the legend and his legacy

The legend and his legacyA tribute to Tata Founder Jamsetji Tata on his 175th birth anniversary

january 2014

From the editor

W hen one considers the history of the Tata group — represented by more than 100 operating companies in industries as diverse as steel, information technology and consumer goods, and with more than half a

million employees located in 100 countries — it seems remarkable that the seeds of this venerable and vast organisation were sown more than 140 years ago in an economy that was subjugated under colonial rule.

The titan who envisioned the Tata institution, not merely as a business enterprise but as a partner in a still-fettered India’s endeavour for industrial and social development, was its Founder, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, whose 175th birth centenary we commemorate this year.

Tata Review takes deep pride in paying homage in this issue to an uncommon genius, a truly exceptional business leader and, just as importantly, a wonderful human being. There is much within the folds of this edition about Jamsetji: his ideas and their realisation, his words and his deeds, his vision and his legacy. Our effort is aimed at bringing alive, to people far removed from his time, Jamsetji’s extraordinary sense of business and strength of character.

Fast forwarding more than a hundred years, this issue of Tata Review illuminates some of the developments and trends that are keeping the Tata brand vibrant. We have a special report on the 18th Tata Business Excellence Convention, where industry stalwarts and other high achievers interacted with Tata leaders and executives. Also featured is an insightful conversation with Group Executive Council member Mukund Rajan, whose responsibilities cover a wide spectrum of business spheres.

The global spread of the Tata group is reflected in our stories on the surging Jaguar Land Rover and the ever-successful Tata Consultancy Services, both from the United Kingdom, the ‘refreshed’ Eight O’Clock Coffee in the United States and, from India, the rapidly growing Tata Steel Processing and Distribution.

Tata-supported community initiatives — that indelible inheritance born of Jamsetji’s world view — are explored in articles on First Book, a nonprofit that works to improve child literacy in the United States; on Kalike Samruddhi Upakram, another nonprofit, which is involved in Karnataka, India, with making education more accessible and inclusive for the poor; and on the exertions by a clutch of Tata companies to get more American students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (collectively called STEM) courses.

In many ways, this issue of Tata Review is a microcosm of the Tata group, with glimpses of its heritage, beliefs, people and operations. We do hope you will enjoy reading it.

Warm regards,

Christabelle Noronha

Contents VOL 51 | Issue 4 JANuARY 2014

Business stories

54 TaTa Global beveraGes:

refreshinG The offerinG

— Gayatri Kamath

56 JaGuar land rover, uK:

bacK in cruise conTrol

— Peter Curtis

59 TaTa consulTancy

services, uK:

diGiTal Tide shows The

fasT way forward

— Peter Curtis

62 TaTa consulTancy

services, norTh

america:

In conversation

50 ‘iT is a challenGe

buT i’m learninG

every day’:

Mukund Rajan speaks to

Sangeeta Menon

Cover story

6 JamseTJi nusserwanJi TaTa: a

TribuTe To The leGendary leader

on his 175Th birTh anniversary

8 navsari — The birThplace sTory

12 profile

jamsetji and industry

18 indian hoTels by raymond bicKson

22 TaTa sTeel by Tv narendran

26 TaTa power by anil sardana

jamsetji’s support for education

30 indian insTiTuTe of science

33 The Jn TaTa endowmenT

and iTs beneficiaries

42 TribuTes by r GopalaKrishnan

and dwiJendra TripaThi

46 bombay — ciTizen JamseTJi

49 The quoTable JamseTJi TaTa

learninG To sTem

The Tide

— Christabelle Noronha

66 TaTa sTeel

processinG and

disTribuTion:

‘we wanT To be a

Global benchmarK’


70 TaTa cenTral

archives and cenTre

for excellence:

cusTodians of

hisTory

— Cynthia Rodrigues

Pictures courtesy: Tata Central Archives

EditoRChristabelle Noronha

Email: [email protected]

AssistAnt EditoR

Sujata Agrawal

EditoRiAl tEAM

Anjali Mathur

Cynthia Rodrigues

Gayatri Kamath

Jai Madan

Philip Chacko

Sangeeta Menon

Shilpa Sachdev

Shubha Madhukar

ContRibutoRsNithin Rao

Peter Curtis

dEsignAbraham K John

Shilpa Naresh

PRoduCtionMukund Moghe

EditEd And CREAtEd by

in association with

The Information Company.

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.tata.com

ContACt Tata Sons

Bombay House

24, Homi Mody Street

Mumbai 400 001

Phone: 91-22-6665 8282

disClAiMERAll matter in Tata Review is

copyrighted. Material published

in it can be reproduced with

permission. To know more,

please email the editor.

Special report

74 for fuTure’s saKe

Leaders and executives from across the Tata group and eminent

personalities from various spheres of endeavour came together at

the latest edition of the Tata Business Excellence Convention to

explore ways in which companies could look past short-term profits

and consider the horizon beyond.

— Sangeeta Menon

Community

Perspective

88 poTenT can be The

power of paTenTs

— Subramaniam Vutha

92 prepaid soluTion

— Govind Sankaranarayanan

Strategy

86 TaTa sTraTeGic

manaGemenT Group:

diviniTy in The deTail can

deliver benefiTs

— Pankaj Gupta

Book review

95 meeK and weaK? you

can beaT The odds

— Gayatri Kamath

78 more Than by The

booK: Kyle Zimmer of First

Book speaks to Christabelle

Noronha

82 sir raTan TaTa TrusT

and navaJbai raTan

TaTa TrusT: lessons of

chanGe, from school

To life

— Nithin Rao

Tata Review n January 20146

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata(1839-1904)

The Tata group pays tribute to a visionary leader who worked tirelessly to shape the future of India

Jamsetji set the mandate for the group to look beyond profits and serve the communities in which Tata companies functioned. More than a hundred years later, his vision remains the group’s guiding force.

Ratan N Tata

Former

Chairman,

Tata group

There is no finer legacy than what Jamsetji Tata has left behind, and it is for us to grasp the essence of his vision, his values, his fortitude and his humaneness as we strive to make our efforts count.

Cyrus P Mistry

Chairman,

Tata group


cover storycover story

The sleepy town in Gujarat where Jamsetji Tata was born, and spent the initial 13 years of his life, always remained close to the Tata Founder’s heart, and he returned to it as often as he could

Nestled in the coastal lowland along the Purna river in the western Indian state of Gujarat is Navsari, the birthplace of Jamsetji Tata, Founder of the Tata

group. It was here, in this picturesque land of sugarcane fields, chikoo (sapodilla) plantations and mango trees, that one of India’s greatest pioneers and industrialists was born, on March 3, 1839, to Nusserwanji and Jeevanbai Tata.

Jamsetji’s family came from a long line of Parsi priests and they lived in Mota Falia’s Dastur Vad, an area where families of the Parsi clergy generally stayed. Jamsetji and his four younger sisters — Ratanbai, Maneckbai, Virbai and Jerbai — grew up in this strongly religious environment, wholeheartedly embracing the tenets and practices of the Zoroastrian faith.

Ervad (a term of address for Parsi priests) Homi Kotwal, a 79-year-old, has been looking after the holy fires in the Parsi temples of Vadi-Dar-E-Meher and the Navsari Atash Behram for

the last 50 years. He proudly preserves two old books: the Athornan Vansavali, which records the family trees of several families from Navsari, including the Tatas, and a register of Navars — the first stage of initiation into the Parsi priesthood — ordained from 1633 to 1928. He points out Jamsetji’s name in the register and says that it was his great, great, granduncle, Ervad Burjorji Kotwal, who performed the Navar ceremony that initiated the young Tata into priesthood. Jamsetji was following in the footsteps of some 25 generations of the Tata family.

Who would have imagined then that this particular Parsi priest was destined to one day be acknowledged as one of the ‘nine jewels of Navsari’? Who would have believed he would lay the foundations of a business house which today has more than 100 companies with operations spread across the globe? It was here, in Navsari, that the seeds of Jamsetji’s greatness were sown; it was here that his remarkable story began.

The 850 year-old Vadi-Dar-E-

Meher, where Jamsetji was ordained as a

Parsi priest

The Navsari years

January 2014 n Tata Review 9


The Navsari of today bears little resemblance to what it was when Jamsetji grew up here, but he lives on in the memories of oldtimers, and the history of the town is intimately interwoven with that of the Parsi community he belonged to. In building the qualities of head and heart that were to stand by him both as a priest and as a businessman, Jamsetji drew upon a rich Parsi heritage that has moulded life in Navsari for more than 850 years.

the parsi influenceThe Parsis, who first landed in India in a town in Gujarat known as Sanjan, moved to Navsari around AD 1141 to promote their trade. The town was known by several different names, including Nagvardhan, Nagshahi, Nag Mandal, Nagsarika and, for a while, as Parsipuri (a place where Parsis resided in large numbers). Evidently, the Parsi influence was instrumental in the naming of Navsari. One interpretation has it that the place came to be known so because ‘Nav’ means ‘new’ and it had the same climate as a place in Iran called ‘Sari’.

When the population of Parsis began to

increase in Navsari, the need was felt for more priests to perform religious ceremonies. The community enlisted the services of a person called Hom Bahmanyar, whose descendants came to be known as Bhagarias, or sharers. Nusserwanji and his family belonged to this group of Bhagaria priests.

The Bhagaria priests of Navsari were one of the five groups (panths) of Parsi Zoroastrian priests in the region, each of which had clearly demarcated territories in which they could perform religious ceremonies and earn their money. Dinshaw Edulji Wacha, a prominent politician and a contemporary of Jamsetji, throws light on the environment and influences that may have affected his industrialist friend in his book, The life and life work of JN Tata.

According to him, there was a keen rivalry amongst the priestly cadre in Navsari and the environment was quite acrimonious. Many of them held strong views and “doggedness and perseverance in fact were the two principal traits of the controversial clergy at Navsari,” Mr Wacha wrote. Underlying the controversies was the priests’ fervent wish to protect their faith.

Homi Kotwal, whose great, great granduncle, Ervad Burjorji Kotwal, initiated Jamsetji into the Parsi priesthood, holding the register — open to the page (inset) — which has the Tata Founder’s name in it



Mr Wacha went on to explain: “Brought up in his boyhood in a community possessing such traits, it is perfectly intelligible what influence heredity and environments must have exerted on Jamsetji Tata, who all through his life was preeminently distinguished for this great force of character and perseverance.”

Controversies aside, Navsari was an important place for Parsis, and their religion, culture and society thrived here. For nearly 800 years, the town enjoyed the status of being the religious headquarters of Parsi Zoroastrians and their priestly families. The holy fire, first consecrated in Sanjan, was later kept alight in Navsari for nearly 300 years. The fire was then moved to Udvada, where it currently resides.

The first Atash Behram — a Parsi temple where the fire is of the ‘highest grade’ — in India, other than the one in Udvada, was established in Navsari in 1765. The town’s Vadi-Dar-E-Meher (where the Atash Dadgah, or lesser grade of fire, is housed and mainly used to train Parsi priests and initiate them into the priestly ranks) is more than 850 years old, and is the oldest of its kind in India.

Among the other well-known Parsis who hailed from Navsari, two names stand out: Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (1783-1859), the first knight and baronet of India, and Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917), the first Indian to be elected to the British Parliament.

Not much is known of the early years and life of Jamsetji in Navsari. In those days, formal education was nonexistent, and the only form of teaching was through verbal instruction in the Zoroastrian faith, the tenets of which had a strong influence on Jamsetji’s life. His mother, Jeevanbai, played a crucial role in the development of his character, it is said, setting a fine example for the growing boy and instilling in him a strong dose of moral values, contemplation, devotion to duty and love for learning. The Parsi priests also taught him some basic reading, writing and mathematics.

moving to bombayJamsetji’s formal education began at age 13, when his father called him to Bombay and he joined a local school. At age 14 he gained admission to the Elphinstone Institute and graduated from there as a ‘green scholar’ in 1858.

Although Jamsetji lived most of his life outside Navsari, he always had a soft spot for his native land. Even during the illness of his last few days, he often chatted about his estate in Navsari. Jamsetji was fond of horticulture and did not hesitate to spend money on this hobby, experimenting at his estates in Matheran, Navsari, Ootacamund, Panchgani and Bangalore.

In Navsari he created a miniature botanical garden, for which Jamsetji imported shrubs and

The house in Navsari where Jamsetji was born



plants from places far and wide, including some exotic species. According to Frank Harris, his biographer, he also had several wild animals here and part of the estate was made into a public park for others to enjoy. Today, Tata Baug, as it is called, stands as testimony of his love for nature.

Marzban Giara, author, publisher and a student and researcher of Parsi history, whose family hails from Navsari, nostalgically remembers his mother telling him about the ditty that she used to sing along with her friends when they were young: ‘Chalo chhokra wadi jaiye / Tata seth ni wadiye’ (come on children, let’s visit the garden of the wealthy Tata).

Jamsetji was known for his generosity and hospitality. A rich man not given to display of his wealth, he was like a benevolent patriarch and many family members looked to him for advice and to resolve conflicts. Fondly called Bapooji, a pet name given to him by one of his younger sisters, Jamsetji’s home in Bombay, Esplanade House, was open to all his family members, including distant relatives, and he enjoyed meeting them and catching up on all the news.

‘Chalo Navsari’ was his standard invitation to family and friends in Bombay, and he welcomed them to his hometown. December was usually the month when Jamsetji went to Navsari, and while his wife and her companions stayed in the house built by his father, he and the male guests stayed at the house in the park.

Jamsetji was an early riser and he would be seen in his garden before 6am every day. During his Christmas break there, ‘Navsari week’ was celebrated in town, with schoolchildren often putting up a gala show and receiving prizes. Older folk were given presents and there was much merrymaking.

The Tata Founder loved his country and was a great patriot, but Navsari always remained close to his heart. During his lifetime and afterwards, he and other members of his extended family gave much to the town, by way of generous acts of philanthropy, some of which still remind us that the roots of the house of Tata remain embedded in Navsari. ¨

— Jai Madan

The Navsari Atash Behram (fire temple) with a fire sculpture and the Asho Farohar (winged guardian angel) on the façade

Jamsetji Tata Marg, the road behind the sprawling Tata Baug, the private estate where Jamsetji created a botanical garden

A view of another section of the Vadi-Dar-E-Meher



Industrialist, nationalist, philanthropistJamsetji Tata’s vision and business acumen would have been enough to mark him as an extraordinary figure, but what made him truly unique, the quality that places him in the pantheon of modern India’s greatest sons, was his humaneness



Had Mr Jamsetji Tata lived in Europe or America, his name would have been more familiar to the public.” This is what Frank Harris wrote about the

Founder of the Tata group in his book, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata: A Chronicle of his Life.

Jamsetji was more than an entrepreneur who helped India claim a place in the league of industrialised nations. He was a patriot and a humanist, a man of his times and beyond, whose ideals and vision shaped an exceptional business conglomerate. These attributes contributed to shaping Jamsetji’s world view as an industrialist, one with a sturdy bent for nationalism and a strong heart for social development.

Born on March 3, 1839, Jamsetji was raised in the sleepy town of Navsari in Gujarat, the first child and only son of Nusserwanji Tata, the scion of a family of Parsi priests. When he was 13, he joined his father in Bombay (now Mumbai) and enrolled at Elphinstone College, from where he passed out in 1858 as a ‘green scholar’, the equivalent of today’s graduate. The liberal education he received would fuel in Jamsetji a lifelong admiration for academics and a love of reading. Those passions would, though, soon take a backseat to what he quickly understood was the true calling of life: business.

The indusTrialisTAn eager learner, Jamsetji gradually grew from apprentice to a skilful practitioner of the business arts under the tutelage of his father, gaining knowledge about commodities and markets, trading and banking. He started his first company — a trading firm — in 1868 at the age of 29, with a capital of `21,000.

Jamsetji made his move into textiles in 1869, when he acquired a dilapidated and bankrupt oil mill in Chinchpokli, in the industrial heart of Bombay, renamed the property Alexandra Mill and converted it into a cotton mill. Two years later, he sold the mill for a significant profit to a local cotton merchant.

In 1874, Jamsetji floated a fresh enterprise, the Central India Spinning, Weaving and Manufacturing Company in Nagpur, with a seed capital of `150,000. Three years later, the

Empress Mills — the early beginnings of what would grow into the Tata group — came into existence in Nagpur.

The period following the establishment of Empress Mills was the most significant of Jamsetji’s busy life. From about 1880 to his death in 1904, Jamsetji was consumed by his three great ideas for India: setting up an iron and steel company, generating hydroelectric power, and creating a world-class educational institution that would tutor Indians in the sciences.

The naTionalisTJamsetji had set his heart on building a steel plant in India that would compare with the best of its kind in the world. This was a gigantic task. The industrial revolution that had transformed Britain and other countries had, by and large, bypassed India. Officious government policies, the complexities of prospecting in barely accessible areas and sheer bad luck made matters worse.

Against the odds, Tata Iron and Steel was established in 1907 by Jamsetji’s son, Dorab Tata, and the first ingot of steel rolled off the

A young Jamsetji in traditional Parsi dress



plant’s production line in 1912. Jamsetji had been dead eight years by then, but his vision continued to guide his descendants. Tata Iron and Steel was a showcase for worker welfare schemes: employees benefited from shorter working hours, well-ventilated workplaces, and provident fund and gratuity (long before these practices became statutory in the West). Today Jamsetji’s dream for India stands tall as Tata Steel, a company that ranks among the top 10 steelmakers in the world.

Energy was another critical resource which Jamsetji wanted India to have, because, as he said, “Clean, cheap and abundant power is one of the basic ingredients for the economic progress of a city, state or country.” This was the impetus for the setting up of India’s first power plant, a 72MW hydroelectric station in Khopoli, near Bombay, which was established in 1915 under Dorab Tata’s guidance. Today Tata Power has grown into India’s largest integrated private power company.

In all spheres, including philanthropy, Jamsetji’s thinking was far ahead of his peers. At a time when the prevailing practice among the wealthy was to give alms to the poor or sponsor religious activities, his thoughts focused on how to make India a developed nation. “What advances a nation or community,” he said, “is not so much to prop up its weakest and the most helpless, as to lift the best and most gifted, so as to make them of the greatest service to the country.”

He was convinced that national resurgence was only possible through multilevel industrialisation, higher education and scientific research. This was what motivated him to establish an institution of advanced scientific education and research, the like of which even England did not have, at the end of the 19th century.

Jamsetji donated half of his personal wealth (14 buildings and four landed properties in Bombay) towards the creation of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore (now

Jamsetji Tata (extreme left) and the three men who formed the nucleus of the Tata group in its early years: cousin RD Tata (centre) and sons Ratan Tata (standing) and Dorab Tata (right)



Bengaluru). This institution opened its doors in 1911 and grew into one of India’s premier centres for research and advanced scientific study. Over the years, several of India’s foremost scientists have been closely associated with the institute, including Nobel laureate CV Raman, Homi J Bhabha, Vikram S Sarabhai, and the latest Bharat Ratna awardee, CNR Rao.

In his efforts to bring to life these three visionary ventures, Jamsetji had to endure long years of heartburn, without much tangible recompense in his lifetime. Fortunately, he did live to see at least one of his dreams come to fruition. Jamsetji was keen to set up a luxury hotel in Bombay, one that would match the grandest of its kind anywhere in the world. The foundations of the Taj Mahal Hotel were laid in 1898 and the hotel was built at a cost of more than `40 million. It was the first building in Bombay to be lit by electricity, the first to have American fans, German elevators, Turkish baths and English butlers. Preceding the famous Gateway of India by some 20 years, the hotel was the first sight for ships calling at the Bombay port. Today that seed sown by Jamsetji has grown into the Taj Group, a 120-property hospitality chain with a presence across the globe.

The philanThropisTJamsetji’s philanthropic principles were rooted in the belief that for India to climb out of poverty its finest minds would have to be harnessed. With this belief, in 1892 he set up the JN Tata Endowment, a fund that enabled Indian students, regardless of caste or creed, to pursue higher studies in England. This beginning flowered into the Tata scholarships, which flourished to the extent that by 1924 two out of every five Indians coming into the elite Indian Civil Service were Tata scholars.

Jamsetji’s vision and business acumen would have been enough to mark him as an extraordinary figure. But what made him truly unique, the quality that places him in the pantheon of modern India’s greatest sons, was his humaneness.

The distinctive structure the Tata group came to adopt after Jamsetji’s passing, with a

huge part of its assets held by trusts devoted to ploughing money into social development initiatives, is a direct outcome of the empathy embedded in the group Founder’s philosophy of business.

“It is by solid work such as your father did,” wrote a friend to Dorab Tata, “that India will be brought up to a higher standard of comfort and civilisation.” Enshrined in Jamsetji’s vision for business was the spirit of nation-building and a commitment to the community, and that continues to be the guiding light for the Tata group. ¨

— Gayatri Kamath

Jamsetji Tata was a man ahead of his times. He laid the foundation of an institution that is now spread across seven business sectors, 100 countries and six continents



An excerpt from The Creation of Wealth, by RM Lala

A young Englishman, Norman Redford, who paid several visits to Jamsetji, records that on evening drives Jamsetji and

his colleagues would talk of schemes, schemes and more schemes. Another contemporary of Jamsetji recalled that ‘he was not a man who cared to bask in the public eye. He sought no honour and he claimed no privilege. But the advancement of India and her myriad peoples was with him an abiding passion.’

Jamsetji’s mind spanned almost every area of human endeavour, though he was remembered for his three great nation-building projects and the famous Taj Mahal Hotel. He was never short of schemes. He had plans to construct a huge circular building where the Prince of Wales Museum stands today in Bombay. He wanted it to house an ice factory that would cool offices in the circular building. This was long, long before Carrier invented air conditioning.

In his youth, he had travelled to China and the Far East as well as to Europe and the Middle East. In later years he covered North America. He repeatedly visited Europe and America for industrial exhibitions that first became fashionable in his days. He took advantage of these journeys to study steel plants, coal mines and factories abroad. George Westinghouse encouraged him to visit the Niagara Falls to study hydro-electric generation of power.

Wheresoever he toured, whatever

good he saw he wanted to bring its benefits to his country. He introduced to India foreign trees and plants which he personally cultivated at his estates in Panchgani, Bangalore and Ootacamund. While in France he made a study of the cultivation of the silkworm, and when he visited Japan in 1893 he invited the Japanese to experiment in sericulture. He picked on Mysore for climatic reasons. He discovered later that ages ago silk was a flourishing industry of that State and he had selected the right place and revived the industry. Similarly he chose the Sind area to experiment with growing long-staple Egyptian cotton. He gave detailed instructions to a number of people how to grow and experiment but, alas, the experiment was not successful.

The textile mills at Nagpur became Jamsetji’s laboratory. Here he tried experiments in technology and labour welfare never before attempted in India. To conserve the new Company’s capital, he purchased in Britain low-priced equipment and, consequently, his yarn turned out to be of inferior quality. Quickly learning from his mistake, he replaced it with the most up-to-date American machinery, ring spindles, till then untried even by the mills of Lancashire.

He installed the first humidifiers and fire-sprinklers in India. In 1886, he instituted a Pension Fund and, in 1895, began to pay accident compensation. He was decades ahead of his time and miles ahead of his competitors.



An excerpt from Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata: A Chronicle of his Life, by Frank Harris

Mr Tata was the central figure of three generations, all of whom looked to him for assistance or advice. His father was a partner

and a friend; his sons were to him the same. The whole family regarded him with veneration and with a great affection. Among them he is always spoken of as ‘Bapooji’ — the little father — a name bestowed upon him by a sister ten years his junior. He was kind, without being indulgent, and would not permit his children to waste time or money. His elder son, when at Cambridge, was not given an allowance, but, so long as money was carefully spent, could draw freely on his father’s purse.

In boyhood Dorabji Tata was frequently at his father’s side, and was compelled each day to give a full account of his time. Now and again the father would unbend and play with him, or compel the lad to do some deed of boyish daring without the flicker of an eyelash. On one occasion, when the young Dorabji was balancing himself upon the parapet of a well, and every woman in the house was screaming for him to come down, the father came out, and assured them of his son’s safety by encouraging the boy to take a further walk along his dangerous perch.

If Mr Tata were told that he was spoiling his nephews by giving them money, he would retort that they should learn how to spend it. His nephews loved him, and looked forward as a great treat to those occasional Sunday afternoons when

they were solemnly ushered into the study, and had to give an account of their week’s work, over ice-creams and cups of tea.

Mr Tata’s travels were timed, as a rule, to coincide with some great exhibition, where he saw inventions, large and small, with which his country was wholly unacquainted. He loved an ingenious device. Though he cared little for music, he bought an electric piano for his home. When the cinematograph first appeared, he acquired one at once.

He was a born pioneer. His purchases were made, not so much for himself, as to let India know what was new in the great world across the seas. His carriages were the first to be fitted with rubber tyres, whose silent progress amazed the crowd. In 1901, he brought a motor-car out to Bombay, and delighted in taking his friends on uncertain excursions to which a breakdown only added a spice of adventure.

He would not have a chauffeur: his coachman had to learn to drive, and when the car failed there were plenty of coolies to haul it home. Someone had to handle these hobbies. So Mr Jamsetji selected a servant, to whom he gave a few months’ training in mechanism, until the man could adjust defects with varying success. When Mr Tata bought his first Diesel engine it had been set going before the German engineer arrived to piece it together. For Mr Jamsetji did not believe in importing experts. “Let the Indian learn to do things for himself,” said he.


In his foreign travels, Jamsetji made most of the

purchases himself, lavishing upon the Taj the finest

equipment Europe could offer. When he visited the

Paris exhibition at the opening of the Eiffel Tower,

he perceived pillars of spun iron for the first time and

ordered ten to be shipped home for his hotel.

The Creation of Wealth, by RM Lala

Taj Mahal Hotel, 1903



An icon and an idealRaymond Bickson, managing director of Indian Hotels Company, talks about the torch-bearing role played by the Taj Group and the ways in which it continues to uphold Jamsetji’s vision

At Indian Hotels, we consider ourselves custodians and torchbearers of the vision of Jamsetji Tata. The company was founded in 1901 and the Taj Mahal

Hotel opened in Bombay (as it was called then) on December 16, 1903. Thus, we are the longest standing operational company in the Tata group, and we continue on the path that was defined more than a hundred years ago by Jamsetji’s ideals and philosophy.

Jamsetji was both an industrialist and a nationalist. The genesis of the company lies in his vision of a hotel that would be a beacon for visitors to Indian shores. Back then, when the idea of a hotel was germinating, he visited many of the world’s capitals and stayed in the grandest hotels. That was the basis on which the Taj Mahal Hotel was created.

Because of Jamsetji’s vision, we were pioneers in several aspects of the hospitality business. We were the first Indian hotel with electricity, the first to put in electric lifts, telephones in every room and an ice machine. We had Bombay’s first liquor licence — numbered 001 — for the Harbour Bar. The Taj was essentially a state-of-the-art, world-class hotel that reflected the modern India of Jamsetji’s vision. It continues to be so today.

For years now, the Taj has been considered

an icon that symbolises the city of Mumbai. Much like the Eiffel Tower represents Paris, the Gateway of India and the Taj behind it stand as symbols of an India that was resurgent at the turn of the century and is a strong economic power today.

Among our people, we have many third- and even fourth-generation colleagues of the Taj family. To all of us the hotel is not just a building or a place to work, but a representation of our pride in the great hospitality tradition that the Founder created. The Taj Mahal Hotel is still recognised by several surveys as one of the best hotels in the world. It is the flagship of the 122-hotel strong chain that is called the Taj Group and it continues to encapsulate the idea that the Founder had: to create a modern palace for India, one that would rank among the world’s best.

flying the flagFor more than a century, the Taj has maintained its premier position as the centre point of India’s hospitality industry. Over the years, the hotel has been a witness to many historic events of local, national and international importance. The farewell speech of Lord Mountbatten, for instance, took place in our ‘grand ballroom’ (he boarded his ship and left India after his speech here). We have what is called the ‘princes’ room’,


cover story

where the royal princes met to discuss becoming a part of the new India. More recently the hotel has been the port of call for practically every important head of state. The Taj continues to have that cachet in the corporate world, too.

Over the last century, our operations have changed and guest expectations have evolved. For example, we were the first to bring in Chinese cuisine, back in the 1970s. In the new millennium, we brought in Vietnamese cuisine through Blue Ginger and Japanese food through Wasabi by Morimoto.

The vision of the Founder was crafted around the core idea of nation-building. At Indian Hotels we carry forward that tradition in our role as the leader in our segment. We believe that building the India brand overseas is a part of nation-building, and in the last 10 years we have taken our footprint beyond our shores to key source markets, the only Indian hotel company to do so. We go to great lengths to ensure that the Taj brand is synonymous with luxury, excellence, quality and a great service tradition.

future senseTo remain on top, we need to constantly track the changing standards and benchmarks in the hospitality industry. When the Taj shut its doors after the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack in November 2008, it was the first time the hotel had stopped running since it opened in 1903. The newer Tower wing was closed for three weeks, but the older Taj Mahal Hotel building took nearly two years to renovate. When we rebuilt it brick by brick, we used the opportunity to bring in contemporary standards of electrical work, plumbing, interior design, technology, etc. We wanted to ensure that it would maintain its sense of place and history, and yet reflect India’s position as a global centre of business.

Today’s long-haul traveller is evolved, tech-savvy and far more sophisticated than ever before. Technology is a big part of the hotel experience today, but it has to be simple, user-friendly and unobtrusive. I am happy to announce that in 2014 we will be the first Indian hotel company to offer free WiFi to all our guests at Taj hotels, Vivanta by Taj, Gateway and Ginger. We are one of a handful in the world offering this facility to guests.

Earlier, we used to cater to the baby-boomer generation, many of whom had the disposable income to travel. Today we need to consider the ‘millennial’ generation. It’s not just customers; half of our staff are millennials. Their needs, tastes and expectations are different and it’s a whole new ball game to keep these stakeholders satisfied and engaged. We need to be quick and nimble, and that will give us an advantage in setting the tone for the next 20 years. We need to ensure that the Taj brand resonates with this demographic, that it continues to emotionally connect with new-generation customers.

What’s remarkable is that Jamsetji would have participated in similar conversations in 1901 as he set out to fashion his vision for a sustainable hospitality enterprise. The company has been blessed by having had his patronage. The chairmen of the Tata group have always had the Taj very close to their heart. The Taj has always been a cornerstone of not just the Tata group, but also the Tata brand. It continues to stand today as a Tata symbol of excellence and quality. ¨

We believe that building the india brand overseas is a

part of nation-building, and in the last 10 years we have

taken our footprint beyond our shores to key source

markets, the only indian hotel company to do so. Raymond Bickson, managing director, Indian Hotels


cover story

The stately carriage rolled up to one of the leading hotels in Bombay. It was an impressive hansom cab drawn by a pair of proud Hungarian horses, with a liveried coachman perched high. It was the first carriage in the city to be fitted with rubber tyres and its noiseless passage drew amazed crowds every time Jamsetji Tata drove past.

Of course, the simple, almost austerely dressed man who stepped out was no stranger to attention. He shunned the limelight but, paradoxically, it followed him wherever he went. He had just returned from America, where a casual purchase of a pair of boots sparked off a detailed newspaper report on the Indian industrialist who was going to acquire a monopoly of the American boot trade.

Now he was back home in Bombay, invited by a foreign friend to dine at one of the city hotels. Jamsetji Tata walked in with his host, only to be rudely accosted by the supercilious English hotel manager with that ignominious line, “We don’t allow Indians in here.”

How would you reply to an insult like this — an insult to you, to your country, to your countrymen? Well, if you’re Jamsetji Tata, you choose your answer carefully. You build one of the finest hotels in the world. You choose a site facing the magnificent ocean. You select one of the world’s leading architects. And you equip it with the best the world has to offer. Jamsetji Tata spent more than £300,000 on the Taj Mahal hotel.

A hundred years ago that was an enormous sum of money. But more than just money was the care and attention he lavished on it. His sons, his friends, his business associates — everyone urged him not to go ahead with the project. It’s

going to lose money, they insisted. But Jamsetji was obdurate. “Perhaps it will,” he said, “but that makes no difference”. He wanted Indians to get what they needed — a great hotel that would be proud to serve them.

Under Jamsetji Tata’s watchful eye, the Taj rose on the seafront, an impressive edifice that dominated the landscape, predating Bombay’s Gateway of India.

When the Taj opened its doors in Bombay in 1903, it inspired delight and awe in every Indian, and not just for its imposing exterior. To many Indians who had never travelled abroad before, this Taj was an incredible wonder of the modern world, a tantalising glimpse into the future. The Taj was the first building in Bombay to be electrified. It had the first ice-making machine. The first soda maker. The first lift. The first generator. The first mechanised laundry. The first polishing machine. Most important of all, it was a hotel into which any Indian could walk with his head held high, confident that he would be treated with courtesy and respect.

One hundred years after it was opened, the Taj has retained its position as one of the world’s great hotels, often a destination in itself. It has spun off an entire chain of hotels, the largest in India. Today, the Taj is a chain of 62 luxury, business and resort hotels in different parts of the country and abroad. Each hotel built with the same careful attention. But more than bricks and mortar, it’s Indian courtesy that sets them apart.

Ultimately, as Jamsetji Tata well knew, this is really our finest Indian heritage.

Source: JN Tata Centenary Diary, Tata Steel, 2004

Jamsetji’s answer to ‘We don’t allow Indians in here’ — the Taj

The grand old Taj Mahal Hotel before the new tower was built


One obstacle which for a long time cooled the active interest

of Mr Tata in iron and steel projects was the absurdity of

the Indian regulations for mining and prospecting, which

seemed carefully devised to obstruct and prevent development.

It was not until 1899 that investigators w

ere released from

the antiquated chains in which they were bound.

Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata: A Chronicle of his Life, by Frank Harris

The Tata Iron and Steel Company, 1907



Steel in his soulJamsetji Tata defied naysayers, hostile regulations and failing health to turn his dream of a steel enterprise into reality, says TV Narendran, managing director, Tata Steel, and he inspired generations of employees with his monumental deeds

I joined Tata Steel as a management trainee in 1988, fresh out of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and looking forward to my first job. At the time, about 15 of us

from the institute joined the company and most of us continue to work at Tata Steel. Like the others, the thought of leaving this company has never occurred to me in all these years.

My first posting was in Jamshedpur. Somehow, from the moment I arrived in Jamshedpur, I knew I was in the right place. Over the years I came to appreciate and define that feeling and the source of that comfort — it comes from the value systems and the larger purpose with which the company operates. One is able to sleep well at night, secure in the knowledge that one is working for a company that believes in giving back to society generously. These are the founding set of values that every Tata Steel employee tries to live every day at work.

In many ways, I believe that Tata Steel is the epitome of all the companies belonging to the Tata family. The emotional bond and shared stories that one finds in Tata Steel make it a unique entity within the group. As the place where it all began, Tata Steel in Jamshedpur has a flavour and aura distinct from any other

Tata company, in any location. One just has to witness the celebrations in Jamshedpur every year on March 3, marked as Founder’s Day within the Tata group, to understand just how deep the bond is between the company and the community. And this community includes not just employees, but also the suppliers, traders, shopkeepers and others in the city. Jamsetji Tata and the business he set up are so much a part of people’s lives in Jamshedpur.

The CommuniTy CounTsIn 2004, when we began talks with NatSteel for a possible acquisition, we invited our Singaporean counterparts in that company to attend the Founder’s Day celebrations in Jamshedpur. And that made all the difference, because they came here, saw the emotional connect between the company, its employees and the community. They were convinced that Tata Steel believed in building and nurturing relationships. They went back having laid to rest any lingering apprehension about our intentions and our approach to people and partnerships.

At the Tata Steel archives in Jamshedpur, one can see the plans Jamsetji had created for the steel company he had dreamt of and relentlessly pursued for years, defying naysayers, the hostile


cover story

investment environment of colonised India, and his own failing health. The plans include minute details of a bigger dream. The steel venture had become an important piece of his vision of an industrialised, independent India.

Although the Founder did not live to see the steel venture take shape, every generation of Tata Steel management and employees has lived his dream each day and translated his ideals into reality in everything they do, never forgetting his commitment to the community and to the nation.

Even before the steel plant was set up in what was back then an obscure village called Sakchi, the company set up a hospital to bring much-needed medical care to the region. That was in 1908; the first ingot of steel rolled out of the Sakchi plant four years later, in 1912.

welfare aT hearTThere were several industry firsts in those early years: an eight-hour working day for labourers was introduced long before it became the norm around the world; free medical aid was introduced in 1915; the maternity benefit scheme was launched in 1928; the retirement gratuity scheme was introduced in 1937. All these welfare measures were well ahead of their times and implemented in the true spirit of empowering our employees.

Tata Steel has almost always set the trend for industry to follow. If I were to narrate one incident from my 25-year career which demonstrates this commitment to its people, it would have to be the board meeting a few years ago where the then Tata Sons Chairman, Ratan Tata, decided that the families of contract workers suffering accidents at Tata Steel premises would be provided cover and benefits through a scheme called ‘suraksha’. Seen in

one is able to sleep well at night, secure in the

knowledge that one is working for a company that

believes in giving back to society generously.TV Narendran, managing director, Tata Steel

this context, it is hardly surprising that the last workers’ strike we settled in the company was as far back as 1929.

From being a harbinger and, later, a symbol of Indian industrialisation and national pride, Tata Steel has evolved into an enterprise that has claimed its place in the global business space. The journey wasn’t easy, but the company stayed the course.

The turning point, clearly, came in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, when India’s economic liberalisation forced the company to revisit its business processes, including its approach to quality and customers. Tata Steel took the challenge head on, emerging a smarter, wiser and more agile entity.

Over the last decade, the company has taken to the global stage with the same zeal that once made it a national entity. A string of acquisitions, starting with NatSteel in 2004 and leading up to Corus in 2008, have seen Tata Steel take not only itself but the larger Tata brand to the fore in international business circles.

Whereas nation building at one point meant building India, today our commitment is to be involved in building every nation and community that we are present in. Depending on the context in each society, our focus areas may change, but the essence of the Founder’s thoughts is so timeless that we can adapt it to our own times and context.

I can confidently assert that we have been, and will continue to be, steered by the values and principles espoused by our Founder in all our endeavours. ¨


cover story

The door to a small, crowded office in New York opened. At a table covered with books sat Charles Page Perin, a geologist and metallurgist, with knowledge of iron and steel that made him sought after in countries right across the globe. And here he was, poring over account books; there was nothing he liked less. He looked up, happy at the interruption, a little startled by the apparition standing right there before him. Here was a stranger in an even stranger garb — a man in a simple white coat wearing a rather peculiar headgear. He would later be able to identify the outfit as the Parsi dugli and pagdi. Who was he?

Even as he wondered, Charles Perin knew the answer. This was the person Julian Kennedy had written to him about, the Parsi gentleman from India whose dream was to build a steel plant for his country. For a long moment, the two men gazed at each other in silence, two men from different continents, poles apart in every ways.

Then his visitor said in a deep voice, “Are you Charles Perin?” The metallurgist nodded. And Jamsetji Tata said, “At last, I have found the man I’ve been looking for.” His communication was precise and pithy. “I have spoken to Mr Kennedy. He will build the steel plant — wherever you advise. And I will foot the bill. Will you come to India with me?” As Perin was to recall years later, he was dumbfounded, struck by the character, the force, and the kindliness that radiated from Jamsetji Tata’s face. Perin’s answer was short, “Yes,” he said, “yes, I will go with you.”

Soon Perin was to embark on one of the most unusual adventures in his life. On his way, at Aden, he received a telegram asking him whether he could ride a bicycle. A bicycle? Mystified, he replied in the affirmative. He reached the village of Sakchi and discovered the reason for this strange question. Miles of rutted road stretched out before him, defying any conventional mode of transport. Several strenuous hours later, he found himself in the middle of the jungle, propping his bicycle with one hand and holding the twisted handlebar aloft with the other. Fortunately, a passing bullock cart came to his rescue.

There would be many more hurdles ahead. This was a harsh, demanding land, where the temperature could climb to 125º (F) in the shade. Heat waves made the land quiver as if with ague. Man-eating tigers and road elephants were treacherous adversaries, though on occasion a friendly bear would cub under a table. Cholera and malaria would sweep the hillside, causing workers to flee overnight in panic. It was tough going, but Perin and his team finally found more than they even dared to hope for — perhaps 3 billion tons of ore, located just 45 miles away from the railway station.

For 30 years of his life, Jamsetji Tata had dreamed of this. And now, when the great moment had arrived and a triumphant Perin was getting his report together, the sad news reached him. Jamsetji Tata had passed away in Germany. Fortunately, men like Perin and Jamsetji’s son, Dorab, would ensure that his dream lived on. Tata Steel came into being in 1907 and quickly became one of the flagship companies of the Tata group. It was Asia’s first integrated steel company, the largest Indian steel company in the private sector. One day, it would be ranked among the world’s top steel companies. It would always be a company that reflected the grit, the courage, and the determination of its founder.

Truly, a man of steel.


‘At last, I have found the man I’ve been looking for’

One of the main roads in Sakchi, Jamshedpur, in the early 1900s



To a mind like Mr Tata’s, the hydro-electric project made

a strong appeal. He had experienced the value of the electric

drive in his own mills, and welcomed power, which would

make the industry less dependent upon costly coal, and

purify the atmosphere of the city.


Tata Hydro-Electric Power Supply Company, 1910



Shaping a grand visionMore than a century ago, Jamsetji Tata pioneered an industrial breakthrough for modern India, and Tata Power, says its managing director, Anil Sardana, has followed in his path

More than a century ago, a remarkable man had a wonderful vision — to provide pollution-free, clean power to Mumbai, a city that was choking

on the fumes of the boilers of textile mills. That visionary, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, dreamed of, and inspired, the setting up one of the first hydroelectric power plants in the Western Ghats, with a hydel dam that would harness the power of flowing water to create electricity. The task was nothing short of daunting, considering the terrain of the Western Ghats.

The preliminary work had begun on conceptualising his grand vision, but before the new power company could be formed, Jamsetji passed away. Though he could not personally accomplish this tough task, Jamsetji’s sons Dorab and Ratan subsequently laid the foundation for affordable and clean power for the city of Bombay (now Mumbai). The hydropower units near Mumbai and the first grid connection around Lower Parel are, a century later, still functional.

In the next few years, three hydroelectric entities, Tata Hydro-Electric Power Supply Company (in 1910), the Andhra Valley Power Supply Company (in 1916) and the Tata Power Company (in 1919), were incorporated to give shape to the dream. Together these three companies were referred to as the Tata

Electric Companies. The other two entities were amalgamated into the Tata Power Company in the year 2000.

Tata Power’s journey over the last 10 decades has been a fascinating saga of pioneering initiatives and responsible business with minimal impact on the environment, and the socioeconomic empowerment of the communities that it touches.

reliable and efficientTata Power is India’s largest integrated power company, with 20-25 percent of its generation sourced from clean energy sources. It has an installed generation capacity of 8,521MW in India, with 1.8 million customers across the country and an effective presence in all the segments of the power sector. Noted for its reliability and efficiency, Tata Power has provided Mumbai with dependable and uninterrupted power supply for more than a 100 years, a convenience that no other part of the country enjoys.

The company has to its credit the installation of India’s first 500MW unit (in Trombay, near Mumbai)), the first 150MW pumped storage unit (in Bhira, Maharashtra), the first flue gas de-sulphurisation facility for pollution control at a power plant (also at Trombay) and the first and most celebrated


cover story

islanding system (to ensure uninterrupted power supply to Mumbai). Tata Power was the first to establish state-of-the-art technology and infotech-based systems for distribution in Delhi (resulting in a world record in reduction in losses) and to bring in India’s first 800MW super-critical unit for its power project in Mundra, Gujarat.

Tata Power has successful public-private partnerships in generation, transmission and distribution and is one of the largest renewable energy players in India. It has also implemented the country’s first 4,000MW ultra mega power project (in Mundra, Gujarat), which is based on super-critical technology, fulfils 3 percent of the country’s energy needs and supplies power to several states.

SuStainability commitmentIn its early days, Tata Electric Companies had offered to buy old steam engines from mills to encourage them to switch over to clean power. Clean energy and sustainability are still the bedrock of the company’s strategy for growth and the expansion of its global footprint.

Tata Power’s international presence includes strategic investments in Indonesia through a geothermal project and a 30-percent stake in four coal mines; in Singapore, through Trust Energy Resources, for the supply and shipping of coal for thermal power generation operations; in Africa, through the joint venture Cennergi, to develop projects in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia; in Australia through investments in enhanced geothermal and clean coal technologies; and in Bhutan through a hydro project in partnership with the Government of Bhutan.

Tata Power is also committed to lead the reform process for clean and sustainable business. Over the last several decades, it has

over the last several decades, tata Power has

participated in an extensive eco-restoration and

eco-development programme in the Western Ghats,

one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world.Anil Sardana, managing director, Tata Power

participated in an extensive eco-restoration and eco-development programme in the Western Ghats, which is one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world. More than 7 million saplings of 60 tree species have been planted and flora and fauna in and around our lakes have been restored and systematically enhanced. Additionally, Some 600,000 trees have been planted as a reforestation measure. In the process, a large variety of wildlife has found a habitat in the area.

The lakes have been part of a rehabilitation programme for the endangered fish species called Deccan Mahseer. Tata Power provides millions of seedlings of this fish to agencies across India.

The company has also pioneered initiatives to increase public awareness about energy conservation and climate change. The Tata Power Club Enerji addresses these issues in an interactive manner at the school level. It has started an energy conservation programme with schools in various Indian cities to sensitise youngsters and equip them to become energy champions and ambassadors.

The company has continued its focus on corporate social responsibility activities that aim to make a difference to communities in its areas of operation. These include a number of training programmes for developing self-employment opportunities among the rural population.

Rooted in a century-old dream, Tata Power continues to be a testament to Jamsetji’s vision and commitment to India’s progress, a vision that rests on the tenets of sustainability. ¨


cover story

It had been a relentless monsoon. Grey skies, torrential rain, flooding — yes, it had been a typical Bombay monsoon. But now the skies had cleared, the sun was out, the sea was calmer. The days were promising. “Let’s go out on a picnic tomorrow,” said Jamsetji to his good friend, Nusserwanji Guzdar. He hired a launch and decided to invite his senior executives to join them. A disciplined man, he could be quite spontaneous at times.

Nusserwanji relaxed. Jamsetji regaled him with stories of his travels. Did he know that Japan had this incredible industry that cultivated silkworms? Had he seen the exquisite porcelain Jamsetji had brought back from Europe? He had imported peach trees from California and the fruit was luscious and sweet. Nusserwanji must come across and enjoy it, fresh from the orchard.

This stocky man with a gruff voice, who people thought was dour and serious was full of wit and humour. He loved reading and Mark Twain, Dickens and Thackeray were among his favourites. His library reflected his eclectic tastes: literature, technology, philosophy, travel, glassware, porcelain… there was no ceiling on his interests. His knowledge was encyclopaedic. Ideas flowed non-stop.

Norman Redford, the young Englishman who often went on long drives with Jamsetji in the evenings said he would talk about schemes, schemes and schemes. His conversation was never trivial; he never talked about other people and their shortcomings. The energy people spent gossiping or being critical, Jamsetji spent on creative avenues.

They stood for a while with the wind blowing through their hair, the salt air stinging their faces. Jamsetji loved this coastline. Bombay. This was the city he loved. He had come here as a boy of 14 and it had really opened its arms to him; opened his mind and nurtured him and grown him into a man. He would never forget it. The conversation carried on. Suddenly he asked the pilot to take them to Roha creek. The launch sputtered and sighed as the pilot changed

course and obeyed. The conversation carried on. Jamsetji stopped mid sentence. His friend looked in the direction of his gaze. This was the Roha River.

The monsoon was just over. The river was swollen with water. The water gushed tumultuously. The banks were green. The earth was fresh. They could smell it even out here… or was it Nusserwanji’s imagination? Everyone came around to marvel at the picturesque sight. Watching the sun play on the water. The wind play with the grass. The eye feasted on the scene. Jamsetji’s mind had already raced ahead of the pretty picture. “Nusserwanji” he said, “We must harness this water. We must turn it into power.”

There was a shocked silence. Everyone knew that power was an electrifying concept. But power needed a waterfall. And while there was water aplenty here, this was a river. How could this water be harnessed? Jamsetji’s mind was already working on the answer. Bombay would have a power plant. He would find a way.


‘Let’s go on a picnic...’

The Walwhan dam in Lonavala, Maharashtra


The Indian Institute of Science, 1911

Mr Tata was sensible of the value of education, and he

determined to do all that he could in order to afford to

others those advantages of which he himself had made

the fullest use. He believed that much of the poverty

around him was due to want of opportunity.




Bastion of learningJamsetji Tata was a tireless votary for the setting up of the Indian Institute of Science, a cradle for many of India’s greatest minds

Great men think ahead of their times. When Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata first thought of establishing a university of science in India, in the late 19th century,

his hope and belief was that it would benefit generations to come and augment the country’s growth and the competency of its people.

Jamsetji wanted India to have its own university for higher learning and scientific research, where great thinkers could incubate and experiment with new ideas. His travels to Europe and America had convinced him that the application of science to industry was one of India’s greatest needs. But his dream — which eventually became the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore (now Bengaluru) — took tremendous effort and time, and it would come into being much after Jamsetji had left this world.

In 1889, Jamsetji Tata attended a convocation address where Lord Reay, Bombay’s popular governor, said that education could no longer develop if universities remained purely examining bodies. He called for “real universities which will give fresh impulse to learning, to research, to criticism, which will inspire reverence and impart strength and self-reliance to future generations”.

Inspired by his words, Jamsetji started lining up schemes to give shape to his vision of setting up a higher university of science in

India, one that would match global standards and contribute to the development of the country and its citizens.

In 1898, Jamsetji’s generosity enabled the IISc idea to move one big step closer to realisation. In order to fund the institution, he pledged almost half his wealth to the cause, setting aside 14 buildings and four landed properties in Bombay for the purpose.

scouting for helpAfter consulting several authorities in the country, Jamsetji Tata constituted a provisional committee to prepare a plan for the institute’s establishment. The draft of the plan was presented to Lord Curzon, the then viceroy-designate. Subsequently, Nobel laureate Sir William Ramsay was asked for help. Sir William made a quick tour of the country and found Bangalore to be the most suitable place for such an institution.

At the initiative of the dewan, Sir K Sheshadri Iyer, the government of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore, came forward with an offer of 371 acres of land in Bangalore, a gift of `500,000 for construction and a recurring grant of `50,000 a year.

However, the scale of the initiative was such that it also needed support from the government. But government funding took a



lot of time to come, causing huge delays in the project. With the grant from the government in place, Jamsetji’s original scheme became a tripartite venture. Unfortunately, by the time the institute broke ground, Jamsetji had passed away and the initiative was then driven by his sons, Dorab and Ratan.

After a wait of more than a decade, IISc was finally established in 1911. The Maharaja of Mysore laid the foundation stone of the institute and, in July of the same year, the first batch of students was admitted in the departments of general and applied chemistry, organic chemistry and electro-technology.

Since those early days, IISc has grown into a premier institution of research and advanced instruction, with more than 2,000 active researchers working in almost all the frontier areas of science and technology. The institute has also manned prestigious and nationally

vital missions and projects in different fields of scientific endeavour.

Over the last century, IISc has expanded its academic offerings to include masters and PhD programmes in fields ranging from biochemistry to aerospace engineering. Its recent initiatives promote cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research through a host of PhD programmes in mathematical sciences, chemical biology, earth system science, nanoscience and nanotechnology, and nano-engineering for integrated systems.

concentrating on researchThe main emphasis of the institute now is on research, and it expects its faculty to initiate and carry out research programmes of a quality on par with the best in the world.

IISc’s faculty has been led by eminent names in the field of science in India. Among them have been CV Raman, the institute’s first Indian director, who initiated the physics department in 1933; Satish Dhawan, whose leadership was crucial in the establishment of the Indian Space Research Organisation; and JC Ghosh, founder of the first Indian Institute of Technology (at Kharagpur in West Bengal).

It was here that Homi Bhabha visualised the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, while working in the institute’s physics department, along with an atomic energy programme. IISc’s illustrious alumni includes names such as GN Ramachandran, Harish Chandra, S Ramaseshan, Vikram Sarabhai, Brahm Prakash, A Ramachandran, CNR Rao and R Narasimha, who have with their body of work won honour for themselves, the institute and the country.

IISc’s existence owes much to the passion and perseverance of one man. Even though Jamsetji did not live to see it take its final form, he fought hard to make it a reality. Generations of Indian students continue to enjoy the fruits of his vision, of this shining Tata legacy that epitomises the spirit of a titan who dared to dream big. ¨

— Shilpa Sachdev

IISc factfile When it started operations, the institute was

run jointly by the Tatas, the Government of India and the Government of Mysore (now Karnataka), marking the first example of a public-private partnership in the country.

The Institute of Science was earlier named Imperial University of India.

Morris Travers was the first director of the Institute.

The Clibborn-Masson report had selected Roorkee as a suitable location for the institute.

The industrial genius M Visvesvaraya was closely associated with the management of the institute for three decades.

The institute enabled scientist CV Raman to undertake research in light scattering, which eventually won him the Nobel Prize in 1930.



[Jamsetji] always said: “What Europeans can do, Indians

can do better. What we lack is the education and the

opportunity to prove ourselves.” Jamsetji instituted

scholarships to send gifted Indian students abroad so that

they could take on positions of responsibility

back home. His

business associates opposed the project, and he graciously

accepted their decision, funding the endowment entirely from

his personal wealth.

JN Tata Centenary Diary, Tata Steel, 2004

JN Tata Endowment, 1892



He travelled the world but India and her welfare always remained the core of Jamsetji Tata’s vision. This was the motivation that inspired the

establishment, in 1892, of the JN Tata Endowment for the higher education of Indians, on the strength of a trust fund of `2.5 million.

Jamsetji wanted to enable young, meritorious Indians to pursue higher studies at the best universities in the world. Spurred on by the goal of building the nation of his birth, he dreamed of young Indians improving their prospects and then returning to strengthen their country.

In those pre-independence days, placements in key services such as the Indian Civil Service (ICS), the Indian Educational Service and the Indian Medical Service were dominated by British citizens. Jamsetji realised that it was the unavailability of funding, not the lack of talent, that prevented Indians from assuming an active role in the administration and growth of the nation.

The endowment that he set up enabled Indians to pursue professional courses. At that time he said, “What advances a nation or

the community is not so much to prop up its weakest and most helpless members, as to lift up the best and most gifted so as to make them of the greatest service to the country.”

This was the first bequest offered by the Founder, one that went a long way in institutionalising the culture of selfless giving in the Tata group. The first beneficiary of the largesse was a woman, Freney K Cama, who went to Edinburgh and Dublin in 1892 to study gynaecology and midwifery.

More than 120 years later, the Endowment is still going strong, having enhanced the lives of more than 4,585 scholars. Many of them have carved a niche for themselves and this list of illustrious names includes Ardeshir Dalal, a member of the British viceroy’s executive council; KR Narayanan, the former President of India; Raja Ramanna, director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre; Jayant Narlikar, renowned astrophysicist; JJ Irani, former director, Tata Sons; and Rahul Mehrotra, the renowned architect.

Nawaz Mody, advisor, JN Tata Endowment, is happy to play her part in building the future of talented and competent

The gift that keeps on giving One of the first educational scholarships in the world, the JN Tata Endowment has helped smooth the path for several meritorious Indians during a critical period of their academic lives



youngsters. Since she took over in 2007, Dr Mody has been working overtime to keep the Endowment in touch with the times.

The goal is to advance loan scholarships to meritorious Indians, regardless of caste, creed, and financial status, for higher studies in a range of subjects. The list of subjects has been updated over the years to include more than 200 disciplines, among them newer and little-known streams of sciences and engineering, as also the arts, design, language and so on.

“On an average, we get more than 2,000 applicants from around the country each year, and we sift through them to find around 120 deserving candidates,” says Dr Mody. Candidates come through a stringent selection process. Besides their academic performance, the Endowment also assesses the course, the institute they have been selected to, and the cost.

expert adviceStudents have to be able to justify why they have chosen that particular course and institute. Once they are shortlisted, an expert from the students’ sphere of interest interviews them to gauge their ability to apply their knowledge.

Dr Mody expends tremendous effort in her attempts to find the right expert for each subject, no matter how unique or esoteric the field. “Our experts make a big difference,” she says. “They are outstanding in their respective fields. We are constantly trying to update ourselves and get the best experts.”

The advisor herself sits in on all the interviews. Her presence helps glean valuable inputs on the student’s ethics and values, and on their awareness of the world around them and current affairs. This ensures an element of standardisation, since the expert on the panel would vary depending upon the chosen

discipline of the student. Students are also asked about their career plans.

The selected scholars receive a loan scholarship of up to `400,000, which they must repay in seven years. The scholarships are given as loans, not grants, because Jamsetji believed this could instill valuable lessons in self-reliance. The idea is to make the students feel a sense of responsibility towards their own education, and to ensure a degree of accountability. The repayment of every loan helps ensure that another deserving candidate is able to study abroad.

As part of their efforts to assist students, many of whom may be undertaking their first trip abroad, the Endowment introduced orientation sessions a few years ago. These sessions guide the scholars on matters related to cultural differences, the dos and don’ts relating to behaviour in particular countries, information on studying, living and travelling in a country, on cross-cultures and value systems, and on giving back to the country.

“The orientation programme makes a lot of difference,” says Dr Mody. “Repayments have gone up as a result. People are now paying back their loans within two years.” Dr Mody also feels heartened by the steady increase in the number of students returning to India. “I have seen a rise of almost 20 percent,” she says. “A large number of these people are returning voluntarily.”

The Endowment has come a long way and it continues to reinvent itself, seeking to stay informed about the latest trends in education and the needs of the nation. It understands the significance of the task it performs, and how the act of committing to an individual’s future often enhances the fate of a nation and the world.

The Founder would have been pleased. ¨


We get more than 2,000 applicants each year, and

we sift through them to find around 120 deserving

candidates ... [We have made] the system stronger to

ensure that outstanding students are selected.Nawaz Mody, advisor, JN Tata Endowment



When I was doing my masters in surgery at BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, Mumbai, in 2009, I learned about the pitiful condition

of patients suffering from liver diseases. More than 200,000 people die in India every year from end-stage liver disease, without any hope of receiving a transplant. At the time there was no specialised treatment available in India.

I was inspired to study liver transplantation surgery, but there were no medical schools teaching this specialisation in India. An internet search for good training centres led to the Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Japan, a pioneering centre for liver transplantation that had started in 1991. It was then the largest centre for living donor transplants.

I received a one-year fellowship in liver transplantation and hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgery and began to look for options to finance my education. Hailing from a middle-class family, I was unable to fund my expenses.

Another internet search told me about the JN Tata Endowment loan scholarship. I submitted my application, with details about the course I planned to do. I was interviewed by Nawaz Mody, then director, JN Tata Endowment. They studied my application, appraised my career plans and granted me the scholarship in 2009.

‘The initial support was significant’Vikram Raut, a liver surgeon, explains how his career and his life changed thanks to timely backing from the JN Tata Endowment

The Endowment gave me about half of the funds I required. With the loan scholarship in hand, I secured a letter of recommendation and applied for a visa. I left for Kyoto in September 2009 and remained there until November 2010.

My stint in Japan greatly enhanced my career growth. I learned how to perform living donor transplants and became aware of the challenges in liver transplantation. Besides being a technically demanding surgery, this is also an effective procedure, given the scarcity of organ donors. I also learned about transplantation across blood groups. Usually transplants are done only if the donor (whether living or dead) and the recipient share the same blood group. The fellowship enabled me to plan towards creating an infrastructure for liver transplantation at public hospitals in India.

Training in ParisAfter I finished my studies in Kyoto, I was selected as the International Liver Transplantation Society’s ‘International Travel Scholar 2010’. The society selects one student each year from around the world for this award. Keen to study diseased donor liver transplantation, I trained for a year in liver transplantation at Hospital Beujon, University of Paris, France.

Later, I secured a fellowship in liver transplantation at the Asan Medical Centre in Seoul, South Korea, from November 2011 to January 2012. During this period I published articles related to liver regeneration, liver carcinogenesis and improving safety during a liver donation.

Thereafter, I received offers from France and the United States, which would have given me instant success and recognition. But I declined both as I planned to return to India and treat those suffering from liver disease.

My decision was strengthened by the words of Prof Shinya Yamanaka, the 2012 Nobel Prize winner for medicine. He said that medical science consisted of medicine, which was concerned with humanity, and science, which dealt with discoveries. His words reminded me of the pitiable health care situation in India. I



chose humanity and the prospect of helping poor people rather than the opportunity to make a name for myself.

Armed with my knowledge and the will to help people, I returned to India in January 2012 and joined the Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon as an associate consultant in the department of liver transplantation. I got an opportunity to work as a committee member with the International Liver Transplant Society and gave my inputs on standardising various treatment protocols, maintaining a database of liver transplantation across the globe.

This 1,500-bed private hospital is the biggest centre in India for liver transplantation. Around 250 liver transplantation surgeries are performed here each year.

Burgeoning needThis number, however, fails to fulfil the growing need for liver transplantation surgeries. As of now, the number of people suffering and dying on account of liver diseases is very high. And yet there are only three hospitals performing this surgery in India today.

The most common causes of liver failure are hepatitis B and hepatitis C, besides alcohol abuse, obesity and diabetes. Currently, liver transplantation is the only form of treatment. The issue is compounded by the lack of organs available for transplantation. Organ donation is

a huge issue, not only in India, but also across Asia, where it is considered disrespectful to tamper with the dead.

In such cases, living donor liver transplantation can help save many lives. A family member can offer to donate a liver. We can take 70 percent part of the liver from a normal, healthy person and transplant it into the liver patient. The advantage of this procedure is that the liver grows into normal tissue in both the donor as well as the recipient. Meanwhile, the donor can function well with 30 percent.

At Medanta, a liver transplantation costs almost `2.3 million. So the treatment is available only to those who can afford it. If the speciality were to be percolated well, it would help bring costs down. My challenge is to make the treatment more affordable and accessible.

I think we can reduce the cost by 20-30 percent over the next five-six years. I hope that my efforts can help many more patients with liver failure gain access to life-saving treatment.

I am grateful to the JN Tata Endowment for kick-starting my journey. Without them I could not have realised my dreams of securing a higher education. Over the years, I have received scholarships from other places. But that initial support from the Endowment was the most significant in my life. ¨

— As told to Cynthia Rodrigues

Dr Raut receiving the International Travel Scholar Award in 2010 in Hong Kong



I first came to know of the JN Tata Endowment through a newspaper advertisement. My college professors told me that it was an extremely prestigious scholarship that

attracted the very best minds of the country. It truly meant a lot to become a JN Tata scholar.

Once you get the scholarship, it is an endorsement that opens many doors, because other foundations know about the rigorous selection procedures employed by the Endowment. Even if a single shortlisted applicant is studying a super-speciality field, it makes the effort to find a subject expert.

The Endowment invests a lot of time, energy and resources in its selection process. It also publicises the scholarship across the expanse of India. The scholarship provides substantial aid when compared with other scholarships. More importantly, the knowledge that the Endowment believes in you and is willing to invest in your future is most reassuring.

The scholarship and moreArmed with the JN Tata Endowment scholarship, I went to the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom, for my masters in ecology. I subsequently secured international scholarships to complete my PhD before returning to India. Over the years, I have been awarded numerous scholarships and fellowships,

‘It means a lot, and I’m grateful’ Rashneh N Pardiwala, an environmentalist, explains how the JN Tata Endowment scholarship contributed to her professional blossoming

like the Ashoka Fellowship for Young Social Entrepreneurs and, recently, the Ford Fellowship to study at Columbia University, but the JN Tata Endowment scholarship was the very first and, hence, it holds a special place in my life.

Ecology was a relatively young subject in India when I chose it as my field of specialisation. I did my BSc in life sciences at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai, where environmental studies was offered only as an optional paper. Not a single university in India had a master’s programme in pure ecology then. At Edinburgh, I specialised in the field of climate change and global warming, studying carbon management systems and the effect of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems.

A turning point in my life was between my masters and doctoral studies, when the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), United Kingdom, commissioned a project in India to evaluate the terrestrial and marine biodiversity along the coast of Dahanu in Maharashtra. Dahanu was one of three areas in India to be declared ecologically fragile by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The region constantly faces threats from big developmental projects and illegal constructions due to its proximity to the ever-expanding Mumbai city. The Supreme Court of India had established a quasi-judicial ‘Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority’, headed by a retired judge, to hear all environmental disputes, but every violation turned out to be a long-drawn-out battle due to the lack of scientific data to prove environmental degradation.

Working on the Dahanu project, I understood the urgent need to provide a sound scientific basis for environmental advocacy in India, and the dearth of trained ecologists in the country. I came to India to work on this short-term WWF project, but slowly got totally involved with the local movement. I deferred my PhD by a year and then returned to the United Kingdom. When I completed my PhD, I knew I wanted to return to India and work at the grassroots level.

At the turn of the century, most environmental organisations and groups in India



focused on wildlife and habitat conservation, which often resulted in direct conflict with large-scale developmental projects and led to high-profile campaigns against mining, hydel and thermal power plant projects in rural areas.

India has always prioritised development over the environment, so when I returned to the country in early 2002, most environmentalists were perceived as ‘anti-development tree-huggers’ and job prospects were bleak. I quickly realised that if I wanted to pursue a career in environmental sustainability, I would have to be independent and start my own organisation.

sTarTing an organisaTionIn September 2002, under the invaluable tutelage of my cofounder, Kitayun Rustom, I established the Centre for Environmental Research and Education (CERE). CERE is a Mumbai-based nonprofit organisation that works to promote environmental sustainability through formal education, corporate partnerships and public awareness campaigns.

CERE has been spearheading the movement of environmental education for 11 years. We have published 27 titles in the field of environment and produced a short film on global warming. Our books are used as prescribed textbooks by more than 50

prominent schools across India. We also regularly conduct workshops and seminars for teachers and students.

CERE is a pioneer in developing carbon management and environmental sustainability systems for corporate India under our ‘carbon map and CapTM initiative’ with clients in the manufacturing and service sectors. We help corporate entities map their carbon footprint, ‘green’ their systems and processes, educate their employee base and meet international reporting standards. We have shown our clients that the effective management of natural resources can lead to substantial financial benefits.

CERE comprises highly skilled and committed professionals and we work towards improving the state of our country’s environment in a collaborative and inclusive manner, so as to ensure a better future for the coming generations.

My work is rather challenging, and fraught with many obstacles, but living as we do in exciting times of great societal awakening, I see this as an opportunity to drive positive change. I am sincerely grateful to the JN Tata Endowment for having contributed so early on to my own professional journey. ¨


The Endowment helped Dr Pardiwala complete her masters in ecology from the United Kingdom



I first heard of the JN Tata Endowment when I was looking out for ‘study abroad’ scholarships in early 1999. At the time, I had hoped to join the Film and Television Institute in

Pune, but didn’t clear the admission process. My second option, the Satyajit Ray Film Institute in Kolkata, did not work out either. Then I secured admission to do a three-year masters course in film and video at the American University School of Communication in Washington, DC. And I managed to get funding support for this from the JN Tata Endowment.

I went to the United States in 2000. Two years into the course, I took up a 20-hour-per-week unpaid internship at Merchant Ivory Productions in New York. My day-to-day work at the company was quite different from what my eventual calling was to be. Most of it was routine work that involved taking phone calls, organising office correspondence and, occasionally, film archives inventory work. But the experience was an introduction to the film distribution process and a window to the film life in Hollywood.

During the evenings, I worked part-time as an assistant editor for Rain Media, a prolific production house that made series episodes for PBS Frontline, a popular and respected television programme. Then terror attacks of September 11, 2001, happened. The subject of American

‘It was an honour anda privilege’JN Tata Endowment scholar Nishant Radhakrishnan believes the organisation’s support for those in artistic pursuits is heartening

foreign relations began to elicit tremendous interest. A number of documentaries were commissioned and I was thrilled to be a part of some of them: Muslims; In Search of Al Qaeda; Kim’s Nuclear Gamble; Truth, War and Consequences; and The Choice 2004.

Sometimes it was possible for me to work on more than one project at the same time. I assisted on and edited several independent documentaries and short films. I also had the chance to work on popular shows. One of them, Celebrity Poker Showdown, was a huge success.

Meanwhile, India was going through a change. Two landmark films, Dil Chahta Hai and Lagaan, had moved away from the popular Indian film formula. I was strangely excited by events here. A lot of different emotions were going through my head. I loved living and working in New York, but my cultural foundation and artistic sensibility were better-suited for Indian films. I sat down calmly and realised that I had to accept one fact — it was time for me to return.

IndIa callIngAmerica had cultivated a rigorous work ethic and professionalism in me. Being a workaholic, I’d felt at home in those environs. The accountability, commitment and sense of how to finish an assignment were qualities I rarely found in my previous work experience in India. When I returned to India, I brought that work ethic back with me — with tragic and comic consequences. But that’s a story for another day.

At first, I worked on a few American films set in India. It wasn’t a very smooth transition, but I ultimately adapted my newfangled tough Western working style with the more genial Indian work ethic. More and more challenging Bollywood projects came my way: Ghajini, Talaash, Dhobi Ghat, Connected, Hum Tum... My experience in America had propelled me into a brand new range of film projects.

All this has been possible thanks to the JN Tata Endowment scholarship. It is indeed an honour to be a JN Tata scholar. A higher study programme abroad gives you a breadth of exposure that stretches across so many spheres:



professional, cultural, social and political. The JN Tata Endowment scholarship programme was a significant catalyst in shifting me into a new league of the cinema workforce in India.

Since returning to India, I’ve been happy to be part of some of the Endowment’s work. Speaking at the orientation programme is one way of guiding aspiring scholars. I’ve also been invited to be a subject expert for film on the JN Tata Endowment panel every year since 2007. Conversing with the scholarship applicants revealed to me some of my own fears and preconceptions as a student.

gIvIng backMany of these students believe that the loan scholarship will provide a momentum to their careers and dreams. Often they aren’t realistic about what filmmaking involves. Even though they know that failure is part of the game, they believe that it won’t happen to them, or that they will be able to take it in their stride. I try to mentor these very determined and inspiring students; it a small way of preparing them. Film is a collaborative medium; one must develop instincts — decisiveness and adaptability — that are seemingly contradictory.

During my yearly panel sessions, my interactions with Nawaz Mody, advisor, JN Tata Endowment, are intensive. Dr Mody is very warm and has a lot to share about the current state of education around the world and students’ aspirations.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see how her work has sometimes widened the scope of what students may expect to be funded for. Some of the selected students have been able to secure admission in unusual and unique courses abroad.

When I learned that the JN Tata Endowment was willing to consider scholarships for these students, I was elated. When I applied in 1999, there were only two scholarships that considered funding ‘study abroad’ programmes in cinema and TV. That the Endowment has reached out to those hoping to pursue their interest in unique artistic forms is a remarkable contribution to the cultural space in this country.

As a professional and a former JN Tata scholar, I couldn’t ask for more. I’m privileged to be part of the Endowment’s work. ¨


Nishant Radhakrishnan pursued a course in film and video in the United States



The Tata samskarJamsetji Tata’s unique legacy prompts R Gopalakrishnan to compare the Tata group to a mighty river that nurtures and nourishes the many lives it touches

F our years before Jamsetji Tata came into this world, Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland. JP Morgan was two years older than Jamsetji and John D Rockefeller

was born in 1839, the same year as the Founder of the house of Tata. These three entrepreneurs went on to become the business titans of America in the late 1800s. In time, they earned the unlovely label of robber barons, because in building their empires and fortunes they adopted tough postures with labour and rigged or broke rules to favour their businesses.

After the American civil war, inventions such as electricity and the telegraph buoyed the country’s economic growth, allowing entrepreneurs to redefine in their own minds where future opportunities would unfold. For example, by 1872 Andrew Carnegie had become convinced that steel would “lie at the centre of the world”. As a well-travelled person, Jamsetji must have read and heard about these builders of wealth (although not the tag of robber barons, which was coined much later).

Until 1869 the Tatas had just trading interests. It is said that writers of the period considered the Tatas “backbenchers in the Bombay business world”. It was Jamsetji who decided to break the mould, by venturing into

industry through textiles. This was not the only evidence of his propensity for innovation. In Empress Mills, his first big industrial initiative, he introduced the ring spindle when the device had yet to come into general use in the United States, where it had been invented.

He also pioneered several labour welfare measures that were yet to become common. And he experimented with a new form of management whereby he became a salaried managing director, reporting to a functional board of directors. All of this happened long before the term corporate governance was conceived.

Jamsetji was fired by a fierce sense of nationalism, a passion to advance the economic status of India. Economists say that all entrepreneurs must have some amount of greed and optimism. If that be so, Jamsetji must have had his fair share. The difference, of course, lay in what he did with the fruits of his entrepreneurship: he displayed a rare compassion for the less privileged and he helped build institutions for his people and his country.

A few of these came into existence in Jamsetji’s lifetime, but there were other, more important ones that found sustenance thanks to his unique legacy. Jamsetji replicated the wealth-creation characteristics of Carnegie,



Morgan and Rockefeller, but he did so as a benign baron.

I recount these events for two reasons: first, history creates romantic notions about the past; second, it sheds some light on what I call the samskar, or values, of any given business. Much like individuals, business enterprises, too, have a samskar. It is the mark of a successful business that profits are earned competitively in the early days. It is a mark of a great business that, in addition, good samskar gets so deeply embedded that it becomes part of its DNA.

Arie de Geus wrote in The Living Company that an economic company is like a puddle of rainwater: a collection of raindrops, gathered together in a cavity. The other type of company is organised around the purpose of perpetuating itself as an ongoing community. This type of company is like a river. It is turbulent, because no drop of water remains in the same place for long. This river finally flows into the sea, but it lasts many times longer than the lifetime of the individual drops of water which comprise it.

For 135 years the Tata ‘river’ has flowed on, exhibiting the qualities of the great rivers of the world: long traction, turbulence, growing might, the ability to overcome obstacles, and the tendency to share its power for the happiness and prosperity of those on its banks.

In 1939, when the British government published a report entitled ‘Indian Business and Nationalist Politics’, the Tata group was listed on top. In 1969, when the report of the Dutt Industrial Licensing Policy Enquiry Committee was published by the Indian Government, the Tatas were again on top.

When the results of year ending March 2004 are analysed, the Tata group could well be on top yet again. But it is not so valuable to be at the top for business performance alone; it is far more important to be listed on top in the hearts of people, as a synonym for trust spread over several generations.

After a long career in a single company, when I contemplated joining the Tata group in 1998, in the absence of my parents I sought the blessings of my eldest sister. Not being well versed in business matters, she said, “Go ahead

— Reproduced from Lasting Legacies, the special commemorative issue

of Tata Review, April-June 2004.

R Gopalakrishnan is director, Tata Sons, chairman of Tata AutoComp

Systems and Rallis India, and the vice chairman of Tata Chemicals.

and join them. They must have good people; after all, they are always doing something for the benefit of those around them.”

That view sprung from the samskar brought to vibrant life by Jamsetji, and it is the same samskar that drives our business today. The Tata group’s shareholding patterns and profits are so aligned that of the more than $1 billion of profit after tax earned by it, approximately one-fourth is attributable to the good causes that our trusts espouse. It is to this tradition that all of us pay homage when we begin work each day, and it is this tradition which we will be saluting all through 2004 and beyond. ¨

Empress Mills was Jamsetji Tata’s first big industrial initiative



One hundred years have passed since Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata left this world. Much water has flown down the business stream, and India has

produced a host of outstanding entrepreneurs and industrial leaders during this long interregnum. And, yet, Jamsetji continues to occupy a unique, unrivalled position in the annals of Indian business. There never has been even a mild challenge to his supremacy. None is in sight, either.

What is the secret here? I can think of three reasons, all interlinked. First, Jamsetji conceived business ideas and plans that seemed impossible of accomplishment to his contemporaries. The moving force behind his projects was the desire to advance the industrial frontiers of India, not to earn mere profits.

Second, in his choice of business structures and strategies he demonstrated a remarkable degree of originality that often ran counter to the prevailing wisdom. Third, his concern for values, ethics, and responsible corporate citizenship was no less than for quantifiable returns on investments.

It requires no great insight into the industrial history of India to realise that to think of launching steel production in India in the

late 19th century was, on the face of it, foolhardy. Historical precedence, prevailing prospecting laws, the state of technological competence in the country, the colossal financial requirement, and the indifferent, if not downright hostile, attitude of the colonial government all militated against the idea. And no one could have imagined that steel manufacturing, even if somehow mounted, would yield substantial profits in the foreseeable future.

Despite all this, Jamsetji pursued his steel goal with the determination of a man almost possessed, driven by nothing but a long-term vision for his country.

A similar vision led him to his hydroelectric ventures. The constraints in launching power generation were, admittedly, much less daunting, but no one could have visualised high or even quick returns accruing from the undertaking when it was conceived.

Even in his textile projects, the favourite with his contemporaries, Jamsetji exhibited an uncommon sense of risk-taking when he decided to set up his Empress Mills in Nagpur, which had logistical advantages over Bombay, the favoured location for cotton mills then. Reacting to his Nagpur plans, a Marwari financier likened the Empress Mills investment

For company and countryDwijendra Tripathi explains why Jamsetji Tata continues to occupy a unique position in the annals of Indian business and industry



to “taking out earth and putting gold in the ground”. The results, however, disproved all pessimists.

Jamsetji’s managerial style was equally unconventional. At a time when practically every industrial firm in India was organised as a managing agency concern under tight family control, he tried to introduce a more liberal system of management in Empress Mills, centred on a managing director and a board (based on the British pattern).

That this proved too radical a move, forcing him to fall back upon the prevailing Indian structure, does not detract from the value of his experimentation. In fact, through a wide delegation of powers to his managers, Jamsetji took much of the sting out of the regressive features of the managing agency system.

Jamsetji also introduced a series of employee-welfare measures in his companies, much before such measures were made statutory for all Indian enterprises. The concept of human resource development was unheard of then. His decision to introduce ring spindles in place of mule — the spinning technology preferred in general by British as well as Indian cotton manufacturers — and charge managing agency commission on profit instead of production, rejecting the common practice, were other innovations that must be considered revolutionary for the time.

The last quarter of the 19th century, when Jamsetji’s business career was at its prime, was an era of mounting criticism against the misuse of power and privilege by Indian managing agents. A series of newspaper articles appeared in Bombay and Ahmedabad bemoaning the behaviour of the captains of Indian industry. But not a single word of criticism was written or spoken about the Tatas’ conduct or style.

As for Jamsetji’s corporate citizenship, suffice to say that even though he contributed to charity and religious causes, it was education that he looked upon as the most deserving field for corporate support.

Here, too, instead of tinkering at the fringes of the system, he sought to strengthen the infrastructure required for developing the

human resource that the material progress of the country demanded. The Indian Institute of Science, set up on his initiative and with his substantial monetary contribution, will always remain a lasting symbol of Jamsetji’s concern for developing India’s technical resources. The kind of industries he promoted required technologists and scientists. His support for scientific and technical education, thus, may be seen as an exercise in what is today referred to as ‘strategic philanthropy’.

Jamsetji’s approaches to business ideas, strategies and ethics set the pattern for the business behaviour of the house of Tata, and his legacy has continued to influence subsequent generations of its leaders.

Except during the brief interlude of the First World War, when the Tatas, like most other business groups in the country, were swayed by short-term consideration of quick profits, they have conceived and implemented gigantic capital-intensive projects: air transport, heavy chemicals, transport vehicles, etc. These were necessary for India’s economic rejuvenation.

Developing passenger cars indigenously, instead of through the soft collaborative route preferred by other Indian car manufacturers, is the latest example of the Tata group’s unconventional response to business opportunities.

As for managerial structure, the vast Tata empire is so decentralised that a prominent Tata executive once likened it to a commonwealth. And, in terms of business ethics and values, no business house has ever stood higher in the popular imagination than the Tatas.

The Tata group, thus, continues to feel the presence of Jamsetji Tata even today. It has been said that giants like him are not easily duplicated. It can be added that his kind never die. ¨

— Reproduced from Lasting Legacies, the special commemorative issue of Tata Review, April-June 2004.

Dwijendra Tripathi is a former professor of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is an eminent business historian with a large number of publications to his credit, including The Oxford History of Indian Business.



Citizen Jamsetji

Perhaps the grandest and most recognised of Jamsetji Tata’s tributes to his beloved city of Bombay (now Mumbai) remains the Taj Mahal Hotel. Standing tall and

proud, overlooking the majestic Gateway of India, the hotel set up by the Founder of the Tata group has been more than just a witness to the life and times of this bustling city for some 110 years, its own existence often intertwined with the story and transformation of the metropolis itself.

When the hotel opened its opulent doors in 1903, it was a landmark on the Mumbai harbour (the Gateway of India became its neighbour 21 years later). With its awe-inspiring exteriors and luxurious interiors, including electric fans, elevators, Turkish baths and more, the Taj was every bit the dream that Jamsetji had set out to achieve: a hotel that Bombay would be proud of and which would attract tourists from across the world, a place where Indians would be welcome, in stark contrast to Watson’s Hotel, the city’s only five-star hotel before the Taj opened, which had

an exclusive European clientele. Legend even has it that Jamsetji’s decision to start a hotel as grand as the Taj was on account of being denied entry to Watson’s Hotel.

While the Taj remains, to this day, unarguably the most well-known edifice associated with Jamsetji, what is lesser known is his contribution to several other important projects and initiatives, among them the reclamation of land from the sea, the establishment of some of the city’s most famous clubs and setting up key industrial ventures. These had a far-reaching impact on the social, political and economic development of Bombay.

Though not all his efforts were successful, there was much thought and commitment behind everything Jamsetji set out to do for the city that he adopted as his home after moving from Navsari, his place of birth.

Much before the Taj turned into reality, Jamsetji had been associated with a venture to reclaim land from the stretch of sea between the

The Tata Founder contributed much to the development of India’s commercial capital, from setting up key industrial ventures in the city to supporting forums that nourished intellectual debate



present-day Colaba and Malabar Hill. The Back Bay Reclamation Company was formed in 1863 with the grand idea of reclaiming around 1,500 acres of land; the driving force behind the plan was Premchand Roychand, a partner of Jamsetji and his father, Nusserwanji Tata.

After the initial excitement, the company collapsed due to a mix of factors, including the end of the American Civil War, the resurgence of the cotton industry in that country and, importantly, the lack of a sound financial plan to back the venture. The failed effort left a lasting impression on the young Jamsetji.

Frank Harris describes the episode in Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata: A Chronicle of His Life: “It was a landmark in his life. He saw how unsound finance could stifle a promising project; but his thoughts were turned to the advantage of reclaiming the swamps which fringed Bombay, and his son, Dorabji, can remember, as a boy, walking with his father round the abandoned works. In later life Mr Tata interested himself in various schemes for reclamation…”

investing in real estateJamsetji saw huge potential in the city’s real estate. Recognising the need for suitable and affordable accommodation for Englishmen of modest means, he built a block of 16 flats, called Gymkhana Chambers, in the Fort area of Bombay. As his financial status improved, he started buying significant portions of land in the city, especially in its northern parts, which he was particularly keen on developing. He wanted to build houses that could be rented out at affordable rates, so as to reduce the congestion in the city.

However, after a prolonged battle with the prevailing administration over unreasonable building fines in the area, Jamsetji abandoned the plan and concentrated, instead, on the task of reclaiming vast tracts of land from the Mahim Creek, between the suburbs of Bandra and Santacruz. “The chief advantage I am looking forward to is the improvement in the health of Bombay consequent on the reclamation of drowned lands, the malarial exhalations from which are at present carried to Bombay island by the north wind,” he wrote in a letter

to the collector (from Frank Harris’s Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata: A Chronicle of His Life). Yet again, a protracted battle with authorities ensued, one that carried on well beyond Jamsetji’s lifetime.

More successful than the reclamation projects were some other tasks that Jamsetji took up to enrich the political and cultural landscape of Bombay. Along with his friend Pherozeshah Mehta, he set up the Ripon Club in Bombay in 1883, to create a platform for political debate in the country. He was also closely associated with the Bombay Presidency Association, another leading political forum (this was established in 1885).

Mr Harris, in his biography, recalls Sir Pherozeshah Mehta’s 1912 tribute, where the latter sought to dispel the notion that Jamsetji was largely apolitical: “The current notion that Mr Tata took no part in public life, and did not help and assist in political movements, is a great mistake. There was no man who held stronger notions on political matters, and though he could never be induced to appear and speak on a public platform, the help, the advice and the cooperation which he gave to political movements never ceased except with his life.”

Jamsetji played a pivotal role in setting up, in 1885, the Parsee Gymkhana, which offered a space for the promotion of athletics, sports and recreational activities. With its charming, old-world aura, the Parsee Gymkhana remains a landmark of modern-day Mumbai.

In the early years, a fleet of horse carriages often lined up outside the Taj Mahal to ferry the hotel’s guests and others



The Founder also patronised a couple of other nonpolitical clubs, including the Excelsior and the Elphinstone, important addresses in the social life of contemporary Bombay, and a precursor to the club culture that would become such an integral part of the city’s unique social fabric. Here he would spend many an evening playing a game of chowpator, engaging in lively discussions with other members.

Mills for a cause The year 1887 saw Jamsetji make yet another important investment in the future of Bombay, when he acquired the sick Dharamsi Mill in the then suburb of Kurla and renamed it Svadeshi Mills, in line with his nationalist belief that to be politically independent India needed to be economically self-reliant. The solution, he was convinced, lay in the industrialisation of the country. The next few years were full of struggle as Jamsetji tried to turn the outdated mill around, working relentlessly on upgrading technology, even as an acute shortage of labour made matters difficult.

A lesser individual would probably have abandoned the venture, but Jamsetji made sure that Svadeshi Mills lived up to the promise he saw in it. Not only did he invest in new machinery and the latest technology, but he also introduced a slew of employee welfare measures that he was already offering his staff

at Empress Mills. Thus, Bombay saw some of the earliest efforts at creating a better deal for its workers, including mills with improved light and ventilation, accommodation with decent sanitation, grains at cost price, medical facilities as well as pension and provident funds. Svadeshi Mills even introduced an apprenticeship programme for graduates, offering them a chance to enhance their knowledge of the cotton industry, something unique for those times.

With a motivated workforce, better production facilities and the wholehearted commitment of Jamsetji, Svadeshi Mills lost no time in becoming a profitable venture, well known for the fine quality of its cotton yarn.

Jamsetji’s pioneering spirit, along with his travels and experiences across the world, ensured that Bombay had the opportunity to see some of the latest inventions and practices of the Western world. If he brought the finest of European hospitality to the city, first at his magnificent Esplanade House home and then the Taj Mahal Hotel, he also delighted the people of Bombay when his carriages were fitted with rubber tyres (his were among the first carriages to move around the city without creating a racket). As early as 1901, he also brought one of the first motorcars to Bombay.

“He loved an ingenious device,” Mr Harris says in his book. “Though he cared little for music, he bought an electric piano for his home. When the cinematograph first appeared, he acquired one at once. His purchases were made, not so much for himself, as to let India know what was new in the great world across the seas.”

Jamsetji took immense pride in his city, constantly looking for ways to make Bombay a better place for its residents and visitors. His contribution to the city didn’t stop at just creating some of the city’s most iconic structures; it went much beyond into the many dreams he had for the city. Some of these were realised, some failed, but all of them were born of a great love for the city he called home. In the words of Mr Harris, “He died, as he lived, a citizen of Bombay...” ¨

— Sangeeta Menon

Jamsetji acquired the sick Dharamsi Mill, renamed it as Svadeshi Mills and turned it into a profitable venture

The quotable Jamsetji Tata



The quotable Jamsetji Tata

Source: Tata Central Archives

We do not claim to be more unselfish, more generous or more philanthropic than other people. But we think we started on sound and straightforward business principles, considering the interests of the shareholders our own, and the health and welfare of the employees, the sure foundation of our success.

Be sure to lay wide streets planted with shady trees, every other of a quick growing variety. Be sure that there is plenty of place for lawns and gardens. Reserve large areas for football, hockey and parks. Earmark areas for Hindu temples, Mohammedan mosques and Christian churches.

There is one kind of charity common enough among us, and which is certainly a good thing, though I do not think it the best thing we can have. It is that patchwork philanthropy which clothes the ragged, feeds the poor, and heals the sick and halt. I am far from decrying the noble spirit which seeks to help a poor or suffering fellow-being…


in conversationin conversation

‘It is a challenge, but I’m learning every day’

Mukund Rajan wears not one

but three hats at Tata: he is the

group’s brand custodian and chief

ethics officer as well as chairman

of the Tata Council for Community

Initiatives (TCCI). Given the size

and spread of the Tata group, the

responsibilities that come with

Dr Rajan’s role are not only

substantial but remarkably diverse.

Many of the group’s concerns

revolve around communication,

says Dr Rajan, who brings to the

job broad-ranging experience from

his earlier leadership positions, at

Tata Capital and Tata Teleservices

(Maharashtra), and insights from his

work alongside former Tata Sons

Chairman Ratan Tata.

In this interview with Sangeeta

Menon, Dr Rajan talks about how the

three hats make sense together, and

why the evolution of the Tata brand

needs to remain sustainable.



Brand custodian and chief ethics officer for the Tata group, and chairman of the Tata Council for Community Initiatives — how difficult is it to manage these different responsibilities?While these roles may seem different from one another, they have been intrinsic to the Tata brand for more than 140 years. There is a common thread linked to the integrated concept of a brand custodian. This concept goes back to the way successive chairmen have seen the Tata brand evolve; it is also the direction in which the current Chairman believes it needs to be taken forward.

The brand’s growth can be attributed as much to the performance of our businesses and the various efforts invested in building the brand equity as to two other major pillars: ethical conduct and community service.

Given that our group has a unique brand that has grown and matured on the strength of these pillars, integrating them under one head makes a lot of sense. Our group will continue to emphasise values, giving back to the community and nation building. So I don’t see any conflict in having these different roles aligned under a brand custodian. In fact, it is an advantage; wearing these multiple hats allows one to see the opportunities that exist across these spaces. The communications hat, particularly, is a great advantage because the success of what we do depends, to an extent, on how we communicate the proposition and inspire our people to do the right thing.

I have spent a lot of my time over the past couple of quarters understanding the dimensions of what I am handling. It is a challenge, yes, but the fun part is that one is learning every day.

You are also the group’s first chief ethics officer. Does this new position signal a whole new focus on the area of ethics? It’s not a new focus. What has become more important is that, with changing times and the changing scale of business, it is crucial that we

are not only compliant with the law in each country, but that we also invest in educating people about the manner in which our group has evolved.

Some of our expansion in recent times has been through acquisitions. With new entities absorbed into the group, we need to be able to communicate across continents about who we are and why we do things in a certain way. As the business becomes bigger and we have a larger number of entities and people, the risk of something going wrong increases. Our companies will need to have a sharper focus on measuring the impact of the systems that have currently been deployed.

A bad egg or two can pose a threat to our reputation. Therefore, it becomes more important that we have some level of formality around all that we do in this space. Take the Tata Code of Conduct [TCoC], which was created in 1998. It was not as if we did not follow any code before that document was published, but at that point of time it became incumbent on us to create an easily accessible document that would communicate to people all that we believed in. Having a chief ethics officer signifies that the time has come for us to formalise the way we look at these issues within the group. It’s not a departure from the past; it’s a requirement of the present.

What does the Tata brand custodian’s role entail? What are your key priorities?Tata is an extremely solid brand in India. We are the top Indian corporate brand by a long margin, as demonstrated by several third-party studies, so there is relatively less investment needed in strengthening our brand here. We have a bigger challenge overseas because we haven’t been around for long in many of those markets. If we had to pick one challenge, it would be how much we need to invest in order to communicate adequately the propositions around our brand outside of India.

There are three key brand messages that we would like to send out globally. One, that we are now an international group with



so much revenue generated from outside India. Second, the idea of being trusted and transparent, which is summed up by the ‘leadership with trust’ tagline we use along with the Tata corporate mark. Third, corporate social responsibility [CSR] and being a good corporate citizen. We have already done some work on this, but much more needs to be done.

Do you foresee any changes in the Brand Equity and Business Promotion (BEBP) document that governs the relationship between the Tata brand and the brands of Tata companies? Any legal construct can be reviewed from time to time to make sure that it is in step with changes in the environment and the complexion of our group. The TCoC, an integral part of the BEBP agreement, has already been through one cycle of significant change around half a decade back, when we felt that there were parts in the document that spoke more to our people in India than to global audiences. Now we have commissioned another relook because, with some of the acquisitions we have made, we are encountering challenges in certain

jurisdictions outside of India. There are tweaks needed in the wording of the clauses so that they cannot be misconstrued.

Even the BEBP document bears review from time to time. Our brand architecture follows a clear generational approach. Early flag bearers who had the Tata name were allowed to continue using it; second-generation companies leverage the parent’s name; third-generation companies present their names in a certain manner; and new companies may or may not be given the benefit of using the Tata name.

We are asking ourselves if we need to revisit that architecture. For example, it has been suggested to us that by not allowing new businesses to use the Tata name we deny them the opportunity to take advantage of our brand equity. So there will be a reason to reconsider some of these issues. We should never think of our organisation as frozen in time.

Given this brand architecture and the coexistence of more than 100 companies within the group, how complicated is it to manage the relationship between the Tata brand and the companies’ brands?Tata companies recognise the value they

Dr Rajan with the winning teams at the Brand and Corporate Communicators Meet in Mumbai



receive by virtue of being a part of the Tata group: the positive attributes associated with the Tata brand, as support with policies and investments, and through initiatives such as business excellence. From the group’s perspective, we have to ensure that the brand is deployed appropriately and that there is no potential reputational hazard to it as a result of inappropriate usage.

An issue that is sometimes brought up is with Tata companies that don’t use the Tata brand. My response is: ultimately, what consumers want is a product or service they can trust and appreciate. As long as that is ensured, it doesn’t matter what the product or service is actually called. Giving added reassurance would be the proposition to the consumer that the service or product is backed up by this group that has a particular set of values.

How do you see TCCI evolving under your chairmanship?The first change we would like is to integrate this whole idea of sustainability with CSR. I’ve just taken over as the chairman of the group’s steering committee on sustainability because we believe these activities need to go together. Second, we have embarked on a review of the group CSR strategy; this becomes more relevant in the context of the new Companies Bill. As a group it is incumbent on us to identify a good set of projects that can have a significant national impact.

Unlike in the past, when TCCI provided a forum for Tata companies to engage with one another and share their experiences, it will now take a more active interest in coordinating some of these activities in a manner that the group is able to create a national impact. We also have new leadership coming on board at TCCI, including Shankar Venkateswaran, one of the pioneers of CSR work in India.

We can also have a more forceful impact by ensuring that the work that our companies do is coordinated with the excellent initiatives that the Tata trusts have been funding for long years. It would be tremendously meaningful for our companies to engage with the trusts;

the body of knowledge that rests with the trusts is of infinite value.

How has the Tata brand evolved from the time you joined the group 18 years back?The biggest change we have seen in the group is around size, the scale at which we do business and our operations around the globe. Much of that happened over the last 20 years under the leadership of Ratan Tata. I have been privileged to see that at close quarters.

Many of the elements from the time when Jamsetji Tata created this group have seen translation during Mr Tata’s leadership. The kind of words that one would use to describe the group’s evolution under Mr Tata would be similar to the words we would use to describe the Founder’s vision: pioneering, fortitude, ambition, foresight, determination.

Under Mr Tata’s leadership we saw a conscious effort to bring this vast group together as a single, powerful entity. Initiatives such as crafting the group composite mark, the creation of the quality movement, and the formal enactment of the TCoC — all of this created the platform on which we could aspire to have global ambitions and compete with the best in the world.

In some ways, I think all that has happened has taken us back to the beginning, when we were known as a pioneering group. It’s a tremendous platform that all of us have the privilege to be a part of. After the Founder, each successive leader has taken the platform and made it bigger. Today, under the chairmanship of Cyrus Mistry, we have a huge opportunity to propel this group to where no Indian corporation has gone before. We have the size, the scale and the talent to make that happen. ¨

We have a huge opportunity to propel this group to where no Indian corporation has gone before. We have the size, the scale and the talent to make that happen.

businessbusiness


What would you sacrifice to get your cup of coffee? That’s the question the Eight

O’Clock Coffee brand, owned by Tata Global Beverages (TGB), asked in the United States. In September 2013, new Eight O’Clock Coffee television commercials hit the airwaves, showing people willing to give up quite a bit to get their high from this popular bean.

The commercials are a part of the new buzz around TGB offices in the United States as the coffee brand, which has for years been the No1

whole bean brand in the country, has got a complete facelift — a fresh brand identity, new advertising, new coffee flavours and spanking new packaging and design.

“Consumers evolve constantly and our brand was perceived as old and dated,” says David Allen, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Tata Global Beverages. “It was clearly time for the brand to be refreshed. We decided to add style to the substance that we have always offered.”

A brand with a 150-year-old heritage, Eight O’Clock Coffee was spun off as a separate company in

2003, before becoming part of the Tata stable in 2006. Refreshing the popular brand was no easy task. It called for intensive market analysis, consumer segmentation studies and strategic brainstorming on a new and viable positioning. The project started back in 2011 and culminated with the relaunch in August 2013.

The sTory behind...“Today’s consumers are interested in more than just coffee; they want the story behind the coffee they drink,” says Mr Allen. “That’s what we are now offering them, along with the core message that Eight O’Clock is a gourmet coffee brand.” Mr Allen likens the exercise to the way older brands such as Levis and Converse keep reinventing themselves to stay in step with the customer.

To create the new positioning

The 150-year-old Eight O’Clock Coffee brand, America’s top whole-bean coffee, reinvents itself with a heady blend of new flavours, vibrant packaging and an upscale identity

Refreshing the offering

businessbusiness


and communication strategy for the brand, Eight O’Clock partnered John Street, a Toronto-based advertising agency that also created the new television commercials. “This is the first TV advertising for the brand in six years,” says Mr Allen. “We’ve received good anecdotal feedback and consumer engagement is strong, but it is still too early to evaluate the in-market performance.”

The coffee packages that line retail shelves also got a total makeover, with Eight O’Clock getting Amoeba Graphics to create the new look. “Looking at the brand’s original brand colours, we decided to play up the red of the original packs. We said, ‘Let’s own the red; it stands out much more on the shelf ’,” says Mr Allen. The new packs of Eight O’Clock are eye-catching, to say the least.

In an all-out exercise, more agencies were pulled in to handle the public relations, social media, activation and digital strategy. Facebook and Twitter became the

leading social media platforms for the brand, with promotions and contests to drive excitement. The brand website was relaunched in shades of red and a responsive design made it device-friendly.

Eight O’Clock also started to sell online through a few portals. Says Mr Allen: “Online sales are not a big deal for us. It’s there as a convenience option for consumers who cannot find a particular blend on retail shelves. Having said that, the new marketing drive has led to online sales increasing perceptibly, so that’s a space that we are going to watch carefully.”

fashion iniTiaTiveIn the activation and digital space, Eight O’Clock participated in the New York Fashion Week in September 2013, where designers showcased handbags inspired by the red of Eight O’Clock Coffee’s original package. The Red Bag initiative supported Dress for Success, a nonprofit. Consumers across the country could share photos of red bags and upload to Instagram with the hashtag #SpotTheRedBag for an exclusive prize.

Apart from the exciting communication, consumers are enjoying the new product variants put out by Eight O’Clock Coffee. The products have been clubbed into three silos: beginnings, explorations and expressions. The beginnings portfolio holds the classic blends,

including The Original, Dark Italian, French Roast and decaf roasts. For those seeking single-origin roasts, the explorations line offers light and dark roasts of coffee from Africa (African Plains), Central America (Central Highlands) and the award-winning Colombian Peaks.

The more adventurous get expressions: flavoured coffee with blends of vanilla, hazelnut, cinnamon, etc. “We’ve added more products, flavours, and light and dark roasts, because that is what today’s consumer is looking for from a gourmet coffee brand,” says Mr Allen.

One of the biggest successes, however, has been the launch of the single-serve coffee pods that are used in specially designed machines. For this, Eight O’Clock tied up in 2012 with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, the largest single-serve manufacturer in the United States, to create Eight O’Clock single-serve coffee pods (called K Cups). “It’s notched up a 6-percent market share and we are happy with the popularity of the product,” says Mr Allen.

The success of the K Cup and the brand refresh has reinvigorated the Eight O’Clock brand. Mr Allen says, “We are excited about the space we’re in and the journey we’ve begun.” Being a century-and-a-half of age seems not to have prevented Eight O’Clock from getting into a youthful groove. ¨

— Gayatri Kamath

We’ve added more products, flavours and

light and dark roasts, because that is what

today’s consumer is looking for from a

gourmet coffee brand.

David Allen, senior VP, sales and marketing, Tata Global Beverages

businessbusiness


Anyone wanting to understand the contribution of luxury carmaker Jaguar Land

Rover (JLR) to the United Kingdom economy — and the recovery of the country’s manufacturing sector — in the past few years just needs to look at the numbers.

Pretax profits for the year to March 2013 rose 11 percent to £1.68 billion on revenues that increased by 17 percent to £15.8 billion Export sales, spread over about 170 countries, jumped to £11 billion in 2011-12. In the past two years, JLR

has created 9,000 new jobs in Britain and generated a further 24,000 in the supply chain. The company invested £2 billion in new products and infrastructure, R&D and skills development in 2012-13, and is spending a further £2.75 billion this financial year.

It’s no wonder politicians from all three major British parties, including Prime Minister David Cameron, lined up to praise JLR’s economic impact during the recent party conference season. Four years back, however, it was a different story. Like its competitors in the

automotive industry, the company was hit hard by plummeting demand in the wake of the financial crisis, recording a pretax loss of £280 million in the 10 months to March 2009.

So how did JLR turn things around? The company had to take a series of tough decisions during the global downturn, including production shutdowns, laying off temporary workers and voluntary redundancies. Crucially, it continued to invest in new products and research and development, meaning that it had new vehicles to offer when confidence began to return.

Mike Wright, executive director at JLR, was part of the management team during the Ford era and helped lead the initial stages of Tata Motors’ acquisition of the company in 2008. He believes three factors have driven the company’s resurgence.

A commitment to investing in new products, research and development, and engineering expertise has seen Jaguar Land Rover record strong growth in profits, and become one of the biggest exporters in the United Kingdom

Back in cruise control

businessbusiness


“The first is an absolute focus on generating new products for both brands,” he says. “The second has been a real drive to expand our global revenues, maximising the opportunities not only in our mature markets but also in emerging and emerged economies, most notably China. Third, we have really concentrated on ensuring we have the right level of investment in R&D and product creation to allow our conveyor belt of products to continue to roll over time.”

New models sell well That conveyor belt saw JLR sell more than 374,000 vehicles in 2012-13 (up 23 percent year-on-year). New models such as the award-winning Range Rover Evoque — of which more than 220,000 have been sold since its 2011 launch — and this year’s Jaguar F-Type have garnered the lion’s share of the headlines.

The company has also focused on replacing its existing range with the launch of a new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. Improved

engines, offering lower CO2 emissions and greater fuel economy, have enabled JLR to enter new sub-segments in a number of markets. The addition of an all-wheel drive to the Jaguar XJ and XF has made the models more competitive in the snowbound North American market.

The backing of Tata Motors, which acquired JLR from Ford for $2.3 billion in June 2008, has been crucial in the company’s success over the past few years. Mr Wright says, “They have really challenged us to make these businesses perform and grow, encouraging us to take a long-term perspective without letting up on delivery in the short term. They have given us the opportunity to fulfil the potential of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands,

and they have encouraged us to focus our resources and the money we make on product investment.”

As part of that investment programme, JLR is building a £500- million facility at Wolverhampton to manufacture its own engines (currently supplied by Ford). This will generate a further 1,400 jobs. And it has recently announced a £1.5-billion investment in a technically advanced, lightweight and high-strength aluminium vehicle architecture, creating 1,700 new jobs at its advanced manufacturing facility in Solihull.

This fuel-efficient technology will allow JLR to enter new markets and segments and provide a platform for a significant expansion of product ranges of both the brands,

one of the things that distinguishes us

in the global marketplace is the unique

characteristic of British design and

engineering.

Mike Wright, executive director, Jaguar Land Rover

New launches from the Land Rover (left) and Jaguar stables have garnered a lot of interest

businessbusiness


beginning with a new mid-sized sports sedan from Jaguar in 2015.

JLR’s investment in production capacity and capability has been supported by a strong focus on developing the skills of its staff and deepening its engineering and R&D expertise (see box: Meeting the skills challenge). It has also contributed £50 million to a £100-million project to create the National Automotive Innovation Campus, a new research facility at Warwick University that

will bring together researchers and engineers from JLR (and its supply chain) and academics from leading British universities.

Mr Wright says that JLR has benefited from the resurgence of the British automotive industry and the country’s reputation as a manufacturer of luxury vehicles. “One of the things that distinguishes us in the global marketplace is the unique characteristic of British design and engineering,” he says.

“That’s a powerful force in making JLR a strong brand.”

While the heart of JLR is in the United Kingdom, it is firmly committed to expanding its international footprint as it seeks to become globally competitive and gain access to new markets. That has seen it invest in its dealer networks, training and behind-the-scenes infrastructure to market its brands worldwide and provide high-quality after-sales service.

The chiNa expaNsioNIn China — where sales rose 48 percent in 2012-13 — JLR has opened ‘Land Rover Experience’ centres to familiarise consumers with the brand. It has also invested £500 million in a joint venture with Chinese carmaker Chery that will give it better access to the market. And a new plant near Shanghai will manufacture Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles as well as joint-branded vehicles.

Additionally, the company has an assembly facility in Pune, India, for the Land Rover Freelander and Jaguar XF, and is currently considering whether to open plants in Brazil and Saudi Arabia.

These initiatives are part of JLR’s ambitious, long-term plans to achieve sustainable growth and achieve a balance of sales across its six global regions. Mr Wright says that the company’s future strategy is “more of the same”, focusing on product development driven by increased investment in R&D, engineering, modernised facilities and skills. “There are plenty of actions in place to drive growth,” he points out. “But we can’t be complacent — there’s a lot to do.” ¨

— Peter Curtis

Meeting the skills challenge

Finding the right engineering and technical skills isn’t always easy — particularly in the United Kingdom, where Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) employs about 95 percent of its 26,000 workers globally. The company is encouraging youngsters to join the automotive industry and has recruited nearly 300 graduates (mostly in engineering) in each of the past three years and visited schools and universities to engage young people and get them to consider careers in the sector. JLR is also backing a university technical college in Warwick. This is a new type of school for 14-19 year-olds, teaching technical skills alongside the regular academic fare.

JLR has made a significant investment in its apprenticeship programmes: currently more than 500 people are enrolled in its advanced and higher apprenticeship schemes. “We’ve also put in a syndicated programme with a number of universities that allows our apprentices to take modules from different academic institutions and come out with an accredited engineering degree,” says Mike Wright, executive director, JLR.

businessbusiness


When Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) won a multimillion pound contract from the

United Kingdom’s Home Office in October 2012, to provide technology and operations support for the newly formed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), it was a landmark moment for the company’s British public sector business.

Under the deal, which will last for an initial period of five years, TCS will implement a programme to transform DBS, a core and highly sensitive British government service that processes requests for criminal record checks on people seeking new jobs or voluntary positions. To do so, it will replace the current paper-based system with a new online application.

According to Damien Venkatasamy, director of public

sector for UK and Ireland at TCS, it was the company’s ability to meet the demands of the British government’s ‘digital by default’ agenda that helped it beat incumbent supplier Capita to the contract. The government’s aim is to achieve cost savings of up to £1.2 billion by 2015 and £1.7 billion a year after that (according to www.gov.uk) by making everyday government transactions digital.

“We are digitising the service, bringing the lessons we’ve learned from working in sectors such as financial services and retail to develop that new online application,”

says Mr Venkatasamy. “It will authenticate that people are who they say they are via the credit-checking agency, Experian.”

To fulfil the contract, TCS has set up a new secure delivery centre in Liverpool. When the system goes live in summer 2014, information will be routed directly into the DBS customer management relationship system and workflow, meaning that checks can be processed far more quickly than with the current system, which involves a significant amount of manual processing.

“Our belief is that it will reduce the current average time of six weeks for a standard criminal-record check to two days,” Mr Venkatasamy says. “It will also remove the need for people to go via a registered body or employer: they can apply online and

Infotech has been the key for Tata Consultancy Services in its effort to help transform the delivery of public services in the United Kingdom

Digital tide shows the fast way forward

We understand how [the government] can

deploy technology to radically transform

the service, both from an efficiency and

end-user perspective.

Damien Venkatasamy, director of public sector, UK and Ireland, TCS

businessbusiness


then give the relevant organisation access to a digital certificate.” He adds that “removing the paper from the process” should also improve the audit trail and flow of information around the DBS, enabling more efficient use of resources.

The British government handles more than a billion different transactions each year through 650 different services. But even though the public increasingly expects to be able to perform such transactions online, many still lack digital options. As a result, there are significant opportunities for infotech services companies to help improve service delivery, as well as provide cost

savings and greater value for money.Mr Venkatasamy believes that

TCS is well equipped to deliver such benefits. “I think that’s at the core of our value proposition to the government: we understand how you can deploy technology to radically transform the service, both from an efficiency and end-user perspective,” he says.

packing in plentyOne example is TCS’s work with Nest Corporation, the trustee body that runs the National Employment Savings Trust pension scheme, introduced as part of the government’s auto-enrolment

legislation. Under a 10-year contract, TCS is providing the infotech infrastructure, business applications and customer-facing online channel for Nest. And it is also running a customer services centre.

A lack of interest in pensions is one of the major reasons that people fail to make adequate provision for their retirement. To tackle the issue, Mr Venkatasamy says that TCS has created “a really compelling digital journey”, one which allows people to interact with their pension schemes. “We made sure it was backed up by processing capability that allows people to get information about how their pensions are performing and move money around in real time, just as if they were switching money between online bank accounts.”

Mr Venkatasamy adds that using a digital channel has enabled Nest’s costs to be driven to “an industry-leading low”, a key priority given that the scheme targets low-

The Tata Consultancy Services delivery centre in Peterborough in the United Kingdom

There are significant opportunities for IT services companies to help improve service delivery as well as provide cost savings in the public sector domain. TCS is well equipped to deliver such benefits.

businessbusiness


France ambitions get a fillip

Tata Consultancy Services’ acquisition of French IT services firm Alti in July 2013 has helped accelerate the company’s growth momentum in France, and is a significant boost to its plans to become one of the country’s top 10 information technology enterprises. Kumar Narayanan, country manager for TCS France (extreme left in the picture), believes that the acquisition of privately held Alti, which had revenues of €126 million and 1,200 employees in 2012, offers significant benefits, given TCS’s global capabilities, innovation and investment strength and Alti’s local expertise, talent pool and customer base.

Alti is the fourth-largest integrator of SAP software in France and specialises in business intelligence, testing and general applications development and maintenance. These are all business lines that TCS is keen to expand in France, a long-term strategic market for the company.

The deal has increased TCS’s headcount in France by 500 percent and seen it enter the ranks of the country’s top 30 infotech services companies, according to Pierre Audoin Consultants. Among its clients are banks like BNP and Société Générale, as well as leading companies in the energy, transport and pharmaceutical sectors. Mr Narayanan believes that the public-sector market will also offer opportunities in the longer term.

TCS France has recently won several significant projects, including a multi-year contract to help a utility realise efficiency gains through the use of SAP modules. “We are also winning projects on the digital side, where Alti had a strong local team specialising in user experience,” adds Mr Narayanan. “Combine that with our digital labs in India and Santa Clara in the United States and we can bring in a lot more solutions.”

and middle-income earners. “I think the average price of policy administration is something like 1.5 percent of the policy value in any given year; Nest is currently at 0.3 percent,” he explains.

TCS is using expertise developed in other industry verticals and global markets to serve its public-sector clients in Britain. For example, its own banking platform forms the core of the Nest solution, as well as a new business application for the Child Maintenance Group, a British government agency that processes child maintenance payments.

From india to britainIt is also deploying the ‘DigiGov’ platform — originally developed for the Indian government market — as part of a 15-year contract signed in 2009 to act as strategic infotech partner to Cardiff City Council. Initially this focused on back-office improvements to human resources processes in areas such as recruitment, expenses and appraisals, and the provision of better management information, which has enabled the council to plan resources more effectively.

TCS has recently signed a new contract with the Security Industry Authority to develop an online licensing application for the private security industry. Mr Venkatasamy is optimistic about the future. “The scope for further digitisation of services is enormous,” he says. “There’s no shortage of potential, but we have to be judicious and pursue opportunities where we can use technology to achieve something transformational.” ¨

— Peter Curtis

businessbusiness


Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. It’s a

potent proverb, but what happens if no one is interested in learning how to fish? That’s the state of affairs confronting the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada in the matter of finding competent college graduate candidates to fill positions in information technology businesses.

While the demand in North America for IT workers has increased over the last decade, the number of students graduating with computer

science degrees has decreased significantly, and university-level enrolment in infotech-relevant fields has decreased by 60 percent. This has forced companies to invest increasing resources in hiring qualified candidates, rather than fresh graduates, for critical jobs in their organisations. It’s a situation that has educators and government officials, as much as corporate entities, worried — and more than open to accepting help to rectify the situation.

That’s where the Tata group, primarily through Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), comes into the

picture. The aim here is to support the cause of what is known as STEM education in the United States. This quite appropriate acronym represents fields of study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and is most commonly attached to education policy and choice of syllabi (from school to college) that influence a country’s competitiveness in technology development.

The seeding of workforce skills, national security concerns and immigration policy are all affected by the quality of STEM education a country can deliver to its youth. The Obama administration has committed $3.1 billion to improve STEM education across America, and several companies, foundations and nonprofits are partnering schools and communities to provide

Tata Consultancy Services is leading a pan-Tata effort in North America to provide a much-needed push for education that equips students for careers in information technology businesses

Learning to STEM the tide

TCS North America team members with educators and government officials at a computer science executive round table held in September 2013 in Washington, DC

businessbusiness


more opportunities in targeted study fields for students. The endeavours of TCS and other Tata companies are of a piece with this national drive for STEM education rejuvenation.

Through nationwide collaborations, key programmes and thought leadership, TCS is tapping into its core consulting and infotech competencies to help increase the visibility of, and accessibility to, STEM careers. There is necessity and altruism at work here. For some years now, TCS and similar companies have understood the reality that computer science as a career has declined in popularity in the United States and Canada. “We feel the pinch because we are losing out on potential future employees,” says Balaji Ganapathy, head of workforce effectiveness, TCS North America.

TCS has 22,000 employees in North America and hires close to 2,000 people from the continent annually. In 2013 only about 175 of these were campus recruits. This year TCS has set a target of hiring 500 new graduates from college campuses across the United States and Canada. It has its work cut out as competition is high and recruits are limited.

The American infotech industry currently needs some 130,000 graduates every year. The country produces only 65,000, a significant portion of them international students, making the actual number of American graduates quite low. Why so?

In the United States, 36 of 50 states do not even recognise computer science as an ‘advanced placement’ course. “Computer science is not even offered in high schools and just 17 percent of 12th

graders say they are interested in STEM subjects,” explains Mr Ganapathy. “Of this number, nearly half drop STEM subjects in college. How are we going to train skilled employees? We have an abundance of jobs being created and an incredibly concerning lack of primary skills required to execute these jobs.”

To address this situation, TCS is using a multi-pronged approach that aims to drive significant interest among schoolchildren and college incumbents in exploring STEM fields and computer science.

PartnershiP aPProachTCS has three national partnerships: STEMconnector, Npower and US2020. STEMconnector is a kind of clearing house that drives collaboration between stakeholders in STEM education. Its task force brings together professionals and leaders from across the industry to pool resources and work towards creating a solution.

One example of the thought leadership TCS brings to this task is a publication it recently sponsored. Called ‘100 CEO leaders in STEM,’ it highlighted the views of corporate leaders who are the biggest consumers of STEM talent in the United States. TCS used its analytics expertise in this pro-bono project to publish a white paper on the subject, and hosted the findings on a microsite that provided a unified

voice for corporate America on STEM education.

Another significant effort was a computer science executive round table that TCS convened. This brought together 30 different organisations, representatives from the White House, the United States Chamber of Commerce, policymakers, educators, writers and statisticians on STEM subjects. The idea was to develop clarity on issues such as state and federal policy, curriculum development, school resources and teacher training.

“Thought leadership is a key arena where we are ramping up engagement, which is why Surya Kant, our president of the geography, represents us in these forums,” says Mr Ganapathy. “There are other leaders from TCS who participate in these forums to add the corporate social responsibility, human resources and talent points of view.”

Another key TCS partner is NPower, a New York-based group that helps new organisations access technology services. TCS is the top supplier of skilled employee volunteers for this programme. In turn, NPower has enabled skilled volunteers from TCS to engage local community organisations with technology services and education.

One such community is women. TCS is a founding sponsor of Million Women Mentors (MWM), an initiative led by STEMconnector in partnership with

We have an abundance of jobs being

created and an incredibly concerning

lack of the primary skills required to

execute these jobs.

Balaji Ganapathy, head, workforce effectiveness, TCS North America

businessbusiness


the National Girls Collaborative Project, NPower and MentorNet. The idea is to enhance interest in STEM education and careers for girls and women. “The focus is on promoting the interest of girls

who are choosing STEM careers,” says Caitlin Olson, STEM program manager, TCS North America. “Right now it is at 12-17 percent [of total enrolment]; we want to push it to at least 20 percent, if not further.”

US2020 is another national initiative in which TCS is a partner. This initiative encourages corporate volunteerism for high-impact STEM mentoring. The goal is to have 20 percent of TCS’s American workforce volunteer for at least 20 hours a year as mentors for students interested in STEM education and careers, providing the expertise and real-world perspective to participants. “I often get asked in forums about how we encourage volunteering,” says Ms Olson. “I tell them that it’s a relatively easy process, because we are a part of the Tata group and volunteering is part of our value system.”

technology factorAs a technology partner, TCS is leading the development efforts to build the US2020 and MWM platforms. These are examples of the way the company uses its technology expertise to create an impact. “By using technology you create this platform which, in the next five years, is going to connect 2 million people from the corporate sector with students and others from the stakeholder groups who are being mentored,” says Mr Ganapathy.

TCS has also been a more than enthusiastic participant in a variety of events aimed at promoting STEM education in the United States. “These events give us different insights,” says Mr Ganapathy. “There is the skills gap viewpoint that employers see. Then there is the education gap, which is what administrators and nonprofits see.”

Apart from national platforms and advocacy initiatives, TCS is expending energy on local-level programmes. The company has established campus relationships

Building the pipeline

STEMconnector®, a leading organisation for STEM education and careers, released a first-of-its-kind publication, ‘100 CEO Leaders in STEM’. The report, published in June 2013, presented 100 chief executive profiles and their thought-provoking views on the need for a STEM workforce.Here are the top five focus areas emphasised by the CEOs: Technology: The general assessment among CEOs is that

the technology development of the United States will suffer if there is a shortage of STEM talent.

Women and diversity: Women and minorities represent 28 percent of the US workforce, but only 7 percent of the STEM workforce. These groups present a significant opportunity for CEOs to source the needed STEM skills.

Innovation: The CEOs agree that creativity and innovation are the keys to future job creation and economic growth. Creativity and innovation will be driven by STEM talent.

Economy: The CEOs say STEM jobs are, and always will be, readily available. Over the next 10 years an estimated 80 percent of jobs in the US will require technology skills, and by 2018 the US will have more than 1.2 million new STEM-related occupations. More employees with STEM skills equates to a lower unemployment rate.

Competitiveness: STEM education will be a win-win for the nation’s economic competitiveness. A technology-savvy workforce is the key to driving innovation, production, profitability and economic growth.

businessbusiness


with 42 universities and higher education institutions in the United States to improve employability by developing industry-liaison programmes that connect employers with promising students.

Another interesting programme that has proved successful is the goIT programme, where TCS conducts workshops on coding and robotics in schools throughout the year, culminating in regional summer camps. Aimed at children from grades 8 to 12, goIT was launched in 2009 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It has since grown to include Columbus, Ohio, Midland, Michigan, and is expanding to seven other cities across the United States and Canada.

“One of the challenges in expanding this programme,” says Ms Olson, “is to standardise our approach, and to think about an engagement matrix that we can capture and follow. We are expanding goIT around the country, using a regional approach to a national crisis.”

The goIT programme works closely at the national level with the United States Chamber of Commerce, which provides outreach support in each goIT location. One of the criteria for this support is that the schools which want to incorporate goIT should have a higher percentage of poor students and ethnic minorities.

The single thread that binds TCS’s multiple efforts in the STEM space is commitment. “We are trying to make an impact at different levels on this issue,” says Mr Ganapathy. “At a national level this means bringing attention to the problem and providing forums where solutions can be addressed. Second is using technology, which

is the greatest enabler for scale and collaboration. The third is leading by example with our own volunteering efforts and local-level work.”

TCS is not the only Tata enterprise doing its part to boost STEM education in North America. Tata Technologies, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Interactive Systems have joined the effort, but it is TCS that leads the way. The company’s many initiatives are helping people achieve careers they might not otherwise have access to, and making a vital contribution in addressing a national need. Teaching people to fish, though, is not on the agenda as of now. ¨


the focus is on promoting the interest

of girls who are choosing steM careers.

right now it is at 12-17 percent; we want

to push it to at least 20 percent.

Caitlin Olson, STEM program manager, TCS North America

Former American president Bill Clinton (centre) at a June 2013 event to push high-quality STEM education and careers


businessbusiness

The name has changed and so has

the game, and with it the growth

trajectory of Tata Steel Processing

and Distribution (TSPDL), India’s

largest steel service centre. A wholly

owned subsidiary of Tata Steel,

TSPDL’s turnover has jumped from

`18 million in 1997-98 — when it

came into being as Tata Ryerson —

‘We want to be a global benchmark’

to `16.4 billion in 2012-13 on the

back of unrelenting customer focus,

innovative processes and a driving

ambition to get better all the time.

In this interview with Christabelle

Noronha, TSPDL’s managing director,

Sandipan Chakravortty, talks about

the organisation’s evolution, the

reinvention that has enabled it to stay

ahead of the competition, and how it

is gearing up for a brighter future.

Tell us about TSPDL and the part it plays in the life cycle of the steel that is delivered to customers?TSPDL’s role is to cut and process the 30-tonne steel coils made by Tata Steel to the shape and size that customers need. We are the largest steel-processing company in India, maybe even in Asia. For Tata Steel alone we process 1.3 million tonnes of the metal per annum. We have eight processing centres and a national network of distribution centres across India.

Earlier, steel producers in India supplied steel only as coils, a form that is not used today by most customers. Take the auto industry. In the old days, Tata Motors, Hindustan


businessbusiness

Motors, Ashok Leyland, etc had to put up their own processing facilities to convert the coils into sized blanks that could be used for manufacturing components: chassis frames, long members, pressed parts, etc. This was extremely inefficient because it was not their core activity and equipment utilisation was low.

The concept of a steel service centre did not exist in India prior to 1997. This was when Tata Steel felt that the market was ready for a change. Although it was able to meet standards, the opening up of the Indian economy meant that the company had to compete with international players. For Tata Steel the challenge was to differentiate its products in the market; we had to offer processing and just-in-time (JIT) distribution to add value.

In 1997, Tata Ryerson was set up — as a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and an American company, Ryerson Tull — to bring steel service centre solutions to industrial customers in India. The American partner sold its equity stake to Tata Steel in 2009 and the company was renamed TSPDL in January 2010. That’s how we have evolved to become the last-mile connect for Tata Steel.

What exactly is the value addition that TSPDL provides? For a steel mill, any order less than a thousand tonnes is not interesting; for a service centre, even a 100kg order is eminently serviceable.

We have more than 1,000 customers, we hold stocks for them, cut and process the steel, and supply whenever they want. The value addition that we provide is enormous. Customers like Toyota Motors can be assured of quality when they use our products because of our process and our quality systems.

Another aspect is inventory management. Maruti works on a one-day inventory because we maintain a JIT system for them. We are able to offer these services because we can garner economies of scale by aggregating the requirements of several customers. We cater to the entire auto industry and not just Tata Motors, so capacity utilisation is much higher. In fact, we can claim that there is a little bit of our steel in every two- three- and four-wheeler in India today.

Could you spell out the vision of the company? When we started in 1997 our vision was to supply everything — steel, aluminium, stainless steel and plastics — but we soon realised that we had to limit ourselves to steel. Our turnover then was `18 million, but we set a target of `5 billion. We got there quickly and then we decided that, rather than chase a rupee target, we ought to aim to be the leader in India.

In 2012 we revisited the vision, through a company-wide exercise that included all employees and even inputs from key

Size does matter to TSPDL, which has been able to bank on economies of scale


businessbusiness

customers such as Tata Motors, Maruti and Ashok Leyland. Our vision now is to be a global benchmark in the industry for excellence in service.

What about your growth plans?Our growth is, in many ways, aligned to that of Tata Steel. For instance, Tata Steel has recently put up a thin-slab caster with a capacity of 2.4 million tonnes a year. The new Kalinganagar plant will produce 3 million tonnes of steel in 2015, at least half of which will need processing. So we need to have capacities in place.

We are continually opening up new centres and supplying new products. Currently it is zinc-coated or colour-coated steel blanks and strips, which we have geared up to supply. We try to take care of the entire spectrum of customers’ needs, even when it comes to non-Tata Steel products. Take the construction machinery sector — Caterpillar, Komatsu, John Deere, etc — which requires heavy steel plates, a product that Tata Steel does not make. We source the raw material from Steel Authority of India, Essar, imports, etc. We do not just cut and shape; we bend and we weld. At times, I feel we are just one stage away from making the entire thing.

How do you stay ahead of the competition? Our big strength is our distribution network; it is well established across India, which makes our service capabilities superior to that of others. We try to ensure that we have the best technology. We get the latest equipment from Spain, Japan and Germany. Our newest centre at Chennai will be the first in India to handle high-tensile products. We are the only service centre in Asia that has patented two processes, one for length measurement and

the other for automatic segregation of sheets. We have also developed extremely accurate laser-based equipment.

Our contribution to the Tata Nano project illustrates the point. Ratan Tata (former Chairman, Tata Sons and Tata Motors) threw us a huge challenge: develop the undercarriage of the Nano at half the weight and at a lower cost, but with no compromise in strength. We went to Detroit and Pittsburgh in the United States and to Canada to look at various technologies. We even spoke to people at NASA (the American space agency) to look at metals used in rockets and forming technologies. We then used a new technology called roll forming and stretch bending, and developed special purpose machines for this project. Mr Tata has now asked us to look at developing this process for the Tata Indica, too.

We want to focus not just on customer satisfaction and engagement, but on customer experience. Our customers should feel that they are in a place where people are prepared to go the extra mile for them. We try to exceed the expectations of our customers and understand their future needs. When you have international players like Posco in town, customer experience is going to be the key differentiator. We are working with Accenture, McKinsey and other consultants on this front. We will require a lot of people training and cultural training.

How does your innovative vendor service model work?Our vendor service model is innovative for sure and this has been discussed as a case study at Harvard. Allow me to explain. There are a few key players in the steel value chain as it applies to any industry. In automotive, for example, these would be Tata Steel, TSPDL, the vendor who supplies parts or components, and the automaker.

Earlier, the steel mill could reasonably handle transactions with the automaker, but it was near impossible to provide good service to individual vendors, whose requirements were small and fragmented. This is where TSPDL stepped in, to provide the last-mile

Our big strength is our distribution network; it is well established across India, which makes our service capabilities superior...


businessbusiness

connect between Tata Steel and the vendor. Again, if steel prices changed, vendors would wait for the automaker to revise the prices of the final component, delaying production and deliveries.

Now all of us sit at a table and negotiate so that the final vendor price is linked to the base steel price. In essence, the automaker is fixing the price with Tata Steel and the component price can go up or down based on steel prices. TSPDL’s role is to work out numbers — how many cars will be made and what is the amount of material needed — and guarantee the supplies and the service levels.

Other service centres are trying to craft a similar arrangement but so far no one has been successful. We have the first-mover advantage.

On a different tack, how is the company going about grooming future leaders? Our employee strategy is critically important and motivating people is one of my tasks. At TSPDL we don’t have clerks; we have only officers. Our non-managerial staff are called associates. We have created a process of identifying star managers: employees with consistently superior performance over a two-year period are shortlisted and then interviewed by a team that includes two outsiders, (a psychologist and a professor), and our top managers. These star managers are then groomed as potential leaders. We have a team of 23 such ‘star managers’. Their training is my personal responsibility. We have a training module for them, planned in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Many Tata companies have taken note of this process.

Tell us about some of your skill-building initiatives.When it comes to building skills in the community, we give preference to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe candidates. We have adopted industrial training institutes (ITIs), where we design the programme and some of our people are also on the faculty. We are

supporting skill-training centres with funding from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and we are working with the ITIs to develop these centres. The uniqueness of the programme is that we give recruits a job first, followed by training. We pay each candidate `5,000 a month, of which `1,000 is recovered as repayment for the loan towards the training, which is not free. We insist that the candidates pass on `500 to their parents. After the training, they are absorbed in TSPDL or in other companies, Tata and non-Tata.

You are known as a ‘steel man’...I have been in steel all my life. Tata Steel has given me several opportunities, especially to work for the community. Currently I am the chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s development council. My role is to help work out ways to improve the quality of life of the poor in India. I believe the solution does not lie in handing out money; you have to be able and willing to go door to door, to work with your hands if need be. After retirement I would like to be involved to a greater extent with social development causes.

Education is my other interest. I am on the board of governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and I am also associated with a few management schools. I do not want to teach professionally, but interacting with students and children gives me immense satisfaction. ¨

A metal makeover happens as steel coils are processed

businessbusiness


Custodians of historyThe Tata group has always valued its heritage and its traditions, adorned as they are by the sterling contributions of the pioneers who established the institution and those who built on their legacy. The Tata Central Archives in Pune and the Centre for Excellence in Jamshedpur provide two standout examples of how this past is preserved.

The Centre for Excellence in Jamshedpur

businessbusiness


T he Centre for Excellence (CFE) was born of the vision of JRD Tata, the late chairman of the

Tata group. This august institution is the first in the country to bring diverse disciplines under one roof. Its archives — the first of its kind to be established by a private Indian organisation — is a significant part of its value proposition, and helps to disseminate information about the ethos and achievements of Tata Steel, the company it is primarily focused on, and the group.

“The founder’s gallery, the Jamshedpur gallery and the technology gallery are the raisons d’être of the centre,” says Jenny Shah, head of the Centre and of public relations at Tata Steel. “These galleries were built to offer visitors an understanding of Tata Steel’s ethos and values, and its milestones. There is also a gallery dedicated to the life and times of JRD Tata.”

exhibitions and moreThe material available in the archives is used to organise thematic exhibitions on JRD Tata, Dorabji Tata, PN Bose and Meherbai Tata. It is also the main source for the ‘founder’s day’ exhibition, which showcases the life and achievements of Jamsetji Tata. The information thus displayed serves to give newly recruited Tata Steel employees at the Jamshedpur facility — as well as those recruited into Tata Steel’s European operations, NatSteel and Tata Steel Thailand — a sense of the culture of the group, its rich history and heritage.

Ms Shah says the Centre also undertakes special tours

for “stakeholders from our Chhattisgarh and Kalinganagar projects” as well as for children from around 60 local schools, some of which are supported by Tata Steel under its corporate social responsibility umbrella.

The Centre has more than 70,000 documents, including letters, books, maps, charts and photographs of historical importance. These documents are categorised and stored in three large repositories where temperature and humidity are controlled.

Material relating to the founding of Tata Steel is a veritable treasure trove. It includes the prospecting licence issued to the company (an eight-and-a-half feet long document); the first public prospectus (valued at `23.2 million and floated in 1934 to set up the company, it was oversubscribed in 21 days); the personal diary of Charles Page Perin, the renowned consultant of the company; and a booklet written by a construction engineer, describing early camp life at Kalimati, the site of the steel manufacturing facility.

Jamsetji Tata’s personal documents available at the Centre include his vision for a planned industrial city and his communications with Swami Vivekananda; the colonial secretary

of state, drawing up his plan for an industrialised India; and with HA Crump, secretary, revenue department, Central Provinces, to undertake the cutting down and replanting of trees in certain forest areas to be allotted to the company by the British government.

a rich spreadOther items include early town-planning schemes for Jamshedpur, a genealogy tree that traces the Tata family ancestry back to 800 years, and the personal letters and records of Jamsetji Tata, Dorabji Tata, RD Tata, Mr Perin, RG Wells and others whose efforts helped India establish a manufacturing base long before the country’s independence.

The Tata Steel archives also contain the company’s first in-house journal, Tisco Review, published in 1932 in both English and Hindi. In 1954, the journal was renamed Tisco News, with an accompanying Hindi edition, Tisco Samachar. These journals offer a fascinating glimpse into the development of the company over the decades.

The other publications that grace the shelves are the Tisco Technical journals and Tata Tech, both relating to the steel manufacturing process, besides the Tata Steel supervisor’s newsletter, Will to Win and Tata Search.

Centre for Excellence, Jamshedpur

besides monitoring systems and the

procedures used to maintain the archives,

we source and access material [and]

restore and preserve old documents...

Jenny Shah, head, CFE and public relations, Tata Steel

businessbusiness


Tata Central Archives (TCA) offers rare glimpses into the history of a group that has

played a pivotal role in the industrial and social development of India. These impressions from a time-worn past are preserved using modern techniques to enhance their longevity.

Located in the picturesquely beautiful premises of the Tata Management Training Centre, Pune, TCA curates and preserves the records of all Tata companies.

Freny J Shroff looks after the photographs while Rajendra

Prasad Narla takes care of the documents that form part of the collection. “TCA’s goal is to provide opportunities to know the history of the Tata group from its inception, to understand its ethos and growth and to appreciate the quality of the people who shaped it,” says Mr Narla, a trained archivist.

The primary objective of the archives is to collect and preserve records that are of evidential value to Tata companies and institutions. The secondary objective is to make that information available to researchers.

While the documents and artefacts are important in themselves for the companies, the value is enhanced when seen in the context of the era in which those momentous events played out.

pride of placeThe material that TCA feels proud to have in its collection includes letters from the pioneers in the Tata family to one another, their speeches and copies of their last wills and testaments, clippings from newspapers of the time, the Tata family photo albums, the album of Esplanade House, Jamsetji Tata’s portrait photographs, a commemorative postal stamp, his chair from the Empress Mills office, his chair from his office at Victoria Buildings and different items from his clothing collection.

tca’s goal is to provide opportunities to

know the history of the tata group, to

understand its ethos ... and to appreciate

the quality of the people who shaped it.

Rajendra Narla, archivist (documents), Tata Central Archives

Copies of the company’s annual reports from 1907-08 are part of the collection. The Centre is also the custodian of Tata Steel’s rich art collection, consisting of more than 1,500 paintings, which adorn its premises all over India.

The benefits that accrue from the maintenance of the archives are tremendous, and the efforts to maintain it are intensive. “Besides monitoring systems and the procedures used to maintain the archives, we source and access material, restore and preserve old documents through fumigation and encapsulation, index the material to enable easy retrieval of information, and disseminate the information to our stakeholders,” says Ms Shah.

The protection and preservation of valuable documents is not a task to be undertaken lightly. “We sift through documents from old offices and departments to find those that are of archival value. Documents and vintage photographs are also received from private donors. Careful attention is then paid to archival procedures like accession, fumigation, de-acidification and lamination of valuable documents,” explains Ms Shah.

digitisation pushThe Centre is now striving to digitise the documents to ensure preservation and easy retrieval, and to successfully convert some of the available material for display

on its website. The digitisation is being done by CMC, a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services. “We are also working with the Tata Central Archives, Pune,” says Ms Shah. “They have given us rare documents and photographs to enable us to create a special section on Meherbai Tata, as part of the thematic exhibition on Dorabji Tata.”

The two organisations are, additionally, collaborating on a ‘disaster recovery’ system, which entails the storing of scanned images at physically separate geographical facilities.

As the custodian of Tata Steel’s history, the Centre for Excellence is sparing no efforts in its aim to preserve this precious legacy. ¨

Tata Central Archives, Pune

businessbusiness


One of the highlights of the archives is the successful recreation of JRD Tata’s office in Bombay House, the Tata headquarters in Mumbai. The recreation is extremely accurate in the dimensions and the placement of artefacts and objects.

Looking after such precious material brings its own challenges. “In India, we do not have access to archival-grade material for conservation and preservation,” says Mr Narla. “The material that we have is not certified for quality.”

In order to improve its services, TCA continually measures its own achievements against those of other archives in India and abroad. “We are satisfied with our performance on important criteria,” adds Mr Narla. “We have our own premises and allow research scholars and the general public alike to come in and view and access our photographs and documents. Currently, we are in the process of digitising all our important records and documents.”

In addition, TCA is also home to a conservation cell. The training of the archives’ personnel and cross-sectoral working are also regular features. In a world in which a surfeit of information is available at the click of a mouse, it is still important to have the right information easily accessible and available whenever required. In this context, the use of information and communication technology for digitisation and the development of retrieval tools has greatly helped TCA.

“Access and dissemination of information to meet the needs of Tata companies and the general public is essential to the archives,” Mr Narla says. “The use of technology helps us share the

required material with the user faster and to the extent required. Once the scanned images are converted into text or PDF format, the text becomes available for search once it is entered into our ‘archive management system’ software. This enables us to protect sensitive records.”

Photographs are also treated in order to enhance their quality. Says Ms Shroff: “The photographs are digitally enhanced before they are used in exhibitions. We also preserve them in a controlled environment.”

keeping in touchTCA subscribes to periodicals like Business Archives — Principles and Practice, The Society of American Archivists, and the Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers, which enables it to remain in touch with the latest developments in archiving and related fields. Additionally, TCA is a member of the International Council of Archives, which is headquartered in Paris, France.

TCA invites experts from institutes such as the National Archives of India and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage to conduct seminars and workshops. Employees attend courses on the management of records and archival administration, which are on par with established international standards. They are then encouraged to share their

learnings with their colleagues and to work towards applying that knowledge in TCA. Furthermore, employees are given opportunities to enhance their skills in their fields of specialisation.

Just as no organisation can afford to feel complacent on the strength of past successes, TCA too keeps striving to better itself. “We keep ourselves informed about Tata companies that are commemorating their milestones,” says Mr Narla. “TCA approaches them for their records. We know that we can add value to their records by digitising them and conserving them. We can also help them organise exhibitions to create public awareness.”

The archives also cooperates and collaborates with other archives for the sharing of best practices. The Centre for Excellence, Tata Steel, is a valued collaborator. In addition, TCA has an association with the archives of the Reserve Bank of India, the State Bank of India and the Godrej group.

In documenting the milestones of the Tata group, TCA has performed a vital role. This central repository of the Tata group’s history and evolution has helped Tata companies recall their origins and early years with pride, while also helping them realise that the legacy of the group demands no less of them in the years to come. ¨


the photographs are digitally

enhanced before they are used in

exhibitions. We also preserve them

in a controlled environment.

Freny J Shroff, archivist (photographs), Tata Central Archives

special reportspecial report

January 2014 n Tata Review 75Tata Review n January 201474

For future’s sake The latest edition of one of the most important events in the Tata calendar brought together leaders and executives from across the group and eminent personalities from various spheres of endeavour. The objective: to explore ways for companies to look past short-term profits and consider the horizon beyond.

By Sangeeta Menon

Business excellence convention 2013



Creating long-term value was the theme of the 18th annual ‘Business Excellence Convention’ (BEC) of the Tata group, held in Chennai, India, in December

2013. It was attended by 325 delegates from 65 Tata companies spread across nine countries and experts from various fields.

The participants spent two days discussing how, in a changing business environment, companies could look beyond short-term profits and preoccupations to focus on strategies that would help build their business and brands.

The convention had an impressive lineup of speakers and panellists from a range of fields that went beyond business and economics to cover history, environment, sports and the performing arts. Adding depth and breadth to the debate were historian Ramchandra Guha; Jean-Philippe Deschamps of IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland; Arvind Subramanian from the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics; environment and social activist Shekhar Singh; Bharatanatyam dancer Malavika Sarukkai and badminton ace Prakash Padukone, who contributed to the deliberations by sharing their ideas and experiences.

The delegates listened attentively to Unilever chief executive Paul Polman, who

addressed the convention via tele-presence. Mr Polman talked about the three key trends that are making the business environment more challenging than ever for modern companies.The first is the emergence of the “new Asian hemisphere”, marked by shifts in wealth to the East and, to some extent, to the South. “The GDP of China will soon surpass that of the United States,” remarked Mr Polman as he detailed the greater role that countries like India and China will play in international debates.

trends to think aboutThe second global trend is the change in consumers today in the context of increased digitisation. “Connectivity of consumers and citizens can throw irresponsible companies out of office in nanoseconds,” said Mr Polman. The third trend is “the end of the era of abundance”, where shrinking natural resources puts increased pressure on corporate entities to use resources more responsibly.

Mr Polman cautioned that given the rapidly changing context, “The business community needs to understand that it cannot just be a bystander... If the issues are not solved by the political community, then it is the responsibility of business to do something about it.” According to him, in a world where poverty and inequity

Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry interacts with Group Executive Council member Nirmalya Kumar



are still at unacceptable levels, much more is expected from businesses, which will need to look at reworking their models to become part of the solution.

Mr Polman’s responsible business pitch was underscored by both Dr Singh and Shankar Venkateswaran, director of sustainability at PricewaterhouseCoopers [now chief, Tata Sustainability Group], who echoed the need for business to become more socially responsible. The clear message was that with consumers and citizens increasingly expecting companies to follow sustainable business models, the need to adopt greater transparency and accountability is no longer a matter of choice or compliance.

The rise and rise of China as a global economic power, and the implications thereof

for India, was a topic of much interest and debate at the conclave. Mr Subramanian, in his overview of emerging global economic trends, argued that the China story was poised for more interesting developments. “The Chinese currency will become a very important international reserve currency, challenging the American dollar over the next 10 to 15 years,” he said. “This is something all of us in India should be aware of. It’s not just the Chinese economy that will be robust and dynamic... The days of dollar supremacy are increasingly numbered.”

In his speech, Prof Deschamps pointed out the silver lining for India: the country’s huge intellectual potential: “I’m amazed to see how many brilliant Indian engineers are working for companies in the United States and the number of Indian-origin professors in American universities. I find there’s an intellectual potential here.” There is a caveat, though: “The challenge before India is that it could be out-innovated by China. India has to marshal the potential of its human contingent towards projects and companies that could compete and create the next Lenovo.”

india’s early advantageDr Guha provided historical context and some important leadership lessons from the past during his hour-long talk on the past, present and future of political leadership in India. According to him, one of the main reasons why a country so divided by caste, class, language and religion has emerged as a united nation is because of the quality of the first two generations of political leaders and the institutions they built and nurtured, which gave rise to a democratic and plural India.

Visionary leaders, Dr Guha added, are known for their willingness to go against the current and dominant trends in society. “But once a leader has decided to challenge the established and dominant trends, he must show a commitment to build consensus and be open-minded,” said the historian.

Taking a different tack, Mr Padukone spoke about the challenges he faced in the initial days of his career, including the general

The winning teamsThe convention recognised Tata companies for the progress achieved in their journey towards excellence:

For crossing the 450-points band through basic assessment:

— Tata Capital — Tata Business Support Services — Tata Pigments

For serious adoption (companies that broke into the 450-points score band through rigorous assessment):

— mjunction Services — The Indian Steel and Wire Products — Tata Toyo Radiator

For active promotion (companies that broke into the 500+ band for the first time in standard assessment):

— Tata Housing Development Company

— CMC — Jamipol



lack of encouragement for sport in India and the absence of infrastructure in the country for training in a sport like badminton. He spoke about making the best of what we have and not complaining about what is not there. Focus and determination are the key, he emphasised.

For an artist, the challenge is to maintain a balance between tradition and relevance, and yet remain creative. “One needs to keep pushing one’s boundaries,” said Ms Sarukkai.

Along with the thought-provoking discussions, the BEC convention also took out time to recognise the current status and achievements of the business excellence initiative in the Tata group, which is driven through an assessment framework called the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM).

In recent years the group’s business excellence engagement has grown more intense in depth and scope, with the number of companies being assessed annually increasingly dramatically (it was up from 30 last year to 38 this year). As many as 343 assessors from 65 Tata companies were involved in the last assessment cycle. The assessment process itself has become more entrenched and intricate, a fact that was noted by Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus P Mistry, who stated that he would like to see TBEM go even deeper into the organisation in time to come.

Prasad Menon, chairman of Tata Quality Management Services, attributed much of the new energy and direction in the group’s excellence movement to the Chairman’s commitment to TBEM. Looking ahead, Sunil Sinha, chief, Group Quality Management Services, said that TBEM would see new initiatives being rolled out over the next 6-12 months, including an increased focus on operational excellence and the sharing and harvesting of best practices.

Programmes such as the BEC highlight the fact that what keeps the excellence journey at Tata enlivening and rewarding is the constant effort that goes into ensuring that the excellence initiatives are not locked in time. The endeavour is to ensure that they evolve and are in sync with business, economic and social needs. ¨

R Gopalakrishnan of Tata Sons (left) with Bharatnatyam exponent Malavika Sarukkai and badminton ace Prakash Padukone

Assessors from Tata companies along with TQMS’s Prasad Menon (second from right) and Sunil Sinha (extreme right)

A panel discussion involving (from left) PK Ghose of Tata Chemicals, Warren Harris of Tata Technologies, Harish Bhat of Tata Global Beverages and Ajit Joshi of Infiniti Retail


CommunityCommunity

More than by the bookBased in Washington, DC,

First Book is a nonprofit enterprise

that works with corporations,

book publishers and community

organisations to deliver access to

books for children in need.

The Tata group has been a

staunch and steady supporter of

First Book’s efforts in the United

States and Canada since 2007. As a

result of the group’s support, more

than 290,000 books valued at about

$1.5 million have been provided to

programmes targeted at children in

need. About 180 employees from 12

Tata companies have been involved

in this ongoing endeavour, reaching

out to beneficiaries in nine American

states and two Canadian provinces.

A prime mover and one of

the leading lights of First Book is

Kyle Zimmer, who cofounded the

organisation in 1992 and is currently

its president. In this interview with

Christabelle Noronha, she speaks

about the organisation and its

partnership with the Tata group.

The United States leads the world

in many respects, but not so in

education. Surveys show that in

terms of student literacy and ability

in mathematics, the country has

started lagging behind its first-world

peers. Worse, it appears that the

current generation of Americans is

receiving education of a lesser quality

than the previous one. But solutions

are in plain sight and this is where

organisations such as First Book are

making a difference.


CommunityCommunity

Illiteracy is not a typical problem that comes to mind in first world countries. What are the factors that have made this a significant social issue in the United States of today? I am a lawyer by profession and have worked with some big names in the corporate and social sector. It was during this time that I began mentoring a child at a local shelter in Washington, DC, and I became aware of how children from low-income backgrounds have almost no access to books. I had started engaging with local volunteers who were committed to improving opportunities for low-income youth when I learned about this dramatic need.

These children grow up in homes without books, go to preschools without books, to schools with no libraries, and live in neighbourhoods with no access to libraries or bookstores. So it is not surprising that they grow into adults deprived and forever limited in their journey towards learning and employment. Irrespective of culture and economics, studies have shown a profound difference between children who grow up in a literacy-rich environment and children who do not.

The malaise is so widespread that illiteracy is a significant social problem today, even in a developed economy like that of the United States. A recent report ranked the country behind 16 other economies, including Poland, Estonia and South Korea, in terms of student literacy, which is the ability to read, integrate and evaluate texts. While the reasons for this are complex, the issue is partly because the United States did not invest in early-childhood education at the rate at which it was needed. Also, books are very expensive in the country. Worst hit are low-income families; millions of children in need spend hours in community programmes and classrooms with little or no resources.

What role do you see First Book playing to fill this void? We started First Book in 1992 as a social

enterprise to support the entire educational system — formal and informal — by distributing free and low-cost books to schools and community organisations that serve children from low-income families. Since 1995, when I took over as president of the organisation, First Book has distributed more than 100 million books to children in thousands of communities across the United States and in Canada.

We have come this far because of the committed support we have received from our partners, of which the Tata group has been a significant one. We have worked with many publishers, corporates and nonprofit groups to bring books to the communities that need them. With schools facing drastic cuts in funding, the critical factor in making books available in classrooms and homes is pricing. Retail prices were simply too high for most schools to afford. Children’s publishers, used to absorbing the cost of unsold books, have to hike prices in order to be profitable. Unsold books ended up being destroyed or sent to landfills, which was a whole other problem in itself. It was a vicious cycle and one that First Book needed to address.

We offered to be the conduit between the publishers and communities in need, and we got started by creating two new

Giving children access to books is First Book’s objective


CommunityCommunity

models. We set up a subsidiary called First Book National Book Bank, with a centralised database of teachers, mentors and community organisations. We checked credentials and borrowed warehouses where publishers could drop off books. This addressed two important issues: it got millions of books out off the landfills and city dumps every year, and it brought new resources to programmes that would otherwise have had no access to them. Publishers were more than happy to respond.

This was the first step; the second was to be able to control the inventory. While First Book managed excess inventory contributed by the top 90 imprints in the United States and Canada, books came and went through the system depending on what the publishers dropped off. So we had to go to the publishers with a concrete business offer: if the publishers would lower the retail prices of the books, First Book would buy at a high volume on a non-returnable basis, removing their risk. That was the beginning of First Book Marketplace, a website that now offers 5,200 different titles, including, fiction, nonfiction, engineering, math, poetry and college preparation guides.

First Book’s efforts have helped increase diversity in publishing. With a push from First Book, publishers are producing more books that are bilingual and multicultural, increasing their reach. Publishers see that there is a new culturally diverse market out there that they can tap through First Book Marketplace. Moreover, since the books go to children mostly through schools, it has enabled these schools to do new things from a curriculum standpoint.

Who are your biggest partners and where does the Tata group come in?First Book’s success has always come from its work with the private sector and, as we scale our work to a global level, we are reaching out to corporate leaders now more than ever before. That is how the Tata companies in North America became part of a partnership with First Book, back in 2007.

First Book snapshotWhat: First Book is an award-winning social enterprise that brings books to children from low-income families. It is a partnership-based organisation that works with corporations, nonprofit groups and publishers to achieve its mission. First Book has an international spread and reaches more than 25,000 registered organisations and schools, benefitting children of all ages.

Where: First Book is based in Washington, DC, USA. It has distributed more than 100 million books to schools and community organisations serving children from low-income families in thousands of communities in the United States and Canada.

Why: Kids need books. Research confirms that lack of access to books is a debilitating obstacle to literacy development. However, most children from low-income families grow up without books. One US-focused study found that although middle-income neighbourhoods have an average of 13 age-appropriate books per child, low-income neighbourhoods average one book for every 300 children. Millions of children in need across North America spend hours every day in resource-poor classrooms and community programmes. To address the disparity, First Book created highly innovative and efficient models to improve the quality of education these children receive.


CommunityCommunity

The cause of education being of prime importance to the Tata group, this is a perfect partnership. There is financial support, which is incredibly important to grabbing the next rung of the ladder, so we can reach out to more kids, but our work with Tata has been bigger than that.

For Tata in North America, the First Book partnership has grown into a group-wide community initiative, much larger in scope than just funding the programme. Tata employees get involved in reading programmes, which are organised at select preschools in the communities in which they operate. It is a wonderful, inspiring thing for children to have someone sit down and read with them. The Tatas have come in with such joy and personal commitment. It’s unusual and heartwarming and it says a lot about who they are and what they do.

The Tata involvement did not stop there. Group companies also came on board to help First Book design its technology platforms so that the organisation can focus its resources on reaching the next child. The Tata group may not be First Book’s largest partner, but the connections are inherently strong.

Our relationship with the Tata group has transformed the way we do things at First Book.

Does First Book operate in countries outside North America?In India, First Book has reached out to Pratham, a nonprofit organisation that works at educating underprivileged children. We are building First Book-India with an emphasis on Indian stories for Indian children. We are simultaneously reaching out to children, teachers and tutors in other countries — including Kenya, Nigeria, Haiti and South Africa — but we need good partners to make all of this a reality.

Over these last two decades, our organisation has made much progress; in fact, we expect to have provided more than $1 billion in books and resources by this time next year. But it is a long and hard struggle and there is much more to be done. I think we have come far enough to see the potential of where we can actually go. I would welcome the wonderfully committed employees and leaders of the Tata group around the world to help us build our systems to elevate education worldwide. ¨

Support from Tata has enabled events such as this First Book reading in San Francisco, USA

CommunityCommunity


Yadgir, one of the most backward districts of the Indian state of Karnataka, is home to tens of thousands of

impoverished residents with meagre land holdings. During the scorching summer months, many people from this hardscrabble district migrate to cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai, leaving behind their tiny, withered farms to seek construction jobs.

This seasonal migration takes a heavy toll, particularly on the thousands of youngsters who are forced to give up on a regular education, pushing school dropout rates in the district to as high as 40 percent. Prolonged absence from classrooms results in these children — many of whom are undernourished — becoming slow learners, unable to grasp language

and other skills. Consequently, the literacy rate in Yadgir is 52.36 percent, which compares poorly with the state average of 75.36 percent.

Take, for instance, Sabayya Thimayya, a typical teenager from Yadgir. His performance was way below average and he had temporarily dropped out of the government school at Kanchagarahalli village, about 35km from Yadgir. His fate would have been no different from several other children in his district but for the intervention of Kalike Samruddhi Upakram (KSU), a learning enhancement initiative of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust in Karnataka.

KSU, with its nodal agency Kalike (which means learning in Kannada), picked up Sabayya for special training under its ‘Kalike

Chethana’, or learning improvement programme (LIP). Within two years of undergoing special classes, Sabayya’s performance improved dramatically. In a remarkable turnaround, the lad was recently selected for admission to Std V at the Morarji Desai Navodaya Model residential school at Shahpur, also in Yadgir district (the school is based on the central government’s Navodaya Vidyalaya system for talented rural children from poor backgrounds). “It is a competitive examination and he came first in the district,” says S Premalatha, the proud headmistress of the Kanchagarahalli school, where Sabayya studied.

customised trainingKalike launched its direct implementation of select programmes in two blocks of the district in 2009, with the objective of identifying slow learners like Sabayya and providing them extra training.

The challenge was huge; a baseline study in 2008 indicated

A learning initiative backed by the Sir Ratan

Tata Trust and the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust is

transforming the lives of poor children in rural

Karnataka through innovative teaching methods

Lessons of change, from school to life

CommunityCommunity


that more than half of all children in Std V were at least three grade levels behind. The percentage of children unable to read Std II text increased from 49 percent in 2010 to 58 percent two years later. The dismal scenario was compounded by the rampant absenteeism of teachers, dysfunctional school development and monitoring committees (SDMCs), low community participation in government schools, and issues such as child labour.

KSU has been implementing LIP in 40 schools, covering more than a thousand students from Stds III to V who are having difficulties in reading and writing. Says Shivakumar D, executive director, Kalike: “An external consultant recently reviewed LIP and the findings revealed that 95 percent of the students are able to acquire

reading and writing skills after undergoing the programme.”

Kalike recruits village-level ‘animators’ who conduct these special classes in the government schools after regular hours. Local villagers and members of SDMCs, which are local-level institutions, are involved in selecting the animators.

Ms Sabamma is a typical animator. Hailing from Wadnalli village, she was a head cook at the school, involved in the midday meal scheme. Though she always wanted to be a teacher, she could not pursue her education. Ms Sabamma was selected as an animator because of her natural talent in interacting with children and for the lively manner in which she communicates with them.

On a typical day Ms Sabamma gathers a class of about 25 students at the government higher primary

school in Wadnalli, and recites a beautiful Kannada poem, enacting it through a lively dance. “Do not deprive your children of education by deploying them in the farms,” sings Sabamma. “Do not pluck a budding flower, but ensure that the girl child gets an education.” The curious children, who usually sit through normal classes not being able to grasp the lessons, exuberantly dance and sing along with her.

“Animators like her visit the homes of students who fail to turn up for school,” says Ramesh Gongadi, project director, Kalike. “They then convince their parents to ensure that their children attend school and also the special classes.” Mr Gongadi points out that most of these children, who were unable to write the Kannada alphabets just three months earlier, are now

The learning programmes introduced by Kalike in Yadgir’s government schools have had a positive impact

CommunityCommunity


eager learners. “As the performance of these children improves dramatically, many other parents want to send their children to these special classes,” says Ms Sabamma.

Educating children is the priority, but KSU is involved in other developmental activities too. A majority of schools in Yadgir are run by the government, but opportunities for higher education are bleak. There is just one science college here and no medical or engineering colleges. The district also does not have any industries.

Mr Shivakumar explains: “Yadgir is backward, not just in terms of education, but also on socioeconomic and all other parameters. Our strategy is not to build a parallel system, but to influence the existing system. We thought it is better to work with the system and tackle the numerous challenges by implementing innovative ideas.

working togetherKSU’s strategy from the beginning has been to engage with the government and district officials. Mr Shivakumar adds, “We also work with the local community and politicians to exert pressure on the administration.” In addition, it works with nonprofit organisations in the district, and involves other nonprofits from different parts of India.

While education is its core area of focus, Kalike looks at child health and nutrition, public health and hygiene. Its key interventions are in early childhood care and education, primary and high school education, and strengthening government education institutions in the district.

‘Chiguru’ is KSU’s early childhood care and education

Gadgets as game-changers

Schoolchildren in India’s big and not-so-big cities are familiar with computers, laptops, smartphones and DVD players, but in India’s rural hinterland — of which the district of Yadgir in Karnataka is representative — gadgets and gizmos are still rare. Kalike’s ‘Spoorthi’ programme, one of the key interventions undertaken in Yadgir’s government schools, aims to integrate information and communication technology in secondary education and also improve teacher education.

At the government higher secondary school at Madhawar village, about 50km from Yadgir, about 20 boys and girls, preparing to appear for the Std X board exams, are sitting in class in groups of three, poring over compact DVD players. The multimedia experience has enabled the children to grasp complicated theories in science and mathematics, while also preparing them for the board exams.

Before Kalike’s intervention, computer labs in these government schools were in a pathetic state. A baseline study conducted by IT for Change (ITfC), a nonprofit associated with Kalike, revealed that out of the 14 schools surveyed in the district, just one had working computers. Technical teams from Kalike and ITfC have been visiting government schools, restarting the dysfunctional computers, repairing inverters and providing other support to the computer labs. Importantly, the intervention has also motivated headmasters and teachers to buy laptops for their personal use.

CommunityCommunity


intervention, undertaken across 63 anganwadis (child-care and mother-care centres) in the district. P Rajeshwari, a government official who is in-charge of the anganwadi at Wadnalli, along with T Malamma, the helper, are enthusiastic as they describe the changes that have occurred at the centre after the Kalike intervention. “Earlier, it was difficult to get parents to leave their children here,” says Ms Rajeshwari. “We had to cajole them to bring their children. But now, with the improvements that have been done, they are eager to leave their kids in our care.”

Mr Shivakumar notes that before the introduction of Chiguru, the anganwadi at Wadnalli used to get just about five children. But now there are more than 25 children spending time at the centre. “We organise a lot of activities, including storytelling and singing and dancing,” he says. “The children, who are below the age of five, are exposed to new things daily.”

One major change is that fathers, unusually for these parts, bring their children to the anganwadis and take them home in the evenings. “We encourage them to spend time with their kids, talk to them to ensure early stimulation of the brain,” says Mr Shivakumar.

Kalike has also initiated ‘Aarogya Chethana,’ a health and sanitation programme, in several schools. One of the most noteworthy improvements has occurred at the government school at Kanchagarahalli, where, thanks to the intervention of the Tata trust, an elaborate rainwater harvesting system has been put in place.

“This is a harsh area and there is virtually no groundwater in the vicinity of the village,” says

T Yenkoba, a local resident and member of the SDMC. According to Ms Premalatha, the headmistress, in the past about half the children would not attend classes because of lack of drinking water. “But now attendance has gone up significantly,” she says. Kalike, with the help of village volunteers, developed the rainwater harvesting system, which ensures potable water for much of the year.

Similarly, separate toilets for boys and girls have been built in the school. The SDMC in Kanchagarahalli is one of the most active ones in the district. Kalike has been strengthening community participation through its ‘Jagruti Sindhu’ programme, which encourages villagers to raise issues relating to teacher absenteeism with district-level officials.

Boost for englishAnother major intervention is the ‘proficiency in English’ programme. Teachers are given training and educational material to improve their proficiency in the language, and special classes are held for students to improve their English. The results can be striking.

A class of young and enthusiastic students at the government higher primary school at Ashanal near Yadgir can be seen discussing their English lessons with their teacher. None of their parents can communicate in English, but

these children have improved their skills dramatically after sitting through the special sessions.

Ms Premalatha observes that it is difficult for the village children to learn English: Many of them are scared and are reluctant to speak in the language. But thanks to the efforts of teachers trained specially by Kalike representatives, many of these students can now discuss a variety of subjects in English.

Looking at the successful interventions in 40 schools in Yadgir, many headmasters and teachers from other schools, besides senior district officials, plead with Kalike for similar interventions.

Mr Shivakumar says, “We are now looking at expanding our work to areas such as skills development and livelihood programmes,” “But ultimately we want to be facilitators, working in close association with government officials and other nonprofits.” Importantly, even though there is pressure on Kalike to expand its activities, Mr Shivakumar says its focus will remain on quality.

While quality is intrinsic to this unique initiative, there is no doubt that Kalike goes far beyond its stated aim. While working towards enhancing the levels of children’s education in Yadgir, it is also playing another vital role — transforming their lives, and those of their families, in fundamental ways. ¨

— Nithin Rao

our strategy is not to build a parallel

system ... it is better to work with the

system and tackle the numerous challenges

by implementing innovative ideas.

Shivakumar D, executive director, Kalike Samruddhi Upakram

strategystrategy


Micro-planning helps companies map growth opportunities at the micro-market level, says Pankaj Gupta, while also enabling them to gain incremental market share through well-tailored solutions

Most leading organisations have been known to use the classical approach to develop strategy for their markets. Underpinning this

approach, which uses traditionally available data on markets, customers and competition, is the assumption that target customer segments are homogeneously dispersed across geographies and, hence, amenable to common marketing and route-to-market solutions.

This classical methodology has reached its limit in several product and service categories when it comes to making incremental gains in market share. Further gains in share requires disproportionate resources, which may not be a viable option in many a scenario.

Micro-planning is a process that helps an organisation map growth opportunities at a

micro-market level and also identify the levers that enable it to gain incremental market share. It does this by deploying tailored marketing and route-to-market solutions for each micro-market.

In most businesses, product portfolio and product features are not amenable to significant changes in the near term, and pricing is dependent on competitiveness and relative brand positioning. This applies to most industries, from branded consumer goods (FMCG products and durables) to B2B products and commodities. Consequently, product and price changes are not available as levers to target opportunities to gain market share in the medium term. Micro-planning can be adopted in such a context.

bottom-up startThe first step is to develop a bottom-up view of the market. This analysis can deliver richer insights into the current status of the market and help pinpoint if the micro-market presents a market development avenue or an opportunity to gain market share.

In the building products industry, for instance, demand arising from home renovation

Divinity in the detail can deliver benefits

Pankaj Gupta has over 16 years experience in consulting. He joined Tata Strategic Management Group in 2001. Currently he is the practice head, consumer and retail at the company. He is also a director with Infiniti Retail.

strategystrategy


and new construction can be mapped separately using housing statistics, household income indicators and renovation cycle patterns. In the next step, a deeper analysis of the information is done to help identify the focus products in each micro-market and the levers that can be deployed to gain market share. Next, the size of the market opportunity that can be targeted is assessed.

For each micro-market, a customised set of marketing interventions and route-to-market solutions are then tailor-developed for the task at hand: market development or gain in market share. The marketing interventions would be aimed at creating awareness or trials with new consumers, while seeking to lock in and upsell to existing consumers. Similarly, route-to-market solutions aim at driving network expansion to improve availability, coupled with appropriate channel programmes to motivate the trade.

Such a tailored approach ensures that the resources required to gain incremental market share are optimised. At each stage, all the stakeholders are involved so that a common view of opportunity is developed across the company.

CasE stuDYThe India business of a global farm-products company had grown rapidly over the last several years. The client was apprehensive that the market had matured in several states and that, going ahead, growth would plateau out. In such a slow-growth scenario, market share gain would be extremely expensive as competition would be intense.

Using the micro-panning approach, the market was subdivided into smaller micro-markets at the outset. Data was then collected from various public and company-specific

sources to bring a strong outside-in perspective to the existing sales data.

Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to improve market understanding. This included information on land ownership patterns, crops grown, irrigated land area and groundwater availability. All this information was used to arrive at a bottom-up assessment of the potential market opportunity for the client’s products in each micro-market.

The strategic direction for the client’s sales team in each micro-market was identified and detailed action plans were prepared to include marketing interventions, sales force and dealer- network augmentation. This empowered the client team with the resources to secure the plan.

The bottom-up market assessment and planning was co-created after several workshops and one-on-one sessions with the client team in each state. The final output was a three-year micro-market plan owned by the client team, aimed at growing market share faster than envisaged by them. The client was able to increase its market share between 2 and 7 percent in the micro-markets, also exceeding the year one goals as outlined in the micro-plan.

Organisations usually grapple with the problems of identifying and unlocking growth opportunities. This is accentuated when an industry is at a maturity stage, or when the overall demand cycle is weak. In such instances they would like to maximise the revenue impact of their investments. Micro-planning is an effective approach that can help organisations identify demand pockets and opportunities to gain market share, and prioritise accordingly. Such opportunities are usually missed out in traditional strategy-development approaches. ¨

a tailored approach to gain market share

1Develop granular market understanding

2Analyse data at micro-market level to identify opportunities

3Identify levers to unlock opportunities in each micro-market

PERSPECTIVEPERSPECTIVE


What are the best ways to build intellectual property (IP) asset portfolios that support the attainment of business goals?

What return on investments can one expect from IP assets? Who should be involved in formulating IP strategy? Who determines the ways to use the IP asset portfolio of a company as a component of business strategy? What are the special features and needs of IP strategy in India? These are some of the issues facing business leaders and managers in India.

These questions should be answered by those who have the knowledge and experience of establishing and running businesses, and by those who formulate and implement business strategies. Specialists in intellectual property rights (IPR) could also help in such

endeavours. This article seeks to provide some thoughts, questions and insights that could prove useful for managers who wish to thread IPR into their business plans and strategies.

What is competitive strategy? According to a renowned strategy guru, competitive strategy is about being different. It involves deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value.

What are the ways in which IP assets can be used to help deliver such a mix? The answer highlights the value of IPR to business strategy. Can any business offering (products or services) remain distinctive without the help of IP protection and an underlying IP strategy? The probable answer: “Not for long.”

Any business offering that provides a singular mix of value will probably be emulated by business rivals before long. So IP practitioners have developed a slew of mechanisms and tools that can help business managers in their operations. These mechanisms help business managers leverage their IP asset portfolios for business benefit.

Developing, maintaining and protecting intellectual property are challenging but essential steps, says Subramaniam Vutha, who argues the case for making this a part of corporate strategy

Potent can be the power of patents

Subramaniam Vutha is an advocate and a consultantwith the Tata group. He chairs the IntellectualProperty Strategy Committee at the LicensingExecutives Society International.



To facilitate this, it is important for business managers to think of IP strategy as a part of their business strategy.

However, IP specialists should not be the only ones formulating IP strategy. It is important that business leaders and managers understand the value and uses of IPR in strengthening and sharpening their business strategies.

Here are a few ways this can be done: IP securitisation — dealing with the ways

in which IP assets could be treated as collateral for borrowings or funding.

IP litigation strategy — defensive and offensive; the latter shows ways of asserting IP rights to thwart competitors in the marketplace and to impose costs on them.

IP filing strategy — dealing, for example, with decisions as to the territories in which IP protection should be sought, so as to protect market share or to defend or enter markets or business domains.

Defensive IP aggregation — dealing, generally, with the planned and structured augmentation of patent portfolios to counter potential threats of patent assertion by business rivals.

IP licensing models and strategies — seeking, among other things, to maximise and sustain revenues from the licensing of IP assets.

IP insurance. IP brokering, IP sales and IP auctions —

some ways to facilitate the manner in which IP assets can be sold, licensed or acquired.

IP audits — these highlight, among other things, the gaps in IP management or IP strategy and point to ways in which these can be optimised.

IP due diligence — measures used to assess IP assets before their acquisition, either as IP assets per se, or as part of a larger deal such as a merger or acquisition.

IP valuation — the valuation of IP assets for deal making, licensing or corporate transactions.

Business strategists might consider some or all of these as tactical issues or mechanisms because they do not address a critical component of business strategy, which helps to answer the question: “What are we trying to accomplish?” On the other hand, the tools and mechanisms mentioned here answer, partly at least, the question: “How are we going to accomplish our business goals?”

FrameWork For actionWhat, then, should IP strategy address? Should there be a national strategy on IPR as is the case in Japan? And as is being discussed in other countries such as China and India?

As regards India, a national IP strategy should help us achieve goals such as the ones listed below:

a. Step up exports. b. Reduce outflow on account of imports.c. Increase export of value-added products. d. Offset outflows on account of technology

and brand fees, which have risen to over `350 billion in recent years.

e. Counter the brain drain. However, while the country can outline

a broad strategy or approach to IPR based on policy considerations and national interests, both of which are of paramount importance, it is the collective impact of IP strategies and plans of businesses that will drive the success of a country in harvesting, protecting and utilising IP assets.

Let us take a look at how companies can use IPR policies and strategies to enhance their business prospects:

a. Several Indian businesses do invest substantially in innovation programmes. To market Indian innovations abroad we will necessarily have to seek and enforce IP protection in the chosen markets. An investment in IP strategies and plans will, accordingly, be vital for sustained benefits from export of Indian innovations. How else will we protect the key differentiators of our products and services and retain competitive advantages?



b. IP assets are a handy way to offset the costs of acquisition of foreign technologies. Cross-licensing of Indian technologies protected by IP rights could help reduce the outflow of money on account of imports. Moreover, with a choice of IP-protected Indian technologies and brands, consumers and businesses in India could restrict imports by opting for the Indian offerings.

c. Exhortations to step up export of value-added products and services would be futile without IP strategies and plans. In the absence of appropriate branding (read ‘trademarks’) and patented product features, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to move up the value chain.

d. With restrictions on royalty outflows being relaxed, Indian companies or subsidiaries of foreign companies are paying huge sums in foreign currencies for technical services and brand usage. The development and establishment of global ‘Indian’ brands and the stepping up of patenting by Indian companies in foreign markets could counter some of such outflows. A reduction in net outflows on these accounts would require a sound IPR strategy both at the national level and at the level of individual businesses.

e. A look at the patent portfolios of global technology and market leaders reveals that a significant number of the inventors or co-inventors of the patented technologies are either Indians or of Indian origin. It is high time we think of ways in which Indians can invent and claim patent protection, not only in our own country, but also in foreign

countries. That may help stem the brain drain in some measure.

internal roadmapAt the company level, there are three criteria that determine whether a proposed strategy for intellectual property supports the attainment of business goals.

Does it help provide a competitive advantage to our business? Today we have a glut of choices in India. Some industry experts have called this a period of hyper competition. In such circumstances, it is wise to augment IP assets and to optimise the use of all resources, especially intellectual property assets.

Indian companies file less than 20 percent of the patent applications in India. Foreign companies file over 80 percent. It does not require much analysis to foresee the outcome of this trend in the future, when the patent applications of foreign applicants are granted and these are used to differentiate foreign product offerings in India.

For Indian companies it is imperative that they protect their market share in India with appropriate support from strategically structured patent and trademark portfolios.

Does our IP asset portfolio help us in mitigating risks? Given the trend I highlighted above, it should be clear to Indian businesses that their ‘freedom to operate’ within their most important markets (namely Indian markets) could be in serious jeopardy when the foreign applicants for patents in India are granted such patents.

What then prevents them from asserting their Indian patents against Indian companies and either thwarting the business plans of their Indian rivals, or imposing costs (by way of royalties or fees) on them? Perhaps the damages may not be as severe as they are in the United States, but the impediments looming ahead are significant enough to merit serious attention.

We have already witnessed legal action between Indian competitors with regard to patents for motorcycle and water purifier

Industry experts have called this a period of hyper competition. In such circumstances, it is wise to augment IP assets... especially intellectual property.



technology. It would be fair to presume that business leaders who pay some attention to their IP plans, and to the alignment of IP plans with business goals, will benefit in terms of risk mitigation.

IP asset portfolios can result in ‘value creation’ for business in two principal ways. Strategically structured IP asset portfolios open up new revenue options from licensing of IP protected brands and technologies. For example, franchising, which is one form of licensing, is a fast-growing business and a means for rapid expansion with shared risks.

nonlinear groWth optionsFranchising is based primarily on licensing a popular trademark or brand. Without a strong trademark, there would be no sound basis for franchising as a business. Licensing strategies can also open up new opportunities and revenue options for many businesses. For example, for India’s much admired IT services businesses, IP asset portfolios will provide a basis for ‘nonlinear’ growth options. IT companies could augment their revenues and profits by licensing patent and copyright-protected software products and tools (quite apart from IT frameworks and methodologies).

Strategically structured IP asset portfolios also help attract better teaming partners, vendors, value-added resellers, collaborators and joint venture partners.

Thus, IP assets open up new options for a business. This merits appropriate attention from business leaders in an era where outsourcing, ‘original equipment manufacturing’ deals, franchising, complex supply chains, collaborations, joint ventures, teaming, open innovation, crowd-sourcing and other business models provide new or augmented options for business growth and risk-sharing.

In the light of what I have stated in this article, it must be fairly clear that the formulation and implementation of IP strategy should involve the following key personnel:

The CEO. The CFO and his team. The CTO and CIO, and their teams. The Business Development team. Research heads. Marketing and sales heads. Product development heads. Business strategists.

This presupposes a fair degree of knowledge among such key personnel as to the basics of IPR, and the uses and limitations of different types of IP elements, such as trade secrets, patents, copyright, trademarks, service marks and industrial designs.

Will the formulation of an IP strategy guarantee returns and enhance business performance? Not always. But the failure to augment and leverage IP assets based on a sound IP strategy will certainly limit competitive advantages, raise risk levels, and curtail business and revenue options.

A famous advertising guru is reputed to have said that about 50 percent of advertising is a waste. The problem, he went on to say, was that we don’t know which 50 percent is wasted. That could hold equally true of IPR assets.

Without a strategic basis, IP assets could prove to be non-performing assets. An additional effort to formulate an IPR strategy that ties in with the business strategy will enhance the value of the IP asset portfolio. ¨



A large part of the debate around financial inclusion has focused on the provision of credit to the under-served. Although such microfinance

is without doubt an aspect of the inclusion story, it remains but a part of it. Inclusion needs to be more widely understood as encompassing financial literacy, the provision of investment opportunities, assuring security and identification to payment systems.

The financial inclusion story in India over the last two decades indicates that even public sector banks have struggled with the challenge of meaningfully providing services to the poor, and that the pace of inclusion has been glacial. With the advent of the right technology and ecosystems, alternate mechanisms for financial inclusion have appeared on the horizon.

Prepaid cards provide one of the most exciting shortcuts to inclusion. They are safer than cash, allow an element of control over spending and can be used to make purchases,

pay wages and transfer funds without the need for a bank account.

The role of prepaid cards in servicing under-banked groups has been recognised in the past decade. Even in developed economies such as those in Western Europe, it is believed that as many as 93 million people are ‘un-banked’ or ‘under-banked’. International consultancy Deloitte has in a report concluded that in the post-financial crisis world, banks are reacting to increased cost pressures by reducing services to unprofitable customers, thereby discouraging them from holding accounts.

Missing outThis lack of banking access means that payments such as direct debit, withdrawals and other transfers are denied to them. These individuals potentially miss out on discounts, and special offers, and even find it difficult to make mobile payments.

Prepaid cards are seen to be advantageous in more nuanced ways. Financial exclusion is much more than just the inability to access credit; it means missing out on the opportunity to enjoy many other conveniences. In recent times the prepaid concept has found powerful sponsors. The Centre for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), an independent organisation

The challenge of financial exclusion can be met by introducing prepaid cards, which are safer than cash and allow an element of control over spending, writes Govind Sankaranarayanan

Prepaid solution

Govind Sankaranarayanan has been with the Tata group since 1993, when he joined the group as a TAS manager. He has held positions at Tata Tea, Tetley and VSNL International, and is currently the chief financial officer and chief operating officer, corporate affairs at Tata Capital.



supported by the Ford Foundation, is a thought leader in assisting the financial services industry to find new ways of delivering services to the under-banked. CFSI has via protocols made it easier for prepaid to gain popular acceptance. Recognising that prepaid can work only in conjunction with an ecosystem, CFSI has worked with a number of prepaid issuers, including American Express, Visa, Wal-Mart, Western Union, Master Card and nonprofit organisations to create what are called the ‘compass principles’.

These are a set of practices which ensure that innovation and execution in financial services are beneficial to consumers. The embracing of financial inclusion and the creation of options having upward mobility are two essential elements of these principles. Other protocols of CFSI suggest it should be possible for prepaid accounts to be safe and insured, that users need to have many convenient locations for adding and using funds, ensuring clarity of fees, good customer services and easy visibility of balance and transaction history. Issuers also need to provide additional benefits such as proactive use of their product, which banks typically may not do for less remunerative accounts. They could over time create a credit history and facilitate budgeting as well.

There has been a dramatic increase in the usage of prepaid cards across different sectors of the economy. An estimate by Ernst

and Young indicates the size of the prepaid market in India was about `700 billion in 2013, and growing at close to 50 percent. The government has encouraged the provision of financial aid to the poor through such cards to prevent the misuse and diversion of money. It is now possible to channel payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme through prepaid cards.

Money Made siMpleThe Delhi Government recently launched the ‘Saral Money’ prepaid card to provide banking services to the un-banked. The American state of Virginia found that 20 percent of all households were under-banked or un-banked and could not receive direct deposits from the government; the state’s treasury issued half-a-million electronic prepaid cards, saving several million dollars per year.

Government payments are only one of the several ways the prepaid cards business assists inclusion. A large proportion of the Indian workforce is casually employed and paid in cash. For such employees a prepaid card can provide the convenience of tracking payments combined with security. The ‘I Cash Card’ is one which is widely used and accepted at the Indian Railways website, a large number of other travel portals, e-commerce portals, bill payments, etc. In Britain, parents of

The Indian government has encouraged the provision of financial aid through prepaid cards



teenagers have found the so-called Load and Go card very useful as a means of transferring cash to their children in boarding schools. This card can be prevented from being used at unsuitable internet sites or liquor stores, and enables the parents to trace expenditures.

For such a hugely under-banked nation, one would have expected greater reach of prepaid across India. Yet notwithstanding the conceptual support from different forms of prepaid cards, a lucrative business model continues to elude managers. In large part this is due to the challenge of managing operational complexity for customers who are also price sensitive.

The first challenge that managers face relates to the high levels of attrition among prepaid customers. Even in the United States, where there has been a culture of using cards for payment, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has concluded that the average lifespan of a prepaid card is about six months. Therefore, costs associated with establishing the card infrastructure have to be amortised over a relatively short time span.

To add to this complexity, the use of (and returns from) prepaid varies substantially based on circumstances — namely, whether it is for payroll, lunch or internet usage — and the charges that can be levied also vary. As a product that is likely to be marketed to the under-served, there are inherent limitations on the amount that can be charged. In the Indian context, it is unlikely that people will load more than a few thousand rupees on such a card and charges cannot realistically be more than 1-2 percent of this amount.

Making all this work entails a complex association between retailers, banks, telecommunication companies and issuers.

Not surprisingly, the jury is still out on whether retail cards can be profitable. Most business cases conclude with the argument that issuers of cards need to find some revenue streams beyond just fees and charges, at least until this business scales up. And often they cannot figure out what those are.

One would believe that the answer to this should come from the richness of data that any form of card usage would generate. Managers in this space then need to dig deeper into how knowledge of customer spending habits, the ability to induce customers to purchase from particular retailers and the inducement of greater loyalty can make this product more viable. Fortunately for them, the use of big data is coming of age at just the right time.

the data capture angleThe challenge earlier had been to analyse enough data with just the right nuances at the right time and use this to one’s advantage. The greater usage of cards addresses this challenge as payment histories, patterns of topping up and of use would be captured and immediately available to issuers.

There are a number of players, including small companies supported by venture capitalists, independent retailers and telecom companies, who are trying to target this market. It remains to be seen whether any one of them will take the plunge necessary to drive everyday usage over the hump.

The Tata group is well placed to be in this space, with companies in telecommunications, financial services and retail. The group also has an ecosystem of customers, vendors and dealers who could use such a card for a variety of payments. In addition, parts of the group clearly cater to semi-urban or rural areas, where large numbers of financially excluded or under-banked groups are present. This extended ecosystem represents an opportunity to create a large universe of prepaid card users and of ensuring that they get the benefits that this product can bring — security, convenience, and a significant measure of financial inclusion. ¨

An estimate by Ernst and Young indicates the size of the prepaid market in India was about `700 billion in 2013, and growing at close to 50 percent.

book review


In battles where small takes on big, poor goes up against rich, or slow paces itself against fast, there are plenty of occasions when the underdog surprises everyone and wins. The

apocryphal tale of David vs Goliath, where the giant Philistine warrior Goliath is defeated by the much smaller Israeli shepherd boy David is one such story.

This arena where underdogs overcome huge challenges to win success is the front opened up by author Malcolm Gladwell in his latest book: David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.

There’s a reason why Gladwell has been called a detective of fads by ted.com. The English-Canadian journalist and New Yorker columnist has written several well-critiqued books — Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, among others — on pop psychology and human behaviour that have topped best-selling lists for years.

In each of these, Gladwell drives home viewpoints that are best described as counterintuitive, shedding light on perspectives that deviate from conventional

wisdom. David & Goliath is no different. The book is an easy-to-devour collection of stories, anecdotes and research on a surprisingly wide range of subjects with a common theme: why success is not necessarily the purview of the big and the powerful.

Gladwell starts with two famous examples. The tale of David felling the well-armoured Goliath with a blow to the head from a single stone fired from a slingshot is retold along with

an explanation of why a projectile weapon (the slingshot) is superior to infantry weapons (spears). Another well-known hero Gladwell employs to drive home his point is TE Lawrence, famously known as Lawrence of Arabia, who with his small band of men fought the mighty Turkish army by using guerrilla tactics.

In his introduction Gladwell explains his intent: “Through these stories, I want to explore two ideas. The first is that much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of these kinds of lopsided conflicts, because the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty. And second, that we consistently get these

Meek and weak? You can beat the odds

Title: David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Allen Lane /Penguin, 2013

Pages: 306

Price: `599

book review


book review

kinds of conflicts wrong. We misread them. We misinterpret them.

“Giants are not what we think they are. The same qualities that appear to give them strength are often sources of great weakness. And the fact of being an underdog can change people in ways that we often fail to appreciate: it can open doors and create opportunities and educate and enlighten and make possible what might otherwise have seemed unthinkable.”

Gladwell argues that one of the reasons why heroes like David and Lawrence surprise us is that society remains hung up on obvious advantages such as size or power. It is taken for granted that ‘big’ equals success. What we typically do not foresee is the potential or the leverage that can be derived from strategy or well-planned tactics, and that the underdog is often driven by desperation.

The writer even points out the corollary: that too much of a good thing — wealth, size, power — can be a strong disadvantage. He uses the anecdote of a Hollywood film producer who discovers that he cannot actually pass on to his children the one thing that propelled his own success: the desperation to ‘make it’ that comes from having no money.

Gladwell has split the book into three sections, each dealing with a particular aspect of how the balance of power between the small and big can change. In the first section — which has the self-explanatory though really long title ‘The Advantages of Disadvantages (and the Disadvantages of Advantages)’ — he explores

how the meek can overcome long odds.One of the stories covers the tactics used

by a small, inexperienced, girls’ basketball team coached by an Indian immigrant who had never played basketball in his life. The team managed to face seasoned players and league favourites and eventually rose to the national championship level. How? By using superior strategy against opponents rather than relying on its clearly lower levels of skill and power.

The second section talks about the ‘Theory of Desirable Difficulty’, where Gladwell writes about people who have been forced by their inherent disadvantages to discover a less-traversed path to success. One such story covers the career of David Boies, one of America’s top trial lawyers, who overcame severe dyslexia to become a terror in the courts because he had developed the mental ability to assimilate information by listening, memorising and analysing what was said by people around him.

The third section is on ‘The Limits of Power’, where Gladwell writes about the negativity that sometimes comes with too much power, a potential minefield where power or size or force can backfire. The anecdotes here range from the British action in Northern Ireland to the Nazis in prewar Germany.

David & Goliath is a book of stories about people and their lives, but there are lessons here for the corporate world as well. Most companies are aware of the dangers associated with becoming too big: lesser agility, slower decision-making, distance from the customer, etc. All too often, the competitor in the market is not just another established company, but also a bunch of small start-ups that have carved out a substantial niche. A dive into this book will provide the frustrated manager with enough seeds for thought.

A seasoned writer, Gladwell uses a formula of two parts human interest mixed with one part research and analysis to lead his readers into rethinking the norm. David & Goliath is a pleasant read, one that opens up a new window to the world around us. ¨

— Gayatri Kamath

book review


An excerpt from David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants:

Gary Cohn grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, in northeast Ohio. His family was in the electrical contracting business. This was in the 1970s, at a time before dyslexia was routinely diagnosed. He was held back a year in elementary school because he couldn’t read. He had a discipline problem. “I sort of got expelled from elementary school,” he explained. “I think when you hit the teacher, you get expelled. It was one of those disruptive incidents…”

He called that period “the ugly years”. “It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying. I was working really, really hard, and no one understood that part of the equation. They literally thought that I was conscientiously making decisions to be a disruptive kid, to not learn, to hold the class back…” His parents took him from school to school, trying to find something that worked. “All my mother wanted me to do was graduate high school,” Cohn said.

When Gary Cohn was 22, he got a job selling aluminium siding and window frames for US Steel in Cleveland. He had just graduated from American University after a middling academic career. One day just before Thanksgiving, while visiting the company’s sales office on Long Island, he persuaded his manager to give him the day off and ventured down to Wall Street. A few summers earlier, he had been an intern at a local brokerage firm and had become interested in trading.

He headed to the commodities exchange, which was part of the old World Trade Center complex. “I think I’m going to get a job,” he said. “But there’s nowhere to go. It’s all secure. I walk down to the floor with the security gate and stand at the security gate, like someone’s going to let me in. Of course no one is. And then literally right after the market’s closed, I see this pretty well-dressed guy running off the floor, yelling to his clerk, ‘I’ve got to go, I’m running to LaGuardia, I’m late, I’ll call you when I get to the airport.’ I jump

in the elevator and I say, ‘I hear you’re going to LaGuardia.’ He says, ‘Yeah.’ I say, ‘Can we share a cab?’ He says, ‘Sure.’ I think this is awesome. With Friday afternoon traffic, I can spend the next hour in the taxi getting a job.” The stranger Cohn had jumped into the cab with happened to be high up at one of Wall Street’s big brokerage firms. And just that week, the firm had opened a business buying and selling options.

“The guy was running the options business but did not know what an option was,” Cohn went on. “I lied to him all the way to the airport. When he said, ‘Do you know what an option is?’ I said, ‘Of course I do, I know everything, I can do anything for you.’ Basically by the time we got out of the taxi I had his number. He said, ‘Call me Monday.’ I called him Monday, flew back to New York Tuesday or Wednesday, had an interview, and started working the next Monday. In that period of time, I read McMillan’s Options as a Strategic Investment book. It’s like the Bible of options trading.”

It wasn’t easy, of course, since Cohn estimates that on a good day, it takes him six hours to read 22 pages. He buried himself in the book, working his way through one word at a time, repeating sentences until he was sure he understood them. When he started at work, he was ready. “I literally stood behind him and said, ‘Buy those, sell those, sell those,” Cohn said. “I never owned up to him what I did. Or maybe he figured it out, but he didn’t care. I made him tons of money.”

…“The one trait in a lot of dyslexic people I know is that by the time we got out of college, our ability to deal with failure was very highly developed. And so we look at most situations and see much more of the upside than the downside. It doesn’t faze us. I’ve thought about it many times, I really have, because it defined who I am. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my dyslexia. I never would have taken that first chance.”

...Today Gary Cohn is the president of Goldman Sachs.

‘I wouldn’t be where I am today without my dyslexia’

Jan

ua

ry

2014 | TaTa

Re

vie

w | V

OL 51 IS

Su

E 4