STAY OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE AND WORK TOWARDS AMBITION - Adarsh Parmar, IIM Sirmaur

Almost all the citizens of India know about Aditya Birla Group and have used at least one of its product. ABG is the 2^nd oldest industry of India. In cellular network sector, Vodafone Idea Ltd. has 31% market share. Flagship product which almost every Indian knows is Ultratech Cement. Ultratech Cement is no. 1 manufacturer of Cement in India and is also there in the list of world’s top manufacturers. Aditya Birla Group is available in every corner of the country in the form of roofs for citizens, as clothes, in financial services, in agribusiness, in chemical industry, in renewable energy field, etc. For a middle class family, most important things are 3 basic necessities to live normal life. Out of them, our shelter is constructed with the Ultratech Cement. For the last 11 years, I’m living under the roof which has indirect contribution of Aditya Birla Group. ABG created their impression in such a manner that now people are buying products not only by the brand name of the product but also by the name of ABG. That’s why my father used ABG’s Cement to construct our house. Similarly, after seeing continuous advertisements of VanHeusen, Ralph Lauren, Peter England, Louis Philippe, and other fashion products in movie theatres, many of my friends started inclining towards these brands than other brands available in the market.

ABG started 162 years ago in 1857 by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla from cotton trading in Pilani. Main part of ABG started afterIndia got independence. Just after 10 days of Independence, Grasim Industries Ltd. was incorporated. Now Grasim is Global leader in viscose staple fibre. Aditya Birla started first overseas venture of Indo-Thai Synthetics Co. Ltd. He started a total of 19 companies outside of India in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, and the Philippines. Many ups and downs were seen by ABG, but slowly ABG started to expand its wings and now, they are in 14 Industry sectors. Today, 50% of the revenue of ABG comes from overseas business. Many of ABG’s firms are in Fortune 500 list. This is all because of Birla family.

To achieve ambitions, everyone has to go from ebb and flow. In graduation, I made my mind to do MBA from a reputed B-School of India. I came from an environment where atmosphere of English language was not prolific even in English medium schools. That’s why verbal section in CAT exam was a challenge for me. But I was very clear at that time that whatever happens, I’ll anyhow crack CAT. I started working towards my weakness of verbal to improve it. I approached teachers and seniors to create a path for proper direction. In starting phase, I circumspect my daily routine and decided to reduce usage of Facebook and Instagram. But my mind was very greedy as everyone around me was enjoying. After some days, I did not see much more improvement in time utilization. But I’m very glad that I found very good friends over there that helped me every day. They gave me a push to work towards my aim. That’s why, after couple of days, I shut down my Facebook, Instagram, and even Whatsapp account to just focus on CAT. It seemed hard for some days, but that time was a turning point for me. Because of sacrifices made in those days, I’m now resting peacefully in my bed of IIM Sirmaur hostel.