"Young India—they are the biggest strength of our nation. there has to be a lot of training in terms of how we have to prepare them for A role in the organisational context. The first and foremost thing I tell the youngsters is that you should not limit your thought sprocess or your mind"
The strength of India is in its human capital and young India can look forward to the future with lot of optimism. Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Sandeep Bakhshi, senses and strongly believes that the base, ethos and the values that India has, is something which will ensure that the country will grow. Talking in inaugural session of the NHRDN Career Fest 2017, held recently in Mumbai, Bakhshi talks about how we have to prepare young India—our demographic dividend and strength—for a big role in the organisational context. Bakhshi who has played various leadership roles in the ICICI Group over 31 years, believes that our country has a great future and there will be enough jobs and enough opportunities. Corporate Citizen brings you his inspiring talk on varied subjects of employment, career growth, opportunities and more
The whole growth of brand India has been quite distinct and different from the way other developing nations have progressed. After the great depression in 1930, the US launched itself into the industrial revolution. After the World War, Japan and Germany, launched into the industrial revolution. Then we have the growth of countries like South Korea and China. The one common thing is, these countries have taken industry as a base, on which they have launched their own repositioning of growth. India’s growth which started in the ‘90s was based on services pattern and we have seen how the ratio of services and the overall GDP has changed and that’s the bedrock. We had principally started as an agrarian economy and then became sort of industrial, not at par but a very relevant course in the industrial sector. But, it’s the services, which repositioned India. My sense is that services will continue to play a central role as far as our growth is concerned. At the fundamental level, the strength of India is its human capital. The base, ethos and the values that India has, is something which will ensure that India will grow. We have every reason to be enthusiastic, every reason to be optimistic— the youngsters can look forward to the future with a lot of optimism and Brand India will only get repositioned stronger and stronger.
Not only the roles of engineers, but the role of management professionals, the role of HR professionals, chartered accountants, have kind of changed over a period of time. Make in India is very important because every country must have a sound manufacturing base. Even if it is a small part of GDP, it has to be very significant and it has to be there. You can’t have an economy which does not have an industrial base. As large companies become more and more mechanised, they would invariably end up having an inclination towards capital intensity, will have heavy capital investment, and a relatively lighter employability- it is because manufacturing at the core has to compete with the best in the world. If you have to be competitive, you have to produce the best product, at a globally competitive price.
Engineers will have to become better in terms of material planning, they would have to have much closer connect with the customers, and have the ability to change the production planning to impact the customers. So, the engineers who were just focused on production and maximising production, would have to have the adaptability to keep changing the configuration, to be close to the customers. In fact, being close to the customers is something that everybody has to do, it’s the fundamental change which is happening across all professions. The customer has to be at the centre- stage and every activity that we do somewhere along the line has to be towards enhancing the connection of company with the customer’s want.
From my own 30 years of experience in the financial and banking sector... I started in the mid-eighties. The nineties was a largely a B2B setup, when most of the bankers were basically lending to corporates and to SMEs. You could recall that people like us in the nineties did not even think of having a home loan, a car loan was distinct, and getting a credit card was a reason to celebrate. I remember, when some of the banks started, they started to go retail with a basic setup, where you have to go out of your office room to source a customer. Today, look at how the transformation has happened, the whole paradigm has changed. Retail banking today is actually the heartthrob and at the centre of every bank.
Similarly, general insurance was B2B, today it is B2C and forms a large part of general insurance. Look at the proliferation of the mutual funds distribution. So, fundamentally one of the key things that is happening is that lot of setups which use to have layers between them and customer, are now directly going to the customer. It’s a very interesting transformation that has happened and people who have moved through the setups have had to adjust to that transformation. Anyone who has not adjusted, I would say has tended to become less and less relevant, because market forces have eventually reigned supreme.
Disruption happens fundamental ly on broadly three counts. One, if there is latent demand—it is there but it has not been met. Retail banking was also a latent demand—all of us at one time needed a home, needed a car, needed other financial services but may be because of the setup, the delivery systems, these products were not being made available. So, again when there was a latent demand, the way was found through a new disruptive process. The second thing is very large profit pool—if there is a large profit pool which is sitting, you can be rest assured that will be predated. The third is if there is a flap—there is an inefficiency in terms of your cost architecture that will be attacked. I feel that these are the three elements will always be under attack.
While technology is a great enabler, at times it can become the biggest barrier to change. At a time when you have a legacy system, it can become a limitation and a constraint to change. Even financial services are bound by legacy system and they will have to end up liberating themselves. To that extent you have cloud computing and you have block-change. But, one can be rest assured that at the end, delivery systems will be there, which will significantly improve quality for the end customer and bring down cost. Eventually what happens, there is a manufacturer and then there is a customer; there is friction or there is loss of value when the product reaches the customer from the manufacturer. The endeavour has to be to minimise that loss of value. Even in financial services, we still end up having frictions which results in loss of value, by the time the product reaches the customer. So, it is something that would actually be under attack, be under threat and technology professionals will have to be very close to customers. The second thing that is happening is that the product life cycles are getting short. So, in a way, the speed that we have to respond, has to be quick. Organisations have to become so much more agile and mentally we have to break barriers. Within organisation there are barriers, there are silos which have to be broken.
Prior to his current role, Bakhshi was the Deputy MD of ICICI Bank, where he was responsible for retail and rural banking. Previously, he was the MD and CEO of ICICI Lombard, a 74:26 joint venture of ICICI Bank and Fairfax Group and one of the eight companies that started operations after the sector opened up to private sector participants in the year 2001. Bakhshi, is an engineer and an MBA by education, joined ICICI in 1986 in the project financing department and worked there until 2001 before joining ICICI Lombard. in January 2002.
In India, we always speak of our demographic dividend and strength and I really believe in that. Young India—they are the biggest strength of our nation. We train them in various subjects, but there has to be a lot of training in terms of how we have to prepare them for a role in the organisational context. The first and foremost thing I tell the youngsters is that you should not limit your thought process or your mind. Don’t have any preconceived notions, that I want to do this role or I don’t want to be in a customer-facing role. If anyone has this kind of constraint, it is not an appropriate start. The profession asks us to have the absolute thought that I am going to go out in the marketplace and do whatever is required to be done. You cannot even allow in your lexicon that I will not be in a customer-facing role or in revenue generation role-this has to vanish out of your lexicon. So, while preparing students itself, you have to prepare them to take any role.
When we look for people, we don’t attempt to get the best and the most qualified person. We want people who have the right attitude and do value the job. If a person believes that this is an institution which has the ability to deliver value in the long run and he or she is willing to commit themselves, without any limitation of department, without any limitation of role—that person I think is a perfect person. You just have to not put out any fetters. There are only two self-goals which fetter you-cynicism and arrogance.
I have worked for 31 years in a company, do you think everything has been perfect for me? The answer is no. Should I become cynical? The organisation is not going to change for me. I really believe that I need the organisation more than the organisation needs me. I am in the company because I need a job. I have the freedom to leave the company anytime, no one will stop me. The fact is, when the simplicity of the connection and association is understood, it makes for a long-term harmonious and fulfilling association for both the parties. Just stay away from cynicism and arrogance and be positive, be daring to do the role that the organisation gives you.
You may not get a company of your choice. But once you get inside the core values of the institution you work for, then you have to make the best of your job, because that choice for you to get that ideal fit, may not be there. That’s something that may be a luxury, because there will be competition for jobs—there is competition for human capital and there is competition for right job also. It’s a game of preparation—whatever you get, give it the best shot and work with hundred per cent commitment. The winning is in the mind, the winning is not in terms of what you know. How you sort of put it to use in the organisation context, is the game plan.
Whenever you look at any relationship or any association, you have to look at it in totality. So, whenever during your journey you end up getting propositions, which is part of life, you weigh the pros and cons. I have always understood that the world is not perfect—it’s not that the next organisation is perfect. I have gone through upsets and anger at times, but I have taken a deep breath and said that the organisation is not going to change for me. It’s nothing about loyalty-as a profession, we have to keep weighing, as the world is not perfect. Lot of shifts which has happened or whenever people have shifted, it has been at times out of cynicism, at times out of little bit of upset. You have to learn from the politicians— everybody in the political arena loses only to come back again. You have to have that never-say-die approach, the race is never-ending and that’s the way you have to play the game.
At times there are certain fundamental concepts which you gather from your parents. I have spent my first 16 years of my life in Delhi. My parental house was in Meerut. I use to drive there on Friday and come back on Monday morning. Saturday evening was the time when I and my dad would sit down in our lawn and talk. Once I asked him, how do you define a good general? I was expecting an answer related to wartime valour and other things. First thing he said was—he is a general because he has served the Indian army. At times our identity comes from the organisation, so we have to really value the organisation that we are associated with. The second thing—the general must count his blessings because there were people almost as good as him in the NDA or the army. It is a tough race and there are those who make it and don’t make. You should count your blessings, because there were people who were as good as you or may be better than you, who haven’t cut through the razor- thin elimination process. Thirdly, the general must know that he was a captain yesterday and will be a nobody tomorrow. Today I represent a chair in ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, but I have to realise that this chair is actually in trust for my success. It doesn’t belong to me, after my days are over, somebody else will come. At the end of the day, be happy, be accomplished, but always know that this is something where you put your best and you win. Many a time, a lot of what we achieve is on account of a larger ecosystem, your brand, the people who support you, and the work done by your predecessors.
“The base, ethos and the values that India has, is something which will ensure that India will grow. We have every reason to be enthusiastic, every reason to be optimistic—the youngster can look forward to the future with a lot of optimism and Brand India will only get repositioned stronger and stronger”
There are two people who have had a very profound impact on me. One of them is my uncle who was looking after my grandmother, who was bedridden for around ten years. I also tended to my father, when he was in hospital. I realised that in about 45 days that he was in the hospital, he had developed bed sores and we lost him after that. But, my uncle who took care of my grandmother for 10 years, he personally attended to her for 10 years and she did not even had one bed sore. It was, I feel, because of a son’s true love and dedication— when you raise your mental passion to a level where your output reaches a supernatural level.
Second story—was told to me by a doctor who is very close to me. It is was about this mother whose child had developed a cancer-and they were from Barabanki, a place in Uttar Pradesh. The child was about three years old. When the family knew about the child’s illness, they suggested the mother to let the boy die. The mother didn’t let go and tried for what best she can do, but her family and husband didn’t support her. She burrowed some ten thousand rupees from her brother and went to Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, in Lucknow. There, her money got over and her son was still suffering. Then somebody told her about a hospital in Delhi. She had two gold earrings, which she sold and all by herself landed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, in Delhi. The institute is always filled with a sea of people and it is tough to get admitted even with a powerful recommendation. This mother found her way to the cancer ward, was able to reach the doctor, the doctors later were able to bring in a social organisation for financial support. Today, that boy has recovered and he is hale and hearty. This was all possible because of the mother’s perseverance. Whenever I face a difficult situation in my life, I remember my uncle and this mother.
By Rajesh Rao
