Compassionate state-of-art capitalism | Ila Gayakwad, IIFT

I have been an ardent fan of the brand ‘People’ and the niche audience that it has attracted. It was only after I probed into the details of it, that I realized how largely the Aditya Birla Group has touched my life and the lives of their clientele in over 35 countries! Also, I’m still trying to figure as to what it is that makes a customer choose Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Forever 21, Louis Philippe over the rest, unawares? ‘‘A melange of superlatives and state of art products across various dimensions’ is how I’ve come to perceive the Aditya Birla Group, and this is perhaps the reason why we make those decisions in shopping unawares. Superlatives - in terms of the summits that the conglomerate has reached in various sectors - world's largest rolled-aluminium producer, world's largest producer of viscose staple fibre, world's leading producer of insulators - is an epitome of visionaries. The world doesn’t have enough examples of those practicing  the coexistence of capitalism and philanthropy, but thankfully the Aditya Birla Group has managed to be one of the few shattering the stereotype. Reaching 7.5 million people annually, most of which lie below the poverty line, along with the elegance with which the conglomerate operates the businesses, is awe inspiring. It takes an unbelievable amount of commitment to envision and execute ideas that touch people - be it about installation of reverse osmosis plants, cataract surgeries, treating physically disabled people, blind children, training women to become entrepreneurs, touching upon sustainability, providing scholarships.Their approach, methodology, and genuine concerns to meet people’s basic needs is humbling.  Nobody will dare deny the manifestation of the Aditya Birla Group’s benchmarks trying to ‘increase the human development index of our country’. Followers of sustainability trends in various industries cannot sideline the many cutting edge techniques that Aditya Birla Group is bringing in. After all, ‘big is what big does!’

I recently came across a tweet quoting Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla which read - “If your first instinct is to run away from failures, then perhaps you’re doing it the wrong way!” My difficulties in life and me overcoming them have been these exact lines in a nutshell. I hadn’t faced many failures in life all because I had been what they could call an obedient, outperforming student who also went along well with people. This trend, however, faced a sudden crunch during my graduation. Somewhere mid-graduation, I suddenly started looking at myself as an under performer, fared terribly in my academics, suddenly went bad with my interpersonal skills, entered into a dark phase of depression, exhausted my health (both physically and mentally), lost my patience with people, especially myself, and indulged into a wide range of insecurities. I used to be someone who couldn’t read a paragraph straight with proper attention, who would stammer in everyday conversations, who could not bear the burden of seeing people everyday, whose attention span was only as good as that of a jellyfish - with this I could’ve only dreamt of entering a career that will could me into the domain of foreign trade that I long pursued. The first step to overcoming this was realizing where I was going wrong - my first instinct to all my difficulties had been me running away from my failures and not taking responsibility for it. Soon, my approach changed and I started owning up my actions and not blaming them on my peers, the education system, the Indian educational environment, etc. It is only after one goes through these rigorous phases of overcoming their hurdles and (especially mental) blocks, that one emerges as a humble yet hard working and sincere person. Soon after that I had the privilege of taking up the Vipassana course which changed my perspective towards difficult phases in life. I emerged as a more compassionate person who could not only take failures in life sportingly but also overcome them with grace. When you overcome your mind blocks, opportunities manifest out of nowhere. As for me,  I have finally come a long way to the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade where I’m finally able to work with full efficiency and the space of my interest with an inspiring peer group.