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CONTENTS
EDITOR Gp Capt R Vijayakumar ﴾Retd﴿, VSM
READERSHIP OUTREACH Gp Capt Dr R Venkataraman ﴾Retd﴿
Sundar R Vakeeswari M DESIGN D Rajaram, Tayub Refai MADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION Management Center, New No.240 Pathari Road, ﴾Off Anna Salai﴿, Chennai 600 006 Ph:044‐2829 1133 / Email:mma@mmachennai.org | mandate@mmachennai.org | www.facebook.com/mmachennai
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EDITORIAL
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM
Embracing a hybrid life!
W
e are living in a completely different world,
blockchain-based digital assets. With Amitabh Bachchan
a world where technology plays a huge part
being the face of this trend, NFTs are becoming the next
in our lives. It has even spurred the startup
big think in the digital world. It is only a matter of time
ecosystem to bloom extremely well despite the raging pandemic. And three Covid waves later, India is on a path of recovery and growth. At least that is what we
that the people would embrace this tech space.
Back‐to‐office: Hybrid is the way forward
would like to believe, but the complex underpinnings
Back-to-office! While many enjoy the banter and
of the economy leaves much to imagination. Retail
comfort of having face–to–face communications in
inflation raced to a 17-month high in March led by a
office, others miss the efficiency and flexibility of
sharp spike in the prices of food and manufactured goods. Energy and commodity prices have shot up due to the Ukraine war. Inevitably, the stage is set for an
interest rate hike.
Non‐Fungible Tokens ﴾NFTs﴿ A new phenomenon is now the talk of town: Non– fungible tokens or NFTs. NFTs are quietly making an impact in a short period it has been around. These are BUSINESS MANDATE
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Data privacy in India was a concept that only a few knew about a decade ago. Frighteningly, very little is still known. Our mobile numbers and addresses may all be available for a price.
5 MAY 2022
working from home. I understand that many corporate
We are also happy to present an article on the
professionals have easily slipped back into their pre-
theme
pandemic office routines, while others struggle with
Professional Growth” by Ms Meena Chabria and on
the commute and being around people. People are
“Goal Setting for high Performance” by Ms Sangeeta
already missing the flexibility of taking a break to do
Shankaran Sumesh with embedded videos in this issue,
their household works, the comfort of eating freshly
which are very relevant and inspiring.
cooked meals, and the luxury of working more refreshed. However, adjusting to the routine is easier
“Overcoming
Personal
Challenges
for
Data Protection Act 2021
in the hybrid work model—the most valued outcome
Data privacy in India was a concept that only a few
of the pandemic work environment. Transitioning from
knew about a decade ago. Frighteningly, very little is
work-from-home to the hybrid model has been smooth
still known. Our mobile numbers and addresses may
for many as it brings in flexibility and accessibility,
all be available for a price. Earlier, the leaked data was
thereby helping balance work, health and family.
used by the product and services companies for cold
The hybrid model is challenging even for the CEOs and
Senior
Management:
they
have
to
make
adjustments in how they carry themselves, how they communicate and interact with their teams. It calls for a progressive blended-leadership style that is dynamic enough to tweak work styles multiple times in a day to build and retain talent in a gig economy, to dole out warmth and competence in equal measure, to create a culture and to meet the goals of the organization. The agile approach and timely pivot without losing momentum are testimony of the adaptive and nimble attitude of the leaders. Life coaches say that the skill sets needed to survive at the workplace are changing rapidly, but employers are not ready for change. Consequently, many careers are becoming redundant.
calling. Recent instances show data breaches can cripple peoples finance, and prevent them from availing financial product. While there are systems in place to deal with data breach violations, they have not been fool-proof. People do manage to get hold of important KYC documents to commit fraud. It is not out of place to mention here that the European Union (EU) has another first to its credit. It has unveiled the Digital Service Act, which aims to hold big tech firms accountable for hate, fake news, ads aimed at kids and other harmful content on their platform. The EU is also the first to enact the digital privacy law to safeguard people. India, therefore, needs a strong Data Protection Bill. After it was tabled in 2019, the personal Data Protection Bill was sent to a joint parliamentary committee which submitted its recommendation last
The events at MMA are carefully curated to ensure
November. It is understood that the Government is
that we address these issues for the benefit of leaders
planning to daft a fresh Bill to address data privacy
to understand managing expectations around remote
issues. The Data Protection Act 2021 has already made
work, handling fast growing digital transformation, and
its entry as Due Diligence under ITA 2000.
implementing new initiatives to meet the aspirations and expectations of employees. Please do join us in person or online to benefit from our events. Log in to our website www.mmachennai.org to know more. 6
MAY 2022
To say that India needs a robust data privacy law is an understatement. In this context, MMA in association with FDPPI and KAS organized a one day seminar on the theme “Data Protection Act 2021 - A
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Compliance Perspective” on 23rd April 2022 at MMA
years of absence from schools and with students
Management Center. A galaxy of thought leaders shared
having spent most of their time at home with either
their insights on this important issue, which was
semi structured or no educational activity, the school
thought provoking and informative. This initiative of
premises could be a strange sight for many of them. In
MMA is a small but significant step towards better
this context, an MMA CSR initiative supported by
understanding of Data Protection Act 2021 and its
ACSYS and Super Auto Forge helped schools in
implications. I am delighted to present a brief article
resuming
on the event in this issue. Please read on and do watch
infrastructure development. We work with government-
the video and enrich yourself.
aided schools and schools for poor children. I am
structured
educational
activities
and
delighted to share that the donor, ACSYS Investments
Click to view…
Ltd., has approved our recommendation to focus on
Entrepreneurial boom!
children in primary schools to inculcate in them
New venture registrations are up, but this could also reflect self-employment driven by job losses. What we need are ambitious start-ups that can recruit people in ever larger numbers. What has motivated this rush of entrepreneurship is not easy to assess.
To the
Government’s credit, starting a business has certainly become easier than it used to be. And as opportunities and big ideas keep sprouting, we could well see success stories in most sectors. Plus we have Start-up India and
modern learning methods right from the start. This initiative’s impact will be improved learning outcome, which is a measurable impact and can be tracked and monitored. The objective is to provide children from low income families an equal opportunity to succeed in life. I welcome your support and suggestions please.
Obituary
other initiatives in place, but we need to go beyond
The passing of Mr N Sankar, Chairman, Sanmar
slogans and the ease of starting up if we must catalyse
Group, and Past President, MMA, is an irreparable loss
value addition and job creation. In this context, MMA-
not only to the corporates but also to the world of
KAS in association with TiE Chennai organised an event
sports. History and posterity will mark him as a
on the theme "Understanding the Nuances of Deep
stalwart, a pioneer and a resolute and determined
Tech” on 18th April 2022. The insights shared by the
human being who led a comprehensive life and has
speakers
now passed on to immortality.
are
very
critical
for
the
success
of
entrepreneurs. I am happy to present the article with embedded videos for your reading and viewing.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
Click to view…
Students are back in school! The increased public dependence on Government schools is an opportunity for the State to regain its preeminent role in education. However, with almost two BUSINESS MANDATE
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Deep Tech companies work on technology that addresses problems and are solutions‐ oriented. We invited a distinguished panel of experts to unravel the nuances of this emerg‐ ing tech space.
Pravin Shekar, Hon. Secretary, TiE Chennai
Aerospace;
W
technologies; Telecom and Infrastructure. The Covid
e have recently formed a core group in TiE and its objective is to help democratize deep tech; to bring a deeper understanding
of its facets to the community and to ensure that we are able to work with the ecosystem of startups and to work with institutions to foster the deep tech growth in the country.
Cleantech;
Industrial
vaccine itself is one of the deep tech projects.
Deep tech and startups Of course, all startups have to solve a problem but the deep techs look at solving some fundamental problems. 97% of the startups in deep tech domain goals (SDGs) of the UN which include removal of poverty, hunger, providing clean energy and smart
Deep Technology (Deep tech) or hard tech is a classification of organisation or more typically a startup company with the expressed objective of providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges. The key technology areas are: Biotech, Robotics, AI/ML, AR/VR, Blockchain, Advanced material science, Photonics and electronics and Quantum computing.
cities. The second is, there is always a convergence of technologies and 96% of the deep tech startups have a combination of multiple technologies like AI with robotics. The third is, they produce products and all of them own a certain IP, which is a very valuable component.
The key application areas are: Lifesciences and healthtech; Food and agritech, where we are trying to use robotics and drones to increase production; 10
and
address at least one of the 17 sustainable development
What is deep tech?
MAY 2022
Energy
The last is, they are part of the huge ecosystem. According to NASSCOM, 12% of the new startups use some of the technologies like AI, ML, IOT, Robotics.
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Lakshminarayanan, Co‐founder & Emeritus Vice Chairman,
In Quadrant 1 (Top Left), the intensity of fundamental
Cognizant
research is very high but there are very limited
D
efining Deep tech would be limiting its scope. However, there is a good and popular model that is available to understand all that is
associated with research- both fundamental and applied- in the areas of science and technology. It is called the ‘Louis Pasteur's quadrant,’ as shown in the figure. It is a two by two matrix and simple to understand. On the X-axis, we have the intensity of application and on the Y-axis, the intensity of research.
applications. It is called the Niels Bohr's quadrant. E.g.: Quantum mechanics, quantum sciences, etc. We have still not figured out ways of applying it in the real world. There are people who chase the truth, like, how did the universe come to be or what is driving nature, through fundamental research. We have institutions in India who continue to do that. TIFR initially promoted that. We have the International Centre for Theoretical Science (ICTS) in Bangalore.
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There is a significant amount of research that's available from
startups in this quadrant are very high in research. Their applications can impact billions of people. The most recent example is the Moderna vaccine or the
these institutions but only some
BioNTech vaccine, which has come out of fundamental
of them find applications.
research on Messenger RNA. It did not come up in one year. They were working on this for the past 10 to 15
~ Lakshminarayanan
years. Deep Tech companies work on technology that addresses problems and are solutions-oriented. As IIT-
Then we have Quadrant 3 (Bottom Right) where the
Madras' Dean Prof Kamakoti mentioned, there are a
intensity of research is low but there is high intensity
plenty of technologies available with us. We are in a
of application. This is called the Edison's quadrant. He
situation of the hammer looking for a nail. We always
is the person who was known to have never invented
associate products in deep science and technology
anything but he applied whatever research and science
areas with big companies, as the investment required
that was available at that point in time, to make a
is high and it has to be sustained over a period of time.
significant impact to society, starting from the light
You need patient capital.
bulb to all the other things that he did.
Quadrant 2: The Holy Grail
Chinnu Senthilkumar, Managing Partner, Exfinity
The Holy Grail, of course, is Quadrant 2 (Top Right), which is called the Pasteur's quadrant, where both the intensity of research and application are high. It is called Pasteur's quadrant because Louis Pasteur did research at the high end and also applied it to almost save humanity. He is a great example for everyone who tries to be in the deep science and technology area.
D
eep Techs deal with physical products but I would like to add a small nuanced difference. The
product
must
be
able
to
create
disruption. I worked in Intel and dealt in transistor for the first 10 years. I was a hardware engineer and I worked in chip design. In those days, I did not have much of an opinion about software people. I thought
With this one model, we can correlate all the
it was very simple. But after 15 to 20 years, my opinion
institutions that we have in India. In Bangalore, we have
changed drastically. The reason is, if you look at any
NCBS - The National Centre for Biological Sciences that does a lot of research and then finds many applications like the Pasteur's quadrant. Institutions like the IITs and IISC are probably somewhere in the Edison's quadrant, trying to move up. There is a significant amount of research that's available from these institutions but only some of them find applications. IIT Research Parks or The Society for Innovation and
product today, you should tie it to the software or platform ecosystem. That is what Steve Jobs did. In the Apple ecosystem, all the individual components come from various parts of the world or various engineers. Industrialised nations like Europe have been fantastic in individual innovations but when it comes to bringing those innovations together, the US excelled. With deep
Development are good examples of institutions that
tech, the more you can bring the product to the
take us to the Pasteur's quadrant. Companies or
platform, the more you can scale it.
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I grew up in a small village near Namakkal in
If you want to start a deep tech
company, look at the top 4 or 5
Tamilnadu. In the late seventies and eighties, the valve radios were getting replaced by transistors in a big way.
big companies in your space,
Then I worked in San Disk which had come up with
look at their roadmap and see
memory that completely disrupted the storage medium.
what is missing. Can you
Innovation should lead to disruption and production
address that gap?
on a scale.
~ Chinnu Senthilkumar
The Role of Ph.Ds Now, in deep tech, we are talking about AI, ML, AR and VR. Ten years down the road, it will be different. We have invested in deep tech companies. Six or seven of them are founded by PhDs. The product usually comes from a PhD thesis. It gets translated into an idea and it gets scaled. We have a company that has come up with a new battery and is founded by a young PhD who converted his PhD thesis. The point is that many deep tech companies are founded by PhDs but it doesn't mean that only PhDs can come up with it. We have companies founded by dropouts also. Chennai has a very good deep tech ecosystem. In my opinion,
must come from startups and big companies have understood that. Most of the big companies have started setting up corporate venture funds because they want to come and invest with deep tech entrepreneurs in Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad, because they know that it is the way to keep innovating. At one point, they want to acquire the company. Intel had Intel Capital. Many big companies have a venture arm for this reason. Find out your customer. Why would they buy your product? You have to reverse map it and go bottom up from your technology and also work top down.
what is probably lacking is the commercialisation part. No matter how much you do with the tech, you have to find a way to commercialise it. For example, this particular company that I talked about which was founded by two Stanford PhDs appointed a CEO with MBA with 20 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry and with techno commercial background. If you have to sell it to the customer, you have to understand the customer's pain point.
Rohan Ganapathy, CEO & CTO, Bellatrix Aerospace
A
ccording to me, deep tech is turning science fiction into reality, as I come from a space background. We attack problems differently.
In 2014, India launched the first satellite to Mars and proudly declared that it cost us less than the cost of making the Hollywood movie Gravity. The per kilometre
If you want to start a deep tech company, look at
cost of seven rupees was cheaper than an auto. We
the top 4 or 5 big companies in your space, look at their
disrupted this further and ISRO said that we can go to
roadmap and see what is missing. Can you address that
Mars at one paise per kilometre.
gap? If they were to acquire your company after five to
untapped potential but there is no market.
seven years, what are the metrics they will be looking at? Why would Intel or AMD or Infosys buy me?
There is huge
We talk about first mover advantage. I would call it 'first mover risk' because there's a lot of weight you
The big companies are not able to innovate at the
have to carry. Being the first space startup in the
speed at which startups operate. So the innovation
country, we had to face this. Now, I am happy to say
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Disruption for us is taking
Gold is available underneath the ocean. Why don't we
everything from every
mine it? Because, the cost of mining is more than the
department and putting
value of gold.
together and coming up with a
Similarly, now we are talking about climate change. It is real. We are still class zero in the human evolution.
solution. The potential is big.
That means, we are dependent on the natural resources
~ Rohan Ganapathy
for our survival. The next option is go to the moon and mine. The moon is rich. It's a barren land that is rich in titanium, iron, aluminum and even the future nuclear
that looking at us, there are 6 to 8 space focussed
fuel called helium 3, but what stops us from going and
companies in India. We are not that old. We set up in
getting it is the transportation cost. That is what we are
2015. The word software itself was coined for Neil
trying to solve. We have an engine which runs on water
Armstrong's Apollo moon landing. The lunar module
as the fuel. Water is available on the moon as well, so
couldn't be remotely controlled from the earth because
you don't carry a return fuel. You get everything in-situ
light takes a few milliseconds to reach the moon and
resource utilization. We saw the potential and we also
you can't do automated landing. So the first codes were
wanted to disrupt. This is a way to look at deep tech.
actually written for a space application. Space is an
In Indian perspective, the biggest problem is that
amalgamation of every subject. ISRO is not made of
people don't believe. We have to do the technical
aerospace engineers but of computer science engineers
feasibility study. We have to educate investors and gain
and mechanical engineers. Disruption for us is taking
their confidence to get money, as our gestation period
everything from every department and putting together
is longer and we need a little higher capital than any
and coming up with a solution. The potential is big.
other industry.
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How did you come up with the idea of electrics? In your journey of the past seven years, can you talk about the challenges that you faced?
ISRO was not really open to private industry coming up in an area where they are the king. The transi on took place in the early 2000 in the US. In India, it was s ll not the case. But we had a
Rohan: Thanks to Elon Musk, space went from being B to G to
solu on which ISRO wanted. That is how, ISRO ended up becoming
more of B to B. Today, space is 450 Bn $ industry and has poten al
our first customer.
to cross 1 Tn $, which itself is a pessimis c number. The world is such a small space today and thanks to space technology, we are all so closely connected. But it is s ll expensive to go to space. To put anything to space, it s ll costs somewhere around 40,000 $
The next problem was with investors. You might have a good technology and deep tech is not just about tech. It is also about regula ons. There is no space policy in India. You do anything in space and it is always a dual use. I launch a rocket and it goes to
per kg. A good satellite would weigh somewhere in the order of one ton.
So imagine the cost required to send a satellite to space. Elon
We wanted to solve this problem. Just like the EV
Musk answered this ques on by reusing the rocket. Our rocket is
revolution going on the road,
as complex as an airplane. An airplane can't fail because we are
we wanted to electrify space.
travelling. That level of reliability is also needed for a rocket, because we are pu ng a very expensive hardware to space. But
The electric propulsion doesn't
what we do, we end up throwing all the stages back into the
need so much of fuel. From
ocean. It is expendable in nature. Elon Musk opened up a
2000 Kgs, we only need 180 kgs
Pandora's Box by reusing.
of water to go from point A to
What else can be done? We came to know that the satellites carry
point B. That's the idea with
very li le payload. Even if they weigh 5 Ton, only 200 kg is the
which we started Bellatrix.
payload and the payload must give a return on investment. Why
~ Rohan Ganapathy
does it weigh 5 tons? Because, to go from low orbit to 36,000 kilometres, it needs fuel to go there. orbit. If I tweak the so ware, it can land in Pakistan. So, it falls into We wanted to solve this problem. Just like the EV revolu on going on the road, we wanted to electrify space. The electric propulsion doesn't need so much of fuel. From 2000 Kgs, we only need 180 kgs of water to go from point A to point B. That's the idea with which we started Bellatrix.
the dual use category and the government will invoke the Na onal Security class. This scares the investors to invest in space. We had to work with them and literally force the Department of Space to come up with space policy. ISRO had already nurtured industries to do something for space, but that was built to print. We had not
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reached the maturity of sending our own product to space. That is the shi which we wanted to do.
me, we had to tackle the problem differently and make the customers pay. So we made ISRO and DRDO to buy from us. That
Now you see the change happening. Our PM proudly announced that in the 450 Bn$ space market, India is a leader because ISRO is very well respected and they are very good. Shouldn't India have
sustained the team. Now we wanted to expand and we needed venture capital to go out of India. We are the first startup to get a space focused VC investment in the country. Now we have 50 plus people.
its own piece of the cake? The US is a very strange country. I don't know from a so ware perspec ve but for space, it is very different. If we want to do
You pivoted a couple of years back and had an association with Skyroot. Can you talk about that?
anything new, they will readily invite us but we can't get anything from US because there is ITAR, which doesn't allow you to import
Rohan: Skyroot and Chennai‐based Agnikul are launch vehicle
certain things. There is something called The Missile Technology
companies. Just like Elon Musk, they also want to build rockets.
Control Regime. India was not a signatory to that elite body. We
But rockets can put satellite into only one orbit. Space is very big.
had to push and there were other industries also pushing for it.
Point A to point B is a couple of thousands of kilometres. Many
In 2017, India became a signatory to MTCR, through which, you
of the satellites today, thanks to electronics and miniaturiza on,
can sell now dual use technologies to US and other friendly
are ge ng smaller and smaller but the rocket is s ll big. So for
countries. This opened up a very big door for people looking at
you to fly as a secondary passenger, you need to wait for three or
innova on that can happen at a lesser capital. You see a lot of
four years.
firms like Boeing and others coming in, looking in India to see what
What we said is that we have a good efficient engine. We are
solu ons in space they can offer. The next challenge was opening
building something called space taxi, just like we have Uber. If ten
up to investors and asking them to add aerospace into one of their
people want to go to 10 different orbits, now we book 10 different
deep tech por olios. For four years, we had turbulent mes. We
dedicated rockets to go to that space. We can take all ten on top
started fundraising in 2015 and completed it in 2019. During this 18
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of our space taxi, drop them at their loca on and at the same me a er dropping them, we can also do space sweeping. Space debris is a major issue these days. We also go and clean the space and de‐orbit. Skyroot has this launch vehicle solu on. It is a good collabora on and we are building an ecosystem.
• In a mul ‐fold founder team, they should complement each other in knowledge and skills. • We also look for a mix of youth and experience, say 15 years in the industry. • Do they have some unusual characteris cs in them?
What do you look for in a deep tech if you want to invest?
• Do they have perseverance?
Lakshminarayanan: We look for people who have crazy ideas.
• Have they gone out of the way to do something in their life?
They ask: Why is it that such a thing is not happening? Just like
• When I hired scien sts some 10 to 15 years ago, I used to
Urbaser Sumeet, why can't I start a company to clear up the debris
hire guys who had come from polytechnic backgrounds.
in the space? That is the kind of thinking we are looking at it. We
There are many bright kids who might not have got
look at them even from the concept stage.
engineering, due to family reasons. Then they study
One of the companies that we deal with is working on developing
engineering and become successful. How do they work on
an alterna ve to lithium‐ion ba ery which has reached its maturity
obstacles in life?
point. They are experimen ng with molten sodium. Another
• What kind of compe
ve game do they play?
startup says they can produce 99.99% pure carbon anode material from straw. Straw is burnt in Punjab. A er the harvest season,
ba eries that have a much longer life.
Typically for a deep tech, even to get the prototype or the minimum viable product, it is going to take a lot of money and time. Do you release money based on some milestones or is there some other criteria which you adopt?
We are looking at such ventures. What we look in the deep science
Chinnu Senthilkumar: It depends on the founding team and
area is essen ally something that is going to create a great impact
their convincing of how they have thought through all the steps.
on billions of people. But it is not going to happen tomorrow or
Even if there is a failure, founders must know how to tackle it and
day a er. It will happen much further down.
to work around it. They are dynamic and have a very good
they can take that straw and make pure carbon which is required in so many other industries. In addi on, it can be used to make
Chinnu Senthilkumar: We invest typically in cket sizes between
understanding of the ecosystem. We bet a lot on the founders. They have to be innova ve on many angles.
2 million and 7 million. Ideally we prefer companies having some product, with or without some customer fit. The product can be
Lakshminarayanan: The founders, their quality, passion and
in the seed stage or lab stage of development or a mix of both.
desire to succeed are extremely important. Look at Metaverse. In
What do we look for in the founders?
the short span of me a er it has been announced, a number of new companies have come in that space, exploi ng AI and
• They must have interdisciplinary skills and financial knowledge. Good founders understand the technical, financial and commercial aspects. They must have some basic understanding of whether it makes commercial sense to launch a product. 20
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Blockchain. If you want to build some applica ons, there is some company that is providing the pla orm for that. If you want to play games in the metaverse, there are plenty of games that are available there. Once the fundamental technology is understood, applica ons come out really fast.
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The world was shaken up in 2018 with the advent of GDPR. DPA 2021 is not on the distant horizon but has already entered into our day‐to‐day obligations as “Due Diligence” under Information Technology Act 2000 ﴾ITA 2000﴿.
R Ravichandran, IRS
where we addressed the financial sector information,
Chief Commissioner Income Tax
I
of
information. Personal information include our buying
n the Nineties, I was working Director
Shipping, shipping,
as
Deputy in
DG
Mumbai.
In
managing
containers like how to position them, where they can be stuffed and how to get them transmitted was a big challenge. So we used to collect a lot of information from thirty to forty thousand ports, all over the world on the container / cargo movement. All these data used to be very sensitive information which would benefit everyone, including the user, customs, custom house agents and shipping lines. The challenge was in managing the safety and security of the data. Honestly, in the Nineties, nobody thought about data protection or privacy. Data was always collected to promote business interests. In 2000, when I was working in SEBI, we had a committee on data protection along with RBI, 22
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which has two parts—personal and non-personal behaviour, preferences, etc., which we now share openly on social media and sometimes get trapped by them. The personal information has become a marketable commodity, and it is available for a price.
Mountain of information The government also collects information diligently for official purposes like taxation. Income tax department collects third-party information through the Central Information Bureau and the Statement of Financial Transaction mechanism. We are able to capture 95% of the financial transactions done by an individual, including banking, non-banking or chit fund transactions. Lending, borrowing, deposits, buying or selling properties and stocks or foreign exchange transactions—all are now captured. This was around 30,000 pieces of information in 1994. It grew to 30 crore pieces in 2015. Since then, there has been an
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Everybody collects data in some
explosion in collection of information. Today, we collect
form. When a government
about 300 lakh crore pieces of information. With PAN and Aadhar seeding, we now have one common
collects data, they have a
identifier and can map a person's complete financial
system and process to deal with
profile. 26AS can give 50 types of information. Such
it, but when a private entity
information is necessary to collect taxes. But what kind
collects data, there is the
of data protection and privacy issues do I need to deal
question of how they deal with
with? After all, the data belongs to the stakeholders
data. We need to have a
who provide the data. At IT department, I am only a
regulation.
custodian of the data. Everybody collects data in some form. When a government collects data, they have a system and process to deal with it, but when a private entity collects data, there is the question of how they deal with data. We need to have a regulation. Data protection
professionals, focussing on Indian law. We also created a framework for the industry.
DPA’s Legacy
is a fundamental right and it is in a very nascent stage. Implementation is a big challenge.
India has been trying to get the Data Protection Act (DPA) for decades now. In fact, in 2006, a bill called Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) 2006 was presented in
A Bird’s Eye View of DPA 2021
the
parliament
along
with
the
Information
Technology Act Amendment Bill 2006. The Amendment Act 2006 became 2008 and it got passed. But everybody forgot about PDPB 2006. Every time the government
Na Vijayashankar ﴾Naavi﴿ Data Governance and Data Protection Consultant
F India
oundation of Data Protection Professionals (FDPPI)
organisation
is
in an of
professionals. In 2018, after GDPR came in, I wondered how companies will face the challenge if 4% penalty is levied for GDPR non-compliance. With this objective, we formed FDPPI in 2018 as a not-for-profit Section 8 company. Since then, we have been conducting many outreach programmes. We have conducted two certification programmes for our own data protection 24
MAY 2022
wants to come up with the legislation, there is always the problem of balancing the requirements of the industry on the one hand, privacy activists on the other hand and the government itself. The distinction between personal data and non-personal plus personal data came only after privacy became an important aspect. That is why even today the distance between cyber security and personal data security is high and the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) ultimately decided that we will call this as Data Protection Act, instead of Personal Data Protection Act. They took an easy way out to merge the two. But from compliance point of view, it creates a lot more complications. The DPA 2021 was earlier called Personal Data Protection
BUSINESS MANDATE
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with a focus on personal data. Now the title has been
After the data breach happens, ITA2000 will also
changed. In the applicability clause, it is said that this
wake up. Corporates are more afraid of being in jail for
Act shall apply to non-personal data also, including
two or three years rather than paying a heavy fine. The
anonymised personal data. This has confused people.
fine may be paid by the company. Such a thing
What then happens to the Information Technology Act?
happened in the 2004 baazee.com case. Its Director
The IT Act 2000 is anyway a data protection act in
Avinash Bajaj fought in the Supreme Court for 8 to 10
terms of both personal and non-personal data.
years to avoid criminal liability. The IT Act will continue
Contravention of IT Act can lead to both civil and
to be relevant even after DPA 2021.
criminal liabilities. People don't realize that India already has a data protection act since 2000.
fact, a challenge for compliance people. Where does
Difference between ITA and DPA
ITA compliance end and DPA 2021 begin? How do they
We need to draw boundaries between DPA 2021 and the IT Act. You cannot say that Section 88 of ITA2000 is not applicable for personal data. It will continue to have impact, particularly when it comes to criminal offences. DPA 2021 will mostly focus on compliance. Before a data breach happens, what should an organization do in terms of compliance? What is the penalty if they don't have suitable measures? That will be the focus of DPA 2021.
Finding out the difference between the two is, in
both combine? For this, we have prepared Data Protection Compliance Standard of India (DPCSI), which is inclusive of ITA 2000 compliance.
Compliance instead of complaints Objections will continue to be there for the Act. The complaint that the government is having more powers than what is necessary or companies are not being properly prevented from collecting personal data will remain and privacy activists will never be satisfied with
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for compliance readiness. DPA2021compliance is more
complicated than GDPR because GDPR applies only to
In some countries, when data
personal data coming here from EU region. We should
protection law was introduced,
use the available time to build a culture in the industry.
they gave one or two years’
Let us not be distracted by what they say in the media
time for implementation and
that this act will never come and if it comes startups
came out with staggered
will get affected or our ease of doing business index
implementation of fines. India also may do that.
will get affected. It is their business to write. We in the industry can participate in the discussions, if possible, and at the same time, quietly undertake compliance measures.
No room for complacency When companies start their journey towards any law. Whether it is GDPR or anything else, they will
compliance, professionals such as auditors have to help
continue to have their complaints.
these companies and they have to start their journey
In India, we are always fighting against the government. We talk of surveillance raj. But in the corporate sector, we should steer clear of this. Let us
much before the companies do. This act is inevitable. It will come, if not today, maybe in the next three months or whatever.
understand and accept that there will be no unanimity.
Let us not have the complacency that until the Act
The industry should not be distracted by such
comes, no damage will occur to the company. It may
complaints but instead look at compliance. Now,
be true in the case of IT Act where, unless you prove
ultimately, if the Government passes it through, then
the cause of action and say that XYZ has suffered
we will not be able to say that Section 35 is not good
damage, he can’t go to either the adjudicator or the
or 33-34 on data localization is not acceptable. Those
court. Whereas with DPA, it is not like that. Even if
arguments will become irrelevant. You have to
there is no data breach and nobody has suffered a
immediately look at what needs to be complied with.
damage, compliance is still required.
That is why FDPPI is bringing the focus on the compliance view of DPA 2021.
introduced, they gave one or two years’ time for
It’s a long journey
implementation
Compliance is a journey and not an overnight possibility for any company. For employees to understand the data privacy needs and assimilate that into the culture, it will take time. Then comes the question of having technology, tools and policies. For large organizations, even six months is not sufficient 26
MAY 2022
In some countries, when data protection law was and
came
out
with
staggered
implementation of fines. India also may do that.
Courts, cases and informed judgments There have been many court cases—one each in Madras, Odissa, Delhi and Bombay. In all these cases, courts have quoted that right to be forgotten is a right
BUSINESS MANDATE
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to privacy. They are quoting this from GDPR. The Odissa court quoted sections of the personal data protection bill 2019, which many of us may dismiss as
However, compliance has to be customized. What is relevant
a bill. They are not even talking about DPA 2021, which
for Infosys cannot be applicable
is the JPC approved version of PDPB.
for another small IT company. A
This means that courts have started looking at the
standard for health industry
environment of what the industry is expected to be—in India and outside. They are using it in their judgments
may not be sufficient for fintech
and giving decisions. Today, it may not be a decision
companies.
to impose a penalty. But our courts can quote rulings in foreign courts like the USD 887 Mn fine imposed on Amazon by the Luxembourg Supervisory Authority, for prospective leakage of data and the-not-so-goodcompliance. A CFO may suggest to take a cyber-
compliance, and impose fines in India too.
insurance. If you want to bring down the insurance
Compliance by design
cover and thus the premium amount, to that extent,
A CEO’s responsibility is to ensure Privacy by Design and Security by Design which are all part of Compliance by Design. It is not restricted to the technology aspects and to think that only the CTO is
you should think of compliance and mitigation policies.
Option to develop codes
responsible is wrong. The entire business and
Section 50 of DPA says that different industry
professionals should be aware of what is required for
segments, if they want, may develop codes of practice
compliance. Before you go into a trade negotiation and
as applicable to them for compliance and that such
sign some contract, you should know that this is data
codes can be reviewed and accredited. You don't have
protection related and there will be consequences. The
to be bound by an ISO 27701 only or some other
decision to be compliant lies with the board. That is
framework.
the reason why Indian law says that a Data Protection
The government is telling the industry to develop
Officer (DPO) should be a Key Managerial Person
some self-regulatory practices. Such a provision was
(KMP).
there in IT Act also. But we never looked at the law. We
A CEO, CFO, the independent director, the company
think that the law is made only by the government and
secretary are the kinds of designations which fit into
either we oppose it and be non-compliant and face the
KMP definition. Now the DPO is also put in that group,
consequences or keep blaming the government.
which essentially recognizes that the activity of a DPO
FDPPI is now focusing on sectoral development of
is at the top level of the business. The Board and CEOs
codes of practice. We have developed a general
must recognize the need for compliance. Let us not
umbrella code of practice, which we have called as the
blame a CFO for non-sanction of finances for
Data Protection Compliance Standard of India (DPCSI)
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gives more time for us to do some preparatory work.
I am not trying to support the
With
government, but before DPA
perspective, let us look at the Act.
2021 is passed, industries
this
objective
and
focus
on
compliance
The essence of DPA 2021 in a nutshell:
should respond and try to
• The objective is to protect the privacy of individuals.
develop self‐regulatory
• The law applies to certain kinds of data and
practices.
certain kinds of activities. • It
prescribes
some
actions
-
the
data
processing requirements and then compliance requirements by default. and it is good enough as a general framework. However,
• It provides certain rights to data principals.
compliance has to be customized. What is relevant for
• There are penalties, which may go up to four percent of the global turnover.
Infosys cannot be applicable for another small IT company. A standard for health industry may not be
• Penalties may arise for non-compliance, even
sufficient for fintech companies. Even educational
when there is no data breach or wrongful
institutions and MMA have to be data protection
harm caused.
compliant. There is no exemption for NGOs or
• There is a section, which talks of criminal
government organizations. In banks, SBI and HDFC
punishment up to 3 years imprisonment,
Bank can follow a certain code which need not be
which extends to individuals and corporate
applicable for Repco or a Co-operative Bank.
executives including the Directors. ***
I am not trying to support the government, but before DPA 2021 is passed, industries should respond and try to develop self-regulatory practices. We at FDPPI are looking at interested corporate people who can be our members. Companies proactive in developing the codes of practice will take the leadership in their sector.
Capgemini; Rohan K George, Advocate, Samvad Partners; Nagendra Javagal, Director, FDPPI; Dr Mahesh Ranjan Nayak, Product Manager, Tata Health; Ramesh
• 27 July 2018-PDPB 2018 – Based on Justice
Venkatraman, Portfolio Manager, QMS and ISMS, Carl Zeiss; Venkataramani Suresh, Co-Founder, Karkinos
Srikrishna Committee • 11 Dec 2019-PDPB 2019 – Revised with public
Health Care; R Vittal Raj, Cyber Risk Assurance Consultant; Govind Srinivasan, Management Systems
comments • 16 Dec 2021-DPA 2021/22 – Reviewed by JPC The more, the government postpones the Act, it 28
discussions include Geetha Jayaraman, GRC Expert,
Kalyanaraman, AVP, Risk & Compliance, HCL; Nikhil
The timeline so far:
MAY 2022
Eminent panellists who participated in the panel
Practitioner, Paramount Dataware Pvt Ltd and Rupak Nagarajan, Associate Director, KPMG.
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MMA conducted the MMA Women Managers’ Convention 2022 on the theme, ‘Marching Ahead: Inspire Change in Humankind,’ in March this year.
M
MA conducted the MMA Women Managers’ Convention 2022 at MMA Management Center, Chennai. In the inaugural session
on the theme, ‘Right Here, Right Now,’ Ranjini Manian,
Aruna, which is harder: to be Viswanathan Anand's manager or Anand's spouse?
Aruna: Definitely, Anand's spouse. As a manager, it is a 9 to 5 job. As a wife, it’s a 24 hour job!
Founder-Chairperson, Global Adjustments Foundation led the conversation with Indian Chess Grandmaster and former World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, Aruna Anand and Sairee Chahal, Founder, Sheroes & Mahila Money. Excerpts from the panel discussion:
Chess is more of a mind game and does not require physical strength. Then, why do we need a Woman Chess Championship and why haven't anyone from India made it there?
Anand: Historically, there was a huge gender gap in chess. The gender gap in the university is now closed
Ranjini: Anand, you became a chess champion only after your marriage. Any comments on that?
Anand: When we were married, Aruna did not know anything about Chess. But she is a very good and quick learner. Soon, we came to an understanding and she said, "I will take care of the external things and you can a focus a lot more on your chess.” She is a big support for me.
or even slightly reversed. The chess gap continues. In the top 100, now there is no woman. Only Judit Polgar managed to achieve that earlier and she was exceptional. I support having a separate championship for women because sometimes you need a stepping stone. In chess, we don't have men's championship. We have the open championship and the women's championship. The difference in participation is one of the reasons for this gap to continue.
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Sairee, how did you manage to build Sheroes, which is a platform—a sort of Facebook for women—and engage with 24 million women?
out to hang around, for seeking any help, to look for work or to start a digital storefront. We wanted to build a safe space for women, where their own aspirations
Sairee: It was very slow to start with and then it
can become the centre stage.
went up all of a sudden. To tell you my background, I went to JNU. The funniest thing that happened was, I built a company when I was still in college. It was a tech
You also give loans for women. Can you tell us about that?
startup. Lucky enough, it got sold. What I learnt there
Sairee: Yes, we give micro credit for women who
was the power of technology. We built the world's first
need money to take their next step -
newspaper for mariners. Before we did that, there was
education, learning something, buying equipment for
no way for the merchant navy community to connect
a parlour, buying a vehicle for higher productivity, a
with each other. Two thirds of the shipping industry
laptop or whatever is their personal pursuit in life. If
became our customers. Twenty years ago, I took the
they need money to enable that, we bring hundred
help of computer science students to create my email
percent digital loan without collaterals. You don’t need
ID. I come from a very small town and the barriers for
to bring your family for getting the loan. We do the
women were very different. On the other side, I saw the
underwriting. We trust the women. What it does is, it
Silicon Valley phenomenon. When I started, there were
reaches women in all parts of the country. It
just 10 million women online. Today, it is 300 million.
democratises access to the capital.
it could be
India has seen amazing women-only communities like Amul, Asha workers and Anganwadi workers. We created a giant tech space where you can come 32
MAY 2022
Aruna: What are your three tips to balance personal and professional life?
BUSINESS MANDATE
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If they need money to enable
Sairee: You can have it all, but just not at the same
that, we bring hundred percent
time. Life is like going in a car. You have to shift gears.
digital loan without collaterals.
Take a long term view of things. Career is a marathon.
You don’t need to bring your
We have to remain sane for a long time. Do what works
family for getting the loan. We
for you. Lastly keep learning. The barriers to learning
do the underwriting. We trust
have all gone away today.
the women. What it does is, it reaches women in all parts of
Do you have plans to scale up or go public?
the country.
Sairee: We do have plans to scale as a company. We have plans to get 100 million women on our platform.
~ Sairee Chahal, Founder, Sheroes & Mahila Money
We are a venture backed company. Going public is an Normally,
option but we are not in a hurry.
in
Indian
households,
when
this
customary question is asked, we say, 'No, no. I don't Ranjini: Anand, what is the role played by your mother?
want.' But Anand was so brave and he asked, 'Can I have another cup?' When I saw my mother's expression,
Anand: My mother was responsible for my playing
I knew I was going to get married to this man (laughter).
chess. I was very lucky to have a family member who
You must understand that I got married- not for my
knew how to play chess. My parents were very relaxed
looks, not for his chess or how handsome he was but
about my playing chess. I had played tournaments
for my mother's coffee! The third day after we got
when exams were going on. My mother travelled with
married, I went to a chess tournament and that was our
me till I was 16 or 17. In Manila, when we lived, my
honeymoon! I had no idea about chess and no idea
mother and I used to solve some chess puzzles
about the importance of the person whom I had
broadcast over TV alongside a tournament, sent in our
married to and had never travelled abroad. It was the
solutions and won many chess books as prizes.
huge auditorium. It was very dark but very comfortable. I would sit in the last row and happily sleep. One hour
Ranjini: Can you tell us about how your marriage was finalised?
later, everybody would clap and I got up to see what was happening. Anand would get up from the stage and go. I did not even know if Anand won or lost. We agreed
Aruna: Ours was a typical arranged marriage. For
that if he won, he would show a thumbs-up sign after
the girl seeing ceremony, as advised by my mother, I
every tournament. That was my introduction to chess.
agreed to keep my mouth shut but refused to dress up in traditional attire. When Anand came, what stood out was that he was such a simple person. My mother had prepared all the bajji, bonda, coffee stuff and I refused to be part of that. After serving them, my mom asked Anand, “Would you like another cup of coffee?”
Ranjini: Tell us about Aruna’s pet advice to you—Go, Play! Anand: Aruna is ultra-pragmatic and ultra-common sense character. On the verge of going to one of the tournaments, as we were travelling in the car, I forgot
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33 MAY 2022
a line from the steps I had rehearsed. I tried to contact
youngsters’ game. Earlier, it used to be a Russian and
the coach for help but I couldn't. I turned to Aruna and
within Russia, a Ukrainian game. Now it has become
she coolly said, “You can’t do anything now. Just go
global. Of course, computers have changed the game
and play.”
completely.
Sometimes, the best sporting strategy is to show up and play.
average age of players coming down. Ranjini: What does success mean to all three of you? Aruna: It is taking each day at a time, being happy
Sairee: What is there in your playbook, as Anand’s manager? Aruna: Being his wife and manager, he trusts me fully. He signs contracts if I have vetted it. That puts a
for yourself and feeling accomplished for what you do each day. Be kind to yourself. Sairee: It means keeping well and just enjoying the
lot of responsibility on me. A lot of what I decide as Anand's manager is based on empathy. I would ask
gifts that the world has given us.
myself, ‘If Anand were to take this decision, what would he do, under these conditions?’ and then decide. Sairee: What has changed in the game of chess?
Chess has also got younger, with the
Anand: Success is achieving things that you set out to do, including the difficult things that you set out for the long term. Success is also about appreciating many
Anand: Its DNA is still the same and it is still a
little things.
Our Voices, Our Stories
T
he panel discussion on the theme, ‘Our Voices,
and International Sailing Athlete, Ms Shraddha Trivedi,
Our Stories’ was moderated by Sharanya Modi,
Wall Mural Artist & Graphic Designer, Pune participated
Head HR, Expo Freight Pvt Ltd (EFL). Suhasini
in the discussions. Dr Rohini Rau spoke about the
Maniratnam, Actor & Director, Dr Rohini Rau, Doctor
challenges she faced as an international sailing athlete.
34
MAY 2022
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‘My parents are my inspiration,’ she said. Suhasini Mani
cinematographer. Later, I embraced acting,” Suhasini
Ratnam who hails from a family of big achievers
said. There is always a challenge in balancing what you
including her uncle Padmashri Kamal Hassan said that
do out of passion and what you receive as the pay
for her, the inspiration came from within. “I wanted to
check, she added.
be a cinematographer and did a three years course for that. I worked as an assistant for a few films but couldn’t make a mark. Then I got a chance to act in films and my movies did well. So I consciously chose to switch to acting but at that time, deeply felt for moving away from my dream of becoming a
Shraddha Trivedi who has done murals throughout India including in Prime Minister Modi’s residence, took the audience through her journey of making breathtaking murals. She said she has no reservation, as a woman, in working at heights for her paintings.
The Power of Us/Better Together
T
he panel discussion on the theme, ‘The Power of Us / Better together’ was moderated by
Vinaya Karthik Rajan gave a soulful rendition of songs
under
the
theme,
‘Invocation-Music
for
Rohini Manian, CEO, Global Adjustments. Gautam
Awakening.’ Akshyalakshmi, Sound Therapist, Zen &
Sarogi, CEO, Go Colours; Rajoshi Ghosh, COO, Co-
Sound demonstrated the power of sound therapy on
founder, First woman founder of a Unicorn startup-
the theme, ‘Sound is a medicine of future – Gong
Hasura; and Tanmai Gopal, CEO, Co-Founder, Hasura
Healing Live.’
participated in the discussions. BUSINESS MANDATE
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A narrative of personal journey in trying times. Read about Ms Meena Chabria's struggles as she worked to raise her children and keep ambition flying.
E
ach day is a great opportunity to try something
whatever he could earn and we managed to get our
new and push oneself into areas that test
food out of that. My father was a big inspiration for
individual capacity, thus paving the way for
me. His thought process was to get the girls up, at any
growth, both in personal and professional lives. But very
cost. He would always push us to do only the things
often, human beings get bogged down by challenges
that we loved for. He never told us to study or be a part
that seem much bigger than they actually are. Self-
of sports or any such thing. My success belongs to my
doubt, self-pity and lack of confidence to overcome the
parents. They made me to take important decisions in
challenges inhibit growth. Those who successfully
life. I follow their parenting style and leadership in my
circumvent personal challenges through planning,
team. I push my people and say, "You decide what is
dedication and hard work accomplish such targets
good for you." My dad used to cycle every day 20
which seemed impossible in the beginning.
kilometres up and down, just to give his two girls hot lunch. That is where my love for cooking and making some good food for my children later on, began. After
Part 1: Childhood @ Coimbatore
12 years, we had my brother.
I have divided my story in parts. I was born in
We grew up in a very tough situation and on many
Coimbatore. My father was a tailor and mother, a
days, we used to wait for the food served by our
housewife. I have two siblings. My sister is working in
neighbour, after their pooja rituals. Yet, I don't have
a school and my brother is working in The Hindu
many
newspaper. We belong to the most middle-class family.
remembrances of my age before marriage. We were one
It was just that the father cat learned to bring
dislikes,
many
opinions
or
many
bad
happy family.
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Part‐2: Into the Wilderness
toilets, in Choolaimedu, Chennai for a rent of Rs.1500..
I got married at the age of 16, not knowing
There was a small construction going on and there
anything, to a guy 12 years elder to me. He was one of
was a fight between a husband and wife every day. She
the most amazing men I have ever met in my life but I
had given birth to four daughters and she did not have
didn't find love in him. We had some issues and we got
a son. Listening to her, I asked her if she could take
separated. My son was 21 days old and I asked him a
care of my son when I was away for my work and told
question for which he didn't have an answer. I sensed
her I would pay 500 rupees a month to her. She agreed
the marriage would not work. In the middle of the
and took extremely good care of my son. It was very
night, with my two year old daughter and 21 day old
overwhelming and my son was never ready to part from
son, I left my home. From there, my new life began and
her in the evenings. Now I could trust someone in life.
I didn't know what to do, with no money and no job and pushed into the society.
Then I got my second job which was wiping the legs of children in a preschool. Gradually, the principal of
The first job I found for me was being a helper to
the school saw me and one day asked me if I could
an old woman who didn't have eyesight. I had to give
teach the kids. I started teaching the Pre-KG kids. In
her bath and take her to the wash room. I got 6000
parallel, I did my teachers' training. I got a job in Sindhi
rupees a month and enjoyed doing the nannyship for
Model School but couldn't continue it. After three
some time. It was very inspiring doing something to
months, I quit the job and went for an autism clinic to
take care of my children and meet my ends. But taking
be a helper for autistic kids. I did a job there for one
care of my children while I was away was a challenge.
year until I found my first professional breakthrough
So I shifted to a small 1BHK apartment with common
called Shiamak Davar’s dance class.
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MAY 2022
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Part 3: A Bumper in the Offing I went to drop my daughter for her dance class and
My CV had hardly any worthy details, except my salary
I saw a board where it was written that call centre employees were required at Rs 12,000 salary and with
expectation of Rs 28K. They
flexible timings. It was like a bumper for me. I casually
hired me as a Manager
applied and got the job. After two weeks, I got a call
Marketing for Inox and I began
from Shiamak Davar, the owner himself.
the first corporate world job over there.
He was having a test drive of how the call centre was going on. He told me that I spoke very well and asked for my number. I thought he was joking. After the call, he promoted me as an assistant manager for Chennai, for handling his dance classes. That was 10% growth of my career.
Part 5: A Giant Leap One day, in 2009, two people came to Inox to see
My kids joined in DAV school and both grew up
how the property was working. They were the CEO and
being independent, with the sister taking care of the
Senior Vice President of PVR. I met Gautam and Shalu,
brother. After 6 months, I organized a very good
who are now the CEO and Vice President of PVR. They
fashion and dance show and we did very well. I was
asked me if I could come for an interview the next day.
promoted as a city manager.
I went and they recruited me for their Ampa mall,
Part 4: A Knock at INOX
which was upcoming then, at a salary of 60K per month.
During one of the promotions for the fashion and dance show, I went to INOX. There I met actor Lakshmi Narayanan who does a lot of movie roles. He was there in the lobby and we became friends. He said he was quitting his job and taking up a movie portfolio. I asked him if he could help me out with a better paying job. He took me to the Inox manager. My CV had hardly any worthy details, except my salary expectation of Rs 28K. They hired me as a Manager Marketing for Inox and I began the first corporate world job over there.
it was in PVR. In the last 13 years, I have never gone for any interview, seeking any job. The strength of PVR is its no-gossip environment and that was the best for me, being a single parent. PVR respects people for their work. Gautam became my boss, friend, mentor and godfather. My life really changed. PVR is a great organization and has given me a great career. I am a living example
I worked with them for two years and it was a good journey. All my learnings in processes, systems, man management and return on investment began from there. I had the most glamorous and most skilful learning days of my life through Inox.
If you ask me where my life changed, I will tell you
to say that if you give hundred percent, you will get hundred percent but if you go far and give 500%, you will get 1000% in return. I can proudly tell people that out of my 13 years of working, I got 17 years of incentives. I have delivered more numbers and got more numbers. Year on year, I started growing in my
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
39 MAY 2022
Do I think there is something
them. We need to see the perspective, our objective
called work‐life balance?
and goal. Do I think there is something called work-life
Unfortunately, for me, ‘No.’ My
balance? Unfortunately, for me, ‘No.’ My job is not a 10
job is not a 10 to 6 job, but a 24
to 6 job, but a 24 x 7 job. Does reading or upskilling
x 7 job.
help me? Yes, very much. That is where I began the next chapter of my life, during the Covid time. I enjoy my work. I have a glamorous job of being there for every movie, attending FDFS (First Day, First Show) and
career and in my life. First, I was given Chennai as my zone for three years. Then they gave me Hyderabad, Cochin, the whole of South and Sri Lanka, one after the other. I handle more than 50% of the screens in my
meeting movie stars.
Part 6: Turmoil The wheels of the bus were just on the track and it was like a dream for a little girl who is a tailor's
kitty, in the entire geographical description. In PVR, it has been a beautiful experience with beautiful people, always learning and having the hunger to do something, so my children can get better. My daughter is just completing a commercial pilot course. She had movie offers but declined them and wanted to become a pilot. I agreed, on the condition that I could fund her but she must manage all her work—applying for the course, attending interviews, joining, etc., as I had very little time to help her out.
daughter. Come March 2020 and Covid upset everything. The cinema shooting stopped. The company had to go through a real turmoil. It was heart-breaking to the core. Two weeks before Covid, my daughter had to leave for New Zealand for her pilot course. We got her an educational loan from a bank but I had to fund 30 to 40% of the expenses. I gave her my entire reserves. Everything was good for the first 6 months. In the seventh month, I called the bank to transfer her loan amount but the bank wanted my salary slip to
My son is 18 years old—young, handsome and 6.2
revalidate the loan. The salaries were gone and I could
tall and has joined the St Joseph’s School of Commerce
not produce the slips. Of course, PVR took care of the
in Bengaluru. Both my children have been taught to be
employees very well. The loan was refused by the bank.
independent. I think this speaks volumes about a
I somehow managed to withdraw from my PF account
woman, raising two children on her own, with so many
and I paid her fees.
professional and personal challenges that she can ever go through. That is a perspective. A 6 for me could be a 9 for you.
Then came the U-turn of my life. I wanted to do
In this journey of mine, was my job tough? Yes, sometimes. Is a corporate job easy? Yes, but it depends on what kind of line you are drawing with whom and what kind of aim you have. Are there any issues with the office, team and bosses? There will be and there is no escape from them, but we need to work around 40
MAY 2022
Part 7: Meena 2.0 something more, during the Covid lockdown days. I enrolled for one course after the other. I graduated out of IIM and ISB. I am now doing one in UCLA and MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications and Advertising). These, I am sure, will lead me to the launch of Meena 2.0.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
41 MAY 2022
A compelling story of how Bala, a Chartered Accoun‐ tant, turned into a home‐chef and then entered the kitchens of Trident, The Oberoi, JW Marriott and ITC group of Hotels.
M
y forte in cooking is research, especially in
and Andhra and pick the recipes. The moment I eat a
Sangam literature. I started my career in the
particular dish, I have a knack of finding out what
food industry after 40. I am from a family
ingredients have gone into it.
of chartered accountants. I used to cook a lot at home from the age of 9. By 16, I was comfortable cooking any complex dish and sweets. I used to hijack the kitchen from my mom. Women have a tendency not to let others do the cooking in their kitchen. My mom was no exception. She even asked me to try doing a catering course, just to turn me away from the kitchen.
and enquired about catering courses. I realised there were no exclusive courses for vegetarian cooking. I come from a vegetarian family. So I enrolled for CA. While doing CA articleship from 94 to 97, I travelled other
states-Kerala
and
Andhra,
especially, for internal and concurrent audits, which were 9 to 5 jobs. After office hours, I would go out to eat and taste the dishes in the deep pockets of Kerala 42
MAY 2022
my CA, I went to their homes and found out how they cooked. I finished my CA and initially there were a lot of hiccups. Between 1998 and 2001, when I had just finished my CA, the job opportunities in Madras were grew up in my career.
After my graduation, I wanted to avoid doing CA
to
became friends with many of them. After completing
less. Somehow, I got a job, started learning about it and
Auditing and Tasting Dishes
extensively
Many students came to Chennai to do CA and I
The Twin Blows in my Life In 2013, my father passed away and in 2015, my mom passed away, in a span of 18 months. That was a big blow for me. I showed my anger on my career and wanted to quit the job. I had no clue as to what I was going to do next.
I was working as a CFO for an
intellectual property law firm. My boss even advised me to take a sabbatical. But I put in my papers.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
For a couple of days after getting relieved, I was happy. After that, I did not know what to do. The first thing I did was I cooked and posted about it in social media. That is how I met Chef Ashish Bhasin in the social media.
recipes from South India and with whom he can work with. That was the trigger for me. I told him, “Why somebody else should come? I will come and cook.” He replied that I being a chartered accountant who worked
I had posted a picture of my food and commented
for a law firm cannot cook in a five-star hotel, which
that I was not very happy with the way it came out.
has got its rules and regulations. Also, he pointed out
Ashish mistook me for a chef and enquired about me.
that I had never been to a catering school. I shot back
I explained to him that I am a Chartered Accountant
saying that for cooking, you don't need a catering
and told him about my resigning the CA job. He sent
degree and challenged him to test my cooking skills.
me some pictures of a Punjabi food cooked by a Punjab chef, for a Punjabi food festival.
As a CA, I have always been living with Excel sheets. So I prepared Excel sheets, highlighting each region in
Challenging the Celebrity Chef
Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the
I immediately took off and lamented to him that the whole food industry is biased and that food from a minuscule portion of India is represented as Indian food across the globe and that each region has got its own unique ingredients and specialities. Ashish heard me patiently and took my comments in a positive vein.
native ingredients unique to each region. I kept on bombarding him with Excel sheets and he didn't know what to do with me. He took it up with his GM, which was a very rare thing for a person to do. I am truly honoured that Chef Ashish Bhasin did this for me.
The Baffling Burners
He asked me to suggest somebody who knows unique BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
43 MAY 2022
Ashish’s GM felt that my presentation was really good and decided to call out for a trade test, to test my skills in catering. As they worked for Trident, Bombay, they told me to go to Trident, Chennai to do the test. I went there and sent an Excel sheet to the Executive Chef at Trident, Chennai, listing out all the ingredients available in their kitchen and the exotic ingredients that I would carry on my own for the trade test.
management paper. His strategy can be adopted even in the present circumstances and it'll work wonders. To give just one example, we can take his expedition of Southeast Asian countries. He didn't just like that take a ship and go. He planned for two and a half years and the execution took 45 days. He could go up to the Sumatra and Java and capture Srivijaya. Instead of sailing through the main sea route, he chose
I took my bags and went on a Saturday for the test. As soon as I entered the kitchen, I was overwhelmed. The burners were all very heavy and I didn't know what to do. I started off and was burning everything. Nothing was edible. I have challenged everyone, told them that they are biased and here I am—turning out nothing that was edible and palatable.
the narrowest part and surprised his opponents. Inspired by him, I decided to try out Chola food, rather than work on the contemporary food from Southern India. I didn't know where to start, because there were no recipe books for ancient food. One of my friends connected me to the Dean of a History Department in a college. I went daily to the college and
I sat down and calmed myself. I spotted a boy who
sat in the library. Nobody could guide me and I did not
was a catering trainee there and asked for his help in
know where to start from. I was aimlessly sitting in the
operating the burners and controlling the heat for me.
library for one week and got introduced to the books
He agreed. I cooked 9 dishes. The GM, the executive
of historian Sri Nilakanta Sastri. He has written a lot of
chef and others came. All of them tasted it and in front
books on South India and Chola dynasty.
of my eyes, they called Ashish in Bombay and cleared me for doing the food festival with Ashish. That's how my first event in Trident, Bombay, happened and I kicked off my career in catering.
period. “Chola dynasty is from 1046. Why don't you Immediately I ran to the archaeology department at
Since then, I was doing small events. Then I went to JW Marriott, Pune. For almost two years, I was doing contemporary, region specific, South Indian food. I didn’t want it to be boxed as South Indian food, but
Fort St George. I studied the books and iconographies. Finally I nailed on the poems of Tamil literature Ettu Thogai and Pathu Pattu and got a clue. I went for an event in Sri Lanka. I had read that writer Kalki went to a library in Sri Lanka to do
food from Southern India. After being in catering field for two years, I wondered what to do next. I had always been fascinated by King Rajendra Chola from the Chola dynasty. In fact, I tell in many of the management forums that Rajendra Chola’s naval expedition should be presented as a 44
restrict myself to Chola age and instead try Sangam go further behind?” she said. That was a trigger again.
Trident to Chola to Sangam
MAY 2022
It was then one lecturer asked me why I should
extensive research for his historical novels. So, after finishing my event, I went to that library and people there were very helpful to me. Having seen me in some TV shows, they were all the more helpful in pulling out the books from the decks and getting photo copies of
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
them. I also met archaeologists and iconographic
management-by-exception technique. I went into the
specialists and learnt from them to dissect the poems
ingredients which were available in the Sangam era and
and discern the important facts about Sangam period.
correlated them with the cooking technique mentioned in the poems. I eliminated the ingredients that we use
All about 5 Terrains
in contemporary food but which were not available
The five landscapes played a vital role in Sangam
then. For instance, they had used small onions and
period, viz. fertile areas, forests, mountainous terrain,
tamarind but the large onions and tomatoes were not
coastal areas and barren lands. I could make out that
there. I evolved my way of Sangam cooking. I really
the food they ate, suited the particular climate where
don't know if that is how it tasted then.
they lived. For instance, people living in high altitudes need to maintain the body temperature. So the food they ate helped them to retain the body temperature, like, for example, adding butter in the food. In coastal climate where it is humid, watery things were taken. The food across all five landscapes was hard-core nonvegetarian. By this time, I had started cooking non-veg, though
Alcohol is dealt a lot in Sangam. There are methods of alcohol serving and how it is to be given. There is also mention in the poems of hangover cure food and how it has to be cooked. The ladies served the food and alcohol and they knew about treating the hangover effects with the right food.
My Current Goals
I did not eat non-veg. I learnt to identify fish, mutton
• We need to be respected for the food that we
and chicken. I learnt from my friends and their families,
have from Southern India. Normally, people
by visiting them again. I researched further and I was
associate south Indian food with only idli and
soon in a position to find out if a non-veg dish was
dosa, which are not true representations of
cooked in the right proportion, just by the smell of it
southern India. • I have started curating many menus using
and by looking at its texture.
millets and ancient rice varieties which have
Beyond Measures
flooded the market. Not many know how to use them. There are four or five millets
In 2018 and 2019, I did a lot of research on Sangam period and I curated menus from Sangam literature.
available in the market.
Most millets look
The interesting finding in Sangam is that they talked a
similar. I suggest to the vendors to put a label
lot about cooking techniques but there were no
in the millet packs stating how we should use
indication of weights and measurements at all. The
them and include suggested recipes. Many
poems would say that the king invited people for a
vendors are approaching me for recipes.
particular occasion; they were given some varieties of
• I want to promote easy usage of ancient rice
food and about and how each was cooked but there
and millets; ancient rice varieties are not easy
was no mention of how much of each ingredient like
to cook. Their soaking time and cooking time
salt or spices was added.
are more. We should know why we should use them.
Here again, my CA helped me to narrow down using BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
45 MAY 2022
• To simplify recipes from ancient cookery
switch jobs or become an entrepreneur, your
books.
family support and their acceptance is much
• I am launching my cloud kitchen and will be
needed. You need financial security. I would
calling it Tekk Five. Tekk in Malayalam means
always discuss with my children about my
South. Five stands for the five southern
decisions and take their opinions. It doesn’t
states.
matter if they are too young.
• To bring out ancient foods in ready to eat
• In your organisation, if you are asked to try
format.
out a new assignment, attempt it. If it not possible, later on, you can always say 'no.' It is
Some Takeaways • We all have mid-life crisis. I went through my own share. Between 2007 and 2009, I was like a rolling stone, unable to stick to one particular organisation for more than a year. I was searching for something and I did not even know what it was. When you want to
46
MAY 2022
better to try different things. • Even a small idea can be developed into a success story. • Sky is the limit. Don't limit yourself and be a minimum guy. • Opportunities don't happen. You create them.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
47 MAY 2022
How to get to your next level of performance by setting the right goals in whatever work you do? Sangeeta Sumesh shows how to empower yourself for high performance to achieve the goals you have set for yourself.
T
here is a high performer in each of us. We need
There is also the fourth P. If your goal is something
to recognise moments of high performance and
that you are passionate about, then it becomes easier to
channelise our energy in the right direction. It
achieve. If you are clear about what growth means to
is important to set goals. There are three reasons to set goals:
you, your subconscious mind will help you to achieve it.
SMART TOM Goals
1. It gives clarity on what you want to do 2. Once you have clarity, you can plan the path
What is high performance? Achieving superior results by performing at high standards is high
ahead. 3. Goals are needed to achieve what you want to
performance. Remember you are competing against yourself and becoming a better version of you. We have
achieve.
all heard that goals must be SMART- that is specific,
The 3Ps of Goal Setting
measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. The
According to me, if goal setting is an art, then there are three Ps in the art of goal setting—Personalise, Practical and Progressive.
goals must also conform to TOM. T: Time frame. What do you want to achieve in the short term, medium term and long term?
• Personalize your goals and customise them for O: Objective. The objective propels you towards your
your scenario. • Make it practical. It should not be just a fancy thing.
goals. M: It must be measurable. Set your measurement
• It must be progressive. Be clear about the
targets.
progress that you want to achieve. 48
MAY 2022
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
The Rude Awakening
I come from a very humble background. My
CSR will help you to achieve your goals. I am not talking
grandfather was a famous and well-to-do doctor in
about Corporate Social
Chennai. He passed away suddenly and the family was
Responsibility. C stands for your
not geared to face this challenge. My grandmother, a very sweet lady, did not know how to manage the
challenges; S stands for your
finances. My dad happened to be the second son and
solutions and R stands for your
he had three sisters to be married. As his elder brother
reflections.
had some challenges, my father when he was just 12, had to shoulder the responsibilities of the family. Because of lack of financial management, the well-
goal. Let us look at the 7Ds that will help us in achieving our goals:
to-do family flipped over. So I was born in a very
• Dream about what you want to achieve.
humble family. But as a young girl, I always dreamt.
• Determination: Be determined in pursuing
There was no TV or telephone or car at home. As I grew
your goals.
up, I resolved to keep my parents happy, comfortable
• Develop the required skillsets.
and in a much better financial shape. I dreamt about
• Discipline: Develop the discipline.
getting good education and enjoying foreign trips.
• Design your path forward. • Drive: Have the drive and that is what
The 7Ds and CSR in Achieving Goals
motivates you.
It is never too late to start dreaming about your
• Deliver the required results.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
49 MAY 2022
Reflect periodically on what you
So, goals must have purposefulness. When you
are doing and ask yourself why
don't have clarity, ask yourself what is it that you want
you are doing that. Know your
to achieve and why you want to achieve. That will open
priorities. Complete the things
up a lot of doors for you. Being purposeful will help you to achieve your goals faster.
that are more important.
Can’t he do it, Mom? How can one overcome lack of time? This anecdote With seven Ds, getting to your goals is going to be
happened many years ago. My husband's friends had
a lot easier. Also, CSR will help you to achieve your
come home for dinner. I had prepared everything and
goals. I am not talking about Corporate Social
was waiting for them. But they were chatting on, as they
Responsibility. C stands for your challenges; S stands
had met after a long time. There was no sign of them
for your solutions and R stands for your reflections.
joining for dinner. My little daughter felt sleepy and she wanted me to put her to sleep. If I did that, I knew
Three Common Challenges
that I would also fall asleep, as I was too tired after a
Working with clients, I have come across some common challenges. Three common challenges are:
and once I served the dinner for her dad and his friends, I would make her sleep.
• Lack of clarity. • Lack of time. • Remaining
long day. I kept telling her to hang on for some time
Suddenly, she asked me, "Can't dad serve the in
the
comfort
zone.
Magic
happens only outside the comfort zone. So step out of your comfort zone.
dinner for him and his friends and clean up the table?" That was an 'aha' moment for me. It never struck to me. My husband had no hesitation in doing that. But,
What are the solutions for these challenges? A
as ladies, we generally tend to think that the whole
client of mine was the youngest VP in a multinational.
world rests on our shoulders. The problem is in our
She had planned her career growth so well. She had
thinking. If you can delegate, you can easily manage
scaled many promotions very quickly. She accepted the
your time. Partner with your family and colleagues at
promotions, only if they were leading to her growth.
work.
But at one point in time, she felt a little stuck. There were many disruptions and changes going on in the organisation and she felt overwhelmed by them. When
Have the Blisscipline How can you step out of your comfort zone? I am an author now but I never imagined that I could write
I heard her journey, I was impressed. As our conversation started, she realised that she was not aware of where she must be heading next. She understood that instead of getting stuck with the challenges, she must focus on the goals she had set for
books. At the launch of my first book, I had butterflies in my stomach and even thought of calling it off, fearing criticisms for my book. Thankfully, it happened and one book led to the other.
herself. 50
MAY 2022
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
The solution to this is what I call 'Blissicipline'- that is, to make bliss out of whatever discipline that you want to get into. If you realise that whatever you do will be bliss, you can get out of your comfort zone. Similar thing happened when I decided to quit my corporate role and wanted to start on my own as a leadership coach. This phobia does not help you to grow. It is not easy to get over but you can train your
yourself why you are doing that. Know your priorities. Complete the things that are more important.
GET HIGH
Y
our goals must help you to Grow, to Excel and to feel Triumphant about yourself (GET). Choose areas that make you HIGH- that is,
make you to feel Happy, Interested in what you do, do
mind. If you can motivate and push yourself, many
things that are Gainful (financial or otherwise) and
things can get better.
make you feel Heroic. This is what I call GET HIGH as
Reflect periodically on what you are doing and ask
Is there a difference between men and women in setting their goals and defining high performance?
What I have observed is that men are not as ar culate as women. On goal se ng, men are over‐confident about themselves. Women on the other hand, though they may have the capabili es, doubt themselves. Their self‐doubt comes in the way of their high performance. They also feel overwhelmed at the slightest of provoca ons and challenges.
Sometimes, in the journey, people get low. How can you get over this?
When people go through a low, it is be er to give a pause. Like a catapult, when we take a step back and look at ourselves, it gives us a be er picture. You don't have to be a high performer con nuously. The breaks will help us to rejuvenate. Feel good about what you are doing.
an acronym. Remember, High performance is not a destination but a journey.
How can we balance goals and dreams?
Dreams are the star ng point of our goals. My dreams about improving the quality of my life led to my goals and growth. The subconscious mind will tell you to be comfortable. But when you work towards your goals that help you realise your dreams, you stay mo vated.
What is the relevance of aptitude in goal setting?
If you have the ap tude for something, you can achieve your goals faster. But we o en tell ourselves that we have and do not have certain ap tudes. To give you an example, the ini al part of my career, I spent in South Africa. We always think that only lean women can dance well. In South Africa, I saw many South African women, who were huge looking, loved music and dance. When they walked on the roads, they would hum a nice song and go about dancing gracefully. So we have to ques on our beliefs about our ap tudes. Unless we BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
try it out, we may not know if we are good at something.
Is it advisable to set tough goals?
Goals should neither be too easy nor too tough to achieve. One needs to balance. Restrict it to one or two goals. Go one goal a er the other. Your goals must make you to step out of your comfort zone.
Does culture in an organisation drive high performance or is it because of high performing individuals, the organisation succeeds?
For individuals to be high performers, they need to set goals and follow whatever we discussed. If the business needs to a high‐ performing one, the organisa on must have and promote a high performance culture. Many parameters contribute to a high performance organisa onal culture, like the arts of communica on, influencing, 51 MAY 2022
A software person writes the program in such a way that the customer gets the results that they want. The mind also needs to be programmed.
leading the team, ge ng things done, being purposeful and so on. It can vary from organisa on to organisa on.
Should goals be such that we need to upskill ourselves?
Yes. If that is what growth means to you, you need to upskill yourself and move from one peak to the other.
While delegating, we often end up following up and resolving disputes. How can we overcome this?
52
MAY 2022
Ensure that the person to whom you delegate is trained adequately. Communicate your needs effec vely. They may not complete it the way you would have done it. But s ll it is be er. Train them and be ar culate.
would have been much more, if he had done that. You must be able to take these conscious calls and decisions.
What should we delegate and what should not be delegated?
No. It has never been. Thanks to my upbringing, I have always believed in myself. So believe in your abili es and move ahead.
One of my clients was a bootstrapped entrepreneur. As our conversa on started, he was very excited, as he had managed to build his website, though he is from a non‐ technical background. He was thrilled at what he had achieved. It was a great job and I appreciated him. He, of course, wanted to save some money. Then he talked about the revenue growth. He said he had a huge pipeline of clients but he did not have the me to reach out to them. I asked him, "What if you had invested your me in contac ng your poten al customers, instead of developing the website? What if you had outsourced it?" He realised that the revenue growth
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
Has gender been an obstacle in your life?
How do we keep our mind always positive and not overwhelmed by negativity?
A so ware person writes the program in such a way that the customer gets the results that they want. The mind also needs to be programmed. If you train your mind to look at posi ve things happening in your life and organisa on and the posi ve quali es in people, then your mind will remain posi ve. You have the remote control of your mind. Tune to the channels that you want.
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
53 MAY 2022
MMA in association with Madurai Management Association and Konrad‐Adenauer‐Stiftung ﴾KAS﴿ alongwith the support of like‐minded organisations organised an offline conclave on the theme, ‘The Making of a Successful Entrepreneur,’ at Hotel Taj, Madurai on 19 March 2022.
M
r
Shanmugasundaram,
Circular economy will help India
venture capitalists, PE fund owners
Madurai
to the tune of 40 Lakh crores by
and others are ready to fund them
Management Association
2030, he said. India is estimated to
now, but during the previous era,
delivered the welcome address. Mr
reach a net zero economy by 2070
funding was very restricted in view
Pankaj Madan, Deputy Head-India
by which time 50 million jobs are
of the risks involved in a starting an
Office and Head Programmes, KAS
going to be created. By 2030, there
enterprise, he noted.
delivered the opening remarks in
will be economic opportunities
which
worth 1 Tn $, he explained, quoting
President
he
highlighted
activities organised
of
and by
various
programmes KAS
worldwide
including the political dialogue programmes
and
programmes
organised in India. He requested the entrepreneurs to add a ‘Green Tag’ when looking at business plans and made a strong case for sustainable business
practices,
including
practising of ‘circular approach to production.’ 54
MAY 2022
from published reports.
&
about
announced
various in
the
promote
startup
ecosystem,
Magistrate,
especially in Tier 2 cities. Three
Madurai, delivered a special address
startup hubs are planned in Erode,
on
‘Startup
Madurai and Tirunelveli, he said. He
Opportunities in Madurai and the
noted that the startup incubator cell
Support of Tamilnadu Government.’
in Thiagarajar Engineering College
Startups were there even during
is doing a good job and hoped that
earlier decades but now it has
investors will support startups
gained much importance. There are
coming up in Madurai.
the
District
measures
spoke
Tamilnadu government budget to
Dr S Aneesh Sekhar IAS, District Collector
He
theme,
many startup owners now, because BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
Dr Asit K Barma, Director, Bharathidasan
Institute
Management
spoke
on
c) Leveraging existing natural
of
resources in the State and doing
the
value addition in Tamilnadu itself.
convention theme. He spoke about the massive shift from individual company-focussed business models to platform based models and about
d) Focussing on developing the ecosystem and skilling, upskilling, reskilling the State’s youth.
The trade‐off between values and valuation is an important factor. More than mere valuation, the values that companies provide will ultimately matter.
how Amazons, Olas and Ubers and
Mr Peter Rimmele, Resident
Tech companies like Google share
Representative to India, KAS spoke
the
market
on ‘Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in
capitalization and how they have
Germany.’ He pointed out that
Thiagarajar Mills Pvt Ltd, the Chief
created
themselves.
German entrepreneurial ecosystem
Guest stated in his address that as
According to him, for India, to reach
has a huge impact on the European
the bank interest rates have come
1Tn$ economy by 2030 is a tall
entrepreneurial ecosystem.
down throughout the world post-
major
pie
values
of
for
order and to achieve this, we have to
grow
in
a
non-linear
way.
Traditional companies always were creating value using their internal resources whereas the Amazons create value by orchestrating their external
resources,
he
said.
Companies today must aim for Scale, Scope and Speed (3S) to achieve exponential growth, he argued.
Mr Peter Rimmele stated that there are six pillars that hold this entrepreneurial ecosystem, namely: the policies of the government / companies;
financial
system;
culture; the support system; the human capital and the market situation. These pillars are unique to each country and therefore, they cannot be copied, he remarked. He touched on the social projects
He predicted that today’s cold
undertaken by the companies in
war will be centered on data. For
Germany, which is slightly different
getting higher productivity from
from the CSR concept in India. He
existing
in
opined that in India, the system is
Tamilnadu, he suggested the below:
overregulated and under-governed.
factories,
especially
a) Marrying economic engine to ecological engine and making ESG a part of the organisation’s culture. b) Converting existing IT parks into digital parks
~ Mr K Hari Thigarajan
Covid, many investors try to put their funds in startups but this situation may soon change and the startup ecosystem may not be as hot as it was during the recent times. The trade-off between values and valuation is an important factor, he said. More than mere valuation, the values that companies provide will ultimately matter, he argued. Constant innovation, use of e-commerce and digital technology, conducting SWOT analysis and constant re-strategising are very important in this VUCA world, he said.
He pleaded that companies should
He explained many of the best
not just look at how much profits
practices followed by the founder of
they can make but also on how
Thiagarajar Mills. He talked about
much they can contribute to the
how he brought down the cash-to-
common good of the society.
cash cycle time, even without
Mr
K
Hari
Thigarajan,
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence
ED,
knowing about such concepts or studying MBA. 55 MAY 2022
56
MAY 2022
BUSINESS MANDATE
fountainhead of excellence