sphere consolidated sphere may 2012

May 2012

&PASSIONS

PROFESSIONS

SIX EMPLOYEES TALK ABOUTTHEIR PASSION FOR THEIR JOBS

Tata Sphere May 2012

Contents

23 Passions and professions

C o v e r S T o r y

3 A round-up of major news and events in the Tata group from January to April 2012

i n T h e n e w S

30 Strengthening the Tata bond

i n i T i a T i v e

33 From the land of hearty eating

b o n a p p é T i T

36 At home in the world

S p e C i a l S e C T i o n

The team

Editor: Cynthia Rodrigues Assistant editor: Jai Wadia

Sub editor: Sheetal Gaikwad

Design: Ashwini Baviskar, Sonal Sonavane and Sudipta Sarkar

Edited and created by in association with The Information Company

Email: [email protected] Website: www.tata.com Intranet: www.tataworld.com

48 Joyful wonders

p h o T o g a l l e r y

46 A gift from a stranger

47 A lesson learned

M y S p a C e

e v e n T S

52 Tata First Dot, powered by NEN

53 Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2012

54 Defexpo 2012

56 Tata Women@work

58 Tata Innovista 2012

62 Tata Young Expressions

42 A close encounter with rural life

e x p e r i e n C e

J A N U A R Y

January

The TCS Silicon Valley Customer Collaboration Center in California

L-R: Devender Singh, joint secretary, Ministry of Power; Ashok Lavasa, additional secretary, Ministry of Power; Praveen Kadle, MD and CEO, Tata Capital, and Dr Ajay Mathur, director general, BEE, at the signing of the MoU

Tata Capital signs MoUTata Capital signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to work closely on the Energy Efficiency Financing Platform, an initiative under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency, to create a mechanism for enabling mainstream financing of energy efficiency projects.

TCS inaugurates Silicon Valley Customer Collaboration Center in California, USA Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced the official opening of its Silicon Valley Customer Collaboration Center in Santa Clara, California, USA. The centre will serve as the worldwide headquarters of TCS’s Mobility Solutions Unit, which aims to bring the benefits of emerging technologies like big data, analytics and mobility to enterprises across all industries.

RK Krishna Kumar (left), vice chairman, Tata Global Beverages, and director, Tata Sons, with John Culver, president, Starbucks China and Asia Pacific, at the signing of the contract

Tata Global Beverages forms joint venture with StarbucksTata Global Beverages announced a joint venture with Starbucks, the iconic international coffee brand and the second-largest branded tea company in the world. The 50:50 joint venture, Tata Starbucks, will own and operate Starbucks cafés, which will be branded as Starbucks Coffee, ‘A Tata Alliance’.

3 | Tata Sphere May 2012

J A N U A R Y

Tata Projects awarded by EPC World Tata Projects received the Construction Company of the Year Award from EPC World, a renowned magazine for the infrastructure, construction and realty sectors.

AK Sharma (extreme right), executive vice president and head, SBU power generation, Tata Projects, receiving the award. Also seen in the pic (L-R): KJ Alphons, former commissioner, Delhi Development Authority; Tejasvi Sharma, MD and editor-in-chief, EPC World Media Group, and Professor MN Sreehari, advisor to the Government of Karnataka for infrastructure

Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL), a subsidiary of Tata Power, installed a water-refining plant at Tunda, near its plant in Mundra, Gujarat. The reverse osmosis plant gives the community easier and cheaper access to clean and safe drinking water. Also, CGPL’s project Utkarsh increased the per capita income of the villagers of Tragadi by forming a cooperative of 34 cattle rearers to provide information on livestock.

Maithon Power initiated community-led processes to promote micro-enterprises under its ‘Livelihoods Interventions’ project in 12 villages of the Nirsa block of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Maithon Power, in association with Pratham, a non-governmental organisation, also launched The Block Excellence Program, in the Nirsa block, to improve the learning skills of children aged 5-14 years.

Tata Power lends a helping hand

Tata International recognisedTata International secured the top position under the category of Export of Finished Leather above `1 billion, at the India International Leather Fair 2012 in Chennai. The company was adjudged third in the Overall Exports category for 2010-11.

Diligenta successfully completes project Diligenta, TCS’s UK-based, financial services authority-regulated subsidiary, concluded a multi-year, multi-million dollar transformation project at Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest specialist consolidator of closed life funds. The programme involved replacing and decommissioning 11 major life and pension administration systems and hundreds of peripheral systems, and migrating more than four million policies and customer records, across multiple brands and product lines into TCS BaNCS Insurance.


J A N U A R Y

Tata Technologies participates in North American International Auto ShowTata Technologies was selected by Michelin to display its electric mobility engineering study EV as part of the prestigious Michelin Challenge Design display at the 2012 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, USA.

CMC’s Genisys Configurator awarded CMC won the Golden Peacock Innovative Product / Service Award for 2011 at the 22nd World Congress on Total Quality. The award was won by CMC’s Genisys Configurator, which empowers a large number of general insurance companies in India.

Ramanathan Ramanan (second from left), MD and CEO, CMC, with the Golden Peacock Innovative Product / Service Award

Tata Power wins Quality Award 2011Tata Power’s Trombay thermal power station won the Quality Award 2011 presented by Laboratory Quality Services International (LQSi). All through 2011, Trombay Chemical Laboratory successfully participated in the Coal International Proficiency Test Programmes, conducted by LQSi.

Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries, is the 4th Best CEO in India

Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries, was ranked the 4th Best CEO in India in the first-ever ranking of Indian CEOs, based on the long-term shareholder returns they generate, in a study conducted by Business Today, INSEAD and Harvard Business Review. Mr Bhat was also awarded the ‘ET Retail Personality of the Year’ award at the ET Retail Awards 2011.

Tata AIG General awarded for CRM and Travel Insurance Tata AIG General Insurance Company won the Celent Asia Insurance Award 2012 for CRM in the Service category and for Travel Insurance in the Marketing category. The award recognises Tata AIG’s efficiency in customer-relationship management and technological innovation.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy Services, was named the NDTV Business Leader of the Year at the NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2011. The awards have been instituted to recognise organisational excellence.

N Chandrasekaran receiving the award from Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister

N Chandrasekaran is NDTV Business Leader of the Year

4 | Tata Sphere May 2012 5 | Tata Sphere May 2012

J A N U A R Y

Titan Industries launches new Sonata collectionTitan launched watches under the Sonata Super Fibre brand, making it the only player in India to offer branded watches at `225. The collection has an ABS case and polyurethane straps, ensuring durability.L-R: Harish Bhat, COO, Watches Division, Titan Industries;

Bhaskar Bhat, MD, Titan Industries, and C Srinivasan, vice president, Sonata, sport the new collection

The Tata Safari Storme

Tata Motors raises a stormTata Motors unveiled the Tata Safari Storme; the new generation Safari SUV, the Tata Ultra; the company’s new LCV and ICV ranges, and the Tata LPT 3723, India’s first 5-axle rigid truck, at the New Delhi Auto Expo 2012. The company also showcased its alternate fuel technology capability through four concepts — the Tata Nano CNG, the Tata Indigo Manza diesel-electric hybrid car, the Tata Starbus Fuel Cell (hydrogen) and the Tata Magic Iris CNG.

Tata Global Beverages supports social mobility in UKTata Global Beverages signed up to support social mobility in the UK and was congratulated by Nick Clegg, UK’s deputy prime minister, for its role as a founding signatory to the Business Compact, the UK deputy prime minister’s flagship scheme to create fairer access to the best jobs.

Tata Steel wins major contractTata Steel secured a major contract from Siemens Wind Power to supply 25,000 tonnes of high-quality profiled steel plates for wind towers. The order — the largest so far for Tata Steel’s dedicated wind tower hub in Scunthorpe, England — establishes Tata Steel as a key supplier to Siemens Wind Power.

Titan Industries recognised at ET Retail Awards 2011Titan Industries won two awards at the ET Retail Awards 2011. The first award was for Excellence in Employee Practices while the second was won by the Tanishq brand for ‘Innovative Operating Idea of the Year’.


J A N U A R Y

The Jaguar C-X75

New tea variants from TetleyTetley announced the launch of its new variants of green tea in Delhi, Mumbai and all key metros in India. Available in three delicious flavours — cinnamon and honey, citrus and spice, and aloe vera — the green tea offers an array of health benefits.

TCS receives award for its training practicesTCS BPO services won the Golden Peacock Award for Training in recognition of its leading training methodologies, world-class employee training structure and excellence in training practices.

Ranjan Bandyopadhyay (second from left), global HR head, TCS BPO Services, receives the award on behalf of TCS from Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Dr M Veerappa Moily (fourth from left)

Jaguar concept cars debut in IndiaTwo award-winning Jaguar concepts, the groundbreaking C-X75 and C-X16, made their Indian market debuts at the New Delhi Auto Expo.

Tata Steel wins CSR award

Tata Steel bagged the corporate social responsibility (CSR) award

at the seventh edition of ‘India Business Leader Awards 2012’ —

Asia’s most distinguished awards for excellence in leadership, held

in New Delhi.

7 | Tata Sphere May 20126 | Tata Sphere May 2012

f e b r u a r y


Land Rover Discovery embarks on epic journeyOn February 29, the 1,000,000th Land Rover Discovery was made at Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull manufacturing plant near Birmingham, UK. To celebrate this milestone, the 1,000,000th vehicle began an epic ‘Journey of Discovery’ from its birthplace in Birmingham to Beijing in China, one of Land Rover’s fastest growing markets.

The 50-day, 8,000-mile adventure was undertaken by three Land Rover Discovery vehicles travelling through countries across

Europe and Central Asia, culminating at the Beijing motor show in April. The expedition is also in aid of Land Rover’s fund-

raising project, which aims to raise £1million for the company’s Global Humanitarian Partner, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

L-R: Shikha Sharma, MD and CEO, Axis Bank, with Praveen Kadle, MD and CEO, Tata Capital, at the launch

FebruaryTata Capital launches Tata Travel CardTata Capital, along with Axis Bank, jointly announced the launch of the Tata Travel Card. The card fits in with the company’s strategic intent to provide travel- and forex-related services. The card will be marketed by TT Holdings and Services, a 100-percent subsidiary of Tata Capital.

NourishCo Beverages launches Tata Water PlusNourishCo Beverages, the joint venture between Tata Global Beverages and PepsiCo, launched Tata Water Plus, India’s first nutrient water. Priced at `16 for a 750-ml Pet bottle, Tata Water Plus is the only water of its kind in India, which is nutritionally rich.

f e b r u a r y


Tata Steel wins media awardsTata Steel bagged the Best Sports Advertisement and Best Corporate Involvement in Sports awards at the grand finale of NDTV’s ‘Marks for Sports’ campaign. The Best Sports Advertisement award is an acknowledgement of Tata Steel’s corporate campaign that showcases the organisation’s commitment beyond steel making. The Best Corporate Involvement in Sports award recognises the company’s promotion of sports and nurturing of sportspersons by providing financial support and state-of-the-art training facilities.

L-R: Sanjiv Paul, VP, corporate services, Tata Steel; Leander Paes, international tennis player, and Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Information and Technology

Tata Communicationscompletes 10 years of privatisationTata Communications completed 10 years of privatisation, transforming itself from an India-centric, international voice monopoly to a trans-national service provider. The company also entered into a multi-year, multi-technology service and marketing agreement with Formula One Management. Tata Communications will deliver world-class connectivity to all 20 Formula 1™ race locations, and provide hosting and content delivery services to Formula1.com.

Tata companies in UK pledge prizeJaguar Land Rover, TCS and Tata Steel pledged their support to the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering in response to a call from the Royal Academy of Engineering for the biggest and most prestigious prize ever created to celebrate the achievements of today’s engineers. Nominations

are currently being accepted. The £1million prize will be awarded

biennially in the name of the Queen to an individual or team of up to three people, of any nationality,

directly responsible for advancing the application of

engineering knowledge. The winner will be announced at a

ceremony in the spring of 2013.

Tata Power commissions power project; Coastal Gujarat Power achieves full loadTata Power announced the successful commissioning of its 25MW solar photovoltaic power project under Gujarat’s Solar Power Policy 2009, through its subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy. Spread over 100 acres of land, the solar plant is located at Mithapur in Gujarat. In another development, Coastal Gujarat Power’s ultra mega power project in Mundra, Gujarat, achieved full load on Unit 1, India’s first 800-MW sized, super critical unit.


f e b r u a r y

Safety first at Tata Realty and Infrastructure

Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL) completed 10 million safe man-hours at the TCS Garima Park project at Gandhinagar, Gujarat, a fast-track project

developed by TRIL for TCS. The TRIL team worked under the leadership of Jaikishan

Bhagchandani, project head.

L-R: Michael Wieland, GM, sales, Schade; Biswajit Shaw, head, business development, TRF; Karl-Heinz Fiegenbaum, MD, Schade, and Matthew Jones, senior sales manager, Schade, at the signing of the agreement

TRF signs dealTRF signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Schade Lagertechnik, and received the exclusive right to manufacture and market Schade’s yard equipment in India. Under this agreement, Schade, Germany, will provide TRF the necessary know-how, assistance and key components for making higher capacity yard equipment.

TCS wins prestigious contract; forms new joint ventureTCS signed a multi-year, multi-million-euro contract with Europcar, the car rental leader in Europe. Europcar Information Services, the company’s IT subsidiary, selected TCS to manage strategic IT services development for its French operations. This contract strengthens TCS’s presence in France and marks the expansion of the travel, transportation and hospitality industry unit. The company also formed a new joint venture, Nippon TCS Solution Center, with Mitsubishi Corporation, to offer a full service suite of IT, BPO and infrastructure services to Japanese corporations.

S Ramakrishnan, executive director, finance, Tata Power, was awarded the Best CFO award in the infrastructure category at the CNBC TV18 Awards 2012. He has been associated with the Tata group for over 38 years and has a rich experience in the field of management and operations.

S Mahalingam, chief financial officer (CFO), TCS, was awarded the CFO of the year award at the CNBC-TV18 CFO awards function. He also won the best CFO for the IT & ITeS sector during the ceremony. The CNBC-TV18 Awards 2012 honour the best minds in finance that have steered their organisations through the economic downturn.

S Mahalingam is CFO of the year

S Ramakrishnan wins the Best CFO award


f e b r u a r y

Tata Chemicals recognisedTata Chemicals (TCL) won the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Trophy at the annual CII-ITC Sustainability Awards 2011. TCL’s Babrala plant won the CII-ITC Sustainability Trophy for exemplary policies, practices and results. The company’s Mithapur plant won the ‘commendation certificate for significant achievement’ for independent units. The company also won the Mother Teresa Award for Corporate Citizen 2011, instituted by the Loyola Institute of Business Administration, for its social commitment.

DK Sundar (extreme left), senior vice president, marketing, fertilisers, Tata Chemicals, receives the CII-ITC Sustainability Trophy from Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles

Tata Steel bags Sustainability Prize Tata Steel bagged the Sustainability Prize at the CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2011 in Category A for large business organisations (for companies with a turnover of above `5 billion) for its exemplary performance in the economic, social and environmental dimensions of Indian business.

Sanjiv Paul (extreme left), VP, corporate services, Tata Steel, receives the award from Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles

Tata Medical Center Trust hosts charity eventThe Tata Medical Center Trust hosted a charity dinner and play — OMG: The Lesser-known Side of Gandhi — in order to raise funds for the expansion of the Tata Medical Center, Kolkata. The play, researched and conceptualised by Geeta Gopalakrishnan of the Tata Medical Center, premiered privately at 51 Buckingham Gate, Taj Suites & Residences, London.

The Tata Medical Center in Kolkata

TCS recognisedThe Greater Paris Investment Agency conferred on TCS the “Prix spécial de l’innovation de Paris-Ile de France Capitale Economique 2011” (Special Innovation Prize 2011 of Paris, the economic capital of the Ile-De France region). TCS was recognised for its innovative technology services in France.

Tata Steel Thailand makes a donationExecutives and staff members of The Siam Iron Construction Steel Company, a subsidiary of Tata Steel Thailand, donated water and food packets to the forest protector, in acknowledgement of their dedication towards patrolling the forest. All the donations were received by Yuu Senatham, director of the Office of Natural Resource and Environment.



Employees of Tata Steel Processing and Distribution with some children from UDBHAS

Tata Projects participates in HarithonEmployees of Tata Projects participated in Harithon, a green run to promote healthy and eco-friendly lifestyles, in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the Hussain Sagar Lake.

Some of the Tata Projects employees who participated in Harithon

Ranjith Kareparamb (left), deputy manager, operations, and Prasad Sakharkar, assistant manager, marketing, Roots Corporation, received the Golden Star award

TPDD’s corporate communications team receives the award from Deepali Naair (second from left), country head, brand and corporate communications, L&T General Insurance Company

Tata Power Delhi Distribution wins at Indy’s Award 2012Navodaya, Tata Power Delhi Distribution’s (TPDD)in-house magazine, was adjudged the Best In-house News Magazine at the Indy’s Award 2012 ceremony held in Mumbai.

Tata SteelProcessing and

Distribution supports underprivileged children

Tata Steel Processing and Distribution organised an educational tour for 108

children from UDBHAS, a voluntary welfare organisation that supports underprivileged

children, to Science City, a facility run by the National Council of Science

Museums in Kolkata.

Tata Marcopolo Motors supports drinking water projectTata Marcopolo Motors inaugurated the National Drinking Water Project and sanitation project at Belur in Karnataka. The project, funded and supported by the Sumant Moolgaonkar Foundation, has completed five drinking water projects in Dharwad, Karnataka.

Ginger hotelslaudedGinger hotels received the Best Budget Hotel award at the Golden Star Awards for the third consecutive year. The Golden Star Awards recognise excellence in food, hospitality, services and food retailing.


m a r c h

March

Tata Chemicals launches FlavoritzTata Chemicals (TCL) launched a range of flavoured salt, Tata Salt Flavoritz, across major cities in India. Flavoritz is available in three flavours — lemon coriander, red paprika and onion garlic, along with black pepper powder.

L-R: Ashvini Hiran, COO, Consumer Products Division, TCL; KV Sridhar, national creative director, Leo Burnett; chef Rakesh Sethi, food editor, Food Food channel; Sam Balsara, CEO, Madison PR; B Sudhakar, CHRO, TCL, and Parag Gadre, AVP, marketing and strategy, TCL, at the launch at Vivanta by Taj – President, Mumbai

Three Tata companies in Forbes India’s Most Admired Companies listThe Tata group emerged as the most admired among Indian groups, as three of its companies — Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Motors — ranked first, fifth and sixth respectively, in Forbes India’s Most Admired Companies list.

Tata Capital signs MoUTata Capital signed an MoU with the Economic Development Board of Singapore to leverage each other’s strengths, reach out to companies in various countries, specifically India, and explore business opportunities in Singapore.

Tata Advanced Systems forms strategic allianceTata Advanced Systems formed a strategic alliance with ITT Exelis to support Generation (Gen) 3 night vision requirements in India. ITT Exelis and Tata Advanced Systems will partner to supply manufacturing capabilities in India, and provide maintenance and life-cycle support for Gen 3 night vision products.

Vijay Malik (extreme left), general manager, defence and security, Tata Advanced Systems, with Michael Lee, director of Contracts for night vision business area at ITT Exelis

13 | Tata Sphere may 2012

m a r c h


Tata Realty and Infrastructure announces tie-up Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL) signed an agreement with TCS for its proposed IT / ITES SEZ at Mihan, Nagpur in Maharashtra. Spread across 54 acres of land, the campus is designed for approximately 16,000 associates. This is the fourth consecutive agreement of a greenfield project to be signed between TCS and TRIL.

TCS sets up Life Sciences Innovation LabTCS Life Sciences Unit established a Life Sciences Innovation Lab in Noida to provide an environment where domain-specific solutions and offerings can be ideated, designed and developed using cutting-edge technologies.

Tata Power’s Greenolution campaign gains momentumTata Power’s Greenolution campaign has gained significant momentum within the company. Employees at its Power House 6 plant have made a unique solar bottle bulb, providing free lighting using plastic bottles. Solar bottle bulbs were first developed in Brazil.

Launched in August 2011, Tata Power has branded its sustainability activities as Greenolution — a fusion of ‘green’ and ‘evolution’ that signifies the process undertaken by the company towards ensuring a greener and sustainable planet. Nearly 275 employees, registered as ‘green heroes’, actively participate in activities to implement Tata Power’s green initiatives.

N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy Services, addresses the audience at the inauguration

Tata Sons and TCS employees in China volunteerVolunteers from Tata Sons’ Beijing office and TCS Hangzhou went to She County, Anhui province, to jointly donate a library to the Su Cun Elementary School. During the event, Tata volunteers brought over 600 children’s and teachers’ books collected from Tata employees, besides school supplies and educational toys, and set up a library.

Titan brooches worn by heads of stateSpecial brooches designed by Tanishq were worn by the heads of state at the 4th BRICS Summit held in New Delhi. The brooches, made in sterling silver, were designed and crafted by the Tanishq Design Studio for the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS).

m a r c h

14 | Tata Sphere may 2012 15 | Tata Sphere may 2012

Concorde Motors wins Government of Kerala’s Safety Award Concorde Motors received an award for its outstanding performance in industrial safety from the Government of Kerala. More than 500 factories had participated in the initial safety assessment process conducted by the Department of Factories and Boilers. Concorde Motors emerged as the second prize winner in the category, ‘medium factories — engineering’.

Anupam Misra (third from right), president, Concorde Motors, receives the award from AA Azeez, member of the Legislative Assembly, Quilon, Kerala

Fastrack launches new rangeFastrack launched Eye Sport, sunglasses with rubber temples and specialised lenses with revo coating. With a total of 19 variants across 9 styles, this new product ranges from `1,395-1,895.

TRF acquires 51 percent sharesTRF acquired 51 percent shares (12,870,941 shares) in York Transport Equipment (Asia), Singapore, from Baker Technology through its wholly-owned subsidiary, TRF Singapore. TRF also entered into call and put options agreement (options agreement) with Baker Technology to buy out the balance 49 percent shares at a price to be determined based on the formulae set out in the options agreement.

Tata Chemicals winsTata Chemicals won the prestigious Employer Branding Award 2012, for Best HR Strategy in Line with Business Strategy, instituted by the World HRD Congress.

Tata Power offers sports training facilitiesThe Tata Power Community Development Trust partnered with ‘Abhi Foundation – Do Good Sports’ to set up professional-level training facilities in various sports such as hockey, football and athletics for the children of Mahul and surrounding villages in Maharashtra.

Tata Sons and TCS in North America gift booksTCS and Tata Sons announced a gift of 10,000 new books to schoolchildren living in New Jersey through a partnership with First Book, a non-profit organisation that provides new books to children from low-income families.

The team from Tata BP Solar receives the EFY Award

Tata BP Solar wins Tata BP Solar was adjudged the winner in the separate categories of solar cells and solar modules at the renowned EFY Awards 2011. The award — instituted by the Electronics for You (EFY) magazine group — recognises champions of the electronics industry across various product and special categories for their contribution to the growth and development of the Indian electronics industry. The company received a certificate of merit, a trophy and a certificate of commendation in recognition of its meritorious achievement in the areas of environment, health and safety in the plant / manufacturing sector for 2011, at the CII Southern Region Excellence Awards.

Tata Communications’ Ambattur facility gets LEED Gold certification Tata Communications Ambattur’s new building block in Chennai achieved LEED Gold rating under the Core & Shell category. This 400,000 sq ft facility incorporates several energy-efficient and water-saving features.

Tata International and Aerogroup International form long-term strategic alliance Tata International formed a long-term strategic alliance with Aerogroup International to produce and market the Aerosoles brand in Europe and India. Aerosoles shoes will be sold in Europe through 70 own-brand shops in five countries, and through wholesale distribution in 18 countries. In India, Tata already sells Aerogroup’s Aerology brand at its Westside stores.

Tata Communications’ Ambattur facility in Chennai

TCSers in the US get together for a cause TCSers volunteered at The Beacon, a non-profit organisation providing health services for the homeless population in downtown Houston, USA. The volunteers assisted in various activities to serve the homeless, including food preparation in a professional-styled kitchen, serving food and beverages, doing laundry, and issuing clothing and hygiene packages. Employees also volunteered at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, USA.


Tata Power Delhi Distribution rewardedTata Power Delhi Distribution received the Excellence in Training Award from the Greentech Foundation, at the second Greentech HR Conference and Awards 2012.

Tata Power notches up achievement Tata Power successfully synchronised its second unit of 525MW (Unit 2) of its Maithon Mega Power Project in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, under the requisite standard requirements. With this development, Tata Power’s gross generation capacity touched 5,297MW, making it the largest private-sector power generating company in India.

Ministry of Power awards Tata PowerTata Power was honoured by the Ministry of Power at a national award ceremony. The company received three bronze awards for meritorious performance in three categories. These included performance of distribution company for the year 2010-11; performance of thermal power stations for Trombay Combined Cycle GT Power Station (180MW) for the year 2010-11, and performance of hydro award for the Bhira and Bhira PSS (300MW) station for the year 2009-10.

Tata BlueScope Steel launches new facilityTata BlueScope Steel launched its coated steel manufacturing facility at Jamshedpur. Spread over 61 acres, the greenfield factory has been set up with an investment of `8.8 billion to cater to India and other Saarc countries.

Praveer Sinha was appointed chief executive officer and executive director of Tata Power Delhi Distribution with effect from March 1.

m a r c h

Titan Industries wins at Images Fashion Awards 2012 Titan Industries won the following awards at the Images Fashion Awards 2012. Tanishq won the Most Admired Brand of the Year – Jewellery award while Titan Industries won the Most Admired Fashion Company of the Year award.

16 | Tata Sphere may 2012 17 | Tata Sphere may 2012

a p r i l

April

TRF signs MoUTRF signed a strategic MoU for jointly executing ash-handling projects in thermal power plants in India with Sinofinn New Energy Investment Company, Shanghai, China. The agreement aims to fulfil the expansion plans of TRF by undertaking the balance plant projects in thermal power plants, such as ash-handling systems in addition to coal-handling plants and raw material handling systems, that the company has specialised in over several decades.

Tata Steel forms joint ventureSiam Industrial Wire, Thailand, a part of Tata Steel’s Global Wires Thailand, entered into a 60:40 joint venture with Nichia Steel Works, Japan, to set up a 36,000MTPA galvanised wires project at the Rayong Industrial Estate in Thailand.

L-R: Ashvini Hiran, COO, Consumer Products Division, Tata Chemicals; Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief, Indian Express; Yogesh Lakhani, CEO, Bright Outdoor, and Amrita Dey, AGM, marketing, water purifier business, Tata Chemicals, at the function

Tata Swach is product of the yearTata Swach was voted the Product of the Year 2012 in the water purifiers category. Tata Swach was felicitated as one of the innovative products on the basis of an independent survey conducted by Nielsen with 30,000 consumers across 36 markets in India.

Tata Power launches CennergiTata Power and Exxaro Resources announced the successful launch of Cennergi, a new cleaner energy company, which will serve the expanding energy markets in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. The partnership of Exxaro and Tata Power will ensure that Cennergi possesses the skill set, track record and experience to become a successful South African private power company.

L-R: Thomas Garner, CEO, Cennergi; Sipho Nkosi, CEO, Exxaro; Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Power, and Kevin Nassiep, Department of Energy, at the signing ceremony



a p r i l

Tata participates in the Boao Forum 2012The 2012 Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, themed, ‘Asia in the changing world: Moving towards sound and sustainable development’, took place in Boao, Hainan province, China. The conference focused on the pattern of development of Asian countries.

Tata Sons, TCS, Tata Steel, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), China, and Taj Hotels joined hands as platinum sponsors for the event. Tata companies entered their fifth consecutive year of partnership with the Boao Forum. Senior Tata executives who attended the forum included S Ramadorai, vice chairman, TCS; N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS; Girija Pande, chairman, TCS, Asia Pacific; Yannick Poupon, COO, Taj Hotels; James Zhan, group chief representative, Tata Sons, China; Richard Zhang, EVP, JLR China, and Qiqi Dong, CEO, TCS, China.

N Chandrasekaran (second from left), CEO and MD, TCS, speaking as part of the panel on ‘India and Global Growth: Outlook for 2012-2016’

TCS enters big leagueTCS became the first Indian IT company to cross the $10-billion milestone by posting annual revenues of $10.17 billion.

B Muthuraman, vice chairman, Tata Steel, received the Padma Bhushan award from Pratibha Patil, the President of India, in the trade and industry category at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi.

B Muthuraman (extreme right), vice chairman, Tata Steel, receives the award from Pratibha Patil, the President of India

B Muthuraman awarded the Padma Bhushan

Rajendra Bhinge, CEO, Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG), was appointed a whole-time director of Tata Industries with effect from April 1, and designated executive director. Mr Bhinge will continue to direct and supervise the business of TSMG, a division of Tata Industries, and handle responsibilities entrusted to him by the board of directors of the company.

a p r i l

Tata Power crosses 11,000MWh of power generationTata Power crossed 11,000MWh of power generation from its solar power plant at Mithapur, Gujarat, India. The 25MW plant is an important constituent of the Government of Gujarat’s dedication ceremony for the generation of 600MW of solar power in the state.


a p r i l

Tata Interactive Systems awarded

Tata Interactive Systems won the Golden Peacock Award 2012 for corporate social

responsibility. The award ceremony was held during the Dubai Global

Convention incorporating the 7th International Conference

on Social Responsibility.

Tata Housing bags awards at the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2012 Tata Housing Development Company received five awards under various categories at the Asia Pacific Property Awards 2012. Tata Housing is India’s only residential developer to receive the prestigious five-star award in the Leisure Architecture category for La Montana; highly-commended awards in the Show Home category for Prive and Primanti; highly-commended award in the Development Marketing category for La Montana, and highly-commended developer website for www.lamontana.co.in.

Model of Tata Housing’s La Montana project in Pune

Tata Power honouredThe Indian Register Quality Systems honoured Tata Power’s Power House 6 with a certificate of approval for ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007, valid for three years. Power House 6 was certified after two cycles of pre-audit and a final three-day certification audit undertaken successfully for all three systems in the first week of February 2012.

Tata Tea’s Soch Badlo campaign hailedTata Tea’s Soch Badlo campaign won accolades at the Abby awards organised by the Advertising Agencies Association of India and the Advertising Club of Bombay. The campaign won three bronze Abbys in three categories — brand campaign website, creative use of social media and digital integrated campaign.

a p r i l

TCS launches new Editorial Collaboration Platform in the US TCS launched its new Editorial Collaboration Platform (ECP) at the National Association of Broadcasters Show in Las Vegas, USA. Driven by real-life requirements, the ECP provides an online system for editorial planning of web-based publishing, and radio and television broadcasting. The system efficiently unifies data to remove information silos, and integrates Microsoft Outlook and other databases to simplify editors’ daily lives.


a p r i l

Tata Power raises awareness on energy

conservationThe Jojobera plant employees of Tata Power conducted a special campaign at Bara Flat

and Vijaya Gardens, Baridih, Jojobera, to enable residents to increase awareness

on energy conservation. Employees distributed informative pamphlets on

energy conservation to the residents and demonstrated how water and energy can

be saved in day-to-day activities.

Tata AIG General launches health insurance policy

Tata AIG General Insurance Company launched its first domestic, lifetime renewable,

reimbursement health insurance policy — MediPrime. This innovative health insurance

plan is a comprehensive offering with a unique set of features that distinguishes it

from the health insurance products currently available in the market.

Tata Capital signs letter of intentTata Capital signed a letter of intent (LoI) with Century Tokyo Leasing Corporation (CTLC), a leading leasing business company closely allied with the Mizuho Financial Group, for collaboration on the leasing business in India. The LoI will help Tata Capital to combine its business financing capabilities and CTLC’s strong technical know-how in the equipment leasing space to target the rapidly-growing equipment leasing services market in India.

Tata Interactive Systems’ CS initiatives laudedTata Interactive Systems (TIS) received the Golden Peacock Award 2012 for its corporate sustainability (CS) initiatives. TIS has been promoting the cause of learning disability (LD) since 2002 in various roles — including funding and sustaining the existing LD certification clinic, developing student-management software, and spreading awareness about the cause.

Tata Chemicals launches iron-fortified iodised saltTata Chemicals announced the launch of Tata Salt Plus — salt with iodine plus iron — across major cities in India. India’s first national brand of packaged iron-fortified iodised salt, Tata Salt Plus is aimed at eradicating the prevalence of iron deficiency through salt, which is one of the most widely consumed food essentials.

a p r i l


a p r i l

Young Researcher Award by Lady Tata Memorial TrustDr Patrick D’Silva of the department of biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, was awarded the Young Researcher Award 2012 for his research project entitled, ‘Uncovering the role of human mitochondrial heat shock protein 70 (mtHsp70) in pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and progression’. Dr D’Silva was selected for the award for pursuing a novel concept, which has the potential to treat and control Parkinson’s disease.

The Young Researcher Award was introduced in 2009 by the Lady Tata Memorial Trust to recognise and reward young Indian scientists with an outstanding track record in biological sciences, a deep commitment to finding innovative solutions to major problems related to human diseases, and potential for high-quality research.

Nelco India unveils new brand identityNelco India acquired a fresh and innovative brand identity and redefined business goals to widen its customer base. The new Nelco visual identity, ‘Open Circle’, represents the company’s new brand positioning of helping clients ‘unlock potential’. Nelco is also introducing many innovative security and surveillance solutions and managed data centre services including cloud services for corporate customers.

Coastal Gujarat Power organises

teacher training programmeCoastal Gujarat Power organised a one-day teacher training

programme in which 16 teachers from nearby schools

participated. The programme aimed at enhancing the teachers’

skills by encouraging them to become leaders, helping them

to promote their schools and defining primary institutions

in the societal structure. It also sought to enable the teachers

to institute benchmarks in their schools for enhancing the

performance of the students.

OHSAS 18001 certification for Titan Industries’ corporate office in Bengaluru

Titan Industries’ corporate office in Bengaluru was recommended for

OHSAS 18001:2007 certification, by certifying agency UL MSS, Bengaluru.

OHSAS 18001 is an Occupation Health and Safety Assessment Series for health and safety management systems. It is

intended to help organisations to control occupational health and safety risks.

Tata International announces joint ventureTata International announced the formation of a joint venture with Wolverine Worldwide for the wholesale distribution of Wolverine’s Merrell and Caterpillar footwear and apparel brands in India. Tata International and Wolverine will each hold a 50-percent stake in this new joint venture.

For more news, log on to www.tataworld.com

a p r i l


c o v e r s t o r y

For many individuals, their passions and their professions happily overlap, giving them a pleasing thrill in their daily working lives. We highlight the stories of six

such individuals working in various Tata companies around the globe

c o v e r s t o r y

PassionsProfessions

“i like to create magical moments for our guests”

He is your quintessential Man Friday — with a difference. He goes beyond the call of duty and adds a personal touch to every request — small or big, trivial or significant — in order to delight and dazzle the guests staying at the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. As chef concierge of the hotel, satish Gaikwad has to ensure that he and his team fulfil the requests of all their guests. They always do this with aplomb and style, two characteristics of the Taj brand of hospitality.

Besides giving the guests information about the facilities at the hotel, booking tickets for shows, guiding them to the best restaurants and around the city, the role of a concierge has evolved to include fulfilling all kinds of requests that guests may make. In the last five years, Mr Gaikwad has had to deal with a wide range of requests, from purchasing Ayurvedic medicine for a guest’s ailing mother, to shipping out 15-feet tall lamps to Dubai, and even hunting for a guest’s lost teddy bear. And he does it all with a smile. “As the head concierge, I cannot say no to any of our guest’s requests,” he explains. “We do buy time if it’s a

difficult task, but in the end we manage to fulfil most of the requests.”

Mr Gaikwad started his career in the hospitality industry when he joined the hotel in 1995 straight after school. He started with a part-time job wrapping chocolates at the pastry shop. Later, he moved to other departments at the hotel. He has also worked as a butler and bartender at 1900s, a famous discotheque at the Taj in those days.

“Over the years, I got a lot of exposure in different departments. But I would always wistfully long for the Golden Keys that I saw the head concierge wearing,” he explains.

In 2008, he finally got the chance to work at the concierge desk. “It’s a very interesting job. No two days are alike and there is no monotony in the job,” says Mr Gaikwad. “My day begins at 9am when we first take stock of the car fleet at the hotel; later we look at the guest list, familiarise ourselves with their requirements and set out to fulfil their requests.” There is no school where one can learn to become a concierge; the learning happens on the job.

&

23 | tata sphere May 2012

Taj is associated with the prestigious Union Internationale des Concierges Hotels, or Les Clefs d’Or, the international association of concierges worldwide. Mr Gaikwad has been given the full membership Golden Key pins in recognition of his service par excellence. He very proudly wears these on the lapels of his long black coat. As a concierge, he has to be well informed about the city and keep abreast of all the latest information and happenings so as to be able to guide his guests, thus ensuring that their visit is a memorable one. A concierge is like an encyclopedia and serves as the face of the hotel. One of the most unusual requests that he has received from a guest was when a princess staying with them wanted to buy an autorickshaw! Mr Gaikwad says, “We traced a vendor in Pune and put him in touch with the princess’ personal butler.” In the case of the guest who lost his daughter’s teddy bear, at first Mr Gaikwad’s team wondered what a grown man was doing with it, but when they learned from the guest that it was his daughter’s most prized possession and was given to him whenever he travelled, they went all out to find it. When they found it, they photographed the teddy bear in different spots in the hotel and also at the Gateway of India, made an album of the photographs, captioned them and presented it to

the guest to give to his daughter. The guest was most thrilled by the gesture. Creativity, lots of patience and good networking skills are important when working at the concierge desk, explains Mr Gaikwad. “I like to create magical moments for our guests, to see the smiles on their faces after fulfilling their requests, and to make sure that they have had a very memorable stay at the Taj!” n

“The biggest challenge is to be consistent over a period of time”

Vroom, vroom! It’s another day at work for anand Kulkarni, general manager, (vehicle integration – Passenger Cars Business Unit), Tata Technologies. An automobile engineer from the University of Pune, Mr Kulkarni joined Tata Motors in 1993 as a graduate trainee engineer.

After a few rotational placements in the manufacturing division, he moved to the Engineering Research Center in the Testing and Development function. He says, “I started off as a hands-on test engineer and learned all about the workings of a car. Eventually, I led a team of around 60 professionals engaged in testing and evaluating a car.”

It may seem like a dream job to young boys, but work is not just about getting behind the wheel and

c o v e r s t o r y

As the chef concierge, Satish Gaikwad of Taj Hotels loves to fulfil his guests’ requests


c o v e r s t o r y

whizzing off at top speeds. There is a lot of work that goes into making a vehicle road-ready.

A typical day for Mr Kulkarni would begin with a meeting with the engineers to discuss development issues and potential solutions with them. Even as the shop team evaluates the viability of these solutions, Mr Kulkarni goes through the data collected on the previous day. The data is used to ensure that the vehicle is adequately protected against failure in normal and extended use, thereby minimising inconvenience to passengers and other road users.

This data could include the measurement of various physical parameters like temperature, flow, vehicle response parameters, and current and voltages. Based on the analysis of these parameters, it is possible to create controlled changes within the driving environment to effectively meet customer requirements.

Later, a test driver would evaluate the effect of the changes on the cars. Mr Kulkarni says, “The tests range from laboratory tests to actual drive tests on test tracks. We have specifically designed drive patterns / surfaces that enable us to isolate the influence of parameters other than those being evaluated.” These assessments help to fine-tune the vehicle.

The road from blueprint design to prototype manufacture and then to production- and road-worthiness is a long one. During this development process, “a test driver needs to have sharp faculties to understand vehicle behaviour and make adjustments

in case something goes wrong. The test driver keeps the manufacturing process firmly focused on the customer,” says Mr Kulkarni. Even after the car is manufactured, Mr Kulkarni and his team continue to address customer feedback and manufacturing complexities. They also work in areas such as value engineering, integrated cost management and quality improvement, which ensure future sustainability.

Another challenge involves continuously evolving scenarios in which the vehicle might be abused. This helps the team to work out ways to preempt and counter issues. The biggest challenge, says Mr Kulkarni, is to be consistent over a period of time. “Automobile development projects are long-lead time projects. If the assessments are inconsistent, they can lead to changes which will demand a heavy price in terms of development cost and time,” he adds.

Over the past 18 years, Mr Kulkarni has had the privilege of working on all the passenger cars to have come out of the Tata Motors stable, including the Tata Nano. He says, “As the development of the Nano progressed, we rigorously tested its ride and handling, durability and performance. It gave us a thrill to know that we were doing something that no other company had been successful at until then.”

It is these small and big perks of the job that have enabled Mr Kulkarni to convert his passion for cars into a very satisfying career. n

Anand Kulkarni of Tata Technologies is thrilled with the opportunity to make a successful career out of his passion for cars

24 | tata sphere May 2012 25 | tata sphere May 2012

c o v e r s t o r y

“i was fascinated by the uniqueness and diversity of this art”

“There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea,” noted American philosopher, essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said. anne Mukunu-Leiyan, a tea-taster at Stansand (Africa), a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Global Beverages (TGB), for the last five years, certainly agrees with the sentiment.

Ms Mukunu-Leiyan was attracted to the genteel art of tea tasting while still at college. While visiting a few factories as part of a study tour, the young lady found herself drawn to the tea-tasting process. She says, “I was fascinated by the uniqueness and diversity of this art, compared to other jobs. I specifically applied for a job in this industry and was pleased to be placed in this company.”

Ms Mukunu-Leiyan tastes an astonishing 200 cups a day on an average! This figure includes auction and private samples. Before the actual process of tasting and grading can begin, the tea-support team has to work for about two hours to set the stage for the main event of tea tasting, which takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

The most significant element of tea tasting is that this fine art cannot be learned in a classroom. Every day on the job is a time for learning. At its most basic, tea tasting involves four senses — sight, smell, taste and touch. According to Ms Mukunu-Leiyan, “A qualified tea taster will know the quality of the tea just from the way the tea and the leaf looks,

and the colour and size of its particles. Through

liquoring, the process of brewing tea, the quality is judged further on the colour and sparkle of the liquor and the infusion.”

Following this, the tea taster slurps the tea through a special ‘soup-like’ spoon where the tea is judged for the strength, flavour, body or the presence of any non-tea components. To ensure that the judging is close to the normal experience of tea drinking, the crockery used for the tasting is always made of porcelain. Additionally, tea tasting is always done during the day when the sun is sufficiently bright to give the best results. Ms Mukunu-Leiyan also warns against any distractions during the tasting sessions.

All the attributes of the tea are measured and graded by the tea taster against TGB’s pre-decided standards of colour, sparkle, body and zing. The work of a tea taster is most critical for TGB because it helps the company gauge the quality of the tea and the price that it is prepared to pay. Ms Mukunu-Leiyan elaborates, “The graded teas are made available to the company as an offer to buy them, citing their quantities in total and the price they will fetch in the auction. These are analysed by the Worldwide Tea Buying and Blending team in the UK and orders are given according to the requirements of the group.”

The work of a tea taster is particularly significant because the Tetley brand brings in 50 percent of its constituent from Africa. Ms Mukunu-Leiyan’s work is crucial as it helps the company determine the quality and the price of the tea it purchases, and helps it to maintain the high standards associated with the brand.

Ms Mukunu-Leiyan’s role does not end there. She is involved in the business of blending and shipping the tea after purchase, and strives to work towards overall improvements in quality. She adds, “We keep in touch with the producers of tea, especially those who are producing our target types. We advise them when a tea is weak and encourage them when it is of a high standard.”

And how does she relax after all that work? Why, with a cup of tea, of course — flavourful and thick, brewed with the right combination of milk and sugar. n

Anne Mukunu-Leiyan of Tata Global Beverages is fascinated by the art of tea tasting

26 | tata sphere May 201226 | tata sphere May 2012

“i will forever be associated with the jungle”

Petite and soft-spoken, the recently-turned manager, naturalist training, ratna singh makes light of her challenging job at Taj Safaris’ Banjaar Tola lodge near the Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Apart from training newly-recruited naturalists, Ms Singh’s work entails driving the guests staying at the lodge in a heavy 4X4 Tata Motors vehicle into the dense forest of the park twice a day to show them the wildlife. For her, no other job comes close to the experience of living and working with nature and wildlife. This is what gives her an adrenaline rush.

Ms Singh grew up in a small village called Khairaha near the Bandhavgarh National Park. The jungles and wildlife, which she was surrounded by, had always fascinated her. Although she came from a very conservative extended family, her grandfather and father were not orthodox, and they encouraged the women in the family to break out of the mould of a traditional woman’s role. She studied at the La Martiniere boarding school in Lucknow, and then went to college in Delhi where she graduated in history. She went on to do a postgraduate diploma in Human Rights and Refugee Law from the University of Delhi and later worked with Afghan refugees in India as part of her job with the United Nations in Delhi. When the opportunity came along to go back to her rural roots, and live and work closely with the community and wildlife that she loved so well, she did not give it a second thought.

It was not easy at first. “The selection process itself was very physically demanding and tough,” recalls Ms Singh. “We woke up early and were up till late at night. The weather in the jungle is extreme and keeps changing, and the training is designed to test your endurance. However, I have always been an outdoors person all my life, and have won three national gold awards for Judo, which I trained in for 13 years. I was also in the state basketball team and I love exercising, so I managed,” she adds with a grin. Needless to say she not only made the cut but also went on to become the head naturalist.

Ms Singh joined Taj Safaris in 2006 when she first began to work as a naturalist at the Taj’s Mahua Kothi lodge near the Bandhavgarh National Park. At that time, she was the first woman naturalist to have taken up this job as a career and had to work doubly hard to prove herself over the years. Initially, when she started she used to be stared at

a lot by the locals including the women. The safari vehicles were old and tough to manoeuvre with no handbrakes or power steering and no four-wheel drive.“It was like driving a tractor,” says Ms Singh.

Besides the difficulties of the job, even living in the lodge in a rural area like Kanha without a family can be very isolating, says Ms Singh. Not everyone would enjoy such a life. Ms Singh has been doing this now for the last five years and is quite happy being in her own company. In her off-duty hours, she enjoys reading, exercising and listening to music.

Ms Singh has dared to take the road less travelled and has helped pave the way for other women to follow suit. After seeing her work at Banjaar Tola, many of the forest officials there now have similar aspirations for their daughters.

“I hope to do more of conservation and community development in the future because that is what I see myself doing. I will forever be associated with the jungle. I don’t think I can survive in the city,” she says. n

A passionate naturalist, Ratna Singh of Taj Safaris loves her job

c o v e r s t o r y

26 | tata sphere May 2012 27 | tata sphere May 201226 | tata sphere May 2012

c o v e r s t o r y

Abhishek Rastogi of Titan Industries is never bored as he works on multiple

jewellery collections at any given time

“i have a very satisfying job profile”

abhishek rastogi, design manager at Tanishq, Titan Industries, always knew that he was destined to become a jewellery designer. With a bachelor’s degree in accessory design from one of India’s premier design institutes — National Institute of Fashion Technology, Gandhinagar — he specialised in jewellery design. He says: “When I was doing the course, I wasn’t sure whether I really wanted to take up jewellery design. It just happened to me, for the good, because I ended up enjoying it.”

Mr Rastogi started enjoying jewellery design during his internship at a diamond jewellery export house in Mumbai. “I learned to look at jewellery from a completely new perspective and enjoyed learning about the different techniques and craftsmanship,” he notes. Mr Rastogi joined Tanishq soon after as a design coordinator and five years on, he is a design manager with a team of 10 designers working under him.

According to Mr Rastogi, jewellery design is not very different from any other kind of design. It involves extensive research, brainstorming on the kind of collection, the concept, the textures to be used, and the price points to be addressed. “One needs to have an eye for detail, intricacy and colour schemes. One should know how two units can combine to make something beautiful,” he says.

There is constant iteration and feedback at every stage of the project, starting with the idea, which is checked with the senior management to ensure business viability. “Once the concept is ready, consumer-testing may or may not happen depending on the level of experimentation,” points out Mr Rastogi. Prototypes are then created, which go through another round of consumer testing. The final product is then introduced at a new product introductory meet where jewellers from all the boutiques place an indent on the collection. After a product enters the market, the design team constantly tracks sales for feedback.

Mia from Tanishq is a recently launched collection of everyday jewellery for working women. Mr Rastogi was deeply involved with the design and development of this collection. The Mia range consists of pendants,

matching earrings, standalone earrings, bangles, layered chains and rings.

“Our approach to Mia was totally different because it was for an altogether different consumer segment,” says Mr Rastogi.

After extensive research and field tests, two target groups evolved — 23- to 28-year-old and 28- to 35-year-old working women — and accordingly two design inspirations emerged. Mr Rastogi avers: “For the first group, our design inspiration was called Quest, signifying an undying urge to achieve something in life. This was reflected in the minimalistic, contemporary designs. For the second group, it was Blossom, for women with more sophisticated and mature tastes, which was mirrored in the floral cut-out designs.”

A typical day for Mr Rastogi involves a lot of multi-tasking as at any point in time, he is working on multiple collections at various stages in their life cycle.“I have a very satisfying job profile,” he says. “I am lucky to work in this domain because you never feel bored as every collection has a fresh approach.”

Mr Rastogi’s role as a design manager is to contribute to brand perception by meeting the overall objective set by the senior management. He adds, “Design is a significant aspect of building the brand image and the product merchandise mix. Collections are our key strength and I play an important role in defining the collection, its inspirations, and styling.” n

28 | tata sphere May 201228 | tata sphere May 2012

c o v e r s t o r y

“It’s one of those fine things in life that you have to experience”

The heady and robust aroma and taste of coffee are what give this young gentleman a kick. For Sunil Pinto, assistant manager in the quality control department of Tata Coffee’s dry mill at Kushalnagar, Karnataka, coffee tasting is not merely a job, it’s also his passion. Mr Pinto’s parents own a coffee plantation in Kodagu (Coorg). After completing a postgraduate diploma from the Coffee Board of India, Mr Pinto joined Café Coffee Day, where he learned more about the whole process of brewing coffee.

He joined Tata Coffee two years ago and is responsible for ensuring the quality of the green coffee produced by the company. His day begins at 8am when he gets ready to taste his first cup of coffee for the day. The process of judging and grading the quality of the coffee entails checking visual attributes like colour, uniformity, moisture content and defects, besides the characteristics of its flavour, by tasting or ‘cupping the coffee’.

The process begins with picking up the smooth-to-the-touch coffee beans and waiting for the sample roaster to reach the right temperature before introducing the carefully selected beans in it. He then occasionally samples them to see the changing colours and flavours. The sweet aroma of freshly-roasted coffee fills the room and Mr Pinto can’t wait to take a sip. Once the roasting is over, he allows the beans to rest and de-gas. This is generally done overnight and the beans are allowed to rest till morning.

They are then ground and brewed by pouring boiled water over the ground coffee and allowing it to steep for around six to seven minutes. During this time, “you break the crust that forms, allowing the coffee to emit its fragrance and then once the brew has cooled down, the tasting begins,” he explains.

Mr Pinto slurps a spoonful of the brew and takes his time to note the different characteristics and flavours before spitting it out. This process of slurping, evaluating and spitting is repeated till he collects enough information about all the parameters that are required to evaluate the quality of the coffee.

Tasting coffee is a focused process and Mr Pinto likes to work in a peaceful, quiet place without any distractions — an airy room with lots of natural light. “For me, tasting coffee is not just about taking a sip, swishing it around your mouth and then spitting… it’s one of those fine things in life that you have to experience,” he

happily explains. “The more you involve all your senses, the more you appreciate, enjoy and learn.”

Initially, the coffee at the Tata Coffee factory is tasted from the perspective of a producer and grower, and each lot is catalogued based on customer preferences.

Once the coffee is warehoused, re-tasting is done. This time the coffee is evaluated from a buyer’s point of view. “As a coffee taster, it is important to understand the link between the producing and consuming sides of the business, and it is very interesting to taste the same coffee from different perspectives,” says Mr Pinto.

During the harvest season, Mr Pinto has to taste 30 samples a day, which means swishing around in his mouth around 100-120 cups of coffee! He avoids extremely spicy food and strong flavours and extreme temperatures before a tasting session. Being a coffee taster has helped him to refine his taste as a consumer not just for coffee but for anything that he eats or drinks.

While he enjoys tasting and drinking different types of good coffee both at work and as a consumer, and is happy in his vocation, his day is incomplete without a cup of the sweet and not-very-strong coffee brewed by his mother! n

Sunil Pinto of Tata Coffee believes in involving all his senses when tasting coffee

— Vibha Rao, Cynthia Rodrigues and Jai Wadia

28 | tata sphere May 201228 | tata sphere May 2012 29 | tata sphere May 2012

I n I t I at I v e

30 | tata Sphere May 2012

Bhaskar Bhat (ninth from right), MD, Titan Industries, and president, TSC, with the winners and runners up of the chess tournament

Tata Sangam, a unique event organised by the Tata Sports Club of Bengaluru, celebrates the Tata spirit by bringing together employees of Tata companies

in the city in a sports and cultural extravaganza

BackgroundTata Sangam is an annual cultural event that was launched in 2008 by the Tata Sports Club (TSC) in Bengaluru. TSC, which came into existence in 1983, has been promoting sports in Tata companies located in Bengaluru for more than two decades.

Sangam means a confluence, and Tata Sangam is an apt name for the event which is a culmination of the year-long activities of TSC. The event, which helps to bring together employees from Tata companies in Bengaluru, not only serves to strengthen bonds, but also gives employees an opportunity to showcase their diverse talents. It also helps family members to know more about the Tata group as several companies put up stalls during the event.

In the early years, TSC was mainly involved in organising cricket, football, badminton and hockey tournaments for Tata employees. Later, the club’s activities grew and soon the teams began taking part in prestigious events like the Karnataka league cricket tournament. The club once hosted an all-India kabbadi competition.

“One of the main challenges at the time was raising funds,” says BS Vedavyas, senior manager, Tata Global Beverages, who has been an active member of TSC since its inception. The participating

Tata companies used to pay a fee of `5,000 but it was not sufficient, so TSC began hosting track events for external companies in order to bring in income.

Sujaya Nagendra, officer, human resources, Tata Consulting Engineers, an active member and secretary of TSC, explains: “At some point, the activities of TSC had decreased. The turning point came when it was revived in 2005 under the dynamic leadership of Titan MD Bhaskar Bhat, who is also the president of TSC.”

The revival of TSC saw several sporting events being organised for Tata employees in Bengaluru throughout the year. In the summer months, games like carrom, chess, table tennis and badminton are organised, while from September to November, employees play cricket and football. The club also organises activities for the children of employees.

About four years ago, the organising committee decided to involve the families of Tata employees

to help them learn more about the group. The efforts gave birth to Tata Sangam. About 350

employees participated in the first year. The event has grown over the years. While there are 41 Tata companies operating in Bengaluru, about 27 of them actively participate in the

Strengthening the Tata bond

I n I t I at I v e

30 | tata Sphere May 2012 31 | tata Sphere May 2012

Mr Bhat addresses the audience

activities of TSC. Besides helping and encouraging employees to excel in various sports, Tata Sangam has helped create strong bonds among Tata employees across companies as they network with each other to organise the event.

Tata Sangam 2012This year, about 30 individuals and teams auditioned for the variety entertainment programme held at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association Stadium at Cubbon Park on January 21. Ten of these were selected to perform at Tata Sangam.

Some excellent performances were put up, including karagattam, an Indian folk dance by Anto Jauspher from Titan Industries; a hip hop solo song by Girish Kumar from Tata Business Support Services; a solo western dance by TCS employee Sneha Jha; fashion shows by teams from TCS and Tata Sky; a puppet show by William Menezes and his team from Tata DOCOMO, and a dance performance by the team from Tata Consulting Engineers.

The event began with a welcome address given by Mr Vedavyas. This was followed by the lighting of the inaugural lamp by Mr Bhat, who spoke a few words about Tata Sangam and welcomed the chief guest of the event — Satish Pradhan, chief, Group HR. While addressing the large gathering, Mr Pradhan said that it was amazing to see so much energy among Tata employees. He applauded the event as a great initiative to bring Tata employees together.

Ms Nagendra then presented a report on the activities of TSC through the year. Awards were then given to employees and their children who had won in sports competitions and other contests in 2011.

The highlight of the event was the lucky draw selection of raffle prizes. Several Tata companies had lent their support to the event by providing their products and services as prizes — the biggest attraction being the Tata Nano.

Explaining the rationale behind Tata Sangam, Mr Bhat said: “We all have a strong feeling of being a Tata employee at the workplace — the idea was to carry this feeling outside the job as well. It is important to get everyone together in a happy situation and showcase what Tata companies do. Family members are also proud of their spouses, parents or children, and it is important to involve them as well. There is a feeling of pride also because of the sense of integrity which is an innate part of working in the group. The event is all about people getting together not as professionals but as human beings who like to entertain and be entertained.”

Tata Sangam is growing every year. Last year saw the participation of 2,500 employees; this year the numbers had more than doubled. An event management company was hired to take care of the logistics, but the event could not have been organised so well without the support of the organising committee members and volunteers from different Tata companies, who worked night and day to make the event a success.

“Tata Sangam is like a magnet that brings employees together. This year we wanted to attract more and more young employees, and so we had to be very contemporary in what we did at the event to draw them in,” added Mr Bhat.

Medha Gupta, assistant manager, HR, Vivanta by Taj – MG Road, Bengaluru, is one of the employees who passed in the audition and was selected to sing a solo song at the final event. “This is the first time I got an opportunity to sing in public and it was a wonderful experience,” she said. The team from Tata AIG General Insurance Company has been enthusiastically participating in Tata Sangam for the last three years. Team members Gautam Kumar, Deepak Prakash, Sweni Mandiwala, Sreejaya Jaishankar and Derlin D’Costa were bubbling with energy after their Bollywood medley performance this year. One of them said: “We are so buried in our work that we don’t get time to see beyond it. Tata Sangam is a good way of helping us lighten up, meet people, get to know more about the group. It also gives us an opportunity to take part in a cultural event for the first time after college!” Several Tata companies had put up their stalls at the event to create awareness about their products and services. Some of these were Concorde Motors, Drive India Enterprise Solutions, Tata BP Solar, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Sky, Tata Steel, Tata Teleservices, Titan Industries and others.

The finale of the programme was a dinner sponsored by Taj Hotels. n

— Jai Wadia

I n I t I at I v e


Employees from Tata Consulting Engineers being felicitated by chief guest Satish Pradhan (centre), chief, Group HR, and Mr Bhat for winning the badminton and carrom tournaments

Anto Jauspher of Titan Industries performing karagattam, an Indian folk dance

A stall put up by Tata DOCOMO at the event

Mr Bhat felicitates the winners of the ladies cricket team, which consisted of employees from Tata Consulting Engineers, Tata Power, Titan Industries and TCS

Nearly 6,500 people attended Tata Sangam 2012

b o n a p p é t i t


of hearty eatingFrom the land

Sarika Kapoor Chokshi of Tata Services takes a nostalgic trip down gastronomic lane, recalling the mouth-watering Punjabi dishes

served by her mother and grandmother

It is impolite to talk while you are eating — so children are taught at school. In our very typical Punjabi household, where food is always a

celebration, we never followed that rule. Mealtimes at our place were never a dull affair. There was a lot of noise and excitement, with everyone talking about how their day had gone and sharing stories.

My mother, a school teacher, would not have time to prepare an elaborate meal on weekdays. So Sundays, whether at home or at the home of my Nani (maternal grandmother), were very special. Mom and Nani would lovingly prepare an elaborate meal consisting of the choicest of Punjabi vegetarian dishes. Punjabis are not vegetarian, but my family was, for religious reasons. So we augmented our protein intake with paneer (see glossary).

Our Sunday spread would include chhole bhature, rajma rice and a paneer dish, baingan bharta, baby potatoes dipped in amchur and cooked in ghee before serving, kaali dal and store-bought aloo ka papad. All this while the hot rotis kept coming in.

Of these, rajma rice, the paneer dishes and the kadhi pakodis used to be my favourites. I also enjoyed the food that was cooked during festivals like Navratri and Baisakhi. My mother believed in keeping our traditions alive. Onion and garlic were not used during this period. During Navratri, she used to make puri, sheera, rongi and chhole, rassewale aloo and boondi raita. We used to offer this meal to the goddess. Once the rituals were completed, that food would be eaten by the household.

The speciality of Punjabi cuisine is that the tadka of mustard and cumin seeds, curry leaves, garlic, ginger, onion and tomato is a must. Curds are used for flavouring. At home, Mom and Nani would always cook food in rich homemade ghee, made from buffalo’s milk. I don’t ever recall them cooking food in oil. Nani came from Amritsar, where it was

From left: Chhole, bhature, palak paneer and naan



believed that ghee gave you the strength needed to cope with the chilly winters.

Everything we ate and drank was homemade, including the lassi and paneer. I don’t remember eating processed chips as a child. Mom and Nani would make chips and ketchup at home. Even the masalas that they used were ground at home using a stone mortar and pestle. A lot of effort was taken to make good food available to the family.

Despite her work schedule, Mom found time to make us a good breakfast. We used to have all kinds of stuffed parathas, including aloo, gobi, shalgam, gajar, muli and lachha paratha. These were topped with homemade ghee and served with raita, dahi or pickle. The parathas were six inches in diameter and half-an-inch thick. Our breakfast was a full meal.

Occasionally we also had double roti, which is

basically sliced bread, with a generous application of butter and homemade ghee, which we used to mildly roast on a hot griddle before serving.

Winters were a time when a lot of Punjabi food specialities were made. My Nani, who lived very close to our home in Mumbai, used to make a lot of vegetable pickles in winter. She made pickles out of carrots and turnips, among other things. She would put in the spice powders, rock salt and mustard oil, and let the whole thing ferment in oil for days. The pickle would be laid out on the balcony under the hot sun to enable the flavours to be absorbed completely. The tantalising aroma would tempt us, but no amount of pleading would induce Nani to let us taste the pickle.

Makkai ki roti and sarson da saag, the staples of Punjabi cuisine, are also winter foods. We would have the roti with dollops of butter.

Winter was also carrot season so Mom would give us gajar ka halwa for dessert. Phirni was another dessert that we used to enjoy. My mother used to refer to the dry fruits in the phirni as brain food.

Winters in Punjab see a harvest of black carrots, which are used to make kanji, the wine of Punjab. The carrots are boiled with certain other ingredients, and mashed and strained to yield a drink, which is stored in a ceramic container and placed under the sun.

Gajar ka halwa

Stuffed paratha

Baingan bharta

Onion bhajiyas



n Aloo: Potaton Aloo ka papad: Potato poppodumn Amchur: Dried mango powdern Atta: Flourn Baingan bharta: Roasted and mashed eggplant cooked with spicesn Bhajiyas: Deep-fried dumplingsn Boondi raita: Deep-fried gram flour balls mixed in yoghurtn Chhole bhature: Spicy chickpeas served with deep-fried flatbread made of refined flourn Dahi: Curd n Gajar: Carrotn Gajar ka halwa: Carrot puddingn Ghee: Clarified buttern Gobi: Cauliflowern Kaali dal: Slow-cooked lentil stew with black gram and red kidney beansn Kadhi pakodis: Fried dumplings served in a curd-based gravyn Lachha: Layered Indian flatbreadn Lassi: Cooling whole milk yoghurt beveragen Makkai ki roti: Unleavened bread made of cornflourn Muli: Radishn Paneer: Cottage cheesen Parathas: Layered Indian flatbreadsn Phirni: Indian rice puddingn Puri: Traditional deep-fried Indian flatbreadn Rajma: Red kidney beansn Rassewale aloo: Potatoes cooked in tomato gravyn Rongi: Black-eyed beans curryn Rotis: Traditional Indian unleavened flatbreadn Sarson da saag: Curry made from mustard leaves and spicesn Shalgam: Turnipn Sheera: Indian sweet made with semolinan Tadka: Tempering

GLOSSARY

Until I turned 11, all our summer holidays were spent in our hometown in Amritsar, Punjab. Those were great times. The entire family would gather together. Uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, not to mention numerous relatives who dropped in to meet us. On such occasions, there was enough food and lassi for everyone. Hospitality is a very intrinsic part of Punjabi culture. If you go to a Punjabi home, you are very likely to be overfed.

This was so even in Mumbai. If a guest came at mealtime, he was invited to eat with us. Also, Mom never served biscuits to visitors. She would make the guest feel comfortable, then rush to the kitchen and quickly rustle up some bhajiyas.

Things have now changed, at least in the cities. My own household is more health conscious. So ghee is now out and sunflower oil is in. We use less oil and less salt, and consume sugar in moderation. My husband and I have stopped eating white rice and have started eating brown rice and roti made of nine-grain atta, along with vegetables and dal. Of course, I still yearn for my parathas and I do indulge in hearty eating sometimes. But back in Punjab, the old food habits continue.

There have been other changes too. Mom now grinds masalas in smaller quantities. The family is smaller; my siblings and I have married and moved out. But she continues to cook the old staples. Incidentally, my husband, a Gujarati, loves to eat at my Mom’s house.

My one regret is that as the elders pass away, we are increasingly unable to keep in touch with some of those traditions on account of our lifestyles. I feel bad for my daughter. Even though the food we eat today is healthier, I regret the fact that my daughter is missing out on all the homemade stuff that I used to enjoy. Those delicacies used to be delicious and totally reflected the love and affection of my Mom and Nani who used to take the trouble to make them.

The food in my Punjabi-Gujarati household is an agreeable fusion of both

cuisines. I have been able to introduce a lot of

Punjabi dishes. As a child, I was more

interested in eating. But now for the sake of my daughter, I make the effort

to bring in more

authenticity into my cooking. I want her to know the kind of food her mother grew up eating. I still call my Mom when I am making a Punjabi dish to make sure I get all the elements right.

Fortunately, there are some things which haven’t changed. At my Mom’s place, mealtimes are still noisy and fun affairs, with all of us talking at the same time.

It is this feeling of affection and hearty hospitality, which is the essence of Punjabi cuisine, that I would like to share with my daughter someday. n

— As told to Cynthia Rodrigues

Most Punjabi dishes are prepared in generous amounts of ghee


special sect ion

At home in the

w rldThe Tata group’s global footprint spans 80 countries

in six continents

northamerica

UK

The maps shown in this article are a graphical representation



The Tata group has been international in its approach to business from its inception. The Founder, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, began his business career in international trade in China and England. The businesses he later established in India measured up to international standards and used world-class technology. Tata Exports (now Tata International) was set up in 1962, and currently Tata companies export their products and services to over 85 countries.

In 2010-11, the Tata group had international sales of $48.3 billion, 58 percent of its total revenues, with the UK and the US being the two main overseas revenue contributors.

Each operating company in the Tata group develops its own international strategy as an integral part of its overall strategy, depending on the nature of the industry, opportunities available and competitive dynamics in the global stage. For some companies, focus on the domestic Indian market remains the priority. For others, it is developing a presence in international markets in terms of trading and distribution of their products.

Then there are Tata companies, increasing in number, setting up greenfield projects, making acquisitions and creating joint ventures in overseas geographies, and becoming an integral part of the development and economy of those geographies.

Beginning with Tata Tea’s acquisition of Tetley in 2000, Tata companies made several significant overseas acquisitions including Corus by Tata Steel, Jaguar and land rover by Tata Motors and Brunner Mond by Tata Chemicals — all in the UK; daewoo Commercial Vehicles by Tata Motors in South Korea; NatSteel in Singapore and Millennium Steel in Thailand by Tata Steel, and General Chemical Industrial Products by Tata Chemicals, Eight O’Clock Coffee by Tata Tea and Tyco Global Network by Tata Communications in the US.

ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, sums up the Tata group’s efforts to internationalise its operations thus: “I hope that a hundred years from now we will spread our wings far beyond India, that we become a global group, operating in many countries, an Indian business conglomerate that is at home in the world, carrying the same sense of trust that we do today.”

special sect ion

africa

china

In the following pages, we highlight the Tata presence in four key regions: the UK, North America, Africa and China.


ProfileTata has more than a century of experience and leadership in the UK, its leading international market, with combined revenues exceeding $7 billion. Having established Tata limited in 1907 to represent it in Europe, Tata has grown to become the largest Indian employer in the UK and is today also the largest foreign investor there.

Tata’s commitment to social responsibility has also manifested itself for many years in the UK. Sir ratan Tata — the younger son of Jamsetji Tata, the Tata group Founder — made a donation that enabled the london School of Economics (lSE) to research the causes of poverty. This led to the setting up, in 1912, of lSE’s Sir ratan Tata department, subsequently called the department of Social Sciences.

The lady Tata Memorial Trust was established by Sir dorabji Tata, the elder son of Jamsetji, in 1932 in memory of his wife, lady Meherbai, who died of leukaemia in 1931. An International Advisory Committee, based in london, invites applications for awards for personal support for research on leukaemia worldwide. The awards are restricted to studies of the leukaemogenic agents, the epidemiology, pathogenesis, immunology and genetic basis of leukaemia. The amount allocated by the trust for international scholarships is usually £200,000 every year.

Tata companies in the UK have continued this remarkable legacy of social commitment. They have come together to share experiences, best practices and ideas in the area of corporate sustainability.

Their initiatives focus on four areas: workplace, marketplace, community and the environment.

TATA CoMPANieS} diligenta } Jaguar land rover } Taj Hotels resorts and Palaces (51 Buckingham Gate, Crowne Plaza london – St James; The Bombay Brasserie; The Quilon) } Tata Capital} Tata Chemicals Europe } Tata Communications } Tata Consultancy Services } Tata Elxsi } Tata Global Beverages } Tata Interactive Systems } Tata limited } Tata Motors European Technical Centre } Tata Steel Europe} Tata Technologies

Tata in the UK

51 Buckingham Gate The Tata Limited office at 18, Grosvenor Place, London

employees: 45,000

consumer brands: Tetley; Jaguar; Land Rover; The Quilon; The Bombay Brasserie; 51 Buckingham Gate, Crowne Plaza London – St James Website: www.uk.tata.com

QUicK factS

special sect ion


Tata inNorth AmericaProfile The Tata group is the largest India-based business group in North America with a significant presence that includes 11 companies and 24,000 employees. The group has been a part of the North American market for over 60 years, having established its presence in the US in 1945 with an office in New York. Today, North America remains an important geography for the group with the Tata Sons office in the washington dC metropolitan area serving as the group’s coordinating representative.

Tata companies own some of the most recognised brands in North America, including Tetley, Good Earth Tea, Eight O’Clock Coffee, The Pierre New York and Taj Campton Place (in San Francisco). In addition, shares of Tata Motors and Tata Communications are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

In the US, Tata companies have been supporting community initiatives as part of the group legacy of adherence to business ethics and a commitment to corporate social responsibility. Tata companies are committed to philanthropy and engage with the communities in the areas where they operate, through initiatives in education, health and arts.

TATA CoMPANieS} Jaguar land rover} Taj Hotels resorts and Palaces (The Pierre New York, Taj Boston, Taj Campton Place) } Tata Business Support Services} Tata Chemicals North America} Tata Communications} Tata Consultancy Services} Tata Elxsi} Tata Global Beverages} Tata Interactive Systems} Tata Steel (Kalzip, Tata Steel International Americas, Tata Steel Plating)} Tata Technologies

The Pierre New York

employees: 24,000

consumer brands: Eight O’Clock Coffee, Good Earth Tea, Jaguar Land Rover, The Pierre New York, Taj Boston, Taj Campton Place and Tetley

companies listed on nYSe: Tata Communications and Tata Motors

Website: www.northamerica.tata.com

QUicK factS

special sect ion


special sect ion


Tata in AfricaProfile Established in 1994, Tata Africa Holdings operates as the nodal point for Tata businesses in Africa. The company has a strong presence in over 10 African countries with investments exceeding $100 million. The company was established in Johannesburg, South Africa, as a subsidiary of global trading company Tata International in 1994 and serves as headquarters for Tata operations in Africa.

Over a period of three decades, Tata Africa has entered into joint ventures and partnerships with several African companies to help develop local resources and talent. Tata companies in Africa collectively employ about 1,400 people. Tata Africa has invested more than $100 million in businesses and industries across Africa.

Tata in Africa is committed to building and sustaining relationships with cooperation and trust, creating employment opportunities, and making its contribution to the social development of local communities. The Tata Africa Scholarships for postgraduate studies are contributing to the development of research and

science in South Africa, and are an integral part of the company’s community initiatives.

TATA CoMPANieS} Accordian Motors } Jaguar land rover, South Africa } Neotel} Taj Hotels (Taj Pamodzi, lusaka and Taj Cape Town) } Tata Africa Holdings SA } Tata Automobile Corporation SA} Tata Chemicals Magadi} Tata Consultancy Services} Tata Global Beverages} Tata Power } Tata Steel KZN

The Taj Cape Town

employees: 1,400 Presence: Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe

Website: www.tataafrica.com

QUicK factS

The Tata Steel KZN ferrochrome plant at Richards Bay

special sect ion


special sect ion


Tata in ChinaProfileChina is a critical and growing market for the Tata group, which has had a long business association with the Middle Kingdom. In 1859, a young Jamsetji was sent to Hong Kong to open a branch for his father’s banking firm. He relocated a few months later to Shanghai, where he remained till 1863.

Currently the Tata group has a fairly significant presence in China, with the number of companies and operations growing steadily. Tata companies employ over 3,300 employees in China. They generated $6.4 billion worth of sales in the country and purchased goods and services worth $1.3 billion in 2011.

recognising the potential for high growth in existing businesses and opportunities for new ones, Tata Sons, the group promoter company, has set up representation in China. Tata operations in China are spread over a range of sectors — from automotive to IT, and project management to logistics.

TATA CoMPANieS} Jaguar land rover Automotive Trading (Shanghai)} Kalzip} Nanjing Tata AutoComp Systems} NatSteel Holdings} Tata Communications

} Tata Consultancy Services} Tata Global Beverages} Tata Projects} Tata South East Asia} Tata Steel Asia} Tata Steel International} TKM Global logistics} Trl Krosaki refractories} York Transport Equipment

The TRL Krosaki Refractories China office in the Yingkou province of China


The Nanjing Tata AutoComp Systems office

employees: 3,300 Presence: Beijing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Wuxi, Xiamen and Yingkou

Website: www.tatachina.com.cn

QUicK factS

special sect ion


As urban Indians, our early memories of village life included visits to grandparents, exploring fields, savouring local delicacies

and enjoying the ‘uniqueness’ of the whole situation. As we grew older, vacations in villages were replaced by studies of rural marketing or study tours, and the experience of living in rural India became a concept to be studied.

With our minds cluttered with theories of ‘bottom of the pyramid’, migration, microfinance, etc, rural India, to us, has become a complex phenomenon. In fact, the word ‘rural’ has become associated with poverty, backwardness, poor hygiene and sanitation — it is a world totally cut off from familiar urban surroundings.

Between us, our cumulative experience of rural India had been brief stints in villages where we had worked in our pre-TAS assignments. However, our first year at TAS provided us a completely different opportunity. The project not only involved displaying our managerial skills, but also meant staying with a family in a village to understand the routines of their daily lives. This experience was supposed to help us come out of our comfort zones.

A visit to a village with power and water problems was not a comforting thought; staying with an unknown family in an unknown place was daunting. The pre-rural stint induction by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) team also laid great emphasis on setting realistically low expectations

A close encounter with rural life

TAS managers Harshavardhan S and Swati Dalal, deputed to Tata Industries and Tata Power respectively, share the highlights of their rural stint, an

experience that turned out to be an eye-opener in many ways

E x p E r i E n c E


E x p E r i E n c E


(L-R) Swati Dalal, Harshavardhan S and their host Bhagwan Meware who

runs the Women Weave centre in Ithawadi

with regard to the availability of amenities. Motivated by the team and led by the quintessential TAS ‘can-do’ spirit, we started our rural stint from January 18, 2012. Our first destination was Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh; a 10-hour bus ride took us from Mumbai to the fortress town of Ahilyabai Holkar.

Empathy and respectMaheshwar, on the banks of the Narmada and a government-endorsed tourist destination, was a pleasant surprise with 24-hour power and water supply. We were to stay there for nearly 30 days, for the duration of the project with Women Weave, our NGO partner. The project was an interesting challenge. Used to working in typical structured business environments with the bottomline as our guiding light, it took us some time to get used to working with an NGO with unstructured operations.

Our project involved formulating strategies to increase the profitability of Women Weave, while increasing the social benefits of its Gudi Mudi Project which is supported by SDTT. Women Weave, employing local women, sells organic fabric and promotes the Maheshwari art form. The NGO’s long-term strategic vision is a self-sustainable and socially responsible producer company where the women weavers would have a controlling stake. We had to devise a business and social model that would bring this vision to fruition.

Our initial analysis identified potential sources of improvement in inventory management, product mix, pricing and channel management. Compared to a purely commercial business enterprise, there were huge gaps. However, as we became more involved, we began to understand that the true essence of a social enterprise went beyond profits. While meeting the trustees helped, our interactions with the women working for Women Weave helped us realise the project’s real social impact. The NGO housed hundreds of women from all castes and religions, each with her own heart-warming story about the impact of the trust-supported Gudi Mudi Project. Some were widows; others were victims of alcoholic husbands or exploitative relatives. Women Weave was not just selling fabric; it was selling hope to these women by giving them respectful employment, facilitating their children’s education and reviving a unique tradition of weaving, which even the local population had ignored for years.

It was important that the project become sustainable; after weeks of analysis and study, we suggested certain product-mix and pricing changes that would help turn around the business without compromising its social impact. We also initiated a few customer accounts for their organic products, and optimised their inventory management and logistic practices.

Overall, the experience was highly rewarding as we got an opportunity to understand the operations of a handloom unit. We learned how to manage a start-up social enterprise, and to conceptualise a business turnaround for this unique socio- business model.

Deeper depths Our next assignment was hugely anticipated, yet it was a bigger unknown. The village stay experience would be drastically different from our NGO project. Ithawadi, situated 5km from Maheshwar by road, had come into existence nearly 150 years ago, with the Holkar dynasty of Indore encouraging settlements to ensure cotton cultivation in the West Nimar region. The village has mixed landholding, with 50 percent of the land being unfit for cultivation due to the rocky terrain. Water is scarce as indiscriminate digging of wells has lowered the water table. Power is available for only 10 hours a day from 3am to noon, and 6pm to 9pm in the evening, thus restricting farming activities, especially irrigation. The scarcity of two critical resources means that economic and political power in Ithawadi is wielded by those who have control of these resources — primarily the upper castes. This reality influenced our recommendations for what would be an impactful initiative for Ithawadi.

E x p E r i E n c E


E x p E r i E n c E

The village stay was an eye-opener for us, brought up as we were in urban settings. There was a TV in every home and Tata Sky had made it to even the most backward parts of the village. We learned that a 13-member family could live comfortably in two rooms, while allowing female members their privacy. We learned that a family could be content with a monthly income of `7,000, an amount that seems such a pittance to us.

Living in the village was not as daunting as we had feared. We were not treated as guests; we were welcomed as family members. We spent the days understanding the village’s socio-economic profile for our study. Evenings were devoted to meeting families from all sections, castes and age groups. Everywhere we went, cutting across demographics, we were received with hospitality and affection — people were willing to spend time with us and share their problems.

The Tata affiliation brought us instant recognition; there was also the hope that we had a magic wand that would solve the village’s twin problems of erratic water and electricity supply. An even bigger social problem for women was the alcoholism in the male community, especially among the lower castes.

Holistic solutions Our work in the village was to identify opportunities for future interventions by the Tata Trusts, or through their partner NGOs. We came across many potential opportunities for intervention — alternative sources of energy such as solar power for irrigation, which would also impact the water situation in the village, and opportunities for backend integration of the cotton value chain with the region producing nearly 200 tonnes of cotton every year. However, it was obvious that these potentially ‘economically profitable’ business solutions, while positively impacting the twin problems of the village, would only have a negative social impact on the village. As much as 80 percent of the land in the village was controlled by the upper castes. The solutions we discussed would mostly impact these sections with only minimal leakage of corresponding benefits to the lower castes.

Based on our understanding of the village economics, we suggested alternative

means of employment through weaving, especially for

women of lower castes, to create

additional

income within the village; this would also direct more income towards the lesser-privileged castes. We used a Social Cost Benefit Analysis model, rather than a pure Net Present Value analysis, to compare the holistic socio-economic impact of our proposals. Conflicting impressions We had expected to find government apathy; what we saw was slightly different. The government was making an effort, but there were huge implementation gaps, especially acute in the case of primary healthcare and secondary education where availability and quality of initiatives were major issues. These gaps could only be bridged by the private sector and civil society. We expected to find a lot of gender-related social issues — however, we were pleasantly surprised to see some level of women’s empowerment in the village. More priority was given to the education of the girl child and employment of women had proved to be a more stable source of income for the family. The village had a female sarpanch, but as is common in such cases, it is the sarpanch-pati (her husband) who wields true power.

We had the opportunity to be part of a village wedding. We were surprised to see the scale of the event, which could beat any tier II city in terms of money spent. The whole village was invited for the wedding, with arrangements made for hundreds of people. In a village where the average monthly household income is `5,000-6,000, wedding budgets can be as high as `500,000-700,000. Taking loans to fund a wedding is customary.

In all, our rural experience was an eye-opener, something both of us will remember for the rest of our personal and professional lives. While the increasing emphasis on education and gender equality left us optimistic about the state of our villages, our stay made us realise how fortunate we have been in terms of the opportunities that life has given us, and how extremely important it is for each of us to contribute in our own way to ensure that our nation collectively moves ahead.

The steep inequality that exists today is a peril that is fuelling the social unrest in the country. It is not for the government but for the citizens to take charge of the situation and focus on equitable growth. On a personal note, the hope and faith that the villagers placed in us, the respect and love they gave us without expecting any returns, have made us determined to give back in some way, big or small. n

E x p E r i E n c E


1

4

3

2

5

6Ms Dalal doing the participatory rural appraisal in Ithawadi

A hamlet in Maheshwar

The Women Weave centre in Ithawadi

Visiting the home of a beneficiary of the Women Weave centre

A member of the Women Weave NGO working at her home

Ms Dalal (third from right) along with the family members of one of the beneficiaries

1

2

3

4

5

6

E x p E r i E n c E


m y s pa c e

46 | Tata sphere may 2012

A gift from a strangerThe gesture of friendship from a stranger was enough to alleviate his suffering in

the harsh winter. Nijil Chandran of TCS narrates a heart-warming experience

With a red bag full of gifts on my shoulder, I boarded a sleeper class compartment on the train to my hometown. The train was

so cold that it felt like a long moving refrigerator on a railway track. An arduous 14-hour journey in the harsh winter with only a waiting list ticket looked daunting. I met every ticket collector on the train. None of them had a spare seat for the evening. “You’d better occupy the place near the wash basin,” one ticket collector advised. He was the only one who showed some sympathy, so I hung around his seat near the door expecting more sympathy. The weather was getting worse. It was colder than I had expected. I had worn two T-shirts over my office shirt but I still shivered. I noticed a big man appraising me now and then over his newspaper. Sitting in the same bay, tucked inside a dark overcoat, he had a confirmed berth and a thick blanket. I had gifts for my grandparents and little cousins in my red bag, but no blankets to cover myself. It was 9pm and I had nowhere to go. Too preoccupied with looking for a seat, I had forgotten about dinner. My stomach started rumbling immediately. I now had something new to worry about.

The middle seats had been pulled down in the bay; passengers were preparing to sleep. Moving to a lower

seat in the same bay, I sat near the big man’s leg. He may have taken me for a well-dressed thief. He was not comfortable with my position at the edge of the seat.

“I won’t sit here for long; I’ll move once the lights are off,”

I told the big man, with no idea what to do next. Even the space near the wash basin was occupied by migrant labourers.

The big man showed me his mobile phone, an Apple iPhone. He seemed to have everything in the world. He typed a message on it, “Waiting list?” Slightly miffed, I nodded. “I didn’t see you having dinner,” he typed again. Why won’t this man talk? I smiled.

He offered me a half-finished packet of biscuits. I was hesitant. What if he was one of the suave biscuit thieves? Nevertheless, I took the whole packet thinking that if I was going to faint, let me faint on a full stomach.

Another man came to our bay, and the big man signalled something to him. Their conversation relied on sign language. I realised why he had used his mobile phone to communicate with me. He could not speak to me otherwise.

Once his friend left the bay, the big man cleared the space between the two lower berths, and laid his newspaper down neatly to cover the entire area. He gave me a pillow too, and then typed a good night message on his phone. “I will get down at 2am. You can use my berth after that. Good night.”

That gesture of friendship was enough to comfort me. I slept like a log, dreaming about food and family, and drugged biscuits.

I woke up on the big man’s berth, all cosy in a thick blanket. The same blanket I had wished I had. The big man had left it for me. I had no other memory of the night. That was a strange night, with an unusual gift from a complete stranger. n

m y s pa c e

46 | Tata sphere may 2012 47 | Tata sphere may 2012

My grandfather was illiterate and had experienced the worst kind of poverty in his life. To this day, however, he inspires me

to live not for myself but for others.

Born in a small village in Kollam, Kerala, into the Brahmin community, his life came apart in the 1950s when the state government brought in sweeping reforms on land holdings and left the family with little land to call their own. Life became a struggle to make ends meet. As a member of the landed gentry, he had no skills with which to earn a living.

Grandpa began to farm his small plot of land by day and serve at the local temple after sundown. He toiled hard over the next few years to educate his three children, sometimes working 18 hours a day.

He would sit by the lamp at the doorstep and recount to us how he had done his duty to his family. I used to be amazed that he could speak about those tough times with a twinkle in his eyes. It is a tribute to his commitment that all his children graduated from college. One of them became a professor, teaching at the junior college in the nearby town.

I learned the biggest lesson from him when he visited us during one summer vacation. My brother and I were 13 and 14 years old respectively and more interested in the country’s fortunes in the upcoming cricket tournament than in an old man’s tales. We had just shifted to a new neighbourhood and had no friends; that did not dampen our enthusiasm for the game. We batted and bowled, but found ourselves short of fielders to fetch the ball for us.

Grandpa used to watch us play. He was shortsighted and suffered from arthritis. He would often complain of pain in his leg at night.

One sultry afternoon, my brother was bowling while I took guard at the crease. As I concentrated on getting my timing right and drove the ball on both sides of the wicket, my brother began to grumble aloud about how tiring it was to bowl and chase the balls that went behind the wicket. Playing cricket without a wicket-keeper can be energy sapping! As we looked around for a possible solution, we saw Grandpa staring at us from the window and convinced him to keep wickets for us.

Not suspecting any mischief, he hobbled up and took position behind the wicket, donning a tattered pair of gloves. Needless to say, there were no leg guards in our kit. For the next few hours, Grandpa played wicket-keeper, struggling to stop the ball, and prancing around on his weary legs. He stopped many a tearing delivery with his legs, not once flinching as the leather ball hit his shin.

Later, we ambled across the street to gorge on ice creams without stopping to thank Grandpa or check on his condition. On our return, we met mother at the door, furious about our afternoon antics. But before she could say anything, Grandpa stepped in, making light of the pain in his leg.

That night, Grandpa asked my mother for Vicks VapoRub. Much later, I found him rubbing Vicks on his shin bones. He had seen people use the ointment to relieve headaches and had assumed that it would soothe his pain. I realised that he had withheld the truth about his aching legs to protect us. I felt my eyes brimming with tears at this display of affection!

My Grandpa is no more; even today I am inspired by the knowledge that all our education cannot match the simple love bestowed on us by an unlettered, untutored old man! n

A lesson learned

People can inspire us in unexpected ways. Ashok Namboodiri of

NourishCo Beverages learned an invaluable lesson from the affectionate

actions of his late grandfather

P h o t o g a l l e r y

Joyful wondersPets fascinate you to no end. They obey you, play with you, try to please

you and rejuvenate you at the end of a hard day, say some of our Tata

employees who introduce us to their best friends

Seuntjie, the frisky and lively cat of Willem Grobler, Tata Automobile Corporation, South

Africa, is always getting in and out of tight spots

Little Rambo, darling of Sayooj KP, TCS, Chennai, always has food on his mind. This photo was shot

on the day he first arrived home

Joy (seen in the picture) and her squirrel siblings,

Marky and Didi, love to swing and play all day at

the home of R Sujatha, Rallis India, Bengaluru




Onyx, the handsome Doberman Pinscher, loves the sand, the

sea and the surf at Mithapur beach, where Malay Samani of

Tata Chemicals, takes him for a walk

The sight of the fish in his aquarium fills Debashis Chatterjee of Tata Steel,

Jamshedpur, with a sense of calm, at the end of a stressful day at work

Cute, smart and expressive, Jacky is a quick learner,

says Vijay Palanichamy, TCS, Chennai,

who dotes on his best pal

Inseparable pets Zaika and Laika always return to their cosy

pigeonholes, at the home of Basil Hashmi, TCS, Lucknow,

before sunset



Fifteen-year-old Jesse, a cross Corgi-Maltese Terrier, was rescued as a six-month-old in Pretoria,

South Africa, by Lee Sharp, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, UK, and his wife. Now in

England, this well-travelled old faithful spends most of her day resting

Intelligent, affectionate and gentle, Ragdolls Lola and Liam are quick

to welcome Joey Trowbridge, Jaguar Land Rover, USA, when he returns

home from work

Land tortoise Hardy is a fussy eater who loves his veggies, served

up fresh. Shalin Patel, TCS, Ahmedabad, loves to indulge him

Curly hair, very fair! Hamish the Cavalier King Charles

Spaniel of Eva Nahlik, Tata Communications, UK, gets

along well with people and animals

Mischievous Tiger seems to think he is bigger than

he is and loves getting into fights with bigger dogs,

says Telcy Araujo, Rallis India, Mumbai



Friendly Sherman loves to play with all visitors and has a soft corner

for cheese. He has also learned that ‘c-h-e-e-s-e’ spells ‘cheese’, says

Richard Limburg, TCS, USA

The loving pair of Kuttusan and Silky play with each other at the home of

Sunilkumar R, Tata Elxsi, Thiruvananthapuram

Tetley, named after the favourite tea brand of Malcolm

Howard, Tata Motors, UK, likes to watch TV on his

pillow on the sofa. He also prefers to enter the house,

only when let in regally through the window instead of

the cat flap

Maggles Anne, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel of Deborah

Brooks, Tata Communications, USA, is very photogenic and

loves to pose

Tired after all that running around, black lab

Buckley waits for Tanya Mackenzie, TCS,

USA, to give him a well-deserved treat


E V E N T S

52 | Tata Sphere May 2012 PB | Tata Sphere May 2012

The grand finale of Tata First Dot, powered by NEN, was held at the SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, on January 9 and 10. Over 600 student entrepreneurs participated from across India. Five winners

each were selected for the judges’ choice awards and the people’s choice awards

L-R: Atul Agrawal, VP, corporate affairs; Ashutosh Pandey, COO, Landmark; K Ananth Krishnan, chief technology officer, TCS; Ravi Vishwanathan, president for growth markets, TCS, and Sunita Singh, director, NEN, at the event

A mentoring session in progress for student entrepreneurs

Winners of Tata First Dot, powered by NEN, along with K Srikrishna (sixth from left), executive director, NEN, and Kishor Chaukar (seventh from left), managing director, Tata Industries

E V E N T SE V E N T S

L-R: Raghav Chakravarthy and Sachin Ravi from the Symbiosis Law School, Pune, with ace quizmaster Giri Balasubramaniam and chief guest Kishor Chaukar, managing director, Tata Industries

L-R: Mr Chaukar with Mohammad Zuhair Ali

and Naveen Kumar from the Institute

of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad

National and international winners of the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz 2012 were announced on April 8 at the Vivanta by Taj – President, Mumbai

National winners

International winners

E V E N T S


E V E N T S


Defexpo 2012Tata companies showcased their products and services at the Defexpo 2012

event held at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, from March 29 to April 1

Nova Integrated Systems

Tata Advanced Systems

Tata Consultancy Services

Tata Elxsi

Avana Integrated Systems

E V E N T S


Capabilities of tata Companies in defenCe

• Mobility solutions • Energy systems • Defence electronics • Communication systems • Weapon systems • Air defence • Network centric operations • Trusted platforms • Electronic warfare • Modernisation of airfield infrastructure • Information technology • Aerostructures • Sensors and surveillance • High-precision machining • Offset facilitation • Harness and wiring systems • Armour and composites

TAL Manufacturing Solutions

Tata Industrial Services

Tata Motors

Tata Power Strategic Electronics Division

Titan Industries

E V E N T S


The sixth Tata Women@work essay competition was held in January 2012. Presenting the five winners

Maria Rajni D’Souza, manager (projects), Tata Projects, Mumbai

I joined Tata Projects in October 1989. I was the first woman trainee engineer in the group. As project manager, I have successfully commissioned three projects for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Reassigned to the contracts department, my duties include preparing Tend 1 and Tend 2 forms for management approval, drafting MoUs

(memorandums of understanding) for tie-ups with partners, etc. I study new project tenders and prepare a synopsis of salient contractual points for the bidding team.

On achieving a work-life balance: I believe in taking one day at a time and compartmentalising work and family time. During working hours, I focus entirely on work, whereas my family becomes my focus afterwards. I also take short breaks and annual vacations with my family. My role model: My dad has been my constant source of encouragement. He is almost 80 now but still retains his energy and zest for life.

My hobbies: I love to read. I also enjoy travelling; historical places fascinate me. Listening to music is another favourite pastime. Priya Siqueira Mahapatra, general manager, corporate social responsibility, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), BhubaneswarI have been working with TCS since October 2010. I manage the CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities of TCS in Eastern India.

On achieving a work-life balance: If one enjoys one’s work, and believes that one is genuinely contributing to a larger cause — as in the case of my role at TCS — achieving a work-life balance is not at all challenging. One of the principles that I consciously follow for achieving that balance is to ‘work hard but segregate’. Once I leave office, I leave my work behind. It is the same when I am at office — I leave my home behind. This allows me to concentrate on the moment, and to focus entirely on the job at hand. This helps me deliver better results, and maintain a work-life balance. My role model: My role model is my mother. A simple lady, she taught me that nothing is impossible in the face of determination and hard work. She was diagnosed with polio as an infant, had an open heart surgery at 16, and lost her husband soon after having three daughters. She was not fazed; at least, she did not show us if she was. And though we went through difficult times, we never once felt that we would not come through. It was all due to her spirit and determination. Despite health issues — polio, two open heart surgeries and hepatitis — she worked and educated us. All three of us are postgraduates and well-positioned today. The lessons I have learned from her are deeply ingrained in me. My hobbies: I like listening to music, watching movies, reading books and gardening. I also enjoy listening to my daughter play the piano. I enjoy solving cryptic crosswords, and I have now discovered the joy of writing! I also love travelling with family and friends.

E V E N T S


Manize Nayani, curriculum designer, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), Mumbai

I have been working with TIS since September 2011. I am presently associated with the Tata ClassEdge product as a curriculum designer for the English language.

On achieving a work-life balance: I believe that work and personal life should not intrude on each other. Such a balancing act can be difficult, but sorting and prioritising

tasks helps. Staying focused in the office is essential because it helps me perform better and enables me to complete an assigned task on time. Spending quality time with my family keeps me going as a person, despite the ups and downs. Being a working woman, it gives me an opportunity to channelise my mental faculties constructively. My real happiness stems from the confidence that my work gives me and my family’s love.

My role models: My parents have been my best role models. Whatever I am today, I owe to their unconditional love and sacrifice. Trust, fortitude in the face of adversities, inexhaustible patience — these I learned, and still learn from my father. Having faith in God and being independent and self-reliant are some of the essential values that I have imbibed from my mother.

My hobbies: I enjoy reading fiction. Orhan Pamuk, Alexander McCall Smith and Stieg Larsson are some of my current favourites. I also enjoy charcoal sketching, watching movies, travelling to new places and listening to music.

Shreya Nupur, assistant manager, supplychain management, Telcon, Jamshedpur

I have been working with Telcon since July 2010. My current role pertains to the procurement of components used for the manufacturing of construction machinery, ensuring proper availability of material in time, keeping tabs on inventory, and taking care of issues concerning procured parts.

On achieving a work-life balance: I owe whatever balance I have in my life to the Sudarshan Kriya (a breathing technique), which I learned through Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s ‘Art of Living’ programme. It helps me divide my time and attention properly

between my family, health, work and hobbies.

My role models: My role models are my parents, who have striven to give me the best education they could, together with a deep sense of values that have always been my armour in any situation. They have always encouraged me to believe in myself. My hobbies: My hobbies are reading, travelling, doing yoga and writing.

Pratima Pandey, project manager, Tata Technologies, JamshedpurI joined Tata Technologies in March 1997. I am currently a project manager in the Tata Motors’ SAP Support Project. I also work as a mentor in the Tata Marcopolo SAP Support Project. I have to ensure adherence to all service-level agreements between Tata Motors and Tata Technologies for SAP support activities and plan all activities for timely completion.

On achieving a work-life balance: Balancing a home and career is always a challenge for working women. My mantra for striking the right balance is effective time management. Hence, I have established a routine. I prioritise my tasks, doing ‘first things first’. By assigning tasks according to urgency, I complete tasks well in time. The key is NOT trying to be a superwoman.

My role models: My parents are my role models, my pillars of strength and support. Though I no longer live with them, I still turn to them for guidance. My mother is my best friend, and my constant inspiration. With unwavering patience and wisdom, she handled the vicissitudes of life without letting us children feel the pinch. She taught me to face adversity, and to look at the brighter side of things.

My father gives his 100 percent to whatever he does, even if it is as trivial as repairing his grandson’s broken toy car! It is from him that I learned that problems are a part of life, and that with the right approach, there is no problem that cannot be overcome.

My hobbies: I love reading, travelling and listening to music. Gardening is another hobby that I am currently pursuing. n

Read the winning essays on www.tataworld.com

E V E N T S


The Tata Group Innovation Forum announced the winners of the Tata Innovista 2012 on April 26 at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in

Mumbai. A total of 12 winners were selected this year from among more than 2,000 entries received from 71 companies across the world.

Cyrus Mistry, Deputy Chairman, Tata Sons, felicitated the winners

New product

Company: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)Innovation: A low-cost stop-start device for JLR

Company: Tata Steel EuropeInnovation: Tata Steel HPrail® — an innovative new rail steel

PROMISINGINNOVATIONS

E V E N T S


Company: Tata TechnologiesInnovation: Knowledge-based engineering applications using GPU computing technology

Core process

Company: Tata ChemicalsInnovation: Innovative DAP granulation

Company: Tata Steel EuropeInnovation: Advanced high-strength steel coating

Support process

Company: Tata Power Delhi DistributionInnovation: Last mile AT&C loss reduction by CS intervention

New service

E V E N T S


Unproven idea

Company: Tata ChemicalsInnovation: Development of novel membrane

Company: Tata ChemicalsInnovation: Nutritious silica nanoparticles for health

THE LEADING EDGE

Proven technology

Company: Tata SteelInnovation: Clean coal for green steel

Company: Tata Steel EuropeInnovation: 330V premium-grade rail for embedded track

E V E N T S


Proven technology

Company: Jaguar Land RoverInnovation: Automatic terrain response system

Company: Rallis IndiaInnovation: Product P — a customer’s delight

Some of the speakers at the function

Cyrus Mistry, Deputy Chairman, Tata Sons

R Gopalakrishnan, director, Tata Sons

Sunil Sinha, chief, Group Quality Management Services

DARETO TRY

E V E N T S


Some of the global winners with Cyrus Mistry, Deputy Chairman, Tata Sons

A total of 27 global winners were selected from among the regional winners of the Tata Young Expressions Children’s

Competition 2012. The global winners were felicitated at the Tata Innovista award function held at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel,

Mumbai, on April 26.

Started in 2004, the death centenary of Tata group Founder Jamsetji Tata and the birth centenaries of JRD Tata

and Naval Tata, the competition has been growing exponentially. This year, more than 2,000 children from across the globe sent in

their entries on the theme, ‘Back to nature’.

E V E N T S


Age group: 5-8 years

K Ananth Krishnan, chief technology officer, Tata Consultancy Services, felicitated the Brush Strokes winners


The Kaleidoscope winners were felicitated by Tony Harper, head of research, Jaguar Land Rover




Tim Leverton, head, Engineering Research Centre, Tata Motors, awarded the Write Stuff winners

Anoop Cholayil of Tata Consultancy Services shares a photograph of the serene Karanji Lake in Mysore

All matter in Tata Sphere is under © and may not be reproducedPublished by , Bombay House, 24 Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400001

Printed by Sahaya Print Services Pvt Ltd

sphere consolidated sphere may 2012

Documents

create magical

gajar ka halwa

tata medical

ndtv business

indian folk

editorial

itc sustainability

tata safari