Why is the Aditya Birla Group big in my life?
The behemoth of a conglomerate that Aditya Birla Group is, it is quite possibly one of the most widely diversified. Metals, Cement, Textiles, Carbon Black, Telecom, Financial Services… you name it ABG will have a connection to it and to you as well. A company with deep Indian roots but still retaining the core value system throughout is commendable. With quality in service and unparalleled work ethic comes a reward few are able to attain: customer trust. I’m sure you have placed your trust in ABG products and services somehow. I’ll take you through how ABG has been able to get mine.
Ever since I set my sights on getting into a B School, there’s just been one thought that was doing the rounds in my head: I’m getting a premier Louis Phillipe two-piece suit when I get that admit letter. And as a reward, I did gift myself one. Such a satisfying feeling, I tell you! The genesis of this feeling of exclusivity and achievement dates back to my days as a graduate engineer. My parents got me two pairs of shirts and trousers, both from LP for my first job, ‘cause well, every first is special, right? The feeling has stayed and I hope it stays for a long time. For me it’s LP but even other brands like Van Heusen, Peter England and Allen Solly are so exclusive that they pull customers due to their impeccable value.
Ever since my father showed me his portfolio in my second year of undergrad, I’ve been hooked to the markets. Why is risk appetite essential for compounding wealth and how long term view always trumps myopic vagaries are the core concepts on which investing has its foundation. These are exactly the governing principles on which Aditya Birla Capital operates. With about 23 Billion USD market capitalization, the trust that investors place in ABSL is tremendous. And with one of the lowest expense ratios and investor churn rate, ABSL is possibly one of the most stable funds in the country. Ever since I started earning, I’ve myself trusted ABSL too and continue to hold my ABSL Debt and Tax Saver funds.
These are the two areas ABG garners my loyalty ever so easily. For so many others ABG Idea Cellular is the reason they can communicate with their colleagues and family, everyday, without concern. For someone in the Construction industry, ABG UltraTech Cement is the gold-standard of quality and they’d accept nothing below what ABG delivers. For those in the metals industry, particularly aluminium, ABG Hindalco is the only choice mostly because of their legacy and network. Road and Highway construction company circles rely much of their core work being successful on the quality of carbon black and they trust no one other than ABG for the supply of the material. Whichever the industry circle, ABG delivers unparalleled quality and thus does a damn neat job of retaining the customers. And I hope that ABG continues giving them reasons to trust ABG.
How I made an impact?
I tried making sense of that figure: 89 percentile
I’d tanked CAT 2017 spectacularly and all the “efforts” I’d put in seemed like a complete waste. Matter of fact, I’d not really put in the proper rigour required for the task. I’d just assumed that since my college batchmates have attained a certain figure, I could do that too. So naive.
A few days later, I called up a friend who’d gotten a sky high percentile the year before. It’s funny how guidance from the right person hits you like a lightning bolt even if what he/she is saying is just basic common sense (which you were missing somehow). His words basically exposed whatever I’d been doing wrong and set the record straight for me. His final piece of advice was gold: “If you think you got it right the first time round, did you really work hard enough?”
But my preparations for CAT2018 could only start after May, as I’d already registered for the Financial Risk Manager (FRM) examination. For an engineering graduate to start making sense of Finance just because he thinks he’s good at math is a rather long shot. So enter more efforts. At the end of May, I was so exhausted, having mugged up so many concepts and theories in such a short space of time, that I did think of giving up. But bless that friend of mine who made me watch this brilliant movie with her one last time before she moved to another town. These two lines, used repeatedly in the movie, originally by celebrated poet Dylan Thomas did the job they were written to do.
Do not go gentle into that good night
Rage, Rage against the dying of the light
Feeling so upbeat, I spent the whole of June gathering material and reading quora answers on how to go about the preparation. I knew how not to prepare, now just needed the strategy that suited me. I followed the “cut your losses and run your profits” philosophy from trading here as well. Manage VARC and LRDI somehow but belt it out in QA. After a total of around 40 sectionals and 16 odd full mocks, from figuratively banging my head against the brickwall in LRDI to gaining my confidence back in QA, wrote CAT18 and managed a decent 98-er.
To some that’s what they could score while being half asleep. But the way I’m wired, I treated myself with a 12 inch butter chicken square pizza just for not giving up. The next stage of B School admission prep, called GDPIWATs is a totally different beast to handle and I should probably leave it for some other article.
Is that score and percentile one bit impressive? Heck no! Could I have improved my scores? Probably. But the way I’d summarize it would be that I’m definitely happy but totally hungry for more. The journey from 89 to 98 was thrilling and satisfactory, at least on a personal level. But now it’s time to turn my world around yet again, here in MDI Gurgaon.
Wish me luck.