Decoding the Reliance-Aramco Deal

An investment in Reliance Group, rather the biggest one in its 53-year history, might just result in one of the largest ever foreign investment by any overseas company into India. This investor is none other but Saudi Aramco, which is not only the world’s largest and lowest cost-per-barrel producer of crude oil but also the most profitable company in the world ^[1]. This company is in talks to invest a handsome amount in the largest private-sector corporation in India.

The relationship between Saudi Aramco and Reliance Industries has already been a long one, 25 years to be specific. Saudi Aramco has already supplied 2 billion barrels of crude oil for processing at RIL’s refinery at Jamnagar till date. A potential 20% stake in the Oil-to-Chemical division comprising of Refining, Petrochemicals and Fuel Marketing Business of Reliance Industries carries an Enterprise Value of US $75 billion ^[2]. This deal will also result in Saudi Aramco supplying 5,00,000 barrels of Crude oil per day to Jamnagar refinery on a long-term basis ^[3].

However, the deal didn’t really have a great start. It fell apart on multiple occasions with Reliance demanding a higher valuation which, indeed, they were able to command with a much higher multiple than industry standards. As a part of the deal, Reliance industries will carve its oil-to-chemicals division and will become an independent entity in 5 years. However, for the first 5 years, Saudi Aramco will not directly own shares in the business division, though it will get a chance to appoint a key business leader, tentatively the COO, to oversee it ^[4]. Apart from this, Saudi Aramco has been on an acquisition spree and making other major investments in Asia to bolster its presence, building refineries in Indonesia, South Korea, China, and Malaysia.

To put things in perspective, Saudi Arabia’s oil export to the US was ~2,62,053 BPD in July 2019, nearly 62% down from 6,87,946 BPD as compared in August 2018, as a result of the US becoming self-reliant than ever ^[5]. This has resulted from the US Shale Oil Revolution and has been one of the major reason of OPEC production cut in 2017, resulting in reduced supply to the largest, transparent and timeliest market – The US. At the same time, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie, India will surpass China to become the second-largest oil demand growth center in 2019 remaining only behind the US and helping them offset a slowdown elsewhere through growth in Indian markets ^[6].

On the backdrop, this deal seems to be a perfect solution for Saudi Aramco to maintain stronghold and grip on the fastest-growing oil market in the world (bolstered by the swelling middle class) where it is facing stiff competition. By competition, we also mean the US, which is ramping up shale exports, and Russia who is looking for new customers and trying to making inroads

Source : Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Stepping into Mr. Mukesh Ambani’s shoes and understanding the story from his perspective, the deal will provide Reliance with the much-required cash to de-leverage its balance sheet, bring net debt to zero by March 2021, and fund the Jio and Digital business ^[7]. This is part of the company’s larger effort to expand its consumer-facing business including its retail chain, and its effort to move into the technology sector and internet services by diversifying from its core oil refining and petrochemical business. This deal seems to be a perfect synergy between the interests of the world’s largest oil producer and the ambitions of one of India’s largest conglomerates.

Written by: Surya Jain – PGDM “Apache” Class of 2021

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon

References

[1]: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/the-worlds-most-profitable-company-4984378/

[2]:  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-14/saudis-defending-coveted-indian-oil-market-with-reliance-tie-up

[3]: https://www.vccircle.com/reliance-to-sell-20-stake-in-oil-to-chemicals-business-to-saudi-aramco

[4]: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/ril-to-hive-off-oil-to-chemicals-business-into-separate-company-in-five-years-rils-pms prasad/articleshow/70651943.cms?from=mdr

[5]: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/15/saudi-arabia-dramatically-changing-its-oil-exports-to-china-and-the-us.html

[6]: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/energy/oil-gas/india-to-surpass-china-to-become-2nd-largest-oil-demand-centre-in-2019/articleshow/67641257.cms?from=mdr

[7]: https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/reliance-industries-agm-live-updates-mukesh-ambani-jio-giga-fiber-jio-phone-3-ril-stock-price-reliance-plan-12-aug-2019/1672964/

Change is Good, “I’m Lovin’ It!”

McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain, with 37,855 restaurants serving over 69 million customers daily in over a hundred countries worldwide ^[1]. Short time-to-serve, attractive pricing and offers, adapting to local tastes and preferences in different countries, and the traditional McDonald’s Happy Meal have been some of the prominent strategies of the chain that have stood the test of time. They understand the desire of their consumers and keep upgrading and evolving, not just for the consumers but for the benefit of environment as well.

Two British children,aged 7 and 10 have, launched a petition stating that the plastic toys that come with McDonald’s Happy Meal cannot be recycled and often end up being discarded. This petition has already garnered 325,000 petitions ^[2]. This movement gives a new direction to the firm in a constructive manner. Amidst growing environmental concerns, the fast food chain is also trying to live up to the expectations for minimum or no disturbance to nature. In the past, it has replaced plastic straws and cups with paper ones. Now the focus has shifted towards plastic toys given away by McDonald’s as a part of its Happy Meal packs and its hazardous effect on the environment.

McDonald’s can now explore new avenues such as “Sweet Edible Toys” of different flavors, which children can enjoy playing with, and would be not only be harmless but also serve as a neat dessert idea after a scrumptious Happy Meal. This would curb the menace of plastic pollution and, at the same time, would entice more kids to ask for a Happy Meal at an outlet. Introducing new variants of these toys with trending animated movie and comic book characters would help the brand and the product build and maintain its clout among its young customers.

Another option they can explore would be personalized happy meal boxes. Young patrons can have their own pictures or personal messages printed on the biodegradable paper boxes used to pack Happy Meals. Binding this with customer-driven social media campaigns for user-generated content can turn out to be a cost-effective marketing strategy and drive more customers to go “I’m Lovin’ It!” Social acceptance and bragging rights are some of the top priorities of the digitally-enabled youth worldwide. Engaging customers in content co-creation would be mutually beneficial for the customers as well as the brand.

The fast-food giant has started taking all possible steps to reduce the harm caused to the environment by its activities. By 2025, McDonald’s plans to use renewable, recyclable and certified materials in all kinds of packaging ^[3]. “With great power comes great responsibility”, and McDonald’s is very well cognizant of this fact. To survive in the long run, it is imperative for the company to be sensible enough in taking rational decisions which is in-line with the expectation and need of the society as a whole.

Children these days need not always be enticed with physical incentives such as toys and the likes. Proliferation of technology and increase use of personal devices by younger demographics have opened up doorways to new ideas for types of incentives. A brand like McDonald’s can bring about a revolution and transform itself into an environmentally-responsible brand by going eco friendly or by going digital, or both. This is where we would let the creative heads at McDonald’s’ marketing fraternity do the thinking.

Written by: Ranjeeta Gupta – PGPM “Spartan” Class of 2020

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon

References:

[1]: https://expandedramblings.com/index.php/mcdonalds-statistics/

[2]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcdonalds-happy-meal-toys-caught-in-backlash-over-plastic-11562583605

[3]: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mcdonalds-packaging-sustainable-cut-renewable-recycling-latte-levy-a8162231.html

Why should an Experienced Professional pursue a One-Year MBA Program?

Many of us are attracted towards the prospect of earning an MBA within one year by pursuing a PGPM (Post Graduate Program in Management), instead of investing two years in a conventional MBA program, commonly known across B-Schools in India as the PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management). There are ample of institutes and universities abroad that offer one-year full time MBA for working professionals, taking in the best of these experienced professionals and training them to take up much higher roles. And you read it right, these programs are full time and are not the same as part-time executive MBA programs. But how is a two-year course delivered in one year and how does it differ from conventional two-year programs? Who is this program more appropriate for? What are the gains and ROI on a one year MBA? Let’s find out.

Where is the sharp contrast when it comes to a one-year MBA?

A one year MBA program, designed for professionals with at least two years of work experience or more depending on the MBA colleges or business schools offering it, leverages the same experience and industry exposure to steer classroom discussions. Yes, discussions, and not lectures. A typical classroom session involves a faculty member guiding the discussion around concepts and students relating to those concepts through their own professional experiences, applying them to historic business cases and developing pragmatic solutions to business problems. A whirlwind of insights and perspectives ensue, questioning conventional wisdom and the status quo itself. This pedagogy eliminates the need to begin from basics and the faculty can get down to business quicker with such a cohort.

Summer internships are not a part of the one-year curriculum as the students already have the industry exposure that they need. Instead, live-projects and experiential learning programs provide an opportunity to work on projects with companies, under the mentorship of a faculty member (and often also an industry mentor) and develop innovative solutions to real-world business problems. This helps a student to be confident as a management professional by the end of the course.

A one year MBA program cuts back on redundancy and gets students to speed by leveraging their own experience. The quality and completeness of the curriculum is maintained to ensure a holistic learning experience, with peer-learning forming a major component of it. People from different educational backgrounds, industries and job profiles come together to share their insights, applying their experiences to concepts and relating them to real-word examples.

How intense does it get?

As stated by most premier business schools conducting such programs, one-year programs are quite rigorous but they do bring out the best in each student. Class hours are longer than those in other programs, followed by assignments, projects, readings and case analysis for the next day. To quote a one-year program alumnus from an Ivy League business school, the first few core terms are in fact a pressure cooker. But that same rigor trains a student to stay charged up and handle tense situations and unpredictable challenges at workplace. And what else does this reward one with? Let’s look at the benefits.

A much lesser opportunity cost:

The longer you stay as a part of a workforce, the harder it gets for you to take a break and live without a steady income while pursuing higher education. This opportunity cost increases with the duration of hiatus. Here the opportunity cost is the income that you forego when you take a break from work and pursue higher education. Existing loans and family responsibilities make it even more difficult to take a break for two long years. A one-year program halves the opportunity cost and lets you get back to your professional and personal life in a year.

A quick leap:

There are those who work hard and wait for the next appraisal, traverse the hierarchy and climb up the corporate ladder. And then there are those who jump a few levels and take up managerial roles by investing their time and efforts in management education. It’s one year in a business school versus years of appraisals and job changes. An investment of money, time and effort in the former saves one all the time and effort that would be spent in the latter.

A step ahead of the rest:

While fresh minds are still in their second year of management education and busy getting placed, the one-year graduates are already awaiting their first appraisal. Who wouldn’t want faster returns on investment?

One year programs are gaining more and more traction every year with some of the best MBA colleges in India, such as the Indian School of Business (ISB), Great Lakes Institute of Management Chennai and Gurgaon, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), and others offering the One Year MBA in India for experienced professionals, among other MBA courses. Admissions to these programs are conducted through major management entrance exams such as GMAT, CAT and XAT, and follow the same rigorous admission process with Test Score and Profile-Based Shortlisting, Essays or Statements of Purpose, Written Ability Tests, and Personal Interviews. Both types of programs cater to different types of audiences and carry equal credibility. It’s just a question of how appropriate a particular program is for an aspirant based on experience and background.

Marketing – A Science or an Art? Deep Insights by Mr. Julius Augustine: Vice President, Kantar

Great Lakes Institute of Management leaves no stone unturned in ensuring that students are not only introduced academic concepts, but also real world scenarios at a very early stage. They get the opportunity to meet achievers who have contributed to the industry at large and learn a great deal from them. The Spartans – the PGPM Batch at Great Lakes, Gurgaon, this year – had the privilege of interacting with Mr. Julius Augustine, the Vice President of Kantar. Mr. Augustine was here with a platter of marketing concepts and the students were all set to gain a broader picture of their theoretical learning.

Mr. Julius started off his career as a Senior Research Executive at Mudra Communications where he performed customized research for brands such as Rasna, HLL, P&G, and Reliance Industries. He then joined ORG-MARG (now AC Nielsen) and spearheaded the Client Servicing portfolio for Media clients.  He has also served as the Associate Vice President for Hansa Research Group wherein, he was responsible for Business Development and Client Servicing. He then served as the Associate Director & Country Manager for Acorn Marketing & Research Consultants in Kuala Lumpur. Mr Julius has serviced clients such as Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance, ICICI Bank, Reliance Communications, Fame Adlabs, Piaggio, etc. Presently, Mr. Augustine is heading the Coca-Cola India and Havells accounts at Kantar, working towards Brand Communication, and Creative & Media Consulting.

The session was extensively insightful for the upcoming Management Professionals, as it was fascinating to walk through topics such as Market Safety, Market Research, Segmentation, Micro-Management, Customer Retention, and Branding. What made the session more engaging was hearing about his experiences with organizations such as Coca-Cola, Swiggy, Amazon, and other high performing organizations.

Mr. Augustine took the students through the age-old debate of marketing being an art or science, while we drew parallels of marketing with religion as leveraged by marketers, and how segmentation of groups for market development is prevalent within the demographics of India. To quote Mr. Augustine, “Marketing is the antithesis of Religion, you need to desire religion and hence you need to market religion.”

While addressing the importance of good advertisements that please masses in general, he made sure the students learnt to appreciate the aesthetics of acceptability – the underlying art of marketing. He explained how, during the content creation for an advertisement, facial detectors track reactions of the people to whom the content is being showcased. He displayed and described the example of the latest Coca-Cola advertisement, emphasizing on how the first draft of any advertisement is decided by the face value of recognizable people, along with brand recognition. He gave the students the real world picture of Branding, and the underlying Market Research and Psychology behind branding a product.

He addressed a lot of questions from the students as well, especially on topics such as Market Expansion, Market Growth, and Market Intelligence. What made this part the most impactful was the fact that he shared and linked these to all his experiences pertaining to each of the wide sectors and companies he has been associated with. The students were left awestruck by his humility despite being an industry leader, motivator, and an inspiration.

He ended the session by stating “Be a researcher and never be bored,” and every Spartan could resonate with his words.

Compiled by Devyani Sormare, Somil Tyagi and Sunrita Sarkar

PGPM 2020 “Spartans”

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.

What comes after an MBA?

GREAT LAKES GUEST LECTURE SERIES – Mr ROHIT KUMAR

CX PRINCIPAL – SALES & MARKETING STRATEGY – INFOSYS

18^th August 2018

The weekends at Great Lakes, Gurgaon, after an end-term exam, aren’t complete without an interactive industry engagement event. This one was particularly more exciting as the PGPM batch of 2019, The Ninjas, gathered around to welcome Mr Rohit Kumar, the CX Principal for Sales and Marketing Strategy at Infosys, for a session on various career options in the IT sector after an MBA. Being an Infoscion myself, I was eagerly looking forward to the session delivered by a fellow Infoscion of a calibre to look up to.

Mr Rohit Kumar: An engineering graduate from G.G.S.I.P. University, who later completed his MBA from the reputed S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in 2012. After working for over 3 years as Senior Manager for Engagements at Nagarro, he took the helm at Infosys in heading the Sales and Marketing Strategy for the Oracle CX Cloud practice in 2016. He has more than 13 years of experience in business development, client acquisition, customer relationships & marketing. He has worked with clients across the world, focusing immensely on understanding the pain-points of the customers. Mr Kumar has an in-depth understanding of the IT industry and has varied project experience that gives a unique flavour to his working style. Before his MBA, he has worked with reputed firms such as IBM and SAP.

Mr Kumar set the tone for the session by talking about how the industry is segmented into various Verticals and Horizontals. He emphasized on how having a vertical depth or horizontal experience is the key to success. He also reinforced the importance of MBA graduates re-inventing themselves from time to time, once they enter the corporate realm, and being always able to think on their feet.

What are the options for an MBA graduate?

Mr Kumar walked us through the different types of profiles that an MBA graduate from an IT background can pursue, leveraging all his years of experience before choosing to join a B-School. He explained how a candidate with leadership skills and the ability to work under pressure can look for a role in Project Management. Having sound technical skills, a know-how of various business dimensions and a keen insight into the minds of the costumers make one perfectly suitable for this role. Additional relevant certifications are a bonus.

Consulting is another lucrative career option which is open to management graduates. Explaining the differences and drawing demarcation lines between Strategic and Management Consulting, Business Consulting, and Technical Consulting, Mr Kumar cleared all misconceptions and ambiguity that management students usually have regarding these roles. Sharing insights from his own experience in working with some of the leading service providers in the IT Industry, Mr Kumar shed light on the current scenario in the business world, especially on how the thin line between Business and Technical Consulting is disappearing with each passing day, and on how companies are preparing themselves to have a strong presence in both the domains.

He also spoke about other roles such as Business Analyst, Sales Management, and Pre-Sales Management. While Sales Management requires a candidate to be extremely innovative and creative, pre-sales demands domain expertise and the ability to think about multiple solutions to a given requirement in order to create a variety of offerings for the customer to choose from. A business analyst, on the other hand, is expected to have requirement analysis capabilities coupled with excellent communication skills.

What should be the approach of an MBA student?

Mr Kumar enlightened the students on the right approach towards pursuing the role that would do justice to their experience and skills. Identifying one’s own skills and also identifying the kind of work that would be truly enticing is extremely important for an MBA student. At the same time, it is vital for a student to follow the companies they aspire to be a part of and keep themselves abreast with what the industry experts are talking about. In addition to this, growing one’s network and developing a niche skill holds crucial importance in skyrocketing one’s career growth.

Importance of LinkedIn

LinkedIn, the social network for corporates, has become an important tool for corporate networking and Mr Kumar strongly emphasized on its relevance and how an MBA student can leverage it to improve their future prospects. He inspired the Ninjas to step out of their comfort zones and do what most people hesitate to – add a minimum of 20 influential people to one’s connection every day while sending scheduled emails on one’s professional and academic development every 3-4 months to all connections in order to gain more visibility. This tactic bore fruit for Mr Kumar as he landed 5 offers through LinkedIn alone by the time he graduated as an MBA. LinkedIn is a platform which every professional should use to the extent of its potential and connect with a number of people who would eventually open doors to more gainful opportunities and a fruitful career ahead.

Concluding Thoughts

The session turned out to be an extremely enlightening experience and this was evident by the whirlwind of questions Mr Kumar received from the ever-enthusiastic Great Lakers. To wrap it up, the talk delivered by Mr Kumar will forever be etched in our minds as we prepare ourselves and follow his advice for our placement season and look for the right jobs in the right firms with the right attitude and approach. Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon, expresses its deepest gratitude to Mr Rohit Kumar for sharing his extremely valuable insights with the upcoming graduates.

Author: Arpit Gupta

PGPM, Class of 2019, Great Lakes, Gurgaon

The Joy of Giving: Karma Yoga Session 1

July 7^th, 2018

“Don’t give to get. Give to inspire others to give.”

~ Simon Sinek

One such choice we made is to explore the side of our personality which allows us to be generous in giving, without expecting anything in return.

We, the students of PGPM 2019 – NINJAS, started our journey on 7th July 2018 with the same mission in mind. Red walls, lush green compound, enthusiastic students in the uniforms planting trees, joyful teachers; these are the visuals which welcomed us to the Primary Government School of Fazalwas, Haryana. It was euphoria all around; innocent faces, wide smiles, genuine conversations. We were elated by seeing the school kids deeply involved with themselves and maybe this is what it is called “being in present” or “mindfulness”.

After a quick introduction, we were pleased to witness various performances by students such as dancing, singing, and mimicry. Post the icebreaking session, we were quick in executing our plans for the day. Teaching tables through Vedic mathematics technique, unleashing the talent hidden in the students by asking different questions about their likes and interests, engaging them by playing games with them. We clapped, danced and laughed along with them and got lost in the moment forgetting all the worries, assignments or projects. There was a sense of belonging and blissfulness in those tiny classrooms with minimum facilities. It gave us immense pleasure to have connected with these kids when they were over the moon sharing with us their fantasies, friends, and little playful fights they had amidst strong bonding. At that moment, we felt there is a lot of selfishness in giving back to society which is the immense satisfaction and happiness you experience in the process.

Giving back to society not only makes us generous, it also adds purpose to our life and happiness in doing something for others who need it more. Giving back to society is de-stressing too, it helps us to realize our own self and manage our inner relationships to make us live a more balanced life, allowing us to keep a balance between our daily chaos and our need to become a more responsible citizen and an individual.

Seeing the sheer joy and happiness on the kids’ face and knowing that we have been a small reason behind those smiles has been an unparalleled experience. And we are forever in debt to the Karma Yoga initiative of Great Lakes, Gurgaon for introducing us to such joy.

“At the end of the day, it’s not about what you have or what you’ve accomplished. It’s all about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.”

~ Denzel Washington

Author: Urvi Sehrawat

PGPM, Class of 2019, Great Lakes, Gurgaon

Life @ Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon

“Memories are the Timeless Treasures of the Heart….”

The Initiation

It seems as if it was just yesterday when I received an offer letter from Great Lakes and now, in just a blink of an eye, this beautiful journey has come to an end. The Gladiators (PGPM 2017-18 batch) are now well equipped with paramount insights and knowledge to enter the corporate life again with a new and improved outlook. I remember the day when I anxiously stepped into the campus for the first time, feeling like a pond fish that has crossed rivers to land up in a mighty ocean, wondering how I will adjust to this new environment.

Offsite – Rishikesh

The thought of living in a hostel at an entirely alien place with 120 unfamiliar faces gave me jitters. But the ice-breaking offsite trip to Rishikesh, organized by the institute along with Prof. S.K. Palhan, completely erased all my inhibitions. In a matter of just three days, the entire batch of 120 strangers formed an indestructible bond of friendship. All due credits to white water rafting, rappelling and various other team building exercises of which we all were a part of during our trip.

The Fabulous Faculty

Entering a classroom after working for 3+ years was a grilling experience, to say the least, but with less than 365 days on our Great Lakes calendar, there was no rest for the wicked. And thankfully, the faculty did a brilliant job at educating us with their extremely innovative and interactive teaching methods and techniques.

From Professor Umashankar’s quirky and witty marketing classes to learning the concepts of balance sheets and P&L statements with Dr Preeti, the months just flew by. Dr Poornima made the HR classes fascinating by adding a gaming element with lifelines and it was mandatory to go through pre-reads before entering Dr Jones’ classes which coupled with countless other assignments and projects felt exhausting at that time but helped grasp the key concepts in an effortless manner.

Lectures

Being from a software development background, I never imagined I’ll have anything to do with economics in my entire life but our esteemed Dr VP Singh made its concepts clear as a crystal by helping us create a small start-up and run the same in college for 20 days. The exercise turned the entire campus into a carnival. Everyone had their businesses up and running ranging from serving Nimbu-Pani and Bhel-Puri to Gaming zones and grocery delivery units. Later on, we analysed the revenue generated, break-even points etc.

Walking with the Giants

There was more than just classroom learning to Great Lakes as the industry interactions and CXO talks kept us busy throughout the weekends as well. People with extensive industry experience visited the campus and a lot of synergy took place. Being in the same room and interacting with some of the most celebrated names of the corporate world was like a dream come true for us.

Mr Pramod Sadarjoshi – Senior Director, HCM Strategy & Transformation, Asia- Pacific, ORACLE

Though inside the campus but never separated from the business world, we got ample opportunities to discuss the latest upcoming technologies and changes in the global framework of organizations. We participated in various conclaves related to SMAC, Human Resource, Marketing, operations and Finance where we had panel discussions among CXOs of different organizations to get an in-depth knowledge of the industry.

Committees, Clubs & Chaos

During the committee interviews, the entire campus was in chaos. We were all trying to find our strengths and decide where we fit in. Whether we’ll be a good fit for guiding prospective students for admissions or strengthening the brand of our institute? Whether organizing events was our cup of tea or assisting the institute with placements?

Admissions and BPR Committee

With a lot of preparation and cracking a grilling interview, I ended up in the Admissions and BPR committee. I was actively involved in the branding of the institute, writing blogs, handling the social media channels, volunteering for the admission process, answering queries of prospective students on Quora, guiding new admits under the flagship of Buddy Program and travelling to different locations for the same. This has given me a lot of exposure, and today, I am a completely changed and confident personality altogether.

Annual Events

We, as students, were responsible for organizing the events like TEDx, Crest (annual management fest), Sapience (annual management conclave), Foundation Day, Alumni Meet, and Dr Bala’s Birthday etc. Moreover, as a part of the Great lakes family, we also celebrated all the festivals from Onam, Lohri and Ganesh Chaturthi to Independence Day, Christmas and Holi with the same zeal and enthusiasm. Moreover, there were DJ nights, Fresher’s party, Halloween and a lot more parties which were organized to perfection by our student council.

TEDx GLIM Gurgaon

The Endgame

Lastly, not to forget, the point we all were here for – The Placement Process. The CCS team along with Placecom put in a lot of efforts in terms of interview preparation, GDs, resume review etc. Personal effectiveness sessions were conducted and mentors were allocated to students to have a smooth process. The proud feeling of getting placed and celebrating the placements of our friends was priceless.

This journey has been fantabulous and completely phenomenal amidst sleepless nights, group projects, assignments, exams, co-curricular activities and much more. The guidance and mentorship provided by faculty members and the staff paved our way for a better tomorrow. All of us have made friends, who will last a lifetime. The beautiful impressions will stay in our hearts forever. I would sum up this beautiful journey by saying,

“I’m really gonna miss this place, I am gonna miss my college days”

 

Author: Sakshi Khurana

PGPM, Class of 2018, Great Lakes, Gurgaon

What does Great Lakes Institute of Management look for in a Candidate

“Do I possess the qualities required to get into a top B-School?”

This is the question that goes through the minds of all professionals a few years into their careers. Great Lakes Institute of Management goes through thousands of applications each year and only a select few get accepted.

So, what differentiates the selected applicants from the rejected ones?

Before answering this question, one must understand the fact that entrance exams like CAT, XAT, GMAT, etc. are just the tools for primary filtration. If a good test score is the only weapon in your arsenal then you’re in for a surprise as the final selection depends on a candidate’s performance in the subsequent stages that include PI, essays, group discussions etc. The basic idea behind such a rigorous admission process is that a candidate must be able to justify his/her test score with something more substantial.

The Great Lakes admissions committee is always on the lookout for that one factor in the applicants which makes them stand out from the crowd and if you possess even one of the following qualities, you’ll gain a significant advantage over rest of the applicants.

Potential to drive Business Impact through Leadership

Leadership potential is the top box to check when you apply to Great Lakes. We want to invest in an applicant who’ll go out and make an actual difference in the real world. Therefore, you will have to demonstrate that you possess what it takes to be a leader either in your work experience, academic life, extracurricular activities or elsewhere.

Demonstrated Track Record of Achievement

We keenly seek applicants who have a demonstrable record of achievement. We truly believe that achievement can manifest in many forms, from academic excellence to college extracurricular activities to professional accomplishments, to personal wins.

We value demonstrated achievement irrespective of its scale and sphere; whether you’ve started up a company, headed a project at work, captained a sports team or organized a relief fund, we consider all these as examples of achievement.

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

As an MBA Grad, you’d be expected to not just be good at what you do but also effectively portray that you are good. You need to be able to market yourself and effective communication and interpersonal skills are the key to do that. If you are a brilliant professional but can’t make a pitch for your ideas and opinions or can’t convince others about your potential, then you probably aren’t ready for the big leagues. The essays and personal interviews are the stages of the admission process where you can showcase your communication skills.

Relevant Work Experience

Work experience of minimum 24 months is a mandatory eligibility criterion for applying to the PGPM program. But more than your career choice, you’ll be assessed on the basis of the progress you made professionally vis-a-vis your earlier self. The factors that make you stand out are the consistent upward movement of our career graph, roles & responsibilities on the job, team-building, managerial tasks and proactive approach.

Thought Clarity & Career Aspirations

When you’re applying to Great Lakes, you must have a few choices to help you lay down a foundation. Whether you wish to achieve a leadership role or switch careers or become an entrepreneur post your graduation, you must be able to clearly communicate it to the Admissions Committee. Remember, it’s not just about securing a place in a B-school, it is more about what difference you want to make in the real world and neither is possible without aspirations and ambitions.

Right Fit with the Program

All MBA programs have a personality. For example, the PGPM at Great Lakes is best suited for professionals who have proved their mettle in the industry and are now looking for an accelerated growth. The PGDM, on the other hand, has a completely different approach as it prepares the individuals to face the real world business challenges for the first time. In order to secure a place in Great Lakes or any other B-School, you’ll have to effectively justify that you’re not just compatible with the program but with the culture of the school as well.

We at Great Lakes are looking forward to meeting you. So, Good Luck and May the odds be ever in your favour.

 

Team Admissions

Random B-School Musings

Even as term 4 for PGPM 2018 is underway, it seems like yesterday when I entered the campus of Great lakes institute of management, Gurgaon. I think it will be fair for me to say that by now our learning curve has grown exponentially (I was actually looking for an even more superlative word) for having studied twenty two courses in these four and a half months. In the aftermath, however, we have sixteen ‘not so frequently opened’ yet bulky pillow sized books for our perusal (I honestly don’t know when and how these will actually be used.)

But as I recount the seemingly short experience here, I struggle to describe how awesome this journey is panning out to be. I am unable to elucidate that feeling where, on a Friday night – 11:53 PM to be exact – you are still in the Academic block and ceaselessly trying not to miss the midnight deadline for a class group project and at the same time keeping your subconscious mind alert about the pre-reads you have for next day’s schedule that has an early morning lecture on Statistical methods for decision making and Financial accounting.

TGIF? Nah, not for a B-schools student. (Now I know why corporates crave for Fridays)

But all this seems lame and off-centre without the most important ingredient in this recipe for what I call the ‘B-school Khichdi’ – “The almost ready future Manager”.  Yes, the My B-school herd has been the most entertaining and the most Heteroscedastic (Prof. Bharadwaj, please forgive me for the usage) bunch of individuals. Ok, a quick recap – Heteroscedasticity refers to the circumstance in which the variability of a variable is unequal across the range of values of a second variable that predicts it. Thank me later.

These people have made life interesting and I would be irreverent if I don’t mention the kind of people I have encountered here. So, in no particular order, let me first introduce you to:

• The Future CEO. No, the batch’s current CEO. PGPM batch of 2018 knows who that is. This person is extremely good at everything without being the best at anything. We all know the phrase – “Jack of all trades and Mas…” (Just kidding. Or am I?) Talking of class participation, this person speaks regularly and intelligently in class without ever saying anything remotely controversial. Diplomacy is the word!
• Ok sorry. I am getting ahead of myself – In economic theory, and also in lay man’s opinion, there is a notion that whatever goods and services are provided, they must be paid for by someone – that is, you don’t get something for nothing. As Prof. Himadri would say, “There ain’t no such thing as free lunch”. Or as I abbreviate it, Tanstafl.
  But we sure have “Free- wait for it-loaders”. These are the clever ones. They know the knack of delegating responsibility without giving the slightest notion that part of the onus is on them too. But we all sure have a lot of things to learn.
• Moving on, we have the ‘Friend-setters’ who have continued their trendsetting attitude of being jovial and cordial with everyone. But there are also people from the exact bipolar end.
• The Solitary Reaper – No, that is too optimistic a phrase for this person who thinks the world is an illusion and human interaction is a mystery. William Wordsworth would never want me to tag such a person with his beautifully written metaphor of a nightingale. The lone wolf would be a suitable phrase, yes. But who knows. Although termed aloof, they are the fiercest of friends and they have their own little world. They are focussed with full intent on one goal. Ok, too much philosophy. Apologies.

By the way, this ‘One goal’ theory brings me to the most important subject of discussion that any B-school has to offer – Placements.

Needless to say, even as I am drafting this, the Pre-Placement preparation scenario is in full swing and it never ceases to give jitters as soon as a JD from a firm that is offering jobs is released. But the most dominant part of this preparation has to be the “Group discussion” prep and it is hilarious at times.

I hope the PlaceComm doesn’t throw me as an outcast when I talk about the observations I have made in these sessions. The observations are actually on the participants. So I think I am safe.

Every group discussion (I’ve observed) has these. And I am one among them (so much for modesty). Here’s a broad categorization of the four typical characters I have encountered in GDs so far:

• The “Know it all” sort – The genuinely, just, ridiculously smart person of the batch who often brings up unusual and weird (yet relevant) opinions on the table during a discussion. This person sure has a way of getting noticed, for the right reasons. Sadly, all we can do is look up to him/her.
• The “I agree with you” sort – Always finishes the other person’s sentences and adds the aforementioned phrase. Seldom has unique points but vehemently participates nonetheless.
• The “Search engine optimist” – This person has gone through that One link on the internet (Invariably the first link that pops up on a basic google search. No matter how remotely irrelevant the current topic of discussion is, this genius will try to bring in some fact or figure from that One link
• The “Silencer” – The loudest noise this person makes is from his pen when he is scribbling stuff during the initial two minutes that are given to gather ones thoughts. This person has all the right points to discuss, but fails to bring them out in speech. Definitely noticeable when the group discussion is a fish market.

There are innumerable memories that are etched on our minds since the past four and a half months and I am sure a lot more is in store for us as we head on to the placement season with vigour and zeal.

Godspeed!

Author: Samuel Johnson

PGPM, Class of 2018, Great Lakes, Gurgaon

Is a dot-com bubble shaping up in general merchandise retailing?

Internet business has definitely altered the way we shop but internet retailing will keep existing along with Brick and Mortar shops in future. Yes, “along with it”, as people will always have socializing needs as well as convenience of shopping online. I predict that brick and mortar shops will soon convert into something like life-style-shops, where people will come to have socializing time in an ambience and environment that will allow them spend quality time along with shopping goods with confidence of touch and feel. For example, there might be Mid-size or large cafes having a small-boutique store inside with a classy-touch so that women can shop while their husbands can sit down, sip a cup of exotic coffee or play games on a play station (A large-scale existing model of this is malls with shopping stores along with food and gaming stores; such models may change but will not erode away) and socialize with other people around in many ways. There can be ways to incentivize customers to socialize, network with people and refer their “experience” further; this can induce exponential demand. The whole idea is about creating user-experience because people don’t just buy products/services now…. they buy experience, whether its offline or online.

I would be delving into the internet retailing business in India to see if it’s another bubble-burst in making, more so for the top-three players that claim 70% of the market share in India viz. Amazon, Flipkart & Snapdeal and analyze who stand to win.  Among these three Amazon seems to be pacing much faster than other two. Each E-retailing company has its own strategy to increase its market share; What would help them to win would be business fundamentals rather than winning the “who-has-better-valuation-race” (based on some model, matrices and cash-flows in future….blah..blah …blah) While they are doing everything from price-slashing-discounts, Faster Delivery, exclusive tie-ups with brands, acquisitions to even backward integration in supply chain, the consumer is clearly able to get a different experience with every new move. Valuations can be subjective, over-optimistic or even completely off-the-track; what I would want to look at is whether this is again a bubble-bust scenario or is there some stability or sanity shaping in the online-retailing industry mostly driven by Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal.

As per industry report from various sources collated by Brand equity forum, Indian Retail Market is poised to grow at 12% per annum to about US$ 1 Trillion till year 2020 from US$ 600 billion in year 2015. Out of this B2C E-commerce is expected to reach US$ 102 billion by 2020 and US$ 220 billion (in terms of Gross Merchandise Value) and 530 million shoppers by 2025. Overall E-commerce market is expected to reach US$ 120 billion by 2020 supported by faster internet speeds and faster adoption of internet services along with increase in app-based customer base.

Brand equity

I strongly believe that any business proposition has to comply to established economic theories; Like how a country cannot keep printing its own currency at will, without substantial products, services & other fundamentals in the economy to back it up, any business also cannot be ascribed a value/assessed without strong fundamentals, products & services to back it up. Brand equity reflects a lot of these parameters as it also covers the perceived confidence of sellers and buyers. While recognition of a Brand as a performing brand, increasing market share and price inelasticity reflect a lot about brand equity, Online retailing industry is not yet  in a price controlling position (Can’t raise their margins, they don’t have any for that matter).

a) Customer’s Side

In B2C online retailing, Amazon has steadily increased its market share and has captured more than 1/3^rd of the market-share, whereas Flipkart and Snapdeal combined have nearly 40% market share. If we talk about most used apps the numbers are still high for Flipkart at 34% along with 11% for Myntra and 6% of Jabong that it already owns. Amazon is installed on 21% of the mobile devices, whereas snapdeal on 16%. Noticeably Amazon seems to have picked up at the app-installation figures since November 2015, the time when Flipkart decided upon the strategy to provide mobile-friendly site for direct browsing rather than from app.

b) Seller’s Side

An important point that I would make is that assessment of any online retailer from sellers’s point is as important as it is from customer’s perspective. As per the results from a study (Neilsen’s E-commerce Sellers study Q1 2016-Jan-March) highlighted by Business Standard, starting point to assess the brand equity  is the brand-recall for most sellers (Amazon-25%, Flipkart-21%, Snapdeal-20%), second is the overall awareness (Amazon-86%, Flipkart-82%, Snapdeal-20%.). Providing a favorable platform to sellers increases the brand equity of an online retailer manifolds.

Fundamentals

Tracxn Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Has its own list of Deadpool companies (online business) in India and has its own matrices (like shrinking team size, , suspended operations and decline in user traffic) to list them. This approach seems logical when we look at recent failures in e-commerce business like askmebazaar that suspended its operations due to lack of funds/Cash and  as reported, left 4000 employees jobless in August 2016 ,was looking out for a potential sell-out.  There have been many dead and walking dead companies in the Deadpool list of Tracxn. Looking at recent sell out of Jabong at much lesser a price than valuation (giving rise to a terminology called Jabonged) and downfall of askme bazaar there are new rounds of discussion on e-commerce bubble.

So simply building an online business & burning cash to achieve figures that help you to make it saleable (be it Plan A or Plan B) is a “well-planned-scam” under the daylight, atleast for the stakeholders (Investors, debtors, vendors, employees…..well not customer… they just have to download another app and shop like a boss). Though finance is fungible and the money can be rolled but there has to be enough cash to be rolled. A business that was not started with intent to run & sustain on its own constructs rather than just the mercy and so called loyalty of its customers is a scam as somebody is going to lose sooner or later. Abidali Neemuchwala, new CEO of Wipro (although from a different industry) interestingly said, in an interview for Mint, “I am not afraid about falling Revenue or profitability, I am excited about profitable growth, we will not buy revenue by sacrificing margins”. Most of the internet businesses focus on growth, expansion, revenues and await success that never happens. Simply put the business has to generate its own cash from margins. On contrary all online retailing companies (taken in this write-up) have negative profits.

In case of internet retailing there are lines of products mostly common across all companies (only Snapdeal, Flipkart & Amazon in this write-up) whereas services, value proposition & operations would definitely vary as per their own common or mutually exclusive strategies because each one of them is trying to differentiate & win maximum market share whether it is volumes, Revenues, Product segments etc. So to have a pulse of the industry and see which company is going which direction, we should look for their past & present operations as well as current strategies that have futuristic approach or scope for profits as well.

FLIPKART

• Flipkart has acquired Myntra and Jabong that have already been leaders in apparel retailing and it is going for strong private brand tie-ups (like how Myntra’s 25% revenue comes through Roadster, Mast & Harbour and Dressberry). HRX by Hrithik Roshan is a lifestyle & sports clothing brand (and some accessories) which is soon going to tie up with Flipkart (Flipkart is targeting the majority stake)
• As per a report by A.T. Kearney and Google; fashion is expected to be dominantly, the largest product category in online retailing by 2020. Fashion segment offers much fatter margins viz a viz books and electronics and in fashion, private brand tie-ups reap larger margins than third party.
• Flipkart is much ahead than everybody else when it comes to fashion segment (with 12 private brands of Myntra). As per a commentary by EY, having private brand tie-ups helps a company learn about merchandising and branding giving them better negotiation power with external brands. Flipkart is aggressively trying to improve in this segment as it offers fat margins and may help them become profitable.

AMAZON

• Amazon is consistently improving on Revenue and market share and surpassed Flipkart in gross sales in July
• Amazon is catching up well in Smartphone segment with Flipkart while it is already a leader in book sales.
• Amazon is coming up with its fulfillment centers in Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai with a total of 5.5 Million square feet storage space (adding to 2.5 million sq-ft. already existing over 21 centers in various states in Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Telangana, West Bengal) for sellers which shall bring down their fixed costs. This strategy as per my opinion is going to have double impact for Amazon as it will get products at real lower rates (bringing down storage/logistics cost for sellers, also building closer association with them-80% of sellers on amazon use its fulfillment service) and consumers will keep getting lower rates on Amazon with faster delivery (two important factors in user experience). This strategy will have a strong backward integration advantage and strong geographical hold across India in supply chain.
• Amazon Prime is a paid service that gives customer a faster delivery (1 or 2 days). This has seen success in US and other markets. But Indian consumers want more than just the faster delivery. However even a small part of the 50 million user base can be enough to give benefits.
• Fulfillment center and Amazon Prime combined can help Amazon do away with discounts. Any company that can build a strategy around this idea will eventually see the sustainable success (profitable growth). Amazon seems to have taken a formidable position.
• AmazonBasics (by cloudtail India pvt. Ltd.) brand selling headphones, charging cables, bags and various other accessories contributes more than 40% of its business and is set to expand it substantially this year (2016)
• Have aggressive plans in private label offering in electronics accessories, groceries and fashion segments. If this happens they can take Flipkart head-on.

SNAPDEAL

• While GMV (Gross Merchandise Value-Value of goods sold on an online-marketplace company) has remained a dominant metric to monitor the growth, Snapdeal-CEO, Kunal Bahl said Snapdeal is focusing on net revenue rather than GMV. It has cut down discounts and cost of advertisements; helps fight cash-crunch situation.
• Snapdeal has diversified portfolio wherein it has FreeCharge (mobile recharge), Shopo, Vulcan, Gojavas, Rupee power (online financial services platform), exclusively (luxury ecommerce site) etc. in its basket.
• Shopo is a market place for sellers of handicraft products (with zero-commission in revenue, just a fee). It has seen good amount of success with one lakh sellers onboard in just nine months. Shopo can be a promising online shop for small businesses with logistics (connects to logistics companies) and payments tools (freecharge) embedded.
• Vulcanexpress and Gojavas were conceptualized by snapdeal to compete with its rivals flipkart and Amazon as having in-house logistics is more economical for marketplace companies (it makes logistics reliable & scalable) but snapdeal was late to do this and has faced problems with these two ventures.
• Freecharge has much younger customer-base 18 to 25 years (age-bracket), with 10 million app-install-base. Snapdeal has a app-install-base of 20 million and its customers belong to 25 to 35 years age-bracket.
• While Snapdeal seems to have taken a diversified approach, success is yet to be seen in these ventures as well and focus will be shared on all such ventures, whereas its rivals are focusing to improvise on lesser diversified models.

Conclusion

The financials available for the online-retailing companies (on public forums and platforms) do not give a veritable insight. However, I have tried to track the fundamentals and strategies being followed by the major players in the industry.  While Amazon and Flipkart seem to have taken the formidable position of top-two players over last one year, Snapdeal despite its move to focus on profitable growth, is losing market share and its strategy doesn’t seem too focused. Snapdeal is trying to grab everything it can, Flipkart is much focused on its most profitable segment, Amazon has a sound approach of wooing both customers and sellers on its market place and is working towards weaning off the discounts. My personal opinion is that Amazon and Flipkart can be the last survivors with profitable growth. Snapdeal and other players may lose the game. It’s a boom-bust situation for everybody else than Amazon and Flipkart.

Disclaimer: This study is based on use of data from private company database, newspaper articles and internet-trends. The data collated through different sources like “similarweb” etc. have been duly credited to and are indicative in nature. The author doesn’t claim any ownership or the veracity of figures mentioned. The ideas that have been borrowed have been duly credited and other self-proposed ideas are inconsequential and meant only for the academic-engagements of the institute.

Author : Gaurav Chauhan

Senior Research Fellow, Great Lakes

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 49 “Education & Spirituality”

My dear friends,                 

Once I was captivating introduction of the new batch of MBA at NPTI. The dialouge went as follows:

A Student:          Sir, I am Shrivastava, BE(Elect)

Me:                       I am not interested in your surname and your degree

-These are on our records

Student:             Sir, I am Mahesh Kumar (Imaginatively substituted name)

Me:                      That is your name given by your parents-drop it

Student:             I am a student of NPTI

Me:                      That’s your present occupation-I know it

Student:             Sir, I am a boy

Me:                      I am not interested in your gender

Student:              I am becoming conscious now, who am I?

Another Student: I am feeling intrigued, I am thinking now,

His next:               I am sensitized on my existence today,

Next to next:        My conscience says I am God’s creation,

Yet another:         I am motivated to think, I am divine.

Me:       When you drop all your labels, you come out as “the pure you” :

• Your consciousness (awareness)
• Your conscience (sense of right and wrong)
• Thinking & feeling part of you
• Your sensor/ sensitivity
• Your motivation/ inspiration
• Your divinity

-is your Spirit . Keep it awakened!

We need it all the time for the spiritual paradigms of our MBA education at NPTI, I indicated. I further clarified to them that subjects like “Power Reforms” , “Customer relationship & Entrepreneurship”, “Energy Environment Interface & Sustainable Development” etc. derive their essence from holistic spiritual paradigms of our survival. Besides technicalities, they involve ethics and ethos, human values, customer care, environmental sensitivity, resource renewability, society’s anxieties over clean energy, electricity for all and its availability 24×7 and so on.

Spirituality

Spirituality is a rather mysterious term for the scientific community who keeps experimenting with external and physical world only. There are several inner dimensions of human existence which can not be denied; for example Mind, Intellect (consciousness transforms intellect into wisdom), Innner voice/ Intuition (sixth sense) etc. An encounter with one’s own “inner dimension” is spirituality.

Spirituality is manifested by original qualities of “the spirit or the soul” such as love, compassion, wisdom, bliss, peace, purity, humility, power, forgiveness, sacrifice, contentment, self-responsibility, values, self-esteem, harmony and connectedness to others.

Spiritual literacy is a basic literacy for all that enables the understanding and use of the deeper meaning and connection in all aspects of life. Spirituality teaches us how our lives fit into the greater scheme of things.

Education & Spirituality

 Swami Vivekanand said : “Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain, undigested all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated just five (5) ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.

A semi-literate man “Anna Hazare” also talked of 5-ideas

1. Pure Thoughts
2. Pure Conduct
3. Unblemished Life
4. Sacrifice and
5. Capacity to withstand humiliation;

which he assimilated, practiced and demonstrated, becoming the most literate man of today, saluted by the Indian Parliament.

Education is not merely Academics

Somehow we have misunderstood academics to be education

– We teach our children to read and memorise history but we don’t teach them to create history

– We teach them geography, but not geographical cultures and respect for them

– We teach them science, but not the science of life

-We teach them external management, but not internal management of Mind

Education is to lead a person to knowledge (know-how & know-why) graduating further to wisdom (discovery of truth by himself) to see life in its totality and to face it in its completeness. It is to set a higher goal of life, inner transformation, vision of oneness and genuine care for others.

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI) Govt. of India

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 45 “Solar Rooftops in India”

My dear friends,

India has been a land of revolutions witnessing the life changing upheavals like the Green Revolution and the White Revolution. Now she is on the verge of next revolution i.e. “Solar Revolution”. The newly set target of 100 GW Solar Energy by 2022 will change the position of India on the map of solar powered nations across the world. With 38 GW, Germany has led the world in Solar PV with a global aggregate of 177 GW. Can India follow suit?

Out of the Indian target, 40 GW is earmarked for Solar Rooftops. Our country has around 337 million houses as per the census 2011. A 1-kW system per house could add up to 337 GW of installed capacity; commercial and industrial rooftop space being additional avenue for generation which signifies that the 40 GW target is a small fraction of the potential. The commencements of “Make in India”, “Start-up India”, “Stand-up India”, “Housing for all by 2022” and “Digital India” missions are other elements which can complement and accelerate the transition.

Today, India’s 1/3^rd population has no access to electricity and lives in darkness. This can only be answered by decentralised sources of energy like solar. Solar Rooftop PV (SRPV) is a decentralised technology, which is being encouraged due to its low land footprint and ability to reduce transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. Weak local distribution infrastructure, lack of economies of scale and poor social outlook has prevented SRPV systems from penetrating the Indian market. Currently India has only 300 MW of rooftop solar projects.

Consumer awareness

A survey was conducted by one of our PGPM (Energy) students to gauge the awareness of consumers towards solar technology and the apprehensions/partial knowledge related to it. It was an on-line survey and more than 50% respondents belonged to the age group of 25-30 yrs. Most of the respondents (98.3%) were aware of solar technology and the cost of the system which signifies that people now know about the solar rooftop PV technology.

Encouraging feedback was that about 84% of the respondents showed their willingness towards installing SRPV system in future. Most of the respondents are not fully aware of the incentives and subsidies provided by the Government. Almost 41% of the respondents knew about the area required for the installation of SRPV. However, only 6% of the total respondents have installed SRPV systems.

Almost 38% of the respondents were not aware of the new target of 100 GW of Solar deployments by 2022. About 59% of the respondents didn’t know about the Net-metering scheme. There were some ‘true-false’ questions which were asked to test the apprehensions in the minds of consumers. The results show that the respondents are still not aware of the basic features of the SRPV system and have certain false assumptions like solar PVs may cause electric shocks; it will not generate electricity during clouds, etc.

The results show that still a lot is to be done at the awareness front to give a boost to the SRPVs in India. An awareness and a promotional program is proposed to remove the apprehensions and for the better penetration of the technology with promotional ads like that of “Clean Water”, “Sanitation”, “Child Education” etc. The Government can also mandate each energy generator whether conventional or non-conventional to put an information board emphasizing the benefits of Solar Rooftop PV.

Possible Elements of Awareness Campaign

1. With about 300 clear sunny days, the solar energy available in a year (5000 trillion kWh) exceeds the possible energy output of all fossil fuel energy reserves in India.
2. India is ranked number one in terms of solar electricity production per watt installed.
3. The electricity generated by Solar PV becomes free in 6-7 years (payback period) and you enjoy free power thereafter.
4. Government provides 15% subsidy on the capital cost of installation of solar rooftop PV.
5. Solar PV works more efficiently in cold climates (see graphs below).
6. On a cloudy day, typical solar panels can produce 10-25% of their rated capacity. The exact amount will vary depending on the density of the clouds, and may also vary by the type of solar panel.
7. The Solar PV doesn’t give electric shocks if touched rather they are required to be cleaned daily to keep them dust-free to increase efficiency.
8. 1-kWp of solar panels typically require 8-12 m² of shade free area to generate 4 kWh per day.
9. Cost of Solar Rooftop PV varies between ₹80,000 to ₹100,000 per kW system.
10. The electricity generated from solar PV costs ₹6/kWh.
11. The solar energy generated can be supplied to the grid if in surplus.

Recently, a team of researchers from Stanford University have devised an ingenious means of boosting the efficiency of solar panels by exploiting a fundamental physics phenomenon. Solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up. Just as the top of our head radiates excess body heat as infrared light, the researchers have developed a translucent overlay comprised of patterned silica that does the same for solar panels. The overlay separates the visible spectrum of light (which generates electricity) from its thermal radiation, effectively “cooling” the incoming light, radiating the heat away from the panel while allowing more photons to be converted into electricity. Thermal overlay cools the panel’s surface by as much as 22^o F and boosts energy production by 1 % (a sizable efficiency jump in the world of solar energy production @ 11-15% panel efficiency).

The fact that the “Solar panels lose efficiency as they heat up” and “that they can suit more the colder and sunny climate” seems to have been ignored in the state-wise target allocation of SRPV out of 40 GW by MNRE in June’2015.

Climate Change and Solar Rooftops

The National Action Plan on Climate Change obligates use of Renewable sources of energy to reduce the carbon footprint. The recent move of the Government in continuation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (2010) to install 100 GW of Solar by 2022 is a step forward to Climate change mitigation and connecting the unconnected through distributed source of energy. As the country moves towards the clean energy deployment, it also happens to be a good time for all stakeholders to spread their wings in the new market.

Solar energy revolution seems to be the next big thing after the achievement of Mars mission for India. It is high time for Government to prioritize its further movement towards the building of healthy and sustainable policy & regulatory regime to nourish the sector. A lot of improvement will also be required in the infrastructure to avail the net-metering and feed-in-tariff schemes.

Graph 1 & 2 : Temperature coefficient for crystalline cells

The Government can obligate the banks for financing an allotted target capacity of solar rooftop projects in a way similar to the RPOs for Industries/Utilities. Housing financing scheme should attach Home loan with a loan for Solar Rooftops. T
he “Make in India” program is an attraction to many foreign investors and soon the companies will base their units in the country; the Government can mandate Solar Generation Obligation (SGO) to utilize their rooftop space. An agreement and support from Discom’s would smoothen the trajectory of growth.

 

India’s Latest Initiatives at Global Level

It was our Prime Minister’s dream to associate 100+ Solar rich nations like consortium of Oil rich nations to harness solar energy faster by pooling their resources. This indeed happened in Paris during 2015-United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, during 30th Nov-12th Dec’2015. [ It was the 21st yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th session of the Meeting of the Parties to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.]

The Paris declaration aiming at containing the earth’s temperature rise to 2o C above pre-industrial level by limiting to 1000 billion tonnes of carbon, encompassed  “International Solar Alliance” of the countries to share the collective ambition to undertake innovative and concerted efforts for reducing the cost of finance and cost of technology for immediate deployment of competitive solar generation, financial instruments to mobilise more than 1000 Billion US $ of investments needed by 2030 for the massive deployment of affordable solar energy and to pave the way for future solar generation, storage and utilization for countries’ individual needs. Soon thereafter International Solar Alliance – the First International and Inter-Governmental Organisation of 121 Countries with United Nations as Strategic Partner was inaugurated by our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, and the President of France Mr François Hollande. They jointly laid the foundation stone of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Headquarters and inaugurated the interim Secretariat of the ISA in National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), MNRE, Gurgaon on 25-Jan-2016.

These are positive steps which may also boost Solar rooftops segment in future.

Satyamev Jayate !!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex. Director (REC) / Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

 

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 43 – “Goal Setting”

My dear friends,

Having explored the purpose of your life, you will have to set your time bound goals. It is desirable to recheck once the purpose of your life. Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes” said Kenneth Hildebrand. Goal setting starts with dreaming, envisioning and fixing your mission. “Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundation under them” said Henry David Thorean. “He is in possession of his life, who is in possession of his story” said Carl Jung.

Purpose→Dreams→→SWOT→→ Vision & Values →→Mission & Objectives→→Goals/ Targets/ Milestones

“Dream, dream and dream. Dream transforms into thoughts. Thoughts result in actions. Small aim is a crime” said Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. “Think BIG, Think AHEAD and Think FAST” said Dhirubhai Ambani. Goal is a dream with Deadline & Direction.

Bi-focal Vision is necessary. You should see your life with a bifocal spectacle which facilitates you to have a clear long-range vision of the purpose and goal of life and to visualize with equal clarity the short-term action plans and milestones compatible to the roadmap of your life.

Do you write down 4 or 5 personal goals for the year on 1st January each year, or on your birth day? According to a Study at Harvard, only 3% of people have set goals and they achieve what 97% achieve put together. Discovering your Personal Mission Statement from ‘your fire within’ gives your life a defined purpose and direction and empowers you to lead your life instead of spending your life reacting! Family mission statement can in fact be displayed in your Drawing Room. It’s the fire within, the deep-burning “yes” that empowers us to say “no” confidently to the less important things in our lives. Priorities of mission objectives having been set, your goals have to be SMART, the abbreviation standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound.

Goals are cascaded throughout the organization you work for. Personal and organizational goals can be synchronized for resonance and unbelievable amplitudes of performance. For instance, if you wish to become world’s most renowned expert in IT and your Company is into IT products, there can be a perfect synchronization of the two enhancing each other’s brand value. The Magic of Organizational Physics is in the understanding of the intrinsic natural frequency of individuals and synergizing the same with the induced frequency of the organizational enthusiasm.

“Vision without action is merely a dream; action without vision just passes the time; vision with action attached with passion can change the world.” Passionate people have benchmarks of yesteryears. Nothing is impossible as “impossible” itself sounds “I-m-possible”. Strong will, determination and passion make impossible possible.

The entire process from dreaming to goal setting can be understood through an example. I wish to quote an organizational example of National Power Training Institute (NPTI) with my first-hand experience as CEO for 5-years.

 

Dreams

At NPTI we had spent first 3-months on the “Value-Vision” exercise. “NPTI in the new millennium” containing a 30- point dream tagged on phrases starting from each of the 30-letters of the institution’s name i.e. National Power Training Institute; was displayed at the entrance of each Unit including the Corporate Center. Every letter of the institute’s name was expanded in a phrase to capture the common dreams, values, vision, hopes, aspirations, ethos and commitments. They not only became the “dream in shape” for NPTI family but turned into “Mantras” with vibrations and resonance.

No	Starting Letter of the Mantra	Mantra
1	N	Nurturing Human Resources Development in Power Sector
2	A	Absolute Quality consciousness
3	T	Train and facilitate the growth of every power professional
4	I	Integrating Information Technology with Hi-Tech Training
5	O	Organizational Excellence
6	N	Nonpareil
7	A	Attitudinal Reorientation to Cultivate Values & Ethics
8	L	Leadership in interfacing technology with management
9	P	Proactive Client – Orientation
10	O	Orchestrate values with Business
11	W	Work to evolve as transnational organization of distinction
12	E	Energize people who energize the nation
13	R	Reverberating with Enthusiasm to tap human endowments
14	T	To emerge as Global Leaders in HRD of Power Sector
15	R	Rendering Cutting Edge Technologies
16	A	Attain Self-sustenance
17	I	Institutionalizing Best Practices
18	N	Nourishing boldness and benevolence
19	I	Inputs designed to improve outputs
20	N	Network to pool expertise
21	G	Galvanize Power Professionals

22	I	Innovation at its best
23	N	No end to learning
24	S	Sharing our knowledge – caring for your needs
25	T	Touch of perfection every where
26	I	Internalizing environmental concerns in power technologies
27	T	Together in pursuit of brilliance
28	U	Upgrading skills & knowledge continually
29	T	Temple of wisdom & motivation is our workplace
30	E	Enhance value additions

SWOT Analysis (Environmental Scanning)

SWOT Analysis (identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) of individuals as well as organizations is extremely helpful in goal setting. While analyzing the above, constraints start appearing very clearly and action plan to overcome weakness and to defuse the threats emerges as described by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in his popular book “The Goal”. He outlines the Theory of Constraints (TOC) to save your plant/ industry/ organization. NPTI was on the verge of merger with some larger organization of Power Sector due to its insolvency.

A pocket size booklet on SWOT culminating into a 40-point strategic charter was published and slipped into the pockets of all NPTI staff. It was drawn under the following heads:

1. Multi-dimensional enlargement of Scope
2. Backward Integration of Power Training Experience with Academics
3. Turn-around on Self-sustenance
4. Esteem Building for the institution
5. In-house Capacity Building and Performance orientation

Vision with Values & Convictions

NPTI cherishes a vision of value addition to national and transnational power and energy sectors through Training & HRD, facilitating the growth of every professional, sharing our knowledge and caring for their needs. It endeavors to energize people who energize the nations. Vision is to emerge as global leaders in enhancing human and organizational excellence in Power and Energy Sectors by blending frontier Technologies with Management to facilitate HRD interventions that are instrumental in providing reliable, safe, economic and clean power.

We value our drive and commitment to provide top quality service to our clients. We constantly strive to motivate power professionals to tap their unique human endowments, consciousness, imagination and willpower. Together we make a difference. We believe that no job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big ! Every job is an important link of the organizational chain of activities. We value ‘understanding’ amongst colleagues and respect each other as team members of a human chain of our larger family i.e. the students, trainees, expert faculty, client organizations etc. We have an unyielding commitment to our targets. We mentally achieve them even before realizing them physically.

Training is a Religion for us. It is the Highest Multiplier of Productivity of individuals as-well-as Organizations. Training is an Investment, not Expenditure. Cost of Training is always less than the cost of non-training. “Power for All’ cannot be ensured without ‘Training for All’.

Mission & Objectives

Vision, values and beliefs should drive us on a mission mode. An empowering vision on the format of a 5-Year destination statement of “Do–or-Die” nature was injected in the DNA of the management team with 3-clear missions:

1. To achieve 100% self-sustenance
2. To become largest training organization in Asia Pacific- reaching a turnover level of 75,000 Trainee-Weeks (ultimate goal to become world’s largest reaching 100,000 Trainee-Weeks)
3. To occupy a unique position on the world map on sectorial specialization

An empowering vision is like setting a high voltage for pushing electricity ensuring flow of electrons in the desired direction. On a mission mode we stop not till the goals are achieved.

Goals/ Targets/ Milestones

1. To achieve performance parameters during 2000-01 highest ever achieved in any of the past 34 years of existence.
2. To beat the achieved benchmark of yesteryear, every year thereafter.
3. A performance jump of 25% in major parameters from the previous year, achieving “Excellent” rating in MoU each year.
4. Start Post Diploma in Thermal Power Plant Engg. In 2000-01 at New Delhi, Nagpur, Neyveli & Durgapur.
5. ISO 9001: 2000 Certification in 2001 by DNV, Norway (accredited by the RvA, The Netherlands).
6. Start B.Tech.(Power Engg.) in 2001-02 at New Delhi.
7. Start B.E.(Power Engg.) in 2001-02 at Nagpur, Maharashtra.
8. Launch “National Training Policy for the Power Sector” approved by Govt.of India by 2002.
9. Start B.E.(Power Engg.) in 2002-03 at Durgapur, West Bengal.
10. Start MBA (Power Management) in 2002-03, at Faridabad, Haryana.
11. ISO 14001:1996 in 2003 by DNV Certification B.V., accredited by the RvA, The Netherlands.
12. Start Post-Graduate Diploma in O&M of Transmission & Distribution in 2004-05 at Nagpur & Bangalore.
13. Deemed University Status by 2005 from UGC.

The above realistic goal setting exercise based on concrete concepts proved to be an historic driver of a paradigm shift in NPTI’s existence and made it a self-sustaining Power Training Institution-largest in the world expanding 4- units into 10 across the country (adding 2 at Guwahati & Nangal, taking over from CEA, PSTI & HLTC at Bangalore, activating CAMPS & Corporate Centre at Faridabad besides 4 existing Regional Units) in a term of just 5-years, achieving all the above mentioned goals. UGC approved in-principle, the Deemed University Status to CAMPS in April’ 2005. Though I have cited an example of an organization, same philosophy is true for personal goal setting.

I hope, the above clues will help you set your goals in life and achieve them.

Satyamev Jayate !!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

BE(Hons), M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI-Scholar, D.Engg. (Calif.), FNAE, Hon.D.WRE (USA)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex. Director (REC) / Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 20 – “Bharat Ratna” to Sachin Tendulkar

My dear young friends,

The President of India has bestowed upon Sachin Tendulkar  “Bharat Ratna” the highest civilian honour. At 40, he is the youngest recipient ever. Was it given to him for his unconquerable record of 100 centuries, 164 half centuries, 76 times man of the match; 33,896 runs in international cricket and 50,000 runs in all recognized cricket ? Or was it something beyond?

Sachin had a unique combination of aggressiveness and speed with patience and seriousness. His humility, devotion, determination, commitment, passion, hard work and discipline were exemplary. First glimpse of his passion was seen when he was 16 and in his first match Waqar Younis’ bouncer hit his nose that started bleeding. He went for dressing. On return he slapped 3 fours on his ball in a sequence. Since then no bowler around the world could breathe in peace against Sachin. During 1998, in Sharjah test match Sachin hit Shane Warne’s balls so intensely that he had to say that he sees him slap sixes even in dreams. His regular net-practice before the matches speaks of his dedication. He used to enter the ground with the same devotion be it a charity match or an international test match. He never lost his cool during worst of provocation; he used to answer his critics with his bat. On being declared “out” he never questioned the umpire or his destiny. He simply left the wicket most humbly and obediently, accepting the failure with highest grace.

There are numerous stories about his providing inspiration and healing emotional wounds of his co-players in the dressing room. After Sachin’s retirement, Coach of South African team Russell Domingo stated that absence of Sachin Tendulkar in the dressing room would make an easy way for their team. No wonder, for setting up such sports culture, his photograph hangs in Lord’s dressing room.

Did we recognize this kind of Sports Culture and Sportsmanship?

Manoj Tiwari says when he was selected first time for Team India; he had to return to Kolkata from Bangladesh trip without playing a single match due to an injury. As per directions of BCCI he was getting ready to go to Mumbai for treatment. Same day Sachin was going to Bangladesh via Kolkata. He took his phone number from the local manager and made a call to enquire about his injury. During the talk Sachin asked him which doctor he has been referred to. When he told his name, Sachin said “he is a good doctor but is a specialist of knees while your injury is in the shoulder” Manoj told him that he may have to follow the instructions of BCCI and moreover he did not have any idea of another appropriate specialist. Sachin said he should wait for a while, he would do something. After half-an-hour Sachin telephoned him to say that he has fixed up an appointment with another suitable doctor and Board officials would help him in this. Without accepting captainship for long, his inspirational leadership was exemplary. The way he was carried on shoulders round the ground by his team members including the captain after the World Cup win in 2011 speaks of it all.

Did we recognize this kind of Humane Leadership?

At the time of his father’s demise during a world cup match he came to India to participate in rituals and immediately returned to England. In the next match when he made a century his tearful eyes looking at the sky were signifying that it was a salutation of a real patriot to his father. During 1999 Chennai test match against Pakistan, Sachin after making a century taking the team to a near win situation was declared “out” at 136 and India lost a romantic match. Disappointed Sachin returned to the dressing room and wept like a child. He did not go to receive his “Man of the match” award. After team’s defeat, his century and award both became meaningless to him.

Lalchand Rajput coach for Indian team in Australian tour during 2007-08 informs that several controversies had shadowed that tour. During that trip itself one day in Perth he was coming down in a Hotel Lift along with Sachin and Harbhajan for dinner. The lift stopped at eighth floor. An Australian entered and the moment he realized that he was face to face with Sachin, he almost became mad. He said his life became worth since he could directly see the God of Cricket. During the Australian tour in 1998 itself, Matthew Hayden had stated “I have seen God. He bats at No.4 in Indian Team in Tests”

Sachin’s benevolent farewell speech was telecast alive in Pakistan. Many newspapers praised him vehemently. Urdu daily “Insaph” wrote “Sachin like cricketers are not born every day. All love and respect him beyond limits”. Even Pak Taliban “Tehreek-e-Taliban” had to issue clarification that they never meant that Sachin should not be praised simply because he is an Indian.

“When India plays its old enemy at cricket the ideal solution for many Pakistani spectators is for Sachin Tendulkar to score a hundred and Pakistan to win ” according to the writer Suresh Menon. This speaks volumes of modesty, goodwill and consideration that Sachin has earned and spread across the Indian sub-continent, nay, the entire world. There are stories after stories to indicate that Sachin became an underpin of international goodwill which diplomatic machineries may take ages to build!

Did we salute his statesmanship?

Sachin was on the Golden Coin that was tossed in his farewell match, he is on the postal stamp, he is in the school curriculum, he is in Madame Tussauds and he is in a temple. He was an accepted “Bharat Ratna” for the unmatchable grace of Sportsmanship, Humane Leadership and Statesmanship even before the formal conferment by Govt. of India.

You would have realized my dear friends, the focus was not Sachin but insights into his aura of multiple layers of glory and grandeur which is generated by great human effort.

Satyamev Jayate !!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI Scholar, D.Engg.(Calif), FNAE
Hon.D.WRE (ranked amongst 30-most eminent scientists in the world)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex-Director (REC)/ Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)

Chairman Emeritus Reconnect 14 – Attitude decides the Altitude

My dear young friends,

On 01-Aug-13, I was speaking at the Commencement Program of a new “Energy Management” batch. When you join a Management Institute you boost of your CAT percentile, specialization, work experience, computer skills, good scores in tests and interviews etc. These are not important indeed. What matters is what you have brought inside you? Hydrogen, Helium or Nitrogen & Oxygen combine?

Let me tell you a story to clarify what I am saying. A balloon seller was selling his colorful balloons- yellow, blue, red and green. Children getting attracted to these colors were rushing to him to buy balloons. After a while the crowd would disappear. For attracting them once again, the balloon seller would fill in a few balloons with Hydrogen and would release them in the sky which would go very high. Children would get fascinated once again and rush back.

Once a small kid came to him and started pulling his jacket gently. “What is the matter my child, do you want a balloon, don’t you have a coin to pay” he asked. The child said “No Sir, I wish to ask a question, may I?” He said “go ahead”. The child asked “If you release a black balloon next time, would it also go up the sky?” Melting at the innocence of the child, he said Oh my dear son “It is not the color of the balloon that matters, what is inside it matters. Similarly, it is not your dress, not the color of your skin, nor your qualification that matters. Barack Obama’s black skin could not stop him to become the President of United States for 2-terms. Bill Gates’ meagre qualification could not stop him to become the richest man and the largest donor in the world. It is the attitude inside that decides the altitude outside.

Marketing Gurus generally tell a story to the beginners that a marketing executive was posted to sell the shoes made by his company in a Tribal area where nobody was in the habit of wearing shoes. He did not find any shoe shop either. He immediately faxed to his Company that this was a wrong posting for him. He was called back and another executive was posted. After seeing the situation, he telephoned “Please send enough packs of shoes since there is a great opportunity to market the very concept of shoe-wearing and selling our shoes”.

Similarly after joining an institute, some of the students may take an impression that the Institute has a small library and some may take an impression that “Wow! this Institute has a huge electronic library, including access to EBSCO, Ace Equity, HBR online, Canvas etc. and the adjunct faculty is very strong-the real experts from Industry which makes this course really “Industry matched” and a series of CEOs/HoDs come and interact from the Industry and Policy making hub of the Government. For instance, the very next day Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Head of Planning Commission addressed our Global Energy MBA program. This is like Johns Hopkins in Washington, D.C. Infrastructure is not just the building but comprises also the software and the thought processes making rounds in it.

Mikhail Gorbachev once visited a construction site. He saw a small boy chiseling stones. He asked “ My dear boy what are you doing?” The young boy replied “Can’t you see, I am chiseling stones hurting in the process my fingers which are bleeding, can’t you see my sweat; I am struggling for my survival”. Gorbachev went to the other side of the same construction site and found another small boy doing the same. He asked him the same question. Quick came the reply “Can’t you see Sir, we are building a great Chruch where thousands of devotees would come for thousands of years and pray God” Same job different perception! After you join this course someone may ask “Why did you join this course? One may reply “I did not have much choice, so I am doing this course” while another may say “I am doing this course for a unique “value-add” that can make a difference in the Energy sector. And I am going to make it” Same course different perception!!

According to David Rosenfield, students can be classified in 4-categories 1)  Sponge which soaks every thing, can’t discriminate between good and bad. 2)   Funnel which   can’t  retain anything 3)   Filter which collects waste  4)  Thresher which collects essence and throws away waste. In order to create Threshers; we need to create a mindset of “discretion and prudence”, consciousness about the real purpose and value of the course and the art of selecting the “vital few from trivial many”. Learning is not simply listening to lectures, taking notes, memorizing the text and passing tests. One can complete Masters, with his laptop and his head top full of data, but little knowledge and wisdom in the absence of its application. You have to become a “Thresher” almost 18-hrs a day making life a school. Dr. Abdul Kalam, did not go to MIT, Harvard, or Stanford to get Best of Education, but he made Best out of Education. That should be your motto.

Two frogs accidently jumped into a bucket of cream one day. “We are in a mess” croaked one, after trying in vain to get out. “Keep on paddling” said the other. “It is no use” replied the first, adding “it was too thick to swim, too thin to jump over and too slippery to crawl. “We are going to die” he concluded and actually sank to the bottom and died. While the other one kept on paddling and paddling and paddling throughout night! By morning next he found himself resting on a lifesaving mass of floating butter, churned all by himself from within the same unfavorable fluid environment. “Winners never quit and Quitters never win”.

Having accidently or knowingly jumped into a course; one can’t say it is too thick to swim or too thin to jump over. He has to keep on paddling and paddling and paddling to churn the butter out !!!

Summarizing,

1. Your inner attitude decides the altitude outside.

2. You can have two entirely different perceptions about a job, choose the positive one.

3. “Make best out of education” becoming a thresher.

4. Winners never quit and Quitters never win. Keep on paddling…….

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI Scholar, D.Engg.(Calif), FNAE
Hon.D.WRE (ranked amongst 30-most eminent scientists in the world)
Chairman Emeritus, Great Lakes, Gurgaon, NCR, New Delhi, INDIA
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL), Ex-Director (REC)/ Executive Director (IREDA)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)