Part A

Aditya Birla Group was founded by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla in 1857. It is safe to say that the company has been around for more than 160 years now and has played an integral part in the growth of our country. The company is one of the largest conglomerates in the country, operating in various businesses like textile, cement, non-ferrous metal, fashion, telecom services and financial services.

My first interaction with ABG was back in 2005, when our first home was being constructed. A truck full of Ultratech cement was being unloaded and that’s the first memory I have of any of the ABG’s product. For the next one year, nearly everyday I used to look at that bag of cement and think how important this cement is for the construction of my house. Later, I realised Ultratech is the largest cement company in the country and our family has had a long and successful relationship with it. Other than Ultratech, fashion brands like Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England have had a huge influence on the type clothes that the Indian youth prefers to wear. It has given a common man like me the opportunity to wear clothes that were not a part of the Indian tradition and compete and match the world which runs after all these expensive branded clothes. Later, as my interest in finance has grown, I have had a close look on the working of Aditya Birla Capital, hoping to work for it someday and engage in providing financial services which the ABG brand has provided over the years, excellent.

Part B

I left my job in May’17 to prepare for CAT. In order to do that I went to my home town and started studying. Initially I had trouble concentrating and studying for larger period of time as after working for 2 years, I had lost the ability to sit for long hours and continuously read. During those days I even thought of stopping my preparations and start looking for a job. But somehow, I kept myself motivated. MBA was something I always wanted to do and I remembered the quote “If there is a will, there is a way”. As time passed, I was able to concentrate well and the results started to show. From getting 70 percentile in mocks initially, my score started touching 90. Still there was long way to go. During the last 20 days I was under a lot of pressure, as all kinds of negative thoughts started floating in my mind like no job in hand i.e. no backup plan and family/peer pressure. There were a lot of people who constantly discouraged me and tried to rattle my confidence. I never lost hope and, in the end, got 98.7%ile. All this happened due to the persistent effort and belief that I had in my capabilities. For me getting over all the troubles and achieving my goal was a big achievement. These 5 months made me realize that nothing is impossible when you have your heart and mind at the right place.

Pratyaksh Mangal

Aditya Birla Group- Our trust for over 150 years- IIM Kashipur