CORPORATE STALWART

A mechanical engineer from the prestigious BITS Pilani and an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Shishir Joshipura’s career spans over 35 years in varied fields of engineering. He began his career with Thermax Ltd. and held several key positions there. Later, he also served as the Managing Director of SKF India Ltd. Now in his current position as MD and CEO, Praj Industries Ltd., Shishir comes with a strong business and leadership record. He is passionate about sustainable energy, energy efficiency and smart manufacturing. In an exclusive interview with Corporate Citizen, Shishir Joshipura talks about his three-decade career journey, the lessons he learnt and why he strongly believes bioenergy will increasingly play an important role in our lives

"One lesson from my childhood that has endured is to be independent in thinking yet interdependent in action while staying within the framework of values"

Photo by Rob Lambert on Unsplash
(Photo for representational purpose only)

Corporate Citizen: Tell us about your early days growing up.

Shishir Joshipura: I was born in Junagadh in Gujarat. I grew up in Jaipur, Rajasthan where both my parents were working professionals. After completing my schooling in Jaipur I went to BITS Pilani for Engineering, graduating in 1983. One lesson from my childhood that has endured is to be independent in thinking yet interdependent in action while staying within the framework of values.

CC: How was your BITS campus experience?

The BITS Pilani campus is situated in the middle of nowhere it still does not have a railway station. It is an oasis in the middle of the desert and once you are inside the campus you are in a different world. The structure and syllabus is modelled around the MIT system, making the BITS pedagogy very unique. The whole programme is structured from day one to prepare you for decision making, managing complexities, and deciding priorities. In 1983, there was no internet, no mobile phones, no PCs, it was a different world. In the entire campus there was only a mainframe computer, one phone and one post office.

CC: How did the first placement come about?

BITS still enjoys, as it did during my time, attention from leading corporates for campus recruitment. In 1982-83, the remoteness of campus and absence of modern means of communication meant everyone at campus ended up with 3-4 job offers to choose from. I chose to join Thermax, a fast-growing, small-in-size big-on-ambition company and unique in the way it was thinking about its future. I joined as a graduate engineering trainee (GET) in 1983 and came to Pune.

Thermax was way ahead of time in terms of its focus on its human resources, HR practices, spirit of enterprise, innovation at all levels and customer focus. Even today when I look back, several practices and processes on people management can serve as a benchmark for the industry. GET induction was planned in detail and one was expected to assume responsibilities very early on GETs were mentored by senior leaders. Don’t be afraid to fail was the motto. The whole ethos was of a company run by several intrapreneurs that made the company very unique.

CC: What was your earliest role?

My first assignment at Thermax was of an installation and commissioning engineer for boilers and heating systems. Thermax wanted to create a technically strong sales force and hence one had to work their way to sales through a technical function. This helped drive a strong application engineering driven solutions approach, clearly differentiating from the competition. A near absence of hierarchy on customer issues meant that field had a direct link to R&D. Listening actively to customers, defining a unique solution, partnering for service excellence, and building deep customer relationships were very exciting. In a blink, I became the youngest regional head for the western region in 1992.

CC: Where did you learn the most?

In 1997, Thermax formed a 50:50 JV, Thermax Energy Performance Services Limited (TEPS), with EPS, the energy services arm of Philadelphia Electric Company, USA. TEPS was focused on energy efficiency solutions and had a very exciting and bold business model. After tasting initial success, the business faced several challenges. EPS sought to reinforce and augment the team and interviewed some of the Thermax managers anonymously for the CEO position and I was one. One day in 1999, the then MD of Thermax called me and said, “Time to move on from being a regional head to a business head at TEPS.” He advised me that there are times in one’s career to learn unique things and TEPS presented that opportunity to me.

Today, when I reflect on my entire career, that’s the place I learnt the maximum managing different cultures, creating true value for the customer, building and leading a very high performance team, complex contracting capabilities, understanding the whole aspect of greenhouse gas emission and global warming. I would not have learnt many of those dimensions if I had resisted change and continued as regional head. Looking back, I also realise that had I been bolder in my approach, we could have accelerated sustainable growth for the company.

Changes is the only constant

"A great part of what I am is due to what Thermax invested in me during my 26-year tenure"

In 2003, I returned to the parent company to head the Process Heating Business. This was the business Thermax started its journey with and in many ways was representative of all that Thermax stood for. In 2005, Thermax decided to create focused business verticals and consolidate the operating structure. The structure/ hierarchy by then had become very wide and we used to joke with the MD on the number of people reporting to him, Ab Tak Chhappan we called it, drawing parallel with famous film released those days. Time had come to consolidate businesses and functions to drive higher effectiveness and ready the organisation for the future. Thermax was always a forward-thinking organisation and embraced the new without fear of failure. Three business verticals were created, and I was asked to lead the Cooling and Heating vertical as also all overseas subsidiaries as executive vice president.

CC: Did you receive opportunities for higher learning?

Thermax strongly believed in investing in people’s skill and knowledge upgradation. The learning and training inputs started on the day you joined as a GET and continued all the way. Every year one senior manager was chosen to go to the prestigious Harvard Business School in Boston for the Advanced Management Program (AMP). In 2007, I went to Harvard for the AMP and returned with definitive learnings as the programme helped fill several “holes” and added several dimensions to my leadership quotient.

CC: What lessons did you glean from working with two large economies?

Thermax decided on two new projects in 2007. One, to expand boiler manufacturing capacity in India and the other, in China for chillers. The China operations also involved setting up a wholly owned subsidiary, selling into the local market. Building two projects from the ground up simultaneously in two of the world’s fastest-growing large economies was a unique experience.

Focused execution, high productivity and disciplined working defined the China Project team. High passion, can-do attitude and complex problem solving defined the India Project team. Different strokes and different practices in two very different cultures and yet we built two world-class projects almost simultaneously.

Thermax was a great place to work and grow with a nurturing environment, high energy and above all a fantastic team. A great part of what I am is due to what Thermax invested in me during my 26-year tenure.

Time to lead from the front

In August 2009, during a casual dialogue, a friend from a reputed leadership recruitment firm asked why I did not consider being number one in the organisation? “Unless you test yourself at the next level, you will never know what your true potential is,” he said and what he said did make sense. I didn’t even have a CV, I replied, typical of living inside a cocoon comfortably syndrome. I had never made one. I was not going to win the argument on excuses and finally, with his help, I ended up writing one. I sent it, informing him that I would not work with any organisation competing with Thermax. He smiled and I interviewed for the Managing Director position for SKF India in 2009.

Thermal to Mechanical Energy

SKF was a completely different world multi-national, precision mass manufacturing, automotive components. The world of combustion and thermal energy had given way to a world of rotation and mechanical energy. Results through influence rather than control, strong process orientation, and consultative decision making were some of the new dimensions of business management I learnt at SKF. I was very blessed to have a wise and experienced Board of Directors who pushed my team and me to discover newer heights of our potential and performance.

I was fortunate to start on a very strong foundation built by my predecessor and in 8+ years of my tenure at SKF, we further built multiple dimensions such as financial performance, market share, pushing India as a preferred base for the manufacture of certain products for global consumption, becoming a preferred employer. We built two new factories, shifted one, started a global R&D centre and created a global product line from India. We were rated a preferred place to work for women employees, ranked the best bearing company in India for eight consecutive years and two of our factories became benchmark factories for SKF worldwide. A very progressive value system and a great team were the two things that I was blessed with just like at Thermax. SKF is a very strong global brand and we further built it in India in such a way that in a global survey, the SKF brand was stronger in India as compared to anywhere else in the world!

A cause larger than the job

"As a leader, I applaud the sheer creativity and energy of the incoming generation"

In the winter of 2017, I met an ex-colleague in a social gathering and during our talk she set me thinking on a different path. Every organisation needs someone at the helm and the CEO role has its own set of unique challenges. Some organisations serve a cause much larger than their immediate business interests.

Increasing per capita energy consumption is a good indicator of development. Continuing on the current path for all our current and future energy needs is fraught with danger. Climate change associated with Green House Gas emission poses a real threat to the sustainability of future generations. Improving farmer’s income, utilising local, sustainable feedstocks for energy generation, improving local air quality and health of citizens while supporting the nation’s goals in self-reliance are integral to inclusive sustainable development. A lot of current research and work is directed towards finding sustainable solutions to address the ever-increasing energy demand.

Praj Industries is an India headquartered global industrial biotech leader with solutions in the space of sustainable energy and advancing the frontier of Bioeconomy. Praj’s sustainable solutions in the bioenergy space are focused on making the world a better place for future generations. It is an organisation built around this cause with a global orientation and strong technology base. The engineers and scientists in the company constantly work towards finding unique ways of converting biomass to usable forms of energy. Reducing energy and water footprint for process plants they design is an ongoing endeavour for the company.

The intrapreneurial spirit of the organisation is rooted in the founder’s passionate belief in the role of technology to drive sustainable development which helps connect the agri community seamlessly with the industrial world. Self-belief and nurturing a ‘can do’ attitude has pushed Praj to a Global leadership position in its chosen areas of business. Every day brings in exciting possibilities.

I was looking for an assignment where the cause is larger than the job and Praj presented the opportunity. I was fortunate to find another organisation with a progressive value system and a great team some things do not change I am blessed.

CC: Working in hardcore manufacturing companies, what were the challenges you faced while these companies were evolving?

In the initial days of my career, when I worked in sales and marketing, life was centred around customers meeting them, understanding their problems, seeking solutions from colleagues and winning an order against the competition. The complexities of multiple dimensions of decision making crept in as I moved from sales to business management. Happiness was no longer a good order book and I quickly learnt that happiness is positive cash flow. As the business grew, more dimensions were visible technology development, managing different cultures, developing leaders for tomorrow, positioning in completely unknown international markets and balancing seemingly opposite goals to address different stakeholder perspectives the learning continued.

I learnt to harness the good of everyone and create an intrapreneur in every member of my team. A good strategy is to surround yourself with people who are better than you (especially in your weal areas), to make a perfect picture together. No one person can complete the picture, everyone contributes. While managing manufacturing operations, I understood that people on the shop floor irrespective of the colour of their collar have a very important role to play in the growth of the company. Building an inclusive dialogue on the principles of transparency and care leads to success.

CC: Through your career, you were involved in setting up new companies in India & abroad. Did you ever get attracted toward entrepreneurship and start your own startup venture?

I do not have the entrepreneurial gene in me. Entrepreneurs are a different breed. It never crossed my mind to be an entrepreneur. There is an entrepreneur gene and then there is an intrapreneur gene; I am grateful that god blessed me with the latter.

CC: How do you deal with today’s millennials and lead them? They are very aspirational and they want to be entrepreneurs from day one.

Millennials have always existed in every generation in every organisation when we started our career, we were the millennials for that era. Admittedly, the internet revolution has completely changed the way information is held and used across all walks of life. Lead and support have replaced command and control for most leaders. The drive to be successful either as an entrepreneur or a professional is a good thing. Millennials are fiercely independent in their thoughts. I can safely say that as a father of a millennial daughter, her generation thinks in a fundamentally different way than mine did at that time or even now.

As a leader, I applaud the sheer creativity and energy of the incoming generation. It is important to harness the potential of the incoming generation while helping them unleash the intrapreneur within. I have also learnt that with millennials it is important to explain why and not just state what needs to be done.

The discovery of intrapreneurship and translation of potential to performance should achieve three things in my opinion. One, it should deliver higher value for the customer; two, it must make the person a better human being and professional, and third, it must benefit the organisation you work for. I always tell new joinees that we have hired you to bring in change so feel free to contribute and express.

The senior management is responsible and accountable for creating an environment of openness and trust where people have full freedom of expression. We cannot hire someone for their brains and then ask them to shut up. If we can accelerate the intrapreneur discovery and translate the potential to performance why should “age” matter.

CC: Looking at your long stints with companies you worked with till now and your commitment to the company’s vision & mission, can you as a leader now bring out the same commitment from the overly ambitious millennials, who want fast results and go job hopping?

As I have already stated it is great to be ambitious and not be happy with the status quo. It is also true that ambition is the new mother of invention, we only need to make sure that ambition is enveloped in an impeccable value system.

When I reflect on my career, I can safely say that I am blessed to have worked with and continue to work with leaders who walk the talk. I have learnt by watching them and it is easy for me to emulate them. I personally invest time in mentoring millennials to build a deeper understanding of the organisation’s value system and ethos. It is important for employees to see an alignment in his/her personal goals and organisation goals. To me, ‘volition’ is a bigger driver for focussed action than externally imposed ‘motivation’.

My advice to younger members of my team is to focus on the cause and not narrow selfish goals, on ‘performance’ and not ‘effort’, and on ‘needs’ and not ‘wants’. It is great to be impatient, it speeds up and produces benchmark results. I had long stints with the organisations because they never let the excitement die. If millennials are not staying long enough maybe the excitement is missing!

"A good strategy is to surround yourself with people who are better than you (especially in your weal areas), to make a perfect picture together. No one person can complete the picture, everyone contributes"

CC: India is still majorly dependent on fossil fuels. What can be done to drive energy self reliance in a sustainable manner?

Photo by Umberto on Unsplash
(Photo for representational purpose only)

Biofuels are the key to energy self-reliance while ensuring an inclusive sustainable future. Biofuels will have an increasing role in our energy mix. We at Praj believe that biofuels offer mankind a unique opportunity to address several priorities through one integrated approach. Interestingly, when the rising global energy demand faced the bump due to Covid-19, renewable demand recovered the fastest, while fossil sources such as Oil and Coal are still struggling to regain lost ground. The world is certainly moving towards renewables and India is no exception.

Today, fossil fuels (Oil and Natural Gas) fulfil more than 98% of energy demand in India’s transport sector. Biofuels are making definitive inroads and the share for biofuels in the overall energy basket is now increasing and the demand for biofuels today is significantly higher than production.

The transportation sector is the third-largest energy-consuming sector in India and energy demand has more than doubled in the last decade. The exploration and increase in the output from our oilfields have limited scope for success as India’s options are limited by what nature has given us. India’s increasing dependence on import of oil is not only putting our energy security at risk but also affecting our Forex position.

Praj’s solutions on the Bio-MobilityTM platform envisages development of solutions in the form of carbon-neutral fuels from renewable resources for all modes of transport air, surface and sea. Liquid and gaseous biofuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, compressed biogas and sustainable aviation fuel are increasingly finding higher demand and acceptance in the transport sector. The application for them is further extended to stationary engines and industrial applications as well.

Over the last 24 months, the government has announced progressive measures to include biofuels in the energy mix and the supportive policy regime continues to strengthen the ecosystem for advancement of biofuels. These policies have provided long-term direction for expansion of the biofuel industry while putting an impetus on the inclusive economy for the benefit of farmers.

The Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) is currently at 5% which is expected to be ramped up to 20% by 2030. The progressive National Biofuels Policy encourages setting up 12 agricultural crop residue-based second generation (2G) lignocellulosic ethanol plants across India of which five have been initiated in phase 1. With the expansion of permitted feedstock base for the production of ethanol (B-Molasses, cane juice, surplus grain, etc.) under the policy, the first-generation ethanol output is set to grow. This is also going to improve the financial health of sugar mills as well as providing alternate revenue streams to farmers. Advanced Biofuels such as 2G ethanol is also set to play an increasingly important role in our nation’s energy mix. Abundant availability of feedstock in the form of collectible and convertible agri-residues as feedstock of nearly 20 MMT/year augurs well for the growth of this segment. Praj is partnering the leading oil marketing companies in India for setting up three 2G ethanol plants which will be commissioned over next 12 months.

The scaling up of the biodiesel sector to meet 5% biodiesel blending by 2030 can take place with mobilisation and expansion of feedstock that includes used cooking oil.

Strong growth potential is also expected in Compressed Biogas (CBG) segment with the introduction of SATAT (Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable Transportation) scheme under which 5000 CBG plants will be built across India in the first phase replacing 15 million metric tons of CNG requiring more than 90 million metric tons of crop residue to meet the growing demand of transport fuel by blending biofuels or replacing fossil fuel.

The development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel produced from 1G and 2G feedstock will help the aviation sector to not only comply with regulations but also drive a higher degree of independence and help reduce its carbon footprint.

CC: What is the strategic importance of biofuels in the transportation space?

As part of the Bio-MobilityTM platform, we have developed various innovative technologies at our R&D Centre (Matrix) for deployment in the transportation sector. Although both Bio-MobilityTM and electric mobility (e-Mobility) have the same purpose of reducing carbon intensity in transportation, Bio-MobilityTM offers significant advantages over e-Mobility due to Biofuel’s compatibility with the existing infrastructure of fossil fuels and automotive supply chain. For example, 17000 parts are required to assemble a modern IC engine of a four wheeler. An electric car is made of only 700 parts. Moving from an IC engine vehicle to an electric vehicle would disrupt the complete supply chain of the IC engine and may create significant unemployment. With Bio-MobilityTM platform, we are retaining the automotive supply chain, infrastructure and employment while simultaneously reducing carbon intensity in transportation.

Improving farmer’s income, creating rural and industrial jobs, attracting investment in excess of five lakh crores, creating clean air, helping meet GHG goals, preserving the foreign exchange and substantially improving public health quotient-biofuels ecosystem is a winning proposition for all.

CC: Talking about failure, why did biofuel development from Jatropha plant fail in India?

Technology for converting Jatropha into biodiesel is available, matured and proven. However, due to unviability of Jatropha cultivation, the Biodiesel programme suffered a setback. In 2009, the Union government launched National Biodiesel Mission based on Jatropha as the suitable oilseed for biodiesel production. However, due to factors such as poor seed yield, high gestation period, limited availability of wasteland and high plantation and maintenance cost, Jatropha agriculture did not become viable for large scale Biodiesel production.

"We must carefully design our policies and develop efficient technologies to achieve energy security and environmental sustainability"

Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash

CC: The profitability of biofuel production is extremely variable. Is it the reason why it is not picking up in India?

Let me start by saying that biofuels, especially ethanol, biodiesel and CBG are already very profitable depending on feedstock availability and cost. It is very important for us to understand the concept of profitability associated with something as multidimensional as biofuels by understanding the costs of these dimensions first. It is perhaps best understood if we look at costs of not having biofuel and continuing down the existing fossil fuel path. Today, when we burn fossil fuels, we not only pay the price at the pump, our future generations will pay a price for all carbon emissions that result from fossil fuel burning and city residents will pay the price on the health front resulting from local pollution. Today, when a farmer burns the agriculture residue in the field post-harvesting, citizens far away pay the price in terms of costs associated with respiratory diseases. We can no longer take a low first cost approach we must look at lifecycle costs. When we develop this view and combine it with larger goals of energy security and independence, profitability acquires a new meaning.

It is also true that various biofuels are at different stages of commercial evolution in India and the world. Already, several biofuels are commercially viable. Some of the advanced biofuels are rapidly evolving and are increasingly more profitable such as CBG. World over governments are supporting development of environmentally friendly biofuels. This support is essential in the initial stages of development.

The profitability of any biofuel production will largely depend upon factors such as stable policy, feedstock availability and price, biofuel pricing mechanism and technology maturity and scalability. Since biofuels have a multidimensional impact and costs associated with low usage are borne by a diverse set of stakeholders, a robust long-term policy support is very important for driving growth. With National Biofuel Policy and SATAT, ethanol and CBG production has received right impetus for consistent growth making commercial production profitable.

We have seen the example of Brazil, which was also an oil-importing country once upon a time. However, with the right policies or mandate, development of flex-fuel vehicle industry and impetus on sugarcane agriculture and the biofuel industry, Brazil has established a very good example of what is possible. The establishment of a flex-fuel vehicle industry played a very important role in boosting ethanol blending in Brazil.

CC: Praj has been in the news for offering technologies to combat the ill effects of stubble burning. How far has the company progressed?

Praj is at the forefront of developing technologies that turn the “stubble” into a useable form of energy most efficiently. Our Global Standard EnfinityTM technology converts biomass to ethanol while RenGasTM technology converts biomass/agricultural residue, industrial waste and other organic waste into compressed biogas. We have set up a state-of-the-art demonstration plant that can use multiple agri residue feedstock for the production of biogas. We have developed the technology for converting sugary feedstocks to IBA for the development of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). We will soon be commissioning India’s first integrated bioenergy complex in Northern India.

"I always tell new joinees that we have hired you to bring in change so feel free to contribute and express"

CC: What is the significance of partnerships and collaborations in meeting Praj’s goals?

Praj is proud to have developed several world class technologies at its state-of-the-art R&D centre, Praj Matrix. We believe that collaboration and partnerships are necessary to accelerate the speed of development while also to leverage knowledge in a more meaningful way. We have ongoing collaborations with several leading organisations in the world across different platforms in our businesses.

CC: What will be the future of fuel in the coming years?

Although fossil oil-derived fuels will remain an important source of energy for quite some time, we will increasingly adopt fuels that are cleaner, secure, and derived from renewable sources. At the global level, we will see strong growth in wind, solar, bioenergy and natural gas as primary sources of energy. The use of fossil fuels such as coal and oil is likely to a show decline in the energy mix. Consumer preference and growing awareness coupled with technology development will play a significant role in shaping energy demand and use. Growth of low carbon fuels in the energy mix in coming years is a given, anchored on increasing focus on sustainable development coupled with a supportive policy regime. Flex fuel cars, biofuel driven plug in hybrid, city bus fleet running on Compressed Biogas, aircraft on SAF, the next normal will be here in less than a decade.

Advanced biofuels that do not compete with the food chain will be the source for low carbon solution to our energy needs. We must carefully design our policies and develop efficient technologies to achieve energy security and environmental sustainability. Our progress today does not have to come at the cost of future generations.