Aditya Birla Group is one of the biggest Indian conglomerates. Birla group played a prominent role in the freedom struggle too. Birlas contributed to Gandhiji's fund from time to time and whenever Gandhiji was in Delhi he used to stay in the Birla house. Gandhiji was assassinated in the Birla house and that place was made a memorial after that. Birla group started with cotton trading in 1857 and then it established Grasim, it's first notable brand in 1947 and since then it never looked back. Since then Aditya Birla group has ventured into many fronts like Aluminium, Textiles, Edible Oils, Chemicals, Cement, Fertilizers, Petroleum, Telecom, Financial Services, Consultancy and Software Services etc. Directly or indirectly Aditya Birla Group touches more than a billion Indian lives and many more across the globe.
Aditya Birla Group is working in thousands of villages focusing on rural healthcare and skill development. It also collaborates with many government schemes and works for the upliftment of society. The group has an association with hundreds of schools and works towards building a better education system. It also offers scholarships for the needy. The group reaches out to millions of people the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development. Aditya Birla Group operates a super multi-speciality hospital, a digital museum on Gandhiji, a world-class school, a boarding school for boys and it also supports 500achievers for higher studies.
One of the fields where Aditya Birla Group has excelled tremendously is the Textile and Apparel sector. It Introduced Louis Philippe to pioneer the menswear segment, Van Heusen to change the course of workwear segment, Aditya Birla Group introduced Allen Solly to target the smart casuals segment. It also introduced the Peter England brand which went on to become the largest selling brand in India. Aditya Birla Group has multiple brands in apparel to target every section of the population.
My personal experience with the Aditya Birla Group has been amazing. I come from the town of Anantapur, Aditya Birla Group's Ultratech cement is biggest cement brand of India. Ultratech's largest cement plant is located in Anantapur and it is the source of livelihood for thousands of people nearby. Back in early 2010s supermarkets were not common in small towns like Anantapur, Aditya Birla Group's More supermarket was the first supermarket that landed in Anantapur and continues to operate till date.
My Journey
I come from a small town, both of my parents are not highly educated. We used to live in a locality where people were not exposed to quality education. Though I consider myself better equipped than most of the other Indians, the starting line for me was different when compared to most of the other privileged Indians who were fortunate enough to live in metro cities, got exposure to quality education and was privy to better opportunities. I went to a small school which had very limited resources. There was no playground available in school which meant no sports activities, it is a well-known fact that sports and physical activity play a major role in one's physical and mental development. As most of the Indian students do I followed the norm of enrolling for an engineering degree. I joined a small college in a nearby town. In my college, I did not see any steps being taken or a plan for the development of critical thinking. I was just moving on with life as a directionless ship in the sea. I graduated successfully with mediocre marks. I graduated as a mechanical engineer and then joined Tech Mahindra, the IT firm like most other engineers do. I spent a couple of years in Tech Mahindra as a software engineer and then I started preparing for MBA entrance examination CAT with the ambition of pursuing MBA from a premier institute and experience the surreal pedagogy which everyone isn't fortunate enough to experience. I was at a huge disadvantage given my academics were not great, my parents were not highly educated and hence I had hardships at getting guidance sometimes, all my education was from small schools and colleges and I was not privy to the best of facilities. The starting line for me was different and far behind from other candidates who had better facilities and good foundation since childhood. Despite all odds, I prepared for CAT without compromising with my work and the quality of my work and finally, my surreal moment is here. I am at IIM Nagpur pursuing my MBA.
