What is ABG?
The Aditya Birla Group was founded in 1857 by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla as a cotton trading business at Pilani. Through India's arduous times of the 1850s, the Birla business expanded rapidly. In the early part of the 20th century, the Group's founding father, Mr. Ghanshyam Das Birla, set up industries in critical sectors such as textiles and fibre, aluminium, cement, and chemicals. As a close confidant of Mahatma Gandhi, he played an active role in the Indian freedom struggle. He represented India at the first and second round-table conferences in London, along with Gandhiji. It was at Birla House in Delhi that the luminaries of the Indian freedom struggle often met to plot the downfall of the British Raj.
Mr. Ghanshyam Das Birla emerged as one of the foremost industrialists of pre-independence India. The principles by which he lived were soaked up by his grandson, Mr. Aditya Vikram Birla, the Group's legendary leader. It was under the aegis leadership of Aditya Birla that the company was able to intensify and firm its presence in the core sectors. He built a business empire spanning continents much before globalisation became a virtue and the borders of the country were deemed too small to accommodate the ambitions of the aspiring Indian entrepreneur. Thereby placing India on the world map in 1969. Its current headquarters is in Worli, Mumbai and with operations in 35 countries and employing more than 120,000 employees belonging to 42 nationalities and is also a member of Fortune 500 companies with revenue of USD 44.3 billion for the year 2018. It has 38 companies incorporated into the group out of which 6 are listed on BSE and NSE.
It is globally a major player in Aluminium rolling, carbon black manufacturing, telecom services and cement manufacturing. In India it leads in fashion and lifestyle, chlor-alkali sector, viscose filament yarn, life insurance and asset management services.
Why is ABG big in my life:
ABG is a lot of things but what appeals to me the most is their work in CSR beyond their obligations. Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development is a community outreach initiative by the group whose vision is to effectively add to the social and monetary advancement of the networks in which we work, in this manner fabricate better economic lifestyle for the more fragile areas of the general public and raise the nation's' human development index. Of the footprint of 2,500 villages they have zeroed in on 300 villages, which they hope to morph into model villages. The Foundation has been providing water on a continual basis to the villages that are in proximity to their plants for their basic needs. In the last 5 years the Foundation has set up over 10,000 toilets in villages in proximity to the company's plants across India including community complexes and at several schools as well. The foundation runs 56 schools which provide quality education to 46,500 children. Of these, 18,000 students belong to the underprivileged segment. Merit scholarships for education are given to 24,000 children from the interiors. They also run 20 hospitals to tend to more than a million villagers. They also provide mid-day meals to 74,000 children through Akshaya Patra. In a world where corporates only look to the communities to discharge their legal obligation of CSR, ABG has gone beyond to help the poor in need.
How I jumped the hurdles to achieve my ambitions:
I had always been a guy who was considered smart and friendly by my peers and companions. Fate went easy on me till my graduation from NIT Rourkela. I still remember my final year of graduation when I didn't have any job offer in hand till the last the 3 months. I was doing well in all the initial rounds of recruitment processes but was unable to make it through the final interviews. I hadn't lost hope yet and there was still fire burning inside me. There was a dream company that visited our institute which used to hire only 3 candidates from a batch of 60 students. The competition was brutal, your friends fought against you in the Group Discussions. The results were announced a week later and I got a mail that I was selected. I was happy but I knew I could do better. I didn't stop with that, I appeared for many other recruitment processes, went through to the final interviews in every process but was not getting selected in the end. During the final month, a PSU had visited the campus and I remember being nervous through the whole process as I was competing with the toppers of my batch for the job, but I was always confident in my academics though my grades were subpar. So, I went through all the rounds, did well in my final interview. One fine day I was informed by the placement coordinator that I was hired by that PSU and it was easily one of the best days of my life as that was when my parents were really proud of me. It felt satisfying to be the cause of their happiness. I had worked there for three and a half years and gave my best at work. During that stint with the PSU, I got interested in a career in management. I decide to pursue a formal education in MBA and then leverage that knowledge to build a career in management. I worked hard for 2 months while working long hours at my job. I did well at CAT exam and converted an interview call from IMT Ghaziabad. Now my eyes are set on the Aditya Birla Group for the next step in my career.
ABG, you are always welcome at IMT Ghaziabad.
