From travelling in yellow Ambassador taxis to growing up wearing Bare Denim t-shirts and Agile sportswear, from switching to Allen Solly chinos and Louis Philippe shirts to having actually seen their production at Jaya Shree Textiles, Calcutta and J. D. Birla Institute have given me many reasons to celebrate the advent of Aditya Birla Group.
The rising sun in the logo of the conglomerate truly captures the global rise and development of an institution that has strived to deliver in various sectors for the last seven decades. Mr. Aditya Birla had been known as a visionary and a formidable force in the Indian industry for his dream of setting up a global business empire at the age of 24. He was the first to put Indian business on the world map, as far back as 1969, long before globalization became a buzzword in India.
Post-Independence, the Birla group has achieved many milestones, starting with the incorporation of Hindalco. The no. one company globally in aluminium rolling serves to many industries like automobile, rubber, defense, nuclear energy and also to households with products like Freshwrapp and Superwrap.
Aditya Birla didn’t want to join the aluminium industry and struck out on his own in textiles. Jaya Shree Textiles, part of the illustrious Aditya Birla Group, is India's top linen brand manufacturing company. It is the first integrated Linen factory in the country with state-of-the-art facilities. The company has significantly revolutionized the Indian textile market by popularizing 'linen' in India across a wide customer base with its brand "Linen Club". Another arm of the conglomerate in the textile sector is Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd. It has both in-house and international brands under the umbrella.
‘The Engineer’s Choice’ for construction has always been Ultratech Cement, another offering from the Aditya Birla Group. Diversification has been the key for the organization with footholds in other industries also like telecom (Vodafone Idea), BFSI (Aditya Birla Capital), Carbon (Birla Carbon) and many more.
To strive in what I do, certain values keep me moving forward. Integrity, Commitment and Passion are the core values that I stand by. Many obstacles have come through, both at professional as well as personal front. My values along with perseverance have kept them at bay from hampering my attitude and performance. Additionally, where my experience falls short of overcoming any obstacle, I look upon certain personalities and their values, experience and ethos to help in the tough times.
At the professional front, work has been done for three different kinds of organizations, of different size and culture. The transition from one kind of work to another was one of the major obstacles. At Indian Oil Corporation Limited, I got to work in the field for the first time. That was more of a hurdle for a laid-back graduation student back then, but I was committed towards any task that was assigned and got to learn many things. The major obstacle faced was when the transition was from a family business setting to a start-up work culture, which came with strict deadlines, targets and scrutiny. Initially, I struggled with the dynamic routine and targets, but then I had to be on my toes and increase my productivity. Constant perseverance and keeping my integrity helped me with my work and also made me the recipient of Spot Award for excellence at Nearbuy India Pvt. Ltd. At the personal front, the most prominent obstacle was Semi-Final match of basketball at the club level, where I failed to lead my team to the Finals, but overcame in terms of selflessness and teamwork.