Cradle of Leadership An exclusive with Vishwanath Sabale, Dean, Sir JJ School of Art Volume 2, Issue No. 9 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
July 1-15, 2016 / `50
Dynamic Duo: 33
Asha and Ramesh Mirakhur
The KashmirKerala Bond
Interview
Ankita Dabas
Co-Founder & CEO, FabFurnish.com Book Review
DECLARING BREAKDOWNS
by Sameer Dua NHRD Chapter
Eminent panellists discuss the role of startups
2 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
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There are leaders who still have a vision for the country
CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP AN EXCLUSIVE WITH ANIL SHASTRI, FOUNDER-CHAIRMAN AND DR ARYA KUMAR, DIRECTOR, LBSIM June 16-30, 2016 / `50
Volume 2, Issue No. 8 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
Interview
Hari Menon
CEO and Founder, The Indian politicians are falling Bigbasket.com Dr Bimal Arora short and seem to have no Chairperson, Centre for Responsible Business connect with the country’s reality. Your story in Volume 2 - Issue 8 of CC, on Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management and the DYNAMIC DUO: 32 hard work of Anil Shastri, and his effort to keep Shastrian values and ethics on very high pedestal, showed that there are leaders who still have a vision for the country. An in-depth interview of a dynamic couple, former civil service officers, now leading lawyers Thanks for giving a good read and reviving the memories of Disha and Harsh on love and commitment India’s tallest leader and second prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. I belong to a group known as senior citizens and I have been reading your magazine since the first issue. I hope a lot for your magazine and express my thanks and great appreciation for the professional expertise of the Corporate Citizen team, to come out with such extensive collection of interviews, interesting stories and regular columns every fortnight. Abha and Y P Singh
Legal Eagles Loved and Married too
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CC stands out
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Contents 30
Cover story
Dynamic Duo 33
The KashmirKerala Bond An in-depth interview with Asha and Ramesh Mirakhur, both top-notch finance professionals, who have returned to India, after a one-and-a-half decade corporate stint in the USA. They are an epitome of humility with strong values and down-toearth attitude 9 COLLYWOOD
Chatpata Chatter from the Corporate World 13 MANAGE MONEY
Dr Anil Lamba on Marginal costing principles and break-even analysis 14 WAX ELOQUENT Who said what and why 16 NHRD PUNE CHAPTER Eminent panellists discuss the role of startups 20 CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP An exclusive with Vishwanath Sabale, Dean, Sir JJ School of Art 4 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
Volume 2 Issue No. 9 July 1-15, 2016 www.corporatecitizen.in
28 INTERVIEW An in-depth interview with Ankita Dabas, Co-Founder & CEO, FabFurnish.com 29 BOOK REVIEW Declaring Breakdowns by Sameer Dua 36 THE TAX MAN COMETH – 14 Cut the red tape! by S K Jha (IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
14
20
38 CORPORATE LIFE Sales excellence through relationship building by Arvind Katageri, Senior Manager, Centre for Behavioural Excellence – Talent Transformation, Wipro Ltd 40 CORPORATE HISTORY Mysore Sandal Soap - the fragrance ambassador of India 42 CII CASE STUDY CII – Western Region 2nd EdgeFarm - HR Case Study Writing Competition
16
50 STUDENT OF THE FORTNIGHT Meet Avinash Chhetry, second cadet from the northeast and the first from Assam to have received the President’s Gold Medal for topping NDA batch 2013-16
52
52 SURVEY An in-depth survey on ‘Top Employees look for Social Values’ by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) 56 BOLLYWOOD BIZ Bollywood’s most educated stars 58 PEARLS OF WISDOM Tree in time
29
36
28 July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 5
Editor-In-Chief Dr (Col.) A. Balasubramanian
58
60
Consulting Editor Vinita Deshmukh Assistant Editor Joe Williams Senior Business Writers Mahalakshmi Hariharan / Rajesh Rao Senior Sub-Editor Neeraj Varty Writers Delhi Bureau Pradeep Mathur / Sharmila Chand Bengaluru Bureau Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar Pune Bureau Dinesh Kulkarni / Suchismita Pai / Kalyani Sardesai / Namrata Gulati Sapra VP - Marketing & Sales M. Paul Anderson +919444405212
60 HEALTH IT professional and Parkour enthusiast, Deepti Sinha, talks about her fitness mantra
56
62 MOBILE APPS Best apps for the 2016 Rio Olympics 66 LAST WORD Going that extra mile by Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, 5F World, Pune City Connect and Social Venture Partners, Pune
Manager Circulation Mansha Viradia +91 9765387072 North : Hemant Gupta +91 9582210930 South : Asaithambi G +91 9941555389 Circulation Officer Jaywant Patil +91 9923202560 Creative Direction Kiyan Gupta, The Purple Stroke Graphic Designer Shantanu Relekar
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How do you like this issue of Corporate Citizen - The Cool Side of Business? Send in your views, news, suggestions and contributions to corporatecitizenwriters@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you! 6 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
On Cover Page Asha and Ramesh Mirakhur Cover page pic Yusuf Khan Photographers Yusuf Khan, Ahmed Shaikh Website / Online Subscription www.corporatecitizen.in For Advertising, Marketing & Subscription queries Email: circulations@corporatecitizen.in (Corporate Citizen does not accept responsibility for returning unsolicited manuscripts and photographs. All unsolicited material should be accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and sufficient postage) Tel. (020) 69000677 / 69000672
collywood
People in the news
Modi pays homage to Chawla
Making the most of his three-day US visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid rich tributes to the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut (late) Kalpana Chawla at the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington. Modi also had a brief interaction with Kalpana Chawla’s husband and family members, senior officials from NASA, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams and her father at Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial. “All of us are very honoured that he took time to come and acknowledge the shuttle catastrophe and the deep cooperation that we have with India in space,” Ms Williams told the media after her brief interaction with Prime Minister Modi. Kalpana Chawla’s husband Jean-Pierre Harrison presented a set of books on the late astronaut, including a biography written by him, to the Prime Minister. The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial
Former Flipkart VP Michael Adnani joins Styletag as CEO Styletag gets a new CEO as the former Flipkart Vice President Michael Mehran Adnani joins the online women’s curated fashion platform. As Styletag ventures into a new zone, Adnani will spearhead the company’s operations and helm its evolution as it enters into a new phase of growth and expansion. The former VP of Flipkart, was the at the helm of Flipkart’s as the strategic brand alliances for the e-commerce giant. Styletag has been able to create an enterprise, which has weathered the various weather patterns that have emerged in the eCommerce landscape, according to Styletag.com founder and Managing Director Sanjay Shroff. “We already have an omni-channel presence, which was established two years ago and which has turned profitable. We are pleased to welcome Michael on board as he brings with him hands-on experience in retail and e-commerce,” said Shroff.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 7
collywood Sunil Bharti Mittal elected ICC Chairman Deepak Shikarpur on IT Education board Deepak Shikarpur is on the board of the Government of India’s move for a separate board for revitalising and enhancing skill oriented IT education in India. The Pune-based Shikarpur has been nominated as member of the board for a term of three years. Shikarpur is member Academic Council of the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University. He is also on the board of Seed Infotech Ltd and Autoline Design Software Ltd. He has written 33 books on IT in Marathi and English to spread digital literacy. He is also part of the executive committee of the Mahratta Chamber Of Commerce Industries & Agriculture. Shikarpur was employed in the IT department of Telco, now Tata Motors from 1985 till July 2000. He singlehandedly pioneered the concept and marketing of the Software Product, Turbo Analyst, for bringing discipline in the software development life-cycle. This product won several awards and accolades from various forums/IT publications during the 1990-2000 decade. . He had a successful and rewarding career for 15 years in the Tata Group.
Another Indian has made it to the international cadre, and this time it is Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, who has been elected as the Chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). He is the third Indian business leader to hold this position in ICC’s near 100-year history. Mittal takes over from Terry McGraw, Chairman Emeritus of S&P Global, who will subsequently become ICC’s Honorary Chairman. The ICC World Council elected the new leaders at the meeting held in Sao Paolo, Brazil, recently. “I look forward to working with our members to ensure that we continue to play a constructive role as the voice of global business in the formulation of economic and trade policies to support inclusive growth,” Mittal said, about his new role. “The
global economy is facing unprecedented headwinds to growth and there is an urgent need to restore trade and investment as a driver of growth and jobs, particularly in the developing world, and this will be a central focus of my tenure,” he added. Founded in 1919, ICC is the world’s largest business organisation which represents private sector views to national governments and intergovernmental bodies around the world. It advocates free trade and market economy, working through a network of national committees and direct members
Jayalalithaa pays tribute to her school teacher School teachers hold exalted positions in our hearts. This was rightly projected when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa expressed grief over the death of her school teacher Catherine Simon, hailing her as a great influence on her life and an inspiration to girl students. “I was shocked and grieved to learn of the passing away of Catherine Simon, my teacher in Presentation Convent, Church Park, Chennai,” said CM Jayalathiaa. Stating that Catherine dedicated her life to teaching, the CM said,
8 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
in over 130 countries. Sunil Bharti Mittal serves on many international bodies and think-tanks. He is currently the Chair of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Telecommunications Steering Committee; Member: International Business Council-WEF, GSMA Board, Telecom Board of International Telecommunication Union (ITU); and Commissioner of the Broadband Commission, International Advisory Panel of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Prime Minister of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. “I had the good fortune of being her student from 1958 to 1964. She was a great influence on my life and we shared a very special relationship as a teacher and student.” Catherine Simon was an inspiration to generations of girl students and her qualities of compassion and firmness honed hundreds of young people to grow up as responsible citizens. Catherine (89) died of a cardiac arrest in Chennai. Catherine taught Physical Training at the school between 1950 and 1969, but for CM Jayalalithaa, she was clearly so much more. Jayalalithaa, who was a state topper in the matriculation examination, was also selected as the best outgoing student of her school.
Deepika aboard Vistara as brand ambassador
Dutt to head AscendasSingbridge India
Corporate world and Bollywood connections are synonymous. This time it is the turn of Deepika Padukone, as Tata SIA Airlines Ltd, which operates under the brand Vistara, to have the actor as its first brand ambassador. The highest-paid female brand ambassador in India, Deepika endorses several brands including Coca-Cola, Axis Bank, Kellogg’s, Vogue, Tissot, Van Heusen, Tanishq and Nike. Tanishq is also a Tata brand. The full-service Vistara launched its service in January last year, three years after Vijay Mallya’s similarly positioned Kingfisher Airlines Ltd grounded its operations after it faced a severe cash-crunch. Interestingly, Padukone was a Kingfisher calendar girl and was also signed on as brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines in 2007. Around the same time, Jet Airways signed on actor Shah Rukh Khan for a major advertising campaign. Interestingly, no other Indian airline currently has a brand ambassador from Bollywood.
Two major shake ups in corporate India
Two big gigs of India corporate (private equity industries) moved out of their respective firms, Jayesh Desai, co-head of Piramal Capital’s Structured Investments Group (SIG), and Aluri Srinivasa Rao, managing director for India at Morgan Stanley Private Equity, deciding to call it quits. “He (Desai) had put in his formal resignation around a couple of weeks ago. He might take some time off before deciding his next move. The group (Piramal Enterprises Ltd) is looking at an internal promotion to replace him,” said a person, requesting anonymity.
The high-profile managing director Sanjay Dutt of Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) is set to join Singapore-based real estate developer-investor Ascendas-Singbridge as chief executive officer for its Indian operations. Dutt, an industry veteran of 20 years, would relocate to Bengaluru to take up the new assignment. Dutt will replace Lee Fu Nyap. “Since Dutt has vast experience helping developers invest and buy land and market properties, he took up the role at Ascendas,” according to a company executive. Dutt has worked with top realty consultants such as Jones Lang LaSall, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield. Before joining Cushman, he was chief executive at JLL India. Prior to that, he was at Cushman as joint managing director in his first stint. Dutt left JLL in 2012 to launch his own real estate fund in an equal partnership with Nipun Sahni, former managing director and India head of global commercial real estate firm DSP Merrill Lynch. Dutt has brokered a number of high-profile property sales in the country such as the sale of Cadbury’s property in south Mumbai to a business tycoon, PE firm Xander’s investment of ₹525 crore .
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 9
collywood Hillary hires Ojha to win youth demographic Kunoor Ojha, an Indian-American youth activist from Illinois, has become Hillary Clinton’s first major hire from the Sanders campaign, as the race for the White House candidate heats up. Ojha will serve as the Clinton campaign’s National Campus and Student Organising Director, tasked with listening to young voters and convincing them to back Clinton. Ojha began her political activism as a field organiser on `Obama for America’ campaign in Chicago in 2011, and worked in various state level campaigns before joining the Sanders bandwagon in 2015. The campaign’s outreach to students, fuelled primarily by the pledge
to make college tuition free, saw America’s youth flock to him. Early in the race, he was beating Clinton 84-14 among Democrats under 29; even in the 30-44
demographic, he had a 21 percent lead. It was only in the 45-64 age group that Clinton retrieved ground (58-35), increasing it to 69-26 in the 65+ age group. Now the Clinton campaign is moving quickly to ensure that the Sanders’ youth brigade remains firmly in the Democratic fold. That’s where Ojha comes in. She has plenty of experience in this area, having worked as a field director for political campaigns tasked with organising volunteers and ensuring Election Day turn out. Of course, it will need a lot more to win over the youth, many of whom believe Hillary Clinton is part of the “establishment” regardless of political colours -”a milque-toast neo-liberal” in the words of one Sanders’ supporters.
Gunit Chadha quits Deutsche Bank Gunit Chadha, chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific, Deutsche Bank, Germany, has relinquished his post. According to a note on the bank’s website from chief executive John Cryan, it is given to understand that Chadha’s quitting would be effective July 17 and a successor announced in due course. “I am grateful to Gunit for his contribution and especially his role in developing our presence across 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific. In 2012, Gunit was appointed as co-chief executive officer (CEO) for the Asia-Pacific and sole CEO in 2015. During this period, our businesses (there) delivered substantial growth, coupled with increased profitability,” mentioned Cryan in the note.
The 16 countries covered India, Asean, Greater China, Australia and Japan. The region was considered a significant contributor to
10 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
the business, with five of the top 10 countries globally for Deutsche Bank (by profits before tax) from here. Chadha had joined the bank as its India CEO in 2003, from IDBI Bank. During 2012-2015, under Chadha, profits from the region more than doubled to a record of €4.4 billion (₹ 33,300 crore). However, the overall performance of the bank has been under pressure, with the lender announcing a loss of €6.8 billion (₹ 51,680 crore) in calendar year 2015. This came at a time when Cryan had decided to restructure the business, including closing down operations in ten countries, reducing risks, strengthening the capital position and laying off around 15,000 people.
Who will succeed Jet Airways chief? The presence of NIvaan Goyal, son of Naresh Goyal, chairman of Jet Airways, at the recently held International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) annual general meeting held in Dublin, Ireland, took many by surprise. However, Naresh Goyal had other ideas, as he was looking for a successor. Goyal, who was re-elected as the only Indian airline executive on IATA’s board of governors, has always been a regular at the AGMs, one of the biggest congregations of top global airline executives. He is often accompanied by his wife, Anita, a member of Jet’s board. Goyal was seen introducing his son to industry colleagues with his characteristic wide smile, chatting them up and, at times, stepping into a quiet corner for a more serious discussion with one of them. Questions of Goyal’s succession have been casually thrown around in the aviation industry. When Jet sold a 24 percent stake to Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways in 2013, some had speculated that Goyal would hang his boots soon and there were questions on who would take over the reins of the only one from India’s first lot of private carriers that is still flying. However, most of Goyal’s colleagues still swear by his energy, involvement and tight control over the goings on at Jet. Compiled by Joe Williams joe78662@gmail.com
manage money Dr Anil Lamba
Marginal costing principles and break-even analysis Apply marginal costing principles to understand your business better, and to take financially intelligent decisions
I
On the other hand, perhaps product B, while it has a lower PV Ratio, has a bigger market. In this case the mix may shift in favor of B (60 percent). The break-even point will now be reached at a higher sale of about 417,000. But it may be easier to achieve a sales level of 417,000 with three-fifths of sales coming from B than it would be to achieve a sale of 341,000 with 60% being contributed by A.
B 100
Variable Cost
20
80
Contribution PV Ratio Fixed Cost
30 20 60% 20% 150,000
The first thing the business must understand is its break-even point. Now break-even point can be worked out using the formula: Break-Even Point = Fixed Cost/Contribution per Unit This will give you the break-even point in units. To calculate the break-even point in value use the formula: Break-Even Point = Fixed/PV Ratio However this business sells two products with different PV Ratios and the break-even point will depend upon the sales mix of A and B. Calculation of Break-Even Point under different combinations of sales mix. In case products A and B are sold in equal proportion then the weighted average PV Ratio works out to 40 percent and the business will break even on a sales of 375,000, as illustrated here. PVR 60%
Product B
20%
Weighted Average PV Ratio = 80% / 2 Break-Even Point = FC/PVR = 150,000 / 40%
20% 80% = 40% = 375,000
Since product A enjoys a far higher PV Ratio, the business decides to concentrate its energies more on selling product A. In case the sales mix is now composed of 60% from product A and 40% from B (i.e in the ratio of 3:2), the average PV Ratio will improve to 44% & the break-even point can be achieved earlier on a sale of about 341,000.
Product B
20%
Scenario 2 Mix PVR Weighted by Mix 3 180% 2
Weighted Average PV Ratio = 220% / 5 Break-Even Point = FC/PVR = 150,000 / 44%
40% 220% = 44% = 340,909
(All in `)
Product A
PVR 60%
20%
3
60%
Weighted Average PV Ratio = 180% / 5 Break-Even Point = FC/PVR = 150,000 / 36%
180% = 36% = 416,667
Salespeople’s performance and commissions paid to them Now this organization decides to hire two salespeople, and to reward them by way of a 5% commission on sales. Salesperson 1 sells 100 units of product A and 200 units of B, while Salesperson 2 sells 200 units of A and 100 units of B. In our example A is sold for 50 per unit and has a PV Ratio of 60 percent and B is sold for 100 per unit and has a PV Ratio of 20 percent. Now let’s do a comparison of each salesperson’s performance and the commission paid.
Sales (Units)
Scenario 1 Mix PVR Weighted by Mix 1 60% 1
Product B
Salesperson 1 Prod A Prod B Total
(All in `)
Product A
Product A
Scenario 3 Mix PVR Weighted by Mix 2 120%
(All in `)
A 50
PVR 60%
Salesperson 2 Prod A Prod B Total
100
200
300
200
100
300
x Selling Price x50 Sales (value) 5,000 x PV Ratio x 60% Contribution 30,000 to Profit Commission 250 @5% of Sales
X100 20,000 x 20%
25,000
X50 10,000 x 60%
X100 10,000 x 20%
10,000
4,000
7,000
6,000
2,000
8,000
1,000
1,250
500
500
1,000
Now look at what the business has, unwittingly, done. Salesperson 1 has generated a Contribution of 7,000 for the organization and is rewarded with a commission of 1,250, whereas Salesperson 2 has earned 8,000 for the organization and been rewarded only 1,000! An unintended conflict has been created between the organization’s interest and the individual interest of the employee. The individual earns more when the organization earns less and vice versa. It is extremely important to align the personal interests of the individual with the organization’s interest so that both can benefit. This would have happened if the organization had fixed incentives based on Contribution and not on Sales. This insight can only be obtained by applying the principles of marginal costing. Dr Anil Lamba is a corporate trainer of international repute on finance management. His clients comprise several hundred large and medium sized corporations across the globe. He is the author of the bestselling book Romancing the Balance Sheet. He can be contacted at anil@lamconschool.com
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 11
(All in `)
Selling Price
(All in `)
n the previous issue we had considered the second example to understand how to use the price sensitivity analysis in enhance the business and in turn its profitability. In this article, let us consider one example. Example 3: A business makes and sells two products A and B. The details about selling prices and costs are as follows:
wax eloquent
Indian Soft Power-Global Influencer
Take a look at what our corporate leaders have to say about recent trends and their experiences in business world
Need more weapons to fight bad loans “I only think we should have had more weapons to fight bad loans. You have to go to war with a sword and a shield. You cannot go to war with bare hands. We need to have these resolution mechanisms. Obviously, it is something that has to be done and there are no two ways about it.”
Such a big hit! “This is the first time, I’m being seen on a bigger scale, because I’m a fish from a small pond doing well in a big pond. We were confident, given the music, how the film was made and how it looked. Of course, I didn’t expect it to be such a big hit.” Nagraj Manjule, Filmmaker and director of film “Sairat” which has become the highest grosser in Marathi cinema, inching close to the Rs100 crore mark. Courtesy: Financial Express
Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chair-Managing director, State Bank of India Courtesy: www.livemint.com
We need more animal spirit
“I would hope that with good monsoon, strong rural demand, with more animal spirits and public investment picking up pace…I think with all that coming together there will be need for private investment.” Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India Courtesy: www.financialexpress.com
Be ‘Price Giver’ and not ‘Price Seeker’ “India is a major producer and consumer of many commodities, but instead of dictating terms, we follow prices set overseas. We need to be ‘Price Givers’ and not ‘Price Seekers’.” Suresh Nair, ED, ADMISI Commodities Courtesy: Economic Times
14 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
India’s soft power
“My starting point was to look at India not as a standard kind of soft power, but an Indian version of it. Indian soft power has enormous influence in the world – from religious and spiritual aspects to popular culture and its IT-related expertise, is crucial in today’s increasingly digitized world.” Daya Kishan Thussu, Professor of International Communication and Co-Director of the India Media Centre, Westminster University and author Courtesy: http://thediplomat.com/2016/06/interview-indias-soft-power/
Our philosophy of business “Our philosophy is very simple: we take decisions based on our assessment of the future potential of every business. If a business is bleeding, you should quickly cut losses and move on without getting emotionally invested in it.” RS Agarwal, chairman, Emami Ltd
Courtesy: www.livemint.com
Bringing pvt cos into the RTI’s ambit “I don’t think it is practical to do that. Implementation is a major challenge. If you do it with the private sector, with a weak judicial system in place, it will be a complete disaster. If each company goes and challenges it in a court, the situation will be untenable.” Shailesh Gandhi, former Central Information
Are jitters in global market a big problem for India? “While in the short-term we might link with the global cycle, but over the medium to long-term it is your own fundamentals which matter. It reminds me of the Three Idiots where in one particular scene, Sharman Joshi, Aamir Khan and Madhavan were all standing in one line and then two people fall back and one guy looks ahead. There was not a long-time back when Russia, Brazil and India had similar market cap of USD 1.5 trillion. Today, all those guys are 60-70 percent behind us and we are standing where we are.” Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Asset Management Company
Commissioner (CIC) and RTI activist. Courtesy: http://www.firstpost.
Courtesy: http://www.moneycontrol.com
com/
Here, it’s a star-driven market “Sometimes you need stars in the west... (But) when the idea is bigger, you go for a newcomer. In Hollywood, they will go for a newcomer because they believe in the idea. Here, when the idea is bigger, they go for the star because they don’t believe in the idea... It’s a star-driven market.” Anurag Kashyap, Filmmaker
Courtesy: http://ianslive.in/index.php?param=interview/Bollywood_needs_to_get_ rid_of_mediocrity-273
We sell more cars in India than in Japan “People, traffic, food about India fascinates me! Had it not been all those factors, I wouldn’t have visited India over 200 times. Since we sell more cars in India than in Japan, I have thought about moving our corporate headquarters to India but my family won’t let me.”
Challenges today “What the e-commerce boom has done is make people feel confident in taking a step, if they have an idea. This needs to make us marketers nimble-footed with our ears to the ground to figure what can disrupt our business. Challenges today can come from anywhere, even from a small guy who can put a differentiated offering online and take away 2–3% of your share.” Anuradha Aggarwal, chief marketing officer, Marico Courtesy: Financial Express
Indian consumer is very discerning “If one looks at the most important parameters of selection and low prices, the Indian customers are no different from any other consumers. Sellers look for a fair and transparent platform and the consumer is very discerning. They have latched on to an early phase of e-commerce.”
Osamu Suzuki, chairman, Suzuki Motor Corporation
Courtesy: http://www.autocarpro. in
Amit Agarwal, vice-president and country manager, Amazon India, Courtesy: www.financialexpress.com
India has lot of energy bubbling “The global news flow often pulls the market down but India has lot of energy bubbling and the moment you hear some positive development, the markets take off. There is nothing that has changed dramatically but things are building and perceptions shift dramatically.”
Vikaas M Sachdeva,
CEO, Edelweiss Asset Management Courtesy: http://indianexpress.com/
Model for other countries to follow “The numbers in Andhra Pradesh are just amazing. They think they can bring 10 to 15 megabytes to the home for $2.50 per month. That’s a magical number in terms of local family income, because anything below 2 percent per capita income is when you really get broad penetration. If it’s successful, India will be a model for other countries to follow.” John Chambers, executive chairman, Cisco Courtesy: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601487/qa-johnchambers/
Speed breakers for algorithm trading “If you see the international experience, everyone is trying to cope with the changes in technology, cope with the changes in the business architecture, new players who are coming in. We are not unique in India.” Chitra Ramkrishna,
MD, National Stock Exchange. Courtesy: Economic Times
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 15
NHRD Pune chapter
Startups:
From understanding to ownership, survival to growth They’ve ridden the wave of change, and simultaneously tweaked the wave of technology—as well as the manner in which it impacts our lives. Some of these companies are homegrown, some foreign entrants who have figured out the pulse of the Indian market. From delivering goods and services door-to-door, post an online booking, to providing new solutions to chronic problems in talent identification faced by different companies, they have pulled the plug on imagination and innovation to redefine paradigms of entrepreneurship despite the risks, delays and challenges of a developing and dynamic market. The panellists at the afternoon session of the recently-concluded NHRD Pune Chapter with the theme ‘Towards 2020’ saw eminent names from multibillion-dollar companies—that still consider themselves as startups—wax eloquent on the concept of startups, what works for a company in the initial phases of its existence, the kind of challenges to accept and expect, getting the crucial product-market fit just right, figuring out the right kind of people to be at the helm of startups, the importance of placing the customer at the heart of the matter, and much more By Kalyani Sardesai Session panellists (L-R) Raj Raghavan, Mohit Gundecha, Anurag Verma, TN Hari (moderator)
14 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
Panellists for this session on startups: l TN Hari Head HR, Bigbasket (Moderator) l Mohit Gundecha CEO, Jombay l Raj Raghavan Head HR, Amazon India l Anurag Verma Director HR, Flipkart
“A
startup means different things to different people. Let me start by asking Raj Raghavan and Anurag Verma exactly whether multibillion-dollar companies like Amazon and Flipkart consider themselves as such,” smiled TN Hari— getting to the heart of the matter straightaway. Raj: Most certainly, we at Amazon consider ourselves as startups despite the 100-plus-million-dollar investment and 300 businesses. Sure, we are not strapped for cash and that’s not bad at all (laughs) but I think it all boils down to how
you view yourself. Basically, startups is a mindset. In Amazon, we say: It’s still Day One, meaning we still want to do the things we set out to do. The key differentiator between us and other large MNCs is bureaucracy. In bureaucratic culture, you tend to get buried under the processes. You set yourself up so high that unless you go through the processes, you don’t reach where you want to. That’s not how it is at Amazon; the customer continues to be at the heart of the matter every time. Anurag: Yes, despite the revenues, we think of ourselves as a startup for sure. There’s still a lot we want to achieve—we are just a step forward in a long journey. We tell our team not to get carried away by the figures. We are still on the cusp of the e-commerce revolution, and while we are there in the big cities we still need to expand our reach further. As things stand, there are products you never thought of that would be sold, the broadband and internet is expanding every day, and we need to reach out as far and wide as possible to the tiertwo and tier-three cities every day. Mohit, at what stage does a startup become a big company? Mohit: Well, I don’t think Flipkart nor Amazon are startups in terms of risks. It is their mindset that makes all the difference. Entrepreneurship is not just about starting a company, you can still go beyond your job description. In terms of risk, from the practical point of view, zeroto-three years is the crucial time of survival and getting the product-market fit right. If they can do that they are not start-ups, but companies well on their way. Tell me Mohit, what separates a startup from a more mature company? Mohit: Well, change is the name of the game for the startups. In the early days, you can’t have three-year plans, but have to work instead with 90- and even 45-day plans. A lot of successful startups I know work through 45 days’ plan. So three things are crucial: being ready to change—especially your product to fit the market, short-term plans, ability to take failure on the chin and move on. Raj: I think it’s important to think long-term. There are lots of things you want to achieve over time. That said, you want to think fast in a startup. If something is not working—make quick changes, innovate and implement.
PICS: yusuf khan
(To the audience): Do read the book The Hard Things about Hard Things; they tell you everything you need to know about startups and everything that they need to keep in mind— which brings me to the important question: How do you hire people for a startup as it is crucial to get the right person on the job? July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 15
NHRD Pune chapter “The key differentiator between us and other large MNCs is bureaucracy. In bureaucratic culture, you tend to get buried under the processes. You set yourself up so high that unless you go through the processes, you don’t reach wheere you want to. That’s not how it is at Amazon; the customer continues to be at the heart of the matter every time” — Raj Raghavan, Head - HR, Amazon India
The players at a glance Amazon
Amazon is an electronic commerce and cloud computing company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest internet-based retailer in the US. Amazon’s India unit, apart from being an online bookstore, also sells DVDs, CDS, MP3 downloads, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys and jewellery. They also produce consumer electronics like e-readers, Firetablets and Kindle. In March 2016, Amazon pumped in `1,350 crore in its India unit just before introducing discounting and vendor-related restrictions for online marketplaces.
Flipkart
Anurag: My formula is very simple really. Your background is not of the greatest importance; for me, it is critical to put you in the right role. So when a candidate starts, “Well, according to the JD,” I say, “Forget the JD, what is it that you want to do?” This gives me an insight into what the person is all about. Despite this, failures still happen. In that case, don’t drag the person along just because you have hired them. If you don’t have a suitable alternative, it is better to part ways sooner rather than later— both for your sake and the candidate’s sake. What about you Raj? How do you go about hiring a peer like a CEO, for example? Raj: It has to be a good discussion with a panel, not a typical interview. Good camaraderie is the key—as much as the panel interviewing the candidate, it’s the candidate interviewing the panel. We have certain leadership principals/key notes we tend to follow while hiring the person.
date is used to luxury, they are not the right person for the job. Anurag: Team collaboration and ability to listen to others is very important. What are the few things start-ups care about? Raj: Customer-centric at every level is key. The ability to take ownership for a task and its outcome; not to forget a mindset that adapts and learns quickly. Anurag: Well, for starters, it is important to have speed and agility. Next, an attitude that trusts first--in order to get things done--and audits later on. Everyone talks about organisational culture. But the question arises: What is culture for a start-up? Raj: This is one of the most difficult questions ever. However, I would say: the way you react to happenings around you best defines your culture. At Amazon, we start at the customer and work backwards. There is a reason for this. Everyone has good intentions, but good intentions, by themselves are not good enough. What is needed are the mechanisms to follow these good intentions through. Mohit: Culture, to my mind, has to be tangible. If it’s intangible, it’s not culture. It needs to be visible enough to be put up on your walls, it needs to take the form of an actionable plan. In our com-
Flipkart was established by the Bansal brothers in 2007, former employees in Amazon.com in 2007. Their online market selling has proved to be a big success as they provide facilities such as cash and card swipe on delivery, credit and debit card transactions, etc. Morgan Stanley valued it at $9.7 billion in 2016.
What red flags come to mind when you think a certain candidate does not fit the bill? Raj: Not red flags, exactly, but at Amazon we have a very different culture. We tend to get worried when people’s concerns revolve around: will I get coffee in a certain manner? Will I fly by first class and so on? Mohit: My concern would be similar. If a candi-
Jombay
“My formula is very simple really. Your background is not of the greatest importance; for me, it is critical to put you in the right role. So when a candidate starts, “Well, according to the JD,” I say, “Forget the JD, what is it that you want to do?” This gives me an insight into what the person is all about. Despite this, failures still happen. In that case, don’t drag the person along just because you have hired them. If you don’t have a suitable alternative, it is better to part ways sooner rather than later—both for your sake and the candidate’s sake” — Anurag Verma, Director - HR, Flipkart
With a focus on “reimagining HR”, Jombay works with over 150 customers to help them around Talent Identification, Performance, Promotions, Learning and Development, HiPo and Leadership Development. Its clientele includes marquee customers from major sectors such as BFSI, IT and ITeS, pharma, retail, FMCG, manufacturing and more.
Bigbasket
Bigbasket is India’s largest online food and grocery store set up by Hari Menon in 2011. With over 18,000 products and over a 1,000 brands in their catalogue, they deliver groceries in prime Indian cities on time. 16 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
What works for a startup l Appointing the right people for
Mohit Gundecha, CEO, Jombay and Anurag Verma, Director - HR, Flipkart
“Culture, to my mind, has to be tangible. If it’s intangible, it’s not culture. It needs to be visible enough to be put up on your walls, it needs to take the form of an actionable plan. In our company, we decided that it would not be the founders but the employees who had been around for five years at least who would decide the culture” — Mohit Gundecha, CEO, Jombay pany, we decided that it would not be the founders but the employees who had been around for five years at least who would decide the culture. Here’s what they came back with: First: The one thing standing between you and your success is this bullshit that you cannot succeed. Second: Make mistakes but learn from them. Third: Grow big, or go home. That is organisational culture for me. Anurag: While I agree that culture is very tangible, defining culture is one of the most difficult things for an organisation. What we at Flipkart believe is that it is an evolution. It grows with the organisation. However, at such times there are certain values that take you through the dilemma. Very crisply put, these would be: customer first, thinking big, innovation and outstanding people. However, values need to be enlarged to come alive. In our organisation, we have these cultural champions who shoulder the onus of making the values resonate with everyone else.
What is the transition process like when you go from a small to a large company? Anurag: I’ve seen business scaling up by leaps and bounds over a period of time. As a result, both the passion levels and self-motivation tend to be very high indeed. On the flipside, the burnout rate tends to be the biggest challenge. Hence, one of the greatest challenges before HR is to help employees keep the balance on the metaphorical treadmill, so to speak. You’ve (Mohit) worked with multiple startups. What are the challenges of the ecosystem of a startup, as well as those before an entrepreneur? Mohit: I think a few areas of focus are absolutely key. First and foremost would be talent handling and attracting the right people for the right job through psychometric tests and other processes, as 40 to 50 percent business is brought to the company by the right business people. Apart
the right task. If not, parting ways ASAP l Keeping ready short-term executable plans for 45 and 90 days each l Being willing to change the product/ service to fit the market l A tangible organisational culture that is followed by one and all l A customer-centric approach l Learning from mistakes fast enough l Attracting and retaining the right talent as they are the ones that bring in the business; at the same time help develop homegrown talent to the next phase of the company’s growth, and the next, and the next...
from this, there is the challenge of managerial development. How do I take homegrown talent to the next level from that of a startup to a bigger set-up? Similarly, visibility in the market is equally important. What is the one mistake you want to avoid at any cost in a startup? Raj: Losing the mindset of a startup. The moment you think you’re there, you’ve lost the plot. Mohit: Am happy if the customer is happy. Wouldn’t want to lose sight of that. On a final note, name the reason you would want/not want to work with a startup? Raj: It’s a very intense place. You shouldn’t try it if intensity is something you can’t take. Anurag: It’s a humbling experience. You’re taking on the big guys on their turf. Also, if you can’t deal with failure stay away, please. Mohit: It looks great from the outside but it is risky and challenging. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
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Lunar Achievement India’s first Moon Satellite Chandrayaan-1 was the first one in the world to detect water on moon, in the year 2008. It was a significant achievement lauded by whole world. Chandrayaan-1 also made India the fourth country in the world to successfully land on the moon.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 17
Cradle of Leadership Vishwanath Sabale, Dean, Sir J. J. School of Art
Artof’our ‘beat nation
It is so much more than an institute. It is the journey of a nation’s artistic sensibilities, its evolution down the ages. Sir J. J. School of Art stands testimony to this voyage, and the nurturing of legacies that carry forth to posterity. It’s Dean, Vishwanath Sabale, traces the path and aspirations of this illustrious century-and-a-half-old institution
I
By Kalyani Sardesai
t is so much more than an institute. It is the journey of a nation’s artistic sensibilities—and its evolution down the ages. Undoubtedly, when you take admission to Sir J. J. School of Art, you have a lot to live up to. But Vishwanath Sabale, the present Dean, will have you know that art starts way before your mind and hand conceive and shape the concept. “It lies in the history of the movements and aesthetic values that allowed you—the artist—to reach the point that you have today,” he says. While the mother institute aka the J. J. School of Art was set up by the philanthropist Sir Jamshetji Jeejeebhoy in 1857, the Institute broke up into the JJ School of Art, the JJ School of Applied Art and the JJ College of Architecture in the late 1950s. While the first two come under the aegis of the Directorate of Art, the architecture college comes under the University of Mumbai. Originally started in the 1850s to train local craftsmen in weaving, pottery, painting and sculpture, the Institute split into the “pure” art
18 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
This restoration project is imperative not just to preserve art for posterity, but also to understand the growth of the artists as individuals. The project is also aimed to educate present students, on the process and technique undertaken by these artists, over the years and how their styles have changed the image of Indian art forever on the international platform
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 19
Cradle of Leadership
Abroad, they study the evolution of various socio-political-economic movements and understand each master in that context. This is very necessary for art education to be holistic and I hope we can do something about it soon school (now headed by Sabale) and the job-oriented courses (offered by Applied Art). So even as he is conscious of the responsibilities the ‘JJ’ name brings with it, he has wellthought-out plans to rev up the curricula—from the introduction of the master’s programme for various courses to courses on restoring and preserving old works of art to digitizing the library and building more space for many more students to thrive.
Please outline the current programmes offered by your pure arts section and the number of students in its ambit.
As of today, we give Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degrees in Drawing and Painting, Sculpture and Modelling, Ceramics, Metal Work, Textile Designing and Interiors. While we already have a Masters’ programme in Drawing and Painting, we are soon beginning a Master’s degree programme in the other categories as well. We also have a Diploma programme in Teachers’ Training and Sculpture and Modelling. Space is a challenge—given that the heritage structure of the building was set up a good 138 years ago (although the Institute is over 158 years old) and our capacity is 30 students for Painting, five each for Ceramics, Metal Work and Sculpture, 15 each for Interiors and Textiles. 20 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
In the Diploma courses, 30 students are enrolled in Teachers’ Training and 10 in Sculpture. In post-graduation, 20 students are enrolled in the Painting course while the rest of the courses have five students each.
What is it about this college that sets it apart from the rest—making it the colossus of the art world in India?
Many, many things. From the consciousness of coming to a school that has the who’s who of the arts world (see box on page 23) on its rolls to actually getting to practise one’s craft in an atmosphere created especially for it, we go the whole, wide distance to encourage, nurture and nourish the artist. An artist is never created in a 10×10 classroom, but through application and the support of the correct atmosphere.
An art exhibition by students of the institute
Keeping this in mind, the building has studios of sculpture, ceramics, metalwork and paintings designed to get plenty of natural light. We have windows that go from the floor to the roof—almost 20 feet high—thereby allowing the sun in. This is vital, for example, for Life Portraiture—the very lifeline of painting and sculpture. Apart from this, the college campus—which is simply picturesque and beautiful—is encouraging for the finest artistic sensibilities. Bright splashes of colour in the canteen—not to forget the natty little slates hanging from the canopy of lush green trees around a beautiful and stately campus definitely adds to the welcoming feel. Also, the sheer pride of studying in an institution as historic as this one strategically located in the heart of Mumbai city is immense. Importantly, it is close to the premier art district, Kala Ghoda, which is surrounded by renowned art galleries such as the Jehangir Art Gallery and National Gallery of Modern Art, to name a few. This keeps the students abreast of the latest developments in the world of art. Equally vital—the school is located in the historic Fort area of Mumbai, which has a series of British Gothic style buildings which are unique and beautiful in their own way. I would say it’s the perfect inner and outer world for any artist. Unlike most other institutes today where classrooms meant for something
Painting by VS Gaitonde, an alumnus of Sir J. J. School of Art, auctioned for a price of `23.7 crore
else have been converted into studios. That’s not all. We regularly bring in the greats from various fields—not just the arts—to speak to the students. So be it the spiritual guru J Krishnamurti or cultural greats like Bhimsen Joshi, we have ensured that students to listen to great minds. Apart from this, the Institute is also engaged in various socially relevant activities that sensitise the students to the world around them.
Tell us more about these activities.
We have round-the-year art competitions for schoolgoing kids, apart from regular workshops for physically handicapped children as well as cancer-afflicted children from the Tata Cancer Hospital. Similarly, the Elephanta Festival conducted by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) was initially dedicated only to music but participation from JJ included exhibits of artistic work as well. Recently, the students did as many as 30 paintings for the Nehru Science Centre on ‘Water, The Theme for Life’. Water scarcity being a major issue confronting Maharashtra today, we held an art competition at Mantralaya in March on the theme of water preservation for the public. Thus, engaging with the public as well as the pressing issues of the day is a wonderful way for art-
ists to interact with and understand their surroundings—apart from giving back to it.
You have undertaken the restoration of your old masters’ works. Please elaborate.
One of the major tasks before us is to restore, preserve and properly display the paintings of our famous alumni—this in order to track their progress, their growth from mere students to masters. This is a Herculean task—given the constraints of time. Most of their works were discoloured due to ageing, dust and dirt. While some canvases, especially the works in oil, had signs of wear and tear on them, others were in deteriorated conditions due to the accumulation of fungus, loss and flaking of the paint layer. The varnish layers on them were yellowed and had developed cracks in them. Some works even had major and minor cracks. A few paintings including the ones on paper had suffered fungal and insect attacks due to high humidity. One has to take care not to disturb the original antique feel and finish of the era—even as you clean it up, treat it and lend it appropriate support. The process is both scientific and tedious. We have around 2,500 works with us between the years of 1870 to 1970s and we are restoring them step by step. So there are paintings by VS Gaitonde done during his student days, by SH Raza at the start of his career and even that of July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 21
Cradle of Leadership
The Kipling Connection
A museum of memories Here's a delicious bit of history: holding pride of place on the six-acre campus of the JJ Institute is the century-and-a-half-old wood and stone bungalow, which is the birthplace of the legendary writer and Nobel Prize winner Rudyard Kipling, creator of works like The Jungle Book, If and Kim. An ornate metal plaque at the entrance of this house is engraved with the words ‘Rudyard Kipling, son of Lockwood Kipling, first principal of the Sir JJ School of Art was born here in December 1865.’ Founded after a handsome donation of `1,00,000 from Sir Jamshetjee Jeejebhoy, the sprawling wood and stone split bungalow is a fine specimen of British architecture. Meant to house both the Deans of the Sir JJ School of Art and JJ Institute of Applied Art, the Kipling bungalow is undergoing a massive renovation with funding from the state government that seeks to turn it into a major tourist destination and cultural museum. The Deans stopped using it in 2002 and it soon became dilapidated. But now, the wood and stone structure will be repaired and restored. All the artefacts in the house would be preserved and displayed, following which it will acquire the shape of a museum featuring an awe-inspiring collection of paintings and illustrations made by the JJ alumni over the years. Rudyard Kipling left for England after spending five years of his childhood in Mumbai, and later returned to Lahore at the age of 16, and subsequently, as a Nobel laureate revisited his birthplace in 1930. He died in 1936, aged 70. 22 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
Atul Dodiya in this collection. This restoration project is imperative not just to preserve art for posterity but also to understand the growth of the artists as individuals. The project is also aimed to educate present students on the process and technique undertaken by these artists over the years and how their styles have changed the image of Indian art forever on the international platform. Since 2011, we have an expert team of six from the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property in Lucknow working on this restoration project. To date, around 750 paintings have been successfully restored.
Your sister institution, the JJ School of Applied Art has been clamouring for autonomy. Your take on the subject.
Well, academic autonomy would be welcomed anytime. Apart from holding collaborative projects with universities in India and abroad, we can enrich the experiences we offer. However, financial autonomy is a double-edged sword. If one were to get complete
financial autonomy, we would have to increase the fees substantially, which means the college would be out of the reach of rural students. One would definitely not want that to happen, for some of our finest talents are bred in the villages, and deserve a chance.
Would you want different art schools like yours, across the country, to standardise their courses?
Not at all! Unlike the commercial courses that are directly linked to the daily pressures of the job market and have to compulsorily keep in sync with the technical trends of the day, the changes here are not as immediate. It is neither required nor desirable for different art schools (in Mumbai or across the country) to have a common syllabus in the interest of artistic progress. As the saying goes, let a thousand flowers bloom!
As a teacher, what do you have to say about the general understanding and appreciation of art in our society?
There’s a lot to be desired, for sure! Human
perfectly well without art—but that’s wrong. Art brings out the best in a human being; it is both an outlet for one’s expression as well as a canvas on which to project your aspirations. To not teach it in school—and then expect a youngster, however talented, to make up for lost time in college, is unfair. Art is, therefore, not a disposable entity but an integral and central figure in any quality education.
There is a perception that the pure arts, unlike the applied courses, do not bring you financial freedom. Is this correct?
No, it is not. It’s all about balancing your passion for your specialisation with commercial
Show’ showcased all the bounties of summer— from the gulmohar tree in full bloom, to the other fauna and flora. Nature requires you to observe her closely to do her complete justice, and that is a challenge for every artist.
Finally, your vision for the college?
To have a master’s and PhD programme for each course; have courses on art history to understand how and why we are standing at the point that we are today. In this country, we don’t study the history of art in depth. Abroad, they study the evolution of various socio-political-economic movements and understand each master in that context. It is very necessary for art education to be holis-
From the consciousness of coming to a school that has the who’s who of the arts world on its rolls to actually getting to practise one’s craft in an atmosphere created especially for it, we go the whole, wide distance to encourage, nurture and nourish the artist. An artist is never created in a 10×10 classroom, but through application and the support of the correct atmosphere
Famous alumni of Sir J. J. school of art l Akbar
Padamsee l Amol Palekar l Tyeb Mehta l VS Gaitonde l Laxman Shreshta l Jatin Das l KK Hebbar l VS Karmarkar l Prafulla Dhanukar
l MF Hussain
(who started the course here, though he did not complete it) l Atul Dodiya l Jitesh Kallat l Shilpa Gupta l Prajakta Palav l Riyas Komu
learning begins with lines and figures, and then moves on to the alphabet. There are so many concepts that are best depicted through illustration and pictures, yet our curriculum in schools do not give art the place and space it deserves. There was a time when a drawing teacher was an integral part of every good school, but today, the picture is vastly different. There are plenty of institutions that seem to think they can do
work. If you are good and disciplined towards your art, you will be able to take on commercial assignments that allow you the freedom to do work that fulfills your finest creative potential. However, all of this takes patience. Art is like a tree; you have to duly water the seeds to solidify the roots and grow the shoots. Patience and practice are the key to everything.
Tell us about your academic journey.
I did my schooling and college in Pune—passing out from the Abhinav Kala College with a Diploma in Drawing and Painting in 1993. Post this, I did my Post Diploma in Art Education at JJ. Through MPSC, I joined JJ as a lecturer and then was promoted to the position of professor in 2005. I upgraded my education with a master’s in Painting from the University of Aurangabad, following which I was appointed Dean in 2011. From the very outset, I wanted to be a teacher, and took care to pick up every skill and nuance to be a good and dedicated one.
What art do you pursue?
I enjoy painting and practise it at every chance I get. To be a good teacher, one has to be in regular touch with one’s art—and I make use of little pockets of time, on weekends, holidays, and even otherwise. Nature is a recurring theme in my work—it is splendid and endlessly multifaceted—and you never run out of things to paint. A recent exhibit of mine titled ‘Summer
tic and I hope we can do something about it soon. We also need courses on art restoration and preservation—the latest scientific techniques and processes, in order to preserve our old artistic treasures. Also, apart from the Kipling House (see box on page 22) that is being renovated as a museum, we need another museum on campus for the sheer number of works we have. It is a state treasure and needs to be accorded due dignity. Digitisation of our library, and bringing in more books on music and literature in order to understand art better is a major challenge too. (to be continued…watch out for Sir JJ Institute of Applied Art in the next issue) kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
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Bollywood vs Hollywood Bollywood is estimated to be a $2-billion market (approximately `10,000 crore). The average yearly growth is around eight percent. Bollywood makes 50 percent more movies than Hollywood, sells 50 percent more tickets, but makes only three percent of the revenue as Hollywood.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 23
Interview
Riding the e-Furnishing, Home Decor Retail Buzz
PICS: FABFURNISH
As India’s e-market zone matures and takes in the upheavals of a dynamic platform and new government directives, the play up has now engulfed both brick and mortar companies to straddle the online space. This has resulted in e-retailing currently experiencing a growing distinction in market strategy displayed by large horizontal players (Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal) from its vertical counterparts – the likes of Fabfurnish, Pepperfry and Urbanladder along with Lenskart and Jabong and a part of the unorganised market, pulled in the fray too. And, making a difference to this space is Ankita Dabas, Co-Founder & CEO of FabFurnish.com, an online home and design platform. Ankita shares her belief with Corporate Citizen, that no furnisher can do without an online platform today and that it is the inevitable channel of the future By Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar
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have switched between fields as I am very numerically inclined,” said Ankita Dabas, Co-Founder & CEO of FabFurnish.com. “E-commerce was basically interesting to be because I am naturally inclined to data interpretation aspects and data mining. I am not so much of a brand marketer but, in this particular industry, I do have a sense of what consumers are looking for. India does not have a lot of offerings in this vertical but globally, it does and Ankita aims to bring more into this space on world furniture/ designs to India via the portal. Data points that the potential within the entire Indian furniture market is $ US 10 billion, whereby the residential sector accounts for a 70 percent share ($ US 7 billion), of which six percent is in the organized sector. “In the home furnishing sector, the online e-furnishing industry accounts for 1-2 percent of the entire furnishing industry currently”, she said. For someone with a nearly a decade of experience in angel investing, private equity and investment banking with AIF Capital, J P Morgan and Merrill Lynch, she is hands-on with business development and strategic decision making. “...I also like the excitement of running a business and had to decide on the principle that I would rather not be attached to other businesses but create a business myself. I preferred a switch in a field where I have my core expertise and owning something
24 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
that would be natural for me and for something that I have a passion for and also suit me.” Being married into a family with interests in home decor businesses, Ankita initially created and ran her own lifestyle-oriented ventures, Imperial Knots – a premium retail brand for handmade rugs and carpets and Ikka Dukka – a designer boutique store. Eventually Ankita moved away from her own set-ups to take charge of Fabfurnish.com
along with new co-founder, Ashish Garg. The company embarked on a restructuring mode in July 2015 with the original co-founders either quitting or gradually stepping down from their managerial positions around 2014. Interestingly, Fabfurnish was launched in 2013 as a start-up with initial funding via a German business incubator - Rocket Internet, with multiple e-commerce interests globally.
“We have multi-vendors who can offer different aspects in home furnishings and so we can generate interest on these”
products are sourced from brands and were stored in FabFurnish warehouses. In the managed marketplace model, FabFurnish provides marketing, logistics and delivery. The inventory cum market place model in 2014, operated from six warehouses located in Mumbai, Jodhpur, Bangalore and Delhi- NCR. Besides, it also had centres in Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities to manage operations and logistics for efficient delivery of goods. Initial days saw Fabfurnish ticking 90 per cent of their sales from their own private labels. Despite the complexities of the offline and online furniture trade and the flurry of online players into this segment; saw close to about $100 million as venture funds being pushed in the e-furnishing business in 2012. While this enhanced market potential; vendor management, logistics and warehousing did add to the burden for individual players.
Business Transitions
Ankita’s expertise in financial management, strategic business planning and execution gave the required boost to the brand for its next phase of growth and evolution. “Since February 2015, we gradually changed the business module; we are a market place model now as against the prevalent inventory model”, said Ankita. “Based on new e-commerce regulations, it is a better concept, especially with respect to marketability. We have changed the way our market place module was with data mining and numeric that gives an advantage into vendor management and consumer behaviour. This is a different approach with our client and is more or less skewed towards profitability. While we work on more commercials with our vendors, we also concentrate on activities that are more related to marketing and less on other operations related matter, like logistics.” “I had a manufacturing background via family business that gave me a depth into understanding furniture and furnishings and therefore looked into this particular industry as I have my core manufacturing strength here. This is one vertical that interests me the most and that is what drives me on. I can also identify with a woman/buyer and their home furnishing needs.”
Early Days
In June 2012, FabFurnish.com acquired Heavenandhome, another Rocket venture and created an online home furnishing and home decor platform showcasing some 2000 products and has since grown to include multiple verticals of product categories. Initially, the company followed both an inventory model and a managed marketplace model. In the inventory model,
Wading Through Competition
The restructuring was to thwart losing out to competitors like Pepperfry, Livspace, Urban Ladder and others in the online space. “Pepperfry also runs on market place model and is our primary competitor with the same sort of verticals. But, with Urbanladder, they make their own product and here differentiation is that unlike them, we don’t hold inventory. We try to brand ourselves a lot more and try to create a need amongst our customer base and July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 25
interview create new customers. We are not restricted by a particular type of collection that needs to be sold off as we don’t hold inventory and can generate new interests for our products as we have a strong vendor portfolio; almost 100 vendors to tap from. We constantly contact our vendors and tap them for freshness of product ideas”, she said. With the transition, the company has now done away with their warehouses and aspects of logistics are left to the vendors. “The vendors know very well on how to deliver their products. We do the data know-how of the customers. We are there to market it well for the vendors. We do the data and they have to just connect with the user. So, manufacturing, marketing and dispatch is kept as specialised for the individuals who do it well. We can give as much number of vendors to our consumers which give a lot of freshness to the products. We are not restricted by only a set of vendors but can offer many vendors to our clients and offer huge variety of products.” “We have multi-vendors who can offer different aspects in home furnishings and so we can generate interest on these. Vendor management, curation of vendor management and branding creates more organic traffic management to our site. We brand and curate content and in the long run this
creates stick-to-itiveness with our customers. Lot of brick and motor vendors in Mumbai and Delhi too are coming online. So, they approach me for a branded platform that focuses on his product, providing him a steady user traffic flow.”
Future Retail
With Kishore Biyani’s (Future group), proposing to spin off its furniture retail segment Hometown and merging it with FabFurnish, talks are rife that the new entity will be listed separately which is slated to churn a target revenue of ₹1,000 crore by the end of the next fiscal. “It’s a strategic acquisition. FabFurnish is now a Future Group company 26 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
to engage with our customers. The main difference is, here our customer seeks a product and not a deal. For repeat customers, it is for better design and quality of product and off course if there is a deal, he has the option to go for it. Our customer comes to site because he is aware of the product portfolio that he can expect and may take up an offer advertised but definitely not a deal seeker.” “...Ours is a slightly niche platform for a particular product genre and people come to us seeking their requirements. We differentiate ourselves by being more organic if not in terms of numbers; also we get many new customers on the basis of our previous customers as they see our USP and we also engage them with our concept sell”, said Ankita.
A Woman e-Retailer
“No difference being a woman in this field particularly, most important is to have an ap-
“We have multi-vendors who can offer different aspects in home furnishings and so we can generate interest on these”
and is part of the group's long term growth plan. FabFurnish continues to be an online content driven marketplace and is striving to become India's largest and only profitable online home retail store,” said Ankita.
The Online War
In contrast to Flipkart and Snapdeal, Ankita explains categorically that her customer base primarily is not a ‘deal seeker’. Her customer is usually 35-40 years and comes from a double income household category with a good social network. “We don’t play by numbers but by home concept, run campaigns and evoke interest –is just one way
petite to come around in this space. During the transition in 2015, we did a lot of rationalising, downsizing of personnel and shut down warehouses. We were not a start-up but had to rework on our business model into a marketplace online brand. I took over a team and guided them. Team building came all of sudden and overcoming that was a challenge. But, Ashish and I had gone through every little task and once the team is with you, you can achieve anything”, she said. “...Not very many women might want to get into this domain or have the ability to take risks. I did spend crazy amount of hours to bring this up. My previous experiences in finance and in similar home decor family business helped me too. But, if one has the efficiency to perform, then there is no gender differentiation.... “As furniture manufacturing facilities keep getting more updated in India, there is more scope from the market place and industry point of view.” As competition heats up in India's furniture sector, with three fourths being controlled by the unorganised sectors of carpenter and standalone stores, “future plans and self challenges are to build positive changes in becoming a more efficient firm by sticking to the same business model for the next 2-3 years,” she said. sangeetagd2010@gmail.com
book review
Six Motivational Steps Don’t let your shortcomings and failures be suppressed within yourself. Stare them in the face, challenge them, check out the present ‘missing’ actions and execute your future actions to achieve real success in your personal life and career By Vinita Deshmukh
T
here are hundreds of motivational books that provide you guidelines to achieve your goal. Yet, Sameer Dua’s book, ‘Declaring Breakdowns’ comes as fresh of breath air for the simple reason that he literally prods you, sometimes nags you (in a positive way), not only to see into your problem and faults, threadbare, but to declare them as a breakdown condition, so that you can rise again, better than before. Says he candidly, in his book, “if you were to take a camera and go into the boardrooms of organisations or meetings conducted by senior managers and middle or junior managers, the camera would capture how people are ‘indulging’ in problems, refusing to solve these problems proactively and engaging in a game of blame.’’ In order to break the chronic habit of continuing to deny your shortcomings and persist with the problems, which is counterproductive to oneself as well as to the organisation you are working in, this comprehensive and well-articulated book takes you into an in-depth six-step journey, through words that seem action-packed. He begins with ‘The Centrality of Conversations,’ which, he says, is vital as it creates action, meaning, listening, moods and emotions and the future. The need for transparency about things that you can reflect for yourself; Interruptions which he says is when a transparent flow of action is interrupted in a way that you need to attend to—are some of the warm-up sessions. In Part II of ‘The Six-step Process at a Glance’ Dua has meticulously detailed what is the present missing action, the future action and how to execute it for empowerment of self and success of your organisation. Stalwart corporate leader, Kiran Mazumdar -Shaw, in her impressive foreword, says: “I quite like the point Sameer has made in his book that each individual, each project, each organization, each country has a default future. And that most of us are blind to this default nature… In hind-
author
Sameer Dua title
DECLARING BREAKDOWNS publishers
sage
pages
221
price
`395
sight, I can clearly see the number of times my default future was not so appealing to me and each time it happened, I created new future and took persistent actions to achieve that future. “For example, when I did not get admission in a medical college due to my grades, I initially experienced defeat. However, I did not allow these internal conversations that created the experience of defeat to brew for long… Inside of my commitment, and my love for Science, I chose to study B Sc (Hons) in Zoology with Chemistry and Botany as minors. I studied hard to excel and got the first rank in the university. It was my own little way of saying to these colleges, ‘Look at what you missed out on—I could have been a good doctor.’ I declared a breakdown and designed a future of my choice, rather than exit in drift.’’ Robert (Bob) Dunham, Founder, Institute of Generative Leadership, USA, has aptly written, also in his foreword: “Sameer’s invitation in ‘Delivering Breakdowns’ is an invitation to discover your capacity to change your future, the future you share with
others, and to make it happen. He provides an extraordinary set of simple steps that empower us to break through our usual limits, fears and comfort zones to embrace our birthright to create our lives rather than drift in them, or suffer from them. What is powerful about this simple, but not trivial practice is that it has the ability to match any scope of concern we may bring, from shifting our team meetings to be more effective or managing our time better to the quality of our relationships, enhancing or professional skills, creating a future where we fulfil our dreams on making a significant impact in the world.’’ Dua beautifully concludes, “Whether you agree with gravity or not, whether you like it or not, it has an impact in your life. Similarly, whether you know it or not, accept it or reject it, you are engaged in a constant process of creating your future”. So, go ahead and get some invaluable tips treasured in this well-written book. vinitapune@gmail.com
He begins with ‘The Centrality of Conversations’, which, he says, is vital as it creates action, meaning, listening, moods and emotions and the future
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 27
K Cover Story
The
Dynamic Duo: 33
Asha and Ramesh Mirakhur
Asha and Ramesh Mirakhur, both top-notch financial professionals, who returned to India after a decade-and-a-halflong corporate stint in the US, an epitome of humility, deep values and a down-to-earth attitude. An in-depth interview on their work and life together By Vinita Deshmukh
28 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
ashmir erala
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Ramesh K Mirakhur, is presently the Group Head of MasterCard. He has served in top corporate positions for 15 years in the USA, until he returned to India in 2013. An entrepreneurial business executive, he is driven by a passion for leading organisations to achieve profitability, sales, quality and customer service levels that exceed expectations. He has an impressive, vertical industry expertise in BFSI, Logistics and Manufacturing as well as in selling and managing Business and IT Solutions and delivering large-scale engagements in a global delivery model with managed outcome agreements. He served as General Manager, Global Technology Services (GTC) in Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS), a leading provider of technology, data and analytics to the mortgage industry in the US. As its Resident Director in Hyderabad, he was selling the offshore delivery concept to the different business units. He set up the operations of the GTC, including a new legal entity, financial systems, human resource processes and a facility consistent with global standards of BKFS and Lender Processing Services (LPS). Between 2007 and 2012, he was Vice President, Financial Services for CSC, a Fortune 500 IT products and services company with 98,000 employees worldwide and $16 billion in revenue. In India, he has also worked in top positions in Whirlpool and DHL Worldwide Express and other organisations. He has a Master’s in Industrial Engineering with a major in Operations Research from NITIE, Mumbai and is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from BITS, Pliani. Asha Mirakhur, graduated with a Master’s from the Indian Statistical Institute. She joined the National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering (NITIE) as a Research Fellow. She worked in the field of Energy Modelling and has authored five papers in this, then nascent, area. She then moved on to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after a brief stint at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. At RBI, her responsibilities varied from custody & issuance of currency, to inspecting
PICS: YUSUF KHAN
In India, our mission is to touch a million lives by 2020 by supporting non-profits that help in employment generation. We support these non-profits through financial assistance and management competencies to make them long-term sustainable — Ramesh
July July 1-15, 1-15, 2016 2016 // Corporate Corporate Citizen Citizen // 29 29
Cover Story commercial banks, to introducing computerisation in these banks, to designing & developing Management Information Systems for the RBI’s Deputy Governor. After the family shifted to the US, Asha resigned from the General Manager’s position at the RBI. In 2001, she joined the Kent State University (KSU) where studies were being conducted to understand the effects of intervention measures implemented to help children who were affected by violence in their communities/schools. In 2008, Asha joined Progressive Insurance in its Corporate Claims Department. There she conducted analyses to understand the patterns and trends in the claims data, to help management undertake timely responsive and corrective action. Back to India in 2013, Asha was an active volunteer with the local chapter of `Teach For India’ and with the NGO, ‘Save Rocks Society’ in Hyderabad.
Jab We Met
Asha: Ours is definitely not an arranged marriage. I come from Kerala, the southernmost tip while he hails from Kashmir, the northern most tip of India. I had finished my post-graduation in Statistics and joined National Institute for Training in Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai, for my research fellowship programme; he too came there to pursue Master’s
She is very intelligent and extremely balanced. We always say in our family—and our children also echo the same thing—that I may have done better in the corporate world but she is the smarter of the two of us, just in terms of sheer intelligence and confidence. She is also very practical and determined; if she sets her mind to do something, she’ll do it”
— Ramesh
in Industrial Engineering, soon after he graduated from BITS, Pilani. We were in the same campus and so that’s where we met. Initially, we were friends. I think we started becoming serious, only after we left NITIE. By that time, he was working in Pune and me, in Mumbai. It took us seven years to decide that we want to get married. Ramesh: I left NITIE in two years. As long as we were in the college, we were part of a big group, and she was in NITIE a while longer after I left. And I think that’s when we decided to get serious about each other. Asha: Actually, I had joined NITIE for a research fellowship programme that had just started, and being the first student, I was something of a guinea pig for the institute. Unfortunately, for me, the research was in the field of energy modelling and there was only one faculty member who could guide me. He went to the USA to present our joint paper and came back with an offer for him to join UNDP in Jamaica. So, I could not continue my fellowship. I went through a bad patch due to this uncertainty and that was the time, Ramesh who was in Pune, would come down to meet me. He was very supportive and I moved on and have not looked back since.
So what was it that you liked about Asha?
Ramesh: She is very intelligent and extremely balanced. We always say in our family—and our children also echo the same thing—that, I may have done better in the corporate world but she is the smarter of the two of us, just in terms of sheer intelligence and confidence. She is also very practical and determined; if she sets her mind to do something, she’ll do it.
What was your family’s reaction when you decided to get married to each other?
Ramesh: My father did not talk to me for one and a half years after I told them about her, in 1984. I broke the news to my parents through my brother, whom I wrote to, as he was staying with them; there was no positive reaction for a year, so our family underwent a lot of stress. A love marriage, in place of an arranged one, was scandalous enough for him. For a North Indian, marrying someone from a completely different part of the country and that too from South meant that it was an alliance with a ‘Madrasi’ no matter which of the Southern State she came from. My sister and brother-in-law were supportive and it is they who convinced my parents. We got married in 1985; my parents were in Srinagar then. Asha: On my side, there was no problem at all, because my parents had met him earlier. My parents were in Ludhiana at that time and Ramesh had come to visit his cousin there, who used to teach at Punjab Agricultural University. My parents, having lived all over the world, had a cosmopolitan outlook towards life and were more open to any such alliance. Also, in our family there had been other inter-State marriages, so it was not an issue.
The educational journey
Asha: After I finished my high school from Kendriya Vidyalaya in Chennai, I had a problem, getting into a college as I was interested in pursuing only mathematics. Luckily for me, BSc in Maths was being offered by three colleges in Madras. The first one was Queen Mary’s College which was a government college but there I had no chance because I was a ‘Brahmin’; Stella Maris College required you to pass out from the local board and so finally I got admission in S.I.E.T. Women’s College, which encouraged me as they needed students for BSc, Maths. I finished my under-graduation from there but by then my father was transferred to Ludhiana, from where I decided to do my post-graduation. But due to the hassle of procuring the domicile certificate from Chennai which involved a lot of paperwork, my father advised me to apply for IIT, Delhi. In the meanwhile, I had applied to the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) also. I completely forgot about ISI as I didn’t hear from them, so I joined IIT, Delhi for my Master’s in Maths. And then one fine day, I get called 30 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
I come from Kerala, the southernmost tip of India, while he hails from Kashmir, the northern most tip of India. I had finished my post-graduation in Statistics and joined NITIE in Mumbai for my research fellowship programme; he too came there to pursue his Master’s in Industrial Engineering soon after he graduated from BITS, Pilani
— Asha
Ramesh: I went to school in Srinagar. My dad was in the state government service. As you may be aware, the entire state government moves every six months, from Srinagar to Jammu, so the whole secretariat too moves from the summer capital to the winter capital. I used to move school every six months, until class X. I didn’t think I was a particularly bright student but I stood second in my high school, stood first in the pre-university program of the college and was a state rank holder. Born and brought up in Kashmir, I didn’t know anything about the rest of India; I was unaware of institutes like IITs and BITS, Pilani. So I never applied to any of them. My only option was to go to Regional Engineering College, Srinagar, where, being a merit holder, I would get a free ride. However, I was not too keen on it; I just wanted to go and explore the world. It was my good fortune that my brother had done his medicine from Srinagar and found himself a job, in Delhi and then in Chandigarh, where I visited him. He told me about IIT and BITS, Pilani. I got admission in IIT BHU as well as in BITS Pilani and opted for the latter.
Culture shock
by my head of the department’s office, who says, “Here, there’s a telegram for you.” He said, ‘‘you have got into ISI.” (The letter was actually sent to my father’s office but he had gone to Kerala on vacation. His secretary knew I was in IIT Delhi, so he sent a telegram to the Maths department.) A bit startled, I told him that I have already got into a good institute and so I would not be accepting the offer. So he told me, “Three years of ISI are equal to six years of IIT; I would say that you go.” Incidentally, he too joined as faculty in ISI, two years later. Reason for pursuing Maths: When I was in high school, my father was keen that I pursue engineering and I wanted to do so, but my mother gave me a piece of advice. Though I am talking of 40 years back, things haven’t changed much. She said that once you get married, the normal thing is that, if there is any family exigency, it’s the woman who gives up the job. So you would be unnecessarily blocking a seat which a man could have used up to earn and support a family. I thought, what she said made sense. So I went in for BSc in Maths and then I decided to do my MSc. I have no regrets because true enough, after marriage, I did quit my job, at one point of time. Had I done engineering, I may have felt a little guilty about taking a break.
It was a culture shock for me, when I joined BITS, Pilani. I did not know how to speak English well and I remember how much fun I used to be made of, in the first year. Slowly, I learnt English and could flaunt it around. I got involved in a number of extracurricular activities in BITS. For example, when I was a fresher, we started an ‘earn while you learn’ programme. We made sure that even the rich students join this programme in order that it did not seem like it was only for those students who could not afford the fees. Prof K R Chandoke, whom I had worked with for this unique programme, became my lifelong friend. Under this programme, I used to also take tuitions in Statistics and Mathematics. The basic premise of the programme was that we wanted the college students to use their time meaningfully, rather than just waste it away.
You are a Kashmiri Pandit. What was the experience of your family?
It was fine until 1989. There used to be an undercurrent between Hindus and the minority community but it was a very peaceful place. I had several Muslim friends who used to come home regularly. But slowly there was resentment building up in the society, as Kashmiri Pandits had the lion’s share in all the government jobs, being more focused in education. That was also one of the reasons why I did not want to pursue college education there. Though BITS Pilani was expensive in terms of fees, I was lucky that I could study there as my brother took up the onus of supporting me. Post 1989, it became impossible to live there due to constant violence. My parents had to migrate out of Kashmir—they lost their house and belongings. In 1989, one day I was going to work in the morning at 8 am, Asha asked me to read the newspaper as the front page news in the Times July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 31
Cover Story of India stated that there was a bomb blast in Srinagar. I called up my neighbour who said he would find out and revert back to me. Indeed the blast had occurred near my parents’ house and they were lucky they had escaped, as our house had suffered damage. I went to visit them but they were not too keen to move. However, in November 1989, the current chief minister’s sister got kidnapped and the situation worsened. At that point of time, my parents had come for a function to Bhopal and because of the situation in Kashmir, we did not let them go back.
Living in two different cities
Ramesh: I was working with Tata Motors and then with DHL. She joined the Reserve Bank of India. When we lived in Mumbai from 1985 to 1990, our daughter was born. In 1990, she got transferred to Bangalore and I used to shuttle between Bangalore and Mumbai. When she went to Bangalore, we were expecting our second child .My employers were understanding enough to also let me work from Bangalore for a couple of years. She lived in Bangalore for a few years and came back to Mumbai. Thereafter, I got a job in Delhi so she followed me. Finally, we moved to the USA in 1998.
How did you manage to stay away in Bangalore?
Asha: Reserve Bank was a very family-friendly organisation; it used to give us housing wherever we were transferred to. Quite a few women, who had support of their in-laws, moved without their husbands or without the children also. So that way it wasn’t traumatic; it was pretty smooth.
Moving to the USA
Asha: Ramesh wanted some international exposure and got a job offer in Ohio, USA. So, in 1998, the children and I, joined him. Initially, our plan was to be there for a couple of years and then come back. The Reserve Bank had a facility in which, if your spouse was posted abroad, you could take two years’ unpaid leave and return to your job, in the same position that you left. It was a beautiful arrangement. At the end of the two years when we talked to our kids about coming back to India, they said that they liked the educational system there. So we decided to continue staying there. I then sent in my resignation. We eventually stayed in the USA for 15 years and came back to settle in India, in 2013.
of Pennsylvania and Wharton, got himself one undergraduate degree in Computational Biology and another in Economics, in four years’ time. He now works on the Wall Street in New York City.
Work culture in the USA
Ramesh: The work culture there is very different and Asha can tell you about her experience too, because she also started working after some time I was working for Computer Sciences Corporation and I didn’t have a major challenge adjusting to the work culture there; in fact I liked the work culture there. It’s very focused as it depends on how you perform; it’s not focused on age or your background. I loved working with the American bosses. They don’t care how you get something done; you just get your work done. They are also very sensitive to work-life balance; so you don’t feel guilty about taking a vacation; when you come back to work, you have to be wholeheartedly there. So, it is far more a results-focused environment. Then, there are not many layers. People are usually direct. You don’t feel any diffidence, when you are in a meeting. Actually, when I left from here (India) I was a bit wary. Several friends wondered why I am going as at that point of time I was the CIO for Whirlpool, South Asia and probably one of the highest paid CIOs in the industry at that point. I said I want some different experience.
Post 1989, it became impossible to live there due to constant violence. My parents had to migrate out of Kashmir—they lost their house and belongings. One day I was going to work at 8 am, Asha asked me to read the newspaper which stated there was a bomb blast in Srinagar — Ramesh
What are the names of your children and what do they do?
Ramesh: Our daughter’s name is Zitsi and our son’s name is Yatin. Our names being common, we wanted an unusual name for our daughter. I think till date definitely Zitsi has a record because I have not heard of another. It’s a name that we made over a dinner one day before she was born. My paternal grandmother’s name is Zitsmaal—‘Zits’ means ‘ray of light’ and ‘maal’ means ‘necklace’. We tweaked it a bit to make it Zitsi. Our son is Yatin. So we have a Z and a Y. Ramesh: We have one socialist and one capitalist in our family. Our daughter is pursuing her PhD at Princeton. She did her under-graduation at the University of Chicago and then joined ‘Teach For America’. During that stint, she was teaching underprivileged high school students in New Orleans, USA. Our son is quite the opposite. He also went to a good school, the University 32 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
We were very clear that once a year we had to have a family vacation where we would just chill out together — Asha Mirakhur
So, Indians do so well there because it is so performanceoriented and there’s transparency?
Ramesh: Yes, I think Indians do well there for two reasons. One is this natural selection; only the brighter ones go and I am a great believer in cognitive ability; intelligent people can do lots of different things. Second, is the work environment there; if I had to pick a country for anybody to immigrate to, there is only one country and that’s the USA.
So you worked for how many years?
Asha: My experience too was a very positive one. When I went from here, I went as a dependent spouse; I did not have a work visa for the first three or four years. I was a homemaker, attending to kids as they needed help chauffeuring for their various activities. During the day though, I had some time for myself, so one day, I clicked on website of the Kent State University, which was very close to where we were living. I sent out my CV and they called me for an interview. It was a very nice experience and they asked me as to when I could join. I had to express regret that I couldn’t join as an employee because I did not then have a work visa. But, I said, I would like to volunteer and do something to contribute to the
The institution of marriage itself is being challenged, and potentially, could vanish in 20 – 30 years. I won’t be surprised if the institution of marriage changes drastically or its importance gets reduced — Ramesh organisation. Being a very unusual situation they had to get back to me after checking with their personnel department. For two months, I did not hear from them so I thought it’s over. One fine day, I get a call from them saying that you can work as a volunteer. The professor I was working with was a Malaysian and he knew the formalities of getting a work visa, green card and so on. So, as soon as I got my Employment Authorisation, they took me on board. I wanted a job which was for only 20 hours a week so that I could be there for the kids also when they needed me. I worked for seven years until 2008. Then in 2008, when our son went off to college we were ‘empty nesters’. and I decided to go in for a full-time job. I joined an auto insurance company called ‘Progressive Insurance’—in the Corporate Claims Department. Ramesh: I’ll tell you an interesting experience while joining Progressive Insurance. She wanted to work full time so she applied for a full-time job. And they didn’t call her for an interview. I used to work with Progressive Insurance, as they were one of my customers. I happened to know Brian, their Division President, so I went to him and said that my wife has applied for a job but they haven’t even called her for an interview. He took her résumé from me. The next day she got a call and then of course, she was selected. So I called Brian to thank him. I said, “What did you do?” He said, “She is an unusual employee because she is not 30-year-old, which is the normal recruitment age. And all I did was, encouraged them to talk to her. I just said, interview her.” And once they called her, they immediately hired her. Asha: I was an analyst at the back end, and not dealing actually with the customers. It was a beautiful learning experience for me, more than anything else. We were not dependent on my income so I didn’t have any stress about that. I could enjoy myself with the job. And the US corporates are pretty open about all these things, if you want to learn something, they just sit with you and then they teach you the latest techniques in computers with data analysis and everything. I would go for all the training programmes and then they would tell me, okay, now start working on it. It was very nice.
Children upbringing
Family bonding: Yatin, Asha, Zitsi and Ramesh (L-R)
Asha: Actually we had discussed it when we got married and I was expecting our first child. We had some sort of a tacit understanding that if anybody had to give up a job it would be me because Ramesh was on a sort of a broader career path than I was. Ramesh: I actually several times offered to her that I would leave my job and take care of the children and she could continue working. She probably had no confidence that I could bring up children! Asha: You need both the parents to be involved. So when we were both working, we would share the responsibility. When we were in Delhi, I was sent on a training programme to Mumbai, he had to take care of the kids! Ramesh: We have some funny stories like I had to get a friend to come over and help me cut a pineapple because our daughter was asked by her school to get one and I didn’t know how to go about it. Asha: When we were expecting our second child, I was transferred to Bangalore. Initially for about two or three weeks, he took time off from July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 33
Cover Story
Amazingly Alert at 102!
Eat more of turmeric powder, shun green and red chillies for longevity, says Prithvi Nath Mirakhur!
H
e is tall, slim and at 102 years of age, is enthusiastic about life. He smiles affectionately to welcome you. He is curious about knowing, what the interview of his son and daughter-in-law is all about. Comfortably seated on a resting chair, he browses through an issue of Corporate Citizen and says it is very interesting. Yet upright while sitting or standing, his daughter-in-law, Asha states, “He has made a lot of friends in our housing society. He goes down for two hours in the evenings for a walk. Of course, he does not walk continuously; he sits and chats with friends, in between walking.’’ His son Ramesh proudly adds that “he continues to have a very wellbalanced diet. His four meals include toast and milk in the morning; chapatis, dal and subzi for lunch and dinner and a small snack thrown in, early evening.’’
What is the secret of his I have always seen my longevity? Says Ramesh, father working very hard, “I have always seen my throughout his life. He father working very hard, was not a wealthy man, so throughout his life. He was not a wealthy man, after coming back from so after coming back from his government duty, he his government duty, he would take tuitions would take tuitions. I have never seen him sitting idle, and that I think is also a reason for his good health. Yes, and Asha has to separately cook his vegetable and dal as he requires a generous helping of turmeric powder in them.’’ Mirakhur, who is blessed to have been looked after by his son and daughter-in-law, has seen the best and the worst of Kashmir, as a Kashmiri Pandit. After things got worse in 1989 between the two communities, Ramesh and his wife decided it would be unwise for the parents to go back to Kashmir. A few years back, Prithvi Nath Mirakhur lost his wife. Mirakhur is completely hard of hearing but looks forward to get into a conversation. His enthusiastic spirit reflected when he bid adieu to us with a shake hand and an affectionate smile. 34 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
his company, and was babysitting our daughter, while I went to work. He went back to work, once I got the bank’s housing accommodation and could move out of the temporary hotel room. When we went to the USA, initially, I gave up my job. At that time, my input with the children was a little more. Further, he was travelling a lot; he used to be a ‘weekend father’ for quite some time because he would leave on a Monday morning and come back only on Thursday night or a Friday evening. So the entire responsibility of parenting, fell on me. I would run the house and ferry the kids to and fro. But we would ensure that, at least during the weekends he would spend time with the kids. We were very clear that once a year we went on a family vacation where we would just chill out together.
So, who looks after the finances?
Ramesh: Even though she is good at numbers and a banker, she does not look after the finances. She is very clear that only one person can do it, but yes, you can sit down and explain to her; she will understand and really pass a judgment which is valuable. Asha: At the same time, I have the confidence that he is doing it, so the family welfare is taken care of and that’s it
Socially, in the USA, the unit is an individual. In India, still for good or for bad, the unit is a family. In any marriage, it is two families getting married, it’s not just the boy and the girl, whereas in the US, it’s just the boy and the girl. So, when we moved, we had to be more careful that we teach them value systems which do not clash with our basic value systems. And that the children imbibe a little bit of their Indian-ness and I must say that both the kids have been understanding. Ramesh: They are independent. We taught them to have independent thinking and be responsible.
What does it take to keep a marriage?
Ramesh: It takes a lot. The institution of marriage itself is being challenged, and potentially, could vanish in 20 – 30 years. I won’t be surprised if the institution of marriage changes drastically or its importance gets reduced.
India’s future in terms of economy
Asha: Frankly, India is still a developing country as we say and there are good things happening and I think once we improve the governance, things should move faster. I was very lucky that I worked in an organisation which was non-corrupt. When we used to go inspecting banks, I found there were people who were hard-working and honest. We should be able to take off, because Indians have an innate intelligence and when needed, they are willing to work hard. That should pull us out. Ramesh: I think it’s a long road for transparency; I think the biggest issue always is culture, it is not the laws that we need to change, I think as a society, we need to live the values that we want to talk about. And just across the board, in IT, I see the real challenge; the culture has to change. Back in ’90s, we used to say in India, if we reduce the tax rates, tax avoidance will be reduced; it hasn’t had that kind of impact. I do understand why people do not want to pay taxes in India. While we were in the US, we used to pay higher tax rates. We felt that we, as citizens, need to get something for paying our taxes—get good quality roads, good water supply and a good rule of law. When citizens get the feeling that they are getting value for the taxes that they pay, then people won’t mind paying. In the US, I would not be scared of going to a police station to file a complaint. In India, people find it terrifying.
Tell us about your philanthropic activities.
I loved working with the American bosses. They don’t care how you get something done; you just get your work done. They are also very sensitive to work-life balance; so you don’t feel guilty about taking a vacation; when you come back to work, you have to be wholeheartedly there — Ramesh Advice to young parents
Asha: One should remember that there is no perfect life, there is no utopia, so there is a lot of adjustment to be done. And it’s not a question of who sacrifices more—it depends on the circumstances. In my case, I gave up my job, but I have no regrets; it was a very happy decision. So it’s up to you. These days you see quite a few men give up their jobs to do the babysitting. And don’t compare yourself with anybody else, just be yourself, do the best you can, and give a very good value system base for your kids that is what is the diving board for the kids to take off, from.
I am an active Rotarian and a member of the Rotary Club of Poona North. Rotary is a great organisation that combines ‘Doing Good’ and an active fellowship among its members. Rotary has 1.2 million members worldwide and has a long history in India. One of the most notable programmes of the Rotary in India involved eradication of polio. Personally, I am interested in our educational initiatives and I am also the head of the public relations committee of my Rotary Club of Poona North. Asha is also an active member of the Inner Wheel Club. Social Venture Partners is a philanthropic organisation that connects people who want to give back to society and help non-profits that make change possible in society. In India, our mission is to touch a million lives by 2020 by supporting non-profits that help in employment generation. We support these non-profits through financial assistance and management competencies to make them long-term sustainable.
So what’s your philosophy of life?
Ramesh: Just enjoy what you do today, don’t worry too much about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. And maintain your integrity so you can get a good night’s sleep. Asha: The same, more or less. Life is not perfect. But like they say, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade and drink it and enjoy it. vinitapune@gmail.com July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 35
The Tax Man Cometh-14
Cut the red tape!
by S K Jha
(IRS (retd) and former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax)
Red tape and corruption are the main obstacles to doing business in India, besides others like inadequate infrastructure. Lessening rep tape and bringing transparency to processes will harness enterprise, investment and youth power and work to India’s advantage.
Unlike the regular tax desk which is manned by a tax officer whose job is to levy tax on you, this desk is manned by a non-serving tax officer who wishes to share his experience of 35 years in the tax department, while, discussing tax provisions. It is advantageous to know how the tax department thinks and acts when, as said by Benjamin Franklin, “In this world nothing is certain except death and taxes”
S
ome years back a smart young man visited my tax office. As per his business card, he was the proprietor of a manufacturing firm. He had come to me to seek clarification about his tax matters. I was quite impressed by his talking and behaviour and his work. I offered him a cup of tea as I felt like talking to him a little more. I asked him some personal questions and how he became a young entrepreneur. He told me that he was a first generation businessman and that he worked at a company for two years after his graduation in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai and management studies from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. He took loan from a bank and also from his relatives for seed capital and set up a small unit. I was impressed with his academic achievements and told him that his academic credentials must have given him extra flight in his business. But his reply surprised me. He told me that after starting his business, he realised that his theoretical knowledge acquired at premier institutions was not of much use but on the contrary it proved a handicap. He told me that the only skill which mattered was of jugaad, i.e., pulling the strings. He said he was in the process of trying to learn the practical tricks of the trade. I was depressed with this talk with the young man and with this reality check of business in our country. Our country has a bad reputation with regard to ease of doing business, though we have improved our position this year. As per the World Bank’s Business Report 2016, India now ranks 130th out of 189 countries, jumping 12 places, compared to the preceding year. Yet we have to go a long way before our country becomes an easier place for doing business. 36 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
We require more people starting business in our country to generate growth and solve the unemployment problem. We have to introspect why doing business in India is not easy? We have to identify the cause and then come with the solution. India is a big market with more than 125 crore people. We have a large proportion of the population comprising young people who can be an employable workforce. The world should have been at our door with funds to do business in India and to make our call of ‘Make in India’ a great success. Then, what is the unease in doing business in India? The one big reason for the unease is red tape and an obstructive bureaucracy. Normally the world over, the bureaucracy does not carry a very good name, and as said by Javier Pascal Salcedo, “Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible”. In India, it is perceived as a big obstacle in progress, causing delays. It pains me as an ex-bureaucrat myself, but it is true that all bureaucrats are not bad but there is a section who like to find fault in the proposals and avoid taking decisions. An officer who takes decisions may sometimes take a wrong decision for which he can be punished even if the decision is taken in good faith, but an officer who does not take a decision is not punished, as there is no wrong decision in the file. This becomes an incentive for not taking any decision. There is no punishment in causing delay in the movement of the file. Red tapism thrives on the plethora of rules and procedures. A person starting a business has to go through three sets of procedures -- of the central government, state government and local bodies. A person, say a foreigner or a first generation businessman who has not been exposed to
these rules and procedures, finds it very difficult and spends a lot of time and money before the business starts. It is really very frustrating to find that after great effort the factory is ready but is not working because the electricity connection is delayed for some trivial reason. The bureaucracy, whether in the central government or in the state government, finds loopholes in the proposal to start, a new business, based on the non fulfillment of some obscure rule and thus delays the process, leading to cost escalation of the project. The problem of red tape can be best explained by what late Nani Palkhivala told me: When he was the Indian ambassador to the US in the seventies, he wanted to grow some flowers in the garden of the Indian embassy office for which, as per rules, he was required to take permission from the office of the Ministry of External Affairs. The request for permission was duly sent, but, after several reminders, the permission came after the season to grow the flower was over. There was
no reason for such rules and procedures in the first place, and then the unreasonable delay in sending a response by our bureaucracy stopped our eminent ambassador from growing that seasonal flower. The second most important cause of business unease is corruption and our country is not free from this evil. Until a few years ago, the only headlines in our country related to some scam or the other. Investors hesitated to come to India. Corruption adds to project cost, making it unviable. Even after the business is set up, the demand for bribe does not stop and that is demotivating. In terms of corruption perception, as per the Index of Transparency International, India ranks 85th in 175 countries. Corruption creates a wedge between bribe givers and honest people who do not give bribe to promote business. The level playing field and healthy competition in business is lost. The emphasis will be on crony capitalism where it should have been on innovation and research. I recollect my days as a tax officer when I was working on the cases of two leading industry houses. One group enjoyed a good reputation while the other group was known to be practical in business circles. An executive of the house with the good reputation told me that they felt very bad when they visited offices in the corridors of power, where they were asked to wait, while executives of the other group entered the offices without waiting. Work for the practical group was done without delay, while the other group had to come repeatedly with more files and paperwork. The message learnt is, pay bribe for speedy work or face harassment. Will
new entrepreneurs like to face this situation? Tax litigation and retrospective amendments in the Income Tax Act also have a dampening effect on the ease of doing business in India. Investors want stable and clear tax laws with full transparency. The retrospective amendment in income tax provisions when Vodafone had won the case before the Supreme Court put India in a bad light. There is no doubt that the tax department has a thankless job of collecting tax, but the same can be done in a more friendly atmosphere without initiating needless litigation which will not stand the test of appeal. Why should you raise a tax demand which finally cannot be collected? The lack of infrastructure is another stumbling block. Business is cost effective if there is good connectivity and power availability round the clock. We have a high density of roads but very little of good quality. Fast moving traffic is essential both for the supply of raw materials and for the movement of finished goods. Still, in many parts of our country, electricity supply is erratic. Factories have to depend on generators which add to the cost. Our water resources still depend mainly on the monsoons, and if there is drought which happens more frequently these days, then there is crisis even for drinking water -- and in such situations in the drought affected areas water is denied to factories. Recently in Marathwada in Maharashtra, water supply to factories was deeply reduced by the order of the government. The new government at the centre has placed huge emphasis on building roads and generation of electricity and there is hope and optimism that in the infrastructure sector we will be able to reduce the unease of doing business. The problems are many and we have to go for solutions that are both short term and long term. To begin with, we have to reduce the number of rules and procedures. We have to remove obsolete laws which have outlived their utility. We should go towards single window clearance and for that state governments and the central government should work together. Paperwork should be reduced and totally done away with and e-governance should take their place.
There should be a fixed time frame, say of seven days when a person starting the business should get all the required permissions. There should be no reason for entrepreneurs or persons starting a business to visit public offices. People’s grievances should be taken up seriously and disposed off in a specified time frame of short duration. There should be speedy trials of corruption cases and in addition to prosecution, the costs acquired from the bribe should be confiscated. Good work done by honest officers should be appreciated both by the government and the public. There should be a fixed time limit for officers to dispose off files and they should give their reasoned views in the files. Delaying the movement of files by government officers should attract punishment. Our country has a rich demographic dividend in that we have a large number of young people, but we should ensure that the dividend does not become an adversary. The young population has to be given proper education and skills to make it employable. If our youngsters remain unemployed then there is every likelihood that they may go astray and become adversarial. Most of our employers say that a good proportion of our educated youth are not employable. They lack skill. It is commonly known that even engineers apply for peons’ jobs in government offices. Skilled youth will bring ease to doing business and at the same time solve the unemployment problem. Once our country is known as an easy destination for business, it will work as a catalyst to generate more growth and eradicate poverty. There will be more money to invest in social sectors like health, education and environment. All our countrymen have to get involved in nation building. I close this column with a good saying by Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”. Our countrymen have to learn to build our country.
‘Corruption adds to project cost, making it unviable. Even after the business is set up, the demand for bribe does not stop and that is demotivating’
CC
tadka Business confidence slips to a five-month Low Deutsche Boerses MNI India Business Sentiment Indicator stated that confidence among Indian businesses fell to a fivemonth low in May 2016, and with rising inflationary pressure, there is limited scope for the RBI to cut rates. This is the third consecutive decline and was led solely by the manufacturing sector.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 37
corporate life Arvind Katageri
Senior Manager, Centre for Behavioural Excellence – Talent Transformation Wipro Limited
Sales Excellence through Relationship Building Research has proved that when it comes to selling, not only what is being sold is of importance, equally important is who is selling it and therefore, it boils down to relationships “Everyone is a salesperson. Everyone is selling something every day. People buy from people they like and who are like them.” — Bill Bonnstetter Isn’t the above statement so true? Think about your daily interactions with others. Whether it’s a product, service, theme or an idea—we are trying to sell something each time, all the time to someone. Apart from making an external sale to your prospect or client, you could be selling to your boss, a team member, a colleague, acquaintance or a family member. Ultimately, the closure, that is, the success measure of any sale will depend on what kind of relationship you have with the buyer or whether you have spent enough time and effort in building relationship before the solution was suggested. Research has proved that when it comes to selling, not only what is being sold is of importance, equally important is who is selling it and therefore, it boils down to relationships. One might argue on the timing of sale, which is important, but relationship is the foundation in growing any business. To reach this level of doing business through relationships, you should build ability and thinking to keep the customer at the epicentre of all your actions. While you diagnose your strengths, weaknesses, behaviours, skills and market credibility on one hand, on the other hand you also have to recognise how others act, and adapt in accord. 38 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
While diagnosing, identify the factors of their motivation and drive. Focus on what will help them make decisions in your favour in case they have available choices. Once you get in touch with a potential buyer, practise these 4 Cs— Care, Communicate, Control and Close.
Care
Consider every customer as your first customer. The secret is—can you maintain the same level of enthusiasm with every customer in every meeting? It has been observed that after servicing a few customers for a few times, the tendency is to take the customers for granted and get a little lackadaisical in approach. This can prove to be a deterrent in the process of building relationship and can impede you from reaching the final goal. On the contrary, knowing about them and also knowing what matters to them can help break the ice to form an interpersonal connect. The more one can personalise the discussions with the customer genuinely, the better are the chances of showcasing the ‘Care’ factor. In an insurance company I worked with, the sales advisors were trained to be vigilant and use their observations to build rapport with the customers. For example, if the customer had a well maintained garden in the house, the sales personnel were encouraged to speak and mention that during the conversation to show that they cared for their passion and use it as an element to build rapport.
Communicate
This is the most important element in building relationships and thus, succeeding with customers. One should communicate with customers, keeping the end in mind. One such successful chairman of a successful organisation, in his address to budding leaders, advised
them to spend 80 percent of their time listening to the customers while they are communicating with them. Remaining 20 percent of the time, according to him, has to be spent in asking relevant questions. While listening, it is imperative to listen to the different components of communication—body language, tone of voice and words. Focusing on these and their interpretation can give insights on others’ behaviour and eventually shape our responses to manage their behaviour. This might work as an enabler for you to adapt to the behavior of others. Fine-tuning your communication style to match the customers can prove to be a differentiator between success and failure.
Control
In the early part of the conversation with customers, you have to take the role of a listener. In the latter part, practice of ‘Care’ and ‘Communication’ allows you to take ‘Control’ of the situation. Keep your ongoing communication relevant and focused. Share your success stories by speaking about how your earlier customers benefited from your provided solution. In case you feel that the customer is still reluctant, ask open-ended questions and draw them to share what they haven’t yet. Acknowledge their issues and concerns and exhibit the fact that you’re
It has been observed that after servicing a few customers for a few times, the tendency is to take the customers for granted and get a little lackadaisical in approach. This can prove to be a deterrent in the process of building relationship and can impede you from reaching the final goal thinking on their behalf. In reality, controlling the situation in this manner for the customer’s benefit puts them in a comfortable situation because the created environment impacts them psychologically in a positive way. This also allows you to set and manage expectations realistically and thus, gives you an option of saying “no”, when appropriate. In fact, if you think you cannot suggest a right solution in your capacity, refer them to someone else who can. Be sure that you will not lose. We hear of many instances where people pick up things that they cannot deliver in the zest of creating a ‘WOW’ feeling in the customer’s mind and fail miserably. This is uncalled for. Do you really want to be in such situations? In contrast, customers will appreciate your honesty if you don’t fail them through your failure.
Close
How often do you see a customer asking to close a sale? If you ask a successful salesperson
on timing of the closure, you will get this as an answer “whenever the customer is ready”. This means that there is no good time to close a sale. The best way to decide on closure is to watch for buying signals when you are with your customers. These can be verbal or non-verbal and therefore, practising the above three points will prove to be a powerful aid in closing a sale. Talk about the benefits and value delivered by your proposed solution. Most of the times logic is not persuasive, emotions are. Try to reach closure without manipulating your buyer’s emotions. If you have suggested a solution to which a customer has agreed, don’t try to oversell. Execute the decided solution. Convert a prospect into customer by nurturing the relationship for life. Even if the customer rejects your product or services, remember not to take it personally. Remain confident throughout the process. The customer has not rejected you. By being attentive to their preferences, you’ve already earned a trustworthy relationship.
Above 4 Cs can become your brand building elements and practising them can put you in a very different league of salespeople. All your existing clients can become potential source for future customers. By nurturing these relationships, you’ll be astonished at the number of referrals you’ll generate. Help your customers succeed and see the magic of building credible relationships. CC
tadka Security or Luxury?
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has been allotted luxury car Jaguar XE, worth `48.25 lakh. D Bhalla, Secretary in the Lok Sabha Secretariat, said the Jaguar XE was the “most affordable option” car among the four-five options suggested, keeping in mind the security concerns for the speaker.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 39
Corporate History
The
fragrance
ambassador of India is 100 years old
The state-owned Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL) that manufactures the iconic Mysore Sandal Soap, has been a household staple for generations. It truly embodies the Make in India concept in its essence. And to think, it started exactly a 100 years ago... By Kalyani Sardesai
√ Organic? Check! √ Made in India? Check. √ Aromatic essential oil ? Check. √ Time tested and trusted?! Hey, that’s the understatement of the year. The product just completed a century of its delectable existence—achieving more than what it set out to do: create an iconic product that would give due justice to its Indian heritage. Replete with aromatic essential oil which is extracted through an elaborate process of distillation from the legendary sandalwood tree—one of the mainstays of the Indian beauty and medical industry, to say nothing of the much-revered indigenous science Ayurveda, the soap still does not have a worthy compet40 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
itor despite the advent of time—as proved by its turnover. While, it has long crossed the ₹100 crore turnover landmark in 2003, the near-latest figures indicate sales to be in the realm of ₹350 crore approximately.
History says...
It all started in the May of 1916 when Nalwadi Krishna Raj Wodeyar, Maharaja of Mysore and his Diwan M Visvesvaraya, two enterprising and culturally proud beings, set up the Government Sandalwood Oil Factory in Mysore to extract sandalwood oil from sandalwood. The seeds of this brave endeavour had been sown two years ago, when the Maharaja was gifted a casket of soaps made using sandalwood
oil produced in India. While he enjoyed using the product, the Maharaja mulled over the sheer irony of using—of all the things—an imported sandalwood soap! ‘Why can we not make our own and get noticed for a produce that has been our own for thousands of years?,’ he thought. It was also perfectly in sync with the profile of the kingdom. The Kingdom of Mysore was one of the largest producers and exporters of sandalwood in the world. However, during the economic recession caused by the First World War in Europe, buying sandalwood was no more a priority with that war-torn region. Making a soap out of these surplus trees would be the perfect way to utilise the surplus. SG Shastry, a noted industrial chemist of the time, was asked to develop the sandalwood perfume—which he did with considerable success, staying true to its sweet and woody notes. And thus was established the Government factory in Bangalore (Bengaluru)—giving pride of place to sandal soap with sandal notes as its base fragrance. Even so, it took about two years for the Mysore Sandal Soap brand to hit the market in 1918. With sandal notes as its foundation, the soap also had other natural essential oils like Vetivert, Patchouli, Geranium, Palm Rosa, orange and Petitgrain. The product found slow but steady acceptance as a ‘pure’ and ‘top-quality’ soap that actually made a difference to the skin of the user. Gradually, the toilet soap production capacity was enhanced to 750 MT/annum, while the second sandalwood oil extraction plant was started in 1944. By 1965, the soap was being exported to various countries. In 1980, the Government Soap Factory was converted into a public sector enterprise. The company was incorporated in July 1980 and renamed as Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Limited (KSDL). KSDL has manufacturing units at Bengaluru, Mysuru and Shimoga and produces a host of commodities including soaps, detergents, incense sticks and cosmetics. Sharabha, a mythical creature with a body of a lion and the head of an elephant, was chosen as the logo of the company. This was because the creature represents the combined virtues of wisdom, courage and strength and symbolises the company’s philosophy. As of today, the company makes and sells a variety of sandalwood soaps to reach out to as many users as possible. This includes the special edition that costs ₹720 for a 150-gm bar, a baby sandal soap specially designed for the tender skin of infants, as well as the super-exotic rose-sandalwood soap, to name just a few.
The goodness of sandalwood concentrated in a soap
As is well-known to most Indians, sandalwood is a
dor and the product seemed to be a perfect fit. But the partnership was not to be. Soon relations soured irrevocably with the company accusing Dhoni for “defaulting on his commercial commitments”. However, the five-year -long battle did not end well for KSDL, with the Karnataka High Court ruling in Dhoni’s favour.
Challenges ahead
In 1980, the Government soap factory was converted into a public sector enterprise. The company was incorporated in July 1980 and renamed as KSDL tree with an intrinsic, many-splendor goodness— almost unmatched by anything else in nature. Apart from being a non-sticky antiseptic that helps heal wounds and irritated skin, sandalwood soothes and cools inflamed skin. This means it is perfect for most people, irrespective of their age and stage in life. It is also an effective antispasmodic that is frequently employed by Ayurveda. An essential in most women’s beauty regimes, it forms a fragrant base for most face packs. So when all of this is whittled down in a soap—leaving you free of the hassle of rubbing the sandalwood stick on a wet stone surface, all the better to get its first extract—it is welcome for more reasons than one. To further add to its trustworthy persona, in 2006, Mysore Sandal Soap got the coveted Geographical Indications (GI) tag, attesting to its high quality.
A touch of controversy
Around the same time, the cricketing star Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the first-ever popular figure to promote Mysore Sandal Soap, became the brand ambassador for the soap. Just like the soap, Dhoni was gratifyingly desi, real and undoubtedly, stellar. Both the ambassa-
Despite the success it continues to enjoy, there are very real challenges faced by KSDL with regard to the manufacturing of the soap. For starters, there’s competition from several companies that make herbal products. Then, there’s the inescapable fact that 85 percent of the sales of this soap are from the Southern states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This, in spite of the long-standing status enjoyed by sandalwood in Indian culture across the board. Also, for some reason, the soap has never been seen as ‘hip and happening’ and most of the users happen to be over 40 years of age. Most serious of all, KSDL is facing issues like shortage of sandalwood which has resulted in the company using only 25 percent of the manufacturing capacity of its factory leading to a lesser production of soaps. The main reason for this is the destruction of sandalwood trees in Karnataka. To overcome this problem, KSDL has started procuring sandalwood by bidding in the open market and is also considering importing the wood from other countries. Think about the irony of such a thing happening in a state that once set up factories to use up its excessive reserves. On the bright side, though, this is a much-respected product with government backing. It has survived in the past. Experts say it can do the same in the future, by building a sustainable sandalwood regeneration programme, educating people on the merits of sandalwood, re-marketing the product for a younger demographic whilst retaining its old strength: its purity and trustworthiness. kalyanisardesai@gmail.com
CC
tadka
India’s organic food market The domestic organic food market would touch the $1.36 billion mark by 2020. In 2014, the size of the market, which is highly unorganised, was $0.36 billion. The market is growing at 25-30 percent at present.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 41
cii Case Study-5
Managing Change in Infosys: Institutionalizing transformational leadership
CII - Western Region 2nd EdgeFarmHR Case Study Writing Competition
Finalists Prof. C S Balasubramaniam*, Prof. P K Mishra** & Prof. Sandhya Tewari*** Secondary category Type: Secondary Case Class: Organization Transformation: Infosys Technologies Limited
C. S. Balasubramaniam
Sandhya Tewari
Prof. P K Mishra
C. S. Balasubramaniam is a senior faculty in Finance at Kohinoor Business School and other leading business schools / institutions affiliated to University of Mumbai. He has earlier served at ICICI Bank in the senior executive cadre gaining substantial experience in project evaluation and corporate finance spanning over two decades. His research papers / articles have been published in peer reviewed national/international research journals and management journals. He is a member on the Editorial Board of Taxman group of Journals. He has attended Advanced Management Programmes at University of California, Davis (USA), Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC) and other leading institutions.
Sandhya Tewari is a Post Graduate in Human Resources. She has over12 years of experience in the field of academics and trainings related to Human Resources and employee management. Having worked across various industries like IT, Management Education and being involved in the training areas of Self analysis and self development has added experience to her with respect to training across various levels and industries. During her tenure with various management institutes she realized the need for self-development for the technical professionals. Currently she is working with Kohinoor Business School, Mumbai as Asst. Professor - Human Resources.Â
Prof. P K Mishra out of his sheer passion, took to full time academics in the year 1997, and is presently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of HR & OB, at Kohinoor Business School, Mumbai. After completing his MBA, he started his career in pharmaceuticals industry in the year 1987, and rose to the rank of General Manager, within 12 years time. The lessons learnt there came very handy to him when he switched to consultancy, and full time post-graduate teaching. He was engaged with many reputed Indian as well as foreign universities and institutions in different capacities, till the time he chose to become an integral part of KBS, some 8 years back. Prof Mishra is a Law graduate, and has done his MS in Applied Psychology as well.
Corporate Citizen, the Exclusive Magazine Partner of the event, will publish the series of top Case Studies, one by one 42 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
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Successive changes in leadership at Infosys have followed the transformational model of leadership, and over a period of three and half decades of its existence Infosys has almost institutionalized it. Through the course of events charted in this case study, it was amply demonstrated that Infosys – as a matter of choice – followed transformational leadership to tide against all odds, and come out triumphant on the face of every organizational challenge Whether it was the return of the iconic N R Narayana Murthy, back from retirement in a bid to reverse the IT major’s sagging fortunes, or the appointment of top SAP honcho Vishal Sikka as the CEO – the first non-Infosys founder to get the job, the entire corporate world and analysts have been following every move the company is making. Few changes at the top in a company have been as keenly tracked as those at Infosys. Leadership expert James McGregor Burns introduced the concept of transformational leadership in his 1978 book, ‘Leadership’. He defined transformational leadership as a process where “leaders and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation.” Successive changes in leadership at Infosys have followed the transformational model of leadership, and over a period of three and half decades of its existence Infosys has almost institutionalized it. Through the course of events charted in this case study, it was amply demonstrated that Infosys – as a matter of choice – followed transformational leadership to tide against all odds, and come out triumphant on the face of every organizational challenge. Case Brief Infosys has been an iconic organization in IT sector from its inception in 1981. During the past three decades and half, Infosys has been setting the trends in growth in technology, managing change by transformational leadership and corporate governance. With Narayanamurthy as the head of Infosys, it has demonstrated that strategy of institutionalizing growth and revenue can be attained by ensuring sustained differentiation and ethical business practices. Infosys has grown from a small beginning of 50 customers to 620 customers, from 10 projects to over 6500 projects, from 100 employees to 1, 93,820 employees, from 100 sq.ft to 28 million sq.ft in built up office space and from 100 investors to 4,50,000 investors. By adopting PSPD model for sustained growth strategy (predictable, sustainable, profitable, and de-risked), Infosys has maintained a competitive edge in IT services performance and productivity. In recent times, the Indian IT service players are battling challenges within the organization for leadership and stiff competition from big daddy tech companies in analytics and cloud. As for the digital services, clients would look for support from IT service vendors with domain knowledge and proven execution capabilities. When Vishal Sikka has assumed leadership as CEO of Infosys since August 2014, he has created new levels of performance and ground level strategies. Through the last few years of change in leadership, Infosys has realized that leaders’ effectiveness determines the success level of the organization. Infosys has faced stiff competition from TCS and other leading players within the country and global players. Our case study would attempt to capture the growth story of Infosys through the past and present, and emerging future horizons, and try to establish the leadership pattern and its influence in managing change in the organization. Leadership
factor is one of the most critical aspects in determining the success of the organization. Introduction If any IT Company has been in news consecutively for good or bad, it is Infosys Technologies Ltd, which has emerged as I T Giant that had made the company a model for its competitive strategies and laudable business ethics within our country and abroad! After a setback between 2011-13, Infosys has set ambitious target of reaching $20 billion in 2020 from $8.7 billion in 2014-15, roughly adding $ 1.5 billion in revenues through acquisitions. To regain its glory, the Infosys would adopt innovations in I T business and evolve as a leading technology services provider that can meet the needs of growing army of companies which are shifting their operations to the cloud. The most visible change is a shift towards design centric and US customer focused company from its status of sagging fortunes, has been to bring Dr. Vishal Sikka, an outsider as CEO and Managing Director in August 2014. Dr. Sikka wants to reverse the shrinking growth rate of Infosys which has been below industry projections for the last few years, reduce the attrition rate significantly, and resurrect the innovation temper in the IT solutions provided to the clientele. The company’s internal restructuring which is being implemented over the past one year since August 2014, has been done with the aim of transforming itself into a consulting major focusing on high value businesses rather than cost reduction projects, also retracted as the global companies such as Accenture, Cognizant etc. which had become keen to cut costs. Industry experts opined that the global clientele preferred working with IT companies with lower margins in the wake of post recession environment in many countries across the globe. Analysts pointed out that Infosys ‘premium pricing strategy and risk-averse culture had only added to its troubles. The company had also to face failure to motivate its employees with delayed and small pay increments as the factor for increasing rate of attritions, the company had to face in the last few years since 2011. Its international competitors Viz. Accenture Plc., Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTS), Cap Gemini were increasing their presence in IT domestic market, making it more difficult for Infosys to survive in the intensively competitive Indian IT market. As if this was not enough, US President Barrack Obama’s anti – outsourcing campaign to save jobs in the USA dealt another blow to Infosys and other I T corporate. Experts pointed out that the US $ 100 billion to the Indian I T industry made 80 % of its revenues from the U S & European markets. Background Note Infosys Limited was incorporated as Infosys Consultants Private Limited (Infosys) in 1981 in Bangalore by Narayana Murthy (Murthy) and six other colleagues with an initial investment of US $ 200. At the time of its establishment , Murthy and his colleagues saw an opportunity to July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 43
cii Case Study-5 After Infosys had thus proved its credibility, the clientele were willing to let it handle vital tasks and gave software developments which were better suited to improve their corporate capabilities from the basic level. As Infosys took on more and more critical jobs, profit margins also improved consequently. With a view to reduce the cost of travel, and leverage a vast pool of highly trained technologically savvy English speaking engineers in India, Infosys had commenced providing highly specialized software (called as) “Global Delivery Model” (GDM) to their U S clientele provide high quality I T services at low cost by employing talented but lesser-salaried engineers from India to serve clients in the developed economies such as the US and Europe . The inspirational vision at that time has been “to become the most respected company in the world”. In the initial years, Murthy had to face many obstacles. Infosys waited for almost one full year for the government permission to purchase its first main frame computer. In addition, and his colleagues traveled great distances to work side by side with their clients who were mostly situated in United States. Infosys maintained and updated its client mainframe systems as their businesses and I T requirements evolved. To begin with, Infosys competed directly with US based companies, however at a substantial discount. Sometimes, large clients contracted with US I T services firm,s and that firm subcontracted part of their work with Infosys. In those days, Infosys had to convince Indian companies about the necessity of I T services and that such services would improve their capabilities to face problems and improve performance. After Infosys had thus proved its credibility, the clientele were willing to let it handle vital tasks and gave software developments which were better suited to improve their corporate capabilities from the basic level. As Infosys took on more and more critical jobs, profit margins also improved consequently. With a view to reduce the cost of travel, and leverage a vast pool of highly trained technologically savvy English speaking engineers in India, Infosys had commenced providing highly specialized software (called as) “Global Delivery Model” (GDM) to their U S clientele. In those days data links between U S and India were essentially unavailable, so Infosys sent software code back and forth by courier and fax. Since the US clientele had demanded prompt time schedules, Infosys teams could not simply remain idle during communication delays. Programmers on site and in India worked on the same software application in parallel. Ensuring that the portions of code developed in each location were consistent and interoperable was difficult. Shifting work offshore was nearly impossible during such developmental phases led Infosys several difficulties in duplicating client systems in India, but this method presented its own complexities. Simulations were never perfect, but the Infosys engineers had marched on with their projects, and it won them their coveted CMM level as certified by Stanford! Not only Infosys engineers could handle routine maintenance tasks, correcting software flaws, cleansing the corrupted 44 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
data, they proved their mettle by managing highly application oriented software development, business process reengineering , installation of certain packaged solutions, programme management and even technology consulting . Although Infosys remained the sole supplier of outsourced I T maintenance work, Infosys engineers could attain the recognition of “the best of the breed” to their work capabilities, which meant high degree of competence in knowledge management, systems architecture, maintenance and customized innovations. With such unique achievements, GDM achieved the full potentials and brought laurels for the software engineers of Infosys! Murthy described the basic philosophy of GDM: “The GDM is a model that splits a large task into multiple subtasks in two categories: activities that have frequent interaction with customers, and activities that have little. Activities that have frequent interaction are necessarily delivered from remote, scalable, process driven, talent rich, technology –based, cost competitive development centers in countries like India “.Murthy and his colleagues dedicated themselves to achieving complete mastery of the GDM. More specific, they worked to embed knowledge about the GDM in the clientele company’s formal systems and processes. This was important to ensure that the clientele company and the Infosys worked in unison to reduce costs and high quality even as it grew rapidly. Nevertheless the GDM soon became the formidable competitive advantage for Infosys. It created credibility for its performance and realize the full potential for the organization, which is the transformational leadership for Infosys under Narayanamurthy and his laudable colleagues! Without a GDM, Infosys would not be able to grow and annual revenue of US $ 100 million could be achieved by it. Infosys was listed as the first
Indian company in NADAQ in US in 1999!! By then, Infosys had set up offices in UK, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Australia and two development centers in US. In the early 1990s, conditions changed dramatically in the favour of Infosys with much wanted liberalization and deregulation in Indian economy. The frequency of Murthy‘s trips to visit to the government offices in Delhi dramatically were reduced to one in 1990s from 200 visits in 1980s that he made. Further, the ruling Government in those days lauded the achievements of Infosys and nominated Murthy as the
cii Case Study-5 head of Corporate Governance Committee convened by it! The Core Values of Infosys have been enunciated by Murthy laudably in these words: • • • • •
Customer Delight Lead by Example Integrity and Transparency Fairness Excellence
The Core Values of Infosys has been presented in a diagram below: Narayana Murthy: Seeding of Transformational Leadership Under the guidance of its iconic Founder N.R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys established “Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI)” in early 2001.ILI’s vision is to be a globally respected institution committed to developing Infosys leaders. Infosys Leadership Institute (ILI) is aimed to be a globally recognized institution that nurtures leaders and advances the field of leadership development. ILI works toward executing business strategies and ensuring that Infosys has appropriate leaders to take on senior leadership positions as and when they arise. ILI offers a wide variety of individual and organizational interventions, right from assessments to organizational development initiatives to ensure that Infosys has a pool of successful and ready leaders to build tomorrow’s enterprise. Its leadership development model includes three dimensions, transformational, instrumental, and transactional leadership with Infosys values at the core as outlined below: Focus: • Enable current performance of leaders while also developing them for future positions • Identify, develop, and retain high-potential leaders in the leader ship pool • Encourage and support senior leaders to teach, coach, and men tor other potential leaders • Provide high value learning opportunities through best-in-class and evidence-based programs • Approach: • Education: Leaders are provided learning opportunities through in-class and virtual sessions • Exposure: Leaders are provided opportunities to network and learn from senior leaders • Experience: Leaders are encouraged and supported to apply their learning at the workplace • ILI thus aimed at training its employees in “authentic leadership”. Authentic leadership meant its training the Individual employ ee to act with sincerity and he has a higher moral capacity to judge dilemmas/crisis. Nandan Nilekeni: Baton passed: Transformational Leadership Nurtured At a time when other players in Indian I T industry were focusing on voice –based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) businesses such as call centers, Infosys attracted a lot of attention and skilled engineers by focusing on the ‘niche market ‘of less explored and supposedly riskier non voice based market comprising data centers and record management by launching a BPO subsidiary called “Progeon “in April 2002. By 2009, the segment of non – voice based BPO business contributed
At a time when other players in Indian I T industry were focusing on voice –based Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) businesses such as call centers, Infosys attracted a lot of attention and skilled engineers by focusing on the ‘niche market‘ of less explored and supposedly riskier non voice based market comprising data centers and record management by launching a BPO subsidiary called “Progeon “in April 2002 20 % of revenues to Infosys! In 2002, Nandan Nilekani took over as CEO of Infosys and Murthy was appointed as the Chairman and Chief Mentor. Under Nilekani‘s leadership, the company reached the US$1 billion mark in 2004. Till 2007, Nilekani served as the CEO of Infosys. In 2007, he was appointed Co- Chairman of Infosys. He served the post till mid -2009. In June 2009, Nilekani was invited by Honorable Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh to head the ‘Aadhar’ project and was given the rank of Union Cabinet Minister as chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). In August 2011, Murthy retired as Chairman and became Chairman Emeritus of Infosys. Narayana Murthy hands over the chairmanship to K V Kamath. Change of the Tides - Its revenues crossed US $ 2 billion in 2006 and moved on to reach US$ 5 billion by 2010. The first signs of difficulties that surfaced Infosys and its internal problems when it reported a seven percent drop in net profit for the April –June quarter of the fiscal year of 2010-11. Industry experts observed that the drop was due to the currency fluctuations and a weak economic environment in the US and European region. It was reported that most of the I T companies had shifted their focus to Europe after the recession in the US since 2009. The company’s dismal performance when it reported its Q4 results in April 2012. For the quarter ended March 31, 2012, Infosys announced a 2.3 % decline in profits to US $430 Mn. Some industry analysts opined that Infosys known to report a growth in excess of 25 to 40 % quarter after quarter had suddenly disappointed the market with a drop in profits with less than 25 % growth. In addition to a decline in profits, revenues also declined by 4.8 % to US$1.64 billion for the same period. The company pointed out that its revenues had fallen short of its guidance as the BFSI sector had fallen 4.6% sequentially due to slowdown in both maintenance and discretionary projects. The company added that the sluggish growth in select segments such as insurance projects and financial services sector that had led to the decline in revenues from the BFSI verticals. It may be noted here that the BFSI had contributed almost 35% of the company’s overall revenues. Another major concern for Infosys was that it had no client additions in the US$70-100 million category. It reported that global clients were cutting their spending and were looking for cheaper options. Adding to the investors’ worries, Infosys announced a dollar revenue July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 45
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The company’s dismal performance compared to its competitors TCS, HCL continued during 2012-13 as well. While CTS had focused on the basic robustness and bold acquisitions and cornered a market share, TCS, HCL increased its presence across continents. Although Infosys Board decided to bring back Murthy back as Executive Chairman since June 2013, the revenue growth continued to decline and margins also decreased in 2013- 14 guidance of 8 -10% for the FY ended March 2013, which was lower than NASSCOM estimate of 11-14% for the same period. Infosys had estimated revenues in the range of US$ 7.53 billion – US$7.69 billion for the same period. Commenting on the declining performance of Infosys for the year ended March 31, 2013, Kotak Securities Head of Fundamental Research, Dipen Shah said “the guidance reflects the challenging macro scenario which Infosys is facing. We also understand that a part of the projected underperformance v/s the industry is due to its strategy of not chasing low –margin business”. Describing this forecast as a disaster, analysts opined that TCS should be the new benchmark to evaluate where the I T industry was heading. Infosys cut down its revenue growth forecast to 5% to US $7.34 billion for FY 2013 in July 2012. Shibulal & Kris Gopalakrishnan – Unrelenting and unapologetic In view of the uncertain environment, the company also stopped revenue growth forecasts; it could no longer be called industry leader. Looking at the industrial data then gathered, TCS had emerged as a confident player than other players in the I T sector. Some experts felt since Infosys had focused on predictable earnings and followed “Predictability, Sustainability, Profitable and De-risking (PSPD)” model but did not deliver the expected results according to the model. Shibulal, Chief Executive officer and Kris Gopalakrishnan, Executive Co Chairman however remained positive and said that the model had made the company sustainable and had an adequate cash reserve – which was crucial according to them. Some experts opined that Infosys problems were also attributable to its premium pricing strategy and its risk-averse culture along with its organic growth route in contrast to its competitors who had adopted the inorganic strategy and acquisitions. It may also be observed that other players who had started later in the Indian I T market were ahead of Infosys. The company’s dismal performance compared to its competitors TCS, HCL continued during 2012-13 as well. While CTS had focused on the basic robustness and bold acquisitions and cornered a market share, TCS, HCL increased its presence across continents. Although Infosys Board decided to bring back Murthy back as Executive Chairman since June 2013, the revenue growth continued to decline and margins also decreased in 2013- 14 .
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Era of Vishal Sikka: Transformational Leadership Personified KV Kamath and other directors constituted a search team to find a new Chief executive officer who would be able to find new directions and adopt bold strategies including acquisitions to enhance growth profits and overall morale of the corporate. The Current Scenario in IT industry changed dramatically when Infosys and other Indian IT service players are battling challenges within the organization for leadership and stiff competition from big daddy tech companies in analytics and cloud. For digital services, clients would look for support from IT service vendors with domain knowledge and proven execution capabilities. The search ended with appointing an outstanding innovator Dr. Vikas Sikka as Chief Executive Officer in August 2014 along with Murthy and other Co –founders decided to step down from the Board. Before taking over, Dr.Vishal Sikka was Chief Technology Officer and a member of the Executive Board with SAP, a German Software Multinational Corporate. Throughout his career, Vishal Sikka has constantly remained in touch with technology while also gaining managerial experience. After his Bachelors in Computer Science from Syracuse University and Doctorate (PhD) in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1996, he started his career at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which was the hub of innovation in the 1980s and 90s. When Vishal Sikka has assumed leadership as CEO of Infosys since August 2014, he has created new levels of performance and ground level strategies. The most visible change is a shift towards the company more US centric. Along with Dr.Sikka, who would be based at Palo Alto, California (U.S.A), he appointed S.Ravi Kumar, as its chief Delivery Officer operating from New York. He also has a 13-15 member Board including Stefanie Mueller, (his erstwhile Colleague from SAP) Carol M. Browner , Prof. John W. Etchemendy, who are stalwarts in their own rights, and U. B. Pravin Rao as Chief Operating Officer and Whole-time Director.
Transformational Leadership – Process of Institutionalization Infosys on Turnaround mode: Strategic Acquisitions and Innovations oriented ‘bold new’ processes and people-oriented environment Dr. Sikka said that the company would set ‘inspirational target’ to achieve $20 billion annual revenues by 2020 and $1.5 billion out of which will be coming from acquisitions. On a turnaround mode, Infosys has adopted a route of strategic acquisitions which have experience in State of Art technologies and which would move the company to ‘a bold and new’ growth level. In February 2015, Infosys made its first acquisition after Sikka took over reins of the company and announced acquisition of US-based automation technology company Panaya for $200 million closely followed by acquisition of Skava. Skava is a digital commerce platform company that develops and hosts mobile websites and apps. In April 2015, Infosys acquired Kallidus for $120 million. With investment in Nova, a venture between Infosys and DreamWorks Animation, a leader in animation technology and animation films, Nova will develop and commercialize image-generation technology in order to provide end-to-end digital manufacturing capabilities for companies involved in the design, manufacturing, marketing or distribution of physical consumer products. Infosys has also partially invested in Airviz, a high tech internet services company. With a view to regain its past leadership position, Infosys would shift its operations to the cloud. In cloud computing, services like servers, storage and applications would be delivered to a company through internet. This model would make the IT business high technology oriented consulting rather than the majority of the Indian IT industry.
cii Case Study-5 It may be noted here that in Indian IT industry nearly 70 per cent of the revenue is focused on application development, verification of software, business process outsourcing (BPO) and infrastructure management. Infosys has also adopted new revenue models and new consumption models that bring more value to its international clients and ultimately will bring more value to the shareholders through highgrowth technology areas. This will be aligned with adopting design centric and innovation led strategy in software development and execution of I T assignments across the clientele and continents. Dr. Sikka has increased the Innovation Fund to $ 500 million from $ 100 million which would be dedicated to investing in start ups in the fields of automation, machine learning big data, artificial intelligence and through these efforts, he wants to build the innovations temper in the company across the hierarchy and more importantly, dismantle what he calls an “old model” that is no longer relevant. Dr. Sikka brought “Aikido” -- that will focus on design thinking, platforms and knowledge-based IT as part of its efforts to return to industry-leading growth numbers. These services are aimed at helping clients address three key aspects of their business: a non-disruptive renewal and simplification of their existing landscapes, introduction of new offerings and business models in a dynamic business environment, and creating a culture of innovation in their organizations. Announcing “Aikido “at the Infosys town hall here, Vishal Sikka said, “... three steps forward Ki, Do and Ai; each of these by themselves help enterprises along a great new path, each of these helps bring together and tie together a lot of Infosys services we offer to clients today and together the three of these become even more powerful than the three individually by themselves”. Dr. Sikka strongly believes “no technology company may survive, if it does not innovate”. Organizations with depth and character like Infosys must have a strategic shift from time to time, but not radical change. By new initiatives and design thinking in the IT business areas with ‘renew and new approach’ Infosys would attempt to be sharply differentiating its existing services to be more competitive in the marketplace. Embracing the future of innovation with agility, simplicity, and design-thinking, Infosys works with clients to develop innovative products and services to amplify impact and accelerate growth. Its product innovation strategy comprises three core elements: Design thinking: A way of thinking that simultaneously considers customer empathy, technological feasibility, and economic viability. Infosys has formally partnered with the Stanford school to bring these techniques to clients who seek to bring products to the market effectively. Agility: Provides flexibility to cause changes during product development, bringing products closer to customer experience. Being agile also helps weed out unwanted elements and accelerates time to market (TTM). Simplicity: A key component of change and a catalyst for collaboration and product simplification, including content and processes of product development, launch, and management. This technique achieves maximum functional performance when using cost-effective material. Such an attempt would bring all three elements together to identify new product and innovation opportunities through a combination of software, hardware, and services. This would help Infosys in its service offerings, innovation networks, and thought leadership and would help in meeting the requirements of clients with comfortable ease and
satisfaction.
IT Service offerings with Bold and state of Art characteristics
Extend product innovation beyond traditional PLM to improve revenue and margin R&D transformation acts as fuel for growth Product effectiveness comprises customer empathy, technical feasibility, and economic viability Innovation network Product strategy and idea acceleration Rapid prototyping and innovation labs Co-development and launch Thought leadership R&D centers with 1,000+ people; output incorporates patents, best-inclass frameworks and models with high degree of intellectual property rights. Process control baselines provide benchmarking and best practices for product development and management Meeting International Standards including CMMI, PCMM, BS 7799, TL 9000, ISO 13485, ISO14001, MBNQA, Six Sigma, AS 9100, BSI. Infosys leverages experience in the co-creation process to convert intellectual capital into high business value for its clientele across the countries. Knowledge based I T Services will create ‘knowledge-based IT strategy’, which will involve KBIT assessments, knowledge curation services focused on helping enterprises consolidate and transition business, operations and workforce, among others. Second is “Do” which refers to the service offering on design thinking and design-led initiatives that will provide Infosys the framework for finding, understanding and defining the problems that are most important to clients and their businesses. Third is “Ai” which refers to platforms as a service to build intelligent solutions. This includes Infosys Information Platform, an open source data analytics platform that enables businesses to operationalize their data assets and uncover new opportunities for rapid innovation and growth.”Ki” and “Do” services will be offered by Infosys Consulting, the company said, adding that it plans to offer platforms to address the Internet of Things (IoT) and Application Programming Interface (API) requirements of its clients.”Ai- is combining; Ki- the energy, the knowledge; and Do- the path- together will help us and our
A key component of change and a catalyst for collaboration and product simplification, including content and processes of product development, launch, and management. This technique achieves maximum functional performance when using cost-effective material. Such an attempt would bring all three elements together to identify new product and innovation opportunities through a combination of software, hardware, and services July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 47
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At the same time, recruitment firms say Infosys‘s drive to revamp its HR policy seems to be one of the reasons why the company reported a healthy 51.47 per cent jump in job applications under Dr Sikka for the year ending March 31, 2015, when compared to the previous year. Infosys received 1.38million job applications in FY 2015. Dr Sikka is in a rejuvenation mode and is looking to build stronger ties with its employees clients combine our energy and knowledge along our path” Dr. Sikka said. Dr. Sikka further adds that the announcement coincides with the birthday of Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy, he said that the company is working on a strategy about the duality of “renew and new” in the last thirteen months or so. “All of our service offerings, all of our service clients we have been renewing those, we have been renewing those with the help of automation, we have been renewing those on the basis of innovation. We have been working on amazing new areas like zero distance,” he added.
New HR Initiatives and People – Oriented Environment Transformational Leadership Institutionalized
During the recent period, Infosys has trained about 30,000 employees in design thinking and a number of projects have been showcased. It has become like a movement, rather than a mandate. At Infosys, a combination of State of Art technologies with design oriented techniques have created and executed the maximum number of jobs. It has helped to improve the skills of those employees on the bench, but more importantly, has kept them really excited! At Infosys, the employees would not have to sit on the bench to be assigned work. In fact, they can now opt for a project or an assignment through an internal app launched by the company .The bold new HR initiative called “Zero Bench” employees at Infosys can now apply for projects within the company depending on their skill sets. The company aims to optimize the use of its existing trained talent who may be between projects or on the bench, and minimize external hiring at the same time. Generally Indian IT companies, which outsource tech talent, follow a model where a part of the team is currently occupied with an existing project while another part is on the bench waiting for an assignment. Companies prefer to keep certain number of employees on the bench with the hope to grab a business and provide its service without any delay. However, while this model works well during an economic boom, it becomes a burden for the organizations during a slump. Such bench employees always fear losing their jobs unless they quickly get on to a project. They are on the company’s payrolls but are not working on any project. Therefore, their billing value is zero. Besides, it has always been a challenge for companies to keep a balance between employees on projects and those on the bench and optimum use of the talent was not achieved. With this new and bold HR initiative, zero bench aims to streamline allocation of work and thus maximize resources. Infosys claims that this initiative has seen tremendous response since its launch, supplemented by continuous communication through its internal channels. This new learning framework for entry-level employees has become essence of Sikka’s strategy to position the firm as different from its peers. Further, various measures to improve employee morale like higher bonus pay out, holiday bonus plans, iPhones to high performing employees and 48 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
accelerated promotions have been adopted. Flexible work –from home structures, enhanced team engagement budgets and easier transfer policies have been put in place. Dr. Vishal Sikka is doing what outstanding leaders do: “listen and learn”. He is working tirelessly to meet his team, the employees and Infosys clients. Dr. Sikka wants to make Infosys the IT bellwether again. He brought some changes to the rule book to enhance office work culture in order to make the company look like a new-age, youthful, agile firm, very different from the traditional Indian IT services firms. Here we enlist some of the significant changes he has diligently and painstakingly introduced to the way Infosys will work hence forth: Employees can junk formals: Do you like wearing ties? Of course No! Almost everyone hates wearing ties. Giving relief to his employees, the Infosys CEO told them that they could stop wearing ties. That means, they can wear jeans, t-shirts or anything they like. The idea is to make
Companies prefer to keep certain number of employees on the bench with the hope to grab a business and provide its service without any delay. However, while this model works well during an economic boom, it becomes a burden for the organizations during a slump. Such bench employees always fear losing their jobs unless they quickly get on to a project. They are on the company’s payrolls but are not working on any project. Therefore, their billing value is zero. Besides, it has always been a challenge for companies to keep a balance between employees on projects and those on the bench and optimum use of the talent was not achieved
cii Case Study-5 them as comfortable as they can be in the office to work with a certain degree of informality. Extending maternity leave is now simpler: Attention ladies, if you are Infosys employees and want to extend your maternity leaves. Just drop a mail to your manager or boss, explaining the reasons. There is no need to give any embarrassing verbal explanations to her boss. Lengthy processes get simplified: If you want to get transferred to a different location due to some personal reasons, you need not go through any complex procedure and give long explanations. The company has further institutionalized family events, including carnivals for employees’ children and /or other dependent, so that employee can focus on his project well. Improving employee engagement: Infosys has asked its employees to be part of the company’s decision-making process: It started motivating its employees to share their ideas. Dr.Sikka came up with “Murmuration”, aimed at crowd-sourcing ideas from employees. Over two weeks, 26,000 employees shared more than 2,500 ideas. Employees voted on the ideas that they felt were most relevant, and ten ideas were shortlisted for execution. This exercise was appreciated. Bridging communication gaps: Dr. Sikka started a trend to interact frequently with his employees via blogs, town halls, InfyRadio, and InfyTV. He started giving prompt replies to all the employees on Yammer, the enterprise communication platform in order to maintain interaction. All these measures helped in arresting the attrition in the number of employees leaving Infosys has come down to 14.2% in the first quarter ended June 30, 2015 as against 23.4% in the first quarter of 2014. A recent report by UBS noted that these initiatives have had a noticeable positive impact on employee morale, as indicated by the drop in attrition for the company. The report adds further “in addition to changing the behavior and mindset of over 1, 70,000 employees, the company also faces the task of motivating those working for ‘yesterday’s business. We see significant effort being devoted to addressing this issue if the company wants to sustain the momentum in employee attrition and morale”. At the same time, recruitment firms say Infosys‘s drive to revamp its HR policy seems to be one of the reasons why the company reported a healthy 51.47 per cent jump in job applications under Dr. Sikka for the year ending March 31, 2015, when compared to the previous year. Infosys received 1.38million job applications in FY 2015. Dr.Sikka is in a rejuvenation mode and is looking to build stronger ties with its employees. Dr Sikka says “we have taken several steps to increase engagement with our employees in our mission to make Infosys a great place to work. We have set up dedicated teams that are working on and have already implemented several changes to simplify policies while stressing accountability and values “. All these efforts and changes in HR Policies and people –oriented environment have improved the financial results. Infosys has also registered a 9.8% rise in consolidated net profit 17.2%
Over three decades and more, Infosys has moved from a steady state to dynamic equilibrium infused with the energy given by inspirational leaders, new changes in human resources development and people orientation, collective thinking, startup models for team work and enhancement, have elevated the organisation to a ‘fresh level of performance ‘and healthier growth to move away from the turnaround mode growth in consolidated revenues for the July-September 2015 quarter. The company has maintained its forecast in constant currency terms at 10-12% growth, but the dollar revenue growth forecast has come down to 6.4-8.4% from the 7.2 to 9.2%. As software major, Infosys retained its full fiscal year sales outlook on large outsourcing deal wins from overseas clients. Manufacturing contributed 23.8% to the quarter’s revenues, while retail and Consumer Products Group and telecom accounted for 14.9% and 7.9%, respectively. BFSI accounted for 32.8% of the company’s revenues with 27.2% coming from banking and financial services and the remaining 5.6% from insurance. Limitations In this research paper, Case Research method has been adopted. Case research methodology is pioneered by Harvard Business School and followed by reputed business schools all over the world. As a Research method, it helps the researchers to identify the specified organization’s realities and study the factors in depth along with bringing out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) faced by the company in the competitive market arena and prevailing organizational environment. Case Research method allows the researchers to make observations relevant to the case and relate to the prevailing economy. Our study has the limitations of secondary data. This Case Research adopts a dominant narrative style in portraying the history of the Infosys. Leadership history in the corporate is a story of shared glory of several leaders right from Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, T V Mohandas Pai, Kris Gopalakrishnan Shibulal, KV Kamath and others who have collectively contributed the growth of the organization through its stages of growth from the dark days of IT to the current state of high demand and performance levels. Author’s bias, paucity of resources and time are also to be reckoned with.
Disclaimer: n n n n n
The views expressed in the published CASE STUDIES belong to the Author / Co-Author (s) of the respective case studies, and not necessarily those of CII’s. The copyright of these case studies, however, belong to CII. Reproduction, in any matter, without prior permission from CII is expressly prohibited. NOTE: CII has given exclusive permission to CORPORATE CITIZEN to publish the CASE STUDY only, in full, and without any changes / modifications. Reproduction in parts is not allowed. For further information, please contact: Snehada Fatterpekar, Executive – Human Resources & Industrial Relations, CII Western Region, Email: f.snehada@cii.in
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 49
Student of the Fortnight
Topping India and how! Avinash Chhetry is the second cadet from North East and the first one from Assam to have received the President’s Gold Medal for topping NDA batch 2013-6. The young gentleman shall soon be joining IMA, Dehradun where his dream of becoming an army officer will finally become a reality. The journey has been exciting, but not without its fair share of challenges, Avinash walks down memory lane in a tell-all interview... By Namrata Gulati Sapra Young & raring to go
eyes of my parents, course-mates and instructors. “The first North Easterner to receive the President’s Gold Medal (PGM) was the then Topping NDA- no mean feat, this! Cadet Y Romen Singh of Manipur in May The cadet, who has no airs about himself, says, 2008, who also happens to be an alumnus of “Well, the term ‘NDA topper’ is a pretty strange Rashtriya India Military College, just like me. one! Parents going through newspapers must be I still remember the day when he was awarded asking their children to study hard to be someone the PGM, the results of RIMC entrance exams like me !” However, it is undeniable that topping had been declared out and I was all set to join NDA is no child’s play, “The PGM is awarded RIMC in July”, shares Avinash, the second cadet to a cadet who stands first in the overall order from North East and the first one from Assam of merit during the stay at NDA. The disciplines to have won the prestigious President’s Gold that contribute to the merit include academics, Medal. He continues with much enthusiasm, officer-like qualities, games, outdoor training, “I had watched his interview on television and drill, PT. So, academics is just one of the various read about him in the newspapers. Today, when I find myself in his shoes, Avinash Chhetry with his friends at NDA I realise that time actually flies!” ‘So, how does it feel being the first one from Assam to have achieved the remarkable feat?’ He answers the clichéd question, “The names of the medal winners were announced by the Commandant during the academy dinner night on May 28 at 2230 hrs in our Cadets’ mess. I have no words to express how I felt at that point of time and it is a feeling I will cherish for the rest of my life. What made me even happier was the pride so evident in the 50 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
fields in which one has to do well in order to be awarded the PGM.” Adds Avinash, making a valid point, “However, academics cannot be neglected. One has to study a lot at NDA, but at the same time, it is important to focus on everything other than academics too.” Avinash stood third in his BA (Social Science) stream at the end of his NDA tenure.
Nurturing the childhood dream
The army caught Avinash’s fancy during his childhood days that were spent in Tezpur, Assam, “Tezpur has an Army Corps HQ as well as an Air Force base. The presence of the army in my state was obviously a huge motivating factor for me to join the army. Every time I saw a fighter jet flying over my home, I couldn’t help but admire it. Soon enough, I found myself dreaming of flying a fighter jet. But when I joined RIMC , the exposure made me realise that it was better to be on the battlefield than up in the sky and that explains my inclination towards the army.” Besides, Avinash’s father , who is in a paramilitary force called Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and presently on deputation with the Bureau of Police Research and Development(BPR&D), Delhi served as a great inspiration to him, “He was an inspirational figure for me since my childhood days due to his dedication to work. He has recently been awarded with the prestigious Indian Police Medal for his service to the nation. At the same time, I was exposed to different places, cultures and gentry due to his frequent postings, which kindled a spirit of adventure and passion for travelling and exploring new places. Of course, only a career in army could satiate
Takeaways from life at NDA
my appetite for these dreams. And not to forget, army isn’t a profession, but a way of life!”
Life at RIMC
The best thing about NDA will always be your coursemates, who will stand by you through thick and thin. In the last eight years spent at both RIMC and NDA, I have seen many ups and downs, but my coursemates, seniors and Instructors were always there to keep me motivated
Getting into RIMC is no cakewalk, no wonder then that Avinash is proud of having been a part of the esteemed institution, “I have spent the best five years of my life so far at RIMC, Dehradun, which is a mini India in itself as it has one vacancy for one cadet per state in each class.” He never runs out of words when he talks about the institute, “I made friends with cadets from across the country. The facilities that RIMC provides to its cadets for their all-round development rivals and is at times even better than the topnotch, expensive schools in Dehradun. ” “Before joining RIMC, I was studying at KV, Tezpur and RIMC was like a dream come true, after all, it is ranked by various surveys as one of the best boarding schools in India. RIMC ensures that the cadets inculcate and ingrain officer-like qualities necessary at an early stage, such as a deep sense of honour. For me, the best thing about RIMC is that this place taught me to think big and widen my horizons. I got to play games and sports like boxing, riding, golf etc which I had could never imagine experiencing at KV”. Studying at RIMC proved to be advantageous to Avinash in more ways than one, for it facilitated life at NDA and even cracking the SSB exam, “RIMC is a feeder institute for NDA and the regimen at the school is such that we don’t have to actually prepare for the SSB. However, we were guided well by the officers posted at RIMC and seniors throughout. Besides, studying at RIMC made my life at NDA much easier than my other coursemates, who were from public schools.
NDA is about finding happiness in smaller things. It is these things that teach you how to become a better person. A regular college student our age will never appreciate or realise the value of these things.
Avinash Chhetry
NDA made me realise that our body has no limits and also that we can beat someone’s skill, but not their josh. At NDA, josh is the solution to every problem
Life at NDA
“We swear by a proverb at NDA, ‘Tough times don’t last, but tough men surely do’ . The training at NDA is naturally very challenging. But I can vouch for the fact that once you graduate from NDA, you started missing it all.” Avinash goes on to share his daily routine at NDA, “Our day used to start at 0430 hrs, followed by outdoor training, like drill or PT at 0610 hrs, followed by the classes, the service training and games in the evening. The day used to get over at 2230. Believe me, you will never even know when your day began and when it ended.”
Commanding the Passing Out Parade
“Commanding the Passing out Parade(POP) of an iconic institution like NDA was something I had never thought of!”, exclaims Avinash. Unlike his coursemates, who were excited about the POP, the young cadet had to constantly keep his focus and calm in the run-up to the POP.
Looking ahead
As of now, the Cadet can’t wait to be a part of IMA,
The Passing Out Parade
Dehradun, “Yes, I am definitely excited to go to Dehradun as I have spent my childhood there. As far as IMA is concerned, I will have to be grounded and leave everything behind. I will have to start everything from scratch. Undoubtedly, there are many expectations pinned on me and I will try and bring out the best in me in order to meet them. I am sure my seniors at IMA will guide me the same way they did at NDA.
Second love
When Avinash isn’t raving about the army, you are most likely to find him pursuing his hobbies, “During my free time I like doing photography and playing either the guitar or mouth organ. I am not a professional but yes, I have picked up
these two instruments during my stay at NDA. I think being in the army, we must learn how to play at least one musical instrument so that we never feel alone even in the field area. I also love to travel to different places during vacations .” But how does he make time for it all? His reply convinces us that there is time for everything, “As far as taking out time is concerned , no one is ever busy, it’s just about setting priorities!” The Cadet signs off with a piece of advice for those who want to join the army, “Army is a noble profession where you get an opportunity to lead men who look up to you. All you need to do is just be passionate about donning the Olive Green and very soon, you will find yourself in my place!” namratagulati8@gmail.com July 1-16, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 51
#People and Purpose Survey
Top Employees look for Social Values
Organisations are constantly looking to attract the best people to work for them. A lot of times, that’s easier said than done. A good compensation package and brand name is not enough to attract the crème-de-la-crème of talent. Multinational professional services network PricewaterhouseCoopers surveyed over 1,409 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to find out what their priorities are, and what attracts them most about their organisation . The results will surprise you. By Neeraj Varty
C
EO’s are the captain of the organisation. They navigate the company through the choppy waters of competition and a harsh business environment. The CEO may be the most important person in in organisation, but first and foremost, he or she is an employee of the organisation, and as an employee, they look for certain things in the company they choose to lead. Contrary to perception, the most important things CEOs are interested in is not an attractive compensation package or stick options. According to the survey, 69 percent of the surveyed CEOs globally are interested in the values of the organisation. They are interested in the impact the organisation will have on society. There are 24 percent of CEOs who did not view values as their priority when joining, changed their purpose in the last three years to make it so. In India too, that trend is visible with 53 percent of the talent saying they would rather work for organisations with
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social values aligned to their own. Social values priorities are not the same across the world. In Japan, 90 percent of CEO’s felt it was of utmost importance, compared to just 34 percent in Russia. However, all the CEO’s surveyed viewed social values as at least one of the priorities. Most CEOs believe that in a rapidly changing world where uncertainty reigns, a corporate purpose centered on broader societal values can provide the anchor many employees and customers are looking for. But while the objective seems laudable and well-defined, converting it into tangible steps isn’t easy. For instance, 72 percent worry about the availability of key skills, but just 30 percent is focused on upgrading the skills and adaptability of their people. Let us now look at the survey in detail, to see how social values impact top talent globally.
How the survey was conducted
In total, PwC conducted 1,409 interviews with CEOs in 83 countries between September and December 2015. By region, 476 interviews were conducted in Asia Pacific, 314 in Western Europe, 148 in North America, 169 in Latin America, 170 in Central and Eastern Europe and 134 in Africa and Middle East. The interviews were spread across a range of industries.
The Findings
Top talent would rather work for organisations with social values aligned to their own. The importance of social values varies according to region. For example, Japanese top brass are most concerned with values, with 90 percent of surveyed CEOs treating it as their priority. The figure drops to 53 percent in India and is at the lowest at 34 percent in Russia. CEOs expect this trend to become even more pronounced in the medium to long term – 67 percent said that in five years’ time, the most successful organisations in their sector will attract talent based on shared values.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 53
#Pwc Survey The priority also varies with the sector surveyed
The Pharmaceutical industry is most concerned with social values (76 percent), followed by Healthcare (69 percent), and Manufacturing (69 percent). Shockingly, Banking, an industry completely dependent on relations with its customers, is relatively less concerned with values (53 percent) as compared to other sectors.
A skilled workforce was the most important societal outcome cited most frequently by CEOs, followed by infrastructure – both physical and digital In the absence, in many regions, of reliable state run education and training, businesses are taking up the baton. There are 75 percent of CEOs agree that creating a skilled workforce should be a business priority, compared with 53 percent who felt that it should be a government priority. It’s not just about education and training; businesses are also taking on responsibility for the wellbeing of the workforce. While 38 percent of CEOs said the health and wellbeing of workforce should be a business priority, only 17 percent felt this should be a government priority. And only 13 percent felt that diversity and inclusiveness should be the government’s domain, compared to 35 percent who felt that this should be a business priority.
CEOs are concentrating on reforming those elements that are likely to have the biggest impact in terms of corporate purpose and values. The focus on developing soft skills and strong leadership is vital in a volatile, fast changing environment What social good are CEOs aiming for?
CEOs are concentrating on reforming those elements that are likely to have the biggest impact in terms of corporate purpose and values. The focus on developing soft skills and strong leadership is vital in a volatile, fast changing environment. Which is why 49 percent of CEOs regarded that as their priority? Over 41 percent regarded work culture as their priority while, 29 percent were more concerned with building and maintaining a stellar reputation of the organization in society.
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Claps & Slaps The PM’s Office gesture to a budding kid Corporate Citizen claps for the Prime Minister’s Office for pledging allegiance to Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ and this time has literally touched the life of a six-year-old Pune girl in her struggle to rise above her financial and medical woes. The second-grader, Vaishali Yadav, suffering from a medical condition, ‘hole in the heart’, found both response and respite by writing a letter to the PMO explaining about her health condition and her family’s inability to fund a likelihood of surgery and other exorbitant medical expenses. The surgery alone could have been to the tune of an estimated ₹3 lakh and above. Also, hers is a family with meager means and the lack of below-poverty line (BPL) documents made it all the more difficult for this family to get any sort of assistance from government agencies. Under the circumstance, Vaishali’s father, a painter, could ill-afford the surmounting medical costs of her ongoing treatment and had to sell off her toys and bicycle to meet the expenses. Vaishali, who then chanced upon PM Modi on TV, decided to write a letter to him and try and bail her family out from her medical woes. Her uncle Pratap Yadav said, “She wrote the letter and attached her school ID card with it and asked me to post it, which I did with an assumption that we would not get any reply.” To their utter surprise, the letter not only evoked the right response but also garnered help in the form of free surgery at Pune’s renowned Ruby Hall Clinic arranged under the District Collector’s office. All the arrangements took place within a week of the girl’s writing a letter to the PMO’s office that showed promptness in delivering help along with the local district administrative office and the child’s school authorities. As the child recovers and looks forward to a healthy future, this is definitely a case for all administrators to appreciate and act upon the adage of— for every will, there is always a way out—but, is anyone listening?
Blame it on the crow
Corporate Citizen slaps actions that cow down to superstitious or corruptive behaviour and quite recently Karnataka CM, Siddaramaiah found himself getting entwined by both these acts. In a ‘believe it or not’ situation, it is learnt that the Karnataka CM was allegedly forced by a ‘crow’ that perched on his official car, to abandon the old car and buy a new one. While the media cheekily attributed Siddaramaiah’s procuring of the new car as an act of the ‘crow’ sitting on the bonnet of his vehicle, the minister promptly issued a statement claiming that the new car “had been purchased because the old one had been damaged and had also completed a distance of one lakh kilometres”. It does seem to be a tale of perfect timing and off course unknown to the poor ‘crow’ in question, which seems to have derived much publicity too. An act of timely intervention, it might seem by onlookers and the media when the ‘crow’ did decide to perch atop the bonnet of the CM’s Toyota Fortuner. The act managed to even invoke much astrological deliberations on how this incident might impact the CM’s future. Once again, the CM’s office justified a legal provision for the new car saying, “the proposal to purchase a new car is two months old, prepared much before the crow incident that occurred on June 2. We were considering Honda and Innova, also but the CM chose the Fortuner. Besides, the CM has used the old car for about 10 days after the crow sat on it. These allegations of superstition are just baseless.” But, if sources are to be believed then it is learnt that the CM finally settled for an exact replica of the old car for the new replacement in terms of the car model and colour and refused to budge on this choice. Call it superstitious or not, the lighter side of this incident is definitely a tickle and better than the previous allegation of bribe against the CM who had flaunted a Hublot watch earlier in the year. Although he claimed it to be a gift from an NRI friend, he was attacked by the Janata Dal Secular’s HD Kumaraswamy who quoted the watch’s worth at ₹70 lakh, slapping the CM with charges of corruption. Corruption or superstition—a “newsworthy” CM indeed! (Compiled by Sangeeta Ghosh Dastidar) July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 55
Bollywood Biz
Bollywood’s Most Educated Stars Bollywood actors are often regarded as a glamorous lot. Although extremely popular, the general perception is that Bollywood stars have more beauty than brains. In reality, this couldn’t be more further from the truth. This issue, Corporate Citizen highlights some of the most educated actors in Bollywood, debunking once and for all the myth that education and acting can never go hand in hand! By Neeraj Varty
sonam kapoor The fashionista of Bollywood and truly one of the most beautiful actresses today has never stayed back from talking about all the social and political issues. Ever wondered what could be the reason behind this? Of course, her education! Sonam completed her pre-university education from the United World College of South East Asia, Singapore. Thereafter, she went ahead and achieved a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of East London. Is it a wonder then that she takes a stand on social and political issues and has an opinion on just about everything? Keep it up Sonam!
Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit is has been India’s Dhak Dhak girl for over three decades now. Everyone knows about her acting and dancing skills but not much is known about her education. As it turns out, Madhuri is far more accomplished academically than many of her peers. She is a microbiologist from Mumbai University, and would have on to pursue her M.Tech, had her acting career not materialised. If Madhuri isn’t the perfect embodiment of beauty with brains, we don’t know who is!
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Dr Mohan Agashe
Parineeti Chopra
Born in Haryana into a Punjabi family, Parineeti received her early education at the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ambala Cantonment. She had moved to London at the age of 17 with the dream of becoming an investment banker. Parineeti has a triple honours degree in Business, Finance and Economics from Manchester Business School in United Kingdom. In 2009, she returned to India and joined Yash Raj Films as a public relations consultant, before delving into films. She even said once in an interview that if her acting career doesn’t work out, she wouldn’t worry much as she has stellar credentials to make it in the business world.
Dr Mohan Agashe is one of the most wellknown theatre and film actors in India. But most people don’t know that he is also a renowned psychiatrist by profession. Dr Agashe studied MBBS and post-graduation at B J Medical College in Pune. Apart from his medical career, he had an illustrious career in clinical psychology and psycho pharmacology. In fact, he is a founding Director of the Maharashtra Institute of Mental Health. It was during medical school that he fell in love with theatre, and decided to pursue it actively. He is one of the few people who have successfully balanced their acting career along with their primary profession. His love for acting and his superior educational qualification also elevated him to the post of the (now former) Director. of FTII.
ameesha patel
Ameesha Patel’s Bollywood career may not have gone exactly the way she planned after her blockbuster debut Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, but then that can be attributed to luck rather than a dearth of talent. She went on to give huge hits like Gadar and Humraaz, before eventually fading out of the industry with a string of forgettable roles.. She may not be the biggest star around, but she definitely is one of the most educated. Patel is a gold medallist in Economics from the Tufts University in Medford in Massachusetts. She has also earned a degree in Bio-Genetic Engineering from Boston University. Now that’s definitely a big achievement!
JOHN
Abraham
John Abraham may have been a former Gladrags model who became an actor, but there is no mistaking his sharp business acumen. John completed his schooling from Bombay Scottish and Jai Hind College, and then went on to complete his MBA from Mumbai Educational Trust (MET), post which he was working as a media planner, before venturing into acting, Even now, his management skills are played to the hilt as he has turned into a very successful producer with movies like Vicky Donor and Rocky Handsome, as well as a smart investor, picking up real estate and selling it at a chunky profit. Along with his investment banker wife Priya Runchal, John plans to diversify into several other businesses in the near future. As they say, education is never wasted. neeraj.varty07@gmail.com July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 57
Pearls of Wisdom
Tree in time The story begins and ends with the seed. When the tree is old and decayed, God, who of Himself has no form, takes form to re-seed the exhausted tree of humanity, to remove the tangled old growth and to bring to life the sapling of new growth
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W
ho can fail to appreciate the beauty of a tree? The strength of the trunk, its far-reaching branches, home to birds and bugs alike, blossoms in spring, fruits of the summer and cool shade from a scorching sun. What would the world be like without trees? And the greatest treasure of all is the human world tree, the family of souls who live upon this planet. Human beings. Souls in body-costumes so varied in colour and shape as to defy classification. Although people may try to slot us in some arbitrary way, the tree symbolises that we are all meant to be here just as we are—no exclusions, no aberrations, no mishaps, no change. Each one has a divine right
to play its part in this great unlimited theatre called life. Buds, leaves and branches We are the emerging buds and leaves that stretch out into the sky. This analogy comes alive when we think of the endless variety of personalities and dispositions that greet us in a week at work. We may cluster in branches and gravitate towards ‘like minds’, yet still we remain distinct, perfect in our imperfection, permitted to be as we wish. Our religious leanings or political preferences may roughly group us, but we persist in our uniqueness. No one person is a replica of another. Even twins maintain some difference, some distance. This dance of race, religion, gender and creed
We are the emerging buds and leaves that stretch out into the sky. This analogy comes alive when we think of the endless variety of personalities and dispositions that greet us in a week at work ly fits the growth and expansion of the human family, but where is God in the story of the tree of life? At its very centre, at its beginning—in its seed. The story begins and ends with the seed. When the tree is old and decayed, God, who of Himself has no form, takes form to re-seed the exhausted tree of humanity, to remove the tangled old growth and to bring to life the sapling of new growth. The story begins again. The actors, refreshed, return to relive the great drama of life. Life is drama and drama is life. How wonderful is this? Wisdom rests in playing the game and riding on the rails of drama with a clear head and strong heart.
is really quite wonderful. We may try to find a soulmate or a kindred spirit, yet the eternal truth remains: each one of us is unique and alone. Not lonely, but singular.
from pain and loss, and the suffering that emerges through misplaced action and bad intent. We can build a fortress of unity when we have the will to do so.
Individual souls Part of the spiritual journey calls us to recognise that we are individuals in each sense of the word: special, solitary, one of a kind. This awareness will set us all free, especially when we honour our individuality, and our rights and responsibilities to be peaceful, to live in harmony, without the violence of anger or lust. The journey also asks us to enjoy the collective—the coming together of shared values and loving intentions. This harmony concentrates goodwill and empowers action that shields us
Souls together All parts of a tree are interconnected. Something that happens to one part of a tree affects the whole tree. This is why we have to take extra care about what we think and do, as each thought and action sends a ripple-like effect around the globe. If we are feeling distressed by current world news, we now know why. Each one’s distress circulates in the world’s atmosphere automatically. For this reason, our prayers and meditations do help alleviate distress. We can see that the analogue of the tree exact-
History of the tree The trunk of the tree symbolises the era of paradise, which emerges from that perfect seed—that golden era before recorded history, when there is unity of belief, culture, language and governance; that period of perfected civilisation, when there is no difference between the theory and practice of harmonious living. People in such a time lack nothing and are totally fulfilled. The closeness of the trunk to the seed symbolises how souls at that time embody God’s qualities, living lives based on the principles of truth and wisdom. The ultimate truth that we are souls, not bodies. Such souls are memorialised in stories and legends as ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’, but few any longer understand that such divine beings actually once walked upon our earth... (The original article can be read here: http://www.brahmakumaris.org)
CC
tadka
Voting disparity The highest voting percentage in any general elections in India has been 62.2 percent in 1957, whereas the lowest was in 1967 when only 33 percent cast their vote.
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 59
Health
Weekend is the typical excuse for most of us to skip the gym, gorge on calorie-rich snacks and trade our sleep for jamboree. But for a 20-something IT professional and parkour enthusiast Deepti Sinha, eight to 11 hours of the weekend are purely committed to sculpting Parkour skills and taking her fitness game a notch higher...
The Good Health Leap
By Namrata Gulati Sapra Flying without wings
Parkour is a form of free running that involves climbing, swinging, vaulting, rolling (and other movements), surmounting obstacles and, hold your breath, jumping from one building to the other. You name it and Deepti Sinha, an IT professional with a well-known software company in Pune, has done it all. If you call that a herculean task, wait until she tells you about her most intricate stunt till date, “In my recent shoot for a world-famous sports brand, I was required to jump from one car to another with the help of different kong vault. It was both new and difficult for me.” But that is exactly why she chose Parkour as her passion in the first place, “It looked different and new. It made me feel like I could fly without wings!”
Minding the mind
A healthy body resides in a healthy mind. As is obvious, Parkour does not require physical strength alone, but a generous dose of mental conditioning, determination and a never-saydie attitude, “Training your mind to get rid of the fear and do that jump is important. Sometimes, you know your body can take something, but the mind rejects it out of fear. So, training the mind is as important as training your body. The will to take the leap of faith, yet knowing your limits at the same time is important. Practice is going to be painful, you will fall, get hurt but that’s what life is about. You must look beyond the pain, get up and keep struggling to achieve your goal!” “I practice Parkour every weekend with my crew called ‘MYOW’ (Make Your Own Way). The crew founder Deepak Mali is one of the reasons I never give up on the most challenging of stunts. He just would not let you quit. He inspires me every time he reminds me that the obstacles we face in Parkour are just like the obstacles we confront in life. We only progress when we do 60 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
not quit until we succeed.” At the same time, Deepti isn’t one to quit easily, “I believe in conditioning and practicing and giving myself some time till my body is ready for a challenge of a greater obstacle.” Patience is another virtue indispensable to learning the art and Deepti has mastered it well, “In Parkour, there is no instant success. You develop and progress gradually. You should not expect doing wonders right at the beginning, but the time you invest in learning one step at a time to perfect the art will finally pay off. In fact, it will make you want to keep fit so you can challenge yourself to do more and more.”
Training the body
Deepti sheds light on some important exercises that facilitate Parkour stunts, “We start with warm-ups and end with stretches. We focus a lot on core exercise and jump from one obstacle to another to practice landing. It is very important to land correctly and absorb the force, else you may end up hurting your knees or ankles.” When she is not performing Parkour stunts, she is preparing her body for them over the weekend, “I love weightlifting and honing my flexibility. Every week, I vault, I kong, I jump, I run, I lift, I stretch. I work towards mastering an element and in the process, I have learnt that there is absolutely nothing that our body can-
The will to take the leap of faith yet knowing your limits at the same time is important. Practice is going to be painful, you will fall, get hurt but that’s what life is about. You must look beyond the pain, get up and keep struggling to achieve your goal The five of fitness “Fitness is my passion and I would love to share the knowledge that I have gained about it over the years,” says Deepti. So, here is bringing you the top five fitness tips from the parkour maestro...
→ Healthy eating is the key to healthy living and nutrition is the key to a fit body. If you eat only burgers, you might end up looking like one yourself. On the other hand, the right food, such as fruits and vegetables will reflect on your body, skin, hair. So, make sure you eat right. → Persistence and consistency in workouts will take you miles, both mentally and physically. → A peaceful mind helps maintain a positive attitude and a strong mental balance. → Meditation and detoxifying the body are as important as exercise. → Stop procrastinating! Get out, jog, cycle, trek. It is sad to see people wasting away their time on social media instead of investing this time more meaningfully. All you need is 30 minutes for a jog or a run or any form of exercise to help you keep fit. For those in a job that requires them to sit for long hours together, make some time to walk around. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, go for tea breaks so you can take a walk. That way, you add at least some form of activity to your schedule.
not achieve if we practice hard. Needless to say, it takes time and calls for dedication and hard work, but the result makes it all worth it.”
Against all odds
Going against the tide can be intimidating; however, Deepti is on a mission to challenge all stereotypes related to her passion, “Parkour is catching the fancy of men and women alike all over the world, but in India, it is a male bastion so far. I am here to change that. It is my will to become a traceur and encourage other women to try their hand at it. At the same time, I want to set an example. People in the fitness industry have to be fit for it is their job. But I am determined to show the world that it is possible and necessary to be fit even when you are not from this industry.” The lack of facilities to practice Parkour doesn’t make it any easier, “There are hardly any Parkour gyms in the country where there are provisions for safety. We practice this form out in the open, such as parks.” Despite all odds, there is no stopping this one, “I have bagged a small role in a Marathi film as a fighter. It requires me to be in the fittest form possible and that keeps me occupied these days”, she shares enthusiastically about a project in the pipeline. “My life is beginning to turn around for the better. It feels like God is rewarding me for all my hard work in the past one year. An article on me in Corporate Citizen magazine is the first time someone is writing about me! Frankly, I am thoroughly enjoying the way life is shaping up at the moment!”, she signs off on a merry note namratagulati8@gmail.com July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 61
Mobile Apps
NBC Sports Radio
Most of us spend at least some hours a day commuting. Using NBC sports radio, you can get live commentary of your sport of choice delivered to you on your smartphone, which you can listen to while commuting. You can either listen live by streaming it, or download commentary of an event of your choice and listen to it even when you are commuting offline in places with low network connectivity. Either ways, your daily commute just became a whole lot more interesting.
Hotstar
Hotstar is an app that lets you live stream the games using your smartphone and tablet, so that you never have to miss a moment of the action. Whether you are at home or outside, you can ensure you witness India get the gold (hopefully) live from anywhere in the world. Hotstar will also be organising videos by categories, so you can catch up on the ones you want even if you miss the live streaming. Download it right away!
Best Apps for the 2016
Rio
Olympics
It’s time for Olympic fever again. Every four years, the best athletes in the world compete for top honours, and you don’t want to miss a second of the action. This issue, Corporate Citizen presents the best apps to catch anything and everything about the 2016 Rio Olympics By Neeraj Varty 62 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
India at Sports Rio 2016
This is the official app for the Rio Olympics. You can get live updates, statistics, interviews, and the complete schedule for the Olympics here. Rio 2016 also has the biodata of the athletes appearing from most countries, if you’d like to know the background of the team or individual you are cheering for. The app is also running several contests with lucky winners getting a chance to fly to Rio to watch the Olympics in person. Don’t miss your chance!
India at Sports is an app that enables sports fans to track all updates of Indian teams and players participating in major international sports tournaments. If you are someone who isn’t really interested in the Olympics as a whole and are only interested in India’s performance at the event, then this is the app for you. India at sports will track all the Indian players and their progress and rank at the Rio Olympics in real time, as well as keep a tally of the number of medals won by India. Definitely a must-download if you are cheering for Team India!
Opinion Sunita Narain
Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and the Editor of Down To Earth magazine. She is an environmentalist who pushes for changes in policies, practices and mind-set
Garbage is about recycling
It is time we accepted that each household is a waste generator
I
have often discussed the need to reinvent garbage management in our cities so that we can process waste and not “landfill” it. This, as I wrote, required households and institutions to segregate their waste at source so that it could be managed as a resource. It also means that we need to limit how much is dumped by imposing a tax on landfill. I want to follow up on this idea this fortnight. First, this reinvention means we need to incorporate and not negate the role of the recycling industry in waste management. Currently, it is said (data is weak however) that recycling of dry waste provides employment to about 1-2 per cent of a city’s population, often the poorest women and children. In large cities, there are two-three tiers of waste buyers, all very well organised and specialised in specific wastes. What is not recognised is that this trade, happening in the backyards of slums and shoved aside by policy, is the only thing saving cities from drowning in waste. It is also this trade which ensures that less waste reaches landfills. There is a great need for official support to this unappreciated activity that saves at least 10-15 per cent in transportation costs daily to the city, adding up to millions of rupees a year. Over the years, civil society groups working with informal waste collectors have worked on several policies to promote this business—starting a dialogue to find out the needs of this sector, issuing ID badges to waste pickers who desire them (through NGOs or police, to prevent harassment), providing them with sorting and storage space, and doorstep pickup service for post-sorting rejects to be taken away from slum houses or waste buyers’ yards, so that these do not end up clogging the storm drains. New ventures are also emerging to remove the stigma attached to the garbage sorting business. In the capital, ventures like Raddi Ex-
press and Raddi Bazaar, and in Mumbai Raddiwala have all made paper collection an easy and profitable business. At the macro level, it is worth mapping, within the state or even nationally, the location of major recyclers of specific wastes and encouraging the filling of gaps. Policies are needed to help this waste-reducing and partially pollution-abating industry to become legitimate, through designated recycling eco-parks, concessional power rates and low or no sales taxes. Currently, city master plans do not even allocate space for this business. It is considered illegal, dirty and something that must go away. This is what has to change. The Kerala Government has found that the only way it can manage its dry waste is by activating its informal recycling industry. The state government’s Suchitwa Mission for a garbage-free Kerala has collated information on this industry and put the data, including the rate paid for different categories of waste, on its official website. Now households can use this service. It has also started a company to manage its plastic waste and to work with recyclers. Secondly, we also need to accept that waste management costs. But currently municipalities hardly charge for this service. The assumption is that the cost of waste management is included in property tax. But as property tax is rarely computed for this service and in most cities rarely charged, the real cost of waste management is never realised. This is why municipalities struggle to pay for this service. Matters are made worse because municipal
accounts are a mess. Most urban local bodies do not even maintain annual accounts. This lack of finances for basic municipal services is compounded by the fact that citizens do pay for waste management—but not to the municipal body. In most cities, residents, particularly the affluent waste-generating ones, have engaged private agencies to undertake door-to-door collection. The household pays for this service. But the agency then takes the waste and invariably dumps it in the municipal secondary collection station. The transportation and processing of the waste is then left to the already depleted finances of the local body. It is also clear that households must be made to pay for the amount of waste they generate and penalised if the waste is not segregated. It is time we accepted that each household and commercial establishment is a waste generator and so a potential polluter. The principle of polluter pays must be applied. Otherwise our cities will become giant garbage fields. But the real game-changer in garbage management is NIMBY or not-in-my-backyard. Poor and rural communities are beginning to object to the waste being dumped in their backyard. They, like us, do not want to live near a landfill or a waste incinerator that pollutes the environment. Now that their backyard is not available, in whose front yard will waste be disposed of? If it is ours, then we will need to keep it clean. Won’t we? (Courtesy: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/)
The Kerala Government has found that the only way it can manage its dry waste is by activating its informal recycling industry
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 63
astroturf
SAGITTARIUS
Aries
Mar 21- April 20 Maximise personal goals and look into your own needs and interests. People around you will also be supportive of your personal happiness. You will attract money, experience windfalls, financial opportunities. Health and energy remain good and you can enhance it further by keeping up with your daily routine.
TAURUS
April 21 - May 20 Health will remain good. A very strong prosperity period and it is your yearly financial peak. If you are involved in any kind of sales or marketing then you will meet your targets. Excellent time for teachers, writers and journalists. Students will be successful in all their endeavours. Be more patient with your family members.
GEMINI
May 21 - June 21 Forget about your love life, do not try to sort things out as they may go more worse. Love issues can be sorted out. The great law of compensation is certainly at work this month. Your personality is at its best as selfconfidence and personal power are at a yearly high. Family support looks promising. Your earnings will increase.
CANCER
Jun 22 - July 23 You receive support from all sides for your personal goals. Create your conditions the way you want. You may experience some supernatural phenomena. There are windfalls, financial opportunities. Health and energy remain excellent, enhance it further.
(www.dollymangat.com)
Fortune favours the bold and the lucky
Your attitude is your altitude, says Dolly Mangat, our renowned Astrological Expert and believes she helps people create their own prophecies rather than live predictions
LEO
July 24 - Aug 23 It is the time to devote some time to your inner desires and needs. People may consider you selfish, but let not that bother you. Your career will remain active. Pay rises can happen either overtly or covertly. Prosperity seems strong. Career advancement happens through faith in your own abilities and by adhering your sixth sense. On a deeper level, your spiritual understanding advances your career. Love remains happy as friendships and romance develops. It’s all about being involved in group activities. Health remains excellent.
VIRGO
Aug 24 - Sept 23 Promotions are likely even though you may involve yourself in large and complicated undertakings, yet you will sail through successfully. You need to balance your work and love life. You will have to make choices and this can be difficult. Health needs to be monitored, in your busy schedule you need to take breaks and rest. Take roads that you would normally not take, be cautious yet experimental. Be careful of overspending.
64 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
LIBRA
Sept 24 - Oct 22 You will witness an upsurge once again in your career and bound to achieve success. Reschedule any stressful kinds of activities. Avoid any foreign travel if possible on these dates. Students may make important changes to their educational plans. You might be overdoing the travelling urge this month, but its advisable for you to not to push things. Finances remain challenging. Friends will be less supportive than usual. Technological glitches can hamper earnings, you will be more concerned about your status and prestige than in mere money.
SCORPIO
Oct 23 - Nov 22 You need to pay attention to your home, family and emotional wellness. It is the right time to focus on your career and your outer goals. You will need to perform the balancing act. You will find yourself indulging in all the pleasures of life. If you are serious about reinvention of yourself, you will be successful in all your projects. Personal finances will remain stressful, you may have to work much harder and organise yourself to achieve the goals.
Nov 23 - Dec 22 You will gain social confidence. Time to let go of family and home affairs for a while and focus on your career. A change of direction is about to happen for you. This is truly effective for students. Change of direction is happening, it’s a good time to review your wants and desires. ising.
CAPRICORN
Dec 23 - Jan 20 Period of love and social networking. You will attend and give parties. Singles will experience love opportunities. The good news is that your partner will be supportive as he or she has financial windfalls and is likely to be more generous with you.
AQUARIUS
Jan 21 - Feb19 Students will also look around for a change. Be more patient with the beloved ones. Finances remain challenging. Abstain from major financial decisions or purchases. This is excellent news for jobseekers and for those needing to catch up on tasks of life. Good period to initiate health regimes and diets.
PISCES
Feb 20 - Mar 20 You can afford to spend more time with the family and handle affairs in the home. The tension between home and career will have some therapeutic value this month. It will force up old memories and odd patterns that need cleansing. Address: 143, St Patrick’s Town, Gate# 3, Hadapsar IE, Pune-411 013. Tel.: 020-26872677 / 020-32905748 Email: connect@dollymanghat.com/ info.dollymanghat@gmail.com
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CRADLE OF LEADERSHIP
PROF. SUDHIR K SOPORY, VICE CHANCELLOR, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY (JNU) Volume 1, Issue No. 21 / Pages 68 / www.corporatecitizen.in
January 1-15, 2016 / `50
CORPORATE CULTURE
Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank on women in leadership and gender diversity
INTERVIEW
An in-depth interview with Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director India with Kingston Technology and Rajeev Bhadauria, Director, Group HR, at Jindal Steel & Power
Dynamic Duo 21 MEERA SHANKAR AND AJAY SHANKAR
UNFLINCHING SUPPORT
July 1-15, 2016 / Corporate Citizen / 65
the last word
It should be incumbent on every parent to show the way to children and youth to participate in the development of a society of equal opportunity where camaraderie abounds and wealth is distributed to all
to go the extra mile to ensure their goals for the community and the city are realised. When Ruth decided that the city needed a more streamlined approach to Swachh, she took it upon herself to work with the Corporation on a formal policy for public toilets and has moved mountains to ensure that corporate support flows for the building of these toilets in the city. And in Shumita’s case, it is her willingness to reach out and be at ease with business movers and shakers on the one hand and very worthy social entrepreneurs like Jaya Kale of Jagruti Foundation on the other that gives her the credibility to chart new paths for SVP Pune. The fact that SVP today catalyses many new movements in the city, not least of which is the ambitious
Meet Ruth Tribhuvan, a member of the Pune City Connect, which is working day and night with the Pune Municipal Corporation to make a Swachh, Suvidya, Skilled and Digital Pune happen in record time, Ruth embodies the urgency of youth and her never say never attitude has enabled her to move mountains in the last few months. From enabling the creation of a vehicle that can receive CSR funds from leading Pune corporates to getting tax exemptions from the authorities to being a critical cog in the wheel that made the Prime Minister’s visit to the city a grand success, Ruth is one Punekar who has the grit and determination to give her all for her beloved city. Meet Shishir Vaidya. From corporate executive to being a mentor to startups, he has shown the vibrancy and flexibility of approach to succeed in multiple roles. Today he has a new passion— to build a community for young expectant mothers that will enable them to have their queries and concerns addressed and even connect them to 50 and more of the best gynecologists in the city so that their wellbeing is assured during pregnancy and through maternity. Finally, meet Shumita Mahajan, dancer turned journalist and now turned leader of one of the most significant partnerships between the corporate sector and civil society—Social Venture Partners (SVP).
Lighthouses of Pune programme underscores the power of commitment to purpose. What is that differentiates these three and many more of the young people who are choosing the road less travelled and working for social and entrepreneurial causes from their brethren who settle into cushy corporate roles? The ‘sense of agency’ or inner drive to do great deeds is very strong and the prime motivation comes not from the urge to make more and more money which is the bane of modern civilisation
Ganesh Natarajan
Going that extra mile
Ruth Tribhuvan (left) with Ganesh Natarajan
There are enough initiatives in our city too, including the ‘Keep Walking’ and ‘Seva Sahyog’ movements that enable collaborative work to be done oriented towards good causes SVP today has moved from being a small offshoot of the global Social Venture Partners International to the enabler of significant NGOs and social enterprises in the city, providing capacity building, funds and mentoring to some worthy livelihood creators for local youth and SVP India has embarked on a worthy mission to enable a million livelihoods in the next few years. What is common between Shumita, Shishir and Ruth is their sense of purpose, the drive to succeed against all odds and the willingness
66 / Corporate Citizen / July 1-15, 2016
but the need to make a difference to the lives of ordinary people. And if there is one characteristic that makes people in Pune stand out, it is the large numbers of Ruths, Shumitas and Shishirs who lead the way to a better city and also a better country. What can one do to imbue this sense of purpose and social consciousness in young members of our society? One is tempted to suggest that all television watching should be discouraged since all that seems to do is spread a sense of negativism in the community, whether through the unseemly fracas between a do-gooder politician and the head of one of our best financial institutions that is resulting in an early departure of the latter or the unseemly fracas between politicians that is a daily feature of television dramas. But since such wishes may not easily be granted, an alternative would be to enable young people to contribute at an early age to social work in the city. When I was growing up in the village of Tatisilwai near Ranchi in the sixties, I had the privilege of having a father who spent as much time on social initiatives as he did on his entrepreneurial chemical venture and it was not unusual for us to go straight from school to his “Seva Kendra” where the children of the village would cluster to drink milk, play together and sing patriotic songs. Participating in this would often be more fulfilling that watching a movie in the city and we would rarely miss this. There are enough initiatives in our city too, including the ‘Keep Walking’ and ‘Seva Sahyog’ movements that enable collaborative work to be done oriented towards good causes. It should be incumbent on every parent to show the way to children and youth to participate in such initiatives and in the development of a society of equal opportunity where camaraderie abounds and wealth is distributed to all! In this will lie the road to true happiness—for the community, the city and the country! Dr Ganesh Natarajan is Chairman of 5F World, Pune City Connect and Social Venture Partners, Pune.
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