UIDAI:Nandan Nilekani -Chairman

 “We are building the electronic equivalent of roads for the country; soft infrastructure”

The most public-spirited, highly ambitious information technology entrepreneur of 21st century, a genius ideologist, integrator of technology and socialism, a good communicator connecting technology with people through his books like “Imagining India”;  took over as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India with the rank of a cabinet minister, in July2009. He is entrusted with the humungous project, of issuing identity numbers to all 1.2 billion Indians by our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Each citizen would be allotted unique number and creating a database containing their photographs, biometric information (such as fingerprints, scanning iris), and a few details such as name, sex, age, address, unique signature etc. India will be the first country to implement a biometric-based unique ID system for its residents on such a large scale. The effort has been called “the biggest social project on the planet”, which intends to create a national biometric database ten times larger than the world’s next-largest biometric database. 

His father’s social ideology influenced Nandan a lot right from his childhood. As he came out graduated at IIT Mumbai, there was a boom in the IT field. He was highly benefited by the Indian success story. Therefore, he had a strong zeal to give back to India, which made him leave Infosys, the company that he co-founded after living a success story for nearly three decades, to take up the government project (UIDAI). He moved to Delhi to kick-start the project from scratch. He was the first employee and later built a team and designed the entire thing. His proficient technological background was a key to design the project, as it was highly technical. He felt that this project was very exciting, because the project included processes, technology, building capabilities, spending government funds in more efficient manner, it helps in re-engineering public services, prevents diversions, provides security and helps to reduce high economic distances between the people of all the fields.

It gives identity to millions of people who do not have identity and helps the migrants to get a national number with which they could go around. The value for the system is immense. The social value is incalculable because there are millions of people in India without an ID. This project is compatible to India, because people are connected well through smart phones, cloud applications, tablets etc making the world too small. This is called federated architecture and it makes it safe from the privacy point of view. Providing ID to all the people which is valid through out the world to identify, you would create a difference in the country.

This will be a very important feature because what we need is systemic reforms. Re-engineer the delivery of public services to be more efficient, equitable and effective, starts with identity. Nandan Nilekani believes that if public services are systemically re-engineered; money is delivered into bank accounts on time, food is distributed to all concerned on time etc, and the whole problem at the point of public interface can be sorted out. We have to make sure that the right beneficiaries are served. It is like a platform for everything. It is an online ID which means the ID can be used to verify your identity online either on the internet or on the mobile phone or if you want to avail some particular service. Public services like; bank accounts, money transfers, ration card, pension, mobile services, authentication for subsidy entitlement etc, you can authenticate it by using a device to confirm that you are the same person. You can use that for delivering services. The important conceptual thing is the number and the number is yours for life. It helps to automate the workflow of public delivery processes. Aadhar helps in streamlining delivery of government services and plug leakages and corruption, because there do not exist two identity numbers for the same person. A taskforce, headed by Unique Identification Authority chief Nandan Nilekani, has recommended the setting up of a dedicated mechanism for end-to-end computerization of public distribution system (PDS) across the country to check pilferage.

Nandan Nilekani, 55, gave up his highly successful career of nearly 30 years in the private sector and joined the government service with the aim of serving the country. He is a software billionaire of India’s giant and prestigious software firm Infosys, which he co-founded and was a CEO. He had a very positive experience in the new government project. He formed a team within weeks, he and a small team of civil servants and tech experts had established much of the project’s architecture. The team displayed abundant energy, motivation, high integrity, focus and enthusiasm. They had a very clear preposition, ability to talk to the partners and convince them of what they are doing, and it worked. Nandan went to every state, met with Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries, and got full cooperation. The Prime Minister and Union Finance minister were very solid supporters of this project. In short, span of time the project took off under the stewardship of Nandan Nilekani and Aadhar cards were issued to 1.2 crore people. All this was possible by his hard work, social responsiveness, depth in software architecture (programming, design and development) for a long time, his wholehearted effort to change India. He is a role model for all the upcoming young entrepreneurs for his implementation of fresh and new ideology, to inculcate transformation and change in the society.


Career Outlook
After Nandan finished his graduation at IIT Bombay in 1978, he joined in Patni Computers, a Bombay based company, where Narayana Murthy of Infosys interviewed him. Three years later Narayana Murthy walked out of Patni after disagreement with one of the Patni brothers and his entire division walked out along with him. These people decided to start their own company, Infosys, and Nilekani along with Murthy became one of the co-founders of Infosys along with few others. He served as the Director of the company’s board since the inception of the company in 1981.

When they were moving ahead with Infosys, the founders firmly decided not to involve their wives in running the company. Therefore, after Murthy it was Nilekani and Rohini that moved to Bangalore. They did not have a house, car or a telephone there, so happen to stay at Murthy’s house at Jayanagar, Bangalore. There was a lot of struggle day in, day out. Rohini took care of Murthy’s son, and Murthy’s wife was helping in software programs for Infosys. Nevertheless, the passion to create and innovate new things, kept them moving forward.


In 1980s and 90s Nandan Nilekani and his team worked hard to build and transform Infosys. Nilekani was the marketing face of the company. Infosys's success story has become a legend in India's corporate history and the company stood second among the top IT companies of India. Today, Infosys is a NASDAQ listed global consulting and IT Services Company, with workforce that accounts more than one lakh, with annual revenue of $6.604 billion (LTM Q2- FY12 revenues) and $30 billion capitalization.

Nandan was instrumental in success of Infosys. He took various responsibilities of the company like Managing Director, President and Chief Operating Officer before taking his position as CEO, replacing Murthy in 2002. He served as Managing Director and CEO of the company until April 2007, escalating Kris Gopalakrishnan to the position of CEO, serving as Co-Chairman. As a Co-Chairman, he focused on key client relationships, was a brand ambassador for the company, and worked on transformational initiatives. He left Infosys on 9 July 2009 to serve as the Chairperson of the UIDAI in the rank of a cabinet minister at the invitation from the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. He also co-founded India's NASSCOM in 2009.

More about Nandan Nilekani
    Born: 2 June 1955 (age 56) Sirsi (Uttara Kannada District), Karnataka, India
    Residence: Bangalore, Karnataka, India
    Nationality: Indian
    Religion: Hinduism
    Alma mater: Indian Institute of Technology
    Occupation: Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
    Marital Status: Married
    Children: Two children Nihar and Janhavi


Durga Nilekani and Mohan Rao Nilekani were blessed with their younger son Nandan Nilekani, the great business tycoon of India in Bangalore, Karnataka, on June2, 1955. Nandan had an elder brother, Vijay, currently working with Nuclear Energy Institute. Nandan’s father worked as a manager at Minerva Mills. He was moving too many places in the context of his job. Therefore, Nandan moved to his uncle’s place at Dharwad at a very tender age of 12yrs, not to affect his studies, as a result developed more independently with self-motivation. His father subscribed to Fabian Socialist ideals, this influenced Nandan largely, during his early years.

Nandan’s early schooling is done at Bishop Cotton Boys School at Bangalore. Later he studied in Darwad at St. Joseph’s High School. At the age of 18yrs, Nandan started perusing bachelors in Electrical Engineering, at IIT, Mumbai. His education at the IIT, transformed him from a small town boy to a more matured and confident leader. By his education, he stretched himself and learnt a big deal of hard work, team dynamics and most important one being giving back to the society.

Nandan Nilekani with his wife Rohini
In 1978, after completing his Bachelors Nandan Nilekani got married to Rohini Ragini, who incidentally met him at a quizzing event at the IIT College and fell in love with him. Later they had two children Nihar and Janhavy, both of them studying abroad at the Yale University. Rohini Nilekani wife of Nandan Nilekani is a woman with a mind of her own. For 26 years, she has given Nandan Nilekani the support he needed to make Infosys the billion-dollar company it is today. She got involved in wide range of social activities and Bangalore-based Akshara Foundation is the brainchild of Rohini Nilekani. the brainchild of Rohini Nilekani. Today Akshara foundation touched nearly 3,50,000 children, offering quality education to unprivileged children.

Currently she is contributing to Arghyam, an organization that helps to provide solutions to the water crisis in the water-starved regions across India.
Awards and Honors

The long-standing efforts he had put forth in the field of technology not only made him wealthiest man of India, but also fetched him numerous awards. Few of them are mentioned below:
    Nandan Nilekani was named among the 'World's most respected business.
      leaders' in 2002 and 2003, according to a global survey by Financial Times and
      PricewaterhouseCoopers
    In 2004, he was awarded the Corporate Citizen of the Year award at the Asia
      Business Leader Awards (2004) organized by CNBC.
    In 2005, he received the Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services
      in economy, economic sciences and politics.
    In 2006, he became the recipient of Padma Bhushan, one of the highest
      civilian honors awarded by the Government of India.
    Nilekani was one of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the
      prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board in January 2006.
    In 2007, he was the Forbes "Businessman of the Year" for Asia.
    In 2009, he was presented the 'Legend in Leadership Award' by the Yale University,
      becoming the first Indian to receive the top honour.
    In 2009, he was placed by Time magazine in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most
      Influential People'.


Board Memberships:
Nilekani’s interest in sharing his knowledge and gaining new knowledge made him a member and an associate in a number of associations and councils. Here are few Nilekani co-founded India’s National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) as well as the Bangalore Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

Nilekani is in the Conference Board, Inc., an international research and business membership organization. He is on the Board of Directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER). He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and serves as the co-chairman of the IIT Bombay Heritage Fund.

In India, Mr. Nilekani is a member of the National Knowledge Commission and part of the National Advisory Group on e-Governance. He is also a member of the review committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. He took over as the elected President of NCAER (the premier, independent, applied economics research institute in India) in April 2008.

Mr. Nilekani has been involved in various initiatives of the central and state governments. He was the Chairman of the Government of India’s IT Task Force for power. He has also served as a member of the subcommittee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India that dealt with issues related to Insider Trading, and as a member of the Reserve Bank of India’s Advisory Group on corporate governance.

Nilekani's book Imagining India
The book is the mind of Nilekani and reveals the idea of a renewed nation. The book was released in March 2009. Nilekani appeared on the daily Show with Jon Stewart in March 2009 to promote his book Imagining India. In this book, Nandan discusses topics such as the future of India, its recent history, the ideas and attitudes that evolved with the times and contributed to the country's progress, India's early socialist policies, its young population, information technology, caste, politics, labor reform, infrastructure, higher education, and the English language in India.

“Imagining India” talks as much about the rise of modern Indian capitalism as it talks of communism and Nehruvian Socialism. It talks as much about the License Raj as it does about the 1991 economic liberalization and the effects, thereof. It talks as much about our competitiveness in the international arena as it talks about the problems surrounding us, particularly education and illiteracy. What is noticeable is the fact that Mr. Nilekani, unlike others, always strives to give us a solution rather than just define the problem statements. Imagine India is a refreshing change.

Nilekani transforming his ideas into reality
Nandan Nilekani accepted this appointment as Chairman of UIDAI, because he has been a champion of a reform approach that is inclusive of the poor, and in his book, he described unique identity as one of the key steps for achieving this goal. Giving every individual in India a unique identification number can go a long way in enabling direct benefits, and fixing weak public delivery systems, giving the poor access to better healthcare, education, and welfare safety nets. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered Nandan the opportunity to head the UIDAI, he saw it as a chance to help enable ideas that he had supported for a long time.

Since the UIDAI aims to enable a people-centric approach to governance, he will approach the rollout of the initiative in the same way. He has been overwhelmed in the last few weeks by offers of assistance and help from Indians around the world.

Inspiring Quotes by Nandan Nilekani
“This deal is a tipping points for Indian IT ... It shows Indian IT companies are on a level footing with larger global competitors”.

“The deal also signifies a trend towards strategic global sourcing, where customers are selecting multiple, and best-of-breed vendors to help improve efficiencies in their IT service delivery”.

“The volumes growth story is on track, with demand strong from the financial services, retail, aerospace and insurance sectors”.

“We're bringing the most sophisticated technology to the most deprived ... The hyper connected world is giving us a chance to change India faster, at a larger scale, than ever before”.

“It took us 23 years to reach the first billion dollars in revenues while we reached the next billion dollars in 23 months”.

“In the last couple of years, companies have taken security issues very seriously. We will redouble our efforts now”.

“Talent acquisition, transformation, and management are critical anchors for the growth of the industry”.

“All our ducks are lined up in a row now. India will achieve 8% growth this year as a democracy. Democracy allows free speech, which breeds creativity. Creativity creates a culture that's popular and inclusive”.

“This year India has been very active in promoting its brand and image internationally and Hanover is one of the highlights. People need to see the new India”.

Mahindra& Mahindra:Anand Mahindra -Managing Director and Vice-Chairman,

“From humble beginnings to a global presence, our journey has been for more than 65 years in the making”

Anand Mahindra is an enthusiastic, dynamic, distinct, intellectual and eloquent business leader, who articulates well with the changing trends of business. He began as a leader in 1991 at the age of 36 and took up variant responsibilities to strengthen and stabilize the company’s long-term existence. He took up the helm as Managing Director of Mahindra Group, which has a glorious history of 65 years, a global conglomerate and the top 10 industrial houses in India, in 1997 and an additional responsibility as Vice-Chairman in 2003.

At the time when Anand took the helm, the group was stuck in losses, and it was a company known for manufacturing tractors and selling jeeps, with annual revenue of $2bn. For the outside world, Anand was a person who took up an inherited business empire, to have a tight hold and elicit revenues out of it. However, on the contrary Anand proved his skeptics wrong. He charged in, to change the company, by cumbersome restructuring. He implemented initiatives like, bonuses of workers were dependent on their performance, which improved their efficiency. These changes brought about by Anand Mahindra made investors rely on shares of Mahindra & Mahindra and M&M drew the attention of investors in capital markets on long-term basis. The Financial disclosure policy of the company has won accolades from the financial analysts and the complete credit goes to Anand Mahindra.Under the visionary and strong leadership of Anand Mahindra for two decades, the company is expanded, diversified, reorganized and clearly demarcated into six sectors; automotive, farm equipment, infrastructure, financial services, information technology outsourcing and engineering design. He took main lead in transforming the company from a jeep and truck-producing firm to a multi-national entity with Utility Vehicles (UVs) Multi Utility Vehicles (MUVs), Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs). He steered the company from a small local enterprise to a giant global leader with revenue of around $12.5 billion and employing more than 119,900 people around the globe. The agriculture-to-aerospace conglomerate turned a profit of nearly $700 million on revenue of $8.7 billion, in fiscal year 2011. The automotive and farm sectors contribute at about 36 percent and 28 percent respectively. The company headed by strategic moves of Anand Mahindra and his close supervision, since two decades, M&M has been an out performer over the last decade. The first half of 2001-2005 saw a compounded annual growth of 25 percent in revenues and 118 percent in profits. The second half of the decade saw a consistent and brisk growth at rate of 26 percent, with profits growing at 29 percent. The growth was reflected in its share price, which grew 60 times by 2010.
As Anand strongly believes that, “The zero-sum game is no longer valid in the world of business. Companies must learn to collaborate with all the stakeholders in the society and earn returns through the trust they build with them”. He promises that the company will continue to pursue innovative ideas that enable people (stakeholders) to rise. Currently he undertook lot of acquisitions, with main aim of spreading global footprint. Anand Mahindra became role model for the growing entrepreneurs, by his great achievements in the global arena of business, facing the intrinsic competition.
Career Outlook
After completing his business studies from Harvard in 1981, Anand Mahindra returned to India with sufficient knowledge to handle the business. The year 1989 was a beginning point of his career, as President and Deputy Managing director of Ungine Steel Company also known as MUSCO. At this time, Mahindra started diversifying the business into new areas of real estate development and hospitality. He rose through different levels of the company and had an overall insight of the company. In the year 1991, he held the responsibility of Deputy Managing Director of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd and in 1997 he became the Managing Director of the company. In the year 2003, apart from being a Managing Director of the company, he also took the additional responsibility as Vice Chairman. He also played a role as co-promoter of Kotak Mahindra Finance Ltd, converted into private sector bank in the year 2003.
After Anand Mahindra took up the reins of the company he restructured the company, increased the productivity of the workers from 50% to 150%. He expanded the company from makers of tractors and jeeps, today the company is a global player and strongly positioned in all the businesses in its portfolio such as; automotive, farm equipment, infrastructure, financial services, information technology outsourcing, engineering design, holiday resorts and defense.
In 1995 the firm was desperate to tie up with a multinationals, for enhancement of technological and management skills and finally made a partnership deal with Ford motors. The partnership was dissolved with the release of Escort, the first car, which was a flop. Later two other partnerships failed for Mahindra, The partnership with US-based Navistar International that reported losses of 186 Crore and Logan was a major flop, a mid-size sedan that is the offspring of its venture with France's Renault.
After learning lessons in manufacturing top-class vehicles, with the major setbacks experienced in the previous ventures, M&M was all set to manufacture Scorpio. The dream of Scorpio was not possible without the joint venture with Ford Escort. The 300 people who put the Ford Escort together were the first ones to work on the Scorpio. Anand Mahindra knew well that he needed right people to realize the Scorpio project. Therefore, he turned to Pawan Goenka to develop a vehicle from scratch in India, an expert in engine technologies, worked as general manager in R&D for GE, and was at verge of leaving the company in 1993. Goenka spent the following years in learning automotive technology to greater extent and building a team of skilled young engineers. Finally, Scorpio, the first SUV for the global market was launched in 2002, with total project cost of Rs 550 Crore. Scorpio created a history of success to Anand Mahindra and stood one of the greatest achievements of the company. Scorpio also served as a platform, first for the Xylo in 2009 and then for the XUV5OO, to be launched in India and South Africa by the end of this year.
He also launched the highly appreciated UV Bolero. M&M’s Automotive Sector makes a wide range of vehicles including MUV’s, LCV’s and three- wheelers. M&M is the largest manufacturer of MUVs, offering over 20 models. The company is presently a market leader in the UV segment.
The Major growth of Mahindra came from a series of acquisitions made by the company in the past few years, starting from 2007. The acquisitions include Punjab Tractors, Kinetic Motors, British Telecom, Satyam Computer Services, Reva Electric Car Co, Ssangyong Motor Co and Gipps Aero etc.
In July 2007, M&M purchased 64.6% of Punjab tractors and turned it around within short span of two years. The company sold around 202,000 tractors a year and stood third in the world. M&M captured 42% of India’s tractor market. Farm equipment is single largest contributor of M&M revenues.
In 2008 M&M, purchased 80% stake in Kinetic Motor’s two- wheeler business for Rs 110 Crore, and run it as a separate entity Mahindra two-wheelers. The company captured 7.6% of scooters market in for the year 2010-2011, nearly 3% higher than the previous year.
The information technology business of M&M began as a venture with British Telecom in the year 2009. The company derives more than 60% of its revenues from British Telecom, and owns a 31% stake in the company. In June 2009, the company purchased Satyam Computer Services for Rs 2,650 Crore and re-branded it as Mahindra-Satyam, to own a stake of 51%.The new company for the first time declares consolidated profit of Rs 225.2 Crore for Apr-June of year 2010-2011. Satyam will certainly help the company to diversify into other verticals. In May2010 M&M purchases a stake of 55.2% in Reva Electric Car Co. Mahindra –Reva reported losses of Rs 28 Crore for the year 2010-2011, but Goenka feels that it would be beneficial on long run. Mahindra-Reva plans to launch new vehicle, NXR at the earliest.
In November 2010, M&M acquires 70% stake in Ssangyong Motor Co. for about Rs 2,100 Crore, in South Korea. Ssangyong’s marketing and distribution reaches Russia, Latin America and Western Europe, yielding scope to be a global major. This is the largest outbound deal and M&M plans to introduce Ssangyong vehicles in India by 2012.
Mahindra Systech has been acquiring automotive component and aerospace companies aggressively since 2003. In 2008, Systech, the components arm of Mahindra Group, bought Australia based Gipps Aero.
The career of Anand Mahindra shows the renewed strategies he implemented to reach his goals. He diverted his enormous efforts for the growth of the company. This is possible only by deep learning and insight into various aspects of business, a perfect planning and a thorough perception of business arena globally. Failures do not stop a leader from achieving his objectives; in fact failures become lessons for success.


More about Anand Mahindra
Born     1 May 1955 (age 56)
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Residence     Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality     Indian
Religion     Hinduism
Alma mater     Harvard University
Occupation     Vice-Chairman, Managing Director of Mahindra
Marital Status     Married
Children     Two Daughters

Anand Mahindra the dynamic businessman of India, was born on first May, 1955 in Mumbai, his hometown. He entered Harvard as an undergraduate in the film studies programme of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies. He graduated from Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He completed his MBA from Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts in 1981 and returned to India to manage business. Right now, he lives in his hometown Mumbai, with his wife and two daughters.
Anand got married to Anuradha Mahindra, who worked in advertising and as a freelance journalist for almost 12 years. She started the magazines 'Verve' and 'Man's World' with a desire to showcase the best of Indian talent in writing, fashion, interiors and photography. She is also the editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone India. They had two daughters.
Anand Mahindra is a big fan of football and has a keen interest in football. He likes world of cinema, reading, tennis and sailing. His interests include photography. He is a poise personality, speaks eloquently, and is a frequent contributor to debates on business issues and government policy. The great industrialist Anand Mahindra has given Harvard University $10 million; the largest gift for the study of humanities in its history, the centre is now renamed as Mahindra Humanities Centre. This shows his stint towards Harvard and his Harvard connections.
Awards and Accolades
Anand Mahindra received a number of awards as a tribute of recognition for his exceptional business acumen. He embedded a culture of innovation and improvement and communicated a clear strategic vision companywide to deliver outstanding commercial performance over years. His contribution to technical and intellectual world is worth rewarding. Few of the awards he received are mentioned below:

Mr. Mahindra received the Business Leader of the Year Award, at The Asian Awards 2011 held in London on October 18, 2011.
CNBC TV18 has given him the honor, as the Outstanding Business Leader for 2009.
He was named Business Leader of the Year by the “Economic Times Awards” 2008-2009.
The Most Inspiring Corporate Leader of the Year 2007, from NDTV Profit.
He bagged the CNBC Asia Business Leader Award for the year 2006.
He was recognized as the Person of the Year 2005, from Auto Monitor.
Anand Mahindra received 2005 Leadership Award from the American India Foundation for his, and the Mahindra Group's commitment to corporate social responsibility.
He received Rajiv Gandhi Award 2004, for outstanding contribution in the business field.
The President of the French Republic honored him with the ‘Knight of the Order of Merit'.

Conscious Capitalism by Anand Mahindra
Anand Mahindra puts out his mind in an article for Forbes magazine. In 25 ideas to change the world Anand Mahindra speaks about “Conscious Capitalism” which is a fresh idea in business world. He says that the relation between the business, society and stakeholders of the business should be complementary to each other and all of them should grow with belief and trust.

In his article about Conscious Capitalism, he tells that the new mantra of success in business is collaboration with the society and stakeholders and returns should be earned by building trust with them. An idea would change the world, may the idea be implemented in the form of a product, device or a gadget (like in the case of Apple first iPads). The outcomes of strong, powerful and abstract ideas cannot be easily forgot; these ideas change our outlook on the world and our role in it. Sometimes a new disruptive idea may emerge from the previous venerated ideas. The ideas need not always take moral grounds; sometimes they may be more practical.

In this globalized model of business, finite resources and fierce competition; there raised an urgency for the businesses to change and move to a more collaborative approach. The zero-sum approach to competitors and a "hunter-gatherer" interface with the environment is no longer sustainable. Collaboration with our wider communities is not just one more way to build a brand, gain subsidies or win favor of customers; it is the ONLY way to do business. Gaining the trust of customers is more crucial for success in business, that is what Anand Mahindra was conveying to the business world through his article. Of course, the need for enhanced shareholder returns and a healthy bottom line is not just what shareholders require, it is a resource enabler for all other good things. We are in the 21st century, the world of commerce and finance and simply involving in a set of community activities may not be a tool for enhancing shareholders returns. This needs an altogether new approach. Our integration with the local and wider communities would give positive results, only if our work helps the fortunes of our entire stakeholders rise along with us.

Rise –The new Branding initiative of Mahindra

The Managing Director of M&M, Anand Mahindra says 'Rise', is the group's new brand positioning initiative, unveiled recently after a year long brainstorming exercise and visiting several countries where the group operates before taking the final decision. The initiative was formulated by UK-based agency Strawberry Frog, chosen as the word cuts across cultures and countries. It is an effort by M&M to become 'tomorrow's company'. The repositioning reflects a fundamental change in corporate strategy; it will be a challenge to see how the aspiration 'Rise' is translated into action. It is very difficult to implement the change in strategy at the grass-root level.

The outcome of this initiative is approximately expected to be Rs 320 billion. Anand Mahindra says that “Rise” would be bigger milestone than the launch of Scorpio, the group’s top-selling sports utility vehicle, launched in 2002. He also says that in the mere future, the reason why people work for Mahindra or buy its products would change. He adds that it is a great message to corporate India and that the enthusiasm could be infectious and many more Indian business firms would adopt this approach to communicate their core purpose of business.

The M&M group is ready to spend Rs 120 Crore, to promote the “Rise” program in the next three years. The main aim of the program is to outperform the competition and achieve growth of 10X, which means growth may be in the form of 10 times revenues, 10 times profit or 10 times market share. Mahindra’s are aware of the fact that just an aesthetic change in terms of brand logo, tagline etc. can never help a brand unless the change is strongly inculcated internally and even employees should promote and recommend Mahindra’s products to the customers. M&M top brass would be hoping employees and customers would indeed 'Rise' to the occasion.

There are enough reasons why the Mahindra group went in for a rebranding now. In a somewhat similar exercise 13 years ago, the group had articulated its core purpose, as “Indians are second to none today, with 10 per cent of Mahindra's strong workforce being foreign nationals, the group needed to brand itself”. “We found that it resonated with people everywhere. Everyone has the aspiration to rise above their lot," That was important as the group now has a presence in 79 countries across the globe. The federation of companies that make up the group include an Australian aerospace company and South Korean automaker Ssangyong Motor Company, which Mahindra acquired last year. Our strategy management office then got into the act to find out a more relevant core purpose so that everyone in Mahindra speaks in one voice. As Indian companies go global, it is important for them to recast their intrinsic framework - who they are? What they believe in? What businesses are they in?

"If someone walks into a Mahindra showroom, they should actually feel the change”. While expectations have been set, success will also depend on how well the brand promise is delivered. One has to evaluate how the corporation will live up to the positioning.
Few promising quotes by Anand Mahindra
"We continue to build our business portfolio at a measured pace, despite low discretionary spend in the telecom vertical. This has been enabled by our diversification into new geographies and customers" - Anand Mahindra "The profit for the quarter ended June 31, 2011 and 2010 are not comparable as the figures in respect of June 2010, do not include share in profits of the associate (Satyam) as the financial results of the associate were not available when Tech Mahindra accounts for June 2010 were prepared" - Anand Mahindra "I do not see the dollar's role as a reserve currency under threat, since a reserve currency is characterized not just by fiscal strength, but also by the political and economic freedom of the host country. Yes, the rupee may accelerate and exports could face headwinds, but at a time of high inflation, a strong rupee is the lesser of two evils" - Anand Mahindra "If there was a trust deficit, it was dispelled today... it vanished today. There was an assurance on time bound action on our proposals" - Anand Mahindra

Microsoft:Bill Gates- Chairman and Chief Software Architect (1975-2008), Microsoft, U.S.A.

“We've really achieved the ideal of what I wanted Microsoft to become.”

 Bill Gates an icon of software industry, incredible genius ideologist, world class entrepreneur and a well-known philanthropist of USA; with high ambition, enthusiasm and passion in computer programming, took the reins of Microsoft as Chairman and Chief Software Architect in 1975, and successfully led the company until 28 June 2008. He continues to serve as Chairman of Microsoft and an advisor on key development projects, with successors Ray Ozzie as Chief Software Architect from 2006 and Craig Mundie as Chief Research and Strategy Officer. He reduced his responsibilities and decided to spend more time at the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, found by Bill and his wife Melinda in January 2005 with endowment of more than $28.8 billion, to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health, education and learning. 

Bill by nature was a curious learner and was a voracious reader; this zeal made him to write computer programs at a very tender age of 13yrs. His mind was a book of ideas in which the content of any two pages was not similar; it was always new and creative.

These interests made him invent breakthrough technologies and through efficient long-lived strategies, perfect vision, high spirit of innovation and aggressive competitive tactics; he built and headed the dominant software global leader Microsoft Corporation; a blend of "micro-computer" and "software".

After more than three decades of strong leadership of Gates, Microsoft Corporation developed and transformed into world’s largest software American public Multinational Corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA .The company develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services exclusively related to computing through its various product divisions. This helps people and businesses to give out their full potential. Microsoft employs a huge workforce of around 90,000 worldwide out of which 30,000 are programmers, working in 105 regions and countries. The engineers of operating groups are valued more in Microsoft and are involved in all major decisions. The net worth of Microsoft as of 2011 accounted to 59bn dollars. Today there is no irony in saying that Microsoft is more recognized and influential brand in the computer industry serving the needs of people all over the world, with every desktop computer using at least one software program from Microsoft.

With out Bill Gates Microsoft was not possible and without Microsoft, computer industry would not have flourished as it is today. Therefore, Bill Gates was the first person to revolutionize and redefine computer world of technology, by developing killing software programs. He was strongly driven by a belief that personal computing would be indispensable and valuable tool in every office and home desktops, in the future ahead.  His name is inseparably attached to the world of software technology (especially Microsoft); as he put forth all his energies and capabilities to advance and continuously upgrade software technology making it easy to use, cost effective and enjoyable to all the users. He marked a beginning of new digital era and became an inspiration for many software enthusiasts and professionals.

Gates strived through many controversies from many people including late Steve Jobs of Apple Inc, that Bill had aggressive and unfair business practices and monopoly, for which he often had to fight legal battles. Nevertheless, as a man of consistency and patience, he took the criticism in positive and constructive manner and used it as greatest source of learning, because of which he wrote world’s best software programs and stood an unbeatable business icon of 21st century.

Bill Gates stood as world’s wealthiest man for 17 consecutive years until 2010. In 2011 he was 2nd, because his philanthropic ideas pushed him to second place.

Career Outlook
Bill Gates started computer programming at a very young age of thirteen. Both the friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen succeeded in running a small company called Traf-O-Data and sold a computer to the city of Seattle that could count city traffic, proving their abilities in software programming at a very young age. After dropping out from Harvard, both Gates and his high school (Lakeside School) pal Paul Allen, who shared common interest of computer programming were all set to start a company called Microsoft , a unique combination of "micro-computer" and "software", in 1975. This was the beginning of a great history of computer revolution and the saga of Microsoft flourished, evolved and continued until date. Today every computer desktop in the offices and homes use at least one Microsoft program.

Career of Gates took a great kick start by programming a BASIC interpreter for the microcomputer issued in January 1975, by popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System’s (MITS) Altair 8800, along with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Both the master brains in computers, first tested the interpreter on a simulator and not the actual device, but the interpreter worked without any problems to MITS in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 1975; MITS agreed to distribute it, marketing it as Altair BASIC. Microsoft was officially established on April 4, 1975, with Gates taking charge as CEO. In August 1977, Microsoft formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine and established its first international office “ASCII Microsoft", in Japan. In 1979, the company shifted to a new home in Bellevue, Washington.

Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of UNIX, called XENIX. The success story of Microsoft began in 1981with the MS-DOS computer operating system that Gates licensed to IBM; this made use of computers much easier. Gates was very aggressive in protecting the royalties he acquired from computer software against all sorts of piracy and effectively created retail software market that exists today, which brought huge commercial success to Microsoft. It is MS-DOS, that strengthened the company’s dominance and Microsoft became leading PC OS vendor.

In 1983, Microsoft entered and expanded its footage into new markets with the release of Microsoft mouse in 1983 and a publishing division named Microsoft press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in February after developing Hodgkin's disease.

In 1985(OS/2 was jointly developed with IBM), Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20. Microsoft moved its headquarters to Redmond on February 26, 1986, and on March 13, the company went public. Microsoft announced the release of its version of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on April 2, 1987. Meanwhile, the company was at work on a 32-bit OS, Microsoft Windows NT, using ideas from OS/2; it shipped on July 21, 1993 with a new modular kernel and the Win32 application-programming interface (API), making porting from 16-bit (MS-DOS-based) Windows easier. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated.

Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office, in 1990. The software unified separate office productivity applications, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. On May 22, Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 with a streamlined user interface graphics and improved protected mode capability for the Intel 386 processor. Both Office and Windows became dominant in their respective areas.

In 1995, Microsoft was at verge of extending its product line due to “Internet Tidal Wave memo”. The company released Windows 95 on August 24, 1995, featuring pre-emptive multitasking, a completely new user interface with a novel start button, and 32-bit compatibility; similar to NT, it provided the Win32 API. Windows 95 came bundled with the online service MSN, and for OEMs Internet Explorer, a web browser. Internet Explorer was not bundled with the retail Windows 95 boxes because the boxes were printed before the team finished the web browser, and instead was included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack.

Extending out into new markets in 1996, Microsoft and NBC Universal created a new 24/7 cable news station, MSNBC. Microsoft created Windows CE 1.0, a new OS designed for devices with low memory and other constraints, such as personal digital assistants.

Bill Gates handed over the CEO position on January 13, 2000 to Steve Ballmer, an old college friend of Gates and employee of the company since 1980, creating a new position for himself as Chief Software Architect. Various companies including Microsoft formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance in October 1999 to, among other things, increase security and protect intellectual property through identifying changes in hardware and software.

October 25, 2001 Microsoft released Windows XP, unifying the mainstream and NT lines under the NT code base. The company released the Xbox later that year, entering the game console market dominated by Sony and Nintendo.

Windows Vista the next version of windows was unveiled in 2007; mainly focused on features, security, and a redesigned user interface dubbed Aero. Microsoft Office 2007, released at the same time, featured a "Ribbon" user interface, which was a significant from its predecessors. Relatively strong sales of both titles helped to produce a record profit in 2007.

Bill Gates retired from his role as Chief Software Architect on June 27, 2008, but continued in positions related to the company in addition to being an advisor for the company on key projects. October 27, 2008, the company entered into cloud computing platform for windows, through Azure Services Platform. On February 12, 2009, Microsoft announced its intent to open a chain of Microsoft-branded retail stores. Windows 7's focus was on refining Vista with ease of use features and performance enhancements, rather than a large reworking of Windows.
 

More about Bill Gates
    Born: 2William Henry Gates III October 28, 1955 (age 56) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
    Residence: Medina, Washington, U.S.
    Nationality: American
    Religion: Agnostic
    Alma mater: Harvard University (Drop out)
    Occupation: Chairman of Microsoft,Chairman of Corbis,Co-Chair of the Bill &
      Melinda Gates Foundation, Director of Berkshire Hathaway, CEO of Cascade Investment.
    Marital Status: Melinda Gates
    Children: 3


William Henry Gates III was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 28, 1955. He was grown up in a well to do, warm and closely-knit family with two sisters Kristianne and Libby. The family atmosphere he grew was full of liveliness, high spirit and the children were always encouraged to be competitive and try to achieve excellence in whatever they did.  His father, William H. Gates II, was an attorney at Seattle. Bill had a very intimate relationship with his mother; Mary was a regent from University of Washington, who devoted most of her time in bringing up her kids after her short-term career as a schoolteacher and working on civic affairs and charity programs. She also served on several corporate boards, among them First the United way (interstate bank of Seattle found by her grand father), and International Business Machines (IBM). Bill often accompanied her volunteer work in schools and community organizations.

Bill spend most of his childhood in Seattle, Washington. Bill was altogether a different child from others. He was a voracious reader and spent countless number of hours in reading reference books like encyclopedia. He was doing well at school, but at times, he seemed bored and withdrawn. This became matter of concern to his parents and they were annoyed that he would become a loner. This made them to enroll young Bill in Seattle’s Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school, at the age of 13. This decision was a turning point of Bills life, as he developed passion in computer programming during his stance at the Lakeside School. Bill opened up, did well in all his subjects, and was extremely good at Math and Science. He had an interest and did well in drama and English. It is in the Lakeside School that Bill became closer to his 2yr senior Paul Allen. Both of them shared their common interest in computer programming. They were quite different in nature, Allen was more reserved and shy and Bill was feisty and at times combative.

After graduating from Lakeside school in 1973, Bill scored 1590 out of 1600 in the college SAT test, which was very high. Later he enrolled himself in Harvard University in the fall, to pursue his career in law. As his passion lied in computers, Bill spend most of his time in the computer lab than in the class. Gates remained in contact with Paul, who dropped out from Washington State University and moved to Boston to work in Honeywell. In summer, 1974 Gates dropped out from Harvard to join Allen at Honeywell.

In 1989 Bill eventually met Melinda French a 28-year-old Microsoft executive, Bill was then 37. Meanwhile their relation became strong and intimate and they discovered each other and Bill came to a decision that Melinda was a perfect match for him. On January 1, 1994, Melinda and Bill were married in Hawaii. Gates was devastated by his mother’s death in 1994, with breast cancer. In 1996, Bill and Melinda had their first baby girl, Jennifer. A year later, Gates moved his family into a 55,000 sq ft. $54 million house on the shore of Lake Washington, where he lives with his wife and three children. Bill is interested in reading books, playing golf and bridge.

He authored and co-authored many books. In 1999, He wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. His previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks. He has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.

Bill gates states that, “Paper is no longer a big part of my day. I get 90% of my news online, and when I go to a meeting and want to jot things down, I bring my Tablet PC. It's fully synchronized with my office machine so I have all the files I need”.
Awards and Recognition

His enormous efforts to bring out agile operating systems, to give a new definition to digital revolution, and his philanthropic works were recognized throughout the world and he was honored with numerous awards. However much he is honored, it is unmatched to the great achievements he made.
    Times magazine named Gates one of the 100 people, who most influenced the
      20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential people of 2004, 2005, and 2006.
    Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono
      as the 2005 Year for their humanitarian efforts.
    Gates ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" by Time in 1998.
    In March 2005, William H. Gates received an "honorary" knighthood from the
      queen of England. Gates was bestowed with the KBE Order (Knight Commander
      of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his services in reducing poverty
      and improving health in the developing countries of the world.
    In 1994, he was honored as the twentieth Distinguished Fellow of the British
      Computer Society.
    In November 2006, he and his wife were awarded the Order of the Aztec
      Eagle for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education,
      particularly in Mexico.


Gates' 4 golden rules
Bill Gates may walk out the door from Microsoft, but he leaves a lasting impression. These are four of his core beliefs that are likely to carry on at the company he founded.

Think of software as a utopian tool. "Thirty-three years ago the company was founded on the proposition that software would be important," says Gates. "Looking at the next decade, the value that will be created by software and popular software platforms will be greater than ever."

Think of software as a utopian tool. "Thirty-three years ago the company was founded on the proposition that software would be important," says Gates. "Looking at the next decade, the value that will be created by software and popular software platforms will be greater than ever."

Gates takes what colleagues call a utopian view of software. He believes it can do anything. That means the revolution is just beginning. Says longtime Microsoft executive Craig Mundie: "Today Microsoft actually thinks about itself as just a software company - not a specific type of Software Company, not a PC software company, not a word-processor software company. And that has been many years in coming."

Let the engineers rule. Microsoft employs about 30,000 programmers among its 90,000 people. In operating groups, engineers are involved in every major decision. Not only that, engineers typically get paid more than business people.

The geeks also get many toys: Microsoft's $8 billion computer science R&D lab is the world’s largest. At a recent executive retreat, Gates said he thought every great business person at Microsoft should cultivate at least five close relationships with engineers.

Institutionalize paranoia. "It's very Microsoft to prepare for the worst," says Gates. His heirs agree, and they want to keep it that way. The collective worry a few years ago was that Linux and open-source software could wipe out Microsoft. Today there are products across the company that takes for granted that customers will use open source products alongside Microsoft's own.

Meanwhile, Windows Server is finally gaining market share against Linux. Fear is what enabled the company to make that necessary transition. "Bill and Steve created what I guess I'd characterize as a culture of crisis," says chief software architect Ray Ozzie. "There's always someone who's going to take the company down. It's mythical, but at any given point in time there might be two or three big competitive things that the company is juggling. It's something people here are used to, and it's accretive in terms of making things more resilient over time."

Invest for the long term. One of Microsoft's most successful products at the moment are Share Point, a set of tools to enable companies to build both internal and external websites - everything from collaboration and blogs to a flagship dot-com. This year it will generate about $1 billion in revenue. But that product has been evolving for a decade.” Whatever the cycle is, we will keep investing through the cycle,", "because we know on the other side whatever cycle happens, there is opportunity. That's just the way the company thinks about itself."

Bill Gates’ 10 advices to young people

Before retiring in July 2008, Bill Gates gave the following advices to high school students. You can get good learning experience to enhance yourself and get motivated from these valuable advices.

“Life is not fair - get used to it.” The world is never fair. You know this. You can never change the whole world. Injustice still exists in the current society, so you should try to adapt.

“The world won't care about your self-esteem”. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. Your extreme self-esteem may make your job inconvenient. Don't attach too much significance on your self-esteem as people care about your achievements rather than it.

“You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice president with car phone, until you earn both.” Normally you can't be rich if you have just finished high school. However to become an executive, you need to obtain both: a high school certificate and the money.

“If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.” Don’t complain that your boss is tough. When you are at school, your teachers always stand by you whenever you meet problems. However if you have thought that all your problems really come from the hard requirements of your teachers, you shouldn't look for a job. Simply if there aren't strict demands from your company, you will do nothing and quickly become unemployed. Then nobody will give you a hand.

“If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.” Don't blame your failure on your destiny. All you need now is to stay calm and start from scratch.

“Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.”

You should show your gratefulness to your parents for spending most of their lives for your living and growth. All the “outdated” of your parents today is the price they have to pay for your growth.

“Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life may not. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.”

Keep in mind that you can always become a leader, so that you will have more motivation to strive for your career.

“Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.”

Don’t always wait for holidays or you will be left behind your colleagues. That backwardness means elimination and unemployment.

“Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.”
Everybody likes watching TV, but you shouldn't watch it too much. As that actually isn't your life and your thinking will be influenced. You yourself have to determine your own life.

“Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.”

You should be nice to everyone. Life has happenings you could never expect. Be open to your boss; don’t say bad things behind his back as it will bring you nowhere.

7 Key Lessons from a Greatest Leader of all times - Bill Gates

After more than three decades of entrepreneurship, Bill provided a great sense of achievement for himself and revolutionized the rest of the computer industry. Out of his experiences, he shares key lessons to guide us all through.

Success comes with a Great Vision

“Every business and household must have a computer and must run Microsoft software”, was the basic guiding vision of Bill Gates. When people in the world were not even aware of the software industry’s future, when people were unaware of the unknown, here was a man who had full confidence on his gut feel, and had the passion and zeal to take the vision the farthest possible way. He was almost there achieving his vision. This clear vision of him won him success and glory and made him the richest person in the world for 13 continuous long years.

Failures are learning lessons:

Bill Gates says “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” This says that Bill Gates was never afraid of losing and went on to win a lot of deals because of this. While the Microsoft windows operating system is the widely used in the world, there are a good number of criticisms and unhappiness about the software among the users. While many of them used to get bugged using Microsoft products, Bill Gates did not easily give up. He took all those as nice lesson and is improving every single day.

Higher the Self Esteem the better it gets

When you start achieving something big, there will be people who would want to make fun of your efforts, criticize and try to pull you down. The stronger you stand the bolder you get the faster these negatives fade.

Opportunity knocks once

Bill Gates took up the accountability of being the Chief Software Architect; Bill Gates was nurturing Microsoft by building a wide spectrum of products. This was not just to capitalize on the knowledge but also to provide the best by understanding the requirement of the people. He did not wait for people to ask what they wanted and instead made a revolution of creating an opportunity for himself and his company by innovating. He did not sit and do something that anyone could, but he took the reins into his hands to take Microsoft to these great heights.

Action Speaks Louder

This is one never mentioned secret of success. Action is the key word, when logic never drives us its emotions. We must have that emotional strength in us to act, to perform. Bill Gates as a small young boy never had anything to lose which he kept telling his good friend Paul Allen. When he had several odds against him such as the American Law and several cases against him, he still without fail took action by developing more software, which the people wanted. This made him a super star overnight. If not for Bill Gates, Microsoft would have not seen the light today of what it gets. This was because of his persistence and constant delivery of ideas to his Goals and vision.

He was a drop out from one of the world’s best universities the Harvard and not everyone from there went to achieve great heights like Bill Gates did, which reiterates the basic fact that education is just a tool for success and does not define success itself. During the convocation address at the Harvard university, Bill Gates mentioned that good he came when they were graduating and not when during the time when they joined the university else they would have changed their mind.

Trust- An unwritten rule for great leadership wisdom

Right from day 1 at Microsoft, Bill Gates was very open to the ideas. This he also proved later when Steve Balmer stepped into the shoes of Bill Gates and became the CEO of the company. He always believed that there is no end to learning from people, from books and so on. “I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot”, says Bill Gates. Ready for more ideas to float around which will make sure that the same culture of innovation continues in Microsoft even without his presence.

Success must never get on to the head

This is by far the best lesson what we learn from Bill Gates. At a tender age of 21, Bill Gates had achieved many a things beyond money and fame. This did not allow him to stop achieving and always had the drive to achieve great heights. “If I’d had some set idea of a finish line, don’t you think I would have crossed it years ago?” quote Bill Gates with utmost passion and determination.

Never stop learning was the Mantra of Bill Gates which he follows until date. This makes him a Great Leader of our times. He will always be remembered as an icon and even without his presence in Microsoft; he would still be regarded as a great inventor and a real genius with respect to Business, Technology and Entrepreneurship.

 

The Aditya Birla Group:Kumar Mangalam Birla,Chairman,

  

Kumar Mangalam Birla is a young and dynamic entrepreneur of India as well as the world, ranking eighth youngest billionaire of the world. He took up the reigns of huge business empire of Birla’s, as a chairman, at a tender age of 28yrs .Sudden demise of his father made him to take the crucial responsibility of heading the business. The group was named as Aditya Birla Group after Aditya Vikram Birla. The way Kumar Mangalam Birla expanded the business in the past two decades, demystified the thoughts of people who doubted his management skills.

Back in 1995, when Kumar Mangalam Birla took over the reins of the AV Birla group, the turnover was $2bn and the overseas operations accounted to a minor part, in Egypt, Thailand and Indonesia.
Under strong leadership of Kumar Mangalam Birla the group’s turnover spiraled up to $33bn, which is fifteen times the earlier revenue. Birla group has its wide spread operations across more than 40 countries including Australia, Dubai, and reaching out to North America, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary and China. 60% of the revenues come from abroad and 1,30,000 people are being hired globally for their business operations.

Kumar Mangalam Birla being a powerful strategist and visionary could tap the potentials in business along various verticals and various geographies and with his boundless efforts and hard work he widened the business base of the giant conglomerate. He acquired 22 companies within past 15yrs within India and outside, but still stayed within their capabilities of management and to stay strong enough in business. Thus, Kumar Mangalam Birla carried the saga of Birla’s and took up the pride of Birla’s both in India and in Global arena.

Career Outlook

  

Kumar Mangalam Birla started his career as chairman of Aditya Birla Group, after his father in 1995. Before starting as chairman of the Birla group he was man of knowledge, intellect, perseverance and was independently handling Grasim's cement division, the fertilizer business of Indo-Gulf, and also a newly setup carbon black unit in Egypt. His father built companies from the scratch both in India and out of India. Before Kumara Mangalam Birla, most of the business was dependent on cyclic commodities.

As it came to the fourth generation, Kumar Mangalam Birla felt that the challenges have changed and the level and quality of competition has gone up. World has become small due to globalization and that there was a constant need of reinvention in business. As a response to all these challenges he shifted the focus of the business from commodity centric to customer centric. This gave a high competitive edge to the company.

Kumar Mangalam Birla has expanded business primarily through acquisitions, snapping up 22 companies in the past 15 years, both overseas and in India. The $6-billion acquisition of Canadian aluminium rolled product giant Novelis has been Birla's biggest takeover so far. He has also bought mines in Australia; Star Trading, a cement company in Dubai; and UltraTech Cement Ltd in India from Larsen and Toubro Ltd. Later he announced a deal to buy carbon black maker Columbian Chemicals Co for $875mn to become the biggest manufacturer of carbon black.

Kumar Mangalam Birla has a great interest and inclination to enter into new avenues of business and under his leader ship; the group entered new segments like business process outsourcing, in which Transworks-Minacs is the third largest third-party BPO outfit in the country, and Idea Cellular, market capitalization of which is over $8 billion, accounts now for almost a third of the group market cap.

Under Kumara Mangalam Birla the company made its name among the world's top ten producers of cement, aluminum. It also entered into sunrise sectors like cellulars, BPO, software and asset management. The major businesses include Grasim, Hindalco, Ultra-tech cement, Idea cellular and Aditya Birla Retail. By taking the advantage of globalization having seeded by his father, he built upon the inherited strong base and broadened the business platform of Birla group and accelerated the growth and development, and hence proved his abilities and efficiencies.

The group is today the world number one in viscose staple fibre; the world's largest single-location palm oil producer; Asia's largest integrated aluminium producer; a globally competitive, fast-growing copper producer; the world's third-largest producer of insulators; globally the fourth-largest producer of carbon black; the world's eighth-largest producer of cement and the largest in a single geography; India's premier branded garments player; among India's most energy efficient private sector fertilizer plants; India's second-largest producer of viscose filament yarn; the number two private sector insurance company and the fourth-largest asset management company in India.

The Fantastic Four

  

  

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: Kumar Mangalam, Aditya Vikram, Ghanshyamdas and Basant Kumar

Kumar Mangalam Birla, the 40-year-old Chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, was born exactly20 years after his great grandfather, Ghanshyamdas Birla, set up Gwalior Rayon (now Grasim Industries) in 1947. Eighteen years after that, his grandfather, Basant Kumar Birla set up Century Enka. And when his late father, Aditya Vikram Birla, set up his first overseas venture Indo-Thai Synthetics in 1969, Kumar Mangalam was just two.

Even though Birla’s inherited the business, the Birla of each generation also established new business ventures. Kumar Mangalam Birla inherited Hindalco, Grasim and Indian rayon, where as the companies he started and acquired are Retail venture, Idea cellular, Ultratech cement, Trans work, Aditya Birla minerals, Birla Sun -life insurance and asset management.

Basant kumar Birla, Chairman of BK Birla Group, Grand father of Kumar Mangalam Birla said in his statement that “In terms of management style, the change from GhanshyamDas Birla to me was 10%, from me to Aditya 25%. But from Aditya to Kumar Mangalam Birla, it was 75%.

  

Kumar Mangalam Birla with his wife Neerja and Ananyashree & Aryaman Vikram

Kumar Mangalam Birla was born in, June; 1967, in a Marwari Birla business family from the state of Rajasthan. He spent most of his childhood in Calcutta and Mumbai. He was raised by his mother Rajashree Birla and his father Aditya Vikram Birla in a traditional manner with a deep rooted spirituality, a dedication and commitment to the society. His grandmother Sarala Devi, who was a strict disciplinarian when he was growing up, also moulded his outlook. His grandfather Basant Kumar Birla has always has been guiding force of his life.

He is a charted accountant by profession. Kumar earned his commerce degree from HR College, Mumbai and he earned his MBA in HR, from the London Business School. He got married at the age of 22yrs with Neerja Kasliwal whose age was then only 18yrs and later had three children Ananyashree, Aryaman Vikram and Advaitesha.Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Wife Neerja oversees the Aditya Birla World Academy, a school in Mumbai tight money

The car Kumar Mangalam Birla uses is an olive green BMW 5 series sedan.

Awards and Honors

Kumar Mangalam Birla worked with a commitment to the society and relentlessly shaped and reshaped the Aditya Birla Group, with his deep rooted knowledge in business dynamics and earned numerous awards which he deserved.
Mr. Birla was named the ‘CNN-IBN Indian of the Year 2010 – Business "Business Leader of the Year" at the AIMA Managing India Awards 2010 by the All India Management Association (AIMA). He received Bombay Management Association's "Entrepreneur of the Decade Award – 2009 He bagged "JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award – 2008" He is conferred "The Corporate Role Model Award – 2008" by Amity International Business School, the Asia Pacific Global HR Excellence " He was honored with “Exemplary Leader" Award, and NDTV's "Global Indian Leader of the Year" and "The Most Socially Responsible Leader" by Outlook business magazine in 2007. He received Lakshmipat Singhania – IIM, Lucknow National Leadership Award – 2006. Business Leader was conferred on Mr. Birla by our Prime Minister. He received the award of “Ernst and young Entrepreneur of India-2005” He bagged the award of “Young super performer in CEO category” Business Today in 2005. “Udyoga Rathna” by chamber of commerce and industry 2005. To "salute his entrepreneurial excellence and exemplary contribution to Indian business", AIMA conferred its "Honorary Fellowship" on him, and the National HRD Network named him "The Outstanding Businessman of the Year".
Memberships in Educational and Advisory Boards Kumar Mangalam Birla also holds several key positions on various regulatory and professional boards, as a mark of excellence and contribution towards different social fields, other than business holdings. On the academic front, Mr. Birla is the Chancellor of BITS, Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa and Dubai. He is a Director of the G. D. Birla Medical Research and Education foundation. He is on the Asian Regional Advisory Board of London Business School. He has been inducted on The Economic Times Corporate Advisory Board. The memberships include; chairmanship of the advisory committee constituted by the ministry of company affairs for 2006 and 2007, membership of the prime minister of India's advisory council on trade and industry, chairmanship of the board of trade reconstituted by the union minister of commerce and industry, and membership of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India. He was also a member of the Organizing Committee for Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010