JANUARY - MARCH 2019 VOLUME XI, ISSUE IV
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Story: 6 Cover Low-value spend
Message from MD & CEO
model for Bosch
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organises 2nd 8 mjProcurement Conference
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mjunction turns 18
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mj in the News...
Leadership Bytes: Deepak Bhattacharyya...
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Editorial...
International Women’s Day at mjunction...
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mjunction signs alliance with SHIPNEXT...
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Featured this Quarter: Gaurav Das...
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MD speaks at Vigilance Conclave...
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mjunction branches observe Foundation Day...
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Family Day @mjunction...
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mjunction lifts Merchant’s Cup...
English Bolo: Communication made simple for special students...
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mj in the 2 Volume XI n Issue iv
news
Dear junctionites, e have closed FY19 with a topline leap of 25%, and to me, this is just the beginning of the “Fast Track to Growth” that we have promised to ourselves. FY19 has been a good year – we have entered some new sectors, forged some new alliances and signed up some new clients. This has also been a good year for our international ventures. The Middle East, where we have an office, has proved to be a good geography for us. e-auctions that we conducted for Tata Steel Europe and Tata Steel UAE have been some significant milestones outside the country. I would like to make special mention of our technology highlights, where we have constantly strived to keep ourselves updated and abreast of the latest. We are aggressively adopting emerging technologies such as Robotics Process Automation and Machine Learning in order to automate our processes. Analytics, in fact, has found strong business favour in FY19 with multiple forecasting models deployed for some of our services. We are upbeat as we step into FY20. While we will continue to explore new sectors, new geographies and new accounts, our existing accounts and clients will also continue to be of prime importance. In fact, it is with the support of each one of them that we have come this far. Our clients and all our stakeholders will continue to remain at the centre of all our operations as it is for them that we exist. FY19 has also been a good year for our CSR initiatives. We touched more than 10,000 lives through all our programmes, the most significant of them being Project Jyoti, where we tied up with the Chhattisgarh government to transform the way visuallychallenged students can learn, using mobile technology. It is a unique initiative and we plan to scale it up not only in Chhattisgarh but also take it to other states. As we step into the new financial year, we renew our pledge to remain committed to our core values as we charter new avenues of growth. Regards,
W MESSAGE FROM
MD & CEO
Mr Vinaya Varma
Issue iv n Volume XI 3
FROM THE
EDITOR’S DESK
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The Brand Watchman
et me handle the term with a classic journalism approach – 5Ws and 1H (Who, what, when, where, why and
Dr. Mahul Brahma
Editorial Advisor Head-CSR, Corporate Communications & Branding
Editorial Team:
Madhuchanda Dasgupta Editor
Debal Ray Designer
Sobhan Jas Designer
how). Who? Every junctionite who is proud to be a part of this organization is a Brand Watchman, a Custodian. Every junctionite who thinks that it is his/her responsibility to make sure that Brand mjunction keeps its promise of always delivering desired outcomes to the customers is a Brand Watchman, a Custodian. What? To make sure that the brand’s ethos and reputation is held high and not compromised at any cost. To make sure that the brand keeps its promise. When? At all times. Where? At every space and every geography where the brand is present – online or offline. Why? The reputation of the brand is the reputation of its Brand Watchman and the pride to be associated with it. How? By making sure that we keep our customers at the centre of our universe. By making sure that we never compromise on our core values – customer focus, excellence, innovation and integrity.
There is a very interesting concept in Branding called EMOD or every moment of discipline. Every touchpoint of the brand mjunction needs to have the discipline to make sure that the customer is happy and the brand promise is kept. Take for example, a customer care executive on the phone with a client who needs immediate assistance. How this executive is able to address the issue the client is facing and that too with a smile, makes all the difference. We all need to put ourselves in the customers’ shoes and only then judge our attitude towards our clients. It can be the sales person who approaches her client not as a means to reach her target but as a doctor who is here to solve the problem that is ailing the client. For this, one has to be receptive to the said and unsaid needs of the client and then offer a solution. Thus delivering the desired outcome, always, and keeping the brand promise. Thus every proud junctionite, including Managing Director, is a Brand Watchman, a Custodian and have to always make sure that mj keeps its promise to its customers at all times and thus help build Brand mjunction.
We would love to hear from you: mjpost@mjunction.in
Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the prior permission of mjunction services limited. Please inform us if any copyright has been inadvertently infringed. Disclaimer: This document is for information purpose only. Certain information herein has been acquired from various external sources believed to be reliable. While we have taken reasonable care to compile this report, we in no way assume any responsibility for any error or discrepancy in regards to information contained herein. Readers are requested to make appropriate judgement without any prejudice or compulsion.
mjunction’s Guiding Force
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mj NEW
mjunction signs strategic alliance with SHIPNEXT of Ukraine
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junction, India’s largest B2B ecommerce company, has entered into a strategic alliance with Ukraine-based SHIPNEXT Trading Limited, a digital automated shipping marketplace and network. mjunction has been providing online Ocean Vessel Chartering services for the past four years to enable its clients to transparently discover charter rates through competitive
bidding. The platform has helped finalise contracts to ship 95 million tonnes of cargo, enabling significant savings, so far. With this alliance, mjunction plans to fulfil the emerging needs of its clients such as vessel tracking, price benchmarking and cargo consolidation. They will also get direct access to SHIPNEXT’s panel of ship owners and operators.
Aninda Chatterjee takes over as CFO
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r Aninda Chatterjee has taken over as Vice President, Finance & Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of India’s largest B2B e-commerce company, Kolkata-based mjunction services limited. Before joining mjunction, Mr Chatterjee was Managing Director of the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation Limited (Webel). Mr Chatterjee is a Chartered Accountant from Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, a Cost Accountant from Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and an alumni of XLRI Jamshedpur. He has over 29 years of experience in the finance, supply chain, manufacturing, operations management and general management, cutting across various industries. In the past, he has been associated with reputed organisationssuch as Bengal Aerotropolis, Nokia Siemens Network, TCG Software and Tata Steel.
mjunction MD & CEO Mr Vinaya Varma said, “This alliance will provide superior value-added services to our clients.” SHIPNEXT CEO & founder Mr Alexander Varvarenko said, “I am happy to partner with mjunction on this and hope that mjunction’s large cargo base will help attract more traffic, as well as ship owners and ship operators on our platforms.”
mj FIRST
mjunction adds new service line to its detailing business
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junction’s business unit which delivers steel reinforcement solutions to civil, commercial, industrial, infrastructural, educational and residential construction projects in Singapore, Australia, Dubai
mjunction executives in Dubai
and Canada, has added a new service line to their portfolio.
In an engagement with Tata Steel International FZE, Dubai, the business unit will now deliver Comflor (Metal Deck Sheet) Detailing work. A 12-day training programme was conducted for mjunction executives in Dubai, where they gathered detailing knowledge and gained first hand experience of the work. The training will be followed by a threemonth pilot project. mjunction helps to prepare 'shop/ placing' drawings of steel reinforcement for construction and offers clients with customised rebar estimation and detailing services - both pre-tender estimation and post-tender detailing. Issue iv n Volume XI 5
Cover Story
Mr Ashutosh Hasabnis, Mr Prashant Badhan and Mr Pankaj Govekar – all Senior GMs of Bosch – with mjunction’s senior management team during the signing of contract.
mjunction plans to manage Rs 200 cr of low-value spend for Bosch
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anaged Sourcing Services, or MSS – which covers the entire procurement cycle from purchase requisition to receipt of material – has been an integral part of mjunction’s procurement basket for the last 10 years. Globally, organisations are moving towards a “Value-Partners” model for procurement, by which a partner turns into a strategic business partner and adds significant value to an organisation’s procurement process. The emerging need of the industry, therefore, is to engage an external service provider to manage their entire non-core purchase transactions from purchase requisition to supplier payment, by replacing hundreds of small value suppliers and thereby freeing its important and key resources to work on strategic sourcing and important business activities. Keeping this need in mind, mjunction designed a procurement model along with Bosch, which is an upgraded and evolved model of the existing MSS model. 6 Volume XI n Issue iv
In this model, mjunction is registered as an exclusive supplier for Bosch’s low value buys segment by replacing 2,500 suppliers. How does this model work? ●● Bosch users send their requirement for low value items exclusively to mjunction; ●●
mjunction issues a Request for Quotation (RFQ) to the suppliers and obtains quotes from them;
Vinaya Varma MD & CEO, mjunction
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mjunction submits quotation to Bosch; Bosch releases Purchase Order to mjunction on the basis of the quotation submitted; mjunction releases payment to suppliers upon delivery of materials to Bosch; Bosch makes payment to mjunction upon receipt of materials and services.
For this service, mjunction has deployed superior technology for seamless
We are committed to delivering promised outcomes to our clients and Bosch is no exception. I’m happy that the team took the challenge of taking up this project, a kind we had never done before, and work through the initial challenges to create value for our client. We should build on the learnings and strengthen our processes to ensure that we acquire more such clients in FY20 and importantly keep exceeding clients’ expectations with continued operational excellence.
operations. The following are some key technological features in the model: ●●
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mjunction uses SCOPE platform for executing RFQ in order to quote online; SAP is used to issue PO for release of suppliers’ payment; The SCOPE platform has been integrated with SAP to carry out endto-end procurement activities through a single platform; mjunction has integrated Grafana, a reporting tool with SCOPE, for extending real time Dashboard and MIS to Bosch; Digital Signature is used to e-sign invoice and Purchase Order; Futuristic technologies such as Robotics Process Automation and Business Process Management (BPM) are being used to balance load and automate transactional activities.
Benefits accrued to client Perhaps the biggest benefit that accrues to Bosch is the reduction of its supplier base – mjunction replaces 2,500 of its suppliers. This automatically leads to a lower number of transactions for their low-value procurement items, freeing up transactional bandwidth for their core business needs. Since they are interacting
It has been a year since mjunction commenced its journey as a Procurement Service Partner for Bosch. The start has been, expectedly, vulnerable to unforeseen operational challenges as we had never thought of delivering such service to our clients earlier. The learnings have been amazing so far. Each time we were perceived to be failing, the team took the downfalls head on. Innovative management intervention in deploying Customer Service function to address the principal root cause of worry has paid off. Today, mjunction is in a position of strength to not only retain confidence of Bosch on our service but also take this service to other clients having similar needs. This resonates with the image of a vibrant and agile mjunction ready to transform its traditional PR-to-PO service in keeping with the evolving needs of the market.
Highlights • Number of RFQs executed: 3,946 • Value of RFQs quoted : Rs 43 crore • Value of orders executed: Rs 24 crore • Number of suppliers onboarded: 1,015 and dealing with only mjunction, it leads to improved availability and delivery compliance for them as well as reduced effort towards delivery follow-ups. Fully automated transactions make execution smooth and seamless for them. Future Plans mjunction plans to upgrade its services and improve its efficiency as a Procurement Service Provider so that it can cater to Bosch Vietnam as well as other South East Asian countries where Bosch has a presence. In FY20, mjunction plans to manage Rs 60 crore of low-value spend for Bosch and finally scale it up to Rs 200 crore by scaling up our Technology and Shared Service Centre infrastructure. mjunction also plans to integrate its SCOPE platform with Bosch’s sourcing platform for seamless forward and
The PSP project is one of Bosch’s most important initiatives for supplier consolidation in their indirect material spends. This project is in line with their global supply chain strategy to have one or two partners to manage their tail end purchases. The fact that Bosch has chosen mjunction for this project reflects our standing in the market as an expert in procurement arena. It gives me great satisfaction to be in thick of things in this important engagement for both sides. I am confident that we will deliver as per Bosch expectations and take our engagement with this marquee client to greater heights. K. Senthilnathan Regional Manager Southern region
Mr Ashutosh Hasabnis, Senior General Manager of Bosch, speaking at mjunction’s 2nd Procurement Conference in Kolkata in February.
backward flow of RFQ, Quotation, PO, GRN and payment related data. It will also develop a mobile application for WhatsApp/Barcode Integration with suppliers and client for generating Proof of Delivery (PoD) & GRN.
The engagement with Bosch for the past one year has been very insightful and helped us in shaping our service better in order to acquire and cater to multiple clients within the ambit of the PSP service. We envisage our new service to achieve greater heights through infusion of automation and indigenous procurement platform (SCOPE) while automating maximum possible transaction processes, thereby cutting down all probable competition and emerging as a market leader in the PSP service. Saumendu Neogi Program Manager PSP Service
Indranil Chaudhuri Head, MSS (Former) Issue iv n Volume XI 7
Digitisation in focus at 2nd Procurement Conference because every rupee saved adds to the bottomline of an organisation.” Talking about the primary needs of all Chief Procurement Officers, he said, “Digitisation has become imperative in addressing all these needs efficiently. The experts at the conference today will discuss the diverse facets of procurement and the impact of digitisation on it.” Mr Shane Fitzsimons, Group Synergy Officer of Tata Sons, said, “What we have seen in this conference is how we can “Tomorrow will be the age of algorithms, age of ‘One Industry’, going beyond our group companies and suppliers. The need of the hour is digital transformation and not only digitisation.” Mr Amit Bhowmik, Head of Procurement (South Asia) of Linde India,
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junction services limited, India’s largest B2B e-commerce company, held its 2nd Global Procurement Conference in Kolkata on February 22, where latest digitisation trends that lead to more efficient and transparent procurement, were discussed threadbare. The theme of the conference was “Digitising Procurement for Competitive Advantage.” Delivering the welcome address, mjunction MD & CEO Mr Vinaya Varma said, “Competitive procurement is crucial optimise performance through integration of digital with process simplification and standardisation. Our goal is to bring ‘One TATA’ in everything we do and optimise performance across the group in growth, margins, cash and CSR outcomes.” Mr Vijayanand Chowdhury, Global Head Procurement of Tata Technologies, said,
said, “Online product management tool and online pricing contract form the backbone of digital procurement platform in Linde. It is termed ‘Project Iceberg’.” More than 200 delegates from 80 organisations from all over the world participated in the conference. The knowledge partners of the conference are Institute of Supply Management (ISM) and Supply Chain Management Alumni Society of Bangladesh.
Founder’s Day was celebrated on March 3 in Jamshedpur. The mjunction Jamshedpur team participated in the march past and paid homage to the founder of Tata Group Jamshetji Tata.
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On February 25, the senior management team of mjunction and SAIL BSP got together at the Bhilai Club for an informal get-together after an interactive feedback session with CEO BSP and SAIL BSP team. SAIL BSP CEO and mjunction Chairman Mr A.K. Rath attended the get-together and the interactive session. mjunction MD and CEO Mr Vinaya Varma and VP Mr Pankaj Mittal were among those present on the occasion
mjunction MD & CEO Mr Vinaya Varma and VP Mr Pankaj Mittal with mjunction executives in Bokaro
mjunction MD & CEO Mr Vinaya Varma addressed the Confederation of Indian Industry State Annual Meeting & Conference at Raipur on February 25. The theme of the conference was “The Leader: An Innovator”. Key speakers at the conference were Mr A.K. Rath, Chairman of mjunction and CEO of SAIL BSP and Mr Vikas Sharma, CEO of Balco.
MD speaks at Vigilance Conclave
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junction MD & CEO Mr Vinaya Varma delivered a talk on “Best Practices in e-procurement and e-auctions” at the Vigilance Conclave organised by the Ministry of Steel in New Delhi on March 18. He spoke about some key issues faced by CVOs and the best practices pertaining to information security of e-auction platforms practised at mjunction. The MD took the examples of telecom spectrum auction conducted for DoT, media rights auction conducted for BCCI and e-bidding for oil blocks for DGH as examples of large e-auctions where mjunction adopted innovative solutions, maintaining the highest level of information security. Issue iv n Volume XI 9
mjunction turns 18 amid music and drama
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junction turned 18 on February 2, and adopted the theme of “Fast Track to Future”, as a pointer to the fast pace of growth it envisions for itself in the short to medium term. The celebrations were held over two days at mjunction’s headquarters in Kolkata. The office was decked up with balloons and junctionites came to work in their traditional wear. The celebrations kicked off with the MD and CEO Mr Vinaya Varma addressing all junctionites. The MD’s address was followed by Foundation Day cake cutting by the top management.
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The evening ended with group photo opportunities with the MD of people who had served the organisation for 5, 10 and 15 years. The MD looked back at mjunction’s journey and also reminisced on some of the memories he shared with some of the awardees. Drama and music on Foundation Day On the occasion of Foundation Day, mjDrama Club presented “Apna Time Aayega,” a satire challenging the conventional and age-old thoughts in procurement. The script by Dr Mahul Brahma and Aniruddha Ghosh was in the genre of
romantic comedy. Directed by Dr Mahul Brahma, the cast consisted of Piya Nandi, Kallol Ghoshal, Abhishek Kar and Dr Mahul Brahma. The mjBand presented a bouquet of semi classical, Bollywood and English country music. Piya Nandi was on recitation and announcements, Kallol Ghoshal and Tania Chatterjee on vocals, Shourya Sinha on vocals and rhythm guitar and Abhishek Kar was on the bass guitar. The band was ably accompanied by Animesh Bhunia on the drums and Suvam Mukherjee on the keyboards, and received a thumping response from junctionites.
mjunction branch offices celebrated Foundation Day at their respective centres. Some glimpses of celebrations from all over…
TATA CENTRE
BURNPUR
BOKARO
BHILAI
KIRIBURU
CHENNAI
JAMSHEDPUR MUMBAI Issue iv n Volume XI 11
Long Service Awards:
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Junctionites who completed 15, 10 and five years of journey with mjunction were recognised for their contribution to the organisation.
LEADERSH P BYTES Deepak Bhattacharyya Chief - Coal & Tea Business
mjunction pioneered the e-auction of coal in India in 2005. How do you think the business has evolved since then? mjunction conducted its first Spot e-auction of coal for Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, a Coal India Ltd (CIL) subsidiary, in February 2005. Since then, mjunction has sold more than 400 million tonnes of coal to over 22,000 unique registered buyers, which has helped CIL earn an incremental revenue of more than Rs 20,000 crore until FY19 over their notified price. During April to November 2005, our spot e-auctions helped CIL’s average realisation above the notified price to soar to more than 54%. In 2007, the New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP) came into effect, and it mandated that 10% of the coal produced by Coal India and The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) need to be sold through the e-auction route. We gradually signed up all the CIL subsidiaries and SCCL, and currently we sell around 4 million tonnes of coal every month. In 2009, mjunction launched the country’s first ever future e-auction for purchase of coal, which was christened “Coal Forward e-auction”. The objective of Forward e-auction is to e-distribute coal for consumers requiring an assured supply over a staggered period. In FY16, this forward e-auction was branched out as “Special e-auctions” for power sector, and “Exclusive e-auctions” for the nonpower sector including the CPPs. What are the other services that you have been providing from your business unit? A unique coal e-booking service was conceptualised by us in early 2014 as a measure to bring about transparency and
efficiency into Tata Steel’s existing retail coal sales supply chain at West Bokaro. This service went live in April 2015. Subsequently, the service was extended to the Jharia division of Tata Steel.
the Tea community as well as with the Tea Board to implement this complete ecosystem at the Jorhat centre. We are also exploring opportunities in other agro-commodities.
e-distribution of coal is another service implemented by us, which enables MSME consumers to avail the facility of buying coal from state-nominated agencies in a fair and convenient manner. We have successfully implemented e-distribution of coal in West Bengal in 2013 and in Maharashtra in 2017. Recently, we have signed up the Bihar State Mining Corporation (BSMC) for extending this service in Bihar. Another new area of business that we have entered is that of sand management. Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) has, in September 2018, appointed mjunction as System Integrator for management of Category-II sand deposits in Jharkhand, to aid curbing of illegal mining and transportation.
What are your future plans and what is your outlook on the industry?
Could you tell us a bit about the tea business? Tea is still a nascent business for us but the opportunities are enormous. Currently we are providing a Supplier Offer Site e-platform for e-procurement of Tea to Tata Global Beverages Ltd (TGBL). We on-board suppliers for TGBL on to our platform and they participate in a reverse auction in order to arrive at a buying price for TGBL in a transparent manner. This service enables TGBL to source teas at competitive rates from the suppliers. On the pipeline for our tea business is to create an e-marketplace for the tea community. For long there has been a demand for a e-auction centre of Tea at Jorhat. We are working closely with
Customer-centricity is our mantra at all times and we are committed to provide service excellence to all our clients and customers. In coal e-distribution, we have worked with three states so far and we plan to take this service to other states soon. We will heavily focus on sand management and we plan to approach other states. We also plan to implement an e-reverse auction platform for procurement of met coal, which is primarily used by the steel industry. We also plan to explore new categories like lignite, barytes, limestone and mining leases. We are also looking to take advantage of futuristic technologies for our businesses. In sand management we are already using IOT. We are looking to extend this technology in tracking of other mineraltransporting vehicles. Coal e-exchange, e-transport services for minerals and other IT solutions in mining industry are our other long-term plans. In FY19, we have signed up some large clients and we will focus heavily on implementation in FY20. We will also focus on innovative thinking and branch out to other areas of businesses. What other interests do you pursue beyond work? I like listening to music, watching cinema and sports. I also like to travel whenever I find time. Issue iv n Volume XI 13
International Women’s Day celebrated at mjunction
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nternational Women's Day was celebrated at the mjunction headquarters in Kolkata on March 8 and was organised by the Corporate Communications & Branding team. The theme for this year was #BalanceforBetter. MD & CEO Mr Vinaya Varma delivered the welcome address wherein he stressed on eliminating hurdles which come in the way of gender equality and balance at the workplace. Vice President Mr Pankaj Mittal said we need to foster a culture of equality and mutual respect at mjunction, and each one of us needs to introspect on how to get a sense of balance in our behaviour when reacting to situations. Chief People Officer Ms Shivani Chaturvedi, in her address, spoke about breaking stereotypes and said that the biggest obstacle is in the woman's mind, which she needs to overcome in order to make the balance possible. Ehics Counsellor Ms Sanchita Bandyopdhyay
spoke about the difference between equality and equity. While equality is based on providing equally, equity is about providing on the basis of fairness, justice and need. That holds true for gender equality also, she said. The event began with a dance performance by Sanchari Chakraborty, which was based on the power of women to create, nurture and transform. Hindi recitation by Ajay Kumar Tiwari and a music performance by two members of the mjBand - Shourya Sinha and Abhishek Kar - formed the other highlights of the event. An audiovisual was played, where a section of women junctionites spoke about what Women's Day means to them and what is their take on gender parity. Messages from women across branches were read out during the event – Sangrilla Mohapatra and Jyoti Poddar of Jamshedpur and R. Uma from Chennai sent in their responses.
Awareness Session on women’s health
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s part of the Women’s Day celebrations, an awareness session was organised at the Kolkata office on “Women & Depression” as well as “Lifestyle Modifications.” Dr Sujoy Panchadhyaye of AMRI Hospitals addressed the mjunction women on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and eating habits. He later took questions on an array of subjects from the audience.
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GAURAV DAS
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valued employee is much more than just a good worker. There is that little extra which makes him or her stand out which is sometimes difficult to put a finger to, and which really makes all the difference. Gaurav Das is one such valued employee, who has earned a place of repute at mjunction. Gaurav joined the mjunction family after he received a call at the beginning of 2014 for the role of a project manager in the business unit which e-sells scrap and idle assets. To Gaurav, the role seemed interesting and challenging at the same time, as he would be in charge of e-selling diverse industrial assets after finding buyers in a short span of time. According to Gaurav, it was his previous experience in marketing that helped him to successfully handle the different projects. He feels his biggest strength is his ability to adapt and that helped in handling various categories of products ranging from high value Thermal power plants, Chemical plants and helicopters to small tool room instruments. “My seniors reposed great faith in me and entrusted me with a big project right after I joined – e-selling of the 480 MW power plant of West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL),” Gaurav says. The project was a big success, and was sold at a price which was much above the client’s expectation. Till date, this event continues to be the biggest in the business unit in terms of asset value. Mhir Gandhi, Head of the business unit, says, “Gaurav has been part of most large plant sales in the last few years and has developed his expertise specially in the power and aviation industries. He will now be leading the project to create a new service
model for selling obsolete and unused spares for domestic and international clients. He is a good team player. He is hardworking and committed to the final outcome.” There was no looking back for Gaurav since that first event, and he has been part of several high value and challenging projects. He attributes his successful stint to great team work and superior leadership. “The journey so far has been fantastic and I share great bonding not only with my unit members but also with other junctionites across the company,” Gaurav says. According to Jamsheed Daver, a senior team member, “Gaurav is a valuable resource to have in the team. Apart from being an efficient and reliable team member, he has a funny bone which keeps us in splits sometimes.” Abhi Banerjee, his team member, says, “Gaurav is a dynamic and energetic person who loves to take up innovative challenges. He is dedicated to his work and has a processoriented approach towards achieving his goals.” Gaurav is thankful for the support he receives from his parents and his wife Priyanka which enables him to give his best at the workplace. His son Divyansh was born right after he joined mjunction and that makes the organisation extra special to him. A recent feather in his cap has been winning an award at Tata Group’s e-hackathon competition where his idea was selected for implementation out of 465 ideas. Gaurav believes in his own capabilities and that sincere and honest efforts are the only ways to move ahead. Issue iv n Volume XI 15
mjunction lifts Merchant’s Cup for the first time
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or the very first time, mjunction won the Six-A-Side Cricket Tournament 2019, also called the Merchant’s Cup at the Calcutta Cricket & Football Club grounds in Kolkata. On March 17, mjunction emerged champion of the Bowl Plate after defeating Team Ericsson by 4 wickets with an over to spare. A big congratulations to the dream team consisting of Biplab Biswas (Captain), Devendra Nath Chakraborty, Asif Jamal, Subhradeep Sen (Wicketkeeper), Arnab Das, Abhilash Chatterjee, Shaaon Goswami, Swarup Kumar Dutta, Homanjan Das and Srijeet Bhowmick. The team also won the Best Supported Team Award and Captain Biplab Biswas emerged as the Best Batsman for the entire tournament. This is what the team Captain Biplab Biswas has to say: How did you prepare mentally for the tournament and how much time did you get to practise before each match? I would like to thank my entire team and my company management for entrusting me with this responsibility. Mentally, I am always prepared to give my best. As this
year we came with almost a new team, the level of responsibility automatically went up and as the Captain, the pressure was inevitable. However, I tried to keep calm and be prepared and that paid off, along with the hard work and dedication of all team members. It was a dream come true after nearly 14 years. We got only one weekend to practise before the Tournament and when it actually got rolling, there was really no time at all. As a captain how did you lead from the front? A captain has responsibilities for the team as well as pressure to perform well. The only strategy that I followed was to give our 100% in every match. It was also important to keep calm in order to take the right decision. I always appreciated and lauded the efforts and team spirit of my players, which inspired them to give their best.
Besides this, I needed to perform well myself throughout the tournament. I also had to have presence of mind for various decisions at different points of time. As the captain, it was also imperative that I keep a controlled leash on the excitement after every victory that led to the finals.
“After losing all the three games in the league stage the morale in the team was very low. However, both the Captain and I were sure that the losing streak would be arrested soon. During the league stage all 10 players in the squad played and we knew the strengths and weaknesses of all the players. After a brainstorming session with the players and another couple of one to one meetings with the Captain, we crafted the winning strategy which was executed to perfection by the players on the field.” Debasish Mukherjee Manager & mentor
What are the three main factors you feel that contributed this victory? For any kind of achievement, it is necessary to perform our best and this was no exception. There were other factors too – among them the hard work, patience and dedication of every team member. We bonded well as a team and that is crucial for any team sport. And last but not the least, were the game changing right decisions, taken at the right times, that contributed to the success. I want to mention here that for the first time ever in the history of this tournament, Shaaon Goswami of mjunction achieved the feat of a “Wicket Maiden Over”.
Junctionites sweat it out on badminton court
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junction organised a badminton tournament for junctionites on March 9. The tournament was played at the YMCA in Kolkata. Seven teams participated in the WINNERS
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tournament which was played in the Doubles format. The team of Faiyaz Ahmed and Devendranath Chakraborty emerged winners at the tournament, while the team of 1st Runner Up consisted of Biplab
Biswas and Rajdeep Dutta. The team of Rangan Mitra and Sk Amanuddin Ahmed was the 2nd Runner Up. The MD and CEO Mr Vinaya Varma gave away prizes to all winners.
1st RUNNER UP
2nd RUNNER UP
FORWARD AUCTIONS HR Cut Pieces Sheet for IBMD Kalinganagar
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or the first time, mjunction sold HR Cut Pieces Sheet of 3 ft to 5 ft length from Tata Steel IBMD Kalinganagar through an online auction method. Though mjunction has sold a similar product before, the nomenclature and dimensions are completely different, making it a new product for mjunction. IBMD is a profit centre of Tata Steel and deals in a variety of byproducts and scrap in the entire value chain of the steel company starting from Raw Materials right up to finished products. The Challenges The material is a slow moving item and it was a challenge for mjunction to convince suitable buyers. On top of that, it was difficult to convince the buyers to place higher bids in this case because of the short length and also because the material had turned rusty. Because of its dimensions, the material also had very limited use.
The main buyers of BSLC products are Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Steel Plants. Earlier, BSLC sold to mainly SAIL and RINL through long term contracts and through spot selling to other steel and cement plants in offline mode. What did mjunction do? Identifying the sale as critical, a major thrust was given to make the event successful. All major cement plants in Odisha and West Bengal were identified and contacted. Physical visits were also made to study the material offered and accordingly buyers were pursued to participate in auction. Finally, four buyers were on board for the auction event - of them, three were large cement players and one was a new customer. The auction was successful and a total of 7000 tonnes of material was booked. The client was happy with mjunction’s efforts as well as the outcome.
What did mjunction do? mjunction left no stone unturned to make the event a success, which included sending text messages, making phone calls and even making personal visits. The auction was also conducted on war footing in that limited time. All of this finally paid off. Participation and price realisation were both significant and earned the client’s appreciation.
Limestone for Bisra Stone Lime Company
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fter almost four years, mjunction received a mandate to sell limestone from The Bisra Stone Lime Company Ltd (BSLC). Limestone is majorly used as a raw material in Cement Plants. BSLC is primarily involved in mining and marketing of limestone and dolomite. The mines are located at Birmitrapur in the district of Sundargarh, Orissa. BSLC has reserves of about 287 million tonnes of dolomite and 367 million tonnes of limestone.
Liquid Oxygen for NINL
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or the first time ever, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd mandated mjunction to sell 420 tonnes of Liquid Oxygen. The auction event, which saw one of the best prices ever in the history of mjunction, was conducted within two working days of receiving the mandate. For mjunction, it was a challenge to mobilise the buyers in such a short time, as they had to be convinced to switch over from their current source of procurement. After extensive efforts all over India, buyers from West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh participated in the auction. All the material was booked at the auction, and the event saw significant price appreciation, making it a successful event by all standards.
Customer meets held at Jamshedpur, Pune, Vizag
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ore than 160 buyers attended various customer meets across the country. On January 11, a Customer Meet was held for TSL IBMD MRP Scrap, where 67 buyers attended from the cities of Jamshedpur and Raipur. Both Tata Steel and mjunction executives interacted with the buyers and answered their queries. A Customer Meet for Essar Steel was held at Pune on January 29, where 52 buyers attended from Pune, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Indore, Ahmednagar, Bhavnagar, Ghaziabad, Aurangabad, Viramgam and Bhopal. A Customer Meet for
Coal Chemical & Ferrous Products of RINL was held on February 12 at Vishakhapatnam, where 45 buyers attended from Vishakhapatnam, Kakinada, Eluru, Tadepalligudem, Koyyalagudem, Anakapalle, Nidadavolu, Chodavaram, Peddapuram, Ananthavarappadu, Guntur, Rourkela, Bhilai and Raipur.
URJA awareness sessions:
mjunction also conducted URJA awareness sessions for Tata Steel Distributors, OEMs and Dealers at Tata Steel Kolkata Sales Office, Chennai Sales Office, Coimbatore and Lucknow.
CEO of ESPF, Mr R.V. Sridhar, addressing the buyer meet at Pune
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The Jamshedpur Branch organised its Annual get-together on February 3 at United Club of Jamshedpur. Junctionites, along with their families, participated in a variety of games such as tambola and Musical Chairs for children. All children were given prizes.
The West Bokaro and Jharia Branch employees along with their families at a picnic on January 26 at Bhutia River Prem Nager.
The annual get-together of Burnpur and Kulti branches on February 8
P. Dhanaraj of Chennai with other volunteers at an orientation programme in Chennai of a Tata Group ProEngage initiative. Dhanaraj volunteered for an NGO called Sevalaya and helped them to prepare a marketing deck.
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The auditors with the mjunction Technology team
The Annual Surveillance Audit for ISO 27001: 2013 was concluded on February 12 and 13, 2019. A team of auditors from Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) visited the mjunction head office at Godrej Waterside and branch office at Tata Centre in order to check our information security processes. A thorough review exercise was carried out through interview on documented processes, their implementation and evidences. Technology, Administration, Procurement and Human Resource functions, along with IT infrastructure, FMSIT, BMS & Data Centre facilities were reviewed during this audit.
mjunction participates in Internal Audit event
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junction participated in the 26th Annual Conference of The Institute of Internal Auditors India (IIA), Calcutta Chapter, on February 22 in Kolkata. The theme of the conference was “Emerging Paradigm of Enabling Audits.� The event focused on the emerging challenges and the evolving role of Internal Audit such as leveraging Big Data, Cloud and Artificial Intelligence to transform Risk Management Framework and shifting gears from Audit to Investigation. mjunction was also part of the organising committee of the event.
Bidder training in progress at the Bhawanathpur Group of Mines under SAIL RMD at Garhwa district of Jharkhand. mjunction executives visited the mine area in order to provide training on the reverse auction bidding process. Mr S.K. Singh, DGM (Mines) of the Bhawanathpur Mines was among those who attended the training.
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been christened “English Bolo.” The self-learning modules have been designed in collaboration with English Helper, an organisation that is involved in digital teaching of the English language. Apart from developing the learning modules, mjunction is involved in regular monitoring and evaluation of the classes, with a special focus on its efficacy. Students and trainers alike are excited and enthusiastic about the project. Tanvir Hussain of class 8 says, “I am getting to learn a lot and very happy doing these
PHOTO STORY Being a primarily agrarian economy, rivers are the lifeline of India. Debjyoti Chakraborty’s camera captures the alluring water landscape in and around the Steel City of Jamshedpur, which is located at the confluence of Kharkai and Subarnarekha rivers. Maa Lake created from tributaries of Subernarekha
Dimna Dam around Dalma Hills over Subernarekha
Kharkai meets Subarnarekha
Marine Drive around river Kharkai
Subarnarekha river, which means “streak of gold”
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Printed at: florenceoffset@yahoo.co.in
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he Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP) in Kolkata is a place where slowly and surely mjunction is playing a role in transforming lives. For students afflicted by cerebral palsy, and also for their trainers, facilitators and special educators, mjunction has designed a special and customised Individual online English learning course, in order to make the English language easy to learn and overcome the fear and apprehensions regarding the language. Since August 2018, 80 lives have been touched and have benefited from this programme, which has
courses.” Echoing Tanvir, Poonam Midhha of class 10, said, “Earlier, English communication was a big problem area for me. However, it is now much easier.” One of the trainers, Sudipendu Dutta, was equally excited. “The courses are fun and English speaking and writing skills have improved a lot. The mind block regarding English has gone and this helps in workplaces as well,” he said. Another trainer, Samapika Chatterjee, said, “Hearing makes learning easier. As the students are making progress, I am noticing some positive changes in them. They have become more attentive and some behavioural issues have also been addressed through that. They have become more participative and spontaneous.” “The courses are really helping a lot. The students are responding and reacting very positively, and their language skills have definitely improved,” according to Srobona Deb, a special educator. “English Bolo” is just one of the several projects that mjunction has undertaken to touch and transform lives through better English language communication skills. Children with special needs are being positively empowered through this programme, giving them the confidence to communicate with the outside world more effectively.
For Private Circulation Only Regd. Office: mjunction services limited, Tata Centre, 43 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Kolkata 700 071, Website: www.mjunction.in Corporate Head Quarters: Godrej Waterside, 3rd Floor, Tower 1, Plot V, Block DP, Sector V, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091, Tel: +91 33 6610 6100, Fax: +91 33 6610 6187 CIN: U00000WB2001PLC115841
English Bolo: mjunction undertakes project to make English communication simple for special students