Cradle of Leadership An exclusive with Prof. Saibal Chattopadhyay, Director, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) Volume 2, Issue No. 5 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
May 1-15, 2016 / `50
Mercedes-Benz Book-ed! NHRD’s Panel Discussion:
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Contract Work Force
Anshul Bhargava
From Battlefield to Boardroom Dynamic Duo: 29 Radhika and Anshul Bhargava
Behind every successful fauji, a braveheart wife
CII - Western Region 2nd EdgeFarm HR Case Study Writing Competition Winner SECONDARY category
Interview
Rajesh Dembla, founder and CEO, Xelpmoc Design & Tech
2 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
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Highly Readable
High finance, commerce and tricky management are the slippery pillars on which a corporate citizen wends his/her way to success. These three pillars are very dry subjects. To bring out a highly readable magazine while addressing a range of subjects that are seen to be uninteresting is a challenge in itself. To make the magazine an enjoyable read, issue after issue is a task that is extremely well accomplished by Corporate Citizen. I am sold over with the way Corporate Citizen keeps me glued to its pages and eagerly look forward to the next issue. I wish other specialist magazines catering to niche readership also emulate the standards set by Corporate Citizen. -DVR Rao
Resonates with my own business experience
In my 35+ years of working with Tata and from the position I held, whatever I could do to create some value and influence on businesses to be ethical and sustainable, it provided me some humane insights on business leadership. When I started getting Corporate Citizen magazine, I found it resonated so much with my experience—more than any other in recent times. I see your stories reflect the other side of corporate leaders… the story on couples, for instance, brings the most essential quality of leaders… that leaders are first and foremost great human beings. ‘Sundar Pichai’s hidden passion for cricket’ reflects how great leaders have a stupendous bandwidth of tastes and appreciate class, and how they all love life. Apart from giving central space to CSR and volunteering, the spectrum of value that stories bring is very diverse and informative. I like the spiritual column the most. After all, what is the ultimate purpose of profit? Many business leaders have a greater purpose and know how to make it work in tough business situations—that’s what society is looking for. And it is praiseworthy that Corporate Citizen is opening those new possibilities, and at just the right time, too. -Anant G Nadkarni
Content-rich and Thoughtprovoking
Corporate Citizen is content-rich, thoughtprovoking and an extremely popular magazine today. The section, ‘Cradle of Leadership,’ is extremely gripping as it throws light on some of the top institutions of the country. The achievements of young students, journey from classroom to entering the corporate world, as depicted in the section ‘Star
ILS - A Great Legacy This is with reference to ‘Legal Legacy’ story in the April 16-31 issue. It is an amazing read and thanks to CC to have meticulously penned the 90 years of institutional legacy. I was not aware of many things about this ILS Law College, despite being born and brought up in Pune. Now I am proud that India’s most prestigious law college is in our own backyard. Everything has been put in right manner and it is like going back in history. I look forward for many more such stories in the coming issues.
- Shailesh Gaikwad
CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP VAIJAYANTI JOSHI, PRINCIPAL, INDIAN LAW SOCIETY (ILS) LAW COLLEGE, PUNE Volume 2, Issue No. 4 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
April 16-30, 2016 / `50
LOVED AND MARRIED TOO
Bela Kher and Milind Chitambar
CII - Western Region 2ND EdgeFarm HR Case Study Writing Competition WINNER PRIMARY CATEGORY
DYNAMIC DUO: 28 Caroline and Prince Augustin
Crackling Chemistry
Campus Placement’ is a wonderful read. Some references from the observations of the top achievers could be quite useful to the youngsters aspiring to enter the corporate world. -Shantanu Basu
Looking for stories on overseas ventures of Indian cos
It is great reading, Wax Eloquent and Collywood in Corporate Citizen, it truly gives a bird’s-eye view of the Indian corporate scene. How about coming up with more in-depth stories on the overseas ventures of Indian companies—latest happenings such as Tatas’ steel plant in the UK, Indian companies’ foray into the Australian coal industry and so on, with inputs from the industry analysts and experts. These stories will definitely make an interesting read just like the panel discussions you regularly feature. -Deviprasad Negi
Kudos to ‘Crackling Chemistry’! I very much enjoyed reading the Dynamic Duo story, ‘Crackling Chemistry’ in the latest April 16-30, Corporate Citizen issue. The role of perfect understanding and considerate
INTERVIEW
Tanaya Mishra, Managing Director Human Resources, Accenture CORPORATE LIFE
The HR ‘bell-curve’ Is it dead or alive?
nature play in a truly harmonious marriage is beautifully explained in this excellent interview. The importance of ‘beauty of compromise’ is evident in the life lived with a purpose as exemplified by this happy couple. A little more information on the career progression and how he overcame challenges in his illustrious career would have made the story more exciting. Also the interview of Tanaya Mishra left me asking for more. It appears, the gutsy achiever had so much to tell about her achievements and hurdles that she overcame. It would have been great if more space was given to this corporate personality. The blend of stories ranging from different aspects of the corporate world to the education sector, as well as the case studies, makes CC a good read. -Priya Ranjan Sahoo
Of Pearls of Wisdom
True to the name ‘Pearls of Wisdom’, this page is really inspiring; especially Dada JP Vaswani’s ‘Difficulties come with a Purpose’ (in April 1530 issue). One fails to take into consideration small things in life and Dada JP Vaswani has put it in such a simple way. Keep weaving these pearls of wisdom—it’s a great read I wish I could emulate in my life. -Rahul Suryawanshi May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 3
Loved and married too 2014-2016
Secrets to a successful marriage
Love is a great feeling, and it transcends into something magical when it culminates into a successful marriage. However, sustaining a happy marriage is not as easy as it looks when both the partners are established professionals. Corporate Citizen brings you tips for a lifetime of marital happiness from couples who have made it big in the corporate world! Sweta and Gaurav Manchala If you understand each other, respect each other’s dreams, give in every now and then—and laugh together, you should be okay. It’s as simple as you keep it—and just as sweet. — Gaurav Manchala
Bhavna and Rajesh Agrawal There would be arguments; she would feel we were not ‘compatible,’ that we did not have much in common. What is compatibility anyway, other than the ability to iron out incompatibility? We cared for each other, and that was enough. —Rajesh Agrawal
Kanchi and Sidharth Mukherjee Husband and wife are meant to complement each other, not compete for one-upmanship. Believe in the other person’s dreams and make them your own. —The Mukherjees
Shweta and Kabir Mitra Don’t let cultural differences become a stick to beat each other with. Enjoy the differences. Marriage works if the two of you want it to. No third person is responsible for either its success or failure. —Shweta and Kabir Mitra
4 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Pooja and Abhijeet Srivastava Spend enough time together before and after marriage. Make sure you save up enough before you take the plunge. This gives you more precious time together in the crucial early days of marriage. Space, understanding, respect and trust are the master keys to marital happiness. Be straightforward and honest with your partner, and back each other’s dreams. —The Srivastavas
Shweta Kumari and Amit Ranjan Careers in the corporate world require you to travel, attend official parties. Trust your partner and believe in your relationship. Any kind of negativity is a waste of time, apart from being utterly harmful. —Shweta Kumari
Neha Gunthey and Vivek Singh Everything depends on your mutual understanding, or the lack of it. When a romance does not culminate into marriage, people tend to blame parents and cultural differences. But all of this is superfluous. If you honestly care for someone, you will find a way to make it come true. —Neha Gunthey
Heena Ranjan and Ritesh Thakur Marry only when you are ready. Understand that you have the responsibility not just of your spouse but two families. Relationships take work and understanding. —Ritesh Thakur
Vinit and Prajakta Shetye Deo I really don’t believe romance is about flowers and candlelight dinners. That’s just so trite. Instead, romance is about adding that little bit extra to the ordinary moments. —Vinit Deo
Chanchala and Nishant Baranwal The pillars of a successful marriage are love, care and nurturing. You must build a support system to help with the kids, and let go of minor irritants for the sake of the bigger picture. —The Baranwals
Anindita and Vinod Dangi Respect both partners’ dreams and aspirations. Let go of little things in the interest of harmony and togetherness. Be patient and support each other through thick and thin. —Anindita and Vinod Dangi
Shweta and Deep Banerjee One of the major building blocks of marital success is space—lots of it—given with grace—and freely at that. Space, however, rests on security, which, in turn, comes from knowing each other well. To know each other, spend quality time with each other. Talk to each other, do things together and tell the truth. And most importantly, believe in the marriage. —The Banerjees
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 5
Contents 32 ew
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Cover story
From Battlefield to Boardroom
An interview with Anshul Bhargava who started his career as an NDA cadet, to become a soldier fighting cross-border terrorists during the peak years of anti-insurgency operations in Kashmir‌ to a personality assessor at Bhopal SSB centre, to become a pioneering HR figure in India’s banking industry
Also...
Dynamic Duo: 29
Behind every successful fauji, a braveheart wife Meet Anshul Bhargava, who started his career from being a 6 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Volume 2 Issue No. 5 May 1-15, 2016 www.corporatecitizen.in
9
COLLYWOOD
Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World
13
MANAGE MONEY
Dr Anil Lamba on Marginal costing principles and break-even analysis
14
WAX ELOQUENT
Who said what and why
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16
16
interview
An in-depth interview with Rajesh Dembla, founder and CEO, Xelpmoc Design & Tech
20
cradle of leadership
An exclusive with Prof. Saibal Chattopadhyay, Director, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C)
28
NHRD PUNE CHAPTER
Eminent panellists discuss on ‘Contract workforce’
28 40
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30
THE TAX MAN COMETH
‘The Panama Money Circuit’ by S K Jha, (IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
40
CORPORATE LIFE
Stop Pushing a Wall! by Preeti Paranjpe, Wipro Ltd
42
CII CASE STUDY CII - Western Region 2nd EdgeFarm - HR Case Study Writing Competition
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Claps and Slaps Our brickbats and bouquets for the fortnight
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BOOK REVIEW Mercedes-Benz book-ed!
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52
STAR CAMPUS PLACEMENT Mohit Dev on his journey from college to corporate world
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BOLLYWOOD BIZ Meet S U Arun Kumar, the corporate who turned film director
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PEARLS OF WISDOM
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Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur / Sharmila Chand Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar Pune Bureau Dinesh Kulkarni / Suchismita Pai / Kalyani Sardesai VP - Marketing & Sales M. Paul Anderson
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Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072 North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G +91 9941555389
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HEALTH Anant Ambani is Fat to Fit. Are you inspired? MOBILE APPS The Future of Smartphones is Virtual Reality
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ASTROTURF Fortune favours the bold & lucky
Assistant Editor Joe Williams
Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty
‘Love and Compassion is the Purpose of Life’ by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama
62
Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh
Senior Business Writers Mahalakshmi Hariharan / Rajesh Rao
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BETTER HALF A candid conversation with Snehal Mantri, Director, Marketing & HR at Mantri Developers Pvt. Ltd.
Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
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THE LAST WORD ‘Play while you work’ by Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman of Pune City Connect and NASSCOM Foundation and Vice Chairman of Zensar
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 / May 1-15, 2016
Circulation Officer Jaywant Patil +91 9923202560 Creative Direction Kiyan Gupta, The Purple Stroke Graphic Designer Anil Walunj On Cover Page Radhika and Anshul Bhargava Cover Page Pic Ajit Ranhotra & Dr Vivek Arora Photographers Yusuf Khan, Shantanu Relekar 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
Nita Ambani, topmost power-woman of Asia
Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani has been named the most powerful businesswoman in Asia by Forbes, leading a list of 50 women leaders from the region that includes eight from India. SBI Chairperson and Managing Director, Arundhati Bhattacharya has been ranked second on the 2016 ‘Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen’ list that features trailblazing women from China, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and New Zealand. Apart from Ambani and Bhattacharya, six women from India have made to the list, including Mu Sigma CEO Ambiga Dhiraj (14), Welspun India CEO Dipali Goenka (16), Lupin CEO Vinita Gupta (18), ICICI Bank Managing Director & CEO Chanda Kochhar (22), VLCC Health Care founder and Vice Chairman Vandana Luthra (26) and Biocon Founder, Chairman & Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (28).
(L-R) Arundhati Bhattacharya, Ambiga Dhiraj, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Vinita Gupta, Dipali Goenka, Vandana Luthra, Chanda Kochhar and Nita Ambani
Not just India for Kalpana Morparia JP Morgan has elevated its India chief executive officer, Kalpana Morparia to a regional role, wherein she oversees seven countries in addition to the three that are already under her ambit. The new markets will include large
Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Singapore and the Philippines in addition to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh. Country officers of the Philippines and Malaysia will report to her as she would drive the bank’s businesses
in these markets competing with global rivals Citibank and Deutsche Bank. “She will now oversee the overall firm-wide franchise in South Asia (Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan) across
lines of businesses,” according to sources. “This is in addition to her existing responsibilities. All those country heads will now report to her,” according to sources. Morparia will continue to be based in India.
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 9
collywood Ravi Menon to steer Escorts’ Agri Machinery Business Farm equipment maker Escorts, appointed Ravi A Menon as CEO of its agri machinery business. He takes over charge from S Sridhar who will now head Escorts Construction Equipment (ECE), according to a company statement. Sridhar will now focus on ECE to leverage emerging business opportunities, it added. Commenting on the development, Escorts Ltd chairman Rajan Nanda said, “Menon’s induction brings cross-industry experience and a strong understanding of the different aspects of enterprises and Sridhar’s movement to ECE would help further strengthen the process of integration in key areas.” Escorts Ltd MD Nikhil Nanda said, “We are focusing on improving operational efficiency across businesses. We are strongly focused to strengthen our manufacturing and product development capabilities, enabling us to aggressively address our markets and customers at the front end”. Escorts Group operates in sectors such as agri machinery, material handling and construction equipment and auto components.
Infosys top guns root for Vishal Sikka Infosys Ltd’s co-founder Nandan Nilekani and Sudha Murthy, chairperson of the Infosys Foundation in India, were two of the five promoters who voted in favour of a resolution reappointing Vishal Sikka as the company’s managing director and CEO until 2021 even as the rest of the promoters abstained from voting. Nilekani, his wife Rohini, daughter Janhavi and son Nihar, together hold 5,27,14,580 shares or 2.29 percent stake, and Sudha Murthy holds 1,80,58,640 shares or 0.79 percent stake in the company. Nilekani and family, and Sudha Murthy were
the only promoters who voted for all the five resolutions, including the reappointment of Sikka and appointment of Punita Kumar Sinha as independent director of Infosys, according to an executive familiar with the development. N R Narayana Murthy, S D Shibulal, Kris Gopalakrishnan and K Dinesh did not vote on the resolutions that sought shareholder approval for the reappointment of Sikka as CEO and the appointment of Sinha as independent director. Five of the seven original co-founders, Narayana Murthy, Nilekani, Shibulal, Gopalakrish-
nan and Dinesh are categorised as promoters of Infosys, and together held 13.07 percent stake in the company as of 31 December. Only 23.57 percent of promoter votes were cast in favour of a resolution. Infosys appointed Sikka as chief executive officer in 2014 for a five-year term, but in February, the Infosys board decided to extend Sikka’s contract as the first non-founder CEO even as he was rewarded with a 55 percent rise in compensation, to $11 million (₹1.1 crore) “Ms Murthy is heading Infosys Foundation. So this (voting for the resolutions) is understandable. It would have been very embarrassing for the company (in case of abstaining),” said one of the executives. Interestingly, the promoters voted overwhelmingly in favour of three of the other resolutions (two dealt with a stock incentive plan and a third was on the reappointment of Jeffrey Lehman as independent director).
L & T Finance Holdings endorse Dubhashi’s leadership The Board of Directors of L&T Finance Holdings Limited appointed Dinanath Dubhashi as a whole-time director on the Board of the Company with effect from April 14, 2016. He will be designated as deputy managing director. Dubhashi has a rich experience of over 25 years across multiple domains in financial services such as corporate banking, cash management, credit ratings, retail lending and rural financing. He has been with L&T Finance Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company since April 2007. Prior to taking over as managing director & chief executive of L&T Finance, Dubhashi occupied various senior level positions in
10 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
the organisation and has been responsible for leading L&T Finance’s foray into retail finance including microfinance. In his position as chief executive, L&T Finance, he also oversees the other retail finance subsidiaries of
the group viz., L&T Housing Finance Limited and Family Credit Limited at a strategic level. Under Dubhashi’s leadership, the retail platform has grown both organically and inorganically to reach an asset size of about ₹28,000 crores, serving over 30 lakh customers. He has also provided leadership to various functions such as Operations and Information Technology. Prior to joining L&T Financial Services, Dubhashi was associated with organisations such as BNP Paribas, CARE Rating and SBI Caps in various capacities. He holds a B.E (Mechanical) degree and a PGDM from IIM Bangalore.
DLF’s Rajeev Talwar to head NAREDCO
SharadAgarwalto‘drive’ Lamborghini in India
Italian luxury sports car maker Lamborghini announced the appointment of former Audi India executive Sharad Agarwal as its country head. As the Head of Lamborghini India, his role is to drive the entire spectrum of activities for Lamborghini in India, overseeing the functions of sales, marketing, after-sales and network development, the company said in a statement. The
appointment is with immediate effect, said a press release. Automobili Lamborghini Asia Pacific General Manager Andrea Baldi said, “Sharad comes with 15 years of experience in the automotive industry and his expertise and contribution will allow us to further strengthen the brand in a market Lamborghini considers strategic and one of the most promising, thanks to
Amitabh Coomar now CEO of GoJavas
Former executive of FMCG firm ITC Ltd Amitabh Coomar has been appointed as new chief executive officer, after the departure of Vijay Ghadge, who was the company’s senior-most executive, the Speciality logistics firm GoJavas announced recently. According to his LinkedIn profile, Coomar’s last position was that of divisional manager, brand marketing, at ITC, Kolkata. He has been associated with the company for close to eight years across different divisions. He also served the Indian Army for almost 12 years before
the already announced arrival of the Lamborghini SUV, URUS, in 2018”. Prior to his appointment, Agarwal has been associated with Audi India since May 2012 as Head of Corporate Sales, Fleet and Leasing and Financial Services and moved as Head of Field Forces in 2013. He has also been associated with Zuari Industries, TVS Motor Company and Mahindra First Choice.
joining the corporate world. Coomar has a post graduate diploma in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Founded in 2013, GoJavas counts online retailers such as Jabong, Fabfurnish, Lenskart and Healthkart as clients. This logistics and supply chain has always been the backbone of e-commerce companies as sound infrastructure helps in reducing delivery cost and ensuring faster delivery, which in turn helps e-commerce firms win over customers.
Rajeev Talwar has been elected as new chairman of the realtors’ body NAREDCO. It was during the 103rd governing council meeting of National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) held recently, that Talwar was unanimously chosen as chairman. Parveen Jain, CMD of Tulip Infratech, was elected as President of the NAREDCO in September last year. NAREDCO was established as an autonomous self-regulatory body in 1998 under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India. Talwar, who joined DLF in 2006, completed his master’s from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. He started his career as a probationary officer in the State Bank of India and was selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1978. He held many important positions in central and state governments. Talwar is also the chairman of real estate committees at various industry chambers and associations. He has been vocal on various forums and has been actively pursuing issues and challenges faced by the sector.
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 11
collywood India’s Banga on Obama’s cybersecurity body
Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard is among nine others whom President Barack Obama picked for key administration posts in the US. Banga is president and CEO of MasterCard, the position he has held since 2010. Banga joined MasterCard in 2009 as president and COO. Prior to joining MasterCard, he held various senior management roles with Citigroup from 1996 to 2009, most recently serving as CEO of Citigroup Asia Pacific. He was Director for Marketing and Business Development at PepsiCo Restaurants International India from 1994 to 1996 and began his career at Nestlé India, working in sales and management roles from 1981 to 1994. Banga has served as a member of the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations since 2015. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Dow Chemical Company, the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross, the Council of Foreign Relations, and serves as Chairman of the Financial Services Roundtable and Co-Chair of the American India Foundation. Banga graduated (BA) from the University of Delhi and did his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. President Obama said, “I have charged the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity with the critically-important task of identifying the steps that our nation must take to ensure our cybersecurity in an increasingly digital world. These dedicated individuals bring a wealth of experience and talent to this important role, and I look forward to receiving the Commission’s recommendations.”
Gurnani, head honcho of Nasscom National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), announced the appointment of CP Gurnani as its chairman for 2016-17. He will succeed B V R Mohan Reddy, who served as chairman of Nasscom for the previous financial year. Gurnani is part of Nasscom’s Executive Council and is the managing director and chief executive officer of Tech Mahindra. As chairman of the Executive Council he will lead and assist Nasscom in catalysing the growth of the Indian technology and services industry and enabling the fulfilment of its future goals and aspirations. “I feel very humbled to be given this opportunity, at a time when the industry is on the threshold of an exciting new journey. Innovative start-ups and disruptive technology have together created exciting times for 12 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
the industry. Being at the helm of Nasscom, I will continue to drive greater engagement with our stake holders and members to address the prevalent industry issues of inclusion, education, infrastructure security and corporate governance,” said. Gurnani. B V R Mohan Reddy, former chairman, Nasscom, said, that he felt very proud of the progress the industry has witnessed in the past one year. “2015 was a defining year for the industry as we outlined our vision for the decade ahead and witnessed innovative entrepreneurs rise to achieve tremendous success, making India one of the key start-up hubs across the globe. It has been a great opportunity leading Nasscom during the last one year and I am confident that Nasscom will grow,” he added.
MS Dhoni run out! MS Dhoni, who is better known as a good finisher, failed this time as he quit as realty firm’s brand ambassador after Twitter uproar forced him to sign off his deal with Amrapali, a real estate firm, six days after homebuyers trolled the cricketer on Twitter. Residents of Noida’s Sector 45 Amrapali Sapphire Society had tagged Dhoni in their tweets complaining about the delay in completion of the housing project. The residents asked Dhoni to either dissociate himself with the builder or force him to complete work. The hashtag ‘AmrapaliMisuseDhoni’ saw a total of 70,000 tweets, forcing Dhoni to react to it a day later at a press briefing. The residents said Dhoni made a ‘safe exit’ so that his brand equity is not affected due to the controversy. “While talking to the media, Dhoni promised that whatever had been promised by the builder should be delivered. It is his moral responsibility to ask the builder to complete all projects immediately. Dhoni’s quitting is an escape from responsibility,” said RK Srivastava, a resident of Amrapali Sapphire. Amrapali executive director Shiv Priya said, “Dhoni has not quit on his own. We have requested him to dissociate himself from the group because some buyers with vested interests are maligning our brand. Therefore, we do not want the negative campaign to hurt Dhoni’s brand.” Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com
manage money Dr Anil Lamba
Marginal costing principles and break-even analysis Apply marginal costing principles to understand your business better, and to take financially intelligent decisions
I
n the previous issue we saw, a table despite having total cost of 200, sold for 150, generated a positive contribution of 50. You can see how important it is to understand the concept of Contribution Contribution is arrived at by deducting the Variable Cost from Sales, or the variable cost per unit from the selling price. The 101st table is sold at 150 and its variable cost is 100. This sale generates a positive Contribution of 50. As I mentioned earlier, Contribution is so called as this is the Contribution of the unit sold towards the bottom line. The profit on sale of 100 tables was 5,000. The Contribution of the 101st table is 50. Therefore profit on the sale of 101 tables is 5,050. If salespeople in the field are to understand the impact of a decision to accept an order of additional units at a lower price on the organization’s bottom line, they need to work out the Contribution of the item being sold. Once they are confident that the Contribution is positive, they can go ahead with the sale. Of course, there are many reasons why a salesperson may still say “no” to this offer even though the organization would not be losing money. This decision might have a negative effect on customers who have paid the full price. There may well be a comfortable market with many customers who are willing to pay the full price. But leaving these and other such reasons aside, a salesperson must never refuse a customer’s offer out of ignorance or the inability to gauge the impact of the offer on the organization’s profitability. Perhaps you are thinking that the order can be accepted at a reduced selling price of 150 because Rita’s organization has already broken even. On reaching the break-even point sales of 67 tables the organization has recovered the entire fixed cost of 10,000. From the 68th table onwards there was no more fixed cost to be recovered.
The only additional cost to be incurred for manufacturing an additional unit is the variable cost. And the excess of selling price over the variable cost (that is, Contribution) consequently becomes the additional profit. This reasoning prompts me to ask whether such an offer could have been accepted had the organization not broken even. Let us assume that Rita is selling only 50 tables, well below the breakeven point of 67. The financials would look like this. Per Unit
50 Tables
250
Sales
100
Variable Cost
200
Fixed Cost
10,000
300
(-) Total Cost
15,000
50
= Profit/Loss
2,500
The cost per table at this stage works out to 300. Due to pressure from the competition, Rita is forced to sell at a price of 250. With each table sold, the organization loses 50 and on selling 50 tables, it loses 2,500. Clearly the company is struggling. In this situation, Neil comes across a customer who shows great interest in buying a table from him, but has budgetary constraints and cannot afford a price beyond 150. Neil now has to decide whether to accept this offer or not. Do you think he should do it? (to be continued)
12,500 5,000
Since the break-even point has not yet been reached, the organization is suffering losses.
Dr Anil Lamba is a corporate trainer of international repute on finance management. His clients comprise several hundred large and medium sized corporations across different countries of the world. He is the author of the bestselling book Romancing the Balance Sheet. He can be contacted at anil@lamconschool.com May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 13
wax eloquent
We have reformed and are in Essence of our neighbourhood policy
Each of our neighbours wants to invest here and built connectivity projects. Everyone wants to make money out of India. India cannot grow in isolation. We find it much harder to do so without the support of the region. For that reason, it is imperative that cooperation and connectivity with neighbours grow rapidly. This is the essence of our neighbourhood policy S Jaishankar, Foreign Secretary Courtesy: http://www.ibnlive.com/
Awed and amazed about India
“No one can come here without being awed and amazed; no one can come without a sense of excitement about all that India has achieved in the past and the extraordinary promise it holds for the future. An India whose traditions, culture and civilization go back thousands of years, and yet co-exist with an India that is young, creative, entrepreneurial and economic, cultural and political powerhouse, and an established democracy under the rule of law.” Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, who was in India with the Duchess (Kate Middleton) on a royal visit
Innovation is not chaos
“Innovation is not chaos. It is structured chaos, disciplined chaos. So it is not contradictory to use discipline to drive breakthrough innovations. However, it is important to recognize that the discipline needed for breakthrough innovation is different from the discipline required to execute efficiency-oriented projects in the core business.” Vijay Govindarajan, innovation guru and author of The Three-Box Solution: A strategy for Leading Innovation Courtesy: www.livemint.com
Courtesy: http://www.ibtimes.co.in/
India, an amazing internal laboratory
“We have such an amazing internal laboratory. We have 29 different examples of how democracy is different in different forms. We can do a lot more internal comparison to understand why, in some cases, democracy is translating into some policy outcomes, and in other states, it is not.” Sunil Khilnani, authorhistorian (his latest book Incarnations) Courtesy: Financial Express
14 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
We now have a millennial learner
“Remember that digital, as a need, is a new need. But the learner is also new. We now have a millennial learner, whose attention span is small, who wants instant results… hence learning styles are different. They have already read the lessons you are going to teach them in class the previous night on Facebook.” Vijay Thadani, MD, NIIT Courtesy: http://forbesindia.com
Can we participate in a risk-reward model
“Initially, India was known for its price arbitrage. Slowly the global industries started discovering quality and capacity in India. Now, customers’ expectations are that whether you can participate in a risk-reward model where you do all the work, take the risks and share the rewards. Transforming ourselves to this new environment is a challenge.” B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, Chairman, Nasscom Courtesy: http://www.thehindu.com/
Budgetary enquiries
“When budgetary enquiries go up, it means people are getting ready to invest when the time is ripe. The time will be right when capacity that has been created gets absorbed, demand picks up adequately and then new investment is required.”
Naushad Forbes, President, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and cochairman of Forbes Marshall
Courtesy: Times of India
the right direction
Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in business world
We have reformed
“See, we have reformed. We are spending more…in the right direction. And we are sticking to fiscal prudence. So we are doing a lot of things right in a global environment that is not friendly.” Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister Courtesy: www.livemint.com
Machines-human beings symphony
“I have always believed in the symphony between machines and human beings to achieve things that won’t be achieved otherwise. The idea that is most intriguing about GOQii is having a human being working with artificial intelligence to motivate the user.” Amit Singhal, former Google Fellow who joins Board of Directors at GOQii Courtesy: Economic Times
In India, creativity is diverse and thriving
“Today, as a robust democracy and one of the largest film-producing countries in the world where creativity is diverse and thriving, we cannot be seen as meddling with works of filmmakers and distort them.” Vani Tripathi Tikoo, member, Central Board of Film Certification Courtesy: Times of India
I sleep easy on this (competition)
“In a market where only one percent of spends is electronic and the rest is cash-based, there is increasing need for competition to drive innovation to meet consumer needs. I think there is lot of opportunity in the Indian market going forward. In a growing market, there is more than enough for everybody. I sleep easy on this (competition).”
Learn all the time “Skills become obsolete in no time. Illiterates of 21st century are not going to be those who cannot read or write. Illiterates of 21st century are going to be those who cannot learn, relearn and unlearn.” Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank
Courtesy: http://www.dnaindia.com/
Porush Singh, Country Corporate Officer - India and Division President - South Asia, MasterCard Courtesy: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
India on the verge of astounding the world
Technology, a productive resource
“Technology today is considered as much a productive resource in an emerging economy like India, as land, labour and capital. To support inclusive growth and grow the GDP, technology can play a role.” Shailendra Kumar, Managing Director, Oracle India
Courtesy: Financial Express
“India is on the verge of astounding itself and the world. And the United States is ready to be a stakeholder and partner in that future. I experienced in a very refreshing way exactly what binds our two countries together: a shared passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, Americans and Indian entrepreneurs have become part of a shared culture that reveres innovation.” Charles H Rivkin, US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Courtesy: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
When you have a good Friday
“When you have a good Friday (usually the day new movies get released), the business side of things start moving up. Suddenly all the brands, filmmakers and event organisers will be approaching you. On a not-sogood Friday, things kind of slow down.” Ranveer Singh, film actor Courtesy: www.livemint.com
Success is the sum of…
“Success is the sum of a series of variables and of inscrutable balances. Fame in itself is not a value, and I am more than convinced that...there are a thousand ways to be people of great value without being famous.” Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor, multi-instrumentalist and classical crossover artist, who debuted recently in Mumbai, with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Courtesy: Times of India
Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 15
Interview
from
Office Boy CEO to
Rajesh Dembla is the founder and CEO of Xelpmoc Design & Tech. Earlier, he was the Group Vice President - Global Operations of Justdial Ltd. He played a crucial role in growing Justdial from a startup to a VC-funded company, to taking the company public, a complete journey. He is a career-driven, detail-oriented and a dynamic professional who has varied and rich experience in leadership roles in large firms. His specialties include strategy, product, revenue and brand building. In a candid conversation with Corporate Citizen, Rajesh spoke about his professional life, work life, turning points in life, while also giving a tip to the youngsters of today By Vineet Kapshikar Take us through your education and career.
I am one of those guys who got very little education. My father passed away when I was twelve years’ old. The financial situation was not good. At the age of 15, I lived for three months in a railway station. My first job was of an office boy. I used to clean the office. Then I worked at the racecourse washing horses, for the next five to six years, I did a number of odd jobs. I found various ways to get myself educated including joining a college. But I could not get a graduation.
You mentioned that when you were 15 years of age, you slept on railway stations for three months. Could you tell us a little bit more about that period in detail?
Before I was 15, I had lost my dad and my family had no money left to care for me or educate me. One day, I decided that I will leave home for some time and with no idea where to go, I began wandering aimlessly. Late one night, I was tired, hungry and it was very cold. I was near a railway station. I decided 16 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
to go in there and rest for a while. I fell asleep on the platform and woke up a few hours later, I realised I could stay there every night and no one would bother me. I spent every night for the next three months there, while I did odd jobs in the day to save a bit to get myself a place to stay. Almost every night I was hungry and cold, but I refused to accept help or free food from anyone. I have slept hungry many a night with just tears in my eyes. The only exception was a man called Iqbal, a coolie at the station, He would see hunger in my eyes and once in a while get me a bun with tea, He knew I would refuse, so he always told me that he would take money later, which never happened for years, as I had no money. Much later, I did all that I could for him. God bless that soul. During that time, I met all kinds of people, good, bad and the unmentionable. I don’t know what was the force driving me, but I always kept dreaming that one day I would become a person whom the whole world will know and respect. I used to dream that one day I would have a big house, a Mercedes car, travel all over the world,
employ people everywhere, and would be loved by all. Today I have achieved all that and more, I think it is due to a single-minded focus, dedication, hard work, honesty and a lot of luck with good wishes of people. I saw at young age, how people were so shallow. I saw the rich behaving badly and thinking they were gods gift to mankind. I think I got a lot of wisdom from seeing some people and knowing what not to be, no matter what I achieve. Even today, I see many successful people behave badly. I see them become rich, but lose respect of people who have helped them when they were nothing. They are surrounded by unworthy people who are with them only to gain.
Tell us about your journey.
I got my first full-time job at Getit Yellow Pages, at that time Getit was a start-up. Not everyone was aware what Getit was, or what a Yellow Pages was? Neither did I, but I went by my gut and I am happy that I took that decision because the next 23 years of my life have been amazing because of that decision. After seven years of working at Getit I was heading sales for the company, and in the process we had launched Getit in various cities and we made it a household name in India. In 1998, I witnessed Internet emerging into India. Not many knew what Internet was, mobile phones had just come in 1996. I had a gut feeling that the world was changing. I decided that I had to move to the future. I decided to join V S S Mani who had started Justdial. I was requested to help set up a sales channel as a consultant. When I was doing this and helping set up Justdial, I got a call from a job consultant, I was asked if I would like to be the first Indian to start a Yellow Pages on the Internet. I did
My advice to youngsters is that, you are the luckiest generation as of now. I don’t think in the past 100 years any generation would be as lucky as this one. The reason being, everything is perfect, the technology is available to launch any business
Pics: Yusuf Khan
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 17
Interview not even think, I just said yes, the rest is history, I joined Indya.com; it was the first horizontal portal of India. The best days of my life were spent producing the Indya Yellow Pages. In 2002, I went to back to Justdial. From 2002 till August 2015, I was part of Justdial. After launching Justdial in the USA and the IPO event in 2013, I began to feel that I need to do something more meaningful. That’s when the idea of Xelpmoc started evolving. When two of my colleagues, the CTO and Dy. CFO of Justdial also decided to quit Justdial along with me, it was just obvious that the future was calling. That’s how Xelpmoc Design & Tech was born.
How do you see youngsters today and what is your advice to them?
My advice to youngsters is that, you are the luckiest generation as of now. I don’t think in
The way I look at the things, they are pretty amazing. I see today’s youngsters with dreams in their eyes, not only dreams but they are actually willing to work hard and make it a big success. I see a lot of pride in them. Being an Indian I am happy to see this happening
Confusion is an opportunity
A
mind-stimulating session was held at a business symposium, where Rajesh shared his experience from the various industries he has worked with. Corporate Citizen was able to bring out the issues discussed in the session Many aspiring students ask me questions like, should I join a large company? Should I join a start-up? Should I start my own venture? Should I join my family business? Or should I go abroad to work? They feel confused. It is okay to be confused as one steps out of college... Don’t be afraid of the confusion; you have a chance to experiment with various jobs or ventures. In fact, if you see, most success stories in the world, they have all become great successes in their 40s. Only a handful of people have become great success stories in their 20s. In fact, your confusion is an opportunity that will lead you to find new age options. Rajesh says, no matter what you chose to do, your key to success in your early career is great team play. ‘If you are not a great team player, your chance of success is very weak.’ Rajesh cites an example: consider two teams, one with a great team and a mediocre idea and the other, a mediocre team with a great idea. A great team with the mediocre idea will always outperform the other team. He spoke about the various options for students and made some suggestions in short. If you want to start your own company: 1. M ake sure that you have a great team with you.
18 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
2. Ensure you have an idea which you are passionate about beyond doubt. 3. Get enough validation about your idea from some experts if possible. 4. Believe in yourself and stay persistent. If you want to join a large company, startup or go abroad and work 1. Analyse the overall industry before joining any company. Make sure the Industry has scope to grow over the years. 2. Check the culture, history of the company, etc. It’s important to avoid negativity and exploitative-cultured companies. 3. Understand future plans of the company. Ensure the company ownership has an aggressive growth plan. 4. Check the sharing wealth attitude of the management, ESOPs and bonus strategies, etc. Try to join a company that has these policies. 5. Understand your job. Know what is expected of you as a team member and stay on top of your game. If you join your family business 1. First understand the history of the business in detail. 2. Do not make radical changes unless it is warranted. 3. Respect employees who have been part of the business while building it, no matter how old they are. 4. Bring in technology to run the business efficiently as per the need. 5. Scale the business both vertically and horizontally.
the past hundred years any generation would be as lucky as this one. The reason being, everything is perfect, the technology is available to launch any business. Your business can be funded by venture capitalists, private equity players, if you have a great idea. People are willing to accept start-ups; time’s changing, everything is changing. The way I look at the things, they are pretty amazing. I see today’s youngsters with dreams in their eyes, not only dreams but they are actually willing to work hard and make it a big success. I see a lot of pride in them. Being an Indian I am happy to see this happening.
What was your turning point in your professional and personal life?
As I mentioned earlier, when I was 15 years of age, I used to sleep on railway stations for three months. There were a lot of porters who used to give food to me sometime, they were good people. I used to feel, they were trying their best to help me by giving me job options like theirs, but I was determined to make it big. The turning point in my personal life was ‘the realisation that I need education’ and not necessarily from any college or university, but borrowing books and learning it myself was good enough. I used to ask people when they get of the trains to give me books. Somebody would give me books on law, chartered accountancy, or science. It didn’t matter for me since education was the primary aspect. I would just read the books. That was my turning point personally. My professional turning point was joining Indya.com in 1999, because at that time it was a big thing. At that time nobody knew what Internet was, what kind of impact it will have on our lives. The fact that I was able to be part of the Internet era so early has given me a huge advantage.
Tell us your experience dealing with youngsters. Was it difficult or challenging?
I would say neither difficult, nor challenging. Finding the right kind of people has taken some amount of time. It has been a slow process. But when you find the right set of people, the rest is easy. For me, it was a cakewalk. I am very much a people person. I work with them like a friend and not like a boss. I have been interested in their dreams. First thing I always ask is, “What is your dream? And let me try and achieve it for you, then I will tell you my dream for the business and you try and achieve it for me, it is a give and take.” Most youngsters that I meet would tell me they want to buy a house, buy a car, want to go abroad, the basic three things. I made sure that I made good plans for them. I created opportunities so that they can achieve their dreams. Today there are at least 250-300 people who have bought
I have mentored several youngsters that have started their own businesses when they were just 21 or 22. One of the companies today has close to ` 100 crore of revenue with operation across the world. They have won the Delloite Fast 50 award for fastest-growing tech companies in India and Asia three years in a row. I am very proud of them. ing to be amongst them, help them and learn from them.
You have acquired so much knowledge on your own. Do you think self-upgradation is sometimes more important than formal education?
Formal education is really important. But it is not enough. Till you are working, you have to upgrade your knowledge every day. Learn from any source, but be better than yesterday.
How do you balance your personal and professional life?
houses and at least a few thousand people who have brought cars and a few thousand have gone overseas because of the work they have done with me. I don’t take credit for doing it for them. In fact, I give credit to them. I am successful due to them, due to their hard work, due to their contribution to the company—without them, we would have been nowhere.
You mentioned that you created a lot of opportunities for youngsters. Could you tell us a little bit more about those opportunities?
At various levels, I have never said no to talking
to young people and sharing everything that I know. Be it at colleges, or schools, even people working in companies that I have been part of. I have mentored several youngsters that have started their own businesses when they were just 21 or 22. One of the companies today has close to â‚š100 crore of revenue with operation across the world. They have won the Delloite Fast 50 award for fastest growing tech companies in India and Asia three years in a row. I am very proud of them. In the 19-plus companies of which I am a shareholder, there are nearly 200 youngsters starting their career. Its such a wonderful feel-
I love my work. I can work 20 hours a day. I can still be fresh and excited about the next day. However, I find it difficult to balance my professional and personal life; I want to learn this from the youngsters. I find a lot of youngsters today who do balance their personal and professional life. They go to gym, go to swim, have a hobby too.
What is your idea of relaxation?
Watching a good movie relaxes me. I prefer comedy movies, even the slapstick comedy. I enjoy paragliding and skydiving.
Tell us about your CSR activities.
On a personal level, I do various CSR activities. I believe that I should give something back to the society. However, I feel I am not doing enough, yet. vineetkapshikar@gmail.com May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 19
‘We have a certain vision for the institute; we should try to maintain that and try to improve and the result will automatically follow. One ranking one year does not make any institution a great institution. Similarly, one bad ranking for a generally good institute does not make that institute go down the drain’ 20 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Cradle of Leadership Prof. Saibal Chattopadhyay
Director of India’s premier management institute, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C)
IIM-C:
Quantum Leap P The Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, India’s premier management institute, has asserted its reputation over the decades, thanks to strong leadership and faculty, active student involvement and timely innovative intervention—be it placement, curricula introduction or faculty selection, research, academics or industry interaction—points out its dynamic and matter-of-fact director, Prof. Saibal Chattopadhyay, of this ‘quanty’-centric institute
By Vinita Deshmukh and Sumitra Das
rof. Saibal Chattopadhyay is the Director of India’s premier management institute, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C). A senior faculty member in the Operation Management Group at this institute since 2001, Chattopadhyay did his PhD in Statistics from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA and MS (Statistics) from the same institution after his MSc (Statistics) from the University of Calcutta. He has more than 30 years of academic experience in India and abroad including over 15 years with IIM Calcutta. Prior to this, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics, Presidency College, Kolkata, where he started his career as lecturer in 1983. He has also been a visiting professor at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA, Department of Statistics, University of Connecticut at Stamford, USA, and Department of Statistics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA. His research interests include ‘Sequential methods in estimation and in selection and ranking problems’, ‘Multistage sampling methods in environmental health and in clinical studies’, and ‘Quantitative techniques in advanced marketing research’. He has also provided consultancy to various projects across different sectors in the public and private domain.
Dr. Chattopadhyay spoke to Corporate Citizen about the birth of the first-ever Indian Institute of Management, IIM-C and its achievement to keep up the label of a premier management institute, through innovation and changes made in student learning/teaching experience, and keeping up with the times
Corporate Citizen: You have just had a fabulous record of campus placements, where most of your students got job offers within two-and-a-half days. How good do you feel about it?
Prof. Saibal Chattopadhyay: It being a business school, the media always talks about placements, but from an academic perspective, we’d love to hear about the effort behind that success. For a business school, if I can’t place my students, then I know I am not doing a good job, I agree. And if that is the only parameter, then certainly we are doing well, but we would like to see in the media, more of what all new things we are trying to bring into the education space. And these are things which really make the difference, if I may say that. All these years, my faculty colleagues, the administration, including the Society and Board of Governors, have always tried to bring in new things to the system so that the students have a better teaching- learning experience. Two-and-a-half days is kind of a standard time frame for campus placements. This year
was a pleasant surprise because people were talking about the impending disaster in the business sector, but this did not reflect adversely on our placements.
Could you elaborate on the innovations that were brought about?
Since you started with placements, let me tell you how we go about them. Whenever a student joins us, our placement office creates his or her personal record document which comprises his strengths, his weaknesses, his interest areas, his communication skills and so on. And we monitor it for two years. So when companies come to the campus just before the completion of the sixth term, we are also very well briefed about what kind of people they want to have. Not every company is looking for the same set of skills. I may have 460 students but not all of them are of the same skill sets. Some people are very good in investment consultancy, some are good in numbers and this gets reflected by the courses that they take. This is what I mean when I say the process behind it. Of course we look at someone’s progression through us, and then we advise the recruiter accordingly. There’s a students’ team which does the campus placements; we give it a support service. It is this team of students who talk to the industry, and get the assessment of the industry in terms of its requirement. This matching of requirement and resources available is the key May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 21
Cradle of Leadership to success in placements. It is not magic. It requires constant effort and that’s why a two-year programme gives ample space to monitor and assess. Initially, there were challenges in the one-year programme. The time was so short that to assess them and then to match them with the requirement had always been a challenge. Now, even for the one year executive programme, students do not stay with us all the time. They go abroad for internship or orientation or industry visit. Considering all this, I believe a placement is just an outcome of so many good things that we do throughout their staying with us.
So this categorisation which you are referring to, the placement, is led by the students; but in terms of identifying, speaking to the companies, on their requirement—do you have faculty aligned to it?
Not aligned, in fact, there is a faculty leading this entire placement process. The students’ body reports to that faculty, which also has a set of faculty colleagues helping the placement team. Except for the initial interaction at the high level, let’s say, with a new company that would be coming to the campus, the placement coordinator or what we call here as the chairman of the placement cell who is a faculty member, initiates the process with one or two of his senior colleagues, but the students ultimately take the decision.
Is it a requirement for the institutes’s faculty who are engaged in consulting assignments with corporate, to capture their learning or experience in the industry as a case?
It’s not showcasing, it’s a mutual match. I give CVs of all of them. But then I also have my ‘analytics’ giving their background, which I share with them. I can assess the kind of CVs they will possibly like. I don’t want to bias them in their decision-making and I don’t dictate who they should interview. They would be hiring them. Who am I to decide?
Tell us about the history of IIM-C, Calcutta, the first and premier IIM institute.
In 1961, when we were created by the Government of India, the idea of the founding fathers was that it will come out of the shadow of the university system. The universities are so dominant in our Indian education system, so Jawaharlal Nehru wanted some sort of independence from them. IITs came first and then they wanted managers, so the objective was to create managers, depending on the needs of the industry. This was to be one experiment with the industry and academia joining hands. With that objective, this institute was born. Of course, when we came up that time, Ford Foundation laid the 22 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
basic pillar, supported by MIT and Harvard. Ford Foundation agreed to help in resources and finances too if required, to create IIMs. So, Harvard mentored Ahmedabad and MIT mentored Calcutta. These two institutes started almost simultaneously, and then after 10 years, Bangalore IIM was born.
So IIMs are autonomous institutes?
Under an Act of Parliament, you can create autonomous institutions also. We are autonomous, yes. But we were not created under an Act of Parliament. This is the basic difference. Universities or even IITs were created under an Act of Parliament. So IITs started giving degrees, to start with. Because we were not under a Parliament Act, but under the Indian Societies Registration Act, we all give diplomas. It’s a different matter that these diplomas became the most sought-after, over a period of time. But, at the end of the day, it is still a diploma.
The government of recent has been contemplating a legislation to empower IIMs to give degrees instead of diploma in management. What are your thoughts on this?
I am a supporter of that. I have already made my views public. I feel it is very important now to give degrees in MBA as IIMs have become a brand. And this being a very high-value brand, our students should not face any difficulty when they go abroad. These are IIM ambassadors. Particularly, it affects those who have done PhD. When this fellow student is a PhD and is applying to an institution abroad, every single time the poor fellow has to explain how is it equated to PhD, because he holds a post-graduate diploma, and not a degree? We call it PGDM - Post Graduate Diploma in Management. PGDM is not MBA, strictly speaking, by law.
What about PGDM students—do they also face problems?
Their problem is one of plenty because the companies love them, but for ‘Fellow’ students who want to pursue academics, it is a rough ride due to the diploma tag. Sometimes when they go for some specific applications, they need a master’s degree. But if they call it a master’s degree, they are lying, technically speaking. Even though our PGDM is much valued, is more exhaustive and rigorous than a master’s MBA anywhere in
What do you think makes IIM-C, Asia’s finest business school?
Well, I again really don’t know whether something is the finest. It is a process. I would only say that we should always try to do the good things. We have a certain vision for the institute; we should try to maintain that and try to improve and the result will automatically follow. One ranking one year does not make any institution a great institution. Similarly, one bad ranking for a generally good institute does not make that institute go down the drain.
‘We try to give them a perspective of business needs or society needs; the courses are graded and designed accordingly, and we hope for the best. Sometimes, if we find that something is not going well, we go back to the huddle room, brainstorm, and try to change the curriculum, and this is the normal process, nothing is magic’ India or abroad, at the end of the day, it still is a diploma. So these are technical issues and this is where I support it—the Bill should come.
There is a flip side to this. If IIMs give degrees for MBAs, what about all the other MBA institutes in the country? Do you think their reputation would get affected?
I don’t think it that way. I take this position because I look at my students. Not everybody is suffering from this defect or discomfort, but a large part of good students are suffering from it. I want to overcome that. If the country can resolve it, if by an Act of Parliament, why not? This is my question. But then I am not in a position to comment for other MBA institutes. I am aware of the fact that there are 1000s of other management institutes which are similarly offering diploma programmes. I don’t know what kind of delivery they have, what is the teaching-learning experience of their students. Certainly some of them are doing extremely well, as I can see. But at the end of the day, whether I should equate all of them as one—I am not the right person to comment.
But for the world, IIM Calcutta is like a crowning glory, so from your experience, what do you think are the reasons for it?
It is difficult to get acknowledgment externally. It is always better to have ranks and accreditations from other people, from peers. I would love to have a national ranking, I would love to have great acknowledgment from international bodies and that is our objective.
Okay, let me put it this way—what inputs here are exclusive to this institute, which have helped in the development of the intellectual faculty of a student? You may have also brought in some unique ideas.
For a moment, give credit to the students too. Look at these very bright students. Let’s not underestimate them and imply something about this institute that we don’t really truly deserve. Yes, we give them the right, holistic education. We try to give them a perspective of business needs or society needs; the courses are graded and designed accordingly, and we hope for the best. Sometimes, if we find that something is not going well, we go back to the huddle room, brainstorm, and try to change the curriculum, and this is the normal process, nothing is magic. I don’t want to take credit for any of these things. This is what a decent and good academic institution should do.
Yes, that’s very humble, but if you could tell us one or two innovative ideas you introduced in the institute that has made a difference…
See, in the last 18 years that I have been here, there were about two-three major curriculum
reforms that I have seen. At the broader level, it is because of our historical association with MIT and Ahmedabad’s historical association with Harvard. You may be aware of the basic difference in education in these two great institutes—while MIT is more mathematical or quantitatively-inclined, it attempts to teach you through numbers, Harvard discourses through examples. This is the fundamental difference of the two ways of management education: one is education through numbers, and other is education through examples. Your choice. Some people like to get taught by numbers and some people by examples. Those who like to learn by examples, go to Ahmedabad. There are other schools which are somewhere in-between these two teaching methods. IIM Calcutta has been historically a ‘quanty’ school. We do assess the quantitative ability of our products and we select them for this ability, but over time we have also noticed that the business demand really forces us to think of examples, so slowly we have moved towards examples and cases. Similarly IIM Ahmedabad also realised that they had also gone to the other extreme, which was not proper without getting into real hard-core analysis of things which you may not achieve just by examples, all the time. So they also slowly converged to some of the quantitative style. So now both schools have a wonderful mix of ‘quanty’ as well as case studybased teachings.
What is the role of the faculty in shaping the students?
A faculty member is someone who would share what is there in theory, what he can teach through his own example, and teach case studies which are already documented. We must complement this with the individual faculty’s own research ability. Unless a person can relate whatever is being taught in the class with his or her own experience, students don’t find it a learning experience. So we noticed that we needed to change the teaching/learning experience. So, we too have slowly changed. For example, about four years back, we did not have a case research centre. Now we have a formal Case Research Centre where I invite industry people saying we will provide you with facilities required to document the cases. I tell them that I have a fantastic professor heading that centre, who will help you, so please bring your live, industry experience and let’s write the thesis. One thing we lack is India-specific cases. Even after all these years after independence and industrialisation, we still depend on Harvard or Ivy cases.
What kind of cases does your Case Research Centre undertake?
Indian cases. All types of cases—pure analytical May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 23
Cradle of Leadership cases, cases from say, Infosys, cases from other places where we have real data which we try to analyse. Even cases from social concerns. I will give you one example of a very interesting case which we developed here. Alokananda Roy, as you know, is a famous danseuse. She actually had done an innovative experiment with correctional home (jail) reforms. Her experiment went thus: yes, there are hardcore or soft-core criminals, but then they should be given another chance to rectify themselves. So, through her dance drama, she produced it using correctional home inmates as performers. She would take them out in the open to stage performances. I brought them here to my campus once. It was a moving experience. About 50 inmates came to this IIM campus in prison vans. The DIG of Prisons also came, on my invitation. Only for those four hours were they free, without handcuffs. The creative talent of some of them was amazing. One of them has actually made it very big. I requested him to help me build the case. He has been released after serving his sentence for a hard-core murder case. Now he has opened up a security agency. He is doing very well. These are the people who know security weaknesses. It’s certainly a moving story. Initially, there were difficulties in getting a job. Who will employ a murderer? Obviously, nobody. But then slowly he got accepted, got the recognition and now he is doing very well. I invited him here and said you just document your life, your case.
So how many such cases have been documented?
So far, in the last two years, roughly 20-21 cases, which I think is not bad.
Do students work on these cases?
Yes, but purely under the supervision of faculty. We have hired case writers from abroad. They can write the cases very effectively as they know how to ‘pitch’ a story. There are fantastic case writers who will listen just like you are listening to me and when I read what they write, I can’t believe it, oh my God, I provided the thought and it has been so well expressed in black and white. That is an art.
Academics, Industry and Research – do you have a perfectly cohesive institute in that sense?
Not yet. We are a decent academic institute and of course our one major job is research. So not only do we teach, we also do serious research. Teaching and research are the two established works of the institute. But in the third one, which is industry, we have a disadvantage as we don’t have too many industries and stock exchanges around here. We do have a presence here and there, but to have an association with 24 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Walking out in pride
the industry on a continuous basis is, in my own assessment, difficult when you are here in this part of the country. This is not an excuse by the way, for not having industry interaction, so now we have embarked on something unique. From last year, we have started a new programme. We said unless we go to them, they will not come here. So, we have collaborated with the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. By the way, these three institutes are the stellar institutes of Bengal. All are firsts—first management institute, first IIT, and the first and only statistical institute for management. ISI is an experiment in the sense that even globally, you cannot have a competitor. We have started a two-year MTech-level Business Analytics programme from 2015. All three institutes are involved. Each institute takes care of one semester. The final semester, we give 100 percent to the students. We want the industry to come and adopt this great scheme. Someone selected through a process of ISI, IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta would be very highly qualified. The first semester has statistical and mathematical input by ISI; the second semester has technological input by IIT Kharagpur and then the third semester has business input by IIM-C. The business input teaches how to apply business analytics in HR, marketing and stuff like that. The course culminates with the industry coming here for recruitment. This, in my own assessment, will be one fantastic way to bridge the gap between academics and industry, which we have not been able to do so far. We do provide executive education, but if you really look at industry-sponsored education or research, that is not happening much, anywhere in India, but definitely not in IIM Calcutta. The idea is to have more industry-sponsored seri-
ous research. This is what the IITs are doing, because they have a formal laboratory. We now have the Financial Research and Trading Lab, again first time in India. We are very hopeful. We have to keep doing new things.
With technology coming in, hasn’t that eased out the distance from the commercial capital?
Of course, we have the largest presence of technology-enabled education in India. But this is in the executive education space, not in the diploma course. We offer our faculty members to go to a studio and via satellite, through a web-enabled process, offer classes. This is being beamed to, I think, about 70 or 80 centres in India and some centres abroad. It has a large presence now and a good part of our revenue also comes from that satellite-based education.
You have been here for so many years. What changes have you seen as far as the quality of the students is concerned?
Overall, I believe, the competition has become intense. Twenty years back, you had 150 students, and only one programme, so the faculty members also had a much more easy-paced programme. Students also could enjoy a direct individual relationship with the faculty members. Today, we have a much more brilliant, young population in India and now we have to teach 450 students with almost the same set of faculty. And I am teaching more than 2,000 2,500 corporate learners through that technology education, again drawing my resource from the same pool of faculty.
How many faculty members do you have?
Earlier, we had 60 -65, now we have 85. So we have 20 additional faculty and we have several
I only want to look at the negative side—that the students don’t interact and don’t look at the bigger issue, I will be possibly doing injustice to them. They also have their own constraints. In IIM-Calcutta, we try to give them a general feeling of comfort.
Youngsters have so many temptations. Do you have any kind of alcohol or drug addiction problems?
We certainly have very specific rules and do’s and don’ts. We have a student affairs committee which constantly keeps vigil on such matters and reminds students of their responsibilities towards the institute. But then this generation is a little different. This is a social media generation.
What is your opinion on the quality of MBA students churning out from institutes across India? programmes now. We have PGDM, PGDBA, PGPEX, PGPEX-VLM a manufacturing programme with IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras also, MBA in manufacturing, and we have our Ph.D. programme.
Why is there such sluggish increase in faculty? Why does it not match with the number of students?
It’s a difficult question. All I would say is, this institute has its own standards. We are not getting teachers of that calibre.
So that is a cause of worry.
I will only say that we are extremely careful in selecting the faculty. Because remember, when you select one faculty colleague, he or she will stay with you for 40 years. If you select four or five faculty who are not up to the mark, they can take you down. So, more importantly, you have to select the right faculty who will take the institute forward in the years to come, with new courses, new thinking, new pedagogy. So a progressive outlook should be one of the main qualities of a faculty. Now we top it all with research ability. Not everybody is a great researcher. But that has become a non-negotiable thing for IIM Calcutta.
With most youngsters more interested in getting into the corporate sector with those high-fly salaries… I don’t blame them.
No, you don’t blame them, but where will you get good faculty from, in the next ten years? Are there youngsters who are inclined?
If you believe in exceptions, you know what I mean. We also don’t get paid badly these days,
‘IIM Calcutta has been historically a ‘quanty’ school. We do assess the quantitative ability of our products and we select them for this ability, but over time we have also noticed that the business demand really forces us to think of examples, so slowly we have moved towards examples and cases’ to be very fair, you have enough opportunities to earn additionally from executive education. So some of our faculty earn annual salaries much more than that of top-notch corporate managers. So that should not be a constraint for the right person, but yes, you are right in general when you say that getting good faculty is always a challenge. Getting good faculty is impossible in some areas, like Finance and Control. But this is where the rules are very simple. IPA may be ₹2 to 2.5 lakh per month, plus another may be ₹ 3 to 4 lakh for executive education, so that makes it ₹75 lakh odd, a year.
What about the students?
Students require more deliberations from their side. It is incredibly competitive now. If
It’s a mixed quality. Some institutes are producing brilliant students, some institutes not so good. But it may not be as simple as that to infer that the quality of students is bad. It also has something to do with the quality of the instruction that they receive. We also have great responsibilities towards the next generation to impart the right education. But if we fail in our duties, it definitely affects the outcome.
You have most prominent alumni like Indra Nooyi and others. How do they connect with their alma mater?
They always connect and they always give back—depends on what exactly you want them to give back. In the Indian scenario, it’s not about money, but more than that. Although, in the last 15 years, the government has not extended any support to us. Obviously, not that we badly need it, but it is always better to have some support from other places. We had a silver jubilee batch reunion. After 25 years, we called them back, saying let’s share our diaries on how we both have grown in the last 25 years. These alumni are doing extremely well in life. Some of them have donated gyms and many other facilities for the students.
What is the shift, if at all, that you see in the profile of the students?
The students are more concerned about their grades these days. The reason is, they have to get a very good job and grades have become an important parameter for the industry to select. Students nowadays look for international experience and industry exposure. They are concerned about their ability to lead teams. All these things put enormous pressure on them. This was not so 20 years back. vinita.deshmukh@corporatecitizen.in May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 25
NHRD Pune chapter
‘Contract workforce:
the new economic reality. Understand it. Engage it. Train it.’
They serve as spring-boards to prosperity when the economy’s looking good; vital shock-absorbers when it’s not. Given the sheer increase in the number of contract workers across various levels over the last five years, here’s putting the spotlight on the phenomenon of an important work force —the contract or flexi-work force —that must be utilized to its optimum. The situation, as it stands today is this: 10 million youths entering the Indian job market every month —and the sheer cost of keeping them engaged--to say nothing of the sheer diversity of skills and specialization required across various sectors in a dynamic, globalised economy , this is a talent pool you engage on contract, not only at the blue collar level, but also at the level of hyper-specialty. The second session of the recently concluded annual conference of the NHRD Pune chapter with the theme “Towards 2020” saw eminent panelists from various sectors like manufacturing, R &D and services discuss the pros and cons of Contract Work force: why it is happening, how best to tap into it, and at the same time, treat this important talent pool with the dignity and fairness it deserves. By Kalyani Sardesai The Panelists for this session on Contract Providers were: l Padmaja Alaganandan Executive Director Pricewaterhouse Coopers PWC (Moderator) l Sharad Gangal Executive Vice President HR, Admin, IR and Member of Exec Council, Thermax India Ltd. l Ajit Nair VP Sales and BBD, Teamlease l Amit Vaish Head, Human Resources, Barclays Technology Centre, India l Santanu Ghoshal Vice President, HR India, Schaeffler India
26 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
‘The issue of contract or flexi work-force has been around for years now. So why are we analyzing its dimensions today?”-- Moderator Padmaja Alaganandan-- --got to the heart of the matter straightway--and asked Sharad Gangal for his opening thoughts. Sharad Gangal: “Size does matter. Given the sheer magnitude of increase in the contract labour force over the last 5 or 6 years, it is a logical point of discussion. There is also a significant change in peoples and processes. We don’t talk of salaries anymore, we talk of prosperity. We don’t talk of mission statements, we talk of aspirations. Naturally, this shift in systems is going to re-
flect in the economic activity. Not only that, the economic cycle is repeating itself more frequently than even before. Then there’s the fact that the infrastructure sector is playing an energetic role in the economy today. And infrastructure is built project to project--which makes engaging even skilled labour like engineers on contract,” he added. Several questions come to mind: are we willing to put up with the costs of an expanding work-force permanently? Besides, is this trained talent pool interested in sticking around forever, especially when their project is completed? Chances are they would prefer other challenges. The challenges before HR is to help skill this work force in the days to come should they be called for taking on higher roles. In my own organization 2300 out of
PICS: Yusuf Khan
“Despite the fact that we have such low levels of apprenticeship, there is tremendous potential for us to ramp up and take advantages of the assorted opportunities thrown at us. If we invest in skilling our work-force, and focus positively on making the most of the market before us, we are looking at good times ahead.” Santanu Ghoshaal, Vice President, HR India, Schaeffler India
(From left to right) Ajit Nair, Amit Vaish, Padmaja Alaganandan, Sharad Gangal and Shantanu Goshal
the 5500 employees are working on contract, including blue collar.” “How is this playing out across various sectors?” Amit Vaish: “As of today, the USA, arguably the world’s most watched economy had 34 per cent of its work force on contract--a number set to grow by leaps and bounds in the years to come. “With specialization and niche areas of demand emerging like never before, the one way to reach out to talent beyond the regular work pool and include a host of talented innovators and service providers is to get them on contract. This provides us both agility and flexibility in
offering services.” In the banking sector too, an important area of outsourcing was in the form of data analysis with several market players bidding for data. There is actually a platform called KAGAL which brings your organizational data needs on the same platform as potential service providers.” This supports networking/outsourcing and helps the banking sector reach out to niche customers in different, specialized ways, such as analyzing and predicting customer spends based on their past records, or alerting customers at the time their account balance is low--and possibly warning them against over-spending. Thus, contract servicing helps collaborative models of different hues, which is a great way forward.
Do we spend enough on skill building? Ajit Nair: “India’s track record when it comes to apprenticeship is dismal. A mere 300,000 as compared to China’s 500 billion. This is because don’t want to invest in training the youth. This is where both premier enterprises and government need to work together. As an organization, we have the Teamlease University that is working round-the clock, to build industry specific talent and work force. However, the era of contract staffing is here to stay. We live in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous World--namely the VUCA phenomenon. We need scale, we need networking and we need to reach out. As per the CRISIL report of 2012 .04 percent of the world’s total work force is on contract--and a very good thing, too! Contract workers play a role in every season-they serve as spring boards when the economy is moving upwards, and as vital shockabsorbers when it is not. “These are paradoxical times where the world’s largest content provider Facebook does not generate any content; nor the world’s largest taxi service provider Uber--own a single vehicle. Nair added that this phenomenon needed to be understood and appreciated better. “In the days to come it will eventually help per capita income and go hand in hand with the trend of digitization. Typically, contract workers tend to earn better than regular office goers May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 27
NHRD Pune chapter because of the risk-reward model. Given the emphasis on ‘Digital India’, “Make in India” this is a model that functions efficiently and augurs well for the economy. Get this: We have as many as 10 million youngsters entering the job arena every month; that’s a whopper of a sum that adds up to 120 million head: every year. The way forward is to engage a significant number on contract.” Vaish: “On the one hand, we need talent. But on the other, it isn’t available at the scale and numbers industries would need. So the need to engage this alternative talent is to accept it--and be open to its potential--in whatever form it is available--virtual or flexible. This also happens to be an important way to retain talent--an important lookout for HR at any given point of time. It is also a great way of keeping women on board.” Padmaja Alaganandan: “Why are we only talking of women? Don’t men need flexi employment too? I think Flexi work life is: A deliberate choice for many across genders and skill sets.’ The reasons for this are several: A) The workers may not want to engage with a single organization in the traditional manner and instead, work with several companies and projects simultaneously, or in quick succession. B) Their family compulsions may not make
With specialization and niche areas of demand emerging like never before, the one way to reach out to talent beyond the regular work pool and include a host of talented innovators and service providers is to get them on contract. This provides us both agility and flexibility in offering services.” Amit Vaish, Head, Human Resources, Barclays Technology Centre, India
28 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
The question on hand: Contract Work-force and its assorted dimensions. Pros
l Cost-effective l Retains talent--especially that which does not wish to be employed 9 to 5 for various reasons. Possibly these workers can financially afford not to, or they make a deliberate choice considering the higher wages involved in contract labour after which it can move on to other projects, or simply because it gets to do varied, interesting work. l Works well for retaining women employees l Gives organizations the option of reaching out to niche customer pockets by outsourcing innovative services that are beyond the scope of regular employees for reasons of geography or logistics or time. l Promises employment to youngsters and specialized labour l Provides scope to highly specialized talent, apart from blue collar
full-time work possible. C) They can financial afford not to. D) They are specialists who work best project to project. A s per research there are 3 different talent pools differentiated by the colour of their choices. First comes the Blue Eco system. There are still several people who choose to be associated with one brand for a period of 30 to 40 years in terms of long term contracts. The second is the Orange Eco System--which ramps up and down in terms of economic benefits and growth, and keeps pace with the economic activity. The third is the Green Eco-system with issues of sustainability, responsibility and accountability for the planet being the centrifugal point of all work. This is an important segment that cannot be overlooked either.
Challenges Ahead
l Industry still has to wake up fully to its possibilities l Need for change in Labour Law to recognize and reward this important work-force l Need for both government and industry to invest in skill-building l A highly specialized knowledge worker can choose to walk out anytime; this may cost the organization. l HR must learn to recognize and respond to the unique aspirations of this work-force that may not necessarily come to work everyday l Need for industry to extend financial and security benefits. In other words, it must walk the tightrope between flexibility for its own self and the work-force it hires as well as provide a safety net to some extent l Organizations need to find ways and means to engage contract workers in full-time employment after some time. The reasons for this are two-fold a) The employee himself wants this opportunity b) The contract worker is now skilled enough to be absorbed into the organization
Audience question: So which of the three will dominate in the days to come? Nair: “ A hybrid mix of all three talent pools is needed. Each one has to be respected for its own strengths. In some fields like technology and imagineering, the Green World will dominate. In others like manufacturing, the Blue will. The market will decide its costs.” So far, the discussion has focused on the merits of contract work force. Which brings us to the next rational question: Are we being fair to contract workers? Are we going to be initiators
of change or welfare? Even as there is much talk of the need for labour laws to reflect the value brought forth by contract workers to the table, can we leave everything to the government? Gangal:” I have always maintained that we must think--not in terms of cost arbitrage but flexibility arbitrage. The government may or may not do its bit. As of now, it seems to be looking away. However, as an industry, while we talk of egalitarianism and the risk-reward model--it must be matched by action. Why just blue collar workers, I do believe super specialists must be compensated in terms of hospitalization scheme and adequate insurance. It is our moral responsibility and if we fulfill it, we help build a psychological advantage. These are things we need to need to do, because at the bottom of everything is trust. We will have no litigation if we work on trust. It will take just one big complaint to force us to look at this issue, so the choice is for us to make: Do we want to be initiators of complaint or welfare? “ Santanu Ghoshal said: “The issue of owning responsibility towards our contract work force is a burning one. Much like the quintessential question of what came first--the Chicken or the Egg? Fact is, both are very important. The same is the case with Contract Work Force; they work to our advantage, but even so, this kind of employment carries a social stigma. Banks deny them loans and so on. This has to change--and that change begins with us. Build a safety net for them. This is crucial, because in many areas, we are dealing with very educated and aware talent. They know they have the option of suing the company--for a lot of the work they do is pretty much the same as that of regular employees. In order to make sure they don’t give them more benefits. Create a market for them, as they go on, if not an actual job.” Talking about his own organization, Ghoshal said: “In our company, we have a model that considers contract workers for full-time employment every two years. The process of taking them on is fair and transparent. In several countries abroad, the transition from contract labour to full-time employees is so well-defined, seamless and mature that they can actually take on about 30 to 40 per cent of the total work force--which is a lot.” The big picture: How does HR leverage the change to its advantage? Closing Remarks.
As an industry, while we talk of egalitarianism and the risk-reward model--it must be matched by action. Why just blue collar workers, I do believe super specialists must be compensated in terms of hospitalization scheme and adequate insurance. It is our moral responsibility and if we fulfill it, we help build a psychological advantage. These are things we need to need to do, because at the bottom of everything is trust. We will have no litigation if we work on trust. It will take just one big complaint to force us to look at this issue, so the choice is for us to make: Do we want to be initiators of complaint or welfare? Sharad Gangal, Executive Vice President HR, Admin, IR and Member of Exec Council, Thermax India Ltd.
Ajit Nair: “In Europe and India, contract work force is largely understood and accepted. Even in India I see it growing to about 10 to 20 per cent over the next 5 years. In many cases, it will be a lifestyle choice. Specialization is a certainty--especially on the backdrop of India’s focus on smart cities and building start-ups. Several opportunities will arise and it is up to us bridge the gap between demand and supply. Skill is the new Gold--there will be a huge premium on knowledge workers. Amit Vaish: “Two words are key to everything: Enablement and education. We need to skill the upcoming work force to enable performance, and at the same time, educate our line managers and associated staff on the myriad possibilities of this alternative work force. An important task before HR, therefore, is to map task to talent-irrespective of where that talent sits. Another key area that needs work from HR, is learning how to respond to the needs of a work force that is different from the regular employees. Gangal : “ Trust and hope are the cornerstone of every business model--including that of the contract work force, I am talking not just of blue collar workers but
also specialists who must be treated fairly. Like Paul Coelho said: “Look for Gold beneath your feet.” To my mind, skill is precisely the gold that will shine. At the same time, one must bear in mind that the contract model does not work everywhere. If I spend considerably in educating manpower, and that trained youth has the option of leaving anytime, then the cost of knowledge disruption becomes pretty high. One must be prudent about striking the balance. Ghoshal: “ I would like to conclude on a macro level. While everyone else has commented on an organizational level, the big picture is this: India is the skill capital of the future. The reason for this is the demography--we have a young workforce as opposed to the workforce in US and Europe that is graying. I recently read an article called Online Lever Exchange which said that the maximum capital of such work is from the US to India. Most of the people who are doing this are either working from home, or it’s a second job above and beyond their regular professions. This is great. Despite the fact that we have such low levels of apprenticeship, there is tremendous potential for us to ramp up and take advantages of the assorted opportunities thrown at us. If we invest in skilling our work-force, and focus positively on making the most of the market before us, we are looking at good times ahead. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 29
The Tax Man Cometh-11
by S K Jha (IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
THE PANAMA MONEY CIRCUIT
The Panama Papers reveal that the elite of the world—the powerful, rich and famous —like notorious tax evaders and drug traffickers — are united in their sin of tax evasion. What they do not realise is that this very money hidden in remote parts of the world may not serve them when they need it most. Added to the fact that they lose their reputation as well as their money when such information gets leaked
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 world with a population of 7 billion is divided into 200 countries and the people differ in religion, language, culture, social habits and even looks. Sociologists keep researching to find out factors that can unify the world -- a sport, entertainment, technology, creative ideas, etc. One hitherto-unimagined unifying factor has been discovered by the ‘Panama Papers’, currently making headlines. Panama is a small Central American country, known for its canal which connects the two big oceans. The Panama Papers have disclosed that the elite of the world, the powerful, rich and famous, along with notorious tax evaders and drug traffickers, are united in their sin of tax evasion and creating offshore companies. The rich and powerful of each part of the globe are all together in their act of sin as evidenced by the ‘Panama Papers’. What are the ‘Panama Papers’? They are the outcome of the greatest leak of the world when 11.5 million files belonging to Panama’s law firm, namely, Mossack Fonseca were leaked to the newspapers. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)perused these leaks and detected that 2,14,000 shell companies were held by the rich and powerful and the same was facilitated by Mossack Fonseca. The law firm has offices in 30 countries including many tax havens. This law firm developed the expertise of floating shell companies which could be sold at a very low price to international tax evaders who wished to hide their black money behind the curtain of a corporate entity. In simple language, if a person wants to purchase some costly property in some costly place in the world, the owner is paid from one of the shell companies in the tax haven, when the actual money belongs to the tax evader and the beneficiary of that property is that tax evader. Because of the opaqueness of the tax haven, the identity of the real investor remains unknown. 30 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
This is one of the many reasons for owning an overseas shell company in a tax haven. ICIJ said, “It allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world providing a day-today, decade-by-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, spreading crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues.” Several big names have emerged and the prime minister of Iceland whose name figured in the Panama Papers has already resigned. Making news are the names of 500 Indians who are in the good company of the rich and powerful people of Pakistan, China and Russia and several other countries.
The Cayman Islands hoard 15 percent of the world’s bank assets. The Panama Papers have evidenced the problem faced by the world. Each country is trying its best make sure that there is no leakage of its tax revenue. Coming to India, the related law to deal with this problem was recently enacted -- the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. This is a very severe law and if any foreign income or asset which is undisclosed is detected by the tax authorities, then there is a provision of penalty of 90 percent of such income or asset, in addition to 30 percent tax. This means that
When Hurricane Ivan headed towards the Cayman Islands in 2004, it sent a stream of light aircraft racing to Miami. They contained computer hard discs relating to a large slice of the world’s Cayman-held wealth. The Cayman Islands hoard 15 percent of the world’s bank assets Like Panama, other tax havens are the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Island, Guernsey Island, St. Kitts, etc. The size of the offshore financial industry is difficult to judge, but economist Gabriel Zucman of the University of California has estimated that US$7.6 trillion or eight percent of the global financial assets are held in tax havens. Each tax haven has its own speciality. The Virgin Islands specialise in forming corporations while the Cayman Islands specialise in bank accounts, while Panama specialises in shell companies, St. Kitts specialises in opening of trusts. When Hurricane Ivan headed towards the Cayman Islands in 2004, it sent a stream of light aircraft racing to Miami. They contained computer hard discs relating to a large slice of the world’s Cayman-held wealth.
a person will have to pay 120 percent of such hidden income or asset outside India. This Act also provides for prosecution and a person hiding his income or wealth outside India can go to jail for three to 10 years. Every person has to disclose his foreign assets or income in his Income-Tax return and non-disclosure of this fact also attracts penalty and prosecution. We also have the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), which deals with the subject of foreign exchange remitted outside India and which is overseen by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Prior to FEMA, there was the FERA Act (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act), which had severe provisions. The Enforcement Directorate, under the Finance Ministry, monitors violations of these provisions. Till 2004,
all investments abroad required prior approval of the RBI. Resident Indians were, for the first time, allowed to remit US$25,000 without approval from the RBI in 2004. Under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), now a resident Indian can remit up to US$2,50,000. There was a time before LRS, when many well-known industrialists of the country were prosecuted under the old FERA Act for sending money abroad without the permission of the RBI. The important point to be noted is that foreign exchange under the LRS, which is disclosed in the Income-Tax return and which comes out of the accounted income does not attract any penal action, as the same is under the permissible limit. Tax havens and Panama Papers describe a situation when the remitter of the fund wants to hide his money. Now the question arises as to how unaccounted foreign exchange is generated by a resident Indian or by any such countryman? One very crude but very commonly practised method is ‘under-invoicing’ and ‘over-invoicing’ of imports and exports. There have been many cases where it was found that export is under-invoiced and the difference between the market price and the invoiced amount is taken by the exporter or by the overseas importer
outside India and that becomes hidden foreign income. In many cases, it was seen that the Indian exporter sends the consignment outside India in the name of his own associates as it helps under-invoicing. Similarly, many times, import is over-invoiced and the difference is paid by the foreigner to the Indian importer in foreign currency which is a concealed foreign income. There have been interesting cases of bogus exports. In one case, a diamond exporter was seen to be sending stones in the name of processed diamonds to its sister company in Belgium. In another case, a top garment exporter was arrested when it was found that in the name of high-fashion garments, he was actually exporting rags to his associate company in Dubai. The mother of all the laws behind unaccounted income is the Income-Tax Act. Any income on which tax is not paid, becomes unaccounted. The problem starts with the issue of where to keep such unaccounted income, and in this context, the rich and powerful evolve new methods to send the unaccounted income abroad for safe-keeping, and such money, in many cases, goes to tax havens. The Income-Tax Law says that any income earned by a resident Indian, whether earned in India or abroad, will be taxable in India, subject to double-taxation avoidance trea-
ties. The resident Indian has to disclose all his incomes which are earned outside India, along with his Indian income. There was a famous case of a wellknown person who was filing Income-Tax returns on his Indian income, but not disclosing his income earned as a visiting professor in well-known foreign universities. When confronted, he admitted to the evasion and paid tax on his foreign income. Mahatma Gandhi said, “The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs but not every man’s greed.” Our country could have been better served, had our rich and powerful not have followed their greed. First, following their greed, they try to earn unaccounted income without paying taxes. Secondly, they go on hunting for places all over the world to keep such unaccounted income. The Panama Papers clearly disclose that these rich and famous travel all over the world, but the only country where they do not show their transaction is their own country. The money and assets kept hidden in remote parts of the world may not serve them when they need it. They stand to lose their reputation as well as their money when such information gets leaked. The late Shah of Iran, Saddam Husain and Col. Gaddafi who had kept their wealth in different parts of the world, all lost their wealth and the wealth never helped either them or their successors. It is generally said that Swiss banks have sizeable funds for which there is no claimant, as they might have died suddenly before making their secret bank account number known to their children. Readers may decide what is the right path for them. The purpose of money should be to give happiness to us and not cause fear, as it happens when it is hidden. Our countrymen are very intelligent and hardworking and that is the reason our people are at the helm of big and powerful international companies. We can generate enough income for ourselves in a lawful manner and invest it for creating wealth for our family and for our country. May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 31
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Battlefield to Boardroom From being a Gentleman Cadet at IMA Dehradun to a tank man who volunteered for special forces to fight cross-border terrorists during the peak years of anti-insurgency operations in Kashmir to a personality assessor at Bhopal SSB centre to becoming a pioneering HR figure in India’s banking industry, destiny has led Anshul Bhargava down many unexpected paths. While serving the Indian Army, he was exposed to some amazing leadership lessons. After leaving the Army, he found these lessons just as applicable in the corporate sector. Today, as Chief People Officer at Punjab National Bank Housing Finance Limited (PNBHFL), Anshul has shown how a 26-year-old, lossmaking PSU can be totally transformed into a profitable and fast-growing housing finance company. He shared some of these lessons with Corporate Citizen while narrating his eventful career-journey which began from Lord Krishna’s birthplace Mathura - - - - By Pradeep Mathur - - - -
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he art of influencing people to willingly do what is required to achieve a goal is the essence of leadership. Very few know how to apply it in a complex business situation. Anshul Bhargava is one such. As Chief People Officer of PNBHFL, he exemplifies the ability to change things when change is hard. Using battlefield lessons he learnt during his 21-year stint in the Army, Anshul’s corporate journey of eight years reveals how team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm and determination can help overcome obstacles and bring transformative changes. Having joined the Army at a very young age in 1987, he left it as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2008, and went for an MBA degree in HR from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. He began in the corporate world as GM (Head-HR & Administration) with a start-up, Asset Reconstruction Company of India Ltd (ARCIL), in 2008, in Mumbai. In his very first corporate encounter, he faced a big HR challenge because the business of ARCIL (a consortium of major public sector banks like SBI, PNB, ICICI and IDBI) was that of recovery, and required a team of very skilful financial negotiators who could recover loans from hostile retail borrowers and SMEs, but without being harsh and tough with the clients. They were also required to turnaround stressed loans and non-performing assets (NPAs) of these banks, running into thousands of crores. And he was the first HR guy of the company with absolutely no experience of corporate HR practices. Banks had already tried and burnt their hands in this exercise and, as HR boss, it was his job to build a team who could smilingly resolve and restructure NPAs from banks. How he did it is an exciting story. Three years down the line, he moved to New Delhi to work as Chief People Officer for a 26-year old public sector housing finance subsidiary of Punjab National Bank, called PNBHFL, which provided housing loans and loans against property to its clients. Here the challenge was of a different kind: turning a typical, loss-making government PSU with lots of demotivated employees, to a fast-paced, profit-earning, corporate entity, without letting the business stop even for a day. Earlier, in his over two-decade long innings in the Army, besides facing hostile armed infiltrators in the difficult J&K terrain, he also played a big role as a group testing officer of the Service Selection Board (SSB), measuring the officer-like qualities of aspirants, and thus building the cadre of the Indian Army. Anshul Bhargava shares important landmarks of this exciting journey with Corporate Citizen, asserting that whatever success he achieved was due to the vital leadership lessons he learnt in the Army.
32 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
PICS : Ajit Ranhotra & Dr Vivek Arora
‘The art of influencing people to willingly do what is required to achieve a goal is the essence of leadership. Very few know how to apply it in a complex business situation.’ May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 33
Cover Story How did you join the Army? I belong to a small town, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, where I did my early schooling. Mathura has a very big cantonment area. Initially it was more of a fascination but then I fell in love with the olive greens after a particular incident. In those days, the Army used to organise army melas annually in small towns like Mathura where they would not only display their equipment, tank models, trenches, underground hospitals and such other things but also simulate a war-kind of a situation for visitors. I used to go there with my elder brother who is now based in Allahabad and works as a senior designated lawyer at Allahabad High Court. I must have been studying in class second or third, but I still remember how thrilled I was watching those smartly dressed young officers explaining warfare techniques in simple terms to people visiting the mela. Memories of those army melas left me with the feeling that one day I too would don these olive greens. How did you carry this feeling forward? When I was in class six, my parents sent me to India’s leading, all boys and fully residential, The Scindia School (TSS) in Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), where this thought of getting into the Army got further cemented. At TSS, learning extended beyond the classrooms. The focus was not on just academics but also on discovering special talents in other areas. I got exposed to a lot of co-curricular activities like debating, elocutions, athletics and so on. Being a keen sportsman, I also got a chance to represent TSS at various competitions and took part in a wide range of intellectual activities which helped me imbibe some leadership qualities. Besides taking part in NCC, I did a lot of horse riding there. TSS taught me how to think and become independent and helped me experience India’s diversity at a very early age because it attracted boys from all parts of the country. Post IMA, what kind of postings did you get? I passed out from IMA in December 1987 and then I got into the Armoured Corps at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra. It’s one of the combat arms of the Indian Army and considered a dream for anyone to get commissioned into. They are popularly known as ‘Black Berets’. I was indeed fortunate to be commissioned in ‘Sattar’ Armoured Regiment, a very elite one as it had fought in all the wars. It has an ethos and culture of ‘Easy Efficiency’ and the motto and war cry of the unit is ‘Karke Rahenge’, which is self-explanatory. These 34 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
values laid the foundation of my personality as it was my grooming stage where being the junior-most guy, initially, I was not permitted to get into even the officer’s mess and had to stay with my jawans. But that’s the way Army teaches you the basics of leadership because as a commanding officer, you have to know your men first. When you join an army unit, you get into what in the corporate world is known as the buddy system. In the Army, it is known as the ‘senior subaltern’ who, in the good old British tradition, becomes your mentor, guide and philosopher. He is there, as they say, to ‘smoothen the rough edges of the diamond’ in his charge. He tells you to an extent, how to behave and conduct yourself, also guides you in your career path for about seven to eight months and then, of course, you’re left on your own. What kind of functions did you have to go through? In a typical fighting army unit -- tanks in my particular case -- you have support elements like the logistics, supply-chain, communications, transportation and the guy who co-ordinates it all, the adjutant of the unit. When the order comes, he is the one who steers the unit for the completion of the task by coordinating down below and the top. You’re also called the chief execution officer of the unit who gets all the orders executed effectively. That’s a prestigious appointment. The army trains you for one additional position too. Which is what? If you want to graduate to an instructor’s job, you’ll be sent for a specialisation course in that particular field. I specialised in tank gunnery warfare and then became an Armament Instructor at the Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACCS) at Ahmednagar where I had to train young and senior officers. Thereafter, they sent me on different assignments including that of a brigade, as a Staff Officer. Did you go for counter insurgency operations? Yes, after a while, I volunteered for the Special Action Group (SAG), a crack unit of the Indian
Army involved with counter-insurgency operations in Jammu & Kashmir. I’d done well in the Armoured Corps, now I wanted to go and see other parts of the combat side of the forces. So, I underwent this gruelling, 40-days’ probationary commando training where I had to take off my ranks and do it just as a jawan does. There is no guarantee that you’ll succeed because the selection rate is just about two percent to become a Special Action Group Officer! I did well and so I got a chance to take part in the core insurgency operations in J&K for three and a half years on mission specific tasks. Post Kashmir, what did you do? I came back to my unit as the second in command, organising training and taking care of everything else. It was around this time that I was selected for the SSB. It’s interesting to know how the army does it. It keeps a record of your selection days, when you got selected for the army, how you performed during your own SSB. If you did extremely well then, you are called for a course to be trained as a personality assessor or a Group Testing Officer. Then you’re taken through a theoretical phase at the Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), an offshoot of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), based out of Timarpur in Delhi, where you are taught psychology about human personality and behaviour and the various techniques to gauge them. So your inclination for HR jobs was noticed right in the beginning? That’s right. But it’s also true that you’re successful in the Army if you understand people and their personalities. You need to understand the junior-most jawan, his background, his education, his family, his mental state on a particular day. When you’re going on a tough operation and if he is distressed on that day, then you’re asking for trouble -- you can’t take him for that operation. You need to first motivate him. What’s the difference between an army selection and that of a corporate? While the army sees a person’s potential to become an officer, in corporate selections, we see where this guy is coming from. We ask him what he has done. If he says, ‘I’ve done this or that’, then we think he’ll perform with our product and
‘You’re successful in the Army if you understand people and their personalities. You need to understand the junior-most jawan, his background, his education, his family, his mental state on a particular day.’
Why did you leave Army and opt for a corporate career? I was already 40. I had got commissioned when I was 20, so I knew that it was either then or never. Moreover, from 2006 onwards, corporates were looking for army guys, though in 2008, our economy suffered on account of the global recession. Why did you go to IIM Calcutta when you had already attended courses at IIM Ahmedabad, MDI Gurgaon and XLRI, Jamshedpur? I appeared for GMAT and my score took me there. The courses you just mentioned were small Management Development Programs (MDPs) of about a week’s duration and I was sent by the Army to attend them. There is an Army Training Command at Shimla which nominates officers to attend these courses. I was fortunate that I was selected to attend this MDP at IIM Ahmedabad in 2003-04 when I was an assessor, for a course on “leadership and change management”. Then I was sent to attend another MDP, on “effective communication by senior leaders and managers” at MDI Gurgaon. But PGPex at IIM Calcutta was a year-long program.
within our cultural environment. Many a times we fail. We presume he’ll be a long-distance runner, but if his heart is somewhere else, he’ll not perform to our expectations. Does it mean that the army has a better selection process? I think so. As a selector, you predict his level. These records are maintained throughout the life-cycle of the officer. Whatever you write in your report; stays in the officer’s dossier throughout his life and for posterity in the Army archives, especially for generals. In the Army, we do a lot of analysis of your personality, irrespective of your branch, whether you’re an engineer, doctor, lawyer--everyone has to go through the SSB process and even after you get selected and go to your respective academy (NDA or IMA, OTS or whatever), we go back and validate our findings. How are you performing there is checked, and thus further calibration is done. How was your experience at the SSB? It was great because it gave me a lot of insight into human behaviour and how to leverage the core competency of an individual. It also gave me a lot of quality time to myself. That’s when I thought, let me put some hours to study, because by then I had already completed 18 years of service and wanted to move out of the Army. I had to complete the mandatory 20 years’ service so as to not
to lose out on my pension. I was posted here in Delhi at the Army headquarters, managing the service records of the officer cadre of the Indian Army. That was a very fulfilling tenure where I got exposed to the dossiers of all the officers. What did you do after leaving the Army? First I cleared GMAT and joined IIM Calcutta in 2008 to do its one year MBA program, PGPex or Post Graduate Program for Executives. I then got a campus placement at Mumbai-based ARCIL. So, this was my journey from the Army to the corporate world. I realised that the techniques I had mastered in the army would hold me good on civic street. As an assessor, what was your focus while recruiting people? The Army is not a 10 to 5 kind of a job. If someone joins in today, you can’t fire him the next day. He stays with you for the next 20 years. So, you have to be extremely careful because the damage an individual can do to the organisation is immense. Hence as an assessor you need to do the job with great responsibility to build its officer cadre. Incidentally, since I had mastered the Army’s group testing technique which emanated back from the UK -I was made part of a study team of officers from the Army and DIPR that visited England when the Indian Army wanted to make some changes in this technique.
How did your perceptions change when you attended courses at such great institutions? I attended these in-campus courses with other participants from the corporate world. In fact, that was my first exposure to corporate leaders. Since it was a seven-day leadership course conducted by IIM A’s senior-most faculty Dr Niharika Vohra, I rubbed shoulders with top CxO level officers from MNCs like Coke, PepsiCo, Cannon and others. It changed my perspective as to how the corporate world actually functions. While I was trying to understand the corporate culture, they wanted to know how leadership works in Army. That was a great exposure for me. I made good friends there, did a lot of networking and kept interacting with them to learn on how I should move out of the Army and what should I do next. Thereafter, just before leaving the Army in 2007, another MDP opportunity on communication skills at MDI Gurgaon came my way and I grabbed it with full vigour. These MDPs were fully paid and sponsored by the Army which really helped me when I joined the corporate world. My family also backed me in full measure because they knew what it would mean to all of us and that helped me in leaving the uniform. These courses helped me in my smooth transition from the Army to the corporate world. When did you go for the XLRI course? This I did while I was here at PNB Housing Finance. I wanted to become a certified assessment centre expert, so I did this week-long assessment certification course at XLRI, covering both theory and practice of the assessment centre approach to competency mapping. May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 35
Cover Story views and selected me. I joined it because I was the first one to be hired as HR head and I saw great HR opportunities in it. Being the first asset reconstruction company in the country, they were starting their retail operations by commencing the business of resolution of non-performing loans (NPLs) acquired from banks and financial institutions. It helped me play a pioneering role in setting standards for the industry in India. How did you define that role? It was a Mumbai-based financial institution made by a consortium of banks like SBI, ICICI Bank, PNB and such others who had sold their bad assets and NPLs to ARCIL which believed in handling issues rather differently. Unlike others who speak loud with their tough guys coming in to take over your assets, they work with a soft, resolution-approach. My role as HR manager was to build such a team by picking up people with the right temperament and attitude, grooming them not to have that hard approach, but to have a cultured one with customers. Also, I had to make sure they had very sound financial knowledge to restructure the bad assets, engage courteously with customers with flawless negotiating skills. They also had to be presentable, with good closure and relationship building skills. I had to groom these people into the required
‘While the army sees a person’s potential to become an officer, in corporate selections, we see where this guy is coming from. We ask him what he has done. If he says, ‘I’ve done this or that’, then we think he’ll perform with our product and within our cultural environment. Many a times we fail’ When you joined the corporate world, why did you go into HR? HR happens to be my core competency area as I’ve done personality assessment and officer cadre management of so many army officers. Moreover, thanks to the Army, I was able to attend very useful leadership courses at India’s top management institutes. What was your greatest learning in the Army? Since the Army groomed me to be a team member, I learnt the importance of being a contributing team player who can compete with the big guys while working in small teams with trustworthy people in place. Why did you begin your corporate career with ARCIL, a start-up? They came to IIM Calcutta campus for inter36 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
mould, knowing well that it was the first time that any company in India was doing this. How could you manage that? The task was to resolve issues related to Non-Performing Assets (NPAS) and get their money back. Banks had already tried and failed. I thought about it deeply and realised that customers of such an asset recovery company would interact with people with high credibility. I suggested to my management that we engage short-service army officers as branch heads. That was a major initiative. We hired a few short-service commissioned officers who had spent five years in the army. We got those young captains in independent geographies. When these guys told the customer that they were from the Army, the issue of credibility got resolved instantly. A rapport would be built with the customer in no time,
helping them resolve his case amicably. This was also the first time that people from the Army got into this kind of job where they were doing core operations requiring enhanced soft skills. It was a win-win situation for both. In my three years tenure I was able to build a team of highly credible negotiators who turned the fortunes of ARCIL in a remarkably short time. Did you face any specific problems while working at ARCIL? Oh yes. Before ARCIL, I had worked 21 years in the Army where even if you want to write a letter to someone, you just have to call a clerk and dictate. But the moment I stepped into the corporate world, even for a small memo, I had to do it myself. I was not used to it. Another problem was Microsoft Excel. I really struggled with it initially because I had never worked on stuff like that. One day I literally called back my wife who was in Delhi, and said, my biggest stumbling block there was not HR but Microsoft Excel. I gave myself one week and enrolled into NIIT’s evening program where I could learn Excel. I had to download the programs on Excel tutorials and for the next 72 hours, I slept for perhaps two to three hours at night. By the eighth day, I again called my wife and said, now I’m OK with it and this monster is over my head. So, that’s the kind of killing instinct which the Army gives you to cross over any hurdle that comes your way. I had to do it because these days, all data is Excel based in the corporate world. If you were doing so well at ARCIL, why did you leave it? See, in the corporate world, good work doesn’t go unnoticed. It gets spread by word of mouth. I got promoted from DGM to GM within a year because ARCIL started showing positive results within a short time. People started talking about an HR person who was instrumental in its turnaround. One day, I got a call directly from the MD of PNB HFL for a job opportunity in Delhi. Now, I always wanted to come back to Delhi because it was close to my hometown Mathura where my parents live, and my children were studying here in Gurgaon, so that was another attraction. I was also fed up with Mumbai’s traffic which involved travelling almost two hours daily just to reach my office. For someone who had spent his life in cantonments where you travel just one or two kms in a day, it was obviously a big pain every day. Yet when he made this offer, I said no, I’m not interested. Why? I refused because I thought it would be a typical 9 to 5-type, PSU job which I didn’t want to get into. I didn’t want a very secure, government job. I told him I needed a challenging assignment. But then he started explain-
ing how this organisation was going through a business transformation process. He said it was a 26-year-old, fully-owned subsidiary of PNB Bank where people came on deputation from the bank to run it. They had a very shortterm perspective, hence the company was not doing well. The NPAs were about 15 per cent and growth was hardly visible. At that stage one option being considered was to roll back the subsidiary into the bank, but that would have rendered many employees jobless. So the authorities at the bank and in the Ministry of Finance decided you couldn’t roll back a subsidiary, hence they went for a public-private partnership where 51 per cent stake went with the PNB Bank and 49 per cent was sold off to a private equity player. With private equity guys coming in, they obviously wanted the organisational culture to be changed—they demanded a complete business transformation from a PSU to a corporate entity. What was your reaction? When all this was explained to me, I could clearly see the opportunity that any HR in his lifetime would love to grab, because converting a typical PSU to a corporate was like changing the soul of an entity. You are changing, not just the work culture, but also looking at people’s transformation by bringing the existing lot on par with performance-driven employees of corporate entities. You had to get fresh talent from the industry and merge them with the existing cadre in such a way that they turn it into a performing organisation. So it was a complete change-management task in the true sense, where I was getting the opportunity to change people’s thought processes, technology, culture, ethos and value systems. When I saw this opportunity, I just grabbed it, even though it was a risky proposition, as one did not know how it would unfold. What was your experience in the last four and half years at PNB HFL? When I joined here in August 2011, I knew I had to have winning teams. I needed the right set of people with the right cut of skill-sets to join the team to achieve high quality work. I needed people who were ready to stretch themselves beyond expectations and who were not bound by timings. But since I also believe in holding myself accountable to the highest standards, I led by example and got involved in its transformational journey. Did you not face any resistance? In a typical PSU like this, resistance to change was obviously there because many felt that being an outsider I was trying to bring about a change in their lives. They used to come at 10 am and leave by 5 pm but now I had thrust a corporate culture upon them where performance was mea-
sured and they were accountable for everything. Even their government salary had been taken off and a cost-to-company with performance-driven pay culture brought in, and goals specified for everyone. There was a lot of resistance in the beginning. Gradually things changed, but primarily because of my Army background. Now I have been able to establish the much-needed trust and credibility which has helped me in building rapport and communicating with them in the language they understand.
business transformation agenda. Also, they must ensure buy-in of key stakeholders to drive adoption and long-term sustenance of change efforts. Assigning a key stakeholder as the sponsor of the intervention is particularly useful to facilitate this. They must remember that robust communication mechanisms are the key to negate the adverse impacts arising due to uncertainties and apprehensions associ-
What was the net result of all these efforts? Thanks to the exercise we undertook five years ago, PNBHFL has now become the fifth largest housing finance company and won a number of accolades. What we did was an open heart surgery with heart transplant. We transplanted the heart while the patient was alive and ticking. We continued to do business in the organisation and achieve the numbers while transforming it completely. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2011 to 2015, was 49 per cent, with a 30% profit after tax. The company had one of the lowest NPAs in this duration and customer service standards on par with any other retail lender. The total net worth of the organisation also grew by 48 per cent. The total net worth of the organisation also grew by 48 per cent. The loan outstanding – that is the total asset side of the organisation -- has grown at a CAGR of 52 per cent. So it has been a phenomenal growth journey in just four years. Today it’s rated as the fastest growing housing finance company where its transformation hinged on the HR taking the lead and leading it from the front.
‘The Army is not a 10 to 5 kind of a job. If someone joins in today, you can’t fire him the next day. He stays with you for the next 20 years. So, you have to be extremely careful because the damage an individual can do to the organisation is immense. Hence as an assessor you need to do the job with great responsibility to build its officer cadre’
What key characteristics do you look for while recruiting members for your team? I look for contributing team members who are open to learning, have the right attitude, clear vision and are culturally fit to become a performing employee. What tips you would like to give to HR professionals who wish to act as Change Managers? They must have a detailed plan with timelines and key milestones identified as part of their
ated with change intervention. Also, from the outset, all important “whats in for ME” needs to be communicated to all process stakeholders and both success and failures must be acknowledged collectively, ensuring accountability at all levels. One advice you would like to give to youngsters interested in a corporate career? With positive thinking, commitment to values and a vision, you can achieve anything and reach great heights. May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 37
cover story Dynamic Duo
Behind every successful fauji, a braveheart wife It wasn’t love at first sight, but 20 years after marriage and through the eventful journey of Anshul Bhargava’s military innings, their romance is still alive and kicking. While Anshul, now the Chief People Officer of PNB Housing Finance in Delhi, has a hectic life in the corporate sector, Radhika is busy with bird photography and teaching toddlers
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- - - - By Pradeep Mathur - - - -
eople say, behind every successful man, there is a woman. But who’s behind a successful fauji? We can say for sure: Behind every successful soldier, there’s an even stronger braveheart—his wife. Nobody exemplifies this better than Radhika Bhargava. A freelance bird photographer, Radhika loves being in the company of toddlers: she teaches at an academy in Gurgaon (now Gurugram) and helps kids in the neighbourhood who need ‘a little guidance’. Marrying a fauji was not what she wanted initially. It involved ‘too much travelling’, the husband missed out ‘all the special stuff’ like birthdays, anniversaries, even the birth of your child…So she wanted to marry a civilian. More so, being the daughter of a serving army officer, she had seen military life from ‘very close quarters’ and knew how it affected all your ‘big life decisions.’ Jab we met “Anshul’s profile appeared in the matrimonial columns of the Times of India. When my parents pointed it out, I reluctantly said, okay, I’ll post my biodata but for this guy only.” The rest is history. “Everything went off very smoothly”. They met in February and married in August. Her parents were comfortable since in the Army, ‘it’s like a family’ and they could easily enquire about Anshul from his seniors. “Yet they were initially not aware that Anshul was a UP brahmin while they were Punjabi Khatris. They thought Anshul was also Punjabi because there are ‘Bhargavas among Punjabis’. But she was okay with it because she wanted an inter-caste marriage, and so did Anshul. Radhika was studying at Lady Irwin College of Delhi University, completing her master’s in 38 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Community Resource Management so as to take up a career in India’s emerging development sector. But she didn’t complete it because Anshul, a major and senior squadron commander posted in Roorkee at that time, said ‘it wasn’t going to help her out’. Post-marriage, they first landed up at Suratgarh in Rajasthan which was ‘very difficult to find even on the map of India.’ Was it a shock? “Not really. It’s a desert, a very beautiful place. I have very pleasant memories of Suratgarh, its sand dunes and our bonfire parties. From Suratgarh we moved to Pathankot in Punjab and in a year plus, we had a daughter and in another year, the initial operations under the Kargil conflict begun. Heavy tank movement was taking place between Rajasthan and Punjab.” Did Anshul take part in the Kargil operations? “Yes, but towards the fag end. He had special training in mountain warfare. Anshul was moved to Chakrata, but by then Kargil was tapering off. But soon thereafter, he was part of Operation Vijay and Operation Parakram, the 11-month-long border stand-off that took place after the December 13, 2001 terror attack on the Parliament.” “At that time again we were in Pathankot, he was away for that operation. Then his squadron moved to Kashmir to check roads for landmines and improvised explosive devices before they were opened for the public. He was sent away to Kashmir and I had to be alone,” Radhika recalled. What did she do then? “Since taking up a job was not possible in those areas, I worked with the wives and kids of jawans. These women came from small villages, they didn’t understand the language. I used to teach them, and help their children study,” she said, adding, “generally, these ladies were very good at knitting, so we
gave them designs and helped sell them through exhibitions in Army areas. I had also taught them how to make candles,” she recalled. She also taught at school, up to class VII, and had begun bird watching and nature photography. But she must have experienced all such tension earlier as an army officer’s daughter? “Yes, but from daughter to wife, it’s very different. Your emotional involvement is of a different level altogether,” she points out. “Packing and unpacking household stuff during each of his postings—almost every two years—was quite frustrating. We used to live ‘out of the box’. “My kids, especially Shagun, my daughter,
Anshul was getting used to a new work environment, and Radhika resumed her bird photography. Did she learn it somewhere? “No. I did no course. I learnt it over the Net. Everybody used to discourage me because the lenses used in bird photography are pretty heavy, each weighing 2 to 3 kg. They said I wouldn’t be able to carry such heavy stuff. But I stuck with my hobby.” Why did they choose to go back to Delhi? “The schools in Navi Mumbai, where we lived, weren’t very good so I wanted to go back to Delhi to a decent school before Shagun went to th e IX class,” she explained, adding, “Fortunately, at that very time, the PNB HFL story happened.” Meanwhile, Shagun completed her XII and Shubhankar, their son, will be appearing for his XII CBSE board exams this year. Pips in Shagun, “I want to become a criminal lawyer, but they are discouraging me because we don’t have lady criminal lawyers in India. So, may be a corporate lawyer. I want to do my law from National Law School Delhi or Bengaluru. The seats are few, the entrance exam pretty tough, but I’m determined.” Shubhankar, wants to become “a chef and later pursue a course in Culinary Arts from the US.” He is incidentally an avid watcher of the TV seri-
Shagun, my daughter, could only associate him with his Maruti car. Any white Maruti would be papa because he would come in the evening and the next morning he would be gone —Radhika
could only associate him with his Maruti car. Any white Maruti would be papa because he would come in the evening and the next morning he would be gone. Out of the 10 years of my life with him in Army, he must have been out of the house for at least six to seven years,” she recalled. Was there no peace-station posting? “It was only when he changed his subject of study and got into the SSB recruitment process at Bhopal that we got some relief. He spent a good four years doing and enjoying that.” After Bhopal, they came to Delhi on compassionate posting because Anshul’s mother was unwell. “He was posted here at the Army Headquarters. When he was about to finish this post-
ing, he was to be sent on a field assignment for three years. At that point, I put my foot down. We had stayed separately for very long. Shagun had gone into V class and three more years would be too much for me to handle. So, I said, it was time he put in his papers.” It so happened he was completing 20 years in the Army. “We waited for a year and then he left.” Soon after, Anshul left to do his year-long, fully residential MBA course from IIM Calcutta, and then joined ARCIL in Mumbai in August 2008, beginning his journey in the corporate world. “After the kids’ academic session here at DPS Gurgaon we too moved to Mumbai.” In Mumbai the kids moved to a new school,
al MasterChef Australia. Besides photography, Radhika collects antiques and old brass kitchen utensils. “I’ve a fairly good collection. Wherever I go, I look for kabadi ki dukaan and ask them if they have any old items.” What about Anshul? “Though he loves reading, he’s really a workaholic. He is still in love with his regiment, tanks, jawans. At PNBHFL today, he can die for his organisation,” says Radhika. Does Anshul help her in pursuing her hobby? “Oh yes, bird photography is very challenging. When you’re in a bird sanctuary such as Bharatpur or Asola or Okhla or Sultanpur, you have to go to areas where I can’t go because of the khaddas. I tell him what to do, he goes and clicks the pictures I can’t manage to. Anshul loves walking long distances and sharing his experiences with me, so he makes such jungle experiences very enjoyable,” Radhika signs off enthusiastically. mathurpradeep1@gmail.com May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 39
corporate life
Preeti Paranjpe Manager, Wipro Ltd
Stop pushing a wall! Instead of pushing the strong concrete wall, one can think of breaking a part of it and creating a door to pass through! Sometimes just a small opportunity is all you need to channelise your energy towards what needs to be done on the other side of the wall
H
ave you been in a situation where you want things to happen in a certain way and they don’t? A response from a colleague isn’t what you expected, or a person you want to impress doesn’t give the positive reaction you had hoped for. And when this happens, do you feel like you are ‘pushing a wall’, trying to control things which are beyond your control to get what you want? Just like the concrete wall will not budge, there are some things which are not in the realm of your control, or in line with what you want or can change. The colleague responded in their own way, not as you had wished, and someone who you wanted to impress will have their own views, completely different from what you may have expected! How do you react at such times? If you try to find out why the colleague isn’t responding, then you may be on to getting what you want. But if you get anxious and frustrated, persisting in trying to get what you want in the ‘way’ you want it, then you may be pushing a wall and wasting your energy. Why do we try to control such situations, and how and when should we let go? This question can be best answered once we understand the purpose behind trying to control or change something. Here are a few reasons and some ways of dealing with such situations:
Expectations from self and others
Sometimes we have very high expectations from ourselves. We feel that we should do everything right and never make mistakes. This 40 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
happened with Danny. He moved to a new city and was going through a tough phase in life, caring for an ill parent and two small children. He was trying his best to handle a new team and project entrusted to him, wanting to be perfect in every role and task in his life. He gave it his all, but the load was too much and he started making errors which resulted in making the clients very unhappy. Disappointed and angry, he kept pushing himself further, spending long hours in the office. He refused to stop, analyse and resolve things like he should have and took on the entire workload alone without delegating, which could have helped ease his burden. To add to this, Danny’s expectations from his team were that they put in extra hours and not complain about it. The team members were unhappy and escalated the issue to Danny’s manager. Utterly frustrated at the loss of control over the situation, Danny ended up angry, bitter and too sick to work. Dealing with high expectations from self and others is possible if we recognise the fact that expectations may not be fulfilled in a way we want them to be. In Danny’s case, he could have taken it a little easy and taken the support of his team and family members. His team eventually committed to the temporary extra workload, but some relationships got affected due to the friction. Keeping the rational mind functioning well, and being flexible to see options in a problem situation are ways that can help us get around the wall, instead of pushing it to no avail!
Inability to accept reality and let go
We believe that we are in control of most things around us, including our own behaviour and feelings as well as others’. But this is far from true! We could be displaying many involuntary reactions based on how we feel and how people are responding to us. Let’s look at the example of Tina, who was hoping to get a promotion for over a year, but had still not got one. She went through many conflicts with her manager and repeatedly reacted with anger and sarcasm. Her mood often affected her work, and she kept try-
We believe that we are in control of most things around us, including our own behaviour and feelings as well as others’. But, this is far from true! We could be displaying many involuntary reactions based on how we feel and how people are responding to us ing to convince her manager about how good she was, and why she should have got the promotion the previous year. Had she raised her awareness of her behaviour and how stuck she was on getting a specific outcome, she could have handled the situation better. Awareness and acceptance of reality could have helped her to change her behavior and manage emotions. Instead of pushing the strong concrete wall, one can think of breaking a part of it and creating a door to pass through! Sometimes just a small opportunity is all you need to channelise your energy towards what needs to be done on the other side of the wall. Tina saw such an opportunity in a new project she was assigned. Resolving to let go of the past, she gave herself a peptalk aimed at a positive outcome. She was amazed to see how it resulted in peace within and productivity in her performance. With an increased focus on her work she managed to recreate favorable impressions that ultimately got her the promotion!
To summarise, here are the ways of dealing with situations that are out of your control or you want changed:
Take a stock of reality
Stop, and think. Avoid deliberating over emotions and analyse what exactly has happened that is against your wish or expectation. Look for the truth in the situation and separate issues that are interlinked. For instance, a tendency to generalise ‘this always happens to me’ is unnecessary while analysing. A rational thought process will make things clear and help you accept the situation.
Consider the big picture
Question yourself, how does this matter to you in the long run? If you have really started thinking rationally, you will find an answer to this question and might see it either as trivial or enormous! Based on your insight, engage in further questioning of how current behaviour
is helping/not helping you, and commit to a change in your behaviour.
Surrender and adapt
Once you accept the reality, it is easier to surrender to it and roll up your sleeves to craft the outcome you truly desire. In the examples we saw, Danny had no clue about how he wanted the situation to end, but Tina created a vision for herself and adapted her behavior to achieve it.
Compete with yourself first
Even though we know otherwise, our tendency to compare ourselves with others is high! True wisdom is in knowing and accepting this, and systematically detangling yourself from it. A realisation that you are pushing a wall which is not going to move or change, is a way of allowing yourself to be who you are. This will help to not take others, judgments too seriously and bring out your own full potential, rather than
competing with others.
Know what you can truly control or change
You can control and change your own thoughts, feelings, behaviours and responses. You can choose how you interpret others, opinions and certain realities of life. Your choices of your lifestyle, education and life goals are in your control. Investing yourself wisely in what you can change and what you can’t, can be a differentiator between you and others! Those who fret over others, behaviours and try to change them are bound to end up in an unending loop of inaction and frustration. Control is not always undesirable. A strong wall has a purpose of existence, and so do the challenging situations in your life. But spending your time and energy over identifying what is in your purview and what is not, requires deliberation. Know the difference and work on it. This will help you find the key to your peace, potential and well-being! May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 41
cii Case Study-2
APOLLO COOPER MERGER – ANATOMY OF A FAILED DEAL
by Name of the Author: Madhvi Sethi, Associate Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru Name of the Co-author 1: Pooja Gupta , Assistant Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru Name of the Co-author 2: Dr Ajith Kumar VV, Assistant Professor, Skyline Business University, United Arab Emirates
CII - Western Region 2nd EdgeFarmHR Case Study Writing Competition Winner secondary category
Author: Madhvi Sethi
Dr Madhvi Sethi completed her PhD from Vikram University, Ujjain on “A study on random walk hypotheses of selected scrips in Bombay Stock Exchange”. She did her post doctoral fellowship from Indian School of Business, Hyderabad on “Product Market and Capital Structure Interaction – Evidence from Spectrum Auctions”. She has been in academics for the last 8 years and has publications in various research journals. Her research interests lie in the area of corporate finance.
Co-Author 1: Pooja Gupta
Co-Author 2: Dr Ajith Kumar VV
Prof. Pooja Gupta is a BA (Hons.) Economics Graduate from Sri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. She has done her MBA Finance from International Management Institute New Delhi. She is currently doing PhD in the area of Behavioural Finance. She is NET (UGC) qualified. She has more than 9 years of teaching experience and industry experience of 1 year. She teaches Corporate Finance, Security Analysis, Valuation and International Business. Her research interest is in the area of Contrarian Investing and Behavioural Finance.
Dr Ajith Kumar VV has 16 years of teaching experience in Strategic Management Leadership Development ,Organizational Behavior ,Human Resource Management, Business Ethics, Employee Relations and Labor Law for both graduate and postgraduate students in various educational institutions such as Gayatri Vidya Parishad , Sri Srinivasa Vidya Parishad ,ICFAI Bahrain Training Institute, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management -Bengaluru (SIBM-B)and Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication -Bengaluru and Skyline University College.
42 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
cii Case Study-2
Apollo cooper merger – anatomy of a failed deal “The merger of Apollo and Cooper will create a perfect global tyre company1”
– Neeraj Kanwar, MD Apollo Tyres
“We are just looking at how we can collaborate as two companies, and take advantage of the strengths we both offer2” – Roy Armes, CEO and President, Cooper Tires “I’ve been a good son and the father is good. Now the father is divorcing me and the stepfather is coming in3” – Che Hongzhi, Chairman, Chengshan Group
Introduction Apollo Tyres Ltd. (ATL) was incorporated 28th September, 1972 as a Public Limited Company4. The Company was promoted by Bharat Steel Tubes, Ltd. Raunaq International Pvt. Ltd., Raunaq & Co. Pvt. Ltd., Raunaq Singh, Mathew T. Marattukalam and Jacob Thomas. The Company was in the business of manufacturing automobile tyres and tubes, camel back/retreading materials and rubber conveyor belts. It came out with an IPO in 1975. The company grew steadily over the years and became the largest exporter of tyres from India in 1995. In 2002, Mr Onkar S Kanwar became the Chairman of the Board of Directors in the company and Neeraj Kanwar became the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Apollo under the leadership of Neeraj, steadily started building inroads in the international market. It acquired Dunlop, South Africa in 2006. It established a manufacturing plant in Hungary in 2008 to mainly cater to the European clients It acquired 100% shareholding control of Vredestein Banden B.V., Netherlands in 2009 which helped Apollo in widening its product base. By 2010, Neeraj Kanwar had become the Vice chairman of the board and the Managing Director at Apollo tyres and was looking at growing the company through acquisition and merger route. The company wanted to make inroads into the American market and started looking at strategic partners for the same. Cooper Tire and Rubber co. was one of the most promising options on their horizon. Onkar Kanwar had studied about Cooper in the 1980s and had been impressed with the company ever since.
Corporate Citizen, the Exclusive Magazine Partner of the event, will publish the series of top Case Studies, one by one Deal with Cooper5
On June 12, 2013, Apollo tyres announced the acquisition of US based Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. The merger would result in the formation of seventh largest tyre company in the world. Apollo saw a huge strategic fit with Cooper from a geographical perspective. Apollo was big in India, Europe and Africa and Cooper was well established in North America and China. From products perspective, Apollo had made inroads in OEM market and Cooper had a significant presence in the replacement tyre market. It was conceived as an all cash deal. Under the terms of the agreement, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Cooper stockholders would receive $35.00 per share in cash. The deal was valued at approximately Rs. 14,500 crore ($2.5 billion. As part of the deal, Apollo Tyres would take over the operations of the American firm, including eight plants and 14,000 employees spread across different parts of the world. The deal would have helped Apollo raise its production from 1500 tonnes per day to 3500 tonnes per day.
COOPER’S STORY6
Cooper traced its roots back to Akron, Ohio when two brothers-in-law purchased the M & M Company in 1914, making
tyre patches and repair kits. The owners then purchased the Giant Tire & Rubber Company to make “rebuilt” tyres and moved the business to Findlay, Ohio, in 1917. Another investor, a Cincinnatibased auto parts dealer named Ira J. Cooper, established The Cooper Corporation in 1919 on an adjacent property for manufacturing new tyres. These two companies merged with The Falls Rubber Company of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio in 1930 and formed The Master Tire & Rubber Company. In 1946, the company’s name was changed to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. In 1960 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Cooper completed research and development of its own radial tyre manufacturing equipment and in-house product testing in 1973 and began full-scale production of steel-belted radial passenger tyres at its US plants the following year following the changing trends. 1980s was a period of great changes in the tire industry in US. 1http://forbesindia.com/article/boardroom/how-the-apollo-cooper-deal-was-botched/37019/0 2http://www.moderntiredealer.com/news/398170/exclusive-roy-armes-talks-about-cooper-apollo 3http://forbesindia.com/article/boardroom/how-the-apollo-cooper-deal-was-botched/37019/0 4http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/apollo-tyres-ltd/infocompanyhistory/companyid-63.cms 5http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/apollo¬tyres¬in¬25billion¬deal¬to¬buy¬usbasedcooper-tire/article4807720.ece 6http://www.coopertires.com.au/about-us/history-of-cooper-tires/
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 43
cii Case Study-2 Many tire manufacturers got out of production and downsized. Cooper on the other hand, went on a consolidation spree, bought out the competitors and upgraded their plants. It continuously invested money in research and development. As a result of these efforts, the company prospered lot in the early 1990’s and expanded in European markets inorganically through acquisitions. But by the time the new millennium came around, Cooper started struggling due to high raw material prices and consolidation among other major players in the market. Roy Armes7 joined Cooper in December 2006 as its CEO and President, and a year later, was also appointed Chairman of the company. Prior to joining Cooper, Armes spent more than three decades at Whirlpool Corporation in leadership positions throughout the business and in multiple geographies. Under his leadership, Cooper started looking at inorganic strategies to consolidate its position in the tyre market worldwide. Cooper was on the lookout for new markets and new products. As a step in this direction, it setup a joint venture with Chengshan Group, which was the third largest tyre company in China, to manufacture and sell its products in China. In a further bid to shore up its market share, it started talking to Apollo tyres for a possible off take arrangement. The talks centered on possible expansion of both companies together in Europe and Africa. During these talks, Apollo made a bid for Cooper with a 40% premium on its stock price. This prompted the board of directors of Cooper to unanimously accept the deal. As a result of the deal with Apollo, Cooper would become a privately ¬held company, and its common stock would no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. It was expected that Cooper would continue to be led by members of its current management team, and would continue to operate out of its facilities located around the world. Cooper would continue to recognize the labour unions and honour the terms of collective bargaining agreements in effect while generally maintaining compensation and benefit levels for non¬union employees.
CHENGSHAN GROUP STORY8
Chengshan Group is so named after the city in which it is located. The group was first established in 1976, when 67 Chengshan pioneers started an undertaking on the fen land of western outskirts of Rongcheng City. The group made big inroads in the area of construction and production due to their hard work, unselfish dedication, enterprising nature and continuous striving for the best. Over time, with the goodwill developed in China’s tyre industry, the Chengshan group worked hard to become one of the biggest players in the Chinese market. In 1981, the Chengshan group was not included in the original designated enterprise list of the Chinese government. But without losing heart, the group developed path breaking technology in the area of vulcanizing machines, forced the government to rethink and ultimately include Chengshan as one of China’s sixty designated factories. Chengshan was one of the first companies in China to produce world quality radial tyres with China made raw material and production equipment. Chengshan to this day remains a state owned enterprise. Che Hongzhi became the chairman of the group in 2000. He has been a member of Chinese Communist Party and a senior economist.
44 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
He worked as the Secretary of the Town Party Committee, the Chief of Investment Promotion Bureau of Rongcheng City before joining Chengshan. He was appointed as the Chairman and the Secretary of the Party Committee of Chengshan Tire Co., Ltd. in Oct. 2000. During his tenure, the group grew leaps and bounds and apart from tyres, it expanded its business to include steel, rubber, construction, hospitality, real estate etc. The group employed 7000 people and had assets worth 3.9 billion yuan. Che Hongzhi was widely regarded as one of the top entrepreneurs and business leaders in China.
Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. and Chengshan Tire Co. Ltd.9
In February 2006, Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. purchased 51% shareholding of Shandong Chengshan Tire Co. Ltd which was the third largest tyre manufacturer in China at the time. As a result of the deal, two new companies were formed: Cooper (Shandong) Passenger Tire Co. Ltd. and Cooper Chengshan (Shandong) Truck Tire Co. Ltd. Chengshan built passenger and light truck radials, in addition to bias and radial truck tyres and increased both the product portfolio as well as geographical reach of Cooper. In 2010, Cooper bought another 14% stake in the company, thus holding 65% of Chengshan Tyres. The cooperation10 between the two partners was not always on an even basis. The problems mainly arose due to difference in language and in management styles. There were frequent changes in leadership from Cooper’s side. The performance of the joint venture was not very satisfactory during this time. It was only by 2012, that the two companies started communicating well and the joint venture saw a massive improvement in its performance.
Dilemma of Chengshan11
One of the key success factors in doing business with Chinese companies was to build mutual trust with the partner companies, colleagues and employees. It took Cooper almost six to seven years to build a mutual trust relationship with Chengshan. When Apollo entered the scene and started wooing Cooper, Chengshan was bewildered and was wary of this new entrant. One of the main attractions of Cooper tires to Apollo was its production facilities in China. Keeping this in mind, Neeraj Kanwar travelled to Chengshan to meet Che Hongzhi in May 2013 just before the announcement of the merger. Che Hongzhi was not comfortable with the idea of an Indian company holding majority shares in his group company. The meeting between the two was deemed cordial but no conclusion was reached. Both the parties expressed their opinions through the help of interpreters. After the meeting, Apollo conveyed to Cooper its understanding that that the Chinese partner wanted to be compensated as part of any transaction between Cooper and Apollo. Despite these misgivings Apollo and Cooper went ahead and announced the deal on June 12, 2013. 7http://coopertire.com/About/Executive-Leadership/Roy-Armes.aspx 8http://en.chengshan.com/columns_detail/&columnsId=57.html 9http://www.moderntiredealer.com/news/385598/cooper-finalizes-chengshan-acquisition 10http://www.tirereview.com/apollo-cooper-update-union-leader-sees-no-future/ 11http://www.forbes.com/sites/jackperkowski/2013/11/26/chinas-two-sides-part-ii-how-not-to-treat-achinese-partner/#5c3a9d1e789d
cii Case Study-2 Che Hongzhi and the Chengshan workers felt betrayed by the Cooper management. Che travelled to US immediately and expressed his desire to counterbid for Cooper and according to unconfirmed reports made a bid of $38 per share. This was $3 higher than the Apollo bid but supposedly was rejected by the Cooper board. Immediately after the announcement of deal, the workers in the Chengshan plant went on a strike but resumed work one week later. They were worried about the deal and felt that cultural differences and different management styles would affect the working of the plant. The workers were also worried about job security. They also felt that Apollo Tyres was not very keen in talking to them and addressing their concerns. The union gave advertisements in Wall Street Journal12 criticizing the deal. The advertisement asked “Who can guarantee the success of integration between Chinese culture and Indian culture?” Through various media statements, the union also expressed concerns regarding loans being taken by Apollo for the completion of merger. They were worried about Apollo’s capability of servicing the huge amount of loans taken for the acquisition purpose The unions also wrote to one the bankers involved in the deal, Morgan Stanley, to withdraw from the deal.
On July 13, 2013, exactly one month after the deal was announced; more than 5000 workers at Cooper Chengshan Tire Co. again halted production and went on strike. The Chinese workers were exasperated on no reassurance or communication from Apollo regarding the deal. They believed the deal was not in their best interest. The factory restarted after a few days but the plant stopped production of Cooper brand of tyres. The situation got grimmer when Cooper representative were barred from entering the factory premises and were also not allowed to look at any financial data pertaining to the company. Che, in an interview13 mentioned that, “Cooper Management has not taken interests of Chengshan or the workers into consideration. They don’t care if the joint venture lives or dies in the future. They have taken into account only their own interests into consideration in deciding to sell the company.”
THE DEAL THAT WAS NOT TO BE
In October 2013, Cooper filed a case against Apollo claiming they had buyer’s remorse and were not negotiating with the unions in good faith. Both the lower level court and the Supreme Court ruled in Apollo’s favor. On December 30, 2013, Cooper announced the termination of the merger deal.
Exhibit 1
The reactions of the stock market for Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.
Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=CTB+Interactive#{“customRangeStart”:1364754600,”customRangeEnd”:1388428200,”range”:”custom”,”allowChartStacking”:true}
12https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1P2-36309683/odds-fall-for-indian-buyout-of-u-s-tire-giant-disagreement 13http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/15f7040c-2691-11e3-9dc0-00144feab7de.html
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 45
cii Case Study-2 Exhibit 2
The reactions of the stock market for Apollo Tyres
Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=APOLLOTYRE. BO+Interactive#{“customRangeStart”:1364754600,”customRangeEnd”:1388428200,”range”:”custom”,”allowChartStacking”:true}
Exhibit 3 Date and Year
Transaction
October, 2012
Negotiations start between Apollo Tyres and Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.
May 2013
Neeraj Kanwar travels to China to meet Che Hongzhi but does not have any fruitful talks
12 June 2013
Apollo-Cooper merger deal announced
13 June 2013
Impromptu strike declared in Cooper Chengshan in China. Finishes in a weeks
July 2013
Apollo and Cooper fail to reach a consensus regarding union issue and Chengshan issue
12 July 2013
Chengshan workers go on indefinite strike and lock out Cooper representatives
October 2013
Cooper sues Apollo on buyer’s remorse and asks compensation
November 2013
Court rules in Apollo’s favour, Cooper goes to Supreme Court
Early December 2013
Supreme Court rules in Apollo’s favour
30 December 2013
Cooper announces termination of merger with Apollo
46 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
cii Case Study-2 Exhibit 4
Main Players in the case
NEERAJ KANWAR of APOLLO TYRES14 Neeraj began his career with Apollo Tyres as Manager, Product & Strategic Planning, where he played a crucial role in creating a bridge between the two key functions of manufacturing and marketing. In 1998, he joined the Board of Directors and was promoted to Chief, Manufacturing and Strategic Planning. In 2002, he took over as the Chief Operating Officer of the organisation, wherein he introduced value-driven process improvements in human resources and information technology. Neeraj Kanwar was appointed Joint Managing Director in 2006 and elevated to Vice Chairman in 2008, and soon after to Managing Director in 2009 for his initiatives in establishing the company in the global arena. He is responsible for crafting Apollo’s growth story -- taking the company from US$450 million to US$2 billion within a 5 year time span. Under his able leadership Apollo acquired Dunlop Tyres International in South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2006, and Vredestein Banden B V in the Netherlands in 2009 -thereby transforming itself into a multigeography company with operations in 3 continents. He is an engineering graduate from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, USA, Neeraj is an avid sportsperson. He prefers to spend his leisure time with his family or playing tennis, swimming and travelling.
ROY ARMES of COOPER TIRE AND RUBBER15 Roy Armes is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company, a $3.4 billion tire design, manufacturing and marketing company with approximately 8,000 employees worldwide. He joined the company in December 2006 as its CEO and President, and a year later, was also appointed Chairman. Prior to joining Cooper, Armes spent more than three decades at Whirlpool Corporation in leadership positions throughout the business and in multiple geographies. His career highlights at Whirlpool included positions such as Senior Vice President, Project Management Office; Corporate Vice President and General Director, Whirlpool Mexico; Corporate Vice President, Global Procurement Operations; President/Managing Director, Whirlpool Greater China; Vice President, Manufacturing Technology, Whirlpool Asia (Singapore); and Vice President, Manufacturing & Technology, Refrigeration Products, Whirlpool Europe (Italy). 14www.apollotyres.com/uploads/Neeraj_Kanwar_1.pdf 15http://coopertire.com/About/Executive-Leadership/Roy-Armes.aspx
In 1946, the company’s name was changed to Cooper Tire & Rubber Company. In 1960 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Cooper completed research and development of its own radial tyre manufacturing equipment and in-house product testing in 1973 and began full-scale production of steel-belted radial passenger tyres at its US plants the following year following the changing trends Armes serves on the board of directors of The Manitowoc Company and AGCO. He is a former Chairman (2011-2013) of the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA). Armes earned a Bachelors of Science degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Toledo in 1975. CHE HONGZHI of CHENGSHAN GROUP16 Che Hongzhi was born in June 1956, a native of Rongcheng City of Shandong Province. He is a member of Chinese Communist Party, a senior economist. He started working in 1974, serving first as a Teacher in Middle School, then the Secretary of Education Commission, the Secretary of the Town Party Committee, and the Chief of Investment Promotion Bureau of Rongcheng City. In 2000, he was appointed as the Chairman and the Secretary of the Party Committee of Chengshan Tire Co., Ltd. In Oct. 2003, he was also appointed as the Chairman and the President & Secretary of the Party Committee of Chengshan Group Co., Ltd. He is serving in this position till now. He has been elected as National Working Model, one of the Top Ten Excellent Entrepreneur in China, the Most Influential Leader in Wealth Creation, the Technology Leader of Chinese Rubber Industry, the Working Model in Shandong Province, the Labor Medal for Enriching Civilians and Vitalizing Shandong, the Top Ten Entrepreneur in Shandong Province, the Widely Supported Entrepreneur in Shandong Province, the Entrepreneur with Best Public Image in Shandong Province, the First Pioneering Entrepreneur with Outstanding Contribution in Weihai City, the Member of the Tenth National People’s Congress, as well as awarded the Contribution Prize and the Prize for Science and Technology Progress in Shandong Province.
16 http://coopertire.com/About/Executive-Leadership/Roy-Armes.aspx
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 47
cii Case Study-2
In a further bid to shore up its market share, it started talking to Apollo tyres for a possible off take arrangement. The talks centered on possible expansion of both companies together in Europe and Africa. During these talks, Apollo made a bid for Cooper with a 40% premium on its stock price. This prompted the board of directors of Cooper to unanimously accept the deal
Exhibit 5
Source : http://www.tirereview.com/strike-over-apollo-acquisition-persists-at-cooper-chengshan/
Disclaimer: n n n n n
The views expressed in the published CASE STUDIES belong to the Author / Co-Author (s) of the respective case studies, and not necessarily those of CII’s. The copyright of these case studies, however, belong to CII. Reproduction, in any matter, without prior permission from CII is expressly prohibited. NOTE: CII has given exclusive permission to CORPORATE CITIZEN to publish the CASE STUDY only, in full, and without any changes / modifications. Reproduction in parts is not allowed. For further information, please contact: Snehada Fatterpekar, Executive – Human Resources & Industrial Relations, CII Western Region, Email: f.snehada@cii.in
48 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Claps & Slaps
Corporate Citizen claps for the team of seven teen robotics enthusiasts from Pune who have now added a 4th R to the garbage management mantra of refuse, reduce and recycle – the code word is ‘Robotics’!
A big round of applause for these kids who are gearing up for the FIRST LEGO League – Open European Championships 2016 in Spain (FLL-OEC), a competition, organised by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an international youth organisation based in the US. The theme for the current year is ‘Trash Trek’, in which these children will be solving issues on waste management - trash collection, sorting and reuse; using robotics. The team - HorcruXes comprising of six boys and a girl, qualified for the FLL-OEC, to be held in one of the Canary Islands of Spain in May, 2016. They are judged on robot design, robot performance, project idea and teamwork. The international competition is a major championship, with participation from over 3,00,000 children from over 80 countries. The children are expected to design and engineer Lego Mindstorms robots to complete a set of tasks, including a live robot run. The most challenging part of the competition is to figure out how to build a robot that can perform a multiple number of tasks. The students go through five to 15 different prototype designs, analyse their pros and cons, and bring out a working model. The teens have to face challenges in constructing these robots which can go awry even with slight changes in temperature or lighting, affecting the robot’s performance. These are factors beyond control, and the real test for the kids would be to rely on their ability to react quickly and fine tune the robot in dynamic situations. Mentored by Chris Bastianpillai at Robominds, these kids, studying across various schools take time from their respective school agendas and design prototypes to sort out challenges, over the weekends. Hats off to these teens and hope their laurels get converted to “real time” delivery of terminating garbage menace that has had municipal corporations at loggerheads in most Indian states.
Corporate Citizen slaps Air India (AI) for playing around with passenger time and safety as it did in two recent incidences
In the first, an AI commander (slotted for flying AI 263) threw a tantrum when he allegedly refused to operate a flight from Chennai without a particular woman co-pilot. As many as 110 passengers boarded the airline’s flight from Chennai for Male via Thiruvananthapuram were grounded and had to wait for over two hours at the Chennai airport after the commander was adamant for the particular woman pilot to operate the aircraft with him. The national airline did take a strong view on the matter and has ordered an immediate inquiry into such personal bearings. Notwithstanding, in another unrelated incident, a pilot on sick leave was asked to report for duty for the 7 a m AI263 as there was a dearth of substitute pilots. The pilot’s blood pressure was found to be high (160/90 against the normal 120/80) during the pre-flight check. However, airline doctors merely asked the pilot to rest for a while and once his BP stabilised after two hours, he was given the go for flying the aircraft, a dangerous decision in the likelihood of jeopardising passenger’s lives. Apparently, the pilot was certified fit but suffered uneasiness. It was reported that when five pilots including an executive pilot refused to operate the said flight, AI had no choice but to depute the sick pilot as 110 passengers were already on-board the flight and there was little time to scout for another pilot. Unfortunately, there are no clear guidelines on such vital parameters for Indian pilots, in comparison to US aviation norms that allow a pilot to fly only if their blood pressure is not more than 155/95. As per air safety officers, it is not advisable to merely rely on ‘stabilising’ of BP readings at face value. Stress during flight is often a likelihood that may push up BP levels again triggering a mid-air mishap. The question is “whose life is it anyway?” But then, it is also important to look into such matters, as it is the question of life and death. May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 49
Book Review
Author:
Adil Jal Darukhanawala Title:
Mercedes-Benz: WINNING Publisher:
DJ Media Pages: 402 Price: `4,500
Mercedes Benz book-ed! Adil Darukhanawala, leading motorsport journalist of the country, has penned an exhaustive, never-before written history of Mercedes-Benz comprising its 120 years of existence at Stuttgart and 20 years in India. The book has created a stir amidst automobile fans around the world. Titled `Mercedes-Benz: WINNING!’ it is a pictorial delight besides being the most comprehensive story ever written on this star automobile company By Vinita Deshmukh
I
t’s a coffee-table book, but one so heavy that you need to pump in some iron to lift it up! With 402 pages of thick glossy paper, in which are etched 970 photographs and over one lakh words, the book is a masterpiece on the iconic Mercedes-Benz. The man who has penned this book of international class which is figuring at global coffee-table book competitions, is the indefatigable Adil Darukhanawala, India’s pioneer motorsport journalist. His dedication to the book is borne out by the fact that he single-handedly wrote the one lakh-odd words after intense research, which took him to the archives of Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany. There he
50 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
browsed through 12,000 photographs before he chose 970 of them for the book, wrote story-like photo captions for each one of them, designed the voluminous book and also took up the onus of printing it through a well-known publisher. Adil’s thorough knowledge, information and research that has gone into the book, which has 120 pages dedicated to Mercedes-Benz in India speaks of his scientific approach, obsession with history, creativity and unending passion for the beautiful four-wheeler beast, which is a status symbol all over the world. We often say, negatively, “If you give him a finger, he will take the whole hand.” In this case, Adil was asked to pen a book only on 20 years
of Mercedes-Benz in India, but he told them he would write their entire story, from scratch. Who takes on so much upon himself? You have to be madly in love with the subject to do that. Adil’s romance began, ever since he witnessed the London-Sydney Car Rally (which also had a Mercedes-.Benz participating in it) at the Katraj Ghat in Pune, on 26th August, 1977. The rally was passing through India and Pune was along the route. What followed was an assignment to write about the rally by the editors of the then Poona Herald for its next day’s edition. Its team of reporters too were at the same spot, and was quite enamoured with his knowledge which he got by listening to BBC sports news. Adil has raced through motorsport writing, ever since. Informs Adil, through a photo caption, “On this page there is artistry, verifiable history, a bit of conjecture and a whole host of promise that was to shape the world of personal transportation no end. The year is 1897 and the bit of verifiable history without reproach is the actual sales register of Benz & Cie based in Bad Cannstatt,
Germany which dates from 1895. This register is at the heart of the India chapter of not just Mercedes-Benz but all of Indian motoring, for on one of its pages is a column marked British Indien and entry number 85 is for a Benz Viktoria earmarked and shipped to a customer in Delhi. I have kept the German spellings for India and Delhi as they have been written in pencil by the sales administrator or the accountant who used to keep the records in an exactingly precise Teutonic way, and this record was shown to me by those great passionate automotive historians at the Mercedes-Benz Classic archives in Stuttgart. This car did come to India and there were requests for some parts in the early years of the first decade of the last century but some records were indeed lost during the First World War, some during the shifting caused by the merger into a unified administrative and records office in the period 1926-28, and maybe some during WWII. We Indians aren’t great at chronicling history nor do we give credence to what shaped the course of history, mired as we are with what happens in the present and that’s it.” So how did Mercedes-Benz come to India? He explains in the book: “The agreement between Daimler-Benz and TELCO was signed on April 22, 1994 in Stuttgart and broadly it focused on a plan to make 20,000 units annually and a possible 50,000 engines per annum. The new entity was known as Mercedes-Benz in which the German firm owned 51 percent of the shares, while TELCO held the balance 49 percent. A new manufacturing facility was carved out of TELCO’s massive Pune plant and built by TELCO to the exacting standards of the three pointed star. This was the first instance of Helmet Werner’s ‘Made by Mercedes’ concept anywhere in the world and it commenced in India with
How many know that Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, the acknowledged fathers of the motorcar never actually met ever? Their paths never crossed each other though they were both from Germany and within handshaking distance of each other! Or that they were the earliest purveyors of the automobile art and rivals at that, both trying to push the envelope further than the other
two models of the W124 E-Class, the E220 petrol with both manual and automatic transmissions and the E250D with a diesel engine.” Regarding the birth of Mercedes-Benz, Adil writes, “In 1885 Carl Benz built the world’s first automobile propelled by an internal combustion engine fuelled by gasoline. This three-wheeler came just a year after Gottlieb Daimler had made his gasoline-powered single-cylinder twowheeled Einspur riding car to prove the efficacy of the engine he had built. A year later after Benz had made his three-wheeler, Daimler and his trusted friend and colleague Wilhelm Maybach built a four-wheeled car, actually a motor carriage with steering and brakes added in to what was essentially the most sophisticated horsedrawn carriage to date.” It was only later that Benz and Daimler came together to form Mercedes-Benz. He writes: “How many know that Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz, the acknowledged fathers of the motorcar never actually met ever? Their paths never crossed each other though they were both from Germany and within handshaking distance of each other! Or that they were the earliest purveyors of the automobile art and rivals at that, both trying to push the envelope further than the other. And both put their names on their wares, something which is a given in our industry but it began with these two gentlemen as far as back as the mid-1880s.” “While Gottlieb Daimler and his il-
1936 MercedesBenz 290 Pullman
A
mong all the Mercedes-Benz cars with an Indian provenance, the one shining example of a stately limousine-type machine that yet remains in the country has to be this 290 Pullman from 1936 that was once the official car of Nawab Mir Abul Quasim Owaisi Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III. He was the Prime Minister of Hyderabad state during the reign of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad. He took over as Prime Minister in 1912 but his tenure was a short-lived one for he resigned just two and a half years later and concentrated on his philanthropy, art and culture. He was most passionate about arts and artefacts that chronicled history and his collection was
probably the biggest anywhere in Asia. Over 35 years of collecting masterpieces from not just India but also from all over the world, one can see just a fraction of these (housed in an overwhelmingly large facility) in the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad to this day. This car, a 290 dating form 1936 was bought for his official use and like so many of his precious artefacts, which were uncared for, met with the same treatment. It was found at a garage in Hyderabad, owned by one Mohammad Masood, in a near derelict state by noted classic car collector Vikram Singh of Jaipur almost a decade ago, and then handed to United Restorations in Jaipur to bring it back to its former glory.
lustrious counterpart Karl Benz plugged away to invent and perfect the motor car, it was France and not Germany which was spearheading the car, for there were profits to be made aplenty with this ‘invention of the century’. And the fortune was to be found at the bottom of the pyramid rather than at the top end, just like we find today with cars for the masses.” The book makes delightful reading, not only for a motor enthusiast but for everyone who loves reading great stuff. The otherwise modest, fun-loving, good-natured author of this book, sheds his modesty when he says, “I always say, Poona guys can do probably better than anyone else.” In this case, it is 100% correct. Keep going, Adil. Cheers to you. vinita.deshmukh@corporatecitizen.in May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 51
Star Campus Placement
When a dream meets reality! Meet Mohit Kumar Dev, who strongly believes, if you think you can do it, you can. Mohit, a young, dynamic postgraduate student is today placed with TCS as a SAP Functional Consultant. While he is all set to make it big in the corporate world, he talks to Corporate Citizen about his journey from campus to corporate world By Mahalakshmi Hariharan
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hen a dream meets reality! It was indeed a dream come true for Mohit when he got placed as a SAP Functional Consultant, Enterprise Solutions with the IT giant, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Campus placement
“The placement process for system batch started in the month of November. I was very excited as I was about to step into the most crucial part of my life, of getting placed and joining the corporate world,” says Mohit. “I clearly remember, the first company that came for recruitment was Ujjivan Financial Services. Even though, I had never heard of the company before, they did have a very stringent selection process, which included an aptitude test, group discussion, psychometric test and a personal interview. Sadly, I was not able to clear aptitude test. Though, it wasn’t all that tough, the minimum cutoff was 60 percent. I realised that I am not fully prepared for cracking an aptitude test and decided to work on my aptitude skills. I started solving RS Agarwal aptitude book while also referring to online tutorials. Gradually, I gained the confidence of cracking it,” recalls Mohit. The next company to come to the campus was Tata Technologies. They were offering a SAP consultant role. “I got to know from various sources that the aptitude test conducted by Tata Technologies is somewhat different. They conduct a GK test, English test, technical test and quantitative aptitude section. GK and technical 52 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
sections were most challenging, as I was not in touch with core computer programming languages like C, C++, Java, J2EE, Spring and so on. I prepared for nearly a week and finally sat for the test. It was a mixed feeling after the test but somehow, I was feeling confident that I will be qualified. When the results came after five days, I had cleared it. I was happy with my performance. While my interview at Tata Technologies lasted for nearly 45 minutes, it was a pretty decent one. I was confident enough that I will be selected for the next round but they didn’t call me. I was pretty disappointed,” reminisces Mohit. The very next day he learnt that TCS is coming to the campus soon, and they were too of-
fering a SAP Functional Consultant role. Mohit had heard from his seniors and faculty members that clearing the aptitude test at TCS is extremely difficult. If you clear the aptitude test, 80 percent of the chances are that you are in. Keeping in mind the level of difficulty, he started preparing for it. “I was confident throughout. I attempted only those questions which I was confident about and could clear. The next round was a technical round which was mainly focused on SAP concepts. My interview lasted for nearly 25 minutes and it was a decent one. The interviewer was quite humble. It was a mixed feeling after the test but somehow I was confident that I will be qualified. Finally my
wait was over... I was selected. I was very happy as it was a dream come true for me. I not only got a good company, but a good compensation and a good job profile, too” Mohit added.
Internship
Mohit got a chance to intern with ITC InfoTech, Bengaluru. “While I didn’t get a chance to work from their office, it was a great learning experience. I was given a real-life business scenario of a tyre company which was to automate their process and implement SAP in their organisation,” says Mohit. “I also got to learn many new things which I didn’t know about earlier. I developed problem solving skills and learnt how to approach a particular problem. Overall, it was a great experience as it provided me with the platform where I could enhance my technical skills that came handy during my interview,” he adds.
Life at the campus
Mohit with his friends
Education and family background
Mohit hails from a small town called Pundag in the Purulia district of West Bengal. His father is a professor of mathematics in a degree college while, mother is a homemaker. He has two younger siblings, a Piece of advice younger brother and sister. to juniors “My sister has completed her ¿ Deep understanding MBA in the HR stream and is of technical and core currently working in a private subjects firm, while my brother is pursuing his Mechanical Engineer¿ Focus on aptitude ing from NIT Warangal,” says as well as Mohit. analytical skills Mohit completed his school¿ Work hard as there ing from Pundag and later did is no substitute to his B.Tech in Information hard work Technology from Aryabhatta ¿ Be confident Institute of Engineering and and have faith in Management, Durgapur West yourself Bengal. Later, he completed his ¿ Prepare well for postgraduation while specialisgroup discussions ing in the systems stream. ¿ Stay focused Mohit is fond of listening to music, making new friends Tips to crack an and reading magazines. Despite his hectic schedule, he interview still manages to find time for ¿ Research about the his hobbies. company and the
“My journey started with an induction programme, which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was where we got to connect with different people from various places and different cities. The diverse population at our college consists of intellectuals and provides personal growth opportunities, and there are many occasions where we get to interact with corporate stalwarts from various industries,” says Mohit. The long hours put in, the hectic regimens, assignments, surprise tests, economic times sessions help students to face the tough corporate world. “I believe, to witness the good changes in life, one must go through a roller-coaster ride, during these enriching and adventurous two years,” he notes. The course kicked off with induction classes till the eveprofile ning and lectures by corporate How the idea of doing ¿ Review common stalwarts, post that. The inducan MBA struck Mohit interview questions tion days, though tiring, was Reminisces Mohit, “After comand accordingly preparing them for their future. pleting my B.Tech, I was desprepare responses Induction, followed by presenperate for a job in the IT sector. tations, along with cultural proInitially, I planned to move to grammes and a much-awaited party for freshly Bengaluru as most job seekers land up there baked future managers are some thing students in search of IT jobs. From there my struggle at the institute totally cherish. “While we did started as I thought I wasn’t competent enough have day-long lectures, with loads to learn, as other candidates, hence started working on our distinguished faculties enlightened us with my aptitude skills, analytical skills and vocabtheir knowledge. I still manage to make time for ulary. Gradually, I started to crack the aptitude myself as well as my friends. I have managed to test in various IT companies but somehow was make a lot of friends here,” states Mohit. not able to get through to the final round. I was
“I believe, to witness the good changes in life one must go through a roller-coaster ride during these enriching and adventurous two years” disappointed as six months passed by and I was still jobless.” He adds, “I still remember, one fine day I called up my mother and started crying over the phone. She clearly told me to come back home, but I didn’t want to give up. On the very same day, I got a confirmation mail from Mphasis saying I am selected for a job. I started working in Mphasis as a software engineer with a salary of ₹two lakh per annum. I worked there for nearly 21 months but realised that I was not doing or learning anything new in this company. There was no challenge involved in this job and most of the time I was sitting idle.” Mohit had heard of a technology called SAP from one of his colleagues and he was keen on learning about it. He also thought to switch his job but something stuck him – how about an MBA in systems from a reputed college. “My search process begun. My sister had recommended this institute. When I went through its website, I was very happy since they were also giving training in SAP. Immediately, I filled up the form and appeared for the admission process. Luckily, I was selected and opted for system specialisation, “ he added. “Truly, my wish to become a SAP functional consultant in my life has become reality today,” he signs off. Mahalakshmi.H@corporatecitizen.in May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 53
Bollywood biz
The
Corporate
who turned
Film Director
Film-making is often an elusive dream for many. It is rare that someone with a plush corporate job gives it all up to pursue their passion. But this is exactly what the young and immensely talented Tamil director SU Arun Kumar has done. One the eve of the success of his latest blockbuster Sethupathi, Corporate Citizen has a heartfelt chat with the maverick director about his unconventional journey, his influences and his love for film making You are extremely popular in Tamil Cinema. Please tell us about your work there.
I have directed two films. The first was Pannaiyarum Padminiyum. It is a very emotional story about a landlord and his car. It was screened at six international film festivals. My second film is called Sethupathi, which is about a cop who seeks justice for his murdered colleague. It is currently in the 55th day of its run, and still going strong. I have also begun work on my third script.
You were an engineer by profession. How did you get into film-making?
I loved watching films, but I never really seriously thought about film making. I was passionate about engineering. I graduated from Madras Institute of Technology. I got placed from the college into a comfortable job. I started working, and was quite satisfied with the job. It was going fine until I got promoted. I had to go to work from nine-six, and had to follow a very monotonous schedule. That is when I 54 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
started thinking of it as a burden rather than something I enjoyed. I lost passion for the job, but didn’t want to quit and lose that source of income just yet. It was one night when I was at home that I watched The Sixth Sense by M Night Shyamalan. That’s when I decided that movies were my cup of tea. Next morning, I called up my Appa (father) and told him that this job isn’t for me. He tried to convince me not to leave the plush job. I lied to him saying that I wanted to study further. He reluctantly agreed. I never really pursued further studies, and dedicated all my time into learning about film making. I made a short film which turned out to be very bad (laughs). I learnt then that it’s not as easy as it looks. I went back to
the drawing board and dove into the nitty-gritty and learnt from my mistakes. I made many more short films, and sent one such film to Naalaya Iyakunar, which is a reality show to crown new directors. Luckily, it got accepted and I was selected as an entrant for the show.
This is the same show that director Karthik Subbaraj won?
Yes, absolutely. He won season one of the show, while I won the second season. We were supposed to make eight short films, one a month and it was an extremely gruelling but rewarding experience. I made my first short film at age 24, and have made countless mistakes and corrected each one in the next film I made.
Coming from a technical background, does it prove to be an asset or hindrance in the directorial creative process?
I believe I am very strong with emotions. I think it is human emotions which drive the story, and I think that is my strength as a director. Emotions are the key that strikes a connection with the audience. It is the soul of the film
Where you come from doesn’t matter. Creativity is about expressing an idea which is inside you. It is how you present the story that matters. It is not about technical skill or the lack of it. Of course, as a director you should know about the nuances of film making such as the three-act structure and plot devices, but this knowledge means nothing without the creative vision, which the director must inherently possess. Directing is a tight process. A writer has full freedom to set his story, but a director must present his vision within the parameters of the script, budget and time frame. He must walk a figurative tightrope to get his idea across.
Who were your biggest cinematic influences growing up?
I mentioned M Night Shamalan. I also love Satyajit Ray, Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap and many more directors worldwide.
What is your USP as a director?
I believe I am very strong with emotions. Whether it is a romantic movie, a thriller or a horror film, I think it is human emotions which drive the story, and I think that is my strength as a director. Emotions are the key that strikes a connection with the audience. It is the soul of the film.
Do you think that directors in India have as much free reign as international directors when it comes to creative direction?
See, if I invest my own money into a movie, then I can make it the way I want. But when it comes to the producer’s money, he will obviously want a return on his investment. That being said, I think all kinds of movies work in India. Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par, Ugly, movies of all sorts work here, as long as the story is interesting.
How does one learn directing? Is there a formal training for that?
There are two aspects to directing. The technical process and the creative one. The technical process should be learnt properly, whether it is by
assisting or observing a director or by reading extensively about it. You can also learn by trial and error by making short films. The director should also know about other aspects of film making, as they influence his final product. For example, a scriptwriter need not know anything about direction, but a director must know about scriptwriting to ensure that he knows what is going on with the film. The second is the creative process, which is very individual and depends on the person. It should come from within and there is no formal training required. Directing also requires complete dedication. For my previous film, I went three days without sleeping, as I was completely engrossed in my work.
So you believe in taking your work home?
(Laughs) That happens a lot with me. I can’t disassociate with my work when I’m home. I discuss my work with my family. However, I believe that the family must never be neglected. If you can’t give them enough time, make the best of the time you can give them, but don’t make them feel ignored.
Any plans for making a film in Hindi?
Of course. I love my language and am very proud of it, but film-making has no language. Film-making is global, and at the end of the day, we are all here for appreciation. I want to get my work in front of as many people as possible.
What advice would you give to someone who is stuck in a job may not like, and unsure of whether to pursue their passion?
I would tell them to go for their passion. It’s better to try and lose than to regret not trying. Youngsters have time on their side. They can afford to take risks. There are opportunities galore for people with the passion for doing something.
CC
tadka
Amazon, amazing Amazon.com employees spend two days every two years working at the customer service desk — even the CEO — in order to help all workers understand the customer service process
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 55
Better Half ° Snehal Mantri, Director – Marketing & HR at Mantri Developers Pvt. Ltd.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way
For Snehal Mantri, Director, Marketing & HR at Mantri Developers Pvt. Ltd. it was a balancing act to transition from being this 21-year-old career aspirant who did not want to be cowed down by mere domesticity in her role as a traditional ‘bahu’ alone but, reinventing herself over the years while successfully juggling in her roles as a devoted mother, wife and corporate professional/entrepreneur By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
W
e are a 31-year-old married couple”, says Snehal, wife of Sushil Mantri, Chairman & Managing Director, Mantri Developers Pvt. Ltd. with a pride that disguises many an unsaid milestone achieved in their marital and professional journeys together as a couple. “I was the only girl who graduated, growing up as part of a joint family comprising 11 cousin sisters. My (own) sister never studied and never had that intention, so she got married. As for me, I was not ready for marriage; I was keen to study and was just 21-year-old then.” With due encouragement from her father to try and balance the trend of an early marriage and uphold her ambitions to pursue better education, the “seed” was planted in young Snehal’s mind to find “herself” in life. “That is the reason I did not want to get married at an early age. When this proposal came, I cried a lot, fought with my father which is something we are not supposed to do, in an orthodox family. He said, “Okay, it is the last and final one and if the proposal goes well, fine; otherwise will go through only after you complete your education. I honour respect your commitment to study”. “Sushil and I chatted for five minutes, the proposal was cleared and we got engaged. But, I had yet to finish my education and was in the final year of BSc. Honours (Home Science)”. As an active Board member of the company, Snehal reminisces those five minutes that changed the course of her life. She reveals that Sushil might not have expected her to have reached her current status within the company. 56 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Pic: Sanjay MD
“However, education was a must. My mother-in-law was very clear that she wanted an educated girl which made them to even consider my alliance.” Snehal witnessed the family business transition from textiles to the property domain. The family came into realty in 1989 and Pune stands testimony to their 41 odd projects in this joint set-up then. But Sushil Mantri desired to stake out as an industrialist and parted ways with the family business in 1996. “But, after three years, he said that real estate is what it is in his blood. We then decided to explore further in a new city and adopted Bengaluru.” There has been no looking back since 1999 as Snehal gives Sushil full credit for being solely responsible for building up their realty business, currently tagged with a turnover of close to ₹1,000 crore (2015-2016). They moved from Pune to Bengaluru. A boon in disguise was that both Snehal’s father and father-in-law were into stock market trading. “So, I had a beautiful opportunity to join my father-in-law in trading. Also, Sushil never interrupted my career or any interest that I had in any business; he often said, “Spend your quality time in whatever you do.” On her interest in stock trading, Snehal said she was nurtured as “I saw how my father went about doing it. The risks he took in his business and was constantly learning from him and he supported me too.’’ She however gives full credit to her mother-in-law and her
regularly. “I had to punch my attendance and do so till date. If we don’t punch, our salary is cut, even mine and Sushil’s. Also, I address Sushil as CMD. We have grown up in a culture to differentiate between the professional and personal.” Thus, began Snehal’s career into property management and development. The real task approached her when she had to sell an apartment on her own. “I give Sushil a percentage of my success too, because he used to challenge me and I always did take up the challenge. There was no looking back for Snehal. “Once again he challenged me to sell 10 apartments and gradually the challenges ran into taking over one building followed by a phase and I eventually moved on to handle single to multi projects. Finally, he gave me the most coveted high-end project— Mantri Altius in 2003. This had to be sold by invitation alone and I got an exposure to meeting high-end customers.” On the acceptability and challenges that women face in the realty domain, Snehal believes that knowledge quotient and focus is paramount in every field. “Not just in real estate, I am talking of all professions. Because women are multitasking, we tend to forget something or the other. Women must kill this casual approach. Whatever you are doing, be dedicated in that particular area, have complete knowledge and a grasp of your core subject then there are no difficulties faced.” Everybody needs aspiration and Snehal’s advice to women is to look for options. “Multi-optional thinking comes because ladies are imaginative; one reason why I put a lot of women in the marketing and design departments. Ladies are the best coordinators in getting work done.” With barely two percent women in the realty sector, Snehal’s gritty idea was to tap women’s propensity to chat. In her innovativeness to market properties, for ladies residing exclusively in Mantri properties, the idea is to bring in sale by women using ‘word of mouth’. “At level one, ladies inform their network on available properties and check on any incoming enquiry. They pass it on to us and we then take over to converting the unit sale.” “For experienced women, Mantri provides collaterals and selling kits. There is no compulsion to strike a sale but if it comes through them then they get brokerage. We started these about four years back and I am actually creating women entrepreneurs. The moment she becomes confident in selling a property then maybe she is more encouraged to pick up any property and sell.” Snehal desires to pursue farming and floriculture in her two acre farmhouse. “I believe in calculated risk. Just because I have money, I can’t blow it all up and then say I have taken a risk.” She has liaised with an NGO, ‘Billion Bricks’ to offer homes for the homeless and is closely working to adopt a village some seven km from Wadi railway junction where she intends to develop toilets for women. Grants procured from an international bank will support and create 70 toilets in one village. She has joined hands with an NGO to counter water supply shortages too. However, constructing a school is a dream closest to her. From selling property on Snapdeal. com, Snehal is gung-ho on her future plans and sums herself up as a complete woman. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com
Multi-optional thinking comes because ladies are imaginative; one reason why I put a lot of women in the marketing and design departments. Ladies are the best coordinators in getting work done. Snehal Mantri father for her successes in life. “On the domestic or personal front, I look up to my mother-in-law for her nurturing us and my father for his support on the professional front. I have followed my mother-in-law’s mantra to first focus on the home front, the children and finally, the pursuit of my dreams. An advantage was that my children never had to look up to me for mothering them as they were taken care of by the entire family.” With the Bengaluru move, came challenges of adapting to a new city, the absence of a joint family system and to be gainfully occupied. It was sheer boredom and the domestic monotony that drove her to finally approach Sushil for professional access into their business. “From January 18, 1996 until May 1996, when we shifted, I was completely alone (the kids were yet to join in); Sushil was completely engrossed in setting up the business. So, I asked him, “Can I do something in real estate or in your company.” He agreed and she too committed to learning the trade from the very basics. “Despite being the owner of the company, even in that small set-up, Sushil said, “You have to sit in the cubicle with the others. “We were a seven-member team in 1999. The very first challenge was that I went to work for two to three days for two to three hours and believe me, Sushil Mantri, a system oriented person observed that I was not coming regularly”. He had said, “If you do not want to come regularly, you can stop.” This was a warning from the boss which made Snehal’s heart sink. But, thereon she came to office more
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 57
Pearls of Wisdom
By Tenzin Gyatso The 14th Dalai Lama
Love and Compassion is the purpose of life
ONE GREAT QUESTION underlies our experience, whether we think about it consciously or not: What is the purpose of life? I have considered this question and would like to share my thoughts in the hope that they may be of direct, practical benefit to those who read them I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. From the moment of birth, every human being wants happiness and does not want suffering. Neither social conditioning, nor education, nor ideology affect this. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment. I don’t know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. Therefore, it is important to discover what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness.
How to achieve happiness
For a start, it is possible to divide every kind of happiness and suffering into two main categories: mental and physical. Of the two, it is the mind that exerts the greatest influence on most of us. Unless we are either gravely ill or deprived of basic necessities, our physical condition plays a secondary role in life. If the body is content, we virtually ignore it. The mind, however, registers every event, no matter how small. Hence we should devote our most serious efforts to bringing about mental peace. From my own limited experience I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquillity comes from the development of love and compassion. The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. This helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the ultimate source of success in life. As long as we live in this world we are bound to encounter prob58 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
lems. If, at such times, we lose hope and become discouraged, we diminish our ability to face difficulties. If, on the other hand, we remember that it is not just ourselves but everyone who has to undergo suffering, this more realistic perspective will increase our determination and capacity to overcome troubles. Indeed, with this attitude, each new obstacle can be seen as yet another valuable opportunity to improve our mind! Thus we can strive gradually to become more compassionate, that is we can develop both genuine sympathy for others’ suffering and the will to help remove their pain. As a result, our own serenity and inner strength will increase.
Our need for love and compassion
Ultimately, the reason why love and compassion bring the greatest happiness is simply that our nature cherishes them above all else. The need for love lies at the very foundation of human existence. It results from the profound interdependence we all share with one another. However capable and skillful an individual may be, left alone, he or she will not survive. However vigorous and independent one may feel during the most prosperous periods of life, when one is sick or very young or very old, one must depend on the support of others. Interdependence, of course, is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings, who, without any religion, law or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their inter connectedness. The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by inter-dependence. All phenomena from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their
The more we care for the happiness of others, the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease
proper interaction, they dissolve and decay. It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others. We have to consider what we human beings really are. We are not like machine-made objects. If we are merely mechanical entities, then machines themselves could alleviate all of our sufferings and fulfill our needs. However, since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. Instead, we should consider our origins and nature to discover what we require. Ultimately, humanity is one and this small planet is our only home, If we are to protect this home of ours, each of us needs to experience a vivid sense of universal altruism. It is only this feeling that can remove the self-centered motives that cause people to deceive and misuse one another. If you have a sincere and open heart, you naturally feel self worth and confidence, and there is no need to be fearful of others. I believe that at every level of society—familial, tribal, national and international—the key to a happier and more successful world is the growth of compassion. We do not need to become religious, nor do we need to believe in an ideology. All that is necessary is for each of us to develop our good human qualities. I try to treat whoever I meet as an old friend. This gives me a genuine feeling of happiness. It is the practice of compassion. (Sourced from www.dalailama.com. For entire article, go to: http:// www.dalailama.com/messages/compassion) May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 59
Health Then
Now
Anant Ambani is
Fat
to Fit
Are you inspired?
Losing 108 kg in 18 months flat is no mean feat by Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani. Reminds one of singer Adnan Sami, who shed off his extra-plus fat. Just how did they do it?
I
By Corporate Citizen Network magine losing a whopping 108 kgs in 18 months flat and then looking healthy and toned up! That’s what Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Mukesh Ambani remarkably achieved for his 21st birthday that was celebrated last month. The social media was agog with his achievement and superstar Salman Khan tweeted, “So happy to see Anant Ambani, lots of respect n sooo happy fr him. Takes a lot of willpower to loose 108 kgs in 18 months”. Indeed, it is willpower that can really do it for you. Often, we fall to the slightest temptations of getting lazy
60 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
for exercising or resisting sugar-rich or processed food. What Anant Ambani did, with the help of expert medical and nutritional advice is mind-boggling. It was all about strict diet and uncompromising exercise regimen. As per newspaper reports, his daily schedule included a 21km walk which is equal to running half a marathon. This was
followed by yoga, gymnasium where he did weight training and cardio exercises. Diet comprised low-carb and sugar-free. The reason for Anant Ambani’s excess weight apparently was side effect of steroids given during his childhood to cure his asthma, say news reports. Presently, he is studying at Brown University in the USA.
Then
12tips to help you lose weight on the 12-week plan
Now Adnan Sami
There are occasions when your stomach is sending you a signal that I am full, but your eyes are saying: one more - Singer Adnan Sami
Singer Adnan Sami too dramatically lost 127 kg weight in about six months, time In a magazine interview (http:// completewellbeing.com/article/if-ican-do-it-anyone-can/), Sami had stated, ``It was a tough call for me. I was put on a no-sugar, no-rice, no-bread, no-oil diet; only high protein. They asked me questions like, “What do you do when you are sad, or happy.” My answer to both was: “I eat!” I associated food with every emotion. It was difficult then. I had no self-control. When I was depressed, I used to eat and then feel guilty, and again eat. It was a vicious cycle. It was difficult to get out of this. You lose confidence.’’ He had also stated that, “There are occasions when your stomach is sending you a signal that I am
1. Don’t skip breakfast Research shows eating breakfast helps you control your weight. Some people skip breakfast because they think it will help them lose weight, but missing meals doesn’t help us lose weight and isn’t good for us as we can miss out on essential nutrients. It could also encourage us to snack more throughout the day because you feel hungry. Check out five healthy breakfasts. 2. Eat regular meals Some people think avoiding meals will help them lose weight, but it’s been shown eating regularly during the day helps burn calories at a faster rate. It also reduces the temptation to snack on foods high in fat and sugar. Find out more about eating healthily. 3. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables Fruit and veg are low in calories and fat, and high in fibre – three essential ingredients for successful weight loss. They also contain plenty of vitamins and minerals.
full, but your eyes are saying: one more. Wo kahte hain na, pet ki bhuk khatam ho gayi par aankhon ki nahi (It’s said that stomach’s hunger ends but the eyes remain hungry). It’s exactly that. Your eyes and mind are tempting you whereas your stomach is saying, hey, hang on, I am full, I cannot keep it, and your mind says, “Shut up, I am sending it down, so deal with it! I am sure you will find a place. Do something, negotiate with your intestines and create some space, but I want that damn thing down!” That is another problem we face: the mind and the physical aspect are two separate things, and are not in agreement.’’ You could start it off like this, if you want to shed a modest amount of weight, as advocated by http:// www.nhs.uk:
4. Get more active Studies show regular activity is key to losing weight and keeping it off. As well as providing numerous health benefits, exercise can help burn off the excess calories you can’t cut through diet alone. 5. Drink plenty of water People sometimes confuse thirst with hunger. You can end up consuming extra calories when a glass of water is really what you need. You should aim to drink about six to eight glasses (1.2 litres) of fluid, preferably water, every day – or more if it’s warm or you’re exercising. 6. Read food labels Knowing how to read food labels can help you choose healthier options, and keep a check on the amount of calories, fat, salt and sugars you eat. Use the calorie information to work out how a particular food fits into your daily calorie allowance on the weight loss plan. Find out more about reading food labels.
7. Eat high-fibre foods Foods containing lots of fibre can help keep you to feel full, which is perfect for losing weight. Fibre is only found in food from plants, such as fruit and vegetables, oats, wholegrain bread, brown rice and pasta, and beans, peas and lentils. 8. Use a smaller plate Studies show people who use smaller plates tend to eat smaller portions and are still satisfied. By using smaller plates and bowls, you may be able to gradually get used to eating smaller portions without going hungry. It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it’s full, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full. 9. Don’t stock junk food To avoid temptation, avoid stocking junk food, such as chocolate, biscuits, crisps and sweet fizzy drinks, at home. Instead, stock up on healthy snacks, such as fruit, unsalted rice cakes, oat cakes, unsalted or unsweetened popcorn, and fruit juice. 10. Don’t ban foods Don’t ban any foods from your weight loss plan, especially the ones you like. Banning foods will only make you crave them more. 11. Cut down on alcohol Did you know a standard glass of wine can contain as many calories as a piece of chocolate, and a pint of lager has about the same calorie count as a packet of crisps? Over time, drinking too much can easily contribute to weight gain. 12. Plan your meals Plan your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for the week, making sure you stick to your calorie allowance. Try to plan for four to seven days’ worth of meals and snacks. Make a shopping list, but don’t shop when you’re hungry as that can lead to high-calorie impulse buys!
May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 61
Mobile Apps
The Future of Smartphones is Virtual Reality
Smartphones today have high-resolution screens, great cameras and powerful processors. The scope to innovate with the phone itself has become low. Which is why the next big thing in smartphone tech is not the phone itself, but a very unique accessory. This issue, Corporate Citizen introduces the future of Smartphone evolution – Virtual Reality By Neeraj Varty
Currently, some android manufacturers like Lenovo and Huawei have already introduced Smartphone models with bundled VR headsets. What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual reality (or VR) is the term used to describe a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person. That person becomes part of this virtual world or is immersed within this environment and whilst there, is able to manipulate objects or perform a series of actions.
How is virtual reality achieved?
Virtual reality is usually implemented using computer technology. There are a range of systems that are used for this purpose, such as headsets, omnidirectional treadmills and special gloves. These are used to actually stimulate our senses together in order to create the illusion of reality. If an implementation of virtual reality manages to get the combination of hardware, software and sensory synchronicity just 62 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
right, it achieves something known as a sense of presence, where the subject really feels like they are present in that environment.
How VR is useful in smartphones?
Imagine playing a game where you feel you are actually inside the game instead of just controlling the lead character by tapping on the screen, or virtually touring an entire city like London or Paris just by putting on a headset in the comfort of your room. Or watching a movie where everything seems hyper-real. This is not a sci-fi scenario, but a reality. By just using a VR headset along with compatible smartphones, these scenarios will soon become commonplace.
How is the smartphone industry preparing for VR?
Currently, some Android manufacturers like
Lenovo and Huawei have already introduced smartphone models with bundled VR headsets. However, with the introduction of the next version of Android (tentatively called Android N) in September this year, Virtual Reality support will become native to all Android phones, including budget ones. All you will need is to buy a VR headset accessory, (which will cost around ₹1,000 and you are good to go. Facebook has already decided that VR will be the future when it bought Oculus, the world’s most popular VR headset company. Going forward, companies like Google and Microsoft are designing apps to incorporate VR elements and transform the way you interact with them. By 2017, all smartphone manufacturers will bundle VR headsets along with their phones. The future of smartphones has indeed arrived. neeraj.varty@corporatecitizen.com
Featherlite
Twitterati
Court Talk
Your daughter needs both of you
Supreme Court tells the parents yearning for divorce It is well known that the real victims of matrimonial litigation are not the litigating couples, but their children. Often the fighting parents forget that they are mother and father to a child who needs care and protection from both of them. Last month, Apex Court bench comprising of Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman ‘reminded’ a couple about this unfortunate fact. The Apex court was disposing of an appeal which arose out of a High Court judgment wherein it had set aside the divorce granted by family court to the wife. The husband who contested the wife’s plea of divorce in family court, finally submitted before the Apex Court bench that he is prepared for divorce on mutual consent on appropriate terms. It was in this context, the bench said, “We only want to remind both, the father and the mother, that they may fight endlessly but the one person who is sandwiched, disturbed, pained, shocked and if not spoiled is their daughter. If the future of the daughter is kept in mind by both the father and the mother, they will think of disassociating themselves from all other differences between them. We are sure the parties would be in a position to reach a workable solution with regard to custody. After all, the child needs both father and mother”. The Court disposed of the appeal directing the Family Court to take things forward and settle all the related aspects including custody of the child, bearing in mind the observation made by it.
@ShereenBhan:
forecast
Let’s save the rainwater
Implement rooftop rainwater harvesting
According to Skymet Weather, Monsoon 2016 is likely to remain above than the normal at 105 percent (with an error margin of +/-4 percent) of the long period average (LPA) of 887 mm for the four-month period from June to September. Last two years in the country we experienced deficit monsoon. It is very good news. However we should not forget that our planet is facing climate change due to global warming. Every year is warmer than previous year. Till date, one of the important aspect experienced is extreme climatic events like delay in start of monsoon, dry phase during the monsoon, heavy downpour, unseasonal rain, etc. Last few years we in Maharashtra have experienced this. What we need to do is prepare ourselves so that we can save every drop of rain water to recharge falling groundwater table. One of the most economical and easy to implement system is rooftop rain water harvesting. One has to channelise rooftop rain water through rainwater drainpipes, filters to borewell or open well. This will take care of recharging of groundwater aquifers. One must note the potential of rainwater of their local area. For 100 sq metre rooftop catchment area, Annual average rainfall of 750 mm 100 x 750/1000 = 75 metre cube of rain water 1 meter cube of water = 1000 litres of water, so Mumbai will receive around 300,000 litres of water and villages in Marathwada with average annual rainfall 800 mm will get around 80,000 litres of rain water on rooftop of 100 sq metre or 1000 sq ft. Dear friends, store this nature’s bounty to tide over the water crisis.
@drusawasthi:
2016 #monsoon rains seen at 105 percent of long term average says @ SkymetWeather onset seems to be strong @CNBCTV18Live
Dr U S Awasthi Retweeted Reuters India My view on #Monsoon in 2016 to @ReutersIndia “Imports of fertilisers will not rise, Drought squeezed sales in 2015”
@mssrf:
@firstpost:
Prof @msswaminathan speaks to @rajyasabhatv on the #drought situation and #monsoon management: https://youtu.be/v3l2c1LMUZQ via @YouTube
@nerlanr:
Narendra Nerla Good for farming sector & hope this bring down the rising prices #IMD #monsoon #2016
#ICYMI #Demand boost for #economy seen as Met predicts ‘above normal’ #monsoon in 2016 http://bit.ly/1S96pnn
@DILIPtheCHERIAN:
Former FM says await validation from Met Off MT @vishwamTOI India’s private forecaster, Skymet , forecasts above normal #Monsoon for 2016. May 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 63
astroturf planets are in the western sector, you may find yourself becoming too self willed, too impatient and prone to anger. What you need is social skills and Mars is noted for that. Use your extra energy to be helpful to others.
Aries
Mar 21- April 20 Last month the planetary power began its shift from the West to the East which means its moving towards you rather than away from you. You have trying to adapt to things situations and people the way they wanted, now is the time to look into your own needs and do as you please. Remember due self importance has to be given and you must look into your own desires interests and likes.
TAURUS
April 21 - May 20 This is another happy and successful month for you, many of the happy trends that you experienced in the previous month continues. With Mercury in your 1st house you will have the wherewithal to indulge yourself. You will look and feel great and energy levels will rise. You will be exuding a star like quality where every one will be attracted to your charisma. Venus is in your sign till the 24th of this month, hence your personality polishes and looks ravishing more graceful than other days.
GEMINI
May 21 - June 21 You may experience a kind of stress in your love life which lingers from last month, however don’t loose hope as situation improves after the 9th As Jupiter starts moving forward. You will gain some mental clarity now on the current state of affairs. Since you are entering your period of maximum personal power and independence, with planets now in their most Easterly position, love is what it is. You cannot please everyone and nobody is more important than you yourself.
CANCER
Jun 22 - July 23 Last month from April 5th the
(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
planetary power began its shift from the West to the East. Which means it moves towards you than away from you. You have been working and adapting yourself to the situations and demands of other people, so now comes the time to devote sometime to yourself and make working conditions conducive to your happiness and time the way you are comfortable with.
LEO
July 24 - Aug 23 Career remains the main focus and it will go great guns, you will experience much success and happiness as advancement happens on all fronts. The 10th and 11th brings in special news regarding career or pay rises. There was a grand trine on earth last month and this continues the month ahead making you more practical with both feet on the ground. You will have mental clarity and realistic views about your money and career.
LIBRA
Sept 24 - Oct 22 There was a planetary shift last month to the upper half of the horoscope which belongs to the sector of career and outer goals. It is dominant by any means but is at its maximum for the year. Emotional harmony family & home concerns still need to be balanced along with your work & career.
SCORPIO
Oct 23 - Nov 22 Love is the main headline of the month ahead. You are still in your yearly pleasure peaks. Social activity is going to be all time high. Romance would be on your mind, and there would be plenty of opportunities for you to indulge in. the 10th to the 14th seem exceptionally good for love.
VIRGO
Aug 24 - Sept 23 Foreign travels have been in your chart all year around and this month it indicates more intensively. With the 9th house being strong and filled with beneficent planets, everyone who belongs to this sign
64 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
should be doing well. As you remain highly motivated one can ensure 90% success.
SAGITTARIUS
Nov 23 - Dec 22 Mars is still in your sign until the 27th of this month, complicating your social life which becomes even more stronger as most of the
CAPRICORN
Dec 23 - Jan 20 On April 19th as the Sun entered your 5th house you began one of your yearly peaks of pleasure. This is the right time for you to enjoy life, to schedule in leisure activities and fun. Be around your children for the maximum satisfaction in life. Since you are a serious sign with a serious out look in life you down play leisure, finding it waste of time, but the cosmos has other plans for you, the 5th house of leisure and pleasure is equal in importance with every other houses.
AQUARIUS
Jan 21 - Feb19 The planetary shifts this month, the Western, social sector of your chart is now more powerful than it has been all year. However at this time Eastern sector is still very strong too. So you neither overly dependent nor overly independent. You walk a fine line over the next few months between self interest and the interest of others.
PISCES
Feb 20 - Mar 20 With half the planets still in retrograde motion until the 9th the keyword is patience. Do not make matters worse by being lazy in whatever you do. The cosmos wants perfection in all the little details of life (especially in finance, career, love and family life). Doing things perfectly will lessen the risks of delays. 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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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
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the last word
Ganesh Natarajan
Play while you work If you treat life as one continuum of work and pleasure, tasks and leisure, you will never be bored and enjoy every experience in your career The very first time I travelled abroad for work was in 1985 when the Director of a start-up I was hired to lead invited me to join him for a trip to Dubai. Almost not making the trip because of an ECNR confusion with my virgin passport, I was told when the flight took off that the first engagement was to the engagement party of a member of the Royal Family of the UAE. Before I could even collect my thoughts I was seated at a table for twelve with embossed cutlery and a snow-white napkin in front of me. And soon my vegetarian sensibilities were to receive a huge assault when a fully cooked and skewered lamb was placed in the middle of the table, a feast to be partaken of by the whole table! Driving to the hotel after the experience, I told my boss I would happily have stayed away from the part and he quickly admonished me saying, “If you want to be a true world citizen, never say No to a new experience.” Through 30 years of incessant travel since then, I have always allowed myself to plunge headlong into new experiences and never regretted it. And when young people talk about work-life balance and their precious weekends away from the drudgery of work, my response is always what my Director, Captain Vilas Waman Katre had taught me that evening in Dubai that if you treat life as one continuum of work and pleasure, tasks and leisure, you will never be bored and enjoy ev-
ery experience in your career. So what is that makes the millennials today (and sometimes even Gen-X and Gen-Z, not just Gen-Y) feel that work is what happens to you between nine to five on weekdays and life is what is to be lived and enjoyed beyond it. In many large organisations, it’s the oppression of policies and processes that tend to curb the free spirits of entrepreneurial individuals. In smaller firms it may be the tyranny of an overpressurised and pressurising leader that take the joy out of work. Whatever be the case, every working professional owes it to herself to find the space to breathe and be creative in the workplace and in the way they conduct their work life. Getting joy out of every moment at work is the surest way of ensuring that there is no five-day wait between periods of enjoyment. When I was running APTECH between 1999 and early 2001, we discovered the 5F cultural framework that leads to a period of high motivation, low attrition and widespread happiness for all of us. Even today when I meet an ex Aptechite, I am reminded of “Fast, Focus, Flexible, Friendly and Fun” and every member of the Zensar Vision Communities through the last 15 years keeps the Five Fs as core mantras for the way they have built their careers. Small wonder then that the new platform some of us have created to enable start-ups, skilling companies and social enterprises to grow and thrive in a new India is also called
66 / Corporate Citizen / May 1-15, 2016
Every successful act of creation will see success and prosperity only when all participants are truly happy and feel that they have the support to take entrepreneurial risks, fail occasionally and enjoy a nurturing environment to find their own unique path to success! 5FWorld – www.5FWorld.com. Our belief is that every successful act of creation will see success and prosperity only when all participants are truly happy and feel that they have the support to take entrepreneurial risks, fail occasionally and enjoy a nurturing environment to find their own unique path to success! During the last two decades and more, many moments of happiness stand out and interestingly, many of these relate to moments at the work-place or with colleagues from work, watching movies in Nashik with my blue-collar workforce, the forbidden sipping of a glass of port wine with my boss in Delhi after closing a consulting deal in Goa, the much-talked about rain dances after work on the terrace of the APTECH building in Mumbai and clutching on to a lamp post in New Orleans after some high spirits and much jazz post a tough sales conference— these are just a few that stand-out. And some not-so-pleasant experiences too add to the excitement— dodging bullets and running to Mombasa airport after the inau-
guration of a training centre in the town and walking across the frozen river in Saratov during my first visit to Russia in temperatures touching thirty degrees below zero. All these are the stuff that great work experiences are made of! Any words of advice on how to really enjoy work, somebody asked me! The first and foremost is to develop a liking (is love too strong a word?) For the people you work with! While that may not include your boss, it helps if that can happen too, but colleagues one likes and enjoys are a must. One small tip is always to have a few hours available to see any new place you travel to. Travelling through over 80 countries in my career and almost every place in India, the memories of “new place experiences” are the sweetest! And in every context, it’s important to live life the only way— king size! Dr Ganesh Natarajan is Founder of 5FWorld and Chairman of Global Talent Track, Pune City Connect and NASSCOM Foundation.
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