Volume4 issue 20 corporate citizen

tête-à-tête Leena Deshpande, AVP-HR and Head-CSR, Bharat Forge Ltd Volume 4, Issue No. 20 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

Interview

Abhimanyu Singh VP-HR, Olam SURVEY

KPMG International Future of HR global study

Rakesh An a re nd

(retd.)

Commo do

Dynamic Duo 81

Building Ships of Success Commodore Rakesh Anand (retd.), presently, CMD, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, on his tenure in the Indian Navy, in the corporate environment and life with his wife, Seema

January 16-31, 2019 / `50

Panel discussion

“Digital disruption and how it affects industries” Loved & Married TOO

Kuldeep Vishwani and Bipasha Niyogi-romance grounded in a solid friendship

2 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

feedback Uplifting Coverage

A perfect guide for aspirants

I came across Corporate Citizen magazine about a year ago. At that time I was pursuing my graduation. I was inquisitive as the strapline ‘The cool side of business’ looked attractive. It was an impulsive first pick, but since then I have been enjoying reading the magazine. The articles that are featured in the magazine are very interesting and have topics that relate to current affairs in the corporate world. Especially articles like Campus Placement, corporate interviews, sessions, and Survey are worth reading. For example, in Campus Placement, the journey described by the author is carried out in such a way that it is like reading a first-hand experience. That being said, the surveys which are carried out by the magazine are informative and have comprehensive visual presentation. The mag. is a perfect guide for those who are aspiring to enter the corporate world.

—Rajan Krishnamurti, Student

CC stories has broadened my knowledge

corporate Stalwart

Dhananjay Datar, cmD, Corporate Citizen is one of the elite al aDil Group, uae magazines of today’s time. There was a time when I used to read a lot about Survey CII CSr-CSO BrIDGe 2018 What the corporate world and corporate Waste Management attracts jobseekers leaders in the various business LOveD & to an MArrIeD TOO magazine available on the stands. I organisation Neetha and Dilip Padki, was delighted to see my NGO, Mitti on their life together Ke Rang being featured in the Claps & Slaps column, in Corporate Citizen magazine, issue 7, dated 16-30 June, 2018. The Claps & Slaps column is an eye-opener. It is a platform where works of philanthropists and Good Dynamic Duo: 72 Samaritans are acknowledged and Wing Commander Anupama Joshi and Wing Commander Ashok Shetty, on their romance, marriage, helps make a big impact in spreadand their fight for gender equality in the armed forces ing awareness. When the article got published, and when we shared that in our network, the response we got was amazing. The team spirit went high and many people came forward to support us. Going through the CC magazine, I was amazed by the variety of news the team covers, pertaining to the corporate sector. The stories covered have simply broadened my horizon. Keep up the good work!

June 16-30, 2018 / `50

WiNg C oM

Volume 4, Issue No. 07 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in

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Der aNu aN Pa

oshi aJ M

The sessions that are featured in Corporate Citizen magazine, especially the CII and NHRDN panel discussions contain sound and practical advices. It is refreshing to read so much of positive and upbeat articles in the magazine—they are a great motivator for those who need that extra push. The interactions in Dynamic Duo column with corporate leaders are very truthful in an amusing way, which you can easily identify with. However, I feel that instead of taking an emotional stance of depicting only the positive side, sometimes the negative side of an important topic expresses the positive side in a more thought-provoking way.

—Shrikant Mutalik, Store Manager

Wings of Courage

—Amit Jain, Senior Analyst

Oops!

I work at the Isha Foundation which is founded by Sadhguru. An inauthentic article has been probably inadvertently published by your forum. – Shivani Pateriya Thanks for your email that brings to our notice that the article ‘Sadhuguru’s advice to the elderly’ is an inauthentic one. We deeply apologise for the same. Any inconvenience caused to the Isha Foundation is regretted. The ‘From the mobile’ column comprises ‘Forwards’ that we get on our WhatsApp messages. We have no way of authenticating them. It is one of the columns in a lighter vein. We shall henceforth ignore such forwards pertaining to Sadhguru’s writings or take it only after confirmation.

– Vinita Deshmukh, Consulting Editor, Corporate Citizen

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We look forward to your feedback

We at Corporate Citizen, believe that information should not be a one-way street. Your opinion and views about this issue are most welcome. Your ideas and new thoughts you may have, to enhance the content quality of our magazine, are most welcome. We rely on you to keep Corporate Citizen, on the positive and cool note, through your interaction on this page—just as you trust us with the content that we bring you, every fortnight. Mail us your views on: corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 3

Editor-in-Chief’s Choice / Saubhik Chakrabarti Editor-In-Chief’s Choice

Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian

To kill a moving story

Why Kamal Nath and other CMs like Rupani are so wrong on reserving jobs for locals

K

amal Nath started his tenure as Madhya Pradesh chief minister posing as an anti-migrant, thereby landing himself in a soup and putting his party’s national chief, Rahul Gandhi, in a bit of a pickle.

Surprisingly for such a veteran politician, Nath’s jobs-for-local-boys (no incentives for industry without 70% local employment) pitch lacked the minimum of political sense or grace. By dissing migrants from Bihar and UP, he made Congress look foolish at best in these two electorally vital states. By forgetting that he himself is not MP-born and that he got the CM’s job by edging out a local born, Jyotiraditya Scindia, he invited a fair measure of ridicule. And by ignoring the fact that MP is also a big source of inter-state migration in the country, the CM may have put migrants from his own state in the crosshairs of other state administrations.

But Nath and CMs from other parties, BJP included, who champion exclusionary policies against non-local born Indians are guilty of much more than political ineptitude-they are a potential risk to economic well-being and efficiency.

Here’s a piece of data that CMs like Nath and Gujarat’s BJP CM, Vijay Rupani, who proposed not too long back a law that makes 80% local employment mandatory for any firm, as well as all Maharashtra politicians, should know: India is among the worst performers in the world when it comes to inter-state migration.

China, which doesn’t set much store on constitutional rights, has a system called ‘hukou’ that restricts migration. But even then democratic India, that doesn’t restrict movement, performs worse than its totalitarian neighbour when it comes to how freely people move across provincial borders.

India ranked last in a list of 80 countries in what experts called migration intensity, a measure of how easily people move within a country to settle down in a place they were not born in. So, Nath and others should know that their rhetoric against people from other states is fundamentally misplaced.

The Economic Survey of 2017 had sought to enthusiastically argue that inter-state migration rates in India are fast increasing. But as many experts had pointed out, some of the Survey’s analytics were questionable;

4 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

for example, the analysis in ET by Amitabh Kundu and PC Mohanan. Basically, headline data that suggests 30% of India’s population are migrants hides the fact that two-thirds of this is intra-state migration, and a big chunk of movements across state borders is accounted for by women moving post-marriage.

So, India is far from being an integrated labour market, and politicians like Nath and Rupani exaggerate the migrants-taking-locals’-jobs issue to serve populist electoral aims. But the fact is that India will benefit immensely from more, not less, internal migration.

Even a quick study of any successful development and growth episode in any major country will show high internal migration accompanied these positive economic experiences. The reasons are simple. High migration rates mean the labour market can efficiently match workers to jobs.

Construction in the national capital region attracts migrant labour, including from MP, because locals don’t want these jobs. Farms in Punjab and Haryana attract migrant labour. Domestic services in all major urban centres will get terribly affected without migrant labour. Gujarat CM Rupani should know that Ahmedabad’s thriving local economy has a huge contribution from a migrant labour force that’s over 1.5 million, according to NGO Ajeevika Bureau.

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, MP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and West Bengal,

data shows, are major sources of migrant labour and states that are favoured destinations are, Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Look at this list – it’s India at work, north, south, east and west. If jobs are reserved for locals, and if more populist restrictions follow, India will become a hostile labour market for poor Indians. And if internal labour movement gets restricted, growth will, over time, suffer, as will the fight against poverty.

There’s also the social aspect. Nath and Rupani style exclusionary policy against migrants risks creating social tensions in a country where social relations in many areas are already a tinderbox, awaiting a political spark. We have caste and religious tensions, and now do we want to add local versus non-local tensions to that?

Enlightened policy will in fact foster higher rates of internal migration and recognise that non-portability of welfare benefits across state boundaries is a major reason for relatively low inter-state labour movement.

Poor Indians get patchy welfare benefits from state administrators if they are domiciled in the state. If they move to another state, they lose most of those because states don’t recognise migrants as legitimate welfare recipients. With Aadhaar now almost universal in India, and with welfare provisioning linked to Aadhaar, policy makers must seriously think of making benefits portable across state boundaries.

Will this happen? Not any time soon, probably. State level politics is getting hypercompetitive. And for some parties, Congress, for example, hyper local populism may make electoral sense even for national politics. Congress may calculate that instead of allowing BJP to make 2019 polls a Narendra Modi versus Rahul Gandhi battle, it will concentrate on making the general election a sum of local fights. In that case, Kamal Nath may have done what some other Congress local leaders will do later.

For India to grow faster, Indians must move more. But politics may yet kill this moving story. (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/open-patent/ to-kill-a-moving-story-why-kamal-nath-and-other-cms-likerupani-are-so-wrong-on-reserving-jobs-for-locals/)

If jobs are reserved for locals, and if more populist restrictions follow, India will become a hostile labour market for poor Indians.

And if internal labour movement gets restricted, growth will, over time, suffer, as will the fight against poverty

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 5

Rakesh An a re

(Retd.) nd

Commo do

Contents Cover Story

Dynamic Duo: 81

18

Building Ships of Success

Seema Anand, a social entrepreneur and Commodore Rakesh Anand, (retd.) and presently, Chairman and MD, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd, talk about their life together in the Indian Navy, in the corporate environment and why married life is all about support and care for each other 9 COLLYWOOD Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 16 EXPERT VIEW Why loan waivers are only temporary solutions to address farmer’s problems 26 SESSION Panel discussion on digital disruption and how it affects industries 30 TÊTE-À-TÊTE Leena Deshpande, AVP-HR and Head-CSR, Bharat Forge Ltd 6 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Volume 4 Issue No. 20 January 16-31, 2019 www.corporatecitizen.in

34 CII CASE STUDY-2 How a mentor-mentee initiative promoted worker engagement 38 INTERVIEW Abhimanyu Singh, VP-HR, Olam on his career and agri-business in India

42 INTERVIEW Vineet Ganesh, Partner, Imperial India Investment Company, on his career and entrepreneurial journey in the wealth management industry

14

44 UNSUNG HEROES Story of a man who has garnered much acclaim for creating online and mobile-based dictionaries for all the officially recognised Indian languages

30

26

46 THIRD EYE IT professional, Peter Ngugi, from Kenya, on a mission to bring in a paradigm shift in the way education is imparted in the African countries

38

48 LOVED & MARRIED TOO Kuldeep Vishwani and Bipasha Niyogi share a camaraderie that can only come from a romance grounded in a solid friendship 50 CAMPUS PLACEMENT Ashish Jain, on his campus placement and how being persistent and right decision can change one’s life for the better

42

46

52 SURVEY KPMG International’s Future of HR global study evaluating the HR leader’s preparedness and response to the change in a VUCA world 56 HEALTH Hazel Geary, COO, DLL

48

16 January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 7

contents

Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh vinita.corporatecitizen@gmail.com Assistant Editor & Senior Business Writer Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

52

Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

Talwalkars Club, a fitness and sports fan, on new fitness concepts and why for her fitness is not a chore but fun activity 58 MY FIRST BOSS A former jet-setting corporate professional, Deepak Sabharwal, Founder, Earthy Tales, recounts how his bosses helped him find the break 59 PEARLS OF WISDOM For this New Year, what are you going to do, as a better human being?

Sub Editor Vineet Kapshikar Creative Direction Sumeet Gupta, www.thepurplestroke.com Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar

50

Advertising and Marketing Manager Delhi: Mohamed Rizwan riz.mohamed@hotmail.com Chennai: Anil Kumar Menon anil.menon@corporatecitizen.in

56

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Kolkata Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar sangeetagd2010@gmail.com Pune Bureau Joe Williams / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra

60 MOBILE APPS The best battle royale games on smartphones 66 LAST WORD What is it that differentiates the “retiring� fifty somethings from the perpetually agile and active sixty, seventy and eighty-year-olds?

Writers Delhi Bureau Orchie Bandopadhyay archiebanerjee@gmail.com/ Sharmila Chand chand.sharmila@gmail.com

Manager-Circulation circulations@corporatecitizen.in West : Jaywant Patil, +91 9923202560 North : Hemant Gupta, +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G, +91 9941555389 On Cover Page Seema and Commodore Rakesh Anand (retd.)

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collywood

People in the news

Uday Shankar to head Walt Disney’s Asia Pacific unit

Infosys hires Airtel executive Nilanjan Roy as new CFO IT major Infosys has appointed Bharti Airtel’s global CFO, Nilanjan Roy as Chief Financial Officer, with effective from March 1, 2019, Infosys said in a regulatory filing. Roy replaces interim CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka, who will resume his responsibilities as Deputy CFO. Sanghrajka had taken temporaray charge of the position after M.D. Ranganath abruptly resigned as the company’s CFO in August 2018. Roy, who will become the first outsider to hold the post of Infosys CFO, joins the IT company from Airtel where he was for 13 years. He was appointed Airtel’s global CFO in August 2015, prior to which he served as CFO for the telecom firm’s India and

South Asia business. Before Airtel, he was with Unilever Plc for 15 years. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh said in the regulatory filing, “We are delighted to announce that Nilanjan will join Infosys as our CFO. He comes to us with extensive and rich global experience. We would like to express our deep appreciation to Jayesh Sanghrajka for taking charge as interim CFO and thank him for ably executing this very important responsibility.”A B.Com graduate from Delhi University and a chartered accountant, Roy is the third Infosys CFO in three years, following Rajiv Bansal’s exit in 2015 over the Panaya acquisition issue, and then Ranganath’s exit.

Netflix India content executive Swati Shetty quits Netflix India’s director of international originals and acquisitions, Swati Shetty, stepped down from her role at the company. Shetty, one of Netflix’s earliest hires in India, joined the streaming service in 2016 soon after it launched in India and was based in Los Angeles with frequent trips to Mumbai where Netflix opened its office last year. During her tenure, Netflix expanded its slate of original films including titles like Love Per Square Foot, Lust Stories and more recently Rajma Chawal.

With Netflix increasing its emphasis on the India market, Shetty’s position needed to be filled out of Mumbai while Shetty wished to remain in Los Angeles. A replacement has not yet been announced. Prior to joining Netflix, Shetty worked at Balaji Telefilms, Walt Disney India and Fox’s Star India network. Netflix has aggressively targeted India for growth as it battles rivals Amazon, Star India’s Hotstar, Viacom India’s Voot, Sony Television’s SonyLIV and a host of other OTT players.

The Walt Disney Company announced the appointment of Uday Shankar, as Chairman, Star and Disney India, and President, The Walt Disney Co. Asia Pacific. The appointment is part of Disney’s integration planning for its acquisition of 21st Century Fox and strategic alignment of its consolidated international business units.

Shankar currently serves as President, 21st Century Fox, Asia, and Chairman and CEO of Star India.“The planned restructuring of our business units outside of the US will result in a stronger, more agile organisation, one that is better able to pivot and capitalise on the many opportunities present in today’s fast-changing and increasingly complex global marketplace,” said Kevin Mayer, Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer and International, at The Walt Disney Company. In his new role, Shankar will report to Mayer, while Luke Kang, EVP and MD, Greater China, Japan and Korea; Kylie WatsonWheeler, MD of Australia and New Zealand; and Chafic Najia, SVP and MD of Middle East will report to Shankar.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 9

collywood A N Jha appointed finance secretary

Two months ahead of his retirement, Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha was appointed the new Finance Secretary. Jha, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, succeeds Hasmukh Adhia who retired on November 30, 2018. The senior most secretary in the Finance Ministry is normally designated as the Finance Secretary. His appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After Jha retires on 31 January, economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, a 1983-batch Rajasthan cadre IAS officer, who will become the senior most secretary in the ministry is likely to take charge as the finance secretary. The other two secretaries in the finance ministry are financial services secretary Rajiv Kumar, a 1984-batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer and DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) Secretary, Atanu Chakraborty, a 1985-batch Gujarat-cadre IAS officer.

Sameer Aggarwal takes over as Chief Business Officer at Walmart India Announcing changes in its management, Walmart India has appointed Sameer Aggarwal as its Chief Business Officer with immediate effect and Anuj Singh as Head - Category Merchandising. In his new role, Aggarwal will now be responsible for leading the strategy, merchandising, cost analytics, ecommerce, technology, marketing and replenishment. Aggarwal, currently, Chief Strategy & Administrative Officer, will continue to report directly to Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India. Prior to joining Walmart India in April 2018, Aggarwal Worked with KFC, Thailand, Sainsbury’s in the UK and China and McKinsey & Co, the UK and Australia.He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the London Business School and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Anuj Singh will report to Aggarwal. Anuj comes with 23 years of experience in leading consumer goods organisations

across India, Europe & Middle East. Anuj holds Masters Degree in Business Administration from London Business School. Meanwhile, Devendra Chawla, EVP & Chief Operating Officer - Merchandising, Marketing, and ecommerce, has decided to move on to pursue other opportunities outside Walmart India. Announcing the changes, Krish Iyer, President & CEO, Walmart India said, “I am extremely pleased to announce Sameer Aggarwal as our Chief Business Officer. Sam joined Walmart India in April this year and within a short period of time he has developed a great understanding of our company and our culture. I have no doubt he will lead and support his teams to strive for excellence in everything we do. I am very happy to welcome Anuj Singh into the Walmart India family. Backed with rich experience of 23 years in India and international markets, I am confident he would lead the business to achieve more success.”

Vedanta elevates Madhu Srivastava as Group CHRO Vedanta has appointed Madhu Srivastava as the Group CHRO. In her previous role, Srivastava was the CHRO for Cairn Oil & Gas business of Vedanta for more than two years. In addition to the Cairn CHRO role, Srivastava has also led Talent Acquisition and Diversity &

10 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Inclusion for the Vedanta group.

Srivastava has been part of the Vedanta Group for six years now.

She joined Vedanta in 2012 as the Head for Talent Acquisition for their Oil & Gas business.

Srivastava brings 19 years of rich and diverse experience

Hoffmann Group ropes in Manav Goel as India Director German quality tools manufacturer Hoffmann Group announced the appointment of Manav Goel as the Director of the company’s Indian arm. Goel will be responsible for overlooking the sales team and driving strategic business partnerships for their market in India. A civil engineer and an IIM Calcutta graduate, Manav has more than 21 years of experience in strategic planning, people management, and systems development. He has been part of the Asia Management Team and board of directors for Halfen Moment Group, a CRH member and Fortune 500 company. He was also Business Head - India with Tyrolit India Superabrasives

Tools, part of the world-renowned SWAROVSKI group.

Manav has also had successful stints with Minean Habitat and Hilti where he was part of the leadership team. Speaking on the new appointment, Dr. Christian Kober, Senior Vice President Asia, said, “We are delighted to welcome Manav as a valuable new member to our management team. His diverse background and extensive experience will bring in a fresh perspective and further bolster our expansion efforts in India. We believe Manav will add immense value to Hoffmann Group and help further strengthen our brand presence in the Indian market.”

across human resources, sales and operations spanning across industries like FMCG, telecom, ITES, BFSI and natural resources.

An alumna of IIM Ahmedabad, she started her professional journey in 1999 as an Assistant Sales Manager in Godrej where she handled sales in Gujarat and Maharashtra and later moved on to the corporate sales & marketing role. She then worked with

companies like GE Capital and Reliance Communications before switching her role from sales and marketing to human resources.

Srivastava started her HR journey in 2006 by joining Genpact as an Assistant Vice President talent acquisition where she was heading the middle management hiring for Genpact. She was then with Citibank for two years heading recruitments for India.

Big Synergy Media appoints Rajiv Bakshi as new CEO Anil Ambani owned Reliance Entertainment’s Big Synergy Media Limited has appointed Rajiv Bakshi as its Chief Executive Officer. Here, Bakshi will take forward the mantle of enhancing multi-platform reach, driving strategic partnerships and developing the original content portfolio. An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Bakshi comes with over two decades of experience and a proven track record across TV, internet, media, telecom and consumer durable industries. He has deep understanding of broadcast media & OTT, digital, mobile and FMCG industries. Previously, Rajiv was with Intex Technologies where he was the Chief Marketing Officer and led the brand strategy across four business verticals–smartphones, electronics, durables and accessories. Prior to Intext, Rajiv was VP & Head Products & Marketing, India & South Asia at Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific. Speaking about his new role, Bakshi says, “I am incredibly excited to join Big Synergy at this stage of the company’s evolution into scripted shows, along with the non-scripted content. Content will fuel the next wave of growth in media. India is one of the rare markets where both television broadcast and OTT platforms continue to demonstrate robust growth. I am passionate about transformative disruptions that change consumer behaviour and will strive to create competitive advantage and long term value for the business and our esteemed clients.” On the development, Shibasish Sarkar, Group COO, Reliance Entertainment, said, “We are happy to have Rajiv on board. He comes with a wealth of experience and domain expertise. With his extensive knowledge across the television and digital medium, we are confident that he will be able to further accelerate the growth of the entertainment sector within the group.”

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 11

collywood Former HewlettPackard head joins Yatra as independent director India’s online travel company, Yatra announced the appointment of Neelam Dhawan, as an independent director to its board of directors effective January 1, 2019. Neelam has been lauded by leading business journals like Fortune, Forbes and Business Today as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business and has played an integral role in shaping the IT Industry in India. “We are very pleased to have Neelam join our board and look forward to her contributions.” said Dhruv Shringi, CEO and Co-Founder, Yatra.com. “With 35 plus years of experience, Neelam is an accomplished leader in the tech industry and brings with her a unique blend of experience of scaling up enterprise technology businesses in emerging markets, experience which is a perfect

match for Yatra as we look at scaling up our corporate travel business and expanding it beyond India.

“In her previous positions, Dhawan has headed both Microsoft and Hewlett Packard, in India, been a member of NASSCOM’s Executive Council from 2009 to 2017 and made significant contributions to industry strategy and public policy frameworks.

“I am excited to participate in shaping the future of Yatra as we move to be closer to our customers and focus on delivering delightful experiences for them with our services.” said Dhawan.

LinkedIn names Mahesh Narayanan as India Country Manager Microsoft-owned professional networking platform, LinkedIn announced the appointment of Mahesh Narayanan as Country Manager for India, effective January 7, 2019.

Narayanan will assume his new responsibilities from January 7, 2019, said LinkedIn, which has over 59 crore members globally and more than 5.3 crore members in India. He brings more than two decades of experience in building and growing digital businesses in South Asia.

He has previously spearheaded the digital transformation and market-entry strategies for digital businesses including leading music and audio streaming service Saavn, global leader in programmatic digital advertising solutions, Sociomantic Labs, and mobile advertising company, AdMob. He also led Google India’s mobile advertising business from 2010-2013.

Narayanan will report to Olivier Legrand, Linke12 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

dIn’s Managing Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and will join the company’s Asia Pacific senior management team.“India continues to be a strategic market for LinkedIn, and we are pleased to have Mahesh join our team to take our business to its next growth chapter. As we continue to invest in the market, Mahesh’s strong track record in leading growth businesses and his deep market experience will bolster our efforts in India,” said Olivier Legrand, Managing Director - Asia Pacific, LinkedIn. As LinkedIn’s fastest-growing and largest market outside the US, India has seen its member base grow from 34 lakh members in November 2009 to more than 5.3 crore members in July 2018.” I am grateful for the opportunity to further LinkedIn’s vision and mission in an important market that is rapidly digitising,” Narayanan said on his appointment.

Peter Gartenberg to lead Blue Prism India operations Intensifying its strategic focus on India, Blue Prism, provider of the world’s most successful Digital Workforce, announced the appointment of Peter Gartenberg, Managing Director and President, Indian subcontinent. This seniorlevel appointment reflects India’s emerging importance as an innovation hub and the exponential market demand for Blue Prism’s Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform in India. Since commencing operations in India in 2017, Blue Prism’s RPA platform has seen strong momentum with many multinational Global Inhouse Centres (GICs), Indian enterprises and India based Global System Integrators (SI). “India is emerging as a global knowledge and talent centre for Blue Prism’s intelligent RPA offering and we are delighted to have a proven leader in Peter to accelerate our growth in India. He will be responsible for extending our leadership position amongst India based GICs, Indian enterprises and the Indian Global SI ecosystem,” said Mike Cawsey, SVP and General Manager, Asia Pacific. “In this next phase, Peter and his growing India team will educate the market about Blue Prism’s Intelligent Automation capabilities and how to best leverage this technology into customers’ and partners’ digital transformation strategies.”

Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com

wax eloquent

As exciting as ever

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

India needs to be at the forefront of research

“We are in an area of knowledge-based economies, and we need to own that knowledge. This means we need to fund it. We are not going to be a high-income country in the next 15 years, so affordability is important.

And if we don’t participate, our data and our requirements will not be taken into account.”

Every institution is accountable to somebody

“One cannot have autonomy without accountability. Every institution is accountable to somebody. The government is accountable to Parliament, which in turn is accountable to the people of India. So, the question is to whom are regulators accountable?

They are accountable to their boards.”

Senapathy Gopalakrishnan,

cofounder & former CEO, Infosys Courtesy: Economic Times

Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic advisor, finance ministry, Government of India Courtesy: Mint

We’ve always been a welfarist country “We should remind ourselves that we’ve always been a welfarist country. I think we’re a wonderful democracy, of course, but that means there will always be pressures to redistribute. The challenge for us is to find efficient ways of redistributing. Subsidies is a very inefficient way of doing that.”

Arvind Subramanian, former chief economic advisor Courtesy: Indian Express

India has some tailwinds

“All the slogan about ‘Make in India’ could be actually made to come true with some strategic thinking by the government, or allowing the private sector do what it can, and providing an enabling role in that. So India has some tailwinds that could be interesting.”

Arvind Sanger, managing

partner, Geosphere Capital Management Courtesy: Mint

14 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Impetus to Innovation “I don’t believe 10 engineers put together can create a wonderful piece of product. For innovation, for the future of the workplace and the future world, you need multi-disciplinary teams who think differently. These teams can come from different languages and different genders.”

Jessie Qin, Partner, EMEIA Advisory Centre and Business Transformation, EY

Courtesy: The Economic Times

Not to be afraid to make mistakes “Be firm, focused and not to be afraid to make mistakes (so long as you learn from them) and be as nice as you can to everyone because you will be amazed as to how often people from your past pop up again — and the longer you go on, the more likely they are to become senior in their business life.”

Jonathan Hill, CEO, Laureus World Sports Awards Limited Courtesy: https://www.firstpost.com

‘Make in India’ has to have legs

“Make in India has to be more than a slogan, it has to have legs…

Unlike me, all CEOs are not Indians and they don’t understand India. They’re afraid of India, they are afraid of Indian bureaucracy, corruption and the lack of transparency. While lot of good things are happening, they still haven’t bought into it.”

Dinesh Paliwal, CEO, Harman

Courtesy: Times of India

Is corporate India changing?

What is legal may not be ethical

“What is legal may not be ethical.

Today, we live in a compliance-driven world. This allows for thinking mostly at the deployment stage, and then we wake up when something goes wrong. From oil firms to technology companies, some of the bigger challenges we see today are mostly because these companies have been compliance driven.”

Tenzin Priyadarshi,

director (ethics initiative), MIT Media Lab Courtesy: The Economic Times

First thing a CEO needs to address “The first thing a CEO needs to address is culture. Culture is built over years. Culture is the smell of the place and a good leader can figure it out pretty quickly. It is about what is stated and what is unstated but accepted and not condoned. Culture is also about what is said publicly and what is said outside of forums.”

D. Shivakumar, Group Executive President, Aditya Birla Group Courtesy: http://www.businessworld.in

“A painful but interesting churn is happening in India—driven by governance and capital—where you will see a new corporate order emerging by 2020.

The third factor driving change in corporate India are families that want to rethink the future, either because of the next generation, an uncertain horizon or simply to optimize their portfolio and capital allocation.”

Sonjoy Chatterjee,

Chairman and Co-chief Executive, Goldman Sachs India Courtesy: https://economictimes. indiatimes.com

5G will bring the next big industry transformation “We are at the cusp of the next big industry transformation with the advent of 5G. The combination of billions of connected devices, petaflops of computing resources and advanced communication capabilities that enable real-time interactions will lead to the creation of systems on a scale and complexity level that is beyond the ability of humans to fully comprehend and control. Management and operation of these systems will require an extremely high degree of intelligent automation.”

Lifeblood of a startup

“Once a startup has its game going, it faces questions such as “how to bridge the cost of growing the business” and “how to market the greater success and at a lower cost”. Poor answers to these (and similar questions) can be barriers to progress and could push the startup into the Valley of Death.”

Ajay Kela, CEO, Wadhwani Foundation

Courtesy: The Economic Times

Sanjeev Tyagi, head, Ericsson R&D Bengaluru

Courtesy: Financial Express

Exuding energy and passion “In the beginning, I took to acting for a livelihood. Thereafter, I met the needs of my life. Now, I am enjoying it. It is entertaining to me. It is not like a profession. If I treat it like a profession, then work becomes a burden. Now it is like a game, it is relaxing. That’s probably where I get my energy from, from that thought.”

Rajinikanth, actor

Courtesy: https://www.indiatoday.in

I want a successful legacy “I am sensitive to the fact that we must exit business with the same elegance that we entered it. I don’t want a negative legacy. In all the businesses we have exited, we have built it from the ground up. And after our exit, they have become even bigger. I want a successful legacy and I want to create good will.”

Analjit Singh, chairman, Max Healthcare

Courtesy: Business Standard

Next trend of growth

“The next trend of growth in online market and in general will come from middle (income) India… so the focus is on affordability. Around 50 million Indians are very, very premium. The next 400 million is where the actual economy lies. Doing more FMCG is just a part of making products more affordable.”

Albinder Dhindsa, cofounder and CEO, Grofers

Courtesy: https://www.financialexpress.com

Compiled by Rajesh Rao rajeshrao.rao@gmail.com

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 15

Expert View

Loan Waiver is No Solution

by S K Jha

(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)

Loan waivers come, and loan waivers go, but the farmer stays where he is-in poverty. Loan waivers are only temporary solutions, much like band-aid, and even these do not address the vast majority of farmers or their problems. We need to have more holistic and long-term solutions

G

ood politics can be good economics too, but it is not always true.

Politics for quick results sometimes lead to populist measures which are not based on sound principles of economics and which in the long run turn to be harmful for the people. ‘Farm loan wavier’ which is winning elections these days and which is practiced by all political parties, is one such measure.

There is no denying the fact that there is a serious agrarian problem in our country where almost 53% of our population is dependent on agriculture, both as cultivators and farm labourers. There are also allied agricultural activities like fisheries, animal rearing and horticulture.

Farmers in large numbers have been committing suicide in many parts of the country for quite some time even after several endowments of farm loan waivers, including the one mega waiver proclaimed nationally in the year 2008.

Elections were won but the condition of farmers did not improve.

in order to meet promises they have made. Most of the times, such announcements are not preceded by any financial deliberation and as a result, it takes a lot of time before bank loans waived are paid off by the government to the banks.

Farmers are not given additional loans even if they genuinely need money for farming, as their earlier loans are considered non performing asset (NPA), and this situation continues till the banks receive money from the government against

Who benefits?

Loan waivers announced by various governments in different states apply only to institutional loans taken by farmers who are cultivators. These loans are taken mainly by big farmers, as small and marginal farmers take high interest-bearing loans from moneylenders. Landless labourers engaged in agricultural work which constitute almost 50% of the workforce in this sector are also not beneficiaries of bank loans. The net result is that loan waivers only benefit about 10% of the workforce in the agricultural sector. There is no help for loans taken from moneylenders.

There is no help for landless labourers who are too poor and who are also not eligible for bank loans, as they are not cultivators. Thus, loan waivers come and go, but poverty in the farm sector continues to stay.

Bank loan takers whose loans are waived under the loan waiver schemes are also not fully benefitted. As a good political move, the government does not waste any time in announcing schemes 16 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

the loans waived. To understand the situation, it took almost four years for the government to pay `52,000 crores against loans of `72,000 crores waived in 2008 and that total amount waived was never paid off. The slow process of repayment harms the cause of farmers who were supposed to have benefitted from it. Needy farmers waiting for new loan accounts from banks, meanwhile, go to private moneylenders and thus enter a vicious cycle of indebtedness.

Waivers spike farm credit

ical practice. Honest farmers who believe in repaying their loans in time are at a disadvanLoan waiver schemes destroy the healthy distage compared to habitual loan defaulters who cipline of farm credit. Banks prefer not to give benefit from such schemes. It has also been seen farm loans as they know that a substantial part that farm loans exceed the value of the crops. of the same may become non-performing asDishonest cultivators indulge in this practice of set (NPA). Many farmers believe that political taking loans as they know that ultimately their parties will waive loan for their votes and hence loan will be waived. The farming community stop repayment of loans. Loans given become deserves the best, as it is this community that NPA as the repayment schedule is broken. feeds the nation and they must work against Sometimes farmers take farm loan but spend all odds. But a few of them plan their loan takthe same on non-income earning activities like ing activities to create marriage in the family windfall profits because and so they are unable to of loan wavier schemes repay it. They then keep ‘Can loan waiver which routinely keep on waiting for farm loan schemes solve coming with elections. waivers. The temptation the agrarian of loan waivers becomes an important reason for Waivers spoil problem? The farm loans becoming the economy answer is no. It is NPA and this in turn beLoan waiver schemes are comes a reason for banks harmful as they work only a temporary not serving this sector as triggers to spoil our relief from pain, properly. economy. They add to something like The loan waiver the fiscal deficit. Monscheme is also an unethey for the waived loan band-aid. A does not come from holistic solution political parties who anshould follow a nounce such waivers, but it comes from taxpaydetailed diagnosis ers. Taxes collected are of the ailment. re-routed from developOur governments ment works, education, medical facilities etc. fail to bring long to fund these waivers. term solutions Banks suffer from ever increasing farm loan and the causes of NPAs as farmers wait for the problem are loan waivers instead of ignored’ repaying loans. Banks in the public health sector are re-capitalised from our taxes in consideration of mounting NPAs. It is true that bank NPAs are not entirely due to farm sector loans, but it is a major component and due to the expectation of waiver schemes.

This, to a large extent, is deliberately allowed to pile up, except for a few genuine cases.

Can loan waiver schemes solve the agrarian problem? The answer is no. It is only a temporary relief from pain, something like band-aid.

A holistic solution should follow a detailed diagnosis of the ailment. Our governments fail to bring long-term solutions and the causes of the problem are ignored. As a result, farmers keep on remaining poor. One big problem in this sector is that our agriculture is still dependent on the monsoons due to lack of irrigation infrastructure. Every year droughts and floods occur simultaneously in various parts of the country.

In either case, our farmers suffer. They not only lose the crops but along with it, their invested capital is also lost.

Low value for produce

Marketing and getting proper value for their produce are other big problems for farmers.

There are too many middlemen between the farmer and the consumer and this eats away a big share of the profit which should have gone to the farmers. The functioning of the APMCs are again not to the advantage of farmers. These days farmers are getting badly hit due to prevailing low prices of most of their produce. Farmers are seen dumping onions, potatoes, and even milk on the roads. The wholesale-price-index has come down substantially and though this is good for consumers, it is not so for farmers. Recently, the government announced higher MSP for many items of produce but as the scheme has not been properly implemented so far, the problem of farmers continues.

The Swaminathan Commission had given an elaborate report on solving the problems of farmers way back in 2006, but the report was never acted upon. Its recommendation on MSP is now getting implemented. Black marketing of urea is another problem for the farmer. The problems faced require a considered decision with larger foresight. Crop insurance policy and MSP are steps in the right direction, but we have a long way to go.

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness,” said Thomas Jefferson. We must help agriculture with doing what we can, with what we have and where we are. For a country like India, this is even more important as the agricultural sector gives maximum employment. We must devise ways to maximise the income of farmers. There must be schemes for value addition of farm produce at the premises of farmers or in processing factories where farmers also have stake. The Amul model of dairy development where farmers are stakeholders is one inspiring example to follow.

Support the farmer

For better yield of farm produce, co-operative farming is a good proposition as most farmers in our country have less than two hectares of farm land. Scientific and technological inputs should be used in the pooled land plots by farmers for collective co-operative farming. Soil test is another good idea for growing various kinds of crops.

The life of a farmer is always tough. He works in extreme heat and chilling cold to produce food for us. Financially, a farmer is always hard hit as he is the only person in our economy who buys everything in retail, sells everything in wholesale and pays freight both ways. We must thank the farmer for the food we eat, and we must show them respect and compassion. Loan waiver is just not enough to ease their problems.

Much more is required to be done.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 17

nd (Retd.)

Commo do

Rakesh An a re

The first lesson that one learns at the Naval Academy is that of Chetwode motto comprising three principles, which are “the safety, honour and welfare of your country comes first, always and every time; second, the honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command comes next. Third, your own ease, comfort and safety comes last, always and every time 18 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Cover Story

Ships Dynamic Duo: 81

Seema and Rakesh Anand

Building success

of

Commodore Rakesh Anand, (retd.) is the Chairman and Managing Director of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd since January 2017. He has earlier served in the Indian Navy for about 30 years and has held various assignments, both ashore and afloat on INS Vijeta, INS Porbandar, INS Saryu and INS Godavari. He has served at both the Naval Dockyards at Visakhapatnam and Mumbai in various capacities, headed the Fleet Maintenance Unit, Mumbai, and held the chair of Command Engineer Officer at the Headquarters, Western Naval Command. He has also served at the Directorate of Naval Design (Submarine Design Group) and the Directorate of Marine Engineering at Naval Headquarters. In his capacity as Chairman and Managing Director, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, is a radical shift to the corporate world from serving on Naval ships to building those ships instead. The industrial work environment, he stresses, is going through changing times due to the disruptive technologies being adopted globally.

These technologies are bringing about changes in organisational structures, manufacturing processes and the skill sets required to function effectively in the new manufacturing milieu. It is, therefore, essential that these technological and organisational changes are quickly adopted by corporates in the country, so as to ensure that they remain competitive at a global level. Foreseeing such changes at a global level and systematic implementation in our corporates is the single most critical challenge which corporates face today

By Vinita Deshmukh and Kalyani Sardesai

Ă’

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 19

Cover Story Was it a dream to enter the Armed Forces and where did you get the training?

I am a Mechanical Engineer from the Thapar Institute at Patiala. As it was also my childhood dream to pursue flying, I enrolled with the Patiala Flying Club concurrently while doing my graduation studies. I seriously considered pursuing commercial flying at one-time, during post-graduation. However, destiny had other plans for me. I went ahead and joined the Indian Navy, for which I was selected during the pre-final year. I was commissioned in the Indian Navy on September 1 1979 and joined the Naval Academy at Kochi on August 15 1980.

What is that you learned in the training in terms of personality development or some special vision in life?

The first lesson that one learns at the Naval Academy is that of Chetwode motto comprising three principles, which are “the safety, honour and welfare of your country comes first, always and every time; second, the honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command comes next. Third, your own ease, comfort and safety comes last, always and every time. The other major learning pertains to discipline and teammanship, wherein you win or lose in any activity as a team and not as individuals. The nature of wholesome training provided at the Service Academies, is possibly the best in the world.

Patiala Flying Club

When did you join Mazagon Dock?

I joined MDL on 29th June 2010 after putting in 30 years in the Indian Navy.

How did you get into MDL?

Pushpak Aircraft flown by Rakesh Anand at Patiala Flying Club

A vacancy was advertised for the post of a General Manager (Technical). I opted to join MDL on permanent absorption basis and was selected after an interview.

Would you consider Mazagon Dock as a corporate body? Please elaborate…

It is a corporate body. It is a Public Sector Shipyard functioning under the Ministry of Defence (Department of Defence Production). It is the oldest shipbuilding yard of the country (about 250 years old) and a part of our national heritage. I am extremely proud to be part of the MDL team as this organisation is supporting the cause of National Defence and Nation Building.

Was it a cultural shock transiting from the Indian Navy to the Mazagon Dock?

Having served for 30 years in the Indian Navy right from the time that one graduated, the culture of the Navy totally grows on you. The Military life is built around the values of loyalty, duty, service before self, honour, integrity and personal courage. Apart from this, service personnel live by certain principles (some written, other unwritten), which are unit cohesion, concern for reputation and Stoicism. In the services, directives once issued by superior officers have to be followed by the subordinates, even if it is at the peril to his life. Having come from such an environment into a corporate culture one is impacted initially and it takes a while to acclimatise to the new environment.

Could you elaborate further on the differences?

To elaborate a few examples would be:As a civilian, a person’s boss has authority over that person, while he or she is at work, but in the services, a service member’s boss has authority over almost all aspects of their life, even when a service member 20 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

has a “day off ”. Commanders in the services are responsible for their subordinates’ conduct both on and off duty.

The other difference is the basis of decision making in a strictly disciplined organisation with a rigid channel of command, wherein once a directive or order is passed, it is considered to be executed unless reported otherwise. In the services, one never assumes things. If you don’t know, clarify. In a combat situation, if a directive has not been followed or one of the team members assumes wrongly, there could be a major lapse and could lead to loss of life. In the corporate set up, the pace of conformance and confirmation to orders is relatively slower and it thus takes time to execute jobs.

What is your staff strength like?

MDL employs about 8500 employees, 7500 operatives and staff and about 1100 executives.

What should the corporate world adapt from the army services?

How similar or different are they?

The basics of modern management, as we all know, has been adopted from the Armed Forces. Amongst others, the basic principles, which are based on the ideas of renowned Prussian Military Theorist, “Carl Von Clausewitz” can be cited. He believed that war and business shared a good deal of similarities and that both involve a clash of interest. These insights not only significantly influence modern business, but also offers an opportunity for Managers, who want to improve their global business strategies.

The principles, which hold similarities are those of objective, offensive, mass, manoeuvre, surprise and simplicity.

By adopting the above principles in corporate, one can put oneself in a

Tell us about your marriage.

It was an arranged marriage and we got married in 1986. We come from a very educated but simple family backgrounds.

These days divorce rates are very high. What is that required to keep a marriage beyond love and romance?

Distinguished Alumni Award by Thapar University

Patrolling off A&N Island, onboard INS Saryu, 1993

position to scale your company and maintain an advantage against changing markets and new competitions over time.

You belong to the Armed Forces, where hierarchy rules the roost; perhaps it is unfathomable as to how you can be comfortable in a flat organisation…

It is not a question of one’s comfort or discomfort. It is a matter of reality that as we discuss, the world is changing around us at a stupendous pace. These changes are being driven by technological evolution and changes to the social fabric of the country. While on one end, disruptive technological changes driven by Industry 3.0 and Industry 4.0 are revolutionising the way we work, on the other end the millennial generation, with their very strong ideas of working in an informal organisation structure, is driving organisations to be flatter. These changes in the future are imminent and one needs to gear up to function in such flexible organisations.

The current generation has a huge exposure to all form of media, social, print and electronic. Western Culture is thus easily seen by the young generation, wherein there is no taboo about divorce. Another reason is that the education level has increased in society, which leads to better job availability and consequently the earning potential. Yet the young generation is not satisfied as they have become extremely materialistic.

Further, the tolerance level of individuals has also come down. Earlier married couples bowed to the pressure of society to make their marriage work. However, today couples take their relationship casually and head to the Courts without trying to work on a possible solution to save their marriage. By instilling solid sanskaars amongst the children, they will not be overwhelmed by the Western culture and will be able to have successful married lives.

Having served for 30 years in the Indian Navy right from the time that one graduated, the culture of the Navy totally grows on you

In the manufacturing industry, how can you adopt this flexibility?

Both Industry 3.0 and 4.0 have been implemented in a number of industries globally and the same have radically enhanced the flexibility, with which they function. These industries have started adopting leaner production norms, which is making them more productive and cost-effective.

Please tell us about your personal schedule. How many hours a day do you put in and are you following any diet as you look fit…

As far as working hours go, normally one does try to maintain a work-life balance, however, one ends up putting in 10-12 hours of work. One has always worked on a Saturday, though we are a five-day week company.

There is a lot to be done as the company has to be progressed, and there are a lot of new challenges, for which we have to gear up. Both diet and exercise are extremely important to maintain fitness. I try doing a few yoga sessions during weekdays. During the weekends, whenever possible, I go out on long walks.

Tell us about your children…

My elder daughter, Shagun, is an engineer and an MBA from IIM-B. She is working with Zensar Technologies. My younger daughter, Shruti, has pursued her MBA from SIMS and is eager to pursue further education from the US.

What is your take on bringing up children?

We have tried to instil the same values, which were ingrained upon us since our childhood. In fact, I keep telling them, whether they implement or not, these values are universal and timeless. I always tell them that discipline comes first. Never forget: wherever you are and whatever you do, respect your motherland. Apart from this, honesty, sincerity and the dignity of life for everybody in all relationships and dealings with your parents, friends, peer group are very important aspects. These are the fundamentals that make you a good human being.

What advice would you give to young parents?

As parents, we have the moral obligation to groom our children, so that they grow up to be responsible citizens of the country and carry the legacy to the next generation. Good habits, discipline, character, work ethics and so on have to be inculcated from childhood. Children must know that there is only one way of doing things and that is the right way. Breaking rules by the children must come with a penalty. They are also to be told to achieve academic excellence through discipline. Children must also be made accountable so that they are confident in taking decisions, which leads to success. Children should not be mollycoddled to the extent that they know only about their rights and not about their accountability.

What is the philosophy of life that you live by?

To be a good human being and to be true to your country, family and profession on a daily basis and over, time, contribute to building a stronger nation. It is also essential that we keep upgrading ourselves technologically so that in the case of MDL, we are able to build state-of-art warships and submarines at par with best in the world in a time-bound manner. It is also important that the downtrodden and underprivileged in the country are supported in the best possible manner. Environmental concern for all citizens is also essential and sincere efforts are to be made by all to leave behind an ecosystem, which is better than the one inherited by us. Since childhood, one of the books, which has had a profound influence on my thinking, is the “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” authored by Richard Bach, which in a very simple manner summarises the raison d’etre of life i.e. to put in hard work and excel in whatever one does.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 21

M

any of the ways of working that we have taken for granted for 20 years are disappearing viz. working from nine to five, aligning only with one company, spending time with family, taking weekends off, working with people we have known well in offices we go to, every day. We live in a time, when the gap with the past is of the same magnitude, as that last seen in the late 18th century. The gap is of such a magnitude that what we do, where we do it, how we work and with whom, will change possibly unrecognisably in our lifetime. In the late 18th century, the drivers of this change were the development of coal and steam power. This time it is not the result of a single force, but rather a combination of five forces that will fundamentally transform much of what we take for granted about work.

In 1970, with the onset of 3rd Industrial revolution, automation of production increased and automotive industries started using robotics in manufacturing. With time, the robots evolved and became more dexterous and able to work “hand-in-hand” with employees. It was during this period of transformation, where more and more robots were brought into the assembly line to perform the tasks, which were performed by humans. This led to the displacement of millions of blue-collar workers.

In the current era, developed countries may be on the verge of a similar transition again. Robotics and machine learning have improved productivity and Commodore Rakesh Anand (retd.) on managing future of work and workplace enhanced the economies of many nations. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has advanced into finance, transportation, defence, and energy management. The internet of things (IoT) is facilitated by high-speed networks and remote sensors to connect people and businesses. In all of this, there is a possibility of a new era that could improve the lives of many people. Yet amidst these possible benefits, there is widespread fear that robots and AI will take jobs and throw millions of people into poverty. This led to the displacement of millions of white-collar employees with many expressing concern that this will lead to a vast that is available right from a farm worker to a person sitting in an office in increase in income inequality, the creation of a mass of people, who are Silicon Valley. The full impact of globalisation in the workplace has yet to effectively unemployable and thus create a breakdown of the social order. be realised, but as more companies embrace this trend and become more The future of work is going to be on demand. No one is going to guarandiverse, certain changes are emerging. Globalisation and virtual workplaces will also play an increasing role in the changing landscape of workplace, tee you a lifetime career. Many businesses are choosing contract relationcausing more fluid shifts and flows of talent. As globalisation becomes more ship over hiring a new employee. Career is as outdated as the word “Typeprevalent, companies deal with increased cultural diversity within the workwriter”. In future Project teams akin to Movie Production team would be created where individuals with unique talents get together to work on a force. These changes require that small and large businesses adopt new polcompany’s project. At the end, they go on separate ways and may or may icies and guidelines for workers. not work together again. Further, virtual teams i.e. a group of individuals, As more companies have access to overseas companies that offer outwho work across time-space and organisational boundaries using collabsourcing, wages have changed for many workers. With lower standards of living, third world companies can offer their services at a rate greatly reduced orative technologies, will become the order of the day. Although the home from those in countries with higher standards of living. This has affected is the most common location, millions of team members would work from many workers in the United States as well as other large countries, as more just about anywhere. In the future of work, individuals will have more companies embrace the outsourcing trend. While it means a greater profit freedom and power than ever before. Earning potential will be based on margin for the companies, it also leads to reduced earning potential for emmerit and not on location. Employees will have access to a larger and more skilled workforce. ployees. Globalisation has led to the dislocation of jobs.

The five major trends that are changing the future of work are ,GlobalisaGlobalisation has led to the creation of many millions of new jobs worldwide. However, globalisation does mean many jobs are outtion, New Technology, Millennial workforce, Mobility and New Behaviour. sourced from one country to another because of lower labour costs; which means a lot of people who used to work in those jobs are out of Globalisation work and must find new jobs. Technically speaking, however, the jobs With the increasing international influence of organisations, boundaries are still exist, they are simply located in a country with lower labour costs. getting blurred and the world is becoming a City. The impact of currencies, languages and geographical locations is no more there. There is a lot of data

future

Forward

22 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Cover Story As technology is further embedded into the office, it will continue to help people work and think more effectively and efficiently.

Millennial Work Force

The millennials joining workforce now are employees born between 1982 and 2002. By 2020, they will constitute 50% and by 2025 75% of the total workforce worldwide.

Unlike the Gen-Xers and the Baby Boomers, the Millennials have developed work characteristics and tendencies from doting parents, structured lives, and contact with diverse people. They are used to working in teams and want to make friends with people at work, work well with diverse co-workers.

Millennials have a can-do attitude about tasks at work and look for feedback about how they are doing frequently. Millennials want a variety of tasks and expect that they will accomplish every one of them. Positive and confident, Millennials are ready to take on the world.

They seek leadership, and even structure, from their older and managerial coworkers, but expect that you will draw out and respect their ideas.

Millennials seek a challenge and do not want to experience boredom.

They need to see where their career is going and they want to know exactly what they need to do to get there. Millennials await their next challenge and their better be the next challenge.

They are also highly connected through social media. They work hard, but they are not into the sixty-hour work weeks defined by the Baby Boomers. Home, family, spending time with the children and families, are priorities. Don’t lose sight of this. Balance and multiple activities are important to these millennial employees. Ignore this at your peril.

Millennials want to enjoy their work. They want to enjoy their workplace. They want to make friends in their workplace. Worry if your millennial employees aren’t laughing, going out with workplace friends for lunch, and helping plan the next company event or committee. Help your long-term employees make room for the millennial.

Mobility

New Technology

Mobility would give freedom to employees to work anytime anywhere and on any device. Global mobility will grow in importance particularly for large firms with more than a lakh of employees. Assignments will move to short-term projects of up to three months or a year. There will be more cross-border commuters, living and working in different countries.

In the “gig-economy” a lot of people will be working where small contracts will be awarded at short notice to independent freelancers or part-time employees. Independent contractors looking for these individual tasks advertise on online platforms for crowd-working and shared services. Work-on-demand via an app in different sectors is also part of gig economy and this is going to increase in terms of participation by 2025 to 50%.

Jobs are becoming more granular, increasingly broken down to a project or task level, with decreasing emphasis on the number of hours someone works. Instead, the activity and its role in a sequence of dependencies are becoming the atomic “thing” people care about.

The future of work is going to be on demand. No one is going to guarantee you a lifetime career. Many businesses are choosing contract relationship over hiring a new employee. Career is as outdated as the word “Typewriter”

The new technologies, which are going to drive the future of work are Cloud Collaboration, Big Data, Internet of Things, Wearable devices and Cloud computing.

Digitisation and automation will make 20-30% of jobs obsolete over the next 5-10 years, but only 16% of companies feel they are ready for the change. We have seen the changes, which automation has brought on blue-collar work. Visit the factories of a manufacturing company and you find very few people there.

When this development started to accelerate in the 1970s robots were denounced as “Job Killers”. But by now we have learnt to live with it. But today we are seeing similar changes for white-collar employees due to the emergence of big data and Artificial Intelligence. What is new about this technology is that it no longer solely depends on the input of people, but can learn, adapt and generate algorithms on its own, as in the case of deep machine learning.

The way we work is changing, and, not surprisingly, technology is playing a big part in that shift. A conversation about the workplace almost always starts with technology. Indeed, technology is the enabling factor that allows anybody, anytime, to complete work from almost anywhere.

New Behaviour

Today everything is known about any individual, which would have been impossible to conceive about a few years ago. This is being made possible by the social media and the web, i.e. Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Thus, we are quite open to people knowing about our profile. In other words, we are getting collaborative.

(Excerpts of the keynote address from NATCON 2018, Pune) January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 23

Dynamic Duo: 81

Waves of Seema and Rakesh Anand

She’s bubbly, effervescent, a complete people’s person and the perfect match to her husband, Rakesh Anand. Supportive, warm, friendly approachable and full of verve, Seema Anand has lived the ups and downs of both a naval career, as well as the corporate environment of the Mazagon Dock for over 32 years now along with her husband. What’s more she wears as many hats as her husband with as much aplomb: proud fauji wife, a largely single parent to their two daughters while her husband was on ship, a passionate teacher of mathematics to batches and batches of neighbourhood children, as well as a keen volunteer for children with learning difficulties at the schools assigned to her by the NGO (Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness) (CMCA) that seeks to develop children as engineers of civic change in the days to come

wisdom

By Vinita Deshmukh and Kalyani Sardesai Corporate Citizen: How did you meet?

Seema Anand: Like he mentioned, it was an arranged match way back in 1986. I was only 19 odd years and had just completed my BA in Maths and Statistics. As arranged marriages usually worked, we met through a common contact. I told him upfront about certain chronic health issues I had and he was impressed with my honesty and truthfulness. So he saw beyond those things to see me for the person I am.

How are you both as people? Similar or different? What are the qualities you most admire in him?

I am talkative and outgoing, whereas he is a man of few words. However, he is immensely caring and solicitous of both my needs as well as those of our daughters.

That's a beautiful quality to have. He's a workaholic, devoted to his work, hugely intelligent to boot. He has a simple philosophy that is very inspiring to all of us a family: he says that he is doing routine things differently that makes all the difference in the long work. Whatever the task on hand, be sure to give it that little bit extra. It is the one thing that will separate you and your work from the rest.

24 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

What have been your core learnings as a services wife?

Oh, quite a few. The naval world is like a family with everyone watching out for the other. The base was very self-sufficient as well, so we lived in our own happy little world. (smiles). We have friends, who have stood by us since the day we got married. Even when the husbands were sailing, they could do so with a light heart, knowing that we ladies would take care of each other. Amidst all this, you also learn to be a good organiser and hostess, capable of putting together a spread on the table for whatever the occasion might be: a casual dinner with just a few course mates and friends in attendance or an all-out formal do. Plus, all fauji wives eventually learn to be good timekeepers as they have to be able to get ready in a jiffy. Whatever the situation, you also learn to be adaptable; it's little wonder that services people can get along with everyone, irrespective of their age or stage in life.

What were the difficulties of the situation?

Cover Story he has always taken care of my health issues. Understand each other's situation, no matter how difficult it is. Don't let little things escalate.

Adjust. For example: when he comes home from a hard day at work and wants the remote to the TV, let him. After all, as a wife, you may have had the whole day to watch TV. Trust is another fundamental. Whether it is the other person's judgment or integrity, trust your spouse. Most important of all is patience. I say this with special emphasis on the younger generation in particular. (smiles.) Patience is not just important for the wife; husbands have to be patient as well. It takes two to make a situation work.

Tell us about your daughters‌

Well, they are both opposite personalities. My elder one Shagun is more like her father: quiet, composed, a person of few words. The younger one Shruti is more like me, fun-loving and expressive. But both are, by God's grace, intelligent and capable. Plus, they both simply adore their daddy.

He shares a close bond with them despite the months he spent sailing.

They admire him for his knowledge, dedication and honesty.

As a services wife, do you regret not having a career?

In those days when the husbands sailed there were no mobile phones or e-mail to help us keep in touch, so you tended to keep the problems to yourself: be it the girls falling sick or your own little issues

In those days when the husbands sailed there were no mobile phones or e-mail to help us keep in touch, so you tended to keep the problems to yourself: be it the girls falling sick or your own little issues. At all times, one had to keep in mind that the husband was sailing, so he had enough tensions to deal with. But overall, there have been very few complaints.

How difficult or easy was it to transit from the naval world to the corporate world of Mazagon Dock?

It was a bit of a shock initially. The naval world is very warm and welcoming; here, however, people took time accepting and welcoming you into the fold. In the early days, I missed the family-like environment and the companionship that the naval world gave us wives. But I had to take it my stride. Over and above, I believe in one thing: give respect, get respect, be it to officer's wife or any other staff. Slowly but surely, I began to like it here.

What, according to you, are the pillars of marriage?

Support and care for each other, no matter what you do. For example,

At times yes, because I am an educated and capable person myself. I am aware that having a career of your own adds a different dimension to your personality and conversational skills. It so happened that

around the time we got married, I also qualified for my MBA entrance as well. But it wasn't practical to work considering his postings as well as the fact that I had my in-laws with me. Plus, when the girls were born, I was largely managing them all alone. But despite all this, I managed to carve out a niche for myself. I am excellent at mathematics; numbers and equations come easily to me. It all started with a neighbour asking me to help out with her kid; one thing led to another and there has been no looking back since.

While I have not worked in a school, I have closely enjoyed the joys of teaching and communicating with kids, as I have taught batches and batches of children. It's really heartening when children choose to travel long distances just to be able to attend your classes. Over the years, they have kept in touch, the warmth and the memories are beautiful, and that's quite amazing.

What's your mantra of life?

I believe in making others around me comfortable, be it in the precincts of Mazagon Dock or within my friend circle. People should be able to communicate with you, reach out to you as a person. I am also a firm advocate for environmental issues as well as children’s rights to inclusion.

The NGO I volunteer for: namely the Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) that seeks to develop children as engineers of civic change, gives me an opportunity to do both. vinitapune@gmail.com, kalyani.sardesai@gmail.com January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 25

Panel discussion

Digital Economy and its The digital age is the age where knowledge is at the press of a button. Gone are the days where people had to go to a place like the Gurukul where you had to spend years and years to gain knowledge. Today, we have come to a stage where you get to know everything about the world on the internet.

So the world has come a long sway.

A panel discussion recently held at Balaji Institute of International Business (BIIB)-National Business Convention, Pune, panellists, Dr. Samta Jain, GM and Group Head-HR & Admin, TeamGlobal Logistics; Shyam Panicker, HR Business Partner, DCB Bank (moderator); Anish Keskar, Associate VP-HR, HDFC AMC; Dr. B. Raghava Satya Murthy, Head – Leadership Hiring, Recruitment CoE & HRIT, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, discussed the new age digital disruption and how it affects different industries. Corporate Citizen brings the excerpts from the session

By Harsh Thind Shyam Panicker: Tell us about your experience when it comes to the digital age, the scenario you saw 10 to 12 years back and what you think it is today. What are some of the things in terms of digital disruption that your company has adopted or is looking at adopting?

Samta Jain: I come from an industry which is

into logistics. There are not many girls in logistics.

Going back to the times I joined this industry, it was in a very raw stage because the people who were running shipping and logistics were basically using the portals which used to be there during the earlier times. The platform, the ecosystem that was provided to HR at that time was not conducive to digitalisation, but after three and a half years I can tell you that every business today is a technology business. Whether you are enhancing your technologies or not, whether you are understanding the impact of technology on your businesses or not or whether you are adapting for your own survival, you are a technology company.

We started initiating digitalisation in the company. Please understand I am saying we started

(L-R) Dr. Samta Jain, Shyam Panicker (moderator), Anish Keskar and Dr. B. Raghava Satya Murthy

initiating digitalisation in the company, not digitisation, there is a difference between the two.

Digitisation is only changing your analogue, your physical means into digital means but when we are talking about digitalisation it is also looking at the softer part of the business. The biggest challenge for us was the mindset of the people. People were not ready for digitalisation. Probably they were apprehensive that their jobs would go away.

And today HR has created in-house apps keeping the competency profiles of young people hired as interns from colleges.

These in-house apps are developed right from learning management systems to the development of engagement practices and we have created something called ‘hecotone’ within the company. We motivated people to come

26 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

with new ideas in digitalisation. That was when we said we are all ready to launch something which is customer-centric. We launched an app known as TY app which was used to give our customers real-time sailing schedules whether it was air shipment or ocean shipment, provided on WhatsApp. We have mobile learning platforms. We have created WhatsApp groups for all learning and training activities of the company. Frankly speaking I have seen digitalisation to the extent that today we are stuck 24/7 to the screens, so yes, it is all-encompassing. It has weathered away the manual part of the business and today the millennium must be geared for digitalisation, you must be geared to take each transformation in the ambit of a complete business scenario.

Impact on Industries

Pics: Yusuf Khan

‘All said and done, you will be a part of technology and with the disruption that it brings to the industry and organisation you must have re-skilling of your skill set and competency. You must analyse: Are you competent enough to weather the technologies that are coming so fast? Like one of the panellists already said, ‘I went for lunch and technology changed’. I would put it is thus: extinction is the only rule, but survival is by chance’- Dr Samta Jain January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 27

Panel discussion ‘We send a link to the people who we are interviewing, and they must finish the test.

After completing the test, instead of coming to the college and doing an interview, we can do the interview with a bot. It's a video interview where an automated bot will ask the questions, and the answers are recorded.

After the interview is done, we get the results of the interview, through an Artificial Intelligence tool which we have developed. If we have interviewed 200 candidates, the bot itself will tell us who the top 20 candidates are depending on how the questions were answered by the candidates. Based on that, through a program, we can shortlist the first five people. So there is no need to come to the campus initially, but come only after we shortlist the first 10 candidates and interview them’ - Dr. B. Raghava Satya Murthy Dr. B. Raghava Satya Murthy – My compa-

ny is a large pharmaceutical company. Typically, our digital journey is dependent on four pillars.

The first pillar is that we want to digitalise our entire operation right from operation to supply and distribution, that is right from product production to distribution. This is one area where we had very good business impact where we were able to improve performance by six times.

The second part is that we have 23,500 employees globally, so we must ensure that when employees work, they should have the best user experience, and that they work with the highest productivity. So we use a lot of digital tools to ensure that employees can work efficiently. The third phase is we work with a lot of partners especially in the supply chain. We work with a lot of vendors. So we have developed a tool, an application to see that our suppliers and vendors are also good enough to be able to deliver the services very well.

I'll give you some examples of the digital journey we had. For every pharma company, the first customer is a doctor. Whenever we develop any new product or new medicine, first, we must share the information of the medicine to the doctor and we must talk about how the product has been developed and in what way will the product be helpful in that area. We have given iPads to all our medical representatives and we share whatever product data we have with the doctors. This employee has to go to the doctors with the iPads which are completely loaded with audio and visual lessons about the product and its advantages. And in turn when these medical

representatives approach the doctors, they give a lot of suggestions, so the entire content is pushed centrally and based on suggestions, we develop products. By this, we can reduce the workforce by almost 25%. It also ensures that knowledge is given directly to the doctors.

Anish Keskar – I will keep my comments brief because we on the investment side do not have much to offer. We are all industry savvy, so I don't need to tell what digitisation is, I only need to tell you what digitisation can do for you. So, as they say in the US I will be preaching to the choir. I believe everyone has a 4G enabled smartphone.

If you want to understand what disruption is in the banking or financial space, go and open an app called credex.com. Discounting of bills is an activity done by large banks when suddenly someone like you with three lakhs is now able to do bill discounting with this app. Another big disruption is your availability of investment options. But the fact is with three lakh rupees capital and an app you can get into the business of bill discounting where you provide vendors liquidity and share the market. Normally you can make 14% from it, and that's a very large revenue stream for banks. Bill discounting is the core of their activities and suddenly someone sitting in any part of the country with a smartphone who subscribes to credex can discount bills from Flipkart or Amazon. So that's the level of disruption we are looking at where your business model changes overnight.

When I was in the US there was a joke that when I went for lunch, the technology changed.

28 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

That's what is happening around in the investment field. As a young person you must have heard of mutual funds-you have 14,000 schemes to choose from and if that's not enough you have insurance and brokerages. Having plenty of choices, the question is how do you make it work for you? If you want to succeed in a digital world you must do two things which I will elaborate later. Essentially, you must work on your basics and if you do not understand probability, becoming a data mining expert is not a very good choice.

And number two, you must work on old-fashioned skills of how to connect to people, how to build and maintain relationships. Networking is not about knowing the people, it is about doing things for them, how you get yourself updated, how you are in touch for opportunities, how you manage your boss-these are the areas where you have to do potential planning because irrespective of how digital the investment part becomes, money moves on trust. It does not move on the click of a mouse.

What is in it for youngsters who are here for opportunities? From a skill set perspective, what do you (Samta) see is required for managing in this age or era and still stay relevant?

Samta Jain- If you see 80% of the CEOs, they

feel that technology is changing, and disruption is underway. But do you know that 40% of the CEOs are saying that technologies are not giving the net profit to the business that they are intended to?

All said and done, you will be a part of technology and with the disruption that it brings to the industry and organisation you must have re-skilling of your skills set and competency. You must analyse: Are you competent enough to weather the technologies that are coming so fast? Like one of the panellists already said, ‘I went for lunch and technology changed’. I would put it is thus: extinction

is the only rule, but survival is by chance. Every time I see one technology becoming obsolete and extinct it means the skill set requirement by this generation and the demands of the skill set requirements are continuously changing. There is a lot of pressure on you, so definitely you must be digital leaders. One good thing about this change in technology is that you must be digital natives, understanding all artificial intelligence, virtual reality, block chains, etc. Today, all of you are sitting on 44 zettabytes of information. The skill sets used yesterday will not be used today so think fast, change fast and fail fast to change again because unless you fail the technology cannot be revised.

Today's generation comes with a lot of creativity, a lot of innovation and a lot of lateral thinking.

That's why you see what the companies brought.

One last thing as an advice is to be comfortable to embrace to be uncomfortable. Technology is going to stay like a Trojan horse with us forever.

There no looking back.

B. Raghava Satya Murthy - It all starts with

recruitment. We go to campuses and we hire people. Recently, we were able to automate this entire process. What we do is we send a link to the people who we are interviewing, and they must finish the test. After completing the test, instead of coming to the college and doing an interview, we can do the interview with a bot. It's a video interview where an automated bot will ask the questions, and the answers are recorded.

After the interview is done, we get the results of the interview, through an Artificial Intelligence tool which we have developed. As it does more interviews, it knows how to ask better questions to the candidates.

If we have interviewed 200 candidates, the bot itself will tell us who the top 20 candidates are depending on how the questions were answered by the candidates. We can compare this. Let us assume there is a question on how you manage conflict. Let us assume 20 candidates have answered in 20 different ways. We can take the responses from all the 20 people and I can compare and decide which is the best answer. Based on that, through a program, we can shortlist

the first five people. So there is no need to come to the campus initially, but come only after we shortlist the first 10 candidates and interview them. This is one application.

With respect to what you do for the people who are already there in the system, we have developed an application where it asks the employees to read some literature and answer some questions. We have developed certain modules where we use a lot of gamification. As the candidate does the activity he will learn, and at the .end of the day he will be able to acquire those skills.

So instead of having actual training and sending them for classes for some modules we use gamification where they can learn in real time.

There is a talk of absolutely automating the recruitment function where earlier you had to interact with the person. What is your perspective? In the banking domain, how do you see specific skillsets playing a crucial role?

Anish Keskar - When the first wave of con-

tent disruption came people said robot advisory would come. You come and answer 85 questions and give an interview and a robot will pick out what industry suits you and instead of charging two per cent of your assets as fees the robot advisory would do it in 20 dollars. The last ten years a lot of money and work has been spent on the robot advisory.

I took the liberty of looking on a website which gives you a forecast of every job, the competence

required for the job and the future demand and salary for the job for the next ten years in the US. The demand for CMP’s shows an increase for the next 15 years and the wages have moved from $76,000 four years back to $91,000.

What happened? The robot advisory was supposed to take these people out of a job. So I asked this question to one person from the USA and his reply was, when you come out of college you have maybe one mutual fund plan and one insurance plan for which you forget to pay the premium. You don't really need anything more than a machine. But as you grow older your life gets more complicated. Maybe you have a change of jobs, maybe you have taken a loan, maybe you have one wife, maybe you have two, maybe you're undergoing a divorce. So when life gets complicated you need a human being to talk to and as life gets more complicated the demand for CMP's is showing 25% increase in what was expected to be a 25% decrease.

What does this tell you? First of all, most jobs are going to be customer oriented because most jobs will get outsourced to lower cost locations.

So the first lesson I would say is, always go for customer-facing, because anything you choose that is not customer facing is probably going to be disrupted. Secondly, when it comes to hiring based on volume, every job has an intrinsic value.

If they are paying you more than the intrinsic value, there is something wrong with the company. If they are paying you more, they are making a loss. Take jobs which will be people oriented.

For example banking and investment-they are only built on trust. As a policy, there will no robot advisory for more than one area or even robotic interviews. For example, even in my own organisation, we do a video conference, but don’t give the offer letter before meeting the person. So look for these jobs. These jobs may not pay you much at the start of your career, but as you progress in your 30-year career they will pay you more. harshthind10@gmail.com

CC

tadka

‘Networking is not about knowing the people, it is about doing things for them, how you get yourself updated, how you are in touch for opportunities, how you manage your boss—these are the areas where you have to do potential planning because irrespective of how digital the investment part becomes, money moves on trust. It does not move on the click of a mouse’ - Anish Keskar

HDFC mf becomes largest AMC in India HDFC MF has surpassed ICICI Prudential MF to become largest AMC in India. HDFC Mutual Fund has piped ICICI Prudential MF to become the the country's largest asset management company after a gap of over two years. As of December-end, HDFC MF manages assets to the tune of `3.35 lakh crore, while those of ICICI Prudential MF stood at `3.08 lakh crore, as per the latest data available with Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 29

tête-à-tête

“C

SR is not just social work, it goes beyond. Corporates are involved (in CSR) because they have to transfer their managerial skills, their technology, their speed and project management skills to the social processes. It is not just funding the project or just doling out money but they are supposed to get involved in the whole process; perhaps inclusive growth is the base of everything,” states Leena Deshpande, AVP, HR & Head CSR at Bharat Forge Ltd. An alumnus of Fergusson College, Karve Institute of Social Service (University of Pune), Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD), New Delhi and University of Warwick, U.K., she shares her ‘ropes’ to success, the need for work-life balance and women-friendly work environment within the engineering and manufacturing sectors. An excerpt.

Corporate Citizen: How did you kickstart your corporate journey?

My career actually started with an NGO and I worked with them for seven and a half years prior to joining Bharat Forge. My corporate journey began in 1991. At that time, I had completed my

post-graduation in MSW (Master of Social Work) and was recruited as a consultant for community development at Bharat Forge. We gradually realised that for HR, empathy is a pre-requisite which forms the base for everything. I was encouraged to take up HR and thus transitioned into this field in 1995. I then completed my post-graduation in HR and underwent a course on Training & Development in 2012. I finally completed my MS in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick, UK. So, my HR journey rightfully kick-started in 1995 as a trainer and then on I enabled employee lifecycle and employee engagement-led focused profile.

Could you share your experience, working for the NGO? I was engaged as a coordinator with the Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK) in their Educational Sponsorship Programme. It was an NGO working in the field of adoption, rehabilitation of unwed mothers and educational sponsorship for school children. It was a highly professional NGO and aided by Holt International (Bertha ‘Grandma’ Holt – Foundation) and was also referred to as ‘Children of the world, Norway’, at that time. A Professional agency in the sense

Building and nurturing roots in HR and CSR A remarkable career spanning 31 years in HRM (Human Resource Management), Skills Development & CSR, Leena Deshpande, Associate Vice President (AVP) HR & Head CSR at Bharat Forge Ltd, heralds the company’s CSR programmes. A recipient of the ‘50 most Talented CSR Leaders’ award from World CSR Congress in 2015, she also won the 2016 ‘CSR Professional of the year’, an award from India CSR. She speaks to Corporate Citizen on her transformation and journey that tracks her beginnings working with an NGO to her current eminent designation.

Her propensity to tide over difficulties reflects her managerial skills in handling a 6000 strong workforce in the so-called ‘male-dominated’ manufacturing sector -a tight walk indeed, which she has successfully reigned in through her key mantras of determination, consistency and sincerity By Vinita Deshmukh 30 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

The major change that I have seen is that employee profile is changing since technology is changing and employees are very ambitious these days. They have to be very much worried about their vertical growth... that right from reporting and taking care of everything, it was absolutely well managed and highly systematic. I probably learnt a lot from that NGO. What are your observations seen in your HR journey over the last two decades -on employees in their personality, attitude or approach?

Initially, employees, especially workers were kind of union driven. If you take the example of Bharat Forge, employees belonged to the nearby communities and were from very humble backgrounds. As such they had limited aspirations because they considered the company’s growth was sort of their growth too. The major change that I have seen is that employee profile is changing since technology is changing and employees are very ambitious these days. They have to be very much worried about their vertical growth. Today, they are knowledgeable employees, because everything is kind of knowledge driven. They have enough information and they have their own aspirations. So, coping up with their aspirations and aligning an individual’s hopes with that of the organisation’s goal perhaps was the biggest challenge for HR. Being in the manufacturing sector, what is the men to women ratio in Bharat Forge?

In Bharat Forge, we are just 60 women working amongst a total strength of 6000 employees.

Ours is a major accidental hazard kind of industry under the Factory’s Act (Maharashtra).

It falls under heavy industry and even though we wish to take women engineers, it is slightly difficult considering the work environment and working in shifts. But, yes, now there are changes. There are women engineers in the quality and machinery sections. So, things are changing definitely but it will take some time for the heavy industrial sectors.

Pics: Yusuf Khan

How do you see this entire transformation of the HR department and how has it helped the management and the employees?

Human Resource is for the development of the employees and the ‘Personnel’ department as January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 31

tête-à-tête we call it is an admin function and these have to be two separate functions. Development includes vertical mobility of the employees by educating them, which involves learning and training processes like educating and training your employees. So, HR has to concentrate on these three aspects for their employees-they have to aspire, provide the right kind of vertical mobility and get an appropriate roadmap.

How do you manage 6000 employees?

What are the CSR activities being carried out by Bharat Forge?

The highlight of our CSR is that our employees are involved in our CSR programmes. They have their own projects and every department too has their own projects to pursue. Currently, we are developing 100 villages on price specific indicators – based on water, health and education, internal roads and family income. The results are very encouraging and the speed of these activities is for all to see. In the whole pro-

Determination and your will power are very important. People start helping you when they realise that you are really aspirational.

Consistency, sincerity at your workplace and naturally, the support from your family is very essential to your growth. While it is really difficult and rather tough, it is also well worth it!

Maharashtra) which is also absolutely dry area; Ambegaon which includes the Marina village; which we have yet to tackle. However, all the other remote villages in Ambegaon, include a lot of ‘Thakar Bastis’ (where migrants stay in such communities in villages). The others include Satara’s Puregaon, and in villages in and around Kolhapur district’s Panhala, which is again a dry area.

Can you share a success story on any of your CSR activities?

In Purandhar, we have started developing a village - Kalewadi. The village has a history of very scanty rainfall /or no rainfall, which means only one crop can be cultivated in a year. It is difficult

We have a team of HR facilitators and they are from the shop floor itself! We train them, conduct regular meetings and upgrade them. Our right-hand facilitators work on the shop floor itself. They take up the day-to-day difficulties and can be approached by the department on the day to day issues which can be resolved at the shop floor level. We have communication channels open to all and there exists a proper communication system too.

Beyond CSR… What is your involvement in CSR activities?

CSR is a very recent phenomenon in the Indian industry because the law was enacted in the second part of 2013’s Companies Act and in 2014, we started implementing it. Two percent of the net profit of few profit-making industries had to be spent on CSR. As far as my industry is concerned, many of the industry bigwigs like the Tatas, the Birlas and other groups were already into philanthropy for a long time. These were voluntary activities and there was no compulsion as such and probably the professional approach was low. It is not just funding a particular project but inclusive growth is the base of everything. India is growing but this GDP growth has to be seen by the masses who are staying in villages (almost 80%) of our population. Inclusive growth perhaps is the base of this particular CSR law and India is the first country to have had such a law enacted and is a very positive development for CSR.

cess, the lives of the people have changed and we have specific examples to prove that. We are also into skill development and we have set up an industrial training institute where all village children (up to 10 years) can benefit. Our placement is 100% every year. In fact, we are developing two more Govt. ITI’s where we are the industry partners. The idea is to enrol 20, 000 children from slum areas and bring them under ‘Pratham’-the primary education programme, as part of our CSR programme.

Where are all these villages located?

These are located across four districts of Pune and Ahmednagar. These are absolutely droughthit areas. We have Purandhar (in Pune district of

32 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

to find brides for boys in these villages because they are dry villages. But, we have channelled and brought in water to Kalewadi. There is a talav or a big percolation tank that is known as Malhar and with this, after probably 70 years, it was for the first time that water came into the village and today there is water throughout the year. Villagers have got their daily supply of water and now, instead of one crop, they are growing three crops annually. Consequently, their income levels are high and all the young people in the village have come together, forgetting their own differences and they are converting that village into a model village! Smart Kalewadi, they call it! Now, boys in the village have started getting girls for marriage alliances and thus social aspects are changing too!

So, how does your group of employees look after these villages, do share the working model of the CSR activities?

I have my team for the CSR projects and sometimes we take help of NGOs too. In Kalewadi, villagers are so motivated that we don’t require any NGO. My team and I take care of Kalewadi.

In talukas like Ambegaon we have NGOs and work with their help.

Winning the Women force…

Your women workforce is a 60/6000 employees, how do you see yourself and your entire fraternity of another 59 women in Bharat Forge?

To tell you the truth, in the manufacturing sector, it is really difficult for women especially in the initial stages as they are trying to settle down. No doubt, it is a male-dominated industry and a heavy industrial segment workwise. Naturally, the operations on the shop floor are tough. Likewise, the total environment on the shop floor is not very conducive for women as they have to stand for say, eight hours (shift) but, definitely people do cooperate.

Somehow, it is fun working in the manufacturing industry because every day is different.

What about Vishakha guidelines and sexual harassment enactments at work and how do you take care of these?

Under POSH Act [Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013], we carry out monthly routines. In fact, meetings are conducted, and women employees are invited. We also gather slightly senior employees as per their age and work experiences and if there are certain issues, counselling is provided immediately as there is zero tolerance in Bharat Forge as far as these matters are concerned. A committee exists to write the report but if anyone is found guilty then they are taken off the rolls with immediate effect .

What are your views on the mere 25% of Indian women who form a part of the working force? What should be done to include more women in the workforce?

Actually, the expectations from women from our marital system in society is how we perceive her career. Also, there is a need to frame

women centred policy as regards the extension of paid maternity leave which has been extended to six months. However, there is no scope on working from home in the manufacturing sector which sees some prevalence in the IT sector. The most important thing is there are hardly any well-equipped crèches within the country for appropriate childcare and many other difficulties in the social system. So, even though a woman desires to continue working, she needs a support system probably and so there’s a need for a change in perception and to offer an overall change. In my case, my husband had taken my career quite seriously. But, everywhere such kind of support is not existent-so perception has to change; somehow it is not there.

Urban: Rural Divide What is your view on the urban ignorance or indifference to rural life? How true is their thinking on the existence of these two different worlds?

As they rightly say, there are two worlds! We stay in India, while they stay in Bharat! We somehow cannot imagine the way villagers go through their hard lives. I was telling them about cleanliness and hygiene and they pointed out that they don’t even get water in their villages. I see that there is sometimes no point in such talks when we cannot provide them with basic amenities.

We just don’t realise their difficulties and there is definitely a lot of rural to urban gaps.

But, do you think urbanites should be sensitive to such rural issues and how would that make India better?

Of course, because inclusive growth is the solution and we have to understand these and other difficulties and how we can help and participate in the change. Somehow, one class is so ambitious that they want to get everything from this life probably and so, I think, there is a need for little empathy and realisation for the other fellow human being.

What are your views on success stories coming in from smaller towns and villages?

We are seeing success stories coming in from small towns and villages. While in urban zones everyone is happy with the comforts provided by their parents perhaps; it is true that a little pinch for everyone is definitely required in urban zones. If you get everything comfortably on a platter then probably the value of what you get is definitely lost. There is a struggle for everyday issues in rural sectors like getting food, water and so on. So, whatever they get, they really are happy with that and, they know the value too.

Personal Touch…

How was your childhood?

I was born and brought up in Pune, completed my graduation from Fergusson College and MSW from Karve Institute of Social Sciences and it is this background that really helped me in HR. I have a son working in the US and a daughter who is a Pune-based engineer and a working woman too. My husband was Plant Head and is currently retired.

How did you manage your work-life balance?

It was like walking on a tightrope and was very difficult in terms of managing children, even in terms of transport and commuting in those days. Reaching office on time was difficult too due to the transportation system prevailing in those days. I needed a lot of support system at that time.

What tips can you offer from your experience?

Determination and your willpower are very important. People start helping you when they realise that you are really aspirational. Consistency, sincerity at your workplace and naturally, the support from your family is very essential to your growth. While it is really difficult and rather tough, it is also well worth it! I even advise my daughter that there has to be a consistency-because women have to play multiple roles. Determination is a must as I think, it is a tough time for any lady to juggle and manage a home, career and children. I also studied after my marriage as I got married early at 19 years. I am currently pursuing my PhD. What is your philosophy of life?

I feel that you need to enjoy everything, right from your job to whatever else you do. Happiness is not a destination but, a process. It’s a journey and you need to enjoy each and every little things of life. Say, if villages get water, I feel happy. If our employee’s problems get solved, I feel happy.

And, I view each day as a new fresh day and do not feel monotonous! vinitapune@gmail.com

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tadka

India becomes FDI magnet

India is among the most favoured FDI destinations and the annual FDI inflows to the country is expected to rise to around USD 75 billion over the next five years, says a UBS report.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 33

CII case study-2 Case Study: Rawan Cement Works (an UltraTech Cement unit, Aditya Birla Group)

How a Mentor-Mentee initiative promoted Worker Engagement The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the premier industry-led, industry-managed organisation, as part of its Good People Management Practices effort has brought out a Report comprising Case Studies from the industry.

The report captures real-life cases, incorporating instances of organisations inculcating best practices which have led to good employee relations, sustainable good practices and growth. Published here is the second in the series of Case Studies, this one from Rawan Cement Works (an UltraTech Cement unit, Aditya Birla group company), where the company used a unique Mentor-Mentee concept to create people engagement, raise consciousness on safety practices and create a strong and caring safety culture

34 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

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Rawan Cement Works (RWCW), a unit of UltraTech Cement Limited, is a cement manufacturing unit located in village Rawan, Bhatapara-Baloda Bazar district, Chhattisgarh state. It has two lines with total capacity of 5.17 MTPA. Line-1 was commissioned in March 1995 whose present clinkerization capacity is 1.87 MTPA & Line-2 was commissioned in March 2013 whose clinkerization capacity is 3.3 MTPA. It has two captive thermal power plants, Line-1 of 25 MW and Line-2 of 30 MW power generation capacity with a waste heat recovery system of 16 MW. It produces a varied range of cement which includes Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Portland Slag Cement (PSC) and Portland Composite Cement (PCC). These are produced by mixing ground clinker, ground slag, gypsum and fly ash in various proportions, depending on the type of cement.

TRIAL REL

Brief background

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ow a unique process of Mentor-Mentee relationship helped to bring a feeling of belongingness among contract workmen at Rawan Cement Works unit of UltraTech Cement Ltd, which led to increased understanding and adoption of safety practices, ensured a record incidence-free run at the unit, and serves as a role model to other sister units.

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The main purpose of this mentor mentee concept was to have effective people engagement to build a strong safety culture with a care factor. In 90% of the cases it is contract workmen who are mostly involved in the accidents.

Though we had well established safety systems and processes, it seemed that the safety message was not understood well, especially by contract workmen. The management’s intention on safety was not reaching the grassroot level with full feel and seriousness.

That was the reason there was a gap in understanding The total manpower employed on an average is around 1800, including contract workmen in the plant, on a daily basis. Of these 1200 contract employees come from nearby villages. The safety performance of UTCL Rawan was quite good until 2014, but 2015 onwards there were a series of accidents in the unit. In spite of having strong safety systems and processes under the guidance of world renowned safety consultant M/s DuPont, the frequency of accidents was not reducing. Every time one or the other contract worker was getting injured. The morale of the employees had gone down drastically due to the frequent accidents. People started fearing work. After several brainstorming and hand holding sessions under the chairmanship of COO & EP Kiran Patil, a Mentor-Mentee concept was conceptualised for effective people engagement, especially with contract manpower. In 90% of the cases contract workmen are at the forefront, and are the persons who get involved in the accident, based on past data from different industries.

Purpose

The main purpose of this mentor mentee concept was to have effective people engagement to build a strong safety culture with a care factor.

As mentioned, in 90% of the cases it is contract workmen who are mostly involved in the accidents. They are the people who work in the forefront and are exposed to risk most of the time. Though we had well established safety systems and processes, it seemed that the safety message was not understood well, especially by contract workmen. The management’s intention on safety was not reaching the grassroot level with full feel and seriousness. That was the reason there was a gap in understanding. It was felt that the management leadership team did not spend adequate quality time with contract workmen. Permanent employees get the chance at different forums to express their concerns and January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 35

CII case study-2

Mentors treated their mentees like extended family members.

Slowly, as interactions went on, there was good personal bonding between them. They started trusting each other. The ‘care factor’ was brightly visible in their totally informal interactions.

Mentors were not displaying any kind of power or authority. They were keeping the mentees at ease and talking with them with a clear intention to help them understand safety. Mentors were influencing them, guiding them, helping them to choose safe behavior. People listen, understand things well when there is a good communication give feedback, but that did not happen in the case of contract workers.

The contract workmen’s voice is left unheard or inadequately heard in such conditions. The management felt that this was the bottleneck in the system.

To bridge this gap, the mentor mentee concept was launched in Aug’15

by COO & EP Kiran Patil at Rawan Cement works.

Process/Methodology

• Approximately 1200 contract workmen were covered under this process by 77 Mentors who were at SH and above level. The numbers were so divided that a mentor would have 12-15 mentees, cross functionally. Mentors were Functional Heads (FH), Department Heads (DH) and Sectional Heads (SH).

36 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

• Mentees came from 21 different contractors, from Supply and BSR nature of jobs.

• Mentors scheduled their interactions, onsite or offsite, every week. They met them, interacted with them and communicated safety messages by different ways and means.

• Mentors treated their mentees like extended family members. Slowly, as interactions went on, there was good personal bonding between the mentors and the mentees. They started trusting each other. The ‘care factor’ was brightly visible in their totally informal interactions. Mentors were not displaying any kind of power or authority. They were keeping the mentees at ease and talking with them with a clear intention to help them understand safety. Mentors were influencing them, guiding them, helping them to choose safe behaviour. People listen, understand things well when there is a good communication.

• MIS data on their weekly interaction was compiled by the Safety department and reviewed by COO & EP Kiran Patil.

• Mentors interacted with mentees at informal places. They met at the workplace, cafeteria, office, tea booths, at their villages, etc.

• Review meetings with mentors were held every six months, to see how the process was going on, what visible changes were made by the mentors with their special efforts. COO & EP Kiran Patil chaired these sessions.

Each mentor had to present his KPIs/achievements/concerns.

• A Mentor-Mentee Sammelan is organised every year. COO & EP Kiran Patil chairs the sessions and all mentees are called for half day long programmes. COO & EP listens to the feedback from the mentees and reviews the action plan in an open forum.

• Mentees found good in Safety were awarded at the Gate meetings.

• Some of the mentees with good communication and leadership skills are picked up to become trainers for their fellow workmen’s training. Those selected are specially groomed by external faculty (CBWE- Chhattisgarh) on soft skills. Now they are conducting classes themselves, effectively.

• Some of the good mentees with specials skills in safety are picked up to become safety stewards in the plant.

• For prompt communication, mentors set up WhatsApp groups with their mentees. They started wishing each other and celebrating success stories.

• Mentors gave their contact numbers to their mentees to call them up on any issue and be there to help.

• Mentors named their mentee teams to build team spirit.

• Mentors personally intervened on issues raised by their mentees. They genuinely supported them to sort out problems.

• Approximately 2000 interactions take place per month between mentors and mentees.

• No requirement is made to maintain a record or creating a file. The only requirement is to make effective engagement with mentees, give quality time to understand their problems on safety or any other personal grievance.

Key activities/initiatives taken during the mentor-mentee process

• Initially, mentees were coming up with a lot of personal grievances regarding salary, wages, leave, medical issues, not getting overtime, not getting salary slip, ESI coverage, etc. COO & EP Kiran Patil asked to launch a campaign called ER Aapke Dwar (ER dept at your doorstep). It helped to resolve all such issues. COO & EP personally kept track and got those issue resolved, so as to build up faith in the system.

• Each mentor treats the mentees like family members and makes interactions/ engagements on the site as well as off the site to communicate on safety. They help them to understand the importance of safety at the plant and the society at large.

• To generate better Mentor-Mentee personal bonding, Kabaddi, KhoKho, Cricket, Football, Volleyball games are organised. Mentors have offsite meetings on occasions of festivals, social functions, etc. This kind of activity leads to good personal bonding. Mentees feel that there is someone who cares for them and their family. Personal bonding is the key in the process.

• After achieving good bonding, mentors started driving safety initiatives among all contract workmen. They happily accepted and adopted good safety practices. Many of them quit tobacco and alcohol. They started wearing crash helmets while riding bikes off-site. They started talking safety with their family members. Mentees started bringing up safety issues faced at the shop floor level. Discussions and solutions were worked out together and they improved their understanding on Nearmiss, FirstAid, SWP, SOP, HIRA, and Workplace safety practices. A very conducive atmosphere has developed after the introduction of the Mentor-Mentee concept. Mentees become proactive with regard to safety.

• In line with PM’s initiatives on Swachh Bharat Rawan Cement Works

also launched a campaign on Swachh Rawan Abhiyan. Many mentees were made ambassadors on the Swachh Rawan campaign. Mentees are leading the way in many ways now.

• Mentors highlight the hidden hazards explained by their mentees at the Apex level. Hidden risks are addressed effectively then and there due to such fast communication between mentees and mentors.

• COO & EP Kiran Patil has given direct access to mentees, saying that if something on safety is not addressed, to stop the work and go to him. This was like giving a trump card to them.

• COO & EP has given empowerment to all mentees to stop any unsafe work and win cash awards of `200/-. This has yielded good results.

• Safety decisions taken at the Apex level are quickly communicated to the mentees personally by the mentors keeping in view the ‘feel and care’ factor.

• There is no room now for contractors to play around with the mentees, as there is a mentor for them who they know will intervene if there is something wrong or irrational.

Benefits

• Incidence trend has drastically decreased.

• Unsafe acts are going down, improving the safety culture.

• Through the two-way interactions, Mentees’ care factor satisfaction has improved, resulting in improvement in safety standards adherence.

• Reduction in work stress and counselling has led to some mentees giving up bad habits of consuming alcohol/tobacco, etc. Now there is better involvement in the plant processes.

• Pro-active reporting of UA/UC near-miss incidents by mentees, and self-initiated corrective measures are being undertaken at the site.

• Safety related issues/grievances by contractors are reducing.

• Mentees have started talking about safety with their family members.

• Mentees have started bringing up safety issues being faced at the shop floor level. Discussions and solutions are worked out together.

• There is improved understanding on Nearmiss, First-Aid, SWP, SOP, HIRA, and Workplace safety practices.

• There is prompt sharing of RCN/BCN shared by groups on any incident in other plants.

• Mentees are taking safety concepts to their home and family members.

• There is a very conducive atmosphere after the introduction of the mentor-mentee concept. Mentees become proactive in safety.

• The Mentor-Mentee concept really took us to the next level of safety compliance. It has become a benchmark in the region. People are talking about the safety culture and care shown by UltraTech in the society they live in.

Achievements

• Looking at the success, the MentorMentee concept was extended to other cluster units.

• Other group units like Hindalco, pulp and fibre business have also shown interest in replicating the process in their plants.

• The Mentor-Mentee concept was published in the Ivy Business Management School, Harvard Business Management School.

• The unit achieved the highest ever record of 801 accident free days so far and is still counting.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 37

Interview

From the

Farm to the Boardroom India is by its very nature an agrarian country. Agriculture may be one of most important professions in India, but it is far removed from the glitzy, aspirational world of Corporate India. It is therefore refreshing to meet a successful corporate leader who is very much in touch with his farming roots. Abhimanyu Singh is not just the VP-HR of Olam, one of the leading agribusiness companies in the world, he also comes from a farming family. Corporate Citizen chats with Abhimanyu on his career, agriculture in India and the challenges facing millennials

By Neeraj Varty

38 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

W

Take us through your career.

When I was graduating, it was a confusing time for me just like it was for other Indian students at that time. It was the year 1993, soon after liberalisation, and there was a general lack of clarity about which way students needed to shape their career. I am a science graduate, and popular options for students at that time were banking, UPSE and similar options. Management in India was just taking hold, and there were a few premiere institutes, but the second rung of management institutes was not that flourishing. I got into Delhi University after a one year post-graduation in Chemistry. Around that time, I heard about Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi. The institute is only dedicated to HR management.

What I liked about the institute was their purpose, the way they groomed students and their efforts to connect students with society in order to serve it. That excited me, and I immediately enrolled for post-graduation there.

How was your first job experience?

Upon completion of the course, I got a job at Tata Steel. This too was a pro-society and altruistic company. I learnt a lot during those years.

Not just about being professional but about how you need to conduct yourself as a grown up in society. Tata Steel is like society in itself. It is a multi-generational workplace where every generation brings something to the table. I worked there for three and a half years and those were very exciting years for me. I then moved to Crompton Greaves. I had the opportunity to move to Mumbai, but I chose Nashik. I chose to go to Nashik and be a part of the ground realities, rather than work in the corporate office in Mumbai. I thought that I would be able to learn more there, and there was also the financial aspect. Nashik is a small city and it was easier to manage with the salary I earned at that time than it would have been in Mumbai.

So how was your stint at Nashik?

There were a lot of problems then. There were multiple union issues and a lot of challenges because it was 2003 and Crompton had posted losses that year. We turned around that plant all by ourselves. It was the first plant that we turned profitable for Crompton, and I am very proud of that. Once that was done, I felt I had learnt

enough, and I moved to Mumbai. I moved from sector to sector in various roles. From there, I moved to a business which is the backbone of my career-agriculture. I come from a farming background, and the moment I took on that role, I felt immediately at home. That is how I started off at Olam.

Despite India being an agrarian country, why are farmers in so much distress?

Farmers are in crisis because of the structure of agri-farming we have in India. At every stage, the farmer has to go through a struggle. From the time he sows the seeds to the time he sells the proceeds, he has to manage the risk himself. As a farmer myself (I own farming land) farmers are not good at managing risk. The second reason why farmers are in red is because of the infrastructure. Farmers are able to produce crops, but they can’t create the whole infrastructure required to take the crops to the consumer. Farmers are creating value, but are unable to capture it. Middlemen eat away some of the value. That’s where Olam comes in. Our whole business model is to dis-intermediate this value chain. We directly go to the farmers and procure goods. Then we take the produce to places where it is viable to sell it.

You mentioned that you owned farm land. What do you farm?

We farm in all four seasons. My father takes an active interest in the process.

Do you think the next generation students graduating won’t have access to the kind of on-ground experience your generation has had?

Yes there is a perceived gap, because the pace at which experiences are being provided by institutions and the pace at which the industry is changing is entirely different. Unfortunately, our educational sector is producing very riskaverse graduates. Students today want a safe education which can help them land a safe job.

Students need to see the ground realities in organisations to see how work is done, and organisations should also actively assist the education sector in achieving this. We need to disrupt the model of project dissertation by having more industry visits and internships every year. These

Pics: Yusuf Khan

Students today want a safe education which can help them land a safe job. Students need to see the ground realities in organisations to see how work is done, and organisations should also actively assist the education sector in achieving this January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 39

Interview

Role of Agriculture Agriculture is the most important sector of Indian Economy. Indian agriculture sector accounts for 14 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and provides employment to 50% of the country’s workforce. India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, rice, wheat, spices and spice products.

is riddled with bottlenecks at every step. The supply channel is inefficient because of the greedy middlemen involved in the marketing process. It compels the farmers to make distress sale.

They have to sell their produce at whatever prices they are offered, which ultimately diminishes their income.

Challenges

Lack of Storage Facilities

Fragmented Land Holdings

The net area under cultivation is close to 141 million hectares. However, its immensity diminishes with the fact that a vast number of land holdings are fragmented to an extent of being rendered economically unviable. This is a prime reason that agriculture instruments in India cannot be used effectively. Division of land by the virtue of inheritance has given rise to the problem.

Irrigation and mechanised farming is next to impossible on such fragmented farm.

Supply Channel Bottlenecks

Indian agricultural industry

The lack of proper storage facilities results in degradation of the quality of the produce.

This, in turn, affects the volume of exports causing loss of potential income. Not to mention wastage of the produce. Estimates say that 9.3% of the produce gets wasted because of improper storage and maintenance.

Lack of Sufficient Irrigation Facility

After China, India has the largest cultivated area that has irrigation facility.

However, it covers only onethird of the total cultivated area. A major proportion of farming activities still depends on the monsoon. The irregularities of the monsoon

40 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

can destroy the crops and cause hefty losses to the farmers.

Olam

Olam India has grown to become one of the largest and most diversified agricommodity companies in the country. Its business includes the processing of nuts – primarily cashews, almonds and peanuts; and spices – including turmeric, chilli, coriander, cumin, black pepper, and ginger. It are also a leader in cotton, coffee, rice, cocoa products, sugar, oil and oil seeds.

Olam’s teams work directly with thousands of farmers across India. It also employs seasonal workers across India.

Olam also promotes Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in sugarcane and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in chilli, turmeric and cumin. Our coffee has achieved UTZ/Rainforest Alliance (RFA) certification.

It aims to be the supplier of choice, from sourcing and processing to logistics and marketing.

programmes should be undertaken every quarter or preferably every couple of months.

You graduated in the 90s. In the 70s, 80s and even 90s, if you acquired a skill, it was reasonably certain that the skill would remain relevant and have a shelf life of around 20-25 years. Today, with Artificial Intelligence and Automation, skills are getting obsolete in five years.

How does the current generation mitigate these changes?

There are many problems, but there are not many answers. Like I said, students must visit companies frequently. This creates agility. They need to demonstrate agility. That can solve the problem because when a new skill comes in, students can upskill themselves. If you have an attitude that the skill I learnt in college is permanent and I won’t bother learning new things, you will be left behind. You must be able to not just learn, but learn fast and learn constantly.

These are the challenges AI, robotics and Data Analytics are throwing at the young workforce.

Job hopping has become very common in millennials. Do you think this is a new reality or a phase that will go away?

I think job hopping is a reality since the days of liberalisation. When I was graduating, someone asked

Agri-industry has a myth surrounding it. People think that women are not involved in agriculture. If you look at Olam, almost 50% are women.

But we don’t want that number to be crystallised at 50% me how many years I planned to stick with a job.

I said then that I would like to stay with an organisation for long, and he said that you must change jobs every three years. So this train of thought was always present. I think it differs from individual to individual. I personally feel there is no formula as such. Although I wouldn’t advocate changing jobs every three years, one must try and understand the motivation of Millennials. People change jobs because they want to grow fast. However, you can’t grow fast without acquiring the depth of skill required for that growth. Instead of changing jobs every few years, youngsters should ask themselves, “Am I acquiring a new learning every year?”

On the other hand, if the organisation you are in isn’t providing you opportunities to learn, then I feel sticking there even for three years is a waste. Organisations prefer specialists to generalists, and speciality comes from experience and depth of learning.

Do you feel women are adequately represented in the agri-industry?

Agri-industry has a myth surrounding it. People

think that women are not involved in agriculture.

If you look at my company Olam, almost 50% are women. But we don’t want that number to be crystallised at 50%. Because of the nature of the work, we need more women. But we want them to be at the managerial level, we want them to be at board level, to work on organisational problems. However, right now they are concentrated at manual work or more as an individual contributor. We are confident that womens’ roles will only get more enhanced going forward.

What is your idea of relaxation?

I love reading. I’m an avid reader of management psychology, organisational behaviour.

I read a lot of journals to which I subscribe. I keep myself submerged in it.

What is your take on flexible timings?

I don’t believe in carrying work home. I feel that we should try and manage the work in our offices. There are occasions when you have to carry work home, but when this becomes second nature, you get burned out. What a person needs

the most to be productive is to be creative. If you are burned out, your creativity takes a hit.

Open yourself to all experiences, and get as much practical experience as possible. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

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tadka Indian mobile phone users 2nd-most spammed in world Indian mobile phone users received the second highest number of spam calls worldwide in 2018, according to Truecaller’s Insight Special report for 2018.

Over 6% of the overall calls received by Indian users in 2018 were spam calls, the report said. An average Indian mobile phone user received 22.3 spam calls a month in 2018, the second-highest in the world. Brazil topped the list, with its users receiving an average 37.5 unsolicited calls a month.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 41

Interview

Forging Ahead While working in London for Swiss multinational investment bank and financial services UBS, Vineet Ganesh survived the 2008 global financial crisis triggered off by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. He was one among eight survivors in his team of 45. Living through the boom and the crash made him reconsider his career. But the entrepreneurial culture of long hours and competitiveness had prepared him to strike out on his own. The result is the dawn of Mumbai-based Imperial India Investment Company By Orchie Bandyopadhyay Take us through your journey as a trusted, expert investment partner.

I had started my career as a management trainee at Murugappa Group (Cholamandalam) in Mumbai and was part of the institutional sales team. It is an extremely challenging role for a fresher to present market views and ideas to treasury managers and CFOs who are far more knowledgeable than the average investor. I could cope with the requirements of the role through a lot of reading, self-work, interaction with fund managers and guidance from my seniors.

I undertook a host of new business development and product initiatives which resulted in not only several large new institutional clients but also a more profitable product basket leading to higher return on assets. However, the institutional space was extremely competitive and margins were squeezed which paved the way for my next move towards high net individuals focused wealth management with Standard Chartered. I was managing investment portfolios for four branches in South Mumbai.

During this period, my book grew over seven times as a result of hard work putting in over 70 hours a week, great teamwork and favourable equity markets. At this point, while I was pleased with the growth and value we had added to clients and our organisation, I realised that the wealth management industry in India was in a nascent stage with limited products. I had little knowledge of the global wealth management industry which was vast with products and processes developed with decades of knowledge and experience.

After spending four years in India, I got an opportunity to move to Citibank in London which opened my eyes and gave me exposure to products and processes I had never been exposed to before. In 2007, I moved to UBS which was one of the largest wealth managers in the world with over a century of experience in managing high net worth clients and a highly advanced product platform/wealth planning expertise. The approach to wealth management was also very different as compared to other banks wherein they focused on clients’ needs and goals over everything else.

Once the financial crisis hit, the world had changed for good with heavy regulation, volatile markets, growth challenges in Europe and I was one of the eight survivors in my team of 45. At this point, I decided to move back to India and start my own firm in 2013. I have been fortunate with the market and economic revival over the last few years.

What are your aspirations?

We wish to create a reputable wealth management firm which is client focused, knowledge-driven and with strong 42 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

ethics. We have a fantastic product platform which can meet the needs and goals of our high net individual client base.

What drew you to wealth management? Do you have specific educational degrees?

I completed my B.Com from Symbiosis in 1999 and schooling predominantly from Delhi. Later, I pursued PGDM from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies in 2001. It has been over 17 years in Wealth Management for me and this field offers continuous learning and knowledge and one has to learn to connect the dots all the time. This field requires a PGDM/MBA in Finance/Marketing as it requires a lot of economic and financial markets knowledge. We also need to continuously innovate in processes, products, solutions and technology. Future leaders should have a sense of planning and strategy and work under good mentors who can develop them into professionals.

Why did you decided to start a new adventure with Imperial India Investment Company? What is your client base like?

I got the entreprenerial bug after the financial crisis where I realised that even if you are an excellent performer, you can face extreme uncertainty in your job due to external circumstances which are out of your control. Also, in your own firm you can focus more on clients without pressures on the bottom line and snap bureaucracy that exists in a big firm.

Our client base is high networth clients in India and NRIs in Europe and Asia.

You have worked for big entities like the Citibank, UBS and OCBC in London. Do you think playing smaller and more focused is easier or difficult than being a big, global player?

Both have their advantages and challenges. A large firm with a brand can acquire clients with relative ease, attract talent too. They are challenged in terms of costs, revenue focus which can lead to a conflict of interest and bureaucracy which can lead to poor client experience. Smaller players can create a more personalised experience for clients, better products which escape the larger players, offer high growth careers to employees and provide better client service.

In the area of sustainable investments, what do you offer that is different from what others are offering?

We have certain products that invest in socially and environmentally responsible businesses. We also work with startups which have a high social impact.

Tell us about your products that invest in socially responsible businesses and your work with startups with high social impact?

We have raised equity and provided mentoring to certain startups like Origa Leasing. They have provided innovative lending solutions to the healthcare (working towards the provision of quality healthcare services across the country) and manufacturing sectors. They have also funded the making of toilets under Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan which has had a high social impact. We are in the process of raising funds for a couple of startups in the healthcare space which will greatly enhance the effectiveness of treatment. There are also some products like Ethical funds which we offer.

In your opinion, what’s the most risk-free investment for individuals right now?

Risk-averse investors can consider either liquid/ultra short term mutual funds or bank FDs. However, they are unlikely to build wealth over the long-term with low-risk investments.

The wealth management industry is undergoing a digital transformation. How is it influencing your business and how do you see things evolving?

From a long-term standpoint, we see increasing adoption of technology where investors will want to execute transactions online seamlessly, have a less cumbersome KYC process, view/manage their entire portfolio online, advanced analytics, AI-based recommendations, innovative and proactive solutions with the aid of technology etc. As wealth managers, the value-addition to clients will come from knowledge sharing, managing their greed and fear, goal planning, portfolio rebalancing and product innovation and monitoring.

“

I got the entreprenerial bug after the financial crisis where I realised that even if you are an excellent performer, you can face extreme uncertainty in your job due to external circumstances which are out of your control.

— Vineet Ganesh, Partner, Imperial India Investment Company

As the CEO, how do you overcome challenges faced by the wealth management industry?

The wealth management industry has seen several changes in the last decade all of which benefit the investors. So we don’t have any problem with that. From our interaction with industry colleagues, we think the challenge in the industry is to find good talent, develop them into professionals and to ensure that the knowledge level in the team remains high. This can be overcome over time as more youngsters enter the industry. There is no shortcut for us and we have to painfully invest in developing talent and create future leaders. The industry must also keep costs low as margins will be lower in the future.

What will be the landscape of this industry in five years, and where will you be?

India is expected to become a USD five trillion economy by around 2026. This is likely to result in large-scale creation of jobs, industrial and services growth and wealth creation.

As a result, we think there will be huge growth over the next five years in our industry as these wealth creators/earners will need quality wealth management services. Our focus has always been high net worth clients and NRIs who require bespoke solutions and innovative products. We hope to capture the opportunity by keeping the client at the centre of all our effort. archiebanerjee@gmail.com January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 43

“

Unsung Heroes-17

He challenged his limits and became

‘Dictionary Man’ Story of a man who has garnered much acclaim for creating online and mobile-based dictionaries for all the officially recognised Indian languages

“I was given a dictionary when I was seven, and I read it because I had nothing else to read.

I read it the way you read a book.”

—Jamaica Kincaid

H

e did not know how to use a dictionary. His father was a Standard IV dropout and his mother was once absolutely illiterate. One of three children from a farming family in Mahiravani, near Nashik, he is the first in the family to have received a complete formal education. “My parents were not financially stable, but they were determined to educate us. I originally wanted to become a painter but because I got good grades in school I was sent to an engineering college,” he says. Having been schooled in Marathi, the Government Polytechnic of Ahmednagar was a challenge. He was one among the minority who did not speak English, a factor that prompted some other students to leave the course and made him consider

the same. Says he, “I was on the brink of quitting but I remembered the sacrifices my parents had made to educate me, and I did not want to let them down. When I approached a professor with my problem, he suggested I get myself a dictionary. I found it to be a strange word and did not know what to do about it!”

That is the kind of achiever I am privileged to proudly present in this chapter. He is Sunil Khandbahale, the creator of no less than 22 vernacular language dictionaries. He is still a picture of unassuming self-assurance. For a man who has garnered much acclaim for creating online and mobile-based dictionaries for all the officially recognised Indian languages, he looks around with some awe at the interiors of the Le Meridien hotel in Kochi, Kerala, where he was invited to speak about his work at INK 2013. “This is the first time I have sat in a plane,” he reveals with a smile, “I was more worried about checking in and buckling my seatbelt than the actual talk.”

Incidentally, Sunil did take his professor’s ad-

44 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

vice seriously and got himself a dictionary, with which he spent long hours making notes and learning new words. At the end of the year when the results of graduation examination were out, only four out of sixty students were found to have passed in all subjects. “I almost lost hope of ever completing my studies and becoming an engineer, so sure was I that I wasn’t one of those four!”

It was a great surprise to him and to everyone else that in reality he had topped the class! “It was then that I understood how strongly my success was connected to my relationship with the dictionary. Sometimes, I feel I must thank God that I came from a non-English background, otherwise I would not have encountered and surmounted a language barrier and all the difficulties it poses,” says Sunil. The achievement prompted him to make photocopies of his dictionary, along with all his notes and observations, and give it to friends who had similar problems. “But the reach was limited. I considered printing it as a booklet but that raised issues concerning a whole

efforts, with his dream lot of new costs that I was ill-equipped to bear. being a global linguistic This was in 1997 when computers were becomcommunity. Elaborating ing popular, so I decided that a digital dictionary on his future plans he was the way to go,” he reminisces. says, “I have a four-stage Recalling his struggle with computers in a bid plan; the first is to create to learn programming, Sunil says, “I prepared dictionaries for all officialfor the entrance exam of a renowned computly recognised languages; er institute. I was qualified but I was thrown the second, to cover all out because I had no money to pay their fees. vernacular languages and I literally begged them. I told them that I was dialects because there ready to take up even a sweeper’s job, but they are so many; in the third didn’t concede. I took this as a challenge. I left stage we plan to include home, locked myself in a 10x10-foot room with international languages, a borrowed computer and books, and started and the final stage is to in- Sunil Khandbahale receives recognition from former President of India, Pratibha Patil self-learning. I’d do this for 18-20 hours a day. tegrate all of this together At one point I had to undergo lower back surSunil also runs a social organisation called into a collective where English is not needed as gery because of sitting position problems. AfGlobalProsperityFoundation.Org that was set up a link and users can directly translate from one ter six months however, I had learnt almost all to encourage rural education and development. language to another.” programming languages. Sunil finally released Since it was education that transformed his life, And how many of these stages has he coman online English-Marathi-English dictionary, he wants to gift the same to underprivileged pleted? “One so far, and it took the first of its kind. The venture children. His brother and a colleague are helping me thirteen years,” he says with met with much praise and soon him in this venture. His core focus is language, a smile before adding, “but now Sunil was flooded with requests a huge domain in itself. He has created khandthings should move faster thanks for dictionaries in more languag“I am finding bahale.com, a free multilingual dictionary and to all the help I am getting.” Sunil es, which he promptly obliged. khandbahale.org, a lingual fraternity to work on has built a technology-enabled “Though my personal expertise ways for these different language-related projects. He wants to multilingual translation platform could only be used for Marathi, dictionaries to create seamless, real-time translation platforms for 23 languages in 16 domains Hindi and English, I soon got in reach villages, for all languages in the world, using which a with an extensive vocabulary of touch with linguists and experts remote areas speaker can speak in his own mother tongue, and 10 million words/phrases, which in various fields for help, mostly and places where will automatically each hear it in their is being used by 120 million usat universities. When they saw most technology ers in 150 countries. From not listeners respective mother tongue with no link language that I wanted to create a linguisrequired. Spelling out his secret of success, Sunil knowing what a dictionary was, tic community, they were im- has not reached says, “There are two important factors: how you to publicly being titled Dictiomediately on board, asking for as yet. I am nothing in return,” he added. providing people nary-Man, Word Smith and Lin- look at a problem at the micro level and how you take the initiative to solve it at the macro level.” guistic-Enabler, Sunil has been Describing his efforts to reach in these areas The above story is featured in “Unsung Herecognised as Green-Man, Social out to the people, Sunil says, “I with dictionary roes-Real stories to inspire you” ISBN 978Entrepreneur, Inclusive Innovator wrote a dictionary program—a 81-7108-902-4 by Maj (Retd) Pradeep Khare and Youth-Icon. software which was the world’s opportunities, (pradeepkhare2011@gmail.com). It is published Talking about reaching out to first ever search engine made in language

by Better Yourself books, Mumbai. rural areas, Sunil says, “Although Marathi. It went viral in no time. awareness and my technology has been widely I started copying and sharing maybe most recognised and won awards, I it on CDs but then again, how importantly-a realise that it is only in hands of many CDs? So I decided to set CC window to selfa few. I want to give it to those up a website where the software who can benefit the most from could be downloaded for free confidence and it. I am finding ways for these and it became popular. Soon I re- hope” dictionaries to reach villages, realised that there were still a lot of mote areas and places where most technology people who did not have access to the internet. has not reached as yet. I am providing people in The tiny mobile phones in everybody’s hands these areas with dictionary opportunities, lancaught my eyes. I learnt mobile programming guage awareness and maybe most importantly and developed multilingual dictionaries on dif-a window to self-confidence and hope. To give ferent platforms, but this was not enough. Over you an example, I distributed dictionary apps The 45-minute flight from Dehradun 93% of mobile phones in India were just basic to New Delhi was operated with a to school dropouts from a few villages. After phones with no capability to run any kind of Bombardier Q400 aircraft, partially a month, I noticed that their vocabulary had application. Their common denominator—text powered by bio-jet fuel made from considerably improved! While farming, grazmessaging (SMS). I set up an SMS service called Jatropha plant, according to an airline ing and feeding the cattle, I watched them play ‘Dictionary on SMS’—which I call my inclusive official. For the test flight, which carried 28 people, including five crew members, around with words like cow, water, farm, goat innovation.” the aircraft’s right engine was filled with etc. Now, my mission is to repeat this success Sunil and his team have now created dictio75 per cent aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and story across the hundreds and thousands of vilnaries for 22 vernacular languages to English and 25 per cent of bio-jet fuel. lages in our country.” vice versa. However, he is far from done with his

“

tadka

SpiceJet operates India’s first biofuelpowered flight

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 45

third eye

the

Youth of the nation!

Pune, over the years, has become Peter Ngugi’s second home.

From Kenya, he has flown to India almost five years ago and has soaked himself quite well in India’s culture, tradition and style of living, compiled with a higher sense of understanding and compassion. An IT professional by education, avid traveller, curious learner and philanthropist, Peter is on a mission to bring in a paradigm shift in the way education is imparted in the African countries. At a young age, Peter has worked with some of the most successful software companies in the world. Currently studying at the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, Peter one day hopes to change the education system back home. He seldom open ups, but his choice of words and statements during a rendezvous with Corporate Citizen illuminated his persona which is bright, colourful and filled with nothing but love

By Ekta Katti

B

The start of something beautiful

orn to a humble Ngugi couple and raised in the most realist way, Peter had set his life’s priorities straight since the very beginning. Question what’s wrong in society and at the same time provide a solution to fix them toothese golden rules made him a people’s person and earned him the nickname-Mr Fixit. What shaped most of his childhood was no doubt his parent’s upbringing, but what played a bigger role was the air of Mombasa, his hometown. A part of most beautiful and largest African tribe of Kikuyu, Peter mastered his tribe’s language of Swahili.

Education is important, however, what’s even crucial is the kind of knowledge and how it is imparted. Surprisingly, at an early age, he knew his goals when it came to studies. As a child, he was mischievous but within limits, he agrees. “I 46 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

knew something was wrong with the education system. I failed in the tests on purpose. I agree was a naughty as a child, but there was a reason for it,” he smiles.

Losing his father at an early age, Peter soon sought his father love in his mother, Susan. A pastor by profession, Susan, did everything to provide Peter. She played the role of practically everyone-a mother, father, friend, provider and an advisor. “I look up to her (Susan) mainly because she made me ready to face the world.

She would deal with a person or a situation the way it should be and would handle it in the most pragmatic way,” Peter speaks highly of his mother.

Ticket of India Having finished his boards, Peter soon started his hardware business to support himself. “You are a gem when it comes to being wise and street-smart,” said one of his customers, who also advised him to move to India and gather all the knowledge he can. “You will surely make it big,” added the customer. And we have a star in the making! Taking this advice to heart.

Peter gathered all his savings and brought his ticket to India in 2013.

He firmly believed in his ideologies-self-learning is the only kind of education there is. His zeal to learn things in the unknown land, make friends, travel, research and help others is a testament of how beautifully he was raised a child. When things did not fall in place, he started teaching himself.

His graph of success soon escalated after winning a software competition which landed him a job in IBM, Bengaluru as a software engineer.

His association with companies like Antone Technologies, as founder and CEO, Technology Ambassador PubNub, San Francisco, and others highlight his sparkling career stats. “The companies I have worked with has helped me grow immensely. They had given me the liberty to work as per my talent which I think gave me the crucial leap,” says Peter.

What he wants to prove is, although he is a hippie-at-heart, he wished to make amends in the education system by being a part of it.

Currently perusing Liberal Arts from Symbiosis School, Pune obtaining this degree would be his golden ticket to revamp the education system in the African countries.

The Wanderer “Kaise ho app?” Peter asks us. We were astonished by his fluency in the Hindi language.

“See that’s the perk of travelling, you get to learn new languages,” he explains. “Not all who wander are lost,” he says with the brightest smile. A gypsy at heart, Peter is a traveller

in a true sense. With just one backpack, a couple of savings, and a heart full of dreams, he was onset on the most beautiful journey of life – to explore India. The journey was to find himself, understand India’s culture, meet new people, and learn new languages. Sometimes when you are away from your home that’s when you realise the unused skills that you possess. And Peter is one such genuine example who proves that travelling brings out the best of you.

He began his backpacking voyage from South

dia or films which often could be misleading that lead to such heinous acts. “Not everyone is bad. I have always been treated kindly by all. And I really appreciate that. Let’s all work towards making this a better place to live.”

Known as ‘Mr Fixit’ since childhood, being able to provide the solutions and helping the needy was obviously engraved in his blood. . He believes education is the most powerful tool which can be used for improving people’s lives. “That justifies my inclination towards

"Time is one reserve which we have in our hands and it should be used efficiently. I urge all the youngsters to plan their moves and make sure that they value time" India where he explored places like Pondicherry, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and other. Then going straight to North, he understood the importance of learning the languages of the Indian natives. By the time he has explored the whole of North India, Peter could fluently converse in Hindi, Tamil, Khasi and Kannada. His humbling travel experience turned him into a new person and broadened his view.

What the journey also taught him was how to survive. Having depleted his savings, Peter took up odd jobs to feed his passion for travelling.

Teaching Math and English to native kids was the most satisfying job he had picked.

A philanthropist in the making In early 2015, when Peter was exploring Shillong, he was shocked to see the video that was being circulated. The video of a Kenyan youngster being thrashed in New Delhi had made the headlines. “The reason for any action lies deep,” he says, instead of just being judgmental after seeing the video. It had made an impact on him and he had pulled up his socks to change the situation. And what happened after that was simply amazing.

He began a 5200-km journey on cycle to understand the views of the Indians and also to create awareness. From Shillong to Hyderabad, he spoke to thousands of people about the video and to comprehend their notions regarding foreigners. Peter documented his 42-day expedition and submitted his thesis to the Indian and Kenyan High Commissioners.

He personally sat down with the top-notch officials with his solutions to cope with situations like these.

“The Kenyans are my people and India is my country too,” he proudly says. His act of kindness to patch things up between the two nations was caused by his vanity and courage. His thesis made clear that the Indians knowledge about Kenyans was basically obtained via me-

teaching the young guns. They are the future and possess the courage and will to bring in a welcoming change,” he explains. One of the most satisfying feelings during this backpacking journey was teaching the native kids.

Time is the essence

As per Peter, the stairway to leading a gratified life is making efficient use of the most important resource-Time. All through his life, his actions have always portrayed the essence of time. “It’s now or never,” he says. And advice the youngsters, “Time is one reserve which we have in our hands and it should be used efficiently. I urge all the youngsters to plan their moves and make sure that they value time.”

The man with a plan dreams big! He says each productive day can bring in a small but everlasting alteration in the society. He now dreams of going back home and changing the education system from the roots. “I won’t restrict my work to just Kenya. I hope to see my African people, in fact, the whole world to understand the role of education. I will give my everything to revive this system,” he signs off. ektaakatti@gmail.com

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tadka

India has second largest pool of blockchain developers in the world

India is home to the second most number of blockchain developers in the world with nearly 19,627 developers, according to a market analysis carried out by Dappros, a London-based blockchain consulting firm.

India is second only to the United States, which has 44,979 blockchain developers as of October 24, 2018.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 47

Loved & Married too

the

It is not often these days that a college romance fructifies into a wedlock.

Corporate Citizen unlocks the story of love that has culminated into marriage, for we believe in the stability of a relationship and family unit. We bring to you real-life romances that got sealed in marriage

balancing factor Just three years into their marriage, Kuldeep Vishwani and Bipasha Niyogi share a camaraderie that can only come from a romance grounded in a solid friendship. With all the optimism of today's generation, they believe you can have it all-a great career as well as a loving home as long as you are able to put in the effort and judgment to balance both set of priorities. As for cultural differences, they are to be celebrated, not fought over.

Some insights...

By Kalyani Sardesai When Kuldeep's parents first saw his girlfriend and intended bride to be, they were instantly charmed. This, despite the fact, that there had been some nervousness and initial misgivings on both sides, given their cultural differences-he's a Sindhi from MP, while she's a true-blue Bengali.

The affable and charming Bipasha says she made it a point to be herself. "I am what I am, and that is exactly how I presented myself to my would-be in-laws.

I did not, for a moment, pretend to be who I am not," she says simply.

Kuldeep couldn't agree more. "Sure, we may belong to different communities. But marriage is all about understanding each other as well as each other's roots. Our wedding was a lot of fun for we combined both Sindhi and Bengali rituals," he says. "It helped bring both the families together."

It is precisely this maturity in matters big and small that keeps the relationship rooted.

Back to the beginning

This love story was first scripted on the campus of a renowned MBA college, where both were pursuing their MBA. Like most campus romances this one typically started out as a friendship based on common goals48 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

completing one's studies and getting a good job. "He was always academically brilliant and he would help out with notes and stuff," shares Bipasha.

On his part, the friendly and social Kuldeep respected her maturity and poise.

"She takes quick decisions but they are well-thought out. Plus, she was all-rounder, someone who participated in various extracurricular activities. I thought it was a great thing for both of us to complement each other. Too much of an outgoing attitude can land a couple in trouble. But her judgment and general outlook is a great foil to mine," he says.

In other words, opposites do attract-provided there is a shared value system. "We may not be similar person-

alities, but we make it a point to take every decision together," explains Bipasha.

One thing led to another and the relationship went from strength to strength. But there was no formal proposal from either side, just a quiet and mutual agreement to take things to another level. ''I first realised how much she meant to me when she went for her internship in Delhi. It had been the first time we had been separated in two years, and I missed her," he says.

Both families met, and liked each other, despite the cultural differences. Finally, the duo tied the knot in 2016 amidst much fun and revelry in a traditional ceremony that combined both the Bengali and Sindhi way of life.

The mantras of a marriage

• Respecting each other's roots, dreams and aspirations • Trust • Understanding • Work-life balance • Friendship

The building blocks of marriage

Post marriage they have chosen to make Pune their home as they love the city and the opportunities it presents for both a rewarding career and quality of life. As of today, Kuldeep works with Citibank as Affluence Acquisition Manager while Bipasha is employed with G4Secure Solutions Pvt. Ltd. as Verticals Sales Manager.

It's a hectic but happy time considerably helped by the fact that the MNCs they work for allow for a healthy work-life balance.

"Our work hours are 9:30 am to 6 pm. Plus, our holidays are similar, so that really helps us spend enough time together," they explain.

Quality time consists of watch"She takes quick decisions but they ing movies and going out with other couples on weekends."It's are well-thought out. Plus, she was all important to spend time togethrounder, someone who participated er not only as a couple but also with one's friends," says Bipasha. in various extracurricular activities.

Twice a year, both look for- I thought it was a great thing for both ward to taking two major holiof us to complement each other" days together. While the first vacation is with her family in West -Kuldeep Bengal-usually during Durga Pooja time when the state comes alive with the fervour and colour of the festivities-the second is usually to a destination they haven't been before. "This way we get to spend good time with the extended family as well as accomplish our travel goals as well," says Kuldeep.

Like every couple, this one has their share of fights as wells but the trick is not to let matters escalate. "Clashes in any relationship are a given," says Bipasha. "But one has to take care to respond as per the situation. Different situations merit different responses. Fights happen. But one has to make the effort to understand what exactly has gone wrong and why. If one partner is angry, the other has to be the bigger person and tone down the argument," she shares.

Amidst all this, both root for trust as the cornerstone of any relationship. "If you trust each other, everything else follows," they say. "Trust your spouse's intelligence,

Moods, moments and magic: the happy twosome

capability, judgment and intention. It will serve the relationship well."

Yes, there have been adjustments post marriage considering the differences in the Bengali and Sindhi way of doing things. "Adjustment is crucial when it comes to bridging the gap and breaking the ice. Both sets of families need to embrace each other and accept each other. Respecting elders is the key to everything, even if it isn't always possible to do things their way," says Bipasha.

Bringing up (future) baby

While planning a family is most definitely on the agenda, Bipasha hopes to continue working even after baby. "I may or may not take a break depending upon the need of the hour," she says. "But I am lucky in that my in laws are on hand and Kuldeep is most supportive of me in everything I choose."

Affirms Kuldeep, "Whatever she decides I will back her.

As an MBA graduate, as an educated professional, she has the right to her dreams and aspirations. Actually these days, there is no difference in the preparatory paths undertaken by both so why should she lose out? Marriage is about teamwork," he rounds off. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com

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tadka Indian economy on track to maintain high growth rate: Finance Ministry The Indian economy is projected to be the fastestgrowing major economy in the current and upcoming fiscal year 2019-20, the finance ministry said while emphasising that the government has taken several steps to boost investors' confidence. "Indian economy is projected to be the fastest-growing major economy in 2018-19 and 2019-20 (International Monetary Fund October 2018 database). This is borne by GDP growth of 7.6 per cent in the first half of 2018-19," it said.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 49

Campus Placement

It helps to be tenacious

Not giving up on any situation can do wonders. And Ashish Jain, a commerce graduate and alumnus of a prestigious MBA college, is a perfect example of how being persistent and taking the right decision can change your life for the better. Currently placed with Parag Milk Food, Ashish shares his journey towards success By Ekta Katti

B

orn in a very traditional family of Kota, Rajasthan, Ashish was exposed to several virtues of life since his childhood. For him, family was the most important thing. Living in a joint family had helped him shape his personality and attitude, and looking up to his cousins came naturally to him. “A joint family is like the branches of a tree. They grow in different directions, but their roots remain the same. The love and care they get, the sense of security, and growing up in the presence of grandparents is the most peaceful feeling. Living in a joint family also taught me how to be a team player, respect others’ views and move forward whilst taking everyone together,” he shares. Little did he know that these virtues would give him succour in the future. While education also took the driver’s seat for Ashish, following his cousin’s footsteps to study at a prestigious institute was a life-changing decision for him.

Institution of success

“Getting orders on the first day of my survey surely boosted my confidence. Now I understand the value of gathering experience before taking a giant leap. Most importantly, I not only hope to be self-sufficient, but I also want to support my family financially soon” 50 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

After completing his commerce graduation, he thought a CA degree would be the ticket to start his dream business. However, just a couple of months into the course, he decided to shift to another course. His brother who was studying in a city institute of telecom management, told Ashish about a course which could pivot him towards starting his own business. And that’s what got him to Pune. Since the beginning, he had a hunch that this was the start to something beautiful. On the first day of college, amidst thousands of students, his traditional attire of dhoti, kurta and pagadi stole the show. And since then there was no looking back.

What boosted his confidence was when his friends ran to him to get their statistics issues solved. “It was quite welcoming to know that my statistics subject knowledge would benefit all. All hope and confidence lost was resumed by this small act when even my professors tagged me as the go-to-person when it came to statistics,” he smiles.

Living his student life to the fullest, Ashish made several good friends who always pushed him to achieve the sky. Taking part in college fests, chit-chatting, burning the midnight oil, long walks with friends, street food and having fun while keeping his dream in mind was what made his college life memorable.

What also made an impact on his graph

of growth was the way knowledge was imparted by the college professors. “They were understanding, patient and wel l-infor me d.

Their office doors always welcomed us, even at odd hours. There were times when some of the professors even skipped their lunch to solve our issues.

Having genuine teachers during your college days truly aids your professional growth,” says Ashish, speaking highly of his college professors.

His hard work soon started bearing fruit. Statistics being his plus point, Ashish made sure to make the most of it. In the first year itself, he topped the class with flying colours in his favourite subject. “Securing 93% in statistics meant inching one step closer to a bright future,” he says.

A dance to remember

Ashish is a person with several talents. And dancing or entertaining was one of them. All through his school and college life, he had been an average student, he says. But taking part in the college fest had completely transformed him as a person.

After a lot of persuasion from his seniors, Ashish finally agreed to be a part of a dance skit for the KuchAnokha event. He had to perform in front of a houseful auditorium on a lavani song. “The stage was set and there was no looking back. Our dance mesmerized everyone. So much so that all the professors immediately came to greet us backstage after the end of the dance,” he reminisces. And conquering this moment and giving a brilliant dance performance made Ashish realise his capabilities.

The appointment letter

While his friends prepped for the placements, he had other dreams-starting his own business.

But eventually, under the guidance of his professors and friends, he chose the right path. “I was told that instead of starting a business so soon, I should first gather as much experience as I can which will support my dream later. I was a little upset as I had to put my business dream on hold.

But looking back, I think that was the correct decision,” he smiles.

The path to success is always paved with hardships which Ashish was quite aware of. Considering all his capabilities, he put his heart and soul into the selection rounds for getting placed with the best company. Understanding his interests, he shortlisted a few companies. And as per him Parag Milk Food would certainly fetch him the

what. Being emotionally strong has given me enough mettle to face any situation. And the credit goes to my father whose words of wisdom never failed to inspire me,” he says. Other than his father, his professors and friends are the ones who kept motivating and inspiring him.

Another person who left a positive mark in his life is Dr. (Col) A Balasubramanian, President, Sri Balaji Society.

Ashish never actually got a chance to meet him personally, but he was always in awe of his persona. “He (Bala Sir) is a symbol of someone who is flawless-be it on stage advising his students, talking to his colleagues or staff, or for that matter anyone, Bala Sir is always the same-in one word he is simply perfect. And the best part about him is he sees to it that everyone around is seamless too. Even though I haven’t met him in person, he has taught me a lot. I really look up to him,” says Ashish.

“A joint family is like the branches of a tree.

They grow in different directions, but their roots remain the same.

The love and care they get, the sense of security, and growing up in the presence of grandparents is the most peaceful feeling”

Mantra for being successful

technical and practical know-how he envisioned.

Finally, his prayers were answered when he received the appointment letter from his desired company. He couldn’t stop smiling after reading his initials and designation-Mr Ashish Jain, Business Development Executive.

It’s hardly been a few days since his joining, but Ashish is surely creating waves in the company.

After a day’s training, he was directly sent to field work and survey at the Pimple Saudagar branch, with his seniors. Courtesy his training, hard work, all the knowledge gathered in his college days, and with the blessings of his family, Ashish bagged two important orders for his company.

“Getting orders on the first day of my survey surely boosted my confidence. Now I understand the value of gathering experience before taking a giant leap. Most importantly, I not only hope to be self-sufficient, but also want to support my family financially soon,” says a modest Ashish.

The inspiration

There is nothing more amazing than a friendly father-son relationship. As a boy grows up, there are several who leave an impression on him. But for Ashish, it was his father, Bupendera, who always supported him through his life’s philosophical journey. His teachings indeed gave Ashish the strength and courage to face the world. “My father always taught me to be independent, no matter

• Never give up: Come what may, always focus on the positive part of the experience and learn from failures.

• Be happy: Life is too short to cry over spilt milk. Be patient and always keep smiling.

• Believe in yourself: There will be several who will always motivate you, but self-belief and self-motivation, according to me, will lead you to success instantly.

• Work hard: There is no shortcut to success.

Working hard is your ticket for reaching the sky.

• Communicate: Life can be stressful at times.

Talking to your loved ones about your issues will make your life easy. Always share your problems rather than going through it alone. ektaakatti@gmail.com

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tadka Internet access in India crossed 50-crore milestone The number of internet connections in India has grown by 65% from March 2016 to cross the 50 crore mark in 2018, in line with the target set by the Narendra Modi government three years ago. As per the latest information from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), by the end of September 2018, there were 56 crore narrowband and broadband connections in India. Of the 56 crore connections, 64%, or 36 crore, are in the urban areas and 36%, or 19.4 crore, in the rural areas.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 51

KPMG Future of HR Survey

HR leads the Change

52 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

HR is going through one of the most challenging, yet exciting phases in its existence. In a VUCA world, change is inevitable, and how you respond to change is crucial for an organisation’s success. HR is the bellwether of change in any organisation, so it is essential to evaluate their preparedness in that regard.

Global Professional Services Company KPMG International’s new Future of HR global study reveals that HR leaders have conflicting attitudes and approaches to this change. Corporate Citizen brings you the findings Compiled By Neeraj Varty

D

Methodology

uring July and August of 2018, 1,201 senior HR executives from 64 countries participated in the Future of HR Survey, with representation from 31 industries across Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, Middle East/Africa and Latin America. Approximately half of the sample are companies with a headcount of 5,000 or more employees and 42% of participants are from organisations with revenue of 1 billion. The survey offers insights about the future of the HR function against a back-drop of digital disruption.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 53

KPMG Future of HR Survey Demographics of the Industry Hosp. & Ent.

Government/ public sector Education & non-profit

Transportation

Healthcare

Energy

4% = 4% = 4% = 5% =

Infrastructure

Media & telecom Other

Respondent Industry

7% = 6% = 8%=

Professional services

4% = 3% = 1% = 16%

Financial services

15% B

=

% of Total Respondents, n=1,201

12% = 9% =

Consumer goods

Manufacturing

IT & high tech

Change Preparedness

HR leaders can be divided into three categories, those who respond to change, who anticipate change and those who ignore change.

Respond to change

39% of HR leaders are confident in their ability to transform the workforce and itself in the face of change. They react to change when it arrives.

Anticipate change

37% of HR leaders are very confident in HR’s ability to transform the workforce and itself.

They anticipate change and plan in advance.

54 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Ignore change

24% of HR leaders are less or not confident in their ability to transform the workforce and itself.

They tend to ignore change.

Delivering predictive insights

HR not seen as value drive

Believing in and driving, digital agenda

HR not using predictive insights

Reshaping the workforce

Generally timid of AI

Enhancing the employee experience

No digital plan in place

Key findings

Here are the key findings of our survey involving more than 1,200 HR executives surveyed across the globe. About two-thirds of HR executives agree that HR has undergone or is undergoing a digital transformation. But only 40% of HR leaders said they have a digital workplan in place at the enterprise or HR level. Most HR executives — 70% — recognise the need for workforce transformation. Yet barely a third 37% — feel “very confident” about HR’s actual ability to transform and move them forward via key capabilities like analytics and AI.

67%

48%

Workplace culture is considered a top barrier to digital transformation for 41% of respondents. (35%) said their current culture is more task-oriented rather than innovative or experimental. HR execs who believe HR has a strategic role in their business are more likely to be pursuing digital transformation (67%) compared to 48% who view the HR role as unchanged.

Despite data’s remarkable ability to deliver new insights and enhanced decision-making, barely one in five—20%—of HR leaders believe analytics will be a primary HR initiative for them over the next one to two years. Fewer still—2% — cite analytics as a top management concern.

Recent and projected technology investment has been highest for cloud and human capital management software: 49% of HR executives invested in HCM over the past two years 32% in cloud capabilities. Over the next year or two, more are planning investments in areas such as:

predictive analytics

67%

enhanced process automation

and AI

53%

47%

Those leading the pack on transformation recognise how AI and machine learning can drive significant value for HR but they are in the minority by far. Only 36% of HR functions have started to introduce AI and just 14% have invested in AI over the past two years.

Of organisations yet to adopt AI within HR, half remain uncertain that

they will do so in the next year or two. 50% admit to being “not at all prepared” to respond strategically as AI and machine learning emerge.

Among those who have invested in AI to date, the vast majority — 88% — call the investment worthwhile, with the focus primarily on learning (35%) and analytics (33%). neeraj.varty07@gmail.com January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 55

Health

From tackling to tracking fitness When Talwalkar Better Value Fitness and David Lloyd Leisure (DLL), UK, joined hands for a joint venture in India, it also brought Hazel Geary, COO of DLL Talwalkars Club to India in 2016. An ex-Management Consultant with IBM Global Business Services and Envision Retail, Hazel holds a master’s in Mechanical and Design Engineering from Newcastle University. She also worked at Nissan as a Manufacturing Engineer in her earlier years. A fitness and sports fan, Hazel is never shy of trying out new fitness concepts and is in sync with the latest trends and fads

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By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar “When I speak to many busy people they can talk to me about their favourite TV shows that they spend up to five hours a week watching, but yet they tell me they don’t have time to workout.

So, we need to help change people’s mindset by educating them about the positive benefits of exercise and we also need to make exercise fun”, said Hazel Geary, COO, DLL Talwalkars Club Pvt Ltd, Pune.

She relocated to India in April 2016 and is responsible for the entire business pursuits of the first DLL Talwalkars clubs site in Pune, which encompasses the design, construction and operations of this unit. Besides, Hazel is also working to identify additional business opportunities across India for growing the number of their clubs. Her association with David Lloyd, UK, started in 2010 where she was a regular gym member but, gradually transitioned from being a consultant in the retail sector into the fitness and lifestyle sector.

She donned multiple roles within DLL and in her previous role as Business Development Director, she was responsible for identifying new concepts

and innovations for enhancing member experiences while adding value to their membership.

India’s Fitness Imagery On India’s fitness ethos, Hazel said,“Fitness in India is developing very quickly and there is a rapidly changing mindset that goes along with it.

What is very noticeable is that most advertising for gyms in India still focuses on bodybuilding, with all imagery showing very large muscular bodies of both men and women. This means that when you speak to consumers they are often wary of the gyms because of the perception

56 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

that this advertising creates and can be seen as intimidating. The change though is that slowly consumers are understanding that fitness is more than just about creating muscular bodies, that it is about wellness and overall health along with the aesthetics.”

Factoring Personal Fitness A mother and an avid sportsperson, Hazel said, “I am not as fit as I was before I had my daughter. I’m very active though and have managed to keep doing regular exercise so whilst I’m not at my peak fitness I have been able to maintain a good level, which I think is really important for

my overall health-both physical and mental.”

Hazel makes sure that she exercises a minimum of four times a week for at least half an hour. However, she prefers to do more when she can. “I do a mix of cardio workouts and strength training and then also try and do active things during my leisure time like hiking.”

“Fitness has changed massively for me in the last year since my pregnancy. I am such an advocate of the positive power of exercise that you would still find me in the gym up until the week, before my daughter was born. Although I am not doing such intense activity as before, I now make sure I schedule time in my “I am such an advocate diary for exercise as it is of the positive power of important for me that the exercise that you would whole family stays fit and still find me in the gym active. My exercise time is up until the week, before my ‘me time’ and we also look for ways to do active my daughter was born. things together as a family.”

Although I am not doing

such intense activity

They also organise family fitness regimes to motivate their clients. “We also know that weekends are precious for working families, so we schedule our activities such that there are plenty of activities for our families to do together to keep fit or, separately with the kids who can engage with our DLT kids’ activities with parents spending time in the gym or studios.”

Juggling Corporate as before, I now make Fitness sure I schedule time in With flexible work modes my diary for exercise as and global zones, Hazel and her team work it is important for me around the challenges of that the whole family getting corporate employstays fit and active. My ees to stick to their fitness exercise time is my ‘me regimes. “As a lot of our time’ and we also look members are busy individuals we ensure that our for ways to do active timetable has a range of acthings together as a tivities throughout the day family” and week to suit all lifeTact to Motivate styles and schedules. Our Hazel and team believe in the uniqueness of each group exercise classes start early in the morning, of their members, on their personal goals and run throughout the day and late into the evening their busy schedules. “We ensure that when jointo ensure that whatever your schedule, there will ing our club, we give them a range of different opbe a class that you can join.” tions to help them maximise their membership, Many corporate employees work around difenjoy all of our facilities and products and tailor ferent working hours, locations and schedules, their experiences to what suits them. Our service and likewise, Hazel’s DLL team have made availteam regularly follows up with our new and exable a dedicated business lounge with desktops isting members to ensure that they have access to and free Wi-Fi. “This means that executives can everything they need, and we also schedule regwork-out in between meetings and conference ular complimentary reviews with our members calls, fitting fitness into their busy lives.” to keep them motivated in achieving their goals.”

“Many busy professionals now have hours that are not as fixed as they were previously and thereFitness Tips: fore committing to come at a certain time and • People of all ages need to be active, especially day each week is very difficult. This makes planchildren and young adults. ning awkward and booking sessions for classes • Youth should spend time doing activities that or personal training traditionally very difficult in get them out of breath. some gyms. We make things as flexible as possi• Engage in fun games and activities or sport, that ble for our members whilst encouraging them to brings enjoyment and helps you keep fit. come as often as they can. Some examples of the • Find something you enjoy doing. things we do are to help include an app to book • Pick up either running, exercise classes or classes, personal training or other coaching sesswimming or any activity-as long as you do it. sions which allows busy executives a quick and • Don’t worry too much about duration of activeasy way to schedule fitness into their lives.”

ity. Just doing 30 minutes a few times a week will make a huge difference.

• To overcome the struggle to remain motivated or committed to a time for exercise, find a buddy to workout with you.

• Add fun to your buddy workout. And, you will find it harder to skip on your session as you won’t want to let someone else down.

Tech Tracks to Fitness On the impact of new age scanners like Boditrax (Bioelectric Impedance Analysis machine) that passes an electric current through you to give a comprehensive breakdown of your body composition, Hazel said, “We often judge our health or our fitness by looking in the mirror or standing on the bathroom scales and checking our weight.

Unfortunately, this only tells a small part of the story of our health and fitness. Boditrax goes much deeper and gives a clearer understanding of your overall physical well-being by giving accurate and concise measurements and then allows you to track this over time.” sangeetagd2010@gmail.com

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tadka India’s 2019 salary hike, highest in Asia-Pacific

Salaries in the country are projected to increase by 10 per cent in 2019, the highest in the Asia Pacific region, according to a Willis towers Watson report. The median salary increase for 2019 at executive level is projected at 9.8 per cent, a marginal increase from 9.7 per cent in the previous year, while for mid management and production/manual labour at 10 per cent, a drop from 10.1 per cent from last year.

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 57

My First Boss

Take ownership and be accountable!

A former jet-setting corporate professional recounts how his bosses helped him find the break and the environment he needed to find his stride as a leader

By Deepak Sabharwal Founder Earthy Tales

E

ffective leaders build cohesive and winning teams. A good leader is only as good as the team he or she creates. Great businesses are about executing an idea, and execution is achieved only if you have a motivated, competent and well-knit team that is able to appreciate the common organisation goals.

My first boss at GE (almost 18 years ago) was Bhavna Doegar, a highly accomplished young leader who taught me my most important corporate lesson, which is applicable in our personal lives as well-Take Ownership and Be Accountable. In a team, everyone is assigned a role and one needs to fulfil that role without any follow ups-a very simple rule yet immensely important.

There were two other leaders at GE who influenced my career and thinking; one was Prakhar Singhal (now with Accenture) who taught me to maintain work life balance because a happy individual is most productive. And the other one was Nitin Garg (ex-India CFO, GE Oil & Gas) who spotted my hidden talent and pushed me to become an entrepreneur. As my boss, he could understand my passion for agriculture.

His mantra-If you Love it, Just Do It-gave me the confidence to express myself and encouraged me to take risks. After quitting active corporate life of 20 years, I

(Right) Deepak Sabharwal. (Below) Sabharwal’s first boss, Bhavna Doegar

co-founded Earthy Tales (www.earthytales.in), an award winning organic ‘farm to fork’ venture based out of the National Capital Region.

My corporate experience coupled with what I learnt from my bosses made me empathetic.

At GE, diversity and inclusiveness are important values to have and that helped me in working with the farming community which is a lot different from the corporate world. Another value that we uphold really high in GE is integrity and compliance-these again have huge significance when you deal with farmers who otherwise are one of the most exploited in the country.

Key things I learnt from my bosses which I am able to implement at Earthy Tales are: Fail, but fail fast and move on to next idea.

Time is of essence Build teams - it’s the people who make great businesses, not just a single leader, so be willing to hire people smarter than you Enjoy what you do, very important else work becomes a burden To this day, I hear them in the back of my

“I can only hope to live up to my bosses’ estimations of my ability and be the leader they always believed I could be” - Deepak Sabharwal

58 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

head when I am managing my farm or listening to customers to know of their varying preferences. In Earthy Tales, I ensure that I meet at least three customers every week to get a firsthand feedback of what’s going well and what needs to be improved. This helps me take into account the unique needs of the customers and also helps me serve niche customers that have needs that are distinct from the masses.

I believe a great part of what success I have, is down to my three bosses for which I thank them. I can only hope to live up to my bosses’ estimations of my ability and be the leader they always believed I could be.

(As told to Archie Banerjee)

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tadka

World’s largest gathering of humanity World’s largest religious festival, Kumbh Mela, to be held in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, will be the world’s largest gathering of humanity in India. The government says that about 100 million to 150 million people, including one million foreign tourists, are expected to attend over the eight-week festival period beginning on 15 January.

Pearls of Wisdom

By Sadhguru

Have you become a little better as a human being?

So, for this New Year, what are you going to do? You make up your mind, what you are going to do. Some marker to tell you that in one year’s time you will be a much better human being than you are right now. More joyful, more peaceful, more loving

“The New Year is an opportunity and a possibility for newer visions of life. Blessed is the one who has clarity of vision of the here and hereafter.”

In this vast existence, there is no such thing as “Old Year” and “New Year”. These are all demarcations that we as human beings have made. Why we have made these demarcations is because we need some measure to our life, some guide, some milestone to tell us whether we are going forward or backward. Now I am this many years old-have I moved forward, have I moved backward? So this is once again a new year, this is time for you to measure, in the last one year have you moved forward as a human being? Maybe your business has gone forward, maybe you made more money, you got your daughter married-that’s not the issue.

Have you become a little better human being in one year’s time? So for the coming year, for the New Year what are you going to do? You make

up your mind, what you are going to do. Some marker to tell you that in one year’s time you will be a much better human being than you are right now. More joyful, more peaceful, more loving-a better human being in every possible way. This is something that you have to decide.

If you feel the world around you-when I say the world, I mean the human part of the world around you-you will see your experience is a cacophony of voices, thoughts and emotions.

These voices, thoughts and emotions are all an

If you feel the world around you-when I say the world, I mean the human part of the world around you-you will see your experience is a cacophony of voices, thoughts and emotions

outpouring of confusions of many different levels and states. With a much distorted perception of the current reality, these voices, thoughts and emotions are formed and expressed. When man is in this level of confusion, when he is subjugated by the misconceptions of reality around him, the pain and suffering that he creates for himself and the people around him is very unfortunate.

We are always trying to create our life based on the current reality that exists around us at this moment. This moment whatever may be with us is not the point. Where we want to go tomorrow need not be connected to where we are right now. What we want as the highest in life, it need not have anything to do with our present situation. If we enslave our visions to current situations, then it is once again settling for what is attainable, what is easy, what you think is possible. It is not in terms of thinking what is possible or not possible. It is just in terms of seeing what is your vision, what is the highest that you can seek in your life.

If man has a vision of what he wishes to do with himself and the world around him, it is not beyond his capacity to create it. It may happen in this lifetime, it may take a couple of lifetimes but what we want will definitely come. For that person, for whom his vision of life is clear to him and he just seeks it every moment of his life, the highest things will come and fall at his feet. It is only because man is a bundle of confusion, it is only because man is most of the time seeking what he doesn’t want-things that he really wants never come to him. This lack of vision and will in his life is fundamentally because of a distorted understanding of the world around us.

Vision is an important way of transcending limitations within and outside ourselves. If one wants to live here without being burdened by vision, without being burdened by will, then that person should be absolutely innocent. Such a person can simply live here-he does not need any vision. He does not have to have a will about anything, if he is absolutely egoless and childlike. If it is not so, it is very important that man lives with a vision.

It is time to really create a vision within ourselves as to what we really care for, not just for today. If you look deep enough, your vision will be the universal vision. Whether everything else happens or doesn’t happen on the way is not the point-whatever you have known as the highest, simply seeking that with undivided attention. That is a simple way of knowing life here and beyond.

(This article was originally published in www.sadhguru.org. The link to it is: https:// isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/wisdom/article/ beyond-new-year-resolutions-creating-whatyou-care-for?utm_source=newsletter&utm_ medium=email&utm_campaign=26Dec18-english_monthly_newsletter)

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 59

Mobile apps

The Best Battle Royale Games on Mobiles A Battle Royale game is a video game genre that blends the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game with last-manstanding gameplay. While always popular on PCs, this genre of video games has exploded on mobile in 2018. This issue, Corporate Citizen brings you the best Battle Royale games on smartphones

Fortnite

Fortnite, along with PUBG, are the two most played games in the world. The game includes a 100-player battle royale.

You drop into an island from a plane, build your armaments, find weapons, and take out the other players. There were some issues with early versions of the game. However, Epic Games continues to optimise the game for more and more devices every update. What sets Fortnite apart from PUBG is that there is also a unique building mechanism in the game which adds a lot of depth to combat.

By Neeraj Varty

Grand Battle Royale: Pixel War

Grand Battle Royale: Pixel War, is basically PUBG but in classic 8-bit style, and it's amazing.

Basically, you'll land in a huge world, get ready for some action, then steal or loot and craft your way to survival. Did we mention shoot? Yes, all of the elements of a typical battle royale game are here, including the crazy weapons, sniper rifles, crafting, and looting to take on the world.

The graphics aren't amazing, but that's the point.

VainGlory

PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite

PUBG Mobile is one of the two big names in battle royale games on mobile, and the most played game in India in 2018. It features 100-person matches on a large map that slowly collapses to get players to engage with one another. There are a variety of weapons, gear, and vehicles to aid in destruction. It's a surprisingly stable game that runs fairly smooth as long as you have the right graphics settings for your device. There is also a PUBG Mobile Lite version for those with lower end devices. It has less intense graphics, 50 players instead of 100, and a few other optimisations.

60 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

VainGlory is a strategy game in which players have to battle against each other using a mix of magic and technology.

Players battle it out in 3 vs. 3 matches to destroy their enemy ‘Vain Crystal’, and are rewarded for fighting skill and ability to work as a team. By simplifying traditional mechanics of a MOBA to work seamlessly with touch controls, VainGlory has become a popular Esports event called the VainGlory League. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com

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Dr (Col) A Balasubramanian

From The Mobile

Be the change you want to see in the world

A

software engineer welcomed his Japanese onsite coordinator to his office in Bengaluru, and it actually changed his life. The following story is narrated by the software engineer.

“Soon after receiving him at the airport with formal pleasantries, I took him in our company cab, and in no time, we were already chugging along the busy roads of Bengaluru. As expected, we struck up a conversation starting with the weather, and gradually moved towards topics like development, cleanliness and so on.

I think he initially hesitated to say this, but after some familiarity and comfort, he opened up and said that India has good talent but is unfortunately very underdeveloped. I was quick to remind him that India was actually a superpower till the 10th century, and pointed out to him that this was all due to the 500 years of Mughal rule and 200 years of British rule, which broke our civilisation, and resulted in such an underdeveloped nation. I also started explaining to him about all the forces breaking India to keep our nation backward.

As I was explaining this, we were stuck in a traffic jam and I noticed him keenly observing a man on the street spitting pan-masala right there. He asked me, “You see how he made the street dirty? Is it because the Mughal rulers and the British taught him such habits 500 years ago?”

Frankly, I had no answer and tried to mumble something. The very

62 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

next moment, he saw a vehicle on the other side of the road jumping a traffic signal, leading to chaos and more traffic jam at the other side. He pointed it out to me and asked me, “You see how that man violated the traffic rule and caused a mess? Is it because the British taught him to break rules 300 years ago? Or is it the breaking-India agents are brainwashing him into breaking traffic rules?”

My entire body became numb. I couldn’t say anything. He told me, “You people seem to be an expert in passing on the blame to everyone else but yourself. It is you people who have no civic sense, no respect for rules, no respect for your surroundings, but you people know how to easily blame everything on some medieval rulers, British and agents who are breaking India etc. How many years has it been since you got independence? 70 years? Look at us. In 1945, our cities, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and almost half of our country was completely destroyed, but within 20 years, each of us owned responsibility, and developed the country. And here, even after 70 years, you people are busy blaming others while the fault is actually within yourselves?”

That’s it. I had enough of it. I felt humiliated and remained silent throughout the journey. But at the end of the day, when I mentally revisited everything that happened and introspected, I felt that what he said was right. Unless we stop blaming others, and we ourselves gear up, become disciplined, respect our nation, respect rules, respect our surroundings, etc., we cannot improve. And this change should come from

Words of Wisdom The ability to think is of much greater value than the ability to memorise facts. Use your mind to create and develop ideas, to find new and better ways to do things.

Ask yourself, “Am I using my mental ability to make history or I using it merely to record history made by others?”

-David J Schwartz The psychologist William James said, “One of the deepest desires of human beings is the desire to be appreciated. The feeling of being unwanted is hurtful.”

Sincere appreciation is one of the greatest gifts one can give to another person. It makes a person feel important. The desire to feel important is one of the greatest cravings in most human beings. It can be a great motivator.

Practice giving honest and sincere appreciation on every opportunity.

“The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of being unwanted.”

- Mother Theresa Success is created through the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stack up over time to produce achievements far beyond anything you could have ever planned for. These little success habits are so easy to do each day that most people don’t think they’ll make a difference.

And so they just don’t do them.

Failure, on the other hand, is just as easy to slip into. Failure is nothing more than the inevitable outcome of few small acts of daily neglect performed consistently over time so that they take you past the point of no return.

- Robin Sharma

Made for each other A woman went shopping. At the cash counter, she opened her purse to pay. The cashier noticed a TV remote in her purse.

He could not control his curiosity and asked, “Do you always carry your TV remote with you?” She replied, “No, not always, but my husband refused to accompany me shopping today because of a football match, so I took the remote.”

Moral: Accompany and support your wife in her hobbies.

The story continues…

The cashier laughed and then returned all the items that lady had purchased.

Shocked at this act, she asked the cashier what he was doing. He said, “Your husband has blocked your credit card”.

Moral: Always respect the hobbies of your husband.

Story continues…

Wife took out her husband’s credit card from purse and swiped it. Unfortunately he didn’t block his own card.

Moral: Don’t underestimate the power and wisdom of your WIFE.

Story continues...

After swiping, the machine indicated, ‘ENTER THE PIN SENT TO YOUR MOBILE PHONE’ Moral: When a man tends to lose, the machine is smart enough to save him!

Story continues....

She smiled to herself and reached out for the mobile which rang in her purse. It was her husband’s phone showing the forwarded SMS. She had taken it with the remote control so he doesn’t call her during her shopping. She bought her items and returned home happily.

Moral: Don’t underestimate a desperate woman!

Story continues....

On getting home, his car was gone. A note was pasted on the door, “Couldn’t find the remote. Gone out with the boys to watch the premiership match. Will be home late. Call me on my phone if you need something”.

Damn... He left with the house key too.

Moral: Don’t try to control your husband.

You will always lose.

(Articles published in this ‘From the Mobile’ page are WhatsApp forwards. Corporate Citizen does not independently vouch for their authenticity. It’s a fun page. Enjoy!)

January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 63

Claps & Slaps Corporate Citizen claps for the villagers of Ranmala in Khed Taluka, Pune district who despite attacks on their cattle, pets and even fellow villagers have worked out an innovative solution to enable their own safety and also keep leopards lurking in the area hydrated!

The innovation stems from past attacks, at least seven times within a year, before they decided to do something about the leopard menace. The apprehensions over the ever-ensuing man-animal conflicts took a new turn when the Ranmala farmers were quick to realise that one of the main reasons that brought the leopards into the villages was their need for water. This set Baban Khadke, Genubhau Bhujbal and Rajaram Shinde, to build and repair three water tanks for the benefit of leopards. These cubical 5-feet-deep and 5-feet-wide tanks work like artificial wells-when the water is let out in a wide basin-like structure; the leopards can drink from it.

They placed these tanks away from human settlements and farms which minimised the frequency of leopards entering into the villages. “One tank was built 20 years back. We thought the solution to leopard attacks was to build a water facility for wild animals.

The tanks are filled by water from our wells every two days,” said Khadke. This simple method was taken a step further by another farmer Nilesh Shinde, who designed temporary, mobile water tanks for the wild animals. He utilised iron barrels and placed artificial tanks in strategic locations for wild animals and birds to access drinking water easily. Shinde’s effective techniques have won him support from the joint forest management committee comprising forest department officials and locals, who have also decided to build such tanks in the area. “I built six water ponds in the area to prevent the attacks. I slice the iron barrels into two halves to create the tanks. And this small gesture has been effective as since a month, barely one wild animal has entered the village. These tanks are filled every two days from our wells.” A win-win indeed for a locality that already plants a sapling on special occasions like birth of a child or death of an individual-has set a model for the state!

64 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Corporate Citizen slaps the merry go-round being played around bank officials, the RBI’s governance and mishandling of Aadhar data-in a case where an NRI found that `1.33 crore had fraudulently vanished from his Bank of India (BOI) account!

More harassing was the fact that despite the rules governing digital fraud which require the money to be credited instantly, the US NRI, Ajay Sood is still waiting for his `1.33 crore to be remitted. Repeated campaigning by Moneylife Foundation’s counselling cell to the RBI governor’s office, the deputy governor, the chief general manager (Customer services) and a persistent follow-up has not seen any bank credits for Sood. Other than emails and assurances from BOI that money will be credited to his account, Sood’s anticipation to get back his own money remains in a limbo. He claims that two individuals-one Sachin Yadav (`98 lakh) from Gurugram and another Mukesh Thakur (`35 lakh) from Ujjain, allegedly siphoned off his funds, but are not being questioned by the police or the Bank.

He said that a bank official kept insisting that someone known to him would have transacted and strongly denied any involvement of Bank employee/s. While reportedly the duo has been arrested, the Chandigarh police uncovered their alleged connections with members of an interstate gang. While BOI’s Chandigarh branch did assure that Sood’s payment was under process; he has yet to see the money in his account. “I have sent the cheques to my attorney in Chandigarh to share them with the bank without handing them over as I do not feel safe giving them the original cheques,” he said.

Also, no Aadhaar card is linked to his bank account since NRO accounts do not have such a requirement. “I do not know if they used a PAN card, and whether that corresponds to the one in my bank records. There was a fraudulent communication with the bank in my name via a non-registered email before a bank official approved transfer my funds. Someone was aware of my account balance since almost the entire amount was transferred.” Hope Sood gets respite from this carousel of ‘unintended’ conspiracy!

(Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar)

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CORPORATE CULTURE

Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank on women in leadership and gender diversity

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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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January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 65

the last word

Ganesh Natarajan

‘Old’ is just a state of the mind What is it that differentiates the “retiring” fifty somethings from the perpetually agile and active sixty, seventy and eighty-yearolds? The latter believe that there is something to be achieved and definitely a lot to contribute to the world

A

fortnight of hectic travel, crisscrossing the country twice took me through multiple temperature zones, unique cultural nuances and also an introduction to completely different approaches to thinking about aging and life.

The travel started in Chennai, where we attended a wedding and spent a lovely weekend listening to the amazing voices of Carnatic music maestros, Ranjani-Gayatri and Sanjay Subrahmanyan at the Chennai Music festival.

Two days in Goa followed for the Serendipity Arts Festival and the national council meeting of the All India Management Association. Back to South India and Bengaluru for another wedding and a Board meeting and then a dash to the cold wave and abominable air pollution in Delhi to speak at the annual meeting of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association.

Finally, to Ranchi for an engineering college batch reunion in near freezing temperature and a visit to an amazing social initiative of the PanIIT Reach for India Foundation in partnership with the Government of Jharkhand.

And at last, back to Pune to attend the trustees meeting of the Pune International Center and spend a week in office planning with our five group CEOs for the New Year.

My constant companion on this ten-day journey was the latest book

the 1978 graduating batch of the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra who assembled in Ranchi demonstrated three interesting states of mind. There were those who had worked for Tata Steel or Coal India or a public sector like BHEL and had logically retired at the age of fifty-eight or sixty and were full of armchair conversation about politics, cricket and their exciting grandchildren. There were others who were part of a family business and were looking forward to their sons and nephews taking over the reins and allowing them to fade into the sunset. And finally, there were a If we can all ensure that there is handful of private mutual respect between the old sector folk like me and the young, paradoxically the who continued to old will also stay young forever pursue their work passions and had the energy still left to go on and climb of either careers or relationships new mountains and create new as finite and single. Every person success stories in their life. We in can seriously expect to have at least the last category would welcome three serious relationships, attempt the Harari hypothesis that we can multiple professions and need build life anew but the majority of lifelong learning of new skills as sixty-year-olds would be horrified job imperatives and opportunities at having to continue to work and change over the decades of a single that too learn new tricks! person’s existence. And that leads The second experience that reasme to the core point of this piece sured me that it was not just Indian -what will be the definition of old politicians who considered themin a lifetime of 120 years and when selves career worthy in their sixdoes a person in the new context ties and seventies was the meeting really give himself or herself the opin Pune of a dozen trustees of PIC portunity to retire and do nothing? with an average age well beyond This question was underlined by seventy. This group, excited by the two completely different experigrowth and success of this young ences during my travels. The sixty institution in thought leadership, or so engineering classmates from Homo Deus written by my favourite author Noel Harari. Harari has an interesting hypothesis that by the end of this century, man, as we know him, will cease to exist in the current form because of gene manipulations and artificial organs.

Multiple advances in biology and medical sciences will also enable human life to be prolonged well beyond the century that is today a matter of celebration. In the eventuality that humans start looking at 120 or even 150 years as a typical lifespan, Harari argues that every thinking person will stop thinking

66 / Corporate Citizen / January 16-31, 2019

Living life to the fullest

policy research and multiple initiatives for the good of society and led by living legends like former Finance Secretary Vinay Kelkar, scientist extraordinaire Raghunath Mashelkar, industry doyen Anu Aga and education missionary SB Mujumdar, founder of Symbiosis is an entity that is young in mind and heart and proud of the fact that its membership consists of all ages all working shoulder to shoulder to further our mission to improve thought and action in Pune.

What is it that differentiates the “retiring” fifty somethings from the perpetually agile and active sixty, seventy and eighty-year-olds? The latter believe that there is something to be achieved and definitely a lot to contribute to the world. They will continue to challenge conventional wisdom and drink from new fountains of knowledge.

Senior citizens should be celebrated for their years of accumulated wisdom and they need to retain the sagacity to share without preaching and advise the younger generations without moralising.

And if we can all ensure that there is mutual respect between the old and the young, paradoxically the old will also stay young forever. And people like me with the incessant travel urge will continue to discover new avenues for learning, sharing and experiencing life to the fullest!

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, Pune City Connect and Social Venture Partners, India.

Printed and published by Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian on behalf of Sri Balaji Society. Editor: Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian.

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January 16-31, 2019 / Corporate Citizen / 67

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