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Chisel out your own destiny...the ABG way !!! | Himanshu kumar singh,IIFT

Growing up in the family of farmers, I got the opportunity to see closely the hardships faced by the farmers of our country. The ever drought like conditions in our country due to less rainfall made survival of our farmers even more difficult. However, it was the green revolution during 1960s, which opened the new horizons of modern cultivation. Fertilizers from ‘Birla Balwan, Shaktiman urea’ emerged as the true friends of farmers, as they helped them to increase their produce manifolds. As a kid, I used to accompany my father to the big FCI (food corporation of India) godowns to sell the agricultural produce (mainly wheat, rice) at fairly subsidized rate fixed by government. Those days we had no choice but to eat stale food of our tiffin box, while waiting in long Queue for our turn unlike today when ‘freshwrapp’ is available with us to preserve our food. Furthermore, even after the rapid advancement of mobile technology, our village remained isolated for several years until ‘Idea cellular’ (now Vodafone Idea) setup first mobile tower in our village and connected us to the rest of the world. My village suddenly saw boost in its economy and employment with emergence of new mobile and electronic kiosks and e-recharge points. With increase in purchasing power of villagers, the mud houses which were around 90% earlier gradually started to take the shape of pakka houses made of mortar. I still remember my village cement godowns stacked up with those yellow colored cement sacks, which I grew up to realize were of ‘UltraTech cement’.

The master of all trades | Akhil Thulaseedharan, IIFT

When everyone is trying to become the jack of all trades, Aditya Birla Group has inspired me by setting an example to be the master of all trades. Belonging to a business family, my father has taught me the importance of multiple business and income sources. It becomes really hard when a person has to handle more than one institutions and there is where I found Aditya Birla Group as a more dominant influencer. The founder of the group, Mr. Shiv Narayan Birla and I hold a connection as we both started our careers from the Manchester City of India, Ahmedabad. The journey from a local tradesman to a multinational company having a presence in more than 40 countries is a truly inspiring story which aspires me to be like him.  I have been in direct contact of products from the Group like Vodafone-Idea, Louis Philippe and Allen Solly. Most of my wardrobe is filled with Louis Philippe, Allen Solly, and Van Heusen.  The product diversification and placement of Aditya Birla Group is another example that teaches how to capture the market with a cutting edge. The products being placed as a range of affordability from Louis Philippe to Peter England covers a huge market in the fashion industry. Being from a family who runs two nonprofit schools at Ahmedabad, I respect the Corporate Social Responsibility activities undertaken by Aditya Birla Group which includes a huge number of schools and model villages, in which one I personally visited is Punsari, 100 kilometers from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The level of infrastructure development acquired by the village has set our nonprofit organization’s goal to replicate such activities in the coming span of time.

Building Home, Building People | Hemant Keshav Jadhav, IIFT

ABG in my Life | Saurabh Puranik, IIFT

Growing up in India, television has occupied a big place in every kid’s life. Cartoons and sports shows have been a constant, accompanied with the occasional serial and news program that we viewed with our parents. A major part of the TV viewing experience was the advertisements. One advertisement that still is fresh in my memory is the one of the Aditya Birla group in which four people manipulate the elements of water, earth, fire and wind. This was my first exposure to the Aditya Birla group. At that point of time, the advertisement felt very fascinating. Later, I started seeing the sun of the Aditya Birla group in various places. Eventually I came to know about the Aditya Birla group and its influence in the life of people. The biggest difference is created by the group in the lives of under-privileged children and the rural population via their CSR activities. Also their projects in healthcare and sustainable livelihood are another facet of their philanthropy. At a personal level too, the Aditya Birla group has played a part in my life. The earliest memory would be the Freshwrapp aluminium foil that my mother used to wrap sandwiches for my tiffin in school. After consumption of the food, the aluminium foil would be turned into a ball to play with. I have spent many a lunch breaks playing with that ball of aluminium foil. I have been a resident of Mumbai for the major part of my life. The Bandra Worli Sea Link has turned into an iconic identity of Mumbai. The Aditya Birla group via UltraTech Cement has played a significant part in the construction of this mammoth structure. Another recent example would be the preparation for joining Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. I had to buy a business suit for college. The first place I visited for this was the Planet Fashion outlet near my home. There I found the perfect suit from Peter England for me. That same suit has been a constant companion with me in college. These are just a few examplesof how the Aditya Birla group has been a part of my life. But there are many places where we are not aware of it but the group has played a major part in our lives. I hope that this successful association with the Aditya birla group continues in the years to come.

PANTALOONS, DEPRESSION AND MBA...

I remember the very first time I walked into a Pantaloons showroom. I was 13 years old and the final exam of 7th Standard had just ended. I was so excited to go to a real shopping mall for the first time. I had only seen malls on TV screen. Being native to a small town of Halisahar in West Bengal, my shopping spree ended at the local market mostly. The year was 2010 and Flipkart, Amazon and other e-commerce sites were sci-fi concepts.

Your Legacy is your own to build | Tushar Katta, IIFT

‘The goal isn't to live forever. It is to create something that will'. Aditya Birla Group is a multinational conglomerate based in India that has ventured into many different sectors like Telecommunications, Retail, Cement, Carbon black, Textile etc. But apart from producing multiple products, Aditya Birla Group has also inspired people and influenced their lives in many ways. Be it changing the world of telecommunication with Vodafone-Idea or dressing like professionals with retail brands like Allen Solly, Louis Philippe or Van Heusen. Be it going casual with clothes from pantaloons stores or forever 21 or building roads and houses for people using Ultratech Cement. Aditya Birla Group has made it possible to be a part of everyone’s life in some way or the other. I associate with Aditya Birla Group on a personal level as it is my go-to shop when it comes to clothing. While coming to IIFT, I had to buy formal and informal clothes and I bought them from the Pantaloons store. I particularly liked the variety that they offered and had many options while buying. Aditya Birla Group also provides capital to people who are not financially stable and require monetary helps. Aditya Birla Group provides people with opportunities so that they could leave their past behind and work towards becoming a better version of themselves. Aditya Birla Group also works extensively to fulfil their corporate social responsibilities and this is something that I admire about them. They work towards helping people with physical disabilities to undergo corrective surgery so that they could lead a normal life, provide education in 56 schools across India, provide vocational training to 95000 people in India so that they could lead a sustainable livelihood etc.

Failures- Stepping stones towards Success| Mehak Narang, IIFT

When India was fighting the battle for Independence in 1857, there was a man in Pilani unaware of the fact that his vision will pave the way for the magnificent industry in India. Seth Shiv Narayan Birla was a pioneer of the massive conglomerate named The Aditya Birla Group. Commencing its operations as cotton trading firm, this company has spread its roots into 14 different sectors such that it has become an indispensable part of our lives.

You Do You - A story of Self-Betterment|Shruti Shreya, IIFT

Aditya Birla, a US $44.3 billion-dollar corporation whose mission is “To deliver superior value to their customers, shareholders, employees and society at large.” Founded in 1857, Aditya Birla Group (ABG) currently is actively working in 14 different industry sectors which have influenced my life in some way or the other.