Aditya Birla Group – Its work and significance to my life and the life of my country Siddharth Saha #IIM Trichy

The Aditya Birla Group was born in India with the coming of British Raj in 1857. Since then, there is no stopping in its journey to serving this country with its product and services catering to an enormous variety of fields such as Cement, Chemicals, Mining, Retail, Textile, Agribusiness, Finance, Education, e-Commerce, BPO, IT, etc. all due to the vision and perseverance of one man, Sri Seth Shiv Narayan Birla. Post Independence, their service to India is more profound and spread out and it happens to be the 3^rd largest Indian conglomerate in the country due to it being in a variety of sectors. I, myself have used many of its products in my journey of life. When I was worked in a real estate company in Kolkata for 28 months, the cement which we used for the development of all our buildings was UltraTech cement, the parent company of which is the Aditya Birla Group itself. I was ignorant of this fact until I was given training in my company. UltraTech happens to be the largest cement company in India was acquired from L&T in 2004. This cement being of fairly high quality finds itself being used throughout the length and breadth of the country. I would also like to add that the cement we used during the building of my own house was also UltraTech. As a student of IIM Tiruchirappalli, when I was researching into some textile and fashion brands, I came to know that even Allen Solly, an initiative of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle is a division of Aditya Birla Group. So to add honestly, my favorite blue jacket which I don for most of the winter is also of the same brand. On top of all this, Aditya Birla Group also holds a considerable share of 26% in the telecom service provider company, Vodafone Group and yes I use the same connection to communicate with the world daily. I am yet to discover how many more of Aditya Birla Group’s products and services I am using unknowingly! So when a company such as this has made so much impact in my life, I am sure it has made an equally significant impact in India and the world. It operates in 35 countries of the world and hence influences the lives of millions.

Challenges and the fight against them

It was a gloomy winter day in Kolkata when I was seated in a doctor’s chamber anxiously waiting for the doctor to finish reading my medical reports. I knew something bad was coming. And there I was! I had an inguinal hernia and bilateral varicocele. I was not shocked but was tensed for I would miss a lifetime experience of attending the All India Vayu Sainik Camp organized by the NCC in association with the Indian Air Force, due to this. But Given the perseverant person that I am, without wasting even a single moment, I asked the doctor to operate me that very week. I had made up my mind of going through the selection process despite my operation being done very recently. And that is what exactly happened, in just about a month’s time after I was operated, I was back at the fields of Fort William, the Eastern Headquarters of the Indian Army where the selection rounds were organized and I went on a rigorous training and competition round of 2 months attending 3 back to back state-level camps despite the pain in my operated area. I had to be involved in all kinds of physical military activity which included a run of 5 km every day, parade, shooting, tent pitching and surviving with the least of resources that there could be. It is needless to say that I was under tremendous pain throughout the day and never got sound sleep. The pain was unbearable at times. Even painkillers were not to be found inside the camp. Revealing it to the Commanders and Senior Officers would have led to my rejection. But such was the desire to represent my state at the national level, that I was ready to bear the pain. In this context, I would like to add that my fellow cadets proved out to be real friends in that difficult time of mine helping me in whatever they could. I am grateful to them and to the officers of the Indian Air Force who made me tough and resilient through the rigorous program to achieve what I wanted. After 3 months of rigorous training, service, competition, and unbearable pain, I was finally selected to be part of the team to represent the states of West Bengal and Sikkim in the All India Vayu Sainik Camp, 2014 held at Bangalore, India. I learned through this competition that sometimes you have to face unbearable pain and challenges to achieve your dreams and goals. You should take the chance every single time and go after it. The satisfaction despite the victory or failure will be worth it. I have been applying the same principle since then in all my endeavors and it has brought me to one of the most reputed B School in the country i.e. IIM Tiruchirappalli. Siddharth Saha #IIM Trichy