarding warranty period support for three years are included, it rises to 5060 million customer interactions, and that is a lot of data. All this data can be analysed for insights he have lunch? When is the engineer available and when not? What is the best perceived customer service? All this means endless opportunities in the service industry – which is 1.6 trillion dollars and growing at 3-4 percent annually, said Mujoo. Similarly, other areas can be explored – when the warranty period is over, how many customers come back and renew it? Are there any patterns? Why would customers sign any contract – what are the drivers for that? All this is valuable, actionable data for business.
Data analytics to transform organisations Dr Ambrish Joshi, AVP, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Genpact
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oming from the pharma sector, Dr. Joshi said what he’d bring to the table was not about analytical techniques, analytical modelling and the like, but how to operationalize that. “Analytics is fine, you build a model, you make a dashboard, you make visualisation tools, data management tools, or insight generation,” he said. He spoke about the transformation approach at the analytics function within pharmaceutical organizations. What is transformation? Any organisation that wants to change from the current level to what it wants to be in the coming years is transformation. Speaking of the pharma industry, he pointed out that it has growing regulations, and with aware consumers, it’s a complex environment. The analytics function too had changed a lot. The work profile, customer expectation and demand have changed. Data had become a critical force for decision making. Explaining the key elements in a pharma industry, he said if a pharma company makes 10000 molecules, only 10 make it to testing in human beings. Out of ten products, only one makes it to the market. Out of four, only one yields returns on its investment (ROI). Therefore, it involves a huge amount of focus, a huge amount of cost, and expectation. Also, in pharma, everything is regulated. Nothing can be done without approval. Nobody can launch a product or test it on human beings without approval. The pharmacy must have a licence, the physician preNovember 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 43
BAI Conference Big data can shake Bollywood Ami Shah, Co-Founder, IntelliAssist
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Each country has its own regulations, each drug that has to be approved must have its own IP (intellectual property) behind it and patent laws which forever govern it scribing it must be authorised, the hospital must be accredited. Besides, supply is R&D intensive. Ten to 15% of business value must revert to R&D, year on year. This means long lead times. Most new medicines are developed simultaneously. The market determines the winner. Demand is regulated. Nearly 20-25% of sales occur through government and public sector buying. There are multiple customers. Distribution, insurance companies play a critical role. It is a complex market. The physician decides whether a medicine will be a success, not the consumer. Further, each country has its own regulations, each drug that has to be approved must have its own IP (intellectual property) behind it and patent laws which forever govern it. The product will expire or get into generic production after 10-15 years in the market. This does not exist in other industries. He added that 10-15 years ago, there was no analytic function. It was all in silos - sales and marketing, R&D for manufacture and supply chain. This changed about five to seven years ago. There are four major steps for analytical approach, according to Dr. Joshi: discover, develop, design and drive. Discover – align organisational goals, set up things in place so that you are on the right path, find out what the organisational needs are. Define the organisational goal. What do you want to achieve? What is the readiness of the organisation to transform? Design – Find out if there are gaps. Once you define what you want to do, prioritise, find out key / specific gaps, identify the gaps. Develop a solution here. Develop operational goals for the analytics function, develop a road map. Organisations fail because maybe their priorities change. Or the organisational goals were not set. Drive – Is there a driving force? Is there a commitment to stick to the goal and the defined road map? This is where many organisations fail. Further, said Dr. Joshi, have a clear cut communication plan with senior leadership, and a good change management in place. This is how analytics can help transform an organization in the pharma industry. 44 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
mi Shah, Co-Founder, IntelliAssist, a digital and collinear marketing solutions provider, spoke about Bollywood and social media analytics and how it was used for the horror film 1920 – The Evil Returns. This was a case study published by Harvard Business Publishing, and Dr Dinesh Kumar, faculty from IIMB was one of the writers of the case, who worked along with his team of research analysts. The marketing effort used included reputation management, social media management, content strategy, creating a genre of horror movie fans, posting, promoting, driving traffic on Facebook, cross trafficking (putting a video on Facebook and giving the link of YouTube on it), running campaigns, online advertising, and providing digital and collinear marketing solutions. 1920 – The Evil Returns was a franchisee (so, there’s a used brand equity a marketer can consider); it was a niche genre; unlike a romantic movie or a thriller which has a larger appeal; also, a movie has a short life cycle, the first week is where you have to collect the maximum revenue. Incidentally, 2012 was the year in which Bollywood started using the digital and social media platform aggressively. The campaign period was 45 days. The business had these objectives that social media had to achieve: 1. Get the maximum number of views for the theatrical trailer which is the first piece of content that introduces the audience to the film. So the audience makes a decision whether to watch the film or not. 2. Get visibility for the official poster. However, people started taking pictures of lead actors Aftab Shivdasani and Tia Bajpai and put up very badly photoshopped pictures as posters of TER, which brought down the value of the film. Hence, reputation management was employed – the fans were asked to direct the posters to the marketing team and they would be uploaded on the fb page, and they would get more likes. The team put these up saying they were from fans and not the official poster. This took 15 -18 days. Also, the team had to create a community of people who liked horror as
Get the maximum number of views for the theatrical trailer, which is the first piece of content that introduces the audience to the film, so the audience makes a decision whether to watch the film or not
a genre – this was done by offering three Facebook pages – one for the film, one for the company and one for the director, and driving traffic from one page to another. Twitter had a small audience, so Facebook and Twitter were connected so that any post going on Facebook would actually be posted on Twitter. All the top fans were recognised, helping build a community spirit. Looking back, the team saw it had got the demographics right – 18 to 35 years; gender too, as it was 80% male and 20% female. The campaign also reached 2.6 times the intended target population. Other achievements of the marketing team included reputation management; high visibility for the official poster, building the community, cross platform trafficking, test marketing a creative that could be used in other media. At the end of five weeks, the film collected Rs 21 crore. The analytics team found that there was a positive correlation between Facebook engagement and box office collection. Coming to the scope for analytics in Bollywood, Ami Shah said it existed at various stages in the journey of film making. Analytics can help you take decisions during unforeseen circumstances like snowfall on location and whether to continue with shooting or not. Also, in case of early signals, analytics can tell you how to optimise the cost or the promotion material – this is an area where analytics can play an important role. Analytics can play a role in how to release the film – how many screens are required, single screen vs multiplex screens, number of shows, timing, and the like. Everyone talks about collection, but what about content, was it effective? What about music? What about promotion? What about distribution? All these can be figured out using analytics. However, the reality is that most in Bollywood usually go by gut feel, she says: “Right now, only 15 films released may have some kind of analytics and some level of informed decision making. But 350- 400 are released based only on gut feel.”
Digital convergence is changing the world
Anthony Thomas, CIO of GE Global Growth Organization
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peaking on leading in a digital industrial world, Anthony Thomas said how social mobility, analytics, and the cloud are converging today. The confluence of these forces has made a lot of difference to the world. So the leadership in this age must be very different from that in the past. He spoke about how things had changed over the years: recently he saw a picture that showed how the first computer was shifted on a truck, it was that big. Whereas today we carry all sorts of things in our phones with way more memory. We also use wearables which monitor the tiniest detail in our lives - including the number of steps we take as we walk. Soon, we may have driverless cars and drones that deliver packages at our doorsteps. With connected homes, we don’t even have to be physically near a switch anymore. Also, there are 98 smart cities that the government has announced. And then there is the digital industrial internet. Earlier, machines were manufactured, everything was controlled physically, transported to the customer’s site and operated by the people there. But in the future, many of these machines will be controlled by software. In those days, no one could have imagined that a locomotive could be controlled through software. Today, the way a locomotive moves can be changed so that it can make a huge difference to us. Massive data is collected through smart machines. For example, every jet engine that flies generates about 1 terabyte of data on one flight. With five to ten flights a day and about 100,000 airplanes flying about, a lot of data gets generated just from aircraft engines, which can make a huge difference to the world. Additionally, you can even do predictive maintenance: even before there’s failure, you can know there is a potential for failure. Every time an aircraft lands, there is a visual inspection; these insights can literally give insights into the potential future performance. We can prevent failure even
Every time an aircraft lands, there is a visual inspection; these insights can literally give insights into the potential future performance. We can prevent failure even before that happens, or make things safer before that happens, or make things safer. Recently, a technician was sucked into the engine in Mumbai when he was close to the engine. So, devise a way so that you can stay away from the engine, yet manage things better, using data analytics. Thus, analytics can generate data driven insights, enhancing asset performance. It also gives a lot back to the customer. For example, in aviation, 1% of fuel savings can bring 30 billion dollar worth of benefits over the years to customers. Similarly, in healthcare; an X-ray machine captures images but what you capture from the data is not static data anymore. Real live data has a lot of power that you can analyse, assess and understand about the conditions of the human being so that you can do preventive medicine rather than intervention after you have a problem. Coming to locomotives, a locomotive engine is about 500-1000 pounds, using 5000 gallons of fuel and moving really slowly. It’s important to increase the velocity so that it moves faster, yet ensuring there is fuel efficiency. How do you move it like that? Today, the approach to solving problems also differs. Here’s an example – fuel efficiency is related to the weight of the aircraft engine. The lighter the engine, the higher its fuel efficiency. At one of the units at GE, there were a lot of engineers researching in reducing the weight of the engine. However, the bracket holding the engine was still too heavy. So a crowd sourcing challenge was thrown open to the world as part of a forum. A very young engineer from Indonesia came up with a winning design for the bracket reducing its weight by 84 percent. So problem solving is also different today. Likewise, the leadership style can also be different. IT is all about process efficiency, cost reduction, etc. The new leader or CIO of tomorrow is not the traditional IT guy, but must think differently based on outcome. IT leaders have to spend more time with sales and marketing teams to understand their problems and start solving them, predominantly through gathering information and processing that information through analytics. The focus is on growth and margin. Leadership has to be agile, innovative and entrepreneurial. The new leader is the one who takes charge, decides fast, is empathetic, understands the customer and how the customer uses the product so that he can go back and improve it. All based on data. geetrao@gmail.com November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 45
pWC global CEO survey
The global CEOs challenge
Being a CEO of a global company is an arduous task. Especially in the face of a volatile economic climate and changing customer tastes. Leading business consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted their 19th annual global CEO survey to understand the primary challenges and opportunities for CEOs worldwide. Corporate Citizen presents the results
C
By Neeraj Varty
EOs sometimes face an impossible task they have to answer to stakeholders on one hand and fulfill customer expectations on the other while simultaneously juggling harsh economic, social and political climates across the globe. PwC interviewed 1,409 CEOs in over 83 countries to understand their perspective on challenges that companies face in an increased globalised environment. The results are startling, to say the least. CEOs are concerned about a wide range of risks worldwide. The world has been gripped by a protectionist atmosphere, with increased paranoia and economic uncertainty leading to events like Brexit, and a growing presence of over-regulation being seen in European and American markets. On the other hand, Lack of trust and corruption are major concerns when it comes to emerging markets. Developed markets are reaching a saturation point and growth opportu-
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nities are few and far in between. CEOs are facing major challenges making inroads in China and emerging countries. Compared to 2015, CEOs claim that the economic climate has become much more grim. Not all is gloom and doom, though. CEOs see a tremendous growth opportunity in BRIC countries, especially India and Brazil. India is fast emerging as the go-to-destination for companies. Investment in India is set to rise to unprecedented numbers, due to favorable economic policies and rising disposable income. Another positive outcome of the survey is the consensus amongst CEOs that the customer is the most important priority for the company. The relationship with the customer goes beyond the product. The customer is made to feel like an extended part of the organisation, and their feedback is taken very seriously. Let us now look at each of these observations in detail.
CEOs are getting more concerned about a wide range of risks Q: How concerned are you about the following potential economic, policy, social and business threats to your organisation’s growth prospects? Over-regulation, Geopolitical uncertainty, and an increasing tax burden are some of the major concerns for CEOs worldwide. Protectionism, cyber threats and social unstability are other chief worries.
Bribery and corruption, lack of trust in business, social instability and consumer spending and behaviours are concerns which are rapidly escalating in the last few years. Q: How confident are you about your company’s prospects for revenue growth over the next 12 months? Do you believe global economic growth will improve, stay the same or decline over the next 12 months? CEOs are increasingly becoming worried about growth prospects of their companies in an uncertain economic climate. CEOs are facing a number of barriers to execution when responding to changing customer and stakeholder expectations
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 47
pWC global CEO survey Q: Which of the following barriers, if any, is your organisation encountering when responding to wider stakeholder expectations? There are a number of barriers that CEOs say they’re encountering when responding to the changing expectations of customers and other stakeholders. Chief among these are the additional costs of doing business, cited by 45 percent of CEOs . Compliance with unclear or inconsistent regulations, cited by 42 percent of CEOs, also incur costs, which are often passed onto customers via higher prices Not everything is gloom and doom though. CEO’s see tremendous opportunity in BRIC countries like India.
India is attractive to CEOs Q: Which three countries, excluding the one in which you are based, do you consider most important for your overall growth prospects over the next 12 months? CEOs also continue to see investment opportunities across the BRICs, despite the complicated picture they present. India, which has continued to do well under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pro-business government, is now among CEOs’ five most promising overseas markets. Brazil, meanwhile, has slipped only a notch despite its political and economic problems. Even Russia has held fast despite geopolitical tensions and its heavy dependence on oil and gas.
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CEOs must walk a political tightrope Q: For each alternative, please select the one that you believe the world is moving more towards This complicated world picture isn’t just being shaped by economic and geopolitical trends. There is a more fundamental shift taking place, namely from a postglobalisation world to one with many dimensions of power, growth and threats – a transition that we call multi-polar. The majority of CEOs already anticipate this shift: 59 percent expect multiple economic models, 75 percent expect increasing regionalisation in trade, over 81percent see increasingly divergent systems of laws and liberties, and 83% predict differing fundamental belief systems underpinning societies.
Customers and clients are top priority for CEOs
Q: What impact do the following wider stakeholder groups have on your organisation’s strategy? Customers remain the top priority, with 90 percent of CEOs indicating they have a high or very high impact on their business strategy. But government and regulators come in second (cited by 69 percent of CEOs). That’s higher than industry competitors and peers (67 percent) and no doubt reflects CEOs’ enduring concerns about over-regulation in the marketplace.
CEOs believe customers are seeking relationships with organisations that address wider stakeholder needs Q: Which of these statements best describes successful organisations in your sector in five years’ time? The majority of CEOs (70 percent) feel their customers are most interested in cost, convenience and functionality. Surprisingly, more than a quarter (27 percent) of CEOs believe that their customers are seeking relationships with organisations that address wider stakeholder needs This surges to 44 percent when CEOs consider what their customers will prioritise in five years’ time. Fifty-nine percent of CEOs believe that top talent wants to work with organisations that share their social values and 67 percent feel it will be important in five years. Meanwhile, 37 percent of CEOs believe their investors seek ethical investments and 45 percent believe this will be the case in five years. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 49
Star Campus Placement
The craft of smart An alumnus of the prestigious B-School, Indian Institute of Management Indore, Sayantan Banerjee is reaping the fruit of his confidence and determination that helped him clinch a meaty position in marketing with ABP Pvt Ltd, which is a name to reckon within the media. He shares his campus placement story By Namrata Gulati Sapra
o
On Cloud 9
Sayantan offers a quick insight into the profile of his campus placement. The contentment in his voice is unmissable, “I have been placed with ABP Pvt Ltd. The profile which was offered to me was in the marketing domain. However, as per company policies, there is a job rotation through various departments in the first year and at the end of the first year, we are allocated our departments and the final job profile. As for the package, I cannot disclose it. However, I am happy to share that the return on investment for me is more than 100 percent in terms of the cost of MBA, thanks to my package!”
The P-Day!
Sayantan takes a walk down the memory
lane of the placement day, “The placement process is very taxing on all the candidates as it goes on for a few days and happens round the clock. Personally, I always knew that getting placed would not be a problem. So, I was not nervous about it. But anxieties are always there, no matter how good anyone is. The primary thing to do is to tackle the stress and anxieties and take the challenge head on with confidence! Especially in the case of B-Schools, confidence and the way you communicate goes a long way in determining your placement!” He cuts to the chase, “The placement procedure varies from company to company. In this case, for example, there were a total of 14 students who were shortlisted by the company for the final interview. There was no
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intermediate process. The resumes were sent to the company and there the candidates were shortlisted accordingly. The interview was conducted in 2-3 rounds. One with each of the two VPs of the media channel and a final round, where both of them were present once again. The interview round was mostly about guesstimates and a few questions based on the profiles we could be offered. Also, there were questions based on the strengths and weaknesses and achievements in personal and professional life.” He reveals what made ABP a tough nut to crack, “For this particular company, I had to face a direct interview with two vice presidents. So, it definitely was a big deal. However, I kept a cool head and went about the placement process. It was a long wait until
Making a happy picture with the family
Strive for these Five! Be confident about what you are going to say. Just because you are studying in a good college does not imply that you will get a good placement. Remember, you are competing with everyone of who is at par with you in every which way.So, be prepared. Always ask for help from friends. They give the best last minute advice. Do not get stressed out at any point no matter what hurdles you face during the placement drive as you might become anxious, begin to falter. Besides, your confidence drops, so does your performance and you
the results were declared, but it was all worth it.” He gets philosophical at this point, “If something that you had pinned your hopes on doesn't work out, it takes a lot of effort to get back in the game, but on the other side, if you make the cut, you find yourself on cloud 9. Thankfully the latter happened with me as I could ace the placement procedure.”
Behind the scenes
Sayantan took the route less travelled to land the placement, for he played it smart, “I felt it was most important to have an understanding of the type of questions I could confront in the interview and then prepare myself accordingly. ABP, in its previous screening processes, had asked a few guesstimates. So that was obviously going
to be the main area of focus for me for the following rounds. Along with that, I worked hard on making sure that questions related to my CV and myself were thoroughly prepared but not memorised. At the end of the day, I was clear about what I wanted to say and that was the key to clinching this placement. Instead of answering questions even before they are no more on the interviewer's mind, it is better to listen to the question very carefully, take a few seconds to sort your thoughts and then start answering.” He adds further, “Obviously sugarcoating answers does not help in any way. It's good to stick to the point and be truthful instead of beating around the bush. Realising this turned things in my favour as well.” namratagulati8@gmail.com
get rejected. This further adds to your anxiety. Therefore, anxiety is a vicious circle. When in doubt, take a deep breath, tell yourself, “This too shall pass” and go on with your life anyway. Enjoy things as they come and do not get so serious about placements that you lose interest in everything else. Always remember that there are a ton of things one can learn from and they transcend books and academics. It is these things that will help you find your strengths and weaknesses. Be aware all the time and do let your hair down, often.
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tadka
5 Indian cities among top 100 destinations Five Indian cities have been named among the top 100 destination cities globally, according to the sixth annual Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index . These include: Mumbai and Chennai at numbers 27 and 30 respectively, Delhi at number 48, Kolkata at 62 and Pune at 91. Mumbai and Chennai stand out as the fastest growing destination cities globally with at least 1 million overnight visitors in 2016.
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Loved & Married too
It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock. Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage
Married for a little over six months, Tushita Sarkar and Abhishek Biswas are on the cusp of a promising future. What makes their journey especially interesting is the lessons they’ve already imbibed in the course of a long friendship
Together we overcome By Kalyani Sardesai
R
omance is great; relationships are work. Dates over coffee are good fun, marriage is hard-work. Dreams are lovely—provided you work to make them come true. Sterling observations that are already part of this young couple’s life experiences. They very nearly didn’t make it together— given the long break-up following his parents’ disapproval. Gradually, everyone did come around—but more so Tushita and Abhishek who understood the simple fact that sustaining a relationship meant work and commitment. “In a way, it’s a good thing it all happened. We have come out stronger because of it,” says Tushita.
Back to the beginning
The duo were introduced to each other in their graduation days way back in 2006. From the
very beginning, they discovered they were a gratifying mix of similarities and differences. While both are Bengalis from Jamshedpur, their personalities and education are a study in contrast. Tushita (27) has completed her MBA in International Business and Marketing from BIIB, Abhishek (31) has done his BE(computers). She’s currently employed as Business Project Head with TCS, while Abhishek is set to move from his current profile as associate producer, UBI Soft to heading the gaming zone at NH TV, Netherlands. In order to be with him, Tushita has asked to be transferred from Pune (where they are presently located) to the Netherlands. Despite the palpable excitement, there is a strong commitment to making a nascent marriage even stronger. “When you live together, you realise there’s so much you don’t know about your partner,” grins Tushita. “It’s like getting to know them all over again.”
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Though the adjustments are many, it is made easier by a mutual appreciation of each other’s qualities. “You could say I am the whole newspaper, while he’s a man of few words,” she smiles. “What I really like is his simplicity; he is what he is at all times, and will never pretend to be what he’s not.” For his part, Abhishek enjoys her “smartness, intelligence and depth of understanding. “ It took him just a little while to figure out that she was the one for him. “I guess I must have proposed to her about twice,” he reminisces. “Once in the course of our courtship, the second time on the train, after both our families had agreed to our relationship. Both times, it was a yes, of course.” A decade of knowing each other has stood them in good stead. “I am glad that we started out as friends, and a lot of the stuff that happened, took place before we cemented our relationship,” he says.
When you live together, you realise there’s so much you don’t know about your partner. It is like getting to know him all over again after getting married - Tushita things will eventually work out to our hearts’ desire...I keep that in mind always.”
Building a home together
pics: yusuf khan
“From the very beginning, he took a lot of effort to spend time with me. For instance, during our student days, he would drive all the way from Wanowrie, his work place to Balaji—Tathawade just to have dinner with me and drop me back. Such genuine interest is definitely a great thing for any girl,” she narrates. “The turning point in their relationship was when Tushita lost her father.” I was just 22, and it placed a lot of pressure on me. He was hugely supportive in that period and I realized he was someone I could count on,” says Tushita. Even so, a break up was inevitable, given that his parents didn’t quite approve of a working girl. “But eventually they realised that we really cared for each other, and approached my
They tied the knot
The pillars of a marriage l Spending time together
before and after marriage l Making an effort to
participate in each other’s hobbies l Long, meaningful conversations l Learning from past mistakes l Doing things together family for marriage,” narrates Tushita. “So it has not been an easy journey, but one full of many ups and downs and valuable learnings. I would particularly like to thank Bala Sir, here, not only only for his valuable guidance but also his words of wisdom about accommodation and patience...He told me once, Love has a way of healing all wounds (in the case of in-laws) and
Corporate careers are indeed stressful, but it is helpful that Abhishek has a lead of a few years and with his ‘calm, studied approach’ can help de-escalate the work pressure. “He can predict quite accurately what’s going to happen next, and we discuss my options from there. What’s more, when the going is particularly tough, he won’t pressurise me in anyway. He’s most understanding and accommodating.” Household chores are a moot point--he insists he helps, she says he doesn’t ! Still, both are particular about spending quality time together, which includes movies, restaurants and gaming. “We are both music and movie lovers, apart from being avid foodies. Between us, we have covered most of the menus that Pune has to offer,” he shares. Both enjoy experimenting with food--and trying out different recipes. “We are both quite adventurous in that regard; me, more so than him. Like on the honeymoon trip to Mauritius, where I tried out stuff like Shark and Octopus.” Interestingly, they own quite a collection of video games. “He’s techno-savvy and techno-crazy, no two ways about it. Otherwise a very simple soul, who won’t bother to spend much on himself, his one indulgence is games. Over the years, he’s got me to enjoy them too—and we spend a lot of time on the console,” she says. “Considering his understanding of the world of technology, a lot of our conversations revolve around subjects like Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. He is most disinterested in the gossip around it—but when it comes to such topics, he really comes alive as a conversationalist.” As far as fights are concerned, she is the hot-tempered one, while he’s the pacifist. “It’s always a good idea for one person to keep the peace, when the other is upset about something.” he says. While starting a family is still some time away, Abhishek is all for extending his full support to her aspirations. “She wants to give up her work at some point, and I plan to help her set-up a startup. Whatever actually happens, I will support her in every way,” he says. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 53
Health
Counselling better than medicine According to WHO, antidepressants can be an effective form of treatment for moderate-severe depression but are not the first line of treatment for cases of mild depression. They should not be used for treating depression in children and are not the first line of treatment in adolescents, among whom they should be used with caution Overview
Depression is a common illness worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people affected. Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition. It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family. At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Over 800 000 people die due to suicide every year. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds. Although there are known, effective treatments for depression, fewer than half of those affected in the world (in many countries, fewer than 10%) receive such treatments. Barriers to effective care include a lack of resources, lack of trained health care providers, and social stigma associated with mental disorders. Another barrier to effective care is inaccurate assessment. In countries of all income levels, people who are depressed are often not correctly diagnosed, and others who do not have the disorder are too often misdiagnosed and prescribed antidepressants. The burden of depression and
other mental health conditions is on the rise globally. A World Health Assembly resolution passed in May 2013 has called for a comprehensive, coordinated response to mental disorders at country level.
Types and symptoms
Depending on the number and severity of symptoms, a depressive episode can be categorized as mild, moderate, or severe. A key distinction is also made between depression in people who have or do not have a history of manic episodes. Both types of depression can be chronic (i.e. over an extended period of time) with relapses, especially if they go untreated. Recurrent depressive disorder: this disorder involves repeated depressive episodes. During these episodes, the person experiences depressed mood, loss of interest and enjoyment, and reduced energy leading to diminished activity for at least two weeks. Many people with depression also suffer from anxiety symptoms, disturbed sleep and appetite and may have feelings of guilt or low self-worth, poor concentration and even medically unexplained symptoms. Depending on the number and severity of symptoms, a depressive
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Many people with depression also suffer from anxiety symptoms, disturbed sleep and appetite and may have feelings of guilt or low selfworth, poor concentration and even medically unexplained symptoms
--- l --Depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, an estimated 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression --- l --Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. --- l --More women are affected by depression than men --- l --At its worst, depression can lead to suicide --- l --There are effective treatments for depression
episode can be categorised as mild, moderate, or severe. An individual with a mild depressive episode will have some difficulty in continuing with ordinary work and social activities, but will probably not cease to function completely. During a severe depressive episode, it is very unlikely that the sufferer will be able to continue with social, work, or domestic activities, except to a very limited extent. Bipolar affective disorder: this
type of depression typically consists of both manic and depressive episodes separated by periods of normal mood. Manic episodes involve elevated or irritable mood, over-activity, pressure of speech, inflated self-esteem and a decreased need for sleep.
Contributing factors and prevention
Depression results from a complex interaction of social, psychological
and biological factors. People who have gone through adverse life events (unemployment, bereavement, psychological trauma) are more likely to develop depression. Depression can, in turn, lead to more stress and dysfunction and worsen the affected person’s life situation and depression itself. There are interrelationships between depression and physical health. For example, cardiovascular disease can lead to depression and vice versa. Prevention programmes have been shown to reduce depression. Effective community approaches to prevent depression include schoolbased programmes to enhance a pattern of positive thinking in children and adolescents. Interventions for parents of children with
behavioural problems may reduce parental depressive symptoms and improve outcomes for their children. Exercise programmes for the elderly can also be effective in depression prevention.
Diagnosis and treatment
There are effective treatments for moderate and severe depression. Health care providers may offer psychological treatments (such as behavioural activation, cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT], and interpersonal psychotherapy [IPT]) or antidepressant medication (such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs] and tricyclic antidepressants [TCAs]). Health care providers should keep in mind the possible adverse effects associated with antidepressant medication, the ability to deliver either intervention (in terms of expertise, and/or treatment availability), and individual preferences. Different psychological treatment formats for consideration include individual and/or group face-to-face psychological treatments delivered by professionals and supervised lay therapists. Psychosocial treatments are also effective for mild depression. Antidepressants can be an effective form of treatment for moderate-severe depression but are not the first line of treatment for cases of mild depression. They should not be used for treating depression in children and are not the first line of treatment in adolescents, among whom they should be used with caution.
WHO response
Depression is one of the priority conditions covered by WHO’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP). The Programme aims to help countries increase services for people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders, through care provided by health workers who are not specialists in mental health. The programme asserts that with proper care, psychosocial assistance and medication, tens of millions of people with mental disorders, including depression, could begin to lead normal lives – even where resources are scarce. (Source: www.who.int)
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Pearls of Wisdom
By Rashmi
Rashmi with her book
How to
‘emerge’ The level of distress for an infant, adolescent or adult is commensurate with their ability to deal with it—bracketing it as equal in its intensity
I
t started its journey millions of years ago, travelling through innumerable eras, ravaged and bruised by the onslaught of time—at times emerging a winner and at times stranded in the dungeons of failure. It’s all but a part of the game plan of ‘whether it got upgraded to the next level or not, and the bruising happens to be an integral, almost indispensable part of this code.’ This ebb and flow through mountains and valleys, through hell or high water and through endless seas of stormy waves is a test that helps ascertain its emergence into light.
By now you must wonder what the ‘it’ is.
‘It’ is all of us: It’s our souls. Our body is nothing but a medium through which our souls learn. This learning process is painstakingly difficult for our physical form, and we often hear ourselves hurl curses at the challenging situations we find ourselves in and bemoan our troubles
with ‘What did I do wrong to deserve this’, or ‘When will my troubles end’, or ‘Why does it always have to happen to me’, and so on. The answers to decoding life’s challenges are simple yet complicated because that is exactly how life is: simple yet complicated. The art of living an ideal life is a learnt one, and we are sent into this world to do so. No one is born knowing how to live the perfect life. Difficult situations are a part of the grand design and the powers of this Universe/God/Masters have it all planned out. Although deviations might occur, on account of our own failures, in the masters plan, but the basic sets of situations are what they present before us, and it is dependent on us in its entirety to steer it to the place where it rightfully deserves to be—beside the fountain
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of growth and learning. If we learn the right lessons from our experiences, we move closer to this fountain. Likewise, if we do not, we are faced with more challenges to enable us to learn the same lessons; ultimate aim being to push the soul towards enlightenment. Each time we are introduced into a new physical body, we are awarded with a set of predestined situations, as mentioned earlier. For example, the family we are born to, our economic or social conditions, and so forth. As we grow older our situations become more dynamic, and we learn to adapt and change. We go through school and learn to handle our peers, strive to achieve, and acquire behaviours that are conducive to live in the society. Our adult years are perceived as more trying, more burdensome because that’s when we
As we grow older our situations become more dynamic, and we learn to adapt and change. We go through school and learn to handle our peers, strive to achieve, and acquire behaviours that are conducive to live in the society
are establishing ourselves in our careers, relationships and thought processes. I will be comparing the body and the soul development simultaneously because on close examination you will find that it is much a replica of one another. Infancy of body, infancy of soul, adolescence of body and adolescence of soul, maturity of the body and maturity of the soul are stages that both the soul and the body go through. Challenges or struggles are their drivers for development. As far as the body is concerned, challenges are age-specific and as far as the soul is concerned the challenges are soul-specific, i.e. age of the soul.
Age-specific
This only means that challenges are in accordance with the ability of the body and mind to
handle them. You face more challenges as an adult because you are capable of handling adult situations. An infant faces the same level of difficulty when suffering from colic. Similarly, a school child facing ridicule for not scoring well finds the situation deeply challenging. The level of distress for an infant, adolescent or adult is commensurate with their ability to deal with it —bracketing it as equal in its intensity. For example, an adult feeling colicky is neither a problem nor a huge challenge or if an infant is ridiculed /scorned, it is incapable of understanding its ramifications and is beyond its realm of even remotely learning life’s lessons through ridicule.
Soul-specific
Principle is the same—the challenges that a
young soul faces might appear insignificant in comparison to the challenges that the adolescent or the mature soul might face but given the threshold that each of them is on, their problems can safely be categorised as being equivalent in their intensity. For example, if a soul, in a certain lifetime, was meant to suffer mental turmoil as compared to physical turmoil, it will experience as much pain as a person who suffers challenges like poverty, disability, abuse, etc. These challenges are an inseparable part of our being without which the light of knowledge and wisdom will always remain elusive. One can either emerge from these challenges or sink deeper into them; the difference is in the efforts each one of us takes to emerge victorious from our challenges and this is what this book is all about. How to ‘Emerge’. (Rashmi is the author of the book, `Here and Beyond’ which was recently published by Pegasus Books)
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tadka
Indian Govt. makes 139 Twitter account requests in 2016 The Government of India has asked for information on as many as 139 accounts between the first six months of 2016, and asked for over 42 of them to be removed from the micro-blogging website, as per Twitter’s biannual report. Twitter, is, however, yet to remove any account.
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 57
B
Bollywood Biz
ollywood Tourism, Maharashtra Tourism and Mumbai Filmcity tours are some of the organisers who have Bollywood themed tour packages. We have picked Bollywood Tourism for this article, which has one of the most comprehensive tour packages and which is also one of the most repuatable. The duration of the tour is around six hours, and it includes the following.
Star homes from outside
Visit the homes of Bollywood’s stalwarts such as Amitabh Bachchan’s bunglow Jalsa, Shahrukh Khan’s palace Mannat, and the ever popular
Galaxy Apartments, where Salman Khan stays with his family.
Visit to studios - live shooting guaranteed
You will be taken to a Bollywood studio to see a movie being shot live. Which studio you would be taken to depends on availability and feasibility, and is not known beforehand. Also, it is important to note that the organisers do not guarantee you will see a big movie star. It could just as well be a small movie being shot.
VFX
Experience how special effects are used in Bollywood Blockbusters. Movies like RA.ONE,
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Krrish, Baahubali, etc are possible only because of the visual effects used in them. See first hand the work that goes into bringing these blockbusters on screen by visiting a VFX studio and seeing the technicians in action.
Sound post production
Witness the process of dubbing and sound mixing that happens in the post production of films. A visit to a sound studio also increases your chances of seeing a star who has come to dub for their movie.
Bollywood Café
A visit to the famous Bollywood café for snacks and possibly some star sightings.
Bollywood costume gallery
See some of the most iconic costumes in Indian cinema history by visiting the Bollywood costume gallery. Costumes like Mogambo, Ra.One, and Shehenshah can be seen here.
100 years of Bollywood in AV
See 100 years of Bollywood in Audio Visual format in an amphitheater in the next stage of the tour. Witness Bollywood from its inception to the global phenomenon it is today.
Bollywood dance show
Dance is the heart of Bollywood and the masala that makes Indian cinema so unique. Witness an exclusive dance show in original Bollywood
style to experience a Bollywood musical up close and personal.
Bollywood make-up room
Take a peek inside an authentic Bollywood make up room to understand what it takes to make the stars look so ravishing.
Empty Bollywood set
Visit a set of an Bollywood movie after shooting to see the intricacy and colours of a Bollywood set. This is where the magic is made.
Bollywood gully (hand painted pictures)
Bollywood gully contains hand painted pic-
tures of famous Bollywood stars as well as iconic movie posters that highlight the inspiration that movies have on art and popular culture. The cost of the tour is `9,560 for full day and `7,515 for half day
The cost also includes
• Pick up & drop from desired point (within Mumbai limits) via private AC transportation • Personalised assistance from professional guides. (English speaking tour guide) • Refreshment / Snacks in Bollywood Café • Entry fee to studios & workshops + Inclusive of all taxes neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Bollywood Tours:
Be a Part of Stardom Bollywood is one of the primary allures of the city of Mumbai, not just for our countrymen, but for foreigners too. However, without a proper guide, it can be daunting to try to experience the best of Bollywood on your own. This edition, Corporate Citizen shows you some awesome Bollywood tours for that A - list visit to Tinseltown BY NEERAJ VARTY
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 59
Mobile apps
‘Pixel’
Perfect! After what seems like an eternity, it has finally happened. Google is now officially entering into the hardware business. After years of sitting on the sidelines, watching its mobile operating system android being customised by smartphone makers, Google has decided to throw its hat in the ring. After all, if you want something done right, do it yourself. This edition of Corporate Citizen introduces Google’s first and most premium phones – the Pixel and Pixel XL By NEERAJ VARTY
A
ndroid is an open source software. Any manufacturer can use it for free. For years, Google implored manufacturers not to customise android beyond recognition, as that led to the android system slowing down and resulting in a poor user experience. In a move to offer a pure android experience to users, Google launched the Nexus brand in collaboration with partners like HTC, Samsung and Huawei, which promised a refined android experience. This year, Google has decided to take it much further. They have axed the Nexus brand and gone for a much more premium offering. Google and HTC, the same team that brought us both the original Android phone and the first Nexus, have teamed up to bring the first Google branded phones. The two phones - the Pixel and Pixel XL – have 5" and 5.5" displays respectively. Both have AMOLED screens, with 1080p resolution for the small one (441ppi) and QHD for the big one (534ppi). Battery capacity is also different, 2,770mAh and 3,450mAh. Qualcomm supplied a revamped chipset, the Snapdragon 821, Android 7.1 Nougat brings a "sustained performance mode." The camera boasts the 12MP sensor, 1.55µm pixels, f/2.0 aperture. It adds Electronic Image Stabilization, which is very impressive. The Google Pixel and Pixel XL have the same storage options - 32GB (for those that use Google Photos and Play Music) and 128GB (for those that prefer their data offline). By the way, both Pixel phones get unlimited Google Photos storage for photos at full resolution. Both come with 4GB of RAM - better than the Nexus 6P, nothing extraordinary though a clean Android OS runs leaner. The specifications are well and good, but flagship phones are a dime a dozen these days. What sets the pixel phones apart is that they are loaded to the teeth with Google services that cover everything from messaging through cloud services to Artificial Intelligence assistants. The AI Assistants on the Pixel phones are leagues ahead of the virtual voice assistants like Siri on Apple or even Google’s own Google Now assistant. These assistants learn user behaviors and become better and better as they get to know the user’s preferences and patterns. 60 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
The Pixel range is not just a pair of phones from Google. It is a statement. Google has taken a page out of Apple’s playbook and decided to take control of both hardware and software What comes as the cherry on the top is that reputed camera testing website Dxomark have rated the Google Pixel phone camera as the best Smartphone camera in the world. It has extremely high detail, punchy yet natural looking colours and excellent low-light photography capabilities. The Pixel range is not just a pair of phones from Google. It is a statement. Google has taken a page out of Apple’s playbook and decided to take control of both hardware and software. The result is an extremely premium pair of devices which are a legitimate contender to the crown of the Smartphone world. Is there is a flipside? As all good things go, there is. Luxury doesn’t come cheap. The Pixel Smartphone is priced at `57,000 and the Pixel XL at `66,000 in India. Will people pay such a steep price for android phones? If Apple is any indication, people pay for experience, not just the product. At the onset, Google looks like it can deliver a high end experience on Pixel than it does on any other android phone. Will the gamble pay off? Time will tell. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com
Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen Claps for Majuli, located in Assam, which has scaled the Guinness World Record as the largest river island in the world This river island has also been regarded as India’s first island district. The island sits on the banks of the river Brahmaputra in Assam. According to reports, the island has lost around one-third of its land area in the 100 years due to frequent flooding of the Brahmaputra River. The island itself shapes and reshapes with each flood and the mass eroded from one end is deposited elsewhere. It has now been included in the tentative list of World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The lands of the district are usually flooded, during rains that cuts off Majuli, from the mainland. Annual floods and erosion force its inhabitants to shift their houses every few years and a permanent address is almost impossible for them. The island that admeasured 1246 sq. km in 1971 has now shrunken to 650 sq. km due to erosion. Still, the island and the cluster of islets near it are 80 km long and 15 km wide. But, the floods also make the island a farmers’ delight with its nutrient-rich sediments that are deposited on the banks of Brahmaputra make the region very fertile, favourable for agriculture. The area that stayed long neglected has now been upgraded from its status as a sub-division and made 35th district of the state in September 2016. The new found status is likely to boost tourism in the north-eastern Indian state, under its campaign - ‘Awesome Assam’. The heritage island is likely to bring in a momentum of growth in the district by way of tourism, infrastructure, art, culture, sports and other developments. The state’s new tourism logo depicts its identity to the visitors as the land of tea, one-horned rhino and the Brahmaputra with a population close to 160,000 people and covers 144 villages. Majuli is home to tribes like Mishing, Sonowal Kachri and Deori. Covering an area of 880 sq. kms, this region gave wings to the Neo-Vaishnavite movement that revolutionised various socio-cultural norms in Assam. Its prime task was to integrate the backward classes to the mainstream. The culture also helped in the development of theatre, music and dance forms, and playing down the rigidity of cast distinction. The movement was led by saint Sankaradeva. The island is also famous for its ancient monasteries known as ‘Sattras’, and over 100 varieties of rice are found here. The cabinet has decided to set up a centre for water resources to tackle floods and erosion and to construct concrete roads all over the island. A cultural university and a post-graduate college are part of the state government’s `1200-crore package for Majuli.
Corporate Citizen Slaps India’s poor accessibility to water and sanitation because of which the country has been positioned 93rd in the global index on water and sanitation, despite the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ campaign The Cauvery River, originating in Karnataka, flows into Tamil Nadu and has been the bone of contention between the two states for eons. According to Karnataka officials, the state did not have enough water reserves to share. But, in a recent hearing, the Supreme Court ordered Karnataka to release 15,000 cusecs (cubic feet per second) for 10 days to TN, a move that led to protests by Karnataka farmers, who say they have no water for their fields. On an appeal by the Karnataka government, the apex court reduced the daily discharge to Tamil Nadu to around 12,000 cusecs. This, however, did not pacify protesters and farmers in Karnataka, who have been battling dry water reservoirs and poor yield. The impact has resonated in the form of incidents of looting and vandalism in the IT City. The mob rampages eased in parts of Bengaluru gradually after authorities imposed a curfew as widespread protests gathered momentum and as mobs set fire to dozens of buses, trucks and cars besides attacked shops and businesses in Bengaluru and some other parts of Karnataka. Television images went rife with pictures and clips of buses, with license plates from neighboring TN state, being burnt in a private transport company depot. While street protests continued, the Bengaluru police passed prohibitory orders preventing the gathering of more than five people after angry mobs smashed windows of several buses from TN. Many schools in Bengaluru were closed on day-one of protests and with mid-term exams in the offing, this led to uncertainty amongst school and college goers. Offices and shops were closed as groups of young men wandered the streets attacking property owned by people from TN. But, was it mere water woes of farmers that fuelled such unrest amongst the urban educated populace? Was resorting to violence another way of venting out frustrations on Bengaluru’s inconsistencies in managing its infrastructure development which has also given rise to bad roads, potholes, power supply woes and lack of Cauvery water to urban households? With a government committee comprising federal and state officials likely to supervise the implementation of the tribunal’s ruling, it is now left to the administrators and the polity to try and save the situation. If Karnataka is made to release the stipulated water for more days than prescribed; will rioting protesters come back on the streets or will sharing data on rainfall and the flow of water in the Cauvery River be a better stance to preempt future disputes? (Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar) November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 61
Happiness Quotient
Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness is worth emulating In Bhutan, the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNP) has greatly enabled the pursuit of development, while at the same time promoting the attainment of happiness as the core philosophy of life. For the government, it has facilitated the drive towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance, the ultimate reduction in the gap between the rich and the poor and ensuring good governance and empowerment of her people as one of its key directives
W
ith his famous declaration in the 1970s, the former King of Bhutan challenged conventional, narrow and materialistic notions of human progress. He realised and declared that the existing development paradigm— Gross Net Product (GNP) or Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—did not consider the ultimate goal of every human being: happiness.
Old wisdom for a modern age!
Perhaps inspired by age-old wisdom in the ancient Kingdom of Bhutan, the fourth King concluded that GDP was neither an equitable nor a meaningful measurement for human happiness, nor should it be the primary focus for governance; and thus the philosophy of Gross National Happiness: GNH is born. Since that time this pioneering vision of GNH has guided Bhutan’s development and policy formation. Unique among the community of nations, it is a balanced ‘middle path’ in which equitable socio-economic development is integrated with environmental conservation, cultural promotion and good governance. For over two decades as Bhutan remained largely isolated from the world, GNH remained largely an intuitive insight and guiding light. It reminded the government and people alike that material progress was not the only, and not even, the most important contributor to well-being. As Bhutan increasingly engaged with the global community, joining international organisations, substantial efforts were made to define, explain and even measure GNH. Indices were created, measurements were recorded and screening tools for government policy were
created, and the second phase in the development of GNH saw its practical implementation in government become a living reality.
The folly of the GDP obsession!
The folly of an obsession with GDP, as a measure of economic activity which does not distinguish between those activities that increase a nation’s wealth and those that deplete its natural resources or result in poor health or widening social inequalities is so clearly evident. If the forests of Bhutan were logged for profit, GDP would increase; if Bhutanese citizens picked up modern living habits adversely affecting their health, investments in health care systems would be made and GDP would increase; and if environmental considerations were not taken into account during growth and development, investments to deal with landslides, road dam-
ages and flooding would be needed, and GDP would increase. All of these actions could negatively affect the lives of the Bhutanese people yet paradoxically would contribute to an increase in GDP.
Main findings of 2015 GNH Index at a glance
GNH is a much richer objective than GDP or economic growth. In GNH, material well-being is important but it is also important to enjoy
Bhutan’s 2015 Gross National Happiness Index “How are you?” We ask that question of one another often. But how are you doing - as a country, a society? To answer that question, Bhutan uses its Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index. The GNH Index this year is 0.756, improving on the 2010 value of 0.743. In 2015, a total of 91.2% of Bhutanese were narrowly, extensively, or deeply happy. 43.4% were extensively or deeply happy. The aim is for all Bhutanese to be extensively or deeply happy. Bhutan is closer to achieving that aim in 2015 than it was in 2010.
62 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
2015 GNH
Percentage of score Percentage of range people who are:
Deeply Happy
77-100
8.4
Extensively Happy
66-76
35.0
Narrowly Happy
50-65
47.9
Unhappy
0-49
8.8
is moving, and make wise and determined adjustments.”
The four main pillars
sufficient well-being in things like community, culture, governance, knowledge and wisdom, health, spirituality and psychological welfare, a balanced use of time, and harmony with the environment. The 2015 GNH Index on a purpose-built survey of 7153 Bhutanese in every Dzongkhag of Bhutan. From that, analysts create a GNH profile for each person, showing their wellbeing across in the nine domains mentioned above. The national GNH Index draws on every person’s portrait to give the national measure. 91.2 percent of Bhutanese are narrowly, extensively, or deeply happy. The 43.4 percent of Bhutanese are extensively or deeply happy, up from 40.9 percent in 2010. Across groups: – Men are happier than women – People living in urban areas are happier than rural residents – Single and married people are happier than widowed divorced, or separated or more educated people are happier – Farmers are less happy than other occupational groups. Across districts, GNH was highest in Gasa, Bumthang, Thimphu, and Paro, and lowest in Dagana, Mongar, Tashi Yangtse, and Trongsa.
How GNH changed 2010-2015
GNH increased significantly from 2010-2015 by 1.8 percent. The percentage of extensively/deeply happy people increased from 40.9 percent to 43.4 percent. Increases were broadly equalizing, in that GNH increases among women, elders,those with no formal education, and farmers improved faster than others. GNH growth in urban areas outstripped rural improvements. Increases in GNH were driven by improved living standards and service delivery,better health, and participation in cultural festivals. However in some of the indicators there was a significant reduction in sufficiency. These were particularly noticeable in psychological well-being (anger, frustration, spirituality), community vitality (belonging), and cultural diversity (Driglam Namzha). The GNH index findings paint an intricate and textured picture of the lives of Bhutanese, tracing them with much greater care and curiosity than GDP or any other existing index. Dasho Karma Ura, Director of the Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, said: “The 2015 GNH Index provides a self-portrait of a society in flux, and offers Bhutanese the opportunity to reflect on the directions society
The four main pillars of GNH are: Equitable and equal socio-economic development Preservation and promotion of cultural and spiritual heritage Conservation of environment Good governance which are interwoven, complementary, and consistent. These pillars embody national and local values, aesthetics, and spiritual traditions. The concept of GNH is now being taken up the United Nations and by various other countries. Crucial to a better understanding of GNH, is its wider reach and awareness amongst other countries, and the various indices that have now been formulated to include material gains in their assessment of the country and lastly, the growing need to synthesise the moral with the cultural values as the core of economic policy. GNH as a development paradigm has now made it possible for Bhutan to take its developmental policies into the remote corners of the kingdom and to meet the development needs of even its most isolated villagers, while still accentuating the need to protect and preserve our rich environment and forest cover. The policy of high value, low impact tourism has facilitated the promotion and preservation of our cultural values. Furthermore, the concept of Gross National Happiness has greatly enabled the pursuit of development, while at the same time promoting the attainment of happiness as the core philosophy of life. For the government, it has facilitated the drive towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance, the ultimate reduction in the gap between the rich and the poor and ensuring good governance and empowerment of her people as one of its key directives. CC
tadka
Apple releases price list for Iphone & and iPhone7 plus I-phone fans rejoice, for Apple just released the price list for their latest iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone 7 32GB will be available for `60,000, 128GB for `70,000 and 256GB for `80,000. The iPhone 7 Plus on the other hand will start at `72,000 for the base 32GB variant, `82,000 for 128GB and `92,000 for the iPhone 7 Plus 256GB. Stiff--but with the Iphone does it matter really?
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 63
astroturf side effect.
SAGITTARIUS
Aries
Mar 21- April 20 Take time to deliberate on issues before making up your mind. Health needs monitoring. Focus on important things in life and get your priorities correct. Good period to pay down all your debts and also to DE clutter your surroundings. Clear your decks so that new and better can come in.
TAURUS
April 21 - May 20 Love opportunities could be found at work place or in educational or religious settings. Prosperity is strong this month, there could be pay raise and you may receive a bonus. Take care of your technical equipment. Listen to the signals of your body and a peaceful night’s sleep will do you a world of good.
GEMINI
May 21 - June 21 Overall this is a happy period, enjoy your personal space, as your creativity is ultra strong this period. Singles get the opportunity of meeting perspective marriage partners. Right now you have to put others demands and needs before your own. This is a very good time to achieve goals pertaining to your career or professional life. Your work ethics is much stronger than usual. Focus on home and family.
CANCER
Jun 22 - July 23 Health needs to be monitored. Make sure to take breaks and rest when you can. Emotional well being always remains important for you, be positive and constructive. Do your best to maintain family harmony. Sales and marketing people will prosper.
(www.dollymangat.com)
Fortune favours the bold and the lucky
Your attitude is your altitude, says Dolly Mangat, our renowned Astrological Expert and believes she helps people create their own prophecies rather than live predictions further.
LEO
July 24 - Aug 23 Very conducive period for writers, teachers, journalists sales and marketing people. Students will find success. in education departments. Siblings and relations around you will also enjoy life and you witness progress and happiness. Your focus will move away from career towards home and family. This is the right time to build your infrastructure that makes further career progress possible. Career and financial opportunities happen through networking friends and family connections. Problems have a way of sorting out if you don’t pay much attention.
LIBRA
Sept 24 - Oct 22 Make the changes that need to be made, create conditions, as you desire them to be. Those of you involved in the intellectual arena writers and teachers will have a fruitful month ahead. Pursuing further studies to better your future career prospects now is the time to do so. You begin a yearly financial peak, you will raise your standards in all spheres of life. Love will be found closer to home. Family and friends connection are more important. You can be perceived as cold or unfeeling these days, even though you are not like that. Make it a point to project love.
VIRGO
Aug 24 - Sept 23 This is your lifetime financial peak. You will get support from your family too in every aspect. Money can be earned through various means including from home. Miracle money happens for you. The month ahead is financially active in more ways than one. Net working both socially and personally will flourish and your skills in this area play a huge role in your earnings. Job changes can happen this month.
64 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
SCORPIO
Oct 23 - Nov 22 You should and can have things your way. Good period to learn about mediations and practices that help you evolve. Your career gets boosted as a side effect. Health remains excellent all month. Happy career opportunities are on the horizon, you will look, feel and project success. Those younger to you or children in your life will undergo their own metamorphosis in life. They should be warned to be careful.
Nov 23 - Dec 22 You will be able to change conditions and make them more conducive to your liking. You gain in popularity. There will even be romantic opportunities that happen in-group settings. This is a month where fondest hopes and wishes come to pass. Finances are also much improved this month. ising.
CAPRICORN
Dec 23 - Jan 20 Honors may come through. Being involved with charities and good causes is a valid way to advance your career. Do not allow yourself to get over stressed or tired. Finances are a bit stressful this month. Patience is required for now as situations improves.
AQUARIUS
Jan 21 - Feb19 There is clear career direction now. This shows the success of family members. You will have good family support for whichever career you want to pursue. You will like those who can help you in your career. .
PISCES
Feb 20 - Mar 20 You need to cultivate skills like cutting costs, cut waste cut the needless and effete. Superiors will be impressed by this habit of yours. You could also experience near death like experiences in the year ahead. Even though your bosses may be demanding but you would be better able to handle them. Address: 143, St Patrick’s Town, Gate# 3, Hadapsar IE, Pune-411 013. Tel.: 020-26872677 / 020-32905748 Email: connect@dollymanghat.com/ info.dollymanghat@gmail.com
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PROF. SUDHIR K SOPORY, VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU) Volume 1, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
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CORPORATE CULTURE
Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank on women in leadership and gender diversity
INTERVIEW
An in-depth interview with Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director India with Kingston Technology and Rajeev Bhadauria, Director, Group HR, at Jindal Steel & Power
Dynamic Duo 21 MEERA SHANKAR AND AJAY SHANKAR
UNFLINCHING SUPPORT
November 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 65
the last word
Ganesh Natarajan
The Million Jobs Mission The Million Jobs Mission has an empowering mission to bring together a global consortium of best-in-class design, funding and implementation partners to create an ecosystem to train and empower one million people for sustainable livelihoods in the country by 2020
T
hree members of the global board of Social Venture Partners (SVP) International visited various social projects at our SVP India locations in Bengaluru, Pune Mumbai and Delhi. Here, we had the opportunity to exchange ideas on venture philtanthropy, meet NGOs and youth being impacted positively and launch the ambitious Million Jobs Mission for India. Social Venture Partners is the world’s largest network of engaged philanthropists, with over 3,500 investor-donors across 39 cities, in eight countries (U.S, Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea and United Kingdom). Together, we have worked with more than 700 investees and contributed more than US $54 million and hundreds of thousands of hours of skilled strategic support. Social Venture Partners India, founded in May 2012, in Bengaluru, brings together a diverse community of 100+ business leaders, active citizens and philanthropists committed to solving complex social issues through personal philanthropy, advocacy and capacity building. SVP connects like-minded people who want to make a difference, making it one of the largest networks of engaged donors in India. It strengthens non-profits by providing them multi-year funding grants or capacity building grants;
and collaborates with others in the social ecosystem to amplify impact. The Million Jobs Mission has an empowering mission to bring together a global consortium of best-in-class design, funding and implementation partners to create an ecosystem to train and empower one Million people for sustainable livelihoods in the country by 2020. Through this Mission, SVP and its consortium partners will select 10-15 social organisations that have plans to create a cumulative of 100,000 + sustainable livelihoods each in the next five years, across diverse sectors. SVP and its partners will provide a range of support to each of these organisations over the next five years to make these plans a reality. With increasing concerns that our country’s much talked about demographic dividend could actu-
SVP currently works with social organisations like Industree Foundation, Vrutti, The Nudge Foundation and the Milestone Project of NES in their efforts to create large-scale livelihoods
66 / Corporate Citizen / November 1-15, 2016
Ruchi Mathur, CEO, Pune City Connect, explains the unique model of the Pune Skills Lighthouse to SVP global board members
ally turn out to be a demographic disaster if we do not accelerate the creation of livelihoods for our youth, the country needs well-meaning, capable global and local partners to come together to address the frightening jobs scenario in the country. As Ravi Venkatesan Chairman of Bank of Baroda and Founder of SVP India said at the launch, “There is an alarming divergence between the opportunities and skills needed for jobs across sectors, and the actual availability of trained, empowered talent in the country.” The Million Jobs Mission will consist of Program Design Partners with global credentials and perspectives and funding agencies as consortium partners to enable scaling and social organisations that have proven, potentially scalable job-creation models like the Pune City Lighthouse Skills programme. SVP currently works with social organisations like Industree Foundation, Vrutti, The/Nudge Foundation and the Milestone Project of Natarajan Education Society (NES) in their efforts to create large-scale livelihoods and all of these organisations will be a part of the Million Jobs Mission. With global partners like McKinsey Social Initiative’s Generation Program, Rockefeller Foundation, SPJIMR Mumbai, Samhita Social Ventures on board and many more expected to enroll in the next few months, the Million Jobs Mission can become a game changer triggering transformational change. SVP India has invited social organisations with plans to create
100,000+ jobs in the next five years, to apply to be a part of this Mission. They will also be a part of the SVP Annual Million Jobs Mission Conclave to be held in New Delhi in January 2017. What is daunting about India is the magnitude of the challenges we face. However, the number of well-meaning initiatives that gives us abound hope that there is always a way we can contribute—ideas, time and money to a national cause. My own current work with SVP globally, nationally and locally, with NASSCOM Foundation enabling digital literacy and digital libraries to flourish; with NES for the Milestone Technology-Enabled Skills initiative and; with Pune City Connect, gives me tremendous hope for our city and country. What is it then that holds so many of us back from jumping in and contributing to some of these efforts? It could well be what is jocularly referred to as the difference between the role of the hen and the pig at a typical English breakfast. The hen through its supply of eggs is involved in the process but the pig through its contribution of ham, bacon and salami is totally committed! Forgive me for this appalling metaphor, but do think about how you spend your time and money and get fully committed. If you want ways to do this, just talk to us at SVP or Pune City Connect and we will surely show you the way! Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, Pune City Connect & Social Venture Partners, Pune.
Printed and published by Suresh Chandra Padhy on behalf of Sri Balaji Society. Editor: Suresh Chandra Padhy. Published from : 925/5, Mujumdar Apt, F.C. Road, Pune - 411004, Maharashtra. Printed at Magna Graphics (I) Ltd., 101-C&D Govt. Industrial Estate, Hindustan Naka, Kandivali (W), Mumbai - 400067.